JPEX staff flee event as scandal hits, Mt. Gox woes, Diners Club crypto: Asia Express
Our weekly roundup of news from East Asia curates the industry’s most important developments.
JPEX scandal grows to over $166M
Last week’s Token2049 conference in Singapore was a life-changing experience for some; for others, the event did not meet expectations — but for a select group of individuals, the imminent prospect of being pursued by law enforcement meant they had to abandon their booths and flee the event.
On Sept. 21, local news outlets reported that Hong Kong police had arrested 11 individuals linked to troubled cryptocurrency exchange JPEX on charges of fraud and operating an unlicensed virtual assets exchange. More than 2,000 users are estimated to have been affected, with $1.3 billion Hong Kong dollars ($166 million) involved. Police allege users’ assets have been embezzled by JPEX staff.
In a dramatic raid on Sept. 13 — day one of the conference — Hong Kong police arrested key JPEX executives, leading staff to abandon its corporate booth. The exchange subsequently applied for voluntary deregistration with the Australia Securities & Investment Commission, disclosing that its Australian entity had little assets left. After the news broke, JPEX reportedly raised its withdrawal fees to 999 USDT per transaction to prevent capital flight.
In an announcement on Sept. 20, JPEX said that 400 million Tether (USDT) worth of users’ deposits would be eligible for redemption. However, the catch is that the funds can only be redeemed starting in late 2025. The firm stated that due to the ongoing law enforcement investigation, its telecom service providers and asset custodians have frozen applicable services.
In a press conference, John Lee, the chief executive of Hong Kong, said, “This incident highlights the importance that when investors want to invest in virtual assets, then they must invest on platforms that are licensed.” Founded in 2019, JPEX heavily promoted its presence in Hong Kong with brand banners on local metro stations and taxis, as well as soliciting the help of celebrities such as singer Julian Cheung.
Before its collapse, JPEX’s marketing included free vouchers to any users who signed up, offers of up to 300X trading leverage, and stablecoin staking yields exceeding 30% per annum. The firm has since suspended all of its services despite previous assurances that “it will not collapse.”
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Mt. Gox trustee creditors, trolled?
Users of defunct Japanese crypto exchange Mt. Gox were dealt another setback on Sept. 21, when it was announced that bankruptcy trustees would delay payment deadlines by another year. If executed, this means that the bankruptcy process would have stretched out for 10 years (if not more) since a devastating hack obliterated the exchange in 2014.
In April, Mt. Gox set a final deadline for creditors to register a claim against the defunct crypto exchange. A target date of October 2023 was then set for the repayment of users’ assets. The registration process has been extended periodically for several years. Despite previous reassurances, Mt. Gox trustees wrote:
“Given the time required for rehabilitation creditors to provide the necessary information, and for the Rehabilitation Trustee to confirm such information and engage in discussions and share information with banks, fund transfer service providers, and Designated Cryptocurrency Exchanges etc., involved in the repayments, which are required before the repayments can be made, the Rehabilitation Trustee will not be able to complete the repayments above by the deadline.”
Mt. Gox was the biggest Bitcoin exchange in the world when it filed for bankruptcy in 2014 after discovering that 850,000 of its customers’ Bitcoin (BTC) had been stolen after years of subtle siphoning. The exchange has since recovered around 200,000 BTC. The funds have been held in trust for the creditors, with 162,106 BTC ($4.38 billion) sitting in wallet addresses tracked by Token Unlock. At the time of the hack, the price of Bitcoin was around $580 apiece, meaning that many creditors would have realized gains on investment despite over half of their BTC being stolen.
In its communication to creditors, the trustee stated that payments could come as soon as the end of this year for registered creditors. However, like for the past decade, a caveat clause was included (as always):
“Please note that the schedule is subject to change depending on the circumstances, and the specific timing of repayments to each rehabilitation creditor has not yet been determined.”
Singaporean fintech raises $10M
Singaporean firm DCS Fintech Holdings has received a $10 million investment from Foresight Ventures for creating crypto-fiat on-ramping solutions.
According to the Sept. 21 announcement, DCS, which originally stood for “Diners Club Singapore,” the first credit card issuer in the city-state nation, will use the capital to develop “new payment solutions that provide a seamless connection between Web2 and Web3.” Its subsidiary, DCS Card Center, is regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore for issuing credit cards. CEO Karen Low commented:
“The rapid evolution of Web3 today necessitates the bridging of payments into Web2, while the rise of fintechs is democratizing payments for consumers, creating demand for greater variety and refreshing experiences. These are opportunities that DCS is well-poised to seize.”
As part of DCS’s initial foray into Web3, it has developed a Singaporean-dollar-backed payment token, which is also dubbed “DCS,” for the financial service sector.
Also based in Singapore, Foresight Ventures is a $400 million fund investing in Web3, AI and blockchain-related entities. In May, the firm pledged an additional $10 million for its Web3 accelerator, bringing the total to $20 million. The firm also backs the $120 million Sei Ecosystem Fund.
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Politics
‘Shameful’ that black boys in London more likely to die than white boys, says Met Police chief
It is “shameful” that black boys growing up in London are “far more likely” to die than white boys, Metropolitan Police chief Sir Mark Rowley has told Sky News.
The commissioner told Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips that relations with minority communities “is difficult for us”.
Sir Mark, who came out of retirement to become head of the UK’s largest police force in 2022, said: “We can’t pretend otherwise that we’ve got a history between policing and black communities where policing has got a lot wrong.
“And we get a lot more right today, but we do still make mistakes. That’s not in doubt. I’m being as relentless in that as it can be.”
He said the “vast majority” of the force are “good people”.
However, he added: “But that legacy, combined with the tragedy that some of this crime falls most heavily in black communities, that creates a real problem because the legacy creates concern.”
Sir Mark, who also leads the UK’s counter-terrorism policing, said it is “not right” that black boys growing up in London “are far more likely to be dead by the time they’re 18” than white boys.
“That’s, I think, shameful for the city,” he admitted.
The Met Police chief’s admission comes two years after an official report found the force is institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic.
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Police chase suspected phone thief
Baroness Casey was commissioned in 2021 to look into the Met Police after serving police officer Wayne Couzens abducted, raped and murdered Sarah Everard.
She pinned the primary blame for the Met’s culture on its past leadership and found that stop and search and the use of force against black people was excessive.
At the time, Sir Mark, who had been commissioner for six months when the report was published, said he would not use the labels of institutionally racist, institutionally misogynistic and institutionally homophobic, which Casey insisted the Met deserved.
However, London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who helped hire Sir Mark – and could fire him – made it clear the commissioner agreed with Baroness Casey’s verdict.
After the report was released, Sir Mark said “institutional” was political language so he was not going to use it, but he accepted “we have racists, misogynists…systematic failings, management failings, cultural failings”.
A few months after the report, Sir Mark launched a two-year £366m plan to overhaul the Met, including increased emphasis on neighbourhood policing to rebuild public trust and plans to recruit 500 more community support officers and an extra 565 people to work with teams investigating domestic violence, sexual offences and child sexual abuse and exploitation.
Watch the full interview on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips from 8.30am on Sunday.
Labour’s largest union donor, Unite, has voted to suspend Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner over her role in the Birmingham bin strike row.
Members of the trade union, one of the UK’s largest, also “overwhelmingly” voted to “re-examine its relationship” with Labour over the issue.
They said Ms Rayner, who is also housing, communities and local government secretary, Birmingham Council’s leader, John Cotton, and other Labour councillors had been suspended for “bringing the union into disrepute”.
There was confusion over Ms Rayner’s membership of Unite, with her office having said she was no longer a member and resigned months ago and therefore could not be suspended.
But Unite said she was registered as a member. Parliament’s latest register of interests had her down as a member in May.
Politics latest: Italy and other EU countries have ‘huge doubts’ about legality of UK migrant deal
The union said an emergency motion was put to members at its policy conference in Brighton on Friday.
Unite is one of the Labour Party’s largest union donors, donating £414,610 in the first quarter of 2025 – the highest amount in that period by a union, company or individual.
The union condemned Birmingham’s Labour council and the government for “attacking the bin workers”.
Mountains of rubbish have been piling up in the city since January after workers first went on strike over changes to their pay, with all-out strike action starting in March. An agreement has still not been made.
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Rat catcher tackling Birmingham’s bins problem
Ms Rayner and the councillors had their membership suspended for “effectively firing and rehiring the workers, who are striking over pay cuts of up to £8,000”, the union added.
‘Missing in action’
General secretary Sharon Graham told Sky News on Saturday morning: “Angela Rayner, who has the power to solve this dispute, has been missing in action, has not been involved, is refusing to come to the table.”
She had earlier said: “Unite is crystal clear, it will call out bad employers regardless of the colour of their rosette.
“Angela Rayner has had every opportunity to intervene and resolve this dispute but has instead backed a rogue council that has peddled lies and smeared its workers fighting huge pay cuts.
“The disgraceful actions of the government and a so-called Labour council, is essentially fire and rehire and makes a joke of the Employment Relations Act promises.
“People up and down the country are asking whose side is the Labour government on and coming up with the answer not workers.”
Piles of rubbish built up around Birmingham because of the strike over pay
Sir Keir Starmer’s spokesman said the government’s “priority is and always has been the residents of Birmingham”.
He said the decision by Unite workers to go on strike had “caused disruption” to the city.
“We’ve worked to clean up streets and remain in close contact with the council […] as we support its recovery,” he added.
A total of 800 Unite delegates voted on the motion.
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