A 70-year-old Hong Kong resident was defrauded of over HK$13 million (US$1.66 million) after being lured through WhatsApp by a scammer posing as a Singapore-based crypto investment expert. The victim purchased USDT and ETH, transferred assets to addresses specified by a fake investment app, and was shown false profits to encourage further investment. When attempting to withdraw, the victim realized the fraud and reported it. Hong Kong police noted over 40 investment scam cases in the past week alone, totaling approximately HK$50 million in losses, and urged the public to verify platforms and avoid unsolicited investment advice.

South Korea's KOSPI index closed down 3.26% to 6,684.38, with major tech stocks leading the decline. SK Hynix fell 6.34% and Samsung Electronics dropped 4.04%, reflecting broader weakness in memory chip and AI-related equities. The selloff came amid global concerns over AI spending and follows a period where the two companies contributed nearly all of KOSPI's recent gains, underscoring market concentration risk.

Binance Pay has expanded its enterprise offerings with a suite of on-chain solutions targeting wallets, exchanges, dApps, payment providers, merchants, and digital platforms. The new services include On-ramp as a Service, Pay On-chain, and AgentPay based on the x402 standard. This allows businesses to leverage Binance infrastructure for crypto purchases, on-chain fund transfers, and programmable payments, positioning Binance to capture growing demand for crypto-native commerce in Asia and beyond.

Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed new stablecoin regulations requiring licensed crypto platforms to restrict deposits and withdrawals to customers' own verified accounts or wallets, prohibiting transfers to third-party wallets. The draft also sets a daily cap of 5 million baht (~US$150,000) per person per platform for both inflows and outflows. The proposal is open for public comment until September 25 and has not yet come into effect.

The Shanghai Financial Regulatory Bureau issued guidelines urging banks and insurance institutions to integrate blockchain, AI, big data, IoT, and quantum computing into technology finance operations. The initiative aims to enhance digital and intelligent management of tech finance, improve risk management, and develop tailored products for science and technology enterprises. Financial institutions are encouraged to build enterprise-level AI platforms and shift evaluation metrics from purely financial indicators to innovation capabilities, using data such as the "Shanghai Science and Technology Points" system.

A petition requesting a two-year postponement of the virtual asset tax has surpassed 50,764 signatures, meeting the threshold for review by a National Assembly standing committee. The petition argues that taxing digital assets could sharply reduce crypto exchange revenues and hence corporate tax income. The government currently plans to implement the tax from January 2027, but the ruling People Power Party opposes it, citing incomplete infrastructure.

SWIFT, in collaboration with 17 banks including Citi, Mitsubishi UFJ, Wells Fargo, BNY Mellon, UBS, and BNP Paribas, has initiated a pilot project to test tokenized deposit cross-border payments. The goal is to enable 24/7 instant transfers between different banks and reduce cross-border payment costs. The project signals growing institutional interest in tokenized settlement infrastructure and includes major Asian banking participants.

Cambodia's National Bank has revoked the payment service provider license of Tianxu International Technology, parent company of payment platform CoolCash, and placed it into liquidation. The company and its director Pang Weizhi were sanctioned by the UK government in March for alleged links to the Prince Group. The license was issued in May 2024 and was valid until 2030, but the action underscores regulatory scrutiny of crypto-adjacent payment services in Southeast Asia.

Chinese robotics company Unitree announced a comprehensive upgrade to its humanoid robot G1, launching the G1+ model. The new version features improvements in motion performance, perception interaction, and intelligent experience, including better neck flexibility, joint motor output, thermal management, vision and tactile sensing, battery life, and far-field voice interaction. The standard G1+ is priced at 95,000 yuan (~US$13,000) including tax, positioning it as a cost-effective option for research and development.

According to a Bank of Korea report, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix contributed 99.0% of KOSPI's rise from 8,000 to 9,000 points, highlighting extreme concentration in the Korean equity market. The two companies' contribution increased progressively from 50.8% (5,000 to 6,000) to 73.2% (6,000 to 7,000) and 94.6% (7,000 to 8,000). Conversely, during KOSPI's decline from 9,100 to 5,500, they accounted for 69.3% of the losses, underscoring systemic risk for the broader market.