HTX hacked again for $13.6M, 100K Koreans test CBDC, Binance 2.0: Asia Express
Our weekly roundup of news from East Asia curates the industry’s most important developments.
HTX exchange hacked… again
In the fourth hack affecting the HTX (formerly Huobi Global) ecosystem in just two months, the exchange lost $13.6 million via a hot wallet hack that occurred on Nov. 22.
In its Nov. 23 announcement, the exchangepromisedto “fully compensate for the losses caused by this attack and 100% guarantee the safety of user funds,” as well as restore services within 24 hours of the attack. The day prior, the HTX Eco Chain (HECO) bridge was exploited for $86.6 million. An investigation is ongoing.
In September, the HTX exchange was hacked for $7.9 million; this was followed by a $100 million hack against the Poloniex exchange, a related entity, in November. Justin Sun, the Chinese blockchain personality and de-facto owner of HTX (not to mention the owner of Poloniex, founder of Tron and CEO of BitTorrent etc),stated after the attack that “HTX Will Fully Compensate for HTX’s hot wallet Losses. Deposits and Withdrawals Temporarily Suspended. All Funds in HTX Are Secure.” Sun previously also madeassurancesthat “all user assets are #SAFU” in the aftermath of the September hack against HTX.
Huobirebranded to HTXduring this year’s Singapore2049 event in September. Although its executives have repeatedly reassured that the exchange is doing well, the exchange ran into a number ofserious incidentsthis year, including analleged employee revolt.
Binance pleads guilty, settles criminal charges for $4.3 billion
Crypto exchange Binance has agreed to plead guilty to violating the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act, knowingly failing to register as a money-transmitting business, and willfully violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The exchange will pay $4.3 billion in penalties and forfeiture to the U.S. Justice Department.
According to the Nov. 21announcement, Changpeng Zhao, co-founder and CEO of Binance, has also pled guilty to one count of willfully violating the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act. Zhao has since entered his personal plea in the District Court for the Western District of Washington.
At the time, Zhao was granted a $175 million bond that allowed him to reside in Dubai pending his sentencing hearing on Feb. 24. However, the U.S. Department of Justice has since appealed that decision, asking to confine his residence to the U.S. pending the sentencing hearing due to Zhao allegedly possessing an “unacceptable risk of flight.”
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In its indictment, the Department of Justice noted that, in a few noticeable incidents and despite reassurances, Binance facilitated over $1 billion in illicit transactions for Iranian users, the Russian marketplace Hyrdra and cryptocurrency mixer Bestmixer. and it solicited U.S. users without prior registration. Binance was also accused of deliberately masking such actions as “complying with U.S. law would stifle their efforts to grow Binance’s profits, market share, and trading volume.”
The same day, Zhao stepped down as the CEO of Binance. “I made mistakes, and I must take responsibility. This is best for our community, for Binance, and for myself,” he stated.
“Binance is no longer a baby. It is time for me to let it walk and run. I know Binance will continue to grow and excel with the deep bench it has.”
While Zhao still owns a majority in the exchange, he will be barred from being involved in the exchange’s everyday operations. Richard Teng, Binance’s global head of regional markets, was named the exchange’s new CEO. In his inaugural statement, Teng stated that the exchange’s fundamentals were “VERY strong” and that Binance is still “the world’s largest crypto exchange by volume.”
Blockchain analytics firm Nansen has noted that despite the guilty plea, it did not witness any “mass exodus of funds” after the incident. While the exchange witnessed nearly $965 million worth of withdrawals, its total holdings increased to $65 billion. On November 23, CZ’s X account was temporarily suspended after removing “Binance” from his profile name.
South Korea invites 100,000 people to test CBDC
The Bank of Korea, South Korea, and Central Bank will invite 100,000 Korean citizens to purchase goods with deposit tokens issued by commercial banks as part of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot test. The first of such trials began in October.
According to local news reports on November 23, “participants will be restricted to using the currency solely for its designated purpose of payment. Other uses, including personal remittance, will not be permitted at this time.” Although the Bank of Korea has not yet decided to whether or not to implement a CBDC, further trials are expected, including an integration simulation system for carbon emissions trading on the Korea Exchange. It said:
“Recently, the rapid digitalization of the economy has led to a growing demand for a digital form of public currency. This demand is evident in the private sector, where new payment instruments such as stablecoins have been developed and are already widely used in certain sectors.”
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The SEC has just issued its second “no-action letter” toward a decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN) crypto project in recent months, giving its native token “regulatory cover” from enforcement.
The no-action letter was sent to the Solana DePIN project Fuse, which issues a network token, FUSE, as a reward to those actively maintaining the network.
Fuse initially submitted a letter to the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance on Nov. 19, asking for official confirmation that it would not recommend the SEC take enforcement action if the project continues to offer and sell FUSE tokens.
Fuse also outlined in its letter that FUSE is designed for network utility and consumptive purposes, not for speculation. They can only be redeemed for an average market price via third parties.
“Based on the facts presented, the Division will not recommend enforcement action to the Commission if, in reliance on your opinion as counsel, Fuse offers and sells the Tokens in the manner and under the circumstances described in your letter,” the Division of Corporation Finance’s deputy chief counsel, Jonathan Ingram, wrote on Monday.
The latest SEC no-action letter comes just a few months after the SEC issued a similar “highly coveted” letter to Double Zero, which was seen as a result of a new, more crypto-friendly leadership at the SEC.
At the time, DoubleZero co-founder Austin Federa said such letters are common in TradFi but are “very rare” in the crypto space.
“It was a months long process, but we found the SEC to be quite receptive, we found them to be quite professional, quite diligent, there was no crypto animosity.”
The SEC was put under new leadership in April, after Paul Atkins was sworn in as the 34th chairman, and the agency has since been seen taking a more balanced approach to crypto. As part of the leadership, crypto-friendly Hester Peirce also heads up the agency’s crypto task force.
SEC no-action letters are a form of regulatory clarity
Adding to the discussion on X, Rebecca Rettig, a legal representative of Solana MEV infrastructure platform Jito Labs, said that no-action letters are sought after by many crypto projects.
“Why do crypto teams want them? ‘Regulatory clarity.’ If you’re planning to issue a token, a NAL provides reasonable assurance you won’t face immediate enforcement for violations of securities laws. It’s a kind of ‘regulatory cover,’” she wrote.
SEC giving a pass to Fuse wasn’t unexpected: Crypto lawyer
The no-action letter doesn’t necessarily set any new precedents, however.
Commenting on the subject via X on Monday, Consensys lawyer Bill Hughes said this was “an easy case,” given the nature of Fuse’s token.
“The take away is that there is not a lawyer in crypto that would have thought this token was a security. And maybe not even any lawyer who is merely familiar with Howey,” Hughes said.
Crypto founders praise SEC’s new leadership
After an era in which many US crypto founders, businesses and projects said they felt hostility from the SEC under former chair Gary Gensler, the latest interaction with Fuse indicates the agency has dramatically shifted its approach.
Related: SEC to hold privacy and financial surveillance roundtable in December
The same month that Double Zero secured its no-action letter, the SEC also issued a similar no-action letter for crypto-custodians that don’t qualify as banks.
While they still have to meet strict conditions, the no-action letter provides clear guidelines for acceptable ways for these types of firms to operate and deal with crypto, something which the industry has been begging for over the past few years.
Magazine: 2026 is the year of pragmatic privacy in crypto: Canton, Zcash and more
Politics
Budget 2025: Three things Rachel Reeves’s speech boils down to – and two tricks the chancellor will fall back on
This is going to be a big budget – not to mention a complex budget.
It could, depending on how it lands, determine the fate of this government. And it’s hard to think of many other budgets that have been preceded by quite so much speculation, briefing, and rumour.
All of which is to say, you could be forgiven for feeling rather overwhelmed.
But in practice, what’s happening this week can really be boiled down to three things.
1. Not enough growth
The first is that the economy is not growing as fast as many people had hoped. Or, to put it another way, Britain’s productivity growth is much weaker than it once used to be.
The upshot of that is that there’s less money flowing into the exchequer in the form of tax revenues.
2. Not enough cuts
The second factor is that last year and this, the chancellor promised to make certain cuts to welfare – cuts that would have saved the government billions of pounds of spending a year.
But it has failed to implement those cuts. Put those extra billions together with the shortfall from that weaker productivity, and it’s pretty clear there is a looming hole in the public finances.
3. Not enough levers
The third thing to bear in mind is that Rachel Reeves has pledged to tie her hands in the way she responds to this fiscal hole.
She has fiscal rules that mean she can’t ignore it. She has a manifesto pledge which means she is somewhat limited in the levers she can pull to fill it.
Put it all together, and it adds up to a momentous headache for the chancellor. She needs to raise quite a lot of money and all the “easy” ways of doing it (like raising income tax rates or VAT) seem to be off the table.
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The Budget Explained – in 60 seconds
So… what will she do?
Quite how she responds remains to be seen – as does the precise size of the fiscal hole. But if the rumours in Westminster are to be believed, she will fall back upon two tricks most of her predecessors have tried at various points.
First, she will deploy “fiscal drag” to squeeze extra income tax and national insurance payments out of families for the coming five years.
What this means in practice is that even though the headline rate of income tax might not go up, the amount of income we end up being taxed on will grow ever higher in the coming years.
Second, the chancellor is expected to squeeze government spending in the distant years for which she doesn’t yet need to provide detailed plans.
Together, these measures may raise somewhere in the region of £10bn. But Reeves’s big problem is that in practice she needs to raise two or three times this amount. So, how will she do that?
Most likely is that she implements a grab-bag of other tax measures: more expensive council tax for high value properties; new CGT rules; new gambling taxes and more.
No return to austerity, but an Osborne-like predicament…
If this summons up a particular memory from history, it’s precisely the same problem George Osborne faced back in 2012. He wanted to raise quite a lot of money but due to agreements with his coalition partners, he was limited in how many big taxes he could raise.
The resulting budget was, at the time at least, the single most complex budget in history. Consider: in the years between 1970 and 2010 the average UK budget contained 14 tax measures. Osborne’s 2012 budget contained a whopping 61 of them.
And not long after he delivered it, the budget started to unravel. You probably recall the pasty tax, and maybe the granny tax and the charity tax. Essentially, he was forced into a series of embarrassing U-turns. If there was a lesson, it was that trying to wodge so many money-raising measures into a single fiscal event was an accident waiting to happen.
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Can the budget fix economic woes?
Except that… here’s the interesting thing. In the following years, the complexity of budgets didn’t fall – it rose. Osborne broke his own complexity record the next year with the 2013 budget (73 tax measures), and then again in 2016 (86 measures). By 2020 the budget contained a staggering 103 measures. And Reeves’s own first budget, last autumn, very nearly broke this record with 94 measures.
In short, budgets have become more and more complex, chock-full of even more (often microscopic) tax measures.
Read more from Sky News:
What tax measures are expected in budget?
The political jeopardy facing Rachel Reeves in budget
In part, this is a consequence of the fact that, long ago, chancellors seem to have agreed that it would be political suicide to raise the basic rate of income tax or VAT. The consequence is that they have been forced to resort to ever smaller and fiddlier measures to make their numbers add up.
The question is whether this pattern continues this week. Do we end up with yet another astoundingly complex budget? Will that slew of measures backfire as they did for Osborne in 2012? And, more to the point, will they actually benefit the UK economy?
Politics
Budget 2025: Rachel Reeves calls for Labour MPs to unite – but admits they might not like everything
A defiant Rachel Reeves has urged Labour MPs to unite behind this week’s budget – but appeared to admit they might not like all of her policies.
Addressing the Parliamentary Labour Party last night, the chancellor described politics as a “team sport” and insisted that tomorrow’s announcements will be “fair”.
Backbenchers are said to have become increasingly frustrated at the prospect of further tax hikes, which come against a backdrop of falling opinion poll ratings.
Ed Conway: Three things the budget boils down to
Rachel Reeves. Pic: PA
Ms Reeves argued the budget should be regarded as a package – and not a “pick ‘n’ mix” where MPs “like the cola bottles but not the fruit salad”.
She added that her three top priorities were to cut the cost of living, reduce NHS waiting lists and slash the cost of servicing debt – with £1 in every £10 now spent on interest.
Newspaper reports suggest there were cheers in the room when Ms Reeves vowed to stay in Number 11 and withstand criticism about her handling of the economy.
She was quoted as saying: “I’ll show the media, I’ll show the Tories, I will not let them beat me, I’ll be there on Wednesday, I’ll be there next year, and I’ll be back the year after that.”
The chancellor suggested Labour MPs will be happy with 95% of the budget’s contents, but hinted there are difficult political decisions yet to be announced.
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Is growth downgrade a problem for Reeves?
Setback for Reeves as growth forecasts cut
Yesterday, Sky News revealed that the Office for Budget Responsibility’s growth forecasts are going to be downgraded every year until the current parliament ends in 2029.
Our deputy political editor Sam Coates reports that the government will argue there are “a number of reasons” for the revision.
But he added: “However you cut it, whatever the reasoning, once again, last year, growth will be lower after this budget than before, which is not a great position for a government that had claimed growth as their top priority.”
In some better news for the government, Ms Reeves is expected to announce that she has more headroom than first thought – meaning ministers will be able to claim that the country is no longer in an “economic doom loop”.
“That might well be one of the positive surprises when we actually get to Wednesday’s budget,” Coates added on the Politics At Sam and Anne’s podcast.
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Employment Rights Bill is ‘anti-growth blueprint’
‘I think she’s doing a terrible job’
Meanwhile, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has accused the government of stymying growth and pursuing “job-killing measures”.
She told Sky News that she thinks Ms Reeves is “doing a terrible job” as chancellor – and warned Labour should pay close attention to public perception of the budget.
“A lot of people out there in the country, men and women, thinks that she needs to cut tax, and if she raises it, then she should go,” Ms Badenoch added.
At the CBI conference in London yesterday, the Opposition leader urged the government to scrap the Employment Rights Bill – describing it as an “assault on flexible working” that would empower trade unions and drag the UK back to the 1970s.
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How do business leaders feel before budget?
Ms Badenoch said: “Killing it would be a signal to the world that Britain still understands what makes an economy grow.
“If the chancellor had any sense, and any regard for business, she would use the budget to say ‘we got this one wrong’ and drop it.”
This Employment Rights Bill includes measures that would ban zero hours contracts, but Ms Badenoch has argued that this would amount to a “de facto ban” on seasonal and flexible work.
The CBI conference marks a difficult anniversary for the government – with attention turning to the speech Ms Reeves gave there a year ago.
Having already delivered her first budget, she had told businesses that she was “not coming back with more borrowing or more taxes” – a statement that flies in the face of what the chancellor is expected to unveil tomorrow.
Read more from Sky News:
What tax rises and spending cuts will be announced?
Analysis: Chancellor’s authority is on shaky ground
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Can the budget fix economic woes?
Greens call for wealth tax
In other developments, the Green Party has called on the government to introduce a 1% tax on wealth over £10m – rising to 2% over £1bn. Its estimates suggest this measure could help potentially raise £15bn a year in revenues.
Zack Polanski also wants the rates of capital gains tax, which is currently one of the lowest among G7 nations, to be raised in line with income tax.
He will outline his demands on Mornings With Ridge And Frost ahead of a protest in Westminster.
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Sky News goes inside the room where the budget happens
Announcements have been gradually trickling through ahead of the budget tomorrow, with the chancellor widely expected to freeze income tax thresholds once again.
Ms Reeves is also set to lift the two-child cap on benefits, with figures suggesting this policy will cost about £3bn a year.
Over the weekend, it was confirmed that rail fares in England will be frozen for the first time since the 1990s – meaning some commuters will save hundreds of pounds on season tickets.
An above-inflation rise to the state pension is planned too, meaning 13 million people will receive an extra £550 a year from April.
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