Alongside the rising adoption and value of crypto assets, theft is also on the rise. This year, the total value of cryptocurrency stolen surged 21%, reaching a substantial $2.2 billion. And according to a Chainalysis report released on Thursday, more than half of this amount was stolen by North Korea-affiliated hacking groups. Earlier this year, […]

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Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for nearly 50% of Southeast Asia’s GDP, contributing to job creation, innovation, and overall economic expansion. Nevertheless, as in other parts of the world, SMEs in Southeast Asia face challenges when it comes to sufficient working capital. In a nutshell, SMEs are typically deemed too risky for traditional banks […]

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South Korea’s antitrust watchdog has fined Kakao Mobility, the ride-hailing unit of Korean tech firm Kakao, $10.5 million (KRW 15.1 billion) for limiting competitors’ access to its taxi app — lowering the penalty from an initial fine of $50.3 million (KRW 72.4 billion) as the earlier sanction was based on an overestimated calculation of the […]

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Financial advisors have a big hurdle when it comes to finding new clients: Cold outreach rarely works. Often, the only way to find a good prospect is to tap your network for warm intros, or trawl platforms like LinkedIn, Pitchbook or ZoomInfo in hopes of landing a meeting, which may or may not convert. Eden […]

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CarDekho SEA, a Singapore-based auto financing service platform, has raised $60 million in equity, valuing the company at over $300 million, from Navis Capital Partners and Dragon Fund. This is its first round of external funding, following a previous investment of $40 million from its parent company, CarDekho Group. The company, the Southeast Asia unit […]

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Sometimes, the easiest way to find a great idea for a startup is to look beyond the current problem you’re solving for your customers. That’s exactly what worked for the founders of KPay. Davis Chan and his co-founders previously helped small and medium-sized merchants optimize their revenue and traffic in Asia, but they eventually noticed […]

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Amazon Japan has said it will collaborate with Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) after the watchdog conducted an on-site inspection related to suspected violations of anti-monopoly laws. The e-commerce giant is under suspicion of inappropriately urging vendors to lower their prices on its online shopping platform in return for better product placement, as first reported […]

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South Korean prosecutors sought a five-year prison sentence and a 500 million KRW fine, equivalent to $375,000, for Samsung Electronics chief Jay Y. Lee at an appeals court on Monday. The appeals case comes 10 months after Lee and 13 former Samsung executives were originally acquitted of manipulating stock prices and committing accounting fraud in […]

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Despite all the talk of doom and gloom about the economy, entrepreneurship is actually on the rise in the U.S.: In 2024, an average of 430,000 new business applications were submitted every month, marking a 50% rise from 2019. But the number of accountants these new businesses will need to maintain their books, file taxes, […]

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