I. New Year, Same Enthusiasm!

Two weeks into the new year, while the crypto markets might be still in the doldrums, the passion and energy within the digital asset community have remained unwavering, as evident by the flurry of industry events as well as blockchain and Web3-related conferences and summits in January so far across the APAC region. 

• Dr. Xiao Feng (top left), Chairman of HashKey Group, and Dr. David Zou (top right), HashKey's Chief Scientist, have been invited by the Hong Kong Trade and Development Council (HKTDC) as keynote speakers for this year's Asian Financial Forum (January 11-12). Dr. Xiao spoke about the future of virtual asset development in Hong Kong and how local FinTech start-ups can take advantage of the new regulatory regime. Dr. Zou joined a workshop session hosted by Yicai 第一財經 where he shed light on the development and application of the e-CNY. 

• The senior team at HashKey Capital has been also among the keynote speakers at recent industry conferences and events. Investment Director Sunny Yang He (bottom left) spoke at Alibaba Cloud's Web3 Summit in Singapore, where she shared how blockchain and crypto technology have continued to break new grounds in spite of the market turbulence.

• Research Director Jupiter Zheng (bottom right) was invited by Cyberport and Marsbit to moderate a panel discussion at the inaugural POW'ER 2023 Hong Kong Web3 Innovator Summit. He was joined by panellists from Aptos, Ava Labs and Conflux, where they talked about the future of Ethereum and new public chain opportunities.

II. Registration now open for HAPathon 2023, co-organised by HashKey Group

HashKey Group is proud to be co-hosting and co-presenting the first edition of HAPathon, the flagship Web3 startup competition in Asia of the year, along with our strategic partners Alibaba Cloud and PlatON.

The competition is held across a four-week time frame in four major Asia cities: Singapore, Bangkok, Tokyo and Hong Kong. Over 1,000 developers and founders from Web3 startups and blockchain companies from all over the world will compete for a total prize pool of at least USD 400,000. 

HAPathon Timeline:

1) Singapore: 18-19 March (Register by 12 March)

2) Bangkok: 25-26 March (Register by 19 March)

3) Tokyo: 1-2 April (Register by 26 March)

4) Hong Kong: 8-9 April (Register by 2 April)

Check out the official competition GitHub to learn more about the dates, rules and entry requirement of the competition. 

III. Crypto Stories of the Week
Hong Kong set to shortlist crypto tokens for retail trading
Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) will allow retail trading in a selected group of cryptocurrencies, its chief executive said. ‘Highly liquid’ assets will be on the list. The city has been promoting a new regulatory regime that will be more friendly to crypto start-ups and exchanges.

China includes digital currency e-CNY in official cash figures
China’s central bank has started to include the digital yuan into its cash circulation data. The outstanding size of the digital currency, e-CNY, was 13.61 billion yuan (US$2 billion) at the end of December. The digital yuan represented 0.13% of cash and reserves held by the central bank (M0), or 0.005% of M2, the broad measure of money supply.

Ethereum developers eye February public testnet for Shanghai upgrade
The Shanghai upgrade of the Ethereum network will focus exclusively on Ether (ETH) withdrawals. Currently, all staked ETH are temporarily inaccessible as part of the Ethereum Merge in September 2022. Developers are planning to release a public test network in Feburary prior to the Shanghai upgrade, according to a recent core developers call.

Mastercard launches Web3 artist incubator with Polygon
Ethereum Layer-2 scaling solution Polygon is collaborating with Mastercard to launch a Web3-focused incubation program for musical artists. The Mastercard Artist Accelerator will focus on providing music artists the tools and social connects they need to advance their music careers in the digital economy

Crypto VC LongHash launches soulbound tokens to reward contributors
LongHash Ventures has launched a new initiative to reward contributors via its startup accelerator arm, LongHashX. LongHashX uses Soulbound Tokens (SBTs) to provide rewards for contributors offering their time and expertise to LongHashX’s projects. LongHashX has partnered with DAO tooling company Syndicate to create its SBTs. 



IV. Key Weekly Data
Market Data (as of 12 January 2023)
• Total market value: US$903 billion  (+8% 7D) (Source: CoinMarketCap)
• Daily exchange volume (7DMA): US$11.79 billion (Source: The Block Research)
• Total exchange volume of Bitcoin and Ethereum (7DMA): Bitcoin - US$5.81 billion; Ether - US$1.47 billion (Source: The Block Research)
• DEX 7-day growth: US$9 billion (+65% compared to last week) (Source: Dune Analytics)


Contact:
Jason Li
Marketing and Client Strategy Manager
jason.li@hashkey.com