During the Blockchain Week in Busan Korea, six digital asset exchanges unveiled the “Asia Digital Asset Exchange Alliance”. Mostly of the exchanges are involved with digital securities and real world asset (RWA) tokenization, but one also offers cryptocurrency. The thing they all have in common is they are regulated exchanges. Some of them are in the very early stages of market traction, but not all.
Singapore’s ADDX is likely the most experienced of the group regarding digital transactions under its belt. It’s raised $120 million in funding with its backers including the Singapore Exchange (SGS), Temasek, UOB, the Thai stock exchange SET, and asset manager Hamilton Lane.
Japan’s Osaka Digital Exchange (ODX) is bigger than ADDX, but most of its activities are conventional rather than digital securities. It has a digital securities trading arm, START, which launched at Christmans 2023, but is still quite small. ODX was founded by Japan’s SBI, with other backers including the Cboe, Nomura, SMBC and Daiwa Securities.
“Japan’s blockchain ecosystem has seen rapid growth due to its integration into the regulatory framework,” said Mr. Kimio Mikazuki, Representative Director and President of ODX. “We hope to share our experiences and expertise with the other Asia Digital Asset Exchange Alliance members to support growth mutually.”
The host in Korea is the Busan Digital Asset Exchange, which has rebranded to the Busan Digital Asset Nexus (BDAN). It plans to launch the exchange soon, after a consortium including the Hana Bank and Hana Securities won the mandate to run it in February. While the focus is on real world asset tokenization, it also has future cryptocurrency plans. This week it announced plans to acquire a consumer targeted gold and silver exchange, Sengold (or Cengold) owned by the consortium leader ItCen.
Token X is the Thai partner in the group. The venture is owned by the Siam Commercial Bank holding company SCBX. It positions itself as a regulated ICO portal, but we don’t have knowledge of any recent transactions.
Green X is a Malaysian Sharia compliant digital asset exchange, with three listed tokens. Its parent is listed on the Nasdaq with a market capitalization of $6.5 million. Finally, Cambodia’s Mekong Digital Exchange (MKEX) is a cryptocurrency exchange regulated by Cambodia’s securities authority.
