DEEPSEEK
DeepSeek is an AI company and a family of large language models based in Hangzhou, China. It was founded in 2023 and funded by High-Flyer, a well - known quantitative asset management giant. DeepSeek is dedicated to developing advanced large language models and related technologies. It has released several models, including DeepSeek LLM, DeepSeek Coder, DeepSeekMath, and DeepSeek - VL. The latest version, DeepSeek - V3, which was launched in December 2024, has 67.1 billion parameters and was trained on a dataset of 14.8 trillion tokens. It uses FP8 training and open - sources the native FP8 weights. Benchmark tests show that it outperforms Llama 3.1 and Qwen 2.5 while matching GPT - 4O and Claude 3.5 Sonnet. In addition, DeepSeek - R1, which was officially released on January 20, 2025, performs on a par with OpenAI O1 in terms of mathematics, code, and natural language reasoning tasks. DeepSeek's models have a wide range of applications, such as chat and coding scenarios, multilingual automatic translation, image generation, and AI painting. With their high performance and low cost, DeepSeek's models have quickly gained popularity. For example, on February 2, 2025, the DeepSeek app climbed to the top of the download charts in 140 countries on the Apple App Store and also topped the Android Play Store in the United States
Binance Australia Derivatives License Canceled by ASIC
ASIC has canceled the financial services license of Binance Australia Derivatives after reviewing Binance's operations in the country. Clients must close their existing derivatives positions before April 21.
Singapore Regulators and Banks Develop Crypto Customer Screening Standards
Singapore's monetary authority and police forces are collaborating with traditional banks to optimize their procedures for opening accounts for digital asset service providers. After six months, results and conclusions for risk management and due diligence will be published. The guidelines will cover stablecoins, NFTs, and transferable gaming or streaming credits, with banks reserving the right to make decisions based on their own risk assessment.
Trust Wallet Partners with Ramp and MoonPay for Crypto-to-Fiat Withdrawals
Trust Wallet has partnered with Ramp and MoonPay to offer seamless crypto-to-fiat withdrawals for its users. The feature allows Trust Wallet users to convert crypto to fiat directly within the app, eliminating the need for transferring funds to a centralized wallet. This development comes at a time when centralized exchanges and P2P platforms are shutting down.
VP Bank Partners with Metaco for Digital Asset Custody Services
VP Bank has teamed up with Metaco to enhance its digital asset custody and tokenization operations. The partnership will allow VP Bank to leverage Metaco's Harmonize platform for asset minting, burning, and storage.
ANZ Bank Pushes Customers Towards Digital, Faces Criticism
ANZ Bank is facing criticism as it discontinues withdrawals and deposits from a number of Australian branches to encourage customers to use digital transactions. Critics suggest this could impact older customers and increase vulnerability to technical issues. This decision highlights the gradual shift towards a cashless society in Australia, with cash payments falling from 59% in 2007 to 27% in 2019.
Seychelles Crypto Exchange OKX to Expand Services to Australia
OKX, the Seychelles-based crypto exchange, plans to expand its services to Australia due to the country's strong uptake of cryptocurrency. The exchange sees Australia as an essential part of its growth strategy and intends to build a strong local office.
Hong Kong Investors Launch $100M Fund for Web3 Startups
ProDigital Future, a new $100 million fund led by Hong Kong-based equity firm SAIF Partners, aims to support early-stage Web3 companies in the regional market. The fund has already raised $30 million during its half-year fundraising period and plans to raise $100 million by the end of 2023. ProDigital Future has already invested in six digital-asset projects, including GigaSpace and One Future Football. The fund intends to operate in Hong Kong, Australia, Singapore, Europe, and the United States, while adhering to the necessary licensing and regulatory requirements.
Australian Senator Proposes Digital Asset Regulation Bill
Senator Andrew Bragg has proposed a Digital Assets (Market Regulation) Bill 2023 to regulate cryptocurrency services in Australia. The bill recommends stablecoin regulations, licensing of exchanges, and custody requirements to protect consumers and promote investment.
OKX to Open Office in Australia
Brand Ambassadors Daniel Ricciardo, Scotty James, and McLaren F1 driver Oscar Piastri join event at Melbourne Arts Centre to celebrate ahead of Australian Grand Prix
US District Judge Rules in Favor of Custodial Arrangement for bZx DAO Members
A US district judge has ruled that bZx DAO transactions are custodial due to the ability for developers to upgrade a smart contract where the key is held by a single developer, as highlighted in a class-action lawsuit against bZx DAO and others. This may impact DeFi platforms that use multisigs and require them to obtain custody licenses to comply with the law.