Indonesia-based digital signature and identity platform Privy is set to expand its business to Australia. The country will be the startup’s first destination following its US$48 million Series C funding round in November 2022.

The update was announced by Privy Co-Founder and CEO Marshall Pribadi in his LinkedIn post. “Thanks IA-CEPA ECP Katalis for supporting Privy’s expansion to Australia. Looking forward to working together with you guys!” he wrote on Tuesday (13/12).

DailySocial has reached out to Pribadi for comments, but he had not replied by the time of this article’s publication.

The expansion was made possible due to Privy’s partnership with the IA-CEPA ECP Katalis (Katalis). Katalis is a partnership programme to support stronger, sustainable, and inclusive bilateral trade and investment relations between Indonesia and Australia. The programme was set up based on the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IA-CEPA) trade agreement valid from July 5, 2020.

Katalis is working with business players and the government to implement IA-CEPA, complementing existing development initiatives by Australia, presenting a bilateral, commercially oriented and social-gender-inclusive approach in its activities.

Also Read: Get Privy for secure digital ID solutions

The formation of IA-CEPA started with the background of Indonesia-Australia’s strategic trade partnership; it was aimed to create a framework for the two countries to dig the potential of bilateral economic collaboration, encouraging partnership between businesses, communities, and individuals.

This expansion plan was first mentioned by Pribadi when the company announced its Series C funding round in November 2022. The CEO said that the network and global experience of KKR & Co Inc., combined with the support of investors MDI Ventures, GGV Capital, and TMI, played a crucial role in the startup’s success.

“Privy is in the right position to innovate further with our offerings and capacity while building a stronger foundation for an international expansion,” he said.

This statement was supported by Louis Casey, Growth Technology Lead at KKR in Southeast Asia. He said, “Privy had built a leading platform in the industry by combining main features, user-friendly design, and a strong and stable infrastructure. We want to tap into KKR’s global network and operational expertise to bring Privy to its next level of growth and expand its leadership in digital trust for leading individuals and corporations in Indonesia and beyond.”

Privy’s milestones

Founded in 2016, Privy offers a wide range of products that include digital identities, signatures, verification, and document management services in various sectors, from financial services, to health, to education.

In its development in 2018, Privy was the first non-government institution in Indonesia to receive the Certification of Authority (CA) from the Ministry of Communications and Informatics. A year later, it became the first e-KYC service provider to be listed on the Financial Services Authority.

Privy claimed to lead the market for digital trust platforms in Indonesia with more than 30 million verified users and 1,800 customers for its digital signatures, verification, and subscription services and onboarded more than 40 million signatures each year.

According to Statista, the global market for digital identity platforms is projected to grow from US$23.3 billion in 2020 to US$49.5 billion in 2026. Increased identity theft cases, data leaks, and new government regulations trigger this rapid growth.

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The article was written in Bahasa Indonesia by Marsya Nabila for DailySocial. English translation and editing by e27.

Image Credit: Privy

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We all know that the NFT is the next big thing and has many forward-looking potentials and utilities. As you find more NFTs trading in different marketplaces, you start to wonder what you should do next: “to buy or not buy”.

Here are six NFT trading mistakes to avoid for newbies.

Not promoting your NFT

After buying the NFT that you like, that NFT is yours. Most people have this mentality that the creator should be promoting, and as holders of the NFT, let’s sit back to watch the prices grow.

I’m afraid that’s not right. If you promote your copy of NFT, your unique NFT could be the one that gets sold the fastest. Always remember you control your assets. There is no need to wait for the creator.

Flipping it too fast

In the bull market, you have heard from NFT experts that they flipped their NFT 100X in an hour for millions of dollars.

Yes, this is possible back then. Right now, at this bearish market, you need to think long-term. You bought something that you feel has good value and potential. You bought a low price, and you do not mind keeping it. This kind of mentality will bring you far. “Good things take time”- remember this.

Buying it on the wrong marketplace

There are many NFT marketplaces in the space right now. Some of them are more controlled; They filter what can be listed and remove items that are unsuitable, not authentic or with copyright issues. While some are more open, adopting an “anyone can list” model, they have minimum supervision, and anyone can list almost anything on their platform.

If you choose the latter, you could be buying a fake and when you realise that, you are too late. There is no one attending to your complaints. And yes, there is no refund too. Hence choose wisely.

Buying an NFT that you do not like it

This is a real example. I have friends flexing their apes and punks as profile pictures to show they are well-to-do. But the fact is they do not like them. One guy told me he wants the tiger more, and it is his good luck animal, but there isn’t a big blue chip tiger NFT project. So he bought the monkey.

Also Read: Busan Blockchain Week 2022: Trends shaping the future of NFT

My sincere advice is to buy something you like, not just for the value. Last month, I purchased an NFT at US$0.01 from the Bybit NFT marketplace. It is affordable, has potential, and most importantly, I like the colours, and I am keeping it. This is how it should be. There is no stress about it.

Not using the right tools

There are many groups out there who are giving you tips on which one to buy. You can take their advice, but I suggest you research before agreeing and committing to your first NFT.

Many NFT tools in the market right now help you with your decision. For instance, some tools allow you to check on the rarity types. Some tools will enable you to analyse the volume and tell if any wash trading is involved. Stop guessing. Use the right tools!

Listening to the wrong consultants

NFT creators who listened to the wrong consultants are another common thing. They tend to hire the more expensive consultants thinking they know it all. Based on a survey I have conducted with corporations which have launched their NFT, they paid US$300,000 on average to the consultants to start the ball rolling.

I advise corporations and individuals to look online for resources before hiring consultants. I know of NFT studios who helped fellow creators by sharing their resources for free and helping them to list on platforms with zero cost.

One of the groups that I founded in 2006 is doing just that. They groom NFT rising stars, front the NFTs for them and do not ask a single cent from the creators. I think the spirit of sharing is essential, and they did it all correctly.

I am not here to put up any sale propositions. I want to see more people entering the NFT market with ease. And that is why I launched my book “NFT: From Zero to Hero by Anndy Lian” in August.

An NFT or non-fungible token is a unique digital identifier recorded in a blockchain and used to certify authenticity and ownership. Remember the above. It is not a profile picture or just another speculative product. The real value is in its utility. Do not make this mistake as well.

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With the rise of payment and crypto companies globally, there is a demand for these companies to identify an ideal location to set up their base, and Singapore has always been a top choice for them. A transparent and fair regulation framework, vibrant fintech ecosystem and ease of doing business make Singapore the ideal place for fintech companies to set up shops.

In the PwC’s fintech’s state of play report 2022, 31 per cent of fintech companies in Singapore are providing payment-related services. A strong regulatory framework in a highly respectable financial industry, Singapore has positioned itself as the hub for payment and crypto companies. More than 500 applications were submitted when the Payment Services Act (PSA) were in force in 2019 is a testimony that Singapore is a popular destination for these companies.

Understanding the Singapore payment license regime

ICYMI – Under the Payment Services Act (PSA) licensing framework, companies are being regulated based on the activities they operate in, and there are seven regulated activities under the Act.

Depending on the applicant’s business plan, they could be regulated for one or more activities under the Act. The seven activities are sufficient to regulate and encourage innovation among the fintech companies. Let’s take a closer look at how each individual license activity helps companies to innovate within the regulated regime in Singapore.

Activity A: Account issuance service

GRAB: Super app for non-bank financial services

Interestingly, MAS does not require licensees to pay any application fees for this licensed activity, but this does not mean that it is not useful to get this activity.

Also Read: How to scale up your DTC game with payments

This activity is particularly useful for B2C companies, and one of them would be GRAB. In the GRAB app, users can top-up fiat into their e-wallets in the app as stored value in order to make purchases for GRAB-enabled merchants and services. With this e-wallet, it allows users the convenience of topping up Fiat and using them to pay for goods and services with the click of a button.

Activity B and C: Domestic and cross-border money transfer services

Transfer Wise: Transferring funds anywhere, anytime

These activities are the most common activities that most payment companies will be using as part of their businesses. In short, these activities simply mean how your company transfers funds (i.e. Fiat) to other entities.

If it is within Singapore (e.g. transferring of funds to a local supplier in Singapore) and if the fund transfer is outside of Singapore, it would likely fall under cross-border money transfer service.

A quick check on the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) website, you can see that cross-border money transfer activity is the most licensed activity among the rest, which is rightfully so given the nature of payment companies being globally focused.

Transfer Wise, an international payment company, is an example of how they have both domestic and cross-border money transfer services to allow their users to transfer funds locally and to other countries.

Activity D: Merchant acquisition service-empowering merchants to grow their business

Merchant acquisition is the most familiar with local merchants and one of the most frequently used activities by local merchants. The POS machines that you see at shopping malls that allow merchants to receive payment via credit cards are a good example of the use of merchant acquisition.

Activity E: Issuance of e-money

StraitsX: Project Orchid

During the recent Singapore FinTech Festival (SFF), StraitsX, for Project Orchid, launched a purpose-bound e-money where participants could download the e-money voucher at the exhibition to redeem it at participating partners.

Also Read: A new breed of fintech payment is here to slay the game

Such a use case would require the entity to have the license to conduct account issuance and issuance of e-money activities. Below is the flow of wrapped xSGD offered by Xfers under Project Orchid during this year’s SFF.

Apart from StraitsX, Grab and Temasek, other supporting partners include ADDX, AltLayer, Automata, Coinbase Wallet, Digital Treasures Centre (DTC Pay), Fomopay, Sequence, TripleA, Trust Wallet and VISA.

Activity F: Digital payment tokens

DTC Pay: Digital asset services

When the Payment Services Act (PSA) was launched in 2019, it created an international buzz because of this particular activity that will be licensed under the Act. Digital Payment Tokens (DPTs) or commonly known as cryptocurrency, made Singapore one of the pioneers in regulating cryptocurrency at that time.

It is worthwhile to note that this activity is also one of the most sought-after since only 11 entities have obtained this licensed activity (as of December 2022), with many applicants still waiting or having already withdrawn their license applications.

Other than the usual crypto exchanges in the likes of Independent Reserves, Coinhako, there are also stablecoins issuers such as Circle and Paxos as well as crypto payment players like Digital Treasures Centre that have thus far received this licensed activity from MAS.

Crypto payment company like DTC Pay empowers merchants to accept crypto as payment and assist them in converting it into fiat for settlement. It allows merchants to open up to new customer segments, such as crypto natives, to grow their businesses. Such an innovative use case is one of the key competitive advantages of having this licensed activity.

Finding the right strategic partner for sustainable growth

Having a responsible business in a regulated country, especially one that is well respected internationally, like Singapore, helps build trust and confidence among its customers and investors. This helps them to grow in a sustainable manner.

Many fintech companies might have products that could disrupt industries but are lacking in compliance and regulatory experience. And that’s where they could partner with experienced licensed entities such as DTC Pay to work on growing the products while ensuring that they meet the regulatory requirements.

Such strategic partnership also helps to uplift the industry as a whole to become a more responsible and sustainable business model. Interestingly, DTC Pay is one of the two companies (as of December 2022) that have obtained the six activities listed above, giving DTC Pay and its partners the competitive advantage to scale and launch new products quickly in Singapore.

If you are looking for a strategic partner in Singapore, DTC Pay can provide the expertise and experience to assist you in building your presence in Singapore.

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In the previous two editions of this three-part series, I’ve outlined the climate actions that businesses can take right now to decarbonise and identified some ways to develop/increase the adoption of existing solutions to aid industry transitions toward net zero.

In this final part, I’ll propose actions that can be taken to instigate a systematic shift on a larger scale.

Collaborating at scale

It’s generally recognised that no single player can solve a challenge this big on their own. We need more than just cleaner solutions or alternatives – we need to change entire supply chains and economic systems so that we can continue to pursue progress and enable human development (which consumes energy and materials) while respecting planetary boundaries.

To arrive at the technical, political, economic, behavioural, and natural solutions required, collaboration is absolutely key.

What does meaningful collaboration look like, though, beyond signing industry-wide commitments and joining consortiums? Who should play what role, so we make the most of everyone’s unique strengths without wasting effort or resources? And is this even something to consider if you’re not an influential player?

Also Read: Climate conferences won’t save us: How to start taking action all year round (Part 1)

Spoiler alert: Everyone can and should play a part. Both multi-billion dollar businesses and small enterprises, CEOs and employees, policymakers from large and small nations alike – there is a unique and valuable part each one can play in advancing the climate fight.

• Solutions that reduce emissions need to move beyond just selling themselves towards building or being part of total solutions. Your product alone rarely covers the full picture for your client; understand the bigger problem you help your customer solve, and partner with other solutions that make this easier, which will increase your conversion rates and set a model for others to follow because it increases industry adoption/transformation. For example, we helped one waste management company double its revenue and access corporate offtake agreements by partnering with a traceability solution. We paired up two solutions – one incentivising households to better clean and sort their waste, the other separating multi-layer packaging into its separate components for easier recycling – which strengthened recycling feedstock far better together than they did working separately.

• Large corporations have the purchasing power to influence suppliers, normalise higher environmental and social standards, and therefore drive switches to a sustainable supply chain at a scale that many smaller businesses cannot. As early adopters, they must send demand signals and be the tide that lifts all ships across their industry; it’s time to break from a CSR lens and integrate sustainability into the core business. For many parts of the process, there is no need to reinvent the wheel – reducing waste, weeding out inefficiencies, and embracing circular practices in the supply chain make a triple win for the environment, productivity, and the bottom line. 

• Small and medium enterprises with lower budgets or buy-in for green solutions can still make their needs (e.g. price thresholds, operational constraints) known and aggregate demand amongst similar peers. Though one business alone may be too small to be designed for, engaging green solutions as the archetype of SMEs in your sector can bring down the green premium and enable adoption amongst the smaller businesses which make up the majority of any industry.

• The public sector can create an enabling environment for innovation and investment by reducing uncertainty, ring-fencing risk, being inclusive by design, and knowing what role they play in the bigger picture. Laying out clear priorities, targets, and prices (on carbon, plastic, and other environmental externalities that need to be properly costed); funding and encouraging timeboxed experimentation in areas where opportunity is clear but little is known about the right path forward; de-risking nimble policy choices by involving the relevant stakeholders from design to delivery, getting the most informed inputs to maximise chances of success and community integration – all of these are relatively inexpensive, politically safe ways for governments to speed up instead of slow down change. Singapore excels at incentivising and de-risking innovation via Enterprise Singapore and EDB’s many funding schemes. At the same time, the small population generally prevents it from influencing world decisions with market volume, and it can lead the way through forward-thinking, flexible policymaking.

Also Read: Preference for green jobs is the “most exciting” climate tech development: Lightspeed

These are just some of the many ways different types of organisations can contribute to making an outsize impact on driving us to our goal. To lean into making these changes, we need more meaningful and intentional collaboration across the board that encourages learning and action taken on those lessons.

Projects may be started in siloes and decided in small groups to get momentum going, but as these take shape and begin to see results, we need to fight the urge to share only our successes. We must be open and share learnings about our failures, too; only when we look at the tasks ahead as a global drawing board, not a leaderboard, can we iterate effectively, deploy new investments into the right places, and truly progress toward our goals.

How do we move forward together?

The scale of the climate crisis can be overwhelming, and it might seem that any action short of becoming a climate startup is futile. Instead of looking for a silver bullet solution (which doesn’t exist), we need to embrace a portfolio approach that leverages each one’s strengths and helps one another bridge weaknesses.

There is plenty that we can do, individually and as entrepreneurs, to meet the Paris Agreement’s goals beyond the confines of the COP summit.

There are no more excuses to delay taking action. We know the goals, the tools are at hand, and there are enough energetic advocates to kickstart the process. The “why” is also clear: besides our moral and survival imperative, there are multiple advantages to becoming the sustainability leader in your respective industry, like becoming preferred suppliers to large organisations with climate commitments, accessing cheaper financing products, attracting better talent, and increasing consumer interest in responsible businesses.

So while governments decide on big-picture programmes to enable a global green transition, businesses and individuals in Southeast Asia do not need to wait for their go-ahead. We can do something immediately.

The only hurdle is our own willingness to translate our hopes for the future into actions today.

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In November 2022, the crypto asset exchange FTX collapsed in just five days due to mounting turmoil, causing many investors to lose vast assets.

The impact of the collapse of the world’s second-largest exchange was so significant that major crypto assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum crashed across the board, and projects that had relied on FTX collapsed in a chain reaction. Including indirect ones, it is safe to assume that more than tens of billions of dollars are needed to cover the damage.

This collapse was as inevitable as Enron’s FTX cheated investors with massive accounting fraud (window dressing), engaged in insider trading, and faked the failure of many investments. The two companies also share the same shrewdness in donating money to the Republican and Democratic parties and suppressing the political side. The fact that both companies’ headquarters collapsed shortly after they entered the Japanese market is also oddly synchronised.

This type of incident is not unique to crypto assets. Still, it is based on traditional fraud techniques: accounting manipulation, improperly inflating corporate value, misappropriation of customer funds, etc., a combination of fraudulent activities before crypto assets.

How to prevent a recurrence

However, there are also circumstances specific to the crypto asset industry that led to the collapse of FTX. The regulation of crypto assets still needs to mature. Therefore, unlike the financial sector, which is heavily regulated, there is room for various circumvention measures and fraud.

Also Read: Light at the end of the crypto tunnel? How to come out stronger

For example, few countries have fully regulated insider trading of crypto assets. Since combined with the high degree of anonymity due to its technical nature, fraud is straightforward. Although it cannot be proven, insider trading has likely occurred on a significant number (or almost all) of crypto asset exchanges.

Insider trading does not damage the assets of the exchange but rather enhances them, except when it is an appropriation of customer assets; a major cause of the FTX collapse was the dramatic reduction in the capital due to the misappropriation of customer assets and the ensuing run on them. The core of preventing a recurrence is regulation related to the protection of client assets.

Notable Japanese regulations

In this respect, Japanese regulation is progressive. Japan has learned well from the typical failures in the crypto asset industry, such as the Mt.

First, as with securities and FX, customers’ crypto assets are supposed to be segregated and managed separately. CPAs regularly audit the segregation to ensure it is done correctly. In doing so, they also examine whether cold wallets and multisig are appropriately used. The segregated crypto assets will be used to refund investors in the event of an exchange failure (i.e., 100 per cent of the deposited funds are guaranteed to be returned).

In addition to this, Japan is also trying to lead the world in systematically regulating stablecoins. Although there is a common criticism in Japan that “Japan is too strictly regulated, making it difficult to launch a crypto-asset related business,” there is an opinion that this strict regulation and monitoring system has been learned from the past and that it has prevented significant incidents from occurring after the FTX bankruptcy.

The need for global regulation

However, even in Japan, the crypto assets of FTX JP’s customers remain frozen. Since FTX JP’s assets (as well as those of the bankrupt FTX and its affiliates) will be used to repay the FTX Group’s creditors (including its customers), it is not clear whether they will be returned to investors after the bankruptcy, even though they are segregated and managed separately.

Also Read: The future of blockchain technology goes beyond just cryptocurrency and NFTs

It is said that the reason for this is that FTX JP’s customers cannot be given priority for repayment. In other words, if the parent company is located outside of Japan, the assets of the Japanese subsidiary’s clients would not necessarily be protected in the event of the parent company’s bankruptcy.

Thus, there is a limit to considering only one country when considering regulation. FTX made a breakthrough because it operated in the Bahamas, with virtually no regulations. In the Bahamas, taxes are meagre, and there is no need to submit bookkeeping records to the authorities.

This scheme of setting up headquarters in a tax haven and establishing a company in the US or Japan as a subsidiary is often used in the crypto asset industry (as in other sectors). The subsidiary is subject to strict regulations in this case, but the parent company is not.

Therefore, no matter how much regulation is enforced in the country where the subsidiary is located, the risk of the parent company failing due to misuse of customer assets, as with FTX, cannot be eliminated.

To fundamentally solve this problem, it is imperative to create a global standard for regulation. Although many experts have pointed this out, the road to realisation is exceptionally long, as it takes work to reach a worldwide consensus.

However, without international emphasis and the establishment of reasonable and consistent international rules, customers’ assets cannot be protected, and the crypto asset industry cannot be further developed.

It is not that the blockchain side is not responding to anything either; there are already blockchains like Concordium, which performs full KYC and can identify individuals in case of illegal activities while typically remaining anonymous; Concordium has stated that it will be improved in response to regulations.

The idea is to change the blockchain following international regulatory trends (many are willing to hard fork and many nodes understand this).

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