Investment in the cryptocurrency and blockchain sector in Singapore jumped more than 10 times last year to a record, a KPMG report said, cementing the city-state’s status as a cryptocurrency hub even as it remains wary of speculative digital assets.
Last year saw 82 deals worth a combined US$1.48 billion, the report said.
That was up from US$110 million in 2020.
KPMG expects cryptocurrency investment in Singapore to remain robust this year, even as authorities impose more oversight.
In one move that sent chills through the industry, the central bank last month told cryptocurrency companies to refrain from advertising their services to the public.
A licensing process for permits to operate a regulated cryptocurrency business in Singapore has seen most applicants falter.
HOT INVESTMENTS
“Cryptocurrencies and blockchain are expected to remain very hot areas of investment in 2022, with more crypto firms looking to regulators to provide clear guidance on activities in order to help foster and develop the space,” Singapore-based KPMG International global fintech leader Anton Ruddenklau said in an e-mailed statement.
Most of the cryptocurrency and blockchain deals last year targeted software and underlying infrastructure, rather than services, the report said.
The sector accounted for one-third of overall investment in Singapore’s fintech industry, which hit a five-year high of US$3.94 billion, KPMG said.
Greek tourism student Katerina quit within a month of starting work at a five-star hotel in Halkidiki, one of the country’s top destinations, because she said conditions were so dire. Beyond the bad pay, the 22-year-old said that her working and living conditions were “miserable and unacceptable.” Millions holiday in Greece every year, but its vital tourism industry is finding it harder and harder to recruit Greeks to look after them. “I was asked to work in any department of the hotel where there was a need, from service to cleaning,” said Katerina, a tourism and marketing student, who would
i Gasoline and diesel prices at fuel stations are this week to rise NT$0.1 per liter, as tensions in the Middle East pushed crude oil prices higher last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices last week rose for the third consecutive week due to an escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, as the market is concerned that the situation in the Middle East might affect crude oil supply, CPC and Formosa said in separate statements. Front-month Brent crude oil futures — the international oil benchmark — rose 3.75 percent to settle at US$77.01
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As they zigzagged from one machine to another in the searing African sun, the workers were covered in black soot. However, the charcoal they were making is known as “green,” and backers hope it can save impoverished Chad from rampant deforestation. Chad, a vast, landlocked country of 19 million people perched at the crossroads of north and central Africa, is steadily turning to desert. It has lost more than 90 percent of its forest cover since the 1970s, hit by climate change and overexploitation of trees for household uses such as cooking, officials say. “Green charcoal” aims to protect what
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