Exploring Asia's Cryptocurrency Market

Last month, global digital and crypto assets exchange, Zipmex partnered with The Secret Little Agency to grow the brand in both the wider Asia Pacific region and at a global level. Working from the brand’s headquarters in Singapore the partnership will see TSLA take charge of strategy, positioning and design. In a world where cryptocurrency and the rise of a ‘cashless’ society is taking over faster than anticipated, the team at Zipmex has a vision to be limitless and a goal to be the largest digital exchange in the APAC region.

LBB’s Natasha Patel caught up with Zipmex’s CSO Proud Limpongpan to hear her take on the industry at the moment and more about the brand’s plans to take over. 

Proud> Asia accounts for a huge number of crypto users, companies, miners, traders, and more. Many people are not familiar with the dominant exchanges, funds, custodians, and market makers in Asia. Additionally, Asia accounts for 60% of world population, infrastructure companies across the world are interested in unlocking the growing market. 

China, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore are leading crypto countries with deep liquidity pools - however, other countries in Asia also have potential to scale. Traditional finance has played a key role in the adoption of crypto: capital controls pushed investors towards cryptocurrencies in China and South Korea as low-yields pushed adoption in Japan. 

Each country has a different culture and regulatory body. However, Asia has a prominent role in the crypto market due to various reasons such as high penetration of public market investing, high-technology investing, penetration of e-payments as well as propensity to develop fintech products.

Singapore is one of the more lenient markets for crypto-specific regulations in Asia. However, they are strict on KYC (Know-Your-Customer), fit and proper criteria for all relevant persons carrying out any activity regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore and FATF Travel Rule [Financial Action Task Force] for anonymity of wire and crypto transactions in order to prevent money laundering and Anti-Money Laundering. Although the MAS has not licenced exchanges outright, there are many entities that have been granted an exemption from holding a license under the Payment Services Act (PSA) for digital asset token services and crypto trading. 

Proud> Our vision is to be limitless. Zipmex aims to elevate wealth by becoming an alternative platform with the goal of providing experiences beyond finance and provisions received from the banks. The bank is and will continue to be an integral part of our monetary system. The perks that come with the blockchain technology such as its speed, security provided by the fact that the system is distributed across thousands of computers with a highly encrypted system and transparent nature can be used to modernize the banking industry, rather than disrupt it. 

Zipmex pioneers a series of innovative digital asset solutions including savings accounts as well as the launch of the native digital token – the Zipmex Token (ZMT) which brings unparalleled benefits to the members of our community. We aim to integrate personal finances with personal lifestyle through product offerings: savings (ZipUp and ZipLock), trading (Zipmex Exchange) and payment for goods and services via crypto (ZipSpend) whereby Zipmex will also be launching ZipCard, a direct to consumer product as well as increasing access to art, gaming and other lifestyle products and experiences which can all be tokenised, made into NFTs redeemable and tradeable on our ZipNFT platform, and ZMT will be underpinning and unlocking this entire NFT ecosystem for our users.

Proud> Zipmex facilitated Asia’s first Lamborghini and Tesla purchases using bitcoin. It also tracks a larger global trend of property sellers accepting the world’s most popular cryptocurrency as an alternative to fiat currency. We believe these transactions are the first of many as more and more people enter the crypto market and gain profit from crypto. With the wins from investment, people would traditionally want to buy hard assets. However, crypto makes it easier for transactions to be made - it is as simple as transferring funds from one address to another. Our payment network (ZipSpend) allows our users to be able to purchase hard assets with crypto such as purchasing artwork or property as Zipmex continues to merge businesses towards a cashless society as the world continues to embrace cryptocurrency as a preferred option in payment.

The option to buy with cryptocurrency first and foremost relies on the industry's adoption of the blockchain. At present, buyers and sellers for big purchases rely on the synergy of the long list of professionals involved to make a transaction happen. Blockchain uses self-executing transactions, “smart contracts” on a decentralized network which eliminates the need for paper works. This makes assets of high value more liquid! We believe more and more purchases will be made with crypto in the future as digital assets increase their roles in our lives. 

Proud> Our goal is to serve our customers as well as any traditional financial institutions can - whether it is loans, payments, or even getting exposure to the stock market, and ZMT will be underpinning every new product that comes onto Zipmex. Zipmex integrates personal finances with personal lifestyle. We have many projects in the pipeline with Z-Launchpool being the most imminent, along with ZipWorld.

Those who have ZMT, our native token, can lock it to get an allocation of new tokens we will be listing on Zipmex. Depending on the project, and in accordance with the regulation of each country, it may be distributed either for free or at a very attractive price prior to its launch on ZipExchange. This will be launched towards the end of Q2, followed by ZipNFT. These special experiences and products will be developed in the coming months which can also be traded, and displayed on a social platform, which is also under the works. Additionally, you can expect our marketing campaigns to plaster Bangkok, Jakarta, Singapore, Sydney and beyond. Zipmex will also be leveraging our amazing partners and their fanbase to cross promote.

Proud> Zipmex is uniquely placed in that we are deeply integrated and trusted within each of the local markets where we operate, much more so than other crypto or blockchain companies including our product offerings. We can source the best whether it is top artist, top brands, or the largest conglomerates in the country. Not only are we going to focus on the digital aspects of NFT, we are also going to link it to real world use cases. 

Everyone and their mother can create a NFT and say buy this and you can meet this superstar, but you may end up in a situation where you have this NFT go up to this superstar, and they are like who are you? But we are actually in a position to deliver.  People can trust us to execute the real world use case because we will directly work with our partners. Also will be focused on creating country-specific NFT as well such as working with famous artists of that country, or packaging exclusive experiences for that country into the NFT. We are also going to make it deeply social, and with our wide consumer reach, across SEA, we are best positioned to do it. 

Zipmex’s goal is to be limitless and to become a relevant brand to consumers’ lives from now to the future. 

Proud> We are set to see greater adoption of crypto in the near future - particularly with the rise of investment in the blockchain technology and acceptance of crypto as a form of payment option. Thus, crypto will have a more and more prominent role in our daily lives. 

The catalyst for the growing interest in crypto stems from institution adoption as big companies are buying bitcoin. Key reasons: 1) FOMO; 2) demand for inflation hedge; and 3) increased legitimacy. As public interest grew, crypto-payment platforms and institutions investment in crypto are sure to have a bright future.

Proud> Covid-19 has taken the world by a storm since last February 2020, causing the government to impose a lockdown as an emergency decree to limit the virus. Such policy restrictions suppressed economic growth as it sparked a recession followed through the pandemic's footstep and spread globally – causing the central banks to step in to support national economies. 

With the fear of inflation, many investors enter the crypto market in anticipation of inflation as well as a safe store of value - to park their assets where the values are not affected and controlled by authorities. 

All in all, people thrive for stability in life - this includes their financial status. Thus, they look for better alternatives. As people are more aware of the impact of their financial status on their lives, they are open to more opportunities to foster a better lifestyle.  Zipmex products such as ZipUp allow users to earn bonus on their savings and many other lifestyle products to help their lives become a life well-lived.