Geography-based salary or location-based salary is compensation adjusted based on the employee’s location and the cost of living in the area. The wage reflects the market rate which is promoted in each city, country, or region by other organisations with an adequate amount to cover the living expenses of their employees (e.g., housing, utilities, transportation).

For instance, employees who are located in a high cost-of-living (COL) area such as New York or San Francisco are paid a higher living wage compared to those who are located in an urban or suburban area such as Montana, Austin, or Boise.

Location-based pay has been known for a long time across all industries. In fact, this type of payment has long been the norm in the technology sector. GitHub, for example, a software development platform with primarily remote teams, has been applying this type of payment for their employees.

Implementing location-based pay offers companies and employees another affordable opportunity to live in a high COL area such as Silicon Valley, a leading US tech hub, or Hong Kong-one of the world’s most expensive cities.

In accordance with the Geographic Pay Policies Study from WorldatWork, up to 67 per cent of employees from the United States expect their wages to be based on where they live. For most non-managerial positions, location is used as a primary factor in benchmarking pay rates and modifying salary ranges.

Furthermore, the demand for remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic has made location-based pay more trendy. In a survey conducted by WorldatWork, 62 per cent of companies have implemented geographic-based pay policies, while 44 per cent are considering adjusting their policies to cope with the growth of remote work.

According to Payscale, almost 43 per cent of employees want the company to continue to work remotely, especially for job positions such as marketing and advertising (75 per cent), information technology (71 per cent), art and design (69 per cent). Not few, especially younger and junior talents, continue working remotely from their parent’s house in another city or even another state.

This situation raises an important question among talents and recruiters; will remote work change the salary calculations to comply with the geographic-based pay regulations?

How to calculate geography-based salary?

With the rising trend of remote work, many employees are considering relocating to an ideally better and less expensive neighbourhood area to move in. Employees now don’t need to find accommodations close to their office anymore. In fact, employees are now more than ever to have the freedom to decide on where to work.

Also Read: How remote work has changed the salary scale in Taiwan

However, geography-based pay comprises many complex factors. For this reason, it is crucial to acknowledge various approaches employers can take to implement these policies.

The following factors are the most common that employers use to calculate the wage:

• Cost of living index: A general expense of a location (e.g., cost of goods, services, transportation, housing, etc.) that a person can expect. 
• Income tax rates: A tax on individual income or entities’ profit. The rate may differ based on the type or the characteristic of the taxpayer and the type of income.
• Market rate: Refer to the amount of salary that one employee receives for a specific job position which is offered by the employer based on the current market of an area or a country.

Employers may apply these factors together to determine the amount of location-based pay. Some employers prefer to apply market rate by city for assigning locations to diverse geographic-based pay.

Minimum wage and salary are also regulated under the local labour law, which means depending on where your business is registered and where your talent is hired, it will determine the amount of the salary and compensation package. This also applies to inter-state and international employment.

However, this approach is not always practical or feasible, especially in organisations that practice cross-border hiring. Hence, as a substitute, many companies will choose a specific singular state, region, or grouping of similar market rate areas as a zone to calculate the compensation.

Pros and cons of geography-based pay in a remote working scenario

There are advantages and disadvantages of location-based salary for both employees and employers, which can be broken down into the following:

The employees

At the very least, employees will be paid fairly depending on where they reside. However, it’s not uncommon when a company chooses to pay the employee with a singular rate, the employee might receive a larger paycheck if the employee is currently residing in a low-cost-of-living area while the hiring company that is currently based in some of the major cities is compensating the employee according to their standard wage.

For instance, Reddit supports its employees’ right to live and work wherever they choose. Instead of calculating employees’ payments based on their location separately, Reddit chooses to scale its pay range based on high-cost areas such as San Francisco and New York.

Also Read: Is the remote working trend “swallowing”​ office employees’​ vacation time?

By conducting a mixed localised pay approach that increased or kept up the wages rather than lowering them, Reddit could settle a single pay range for every employee regardless of where their employees were located.

The employers

On the employer’s side, employers now have wider options to adjust their employment budgets. Employers can now hire remote employees outside the higher-cost region to allow the company to save on payroll, and company operational expenses and, at the same time, be able to reap the rewards of doing business in an established area.

Despite the range of benefits that the local-based salary has to offer to both employers and employees, many factors that contribute to the salary calculation are very complex and can be challenging for many companies.

On the other hand, employers are required to comply with the local labour laws to ensure compliance. Typically, to do that, employers need to have a registered entity where their talents are based and handle the payroll in-house. This situation might not be feasible, especially for companies with limited resources, such as small-medium businesses and startups, who are looking for a more agile solution.

A great way to ensure that your company has a competitive and fair offer to your employees is by working with an Employer of Record (EOR). An Employer of record also saves you some payroll headaches when managing employees from different states and countries.

Through an employer of record (EOR), you can now be able to leverage the location-based salary to maximise your resources to grow your business without risk. Employers can now also aim for global expansion where employers can explore new borderless labour markets and approach a wider scope of talent pool regardless of geographic limitations.

Slasify is a global employment HR service that can assist you on a global expansion journey by hiring and onboarding international talent, as well as maintaining legal compliance. If you plan to expand your business overseas, connect with our labour experts to strategise for compliant global employment.

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LiquidX, a Web3 venture capital studio for the metaverse, today announced that it had acquired a 70 per cent stake for an undisclosed sum in Anime Metaverse, a publishing and licensing company focused on building anime, manga, and dorama in Web3.

In an email interview with e27, Kendrick Wong, Co-Founder and Chairman of LiquidX, stated that Anime Metaverse was acquired due to the company’s focus on intellectual property and infrastructure.

Through Anime Metaverse, LiquidX plans to invest heavily in acquiring existing anime IP and grow the brand.

“LiquidX believes retail Web3 adoption will be achieved by creating nostalgic and innovative experiences for our community. We will accomplish this by creating an original Intellectual Property (IP) project and licensing existing IP contents,” he said.

Anime Metaverse acts as a conduit for anime, manga, and dorama into Web3, providing a platform for entry and exploration of an ever-growing industry through its proprietary anime marketplace.

Budding industries initially develop IP that reflects their unique subculture. When retail enters a new enterprise, they seek familiarity with the intellectual property they have grown up with. Anime Metaverse is bridging that gap by producing an original anime subculture while investing, licensing, and acquiring existing IPs.

“We believe this will allow the anime industry to enter Web3 in an established, structured, and proven framework while enabling anime fans to grow alongside their favourite anime, manga, or dorama,” Wong said.

Also Read: How Web3 will revolutionise borderless banking in Southeast Asia

Describing itself as the world’s first NFT projects aggregator, LiquidX functions as an active investor, acquirer, and operator, helping family offices and private equity funds diversify into Web3.

LiquidX specialises in creating long-term value for NFT holders by building unique gaming and community experiences.

It focused on three areas regarding its activities in the Web3 sector: Intellectual Property, infrastructure, and gaming.

Wong said it “likes to say it removes the admin work from our portfolio companies to let them focus on what they do best: growing their brand.”

“Our expertise in growing startups helps the phenomenal team behind Anime Metaverse immensely. The Anime Metaverse team has the autonomy of a founder but the resources of an enterprise. Specifically, Anime Metaverse will be able to tap into the in-house resources of LiquidX, a growing team of over sixty developers, tokenomics leaders, finance practitioners, and artists,” he continued.

He further explained that globally, according to a Venture Beat report, NFT sales reached US$17.6 billion last year, 200 times higher than the US$82 million they generated in 2020. One-third of this figure came from NFT game sales alone, which clocked US$5.71 billion in 2021.

“Given the nascent industry, we strongly focus on the fundamentals when we make acquisitions and ask what the next 100 million users will require as they enter Web3,” Wong closed.

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“What is your career aspiration? Where do you want to be in five, or even 15, years from now? Because every career decision you make for yourself should always move you closer to that.” My mentor once again gives me advice as we sit for our monthly lunch appointments in one of the hotel’s restaurants.

For as long as I’ve known, at least up to this lunch, working in hotels has been all I dreamed of.

Hotels were always the coolest part of holidays: sightseeing? Who cares?! Check out my hotel pool and that room service menu! This was the world I wanted to be a part of. The joy and happiness I had from hotel experiences, I wanted to share that with others too.

With that passion, it was easy to apply and attend the top Hospitality Management University in Switzerland. That foundation transitioned me into a Corporate Management Trainee program in a  luxury hotel chain, which ultimately promoted me into a position of management, which led me to this lunch.

“Is this where you want to be? Spending family time in the service of others?” He would continue as I sat there silently.

He had a point. At this point in my career, I had missed birthdays and Christmas celebrations, and I was not feeling much satisfaction from the sacrifice. Can I really do this for 15 more years?

This specific lunch didn’t change it all for me. In fact, this “lunch” happened monthly, and every “lunch”, the advice would weigh down on me a little harder.

During this time, I was assigned a project that would have me work closely with IT personnel and software developers, and I was starting to be exposed to tech jargon such as “APIs”, “JSON”, and “SQL”. The more I learnt about new tech, the louder the advice got: “Every career decision you make for yourself should always move you closer.”

Taking the plunge into the abyss

At this point, many of you must be thinking, “Aha! He now knows  what he wants to do now.”  But that’s where you’ll be wrong, but I was interested enough that I knew I was moving “closer” to it. And with that, I was off.

Also Read: Why it is never too late for mid-career professionals to be an entrepreneur

“In restless dreams, I walked alone”, Paul Simon would sing through Spotify to me as I was figuring out my next moves.

At this point, I had now quit my job without a solid plan and without guidance, no more mentor shouting advice at me, no advice at all, really. I was fully engulfed in the Sound of Silence.

The silence, or the void of advice, really did start to take its toll. Not knowing if what I was doing was “right” had left me questioning myself a lot.

“Am I learning the right things? How do I put different technologies together? Wait, how did they do that?”

As I continued with my journey I happened across a local coding boot camp, and as the theme would continue, in silence, I joined.

My time at the boot camp was actually pretty solid. I did learn about “APIs”, “JSON”, “SQL”, and more, of course, but learning the skills was only the start of the journey into software engineering. I graduated boot camp months later, ready to look for a job, but again, without advice or guidance. 

This is when I first got in touch with Rocket Academy. Working with Kai Yuan, the CEO directly, was the first time I received workable advice on approaching the industry. I had personalised debriefings to understand how to improve in interviews and tests.

Being integrated into the Rocket Community is what changed my luck. No longer was I walking along, no longer was I not receiving feedback. Instead, I had found a group of friends, colleagues and peers to share experiences with. Up until now, I was focused on gaining the skillset, which, don’t get me wrong, is important, but I had forsaken the need for my own personal “network”. 

In restless dreams, I now walked with friends.

I landed my first job in software engineering and worked as a full-stack software developer on many projects for startups to multinational companies. As I progressed with my new career, I kept in touch with Rocket Academy.

Also Read: Specialists vs generalists: The ultimate career choice

I had always enjoyed the community at Rocket Academy, and if anything, count it as its most valuable offering. A coding boot camp providing coding knowledge is baseline, that goes without saying. A boot camp providing true guidance and sincere help in the career transition is something else. And wouldn’t you know it, one day I had the opportunity to join the team. 

Rocketing forward

In hospitality, we often discuss the anticipation of needs by empathising with our customers. For example,  imagine you were taking a dip in that awesome hotel pool, and after a round, you decide to get out. Yes, there are towels stacked up on the side for self-service, but imagine if someone were to anticipate your need and be ready with a towel as you climb out of the pool.

Bootcamp students may not need towels, but they too have other needs. Working in Rocket, we go beyond just thinking about the base education for our students. The experience we have designed goes past “just” teaching the skills you need in tech, but we also anticipate the journey it would take to get you there and flourish.

We strive to build a lasting community beyond graduation, especially as we expand into Hong Kong and beyond. We also provide graduates with that network so they can conquer the software engineering world.

So as Rocket graduates swim through the giant pool that is the tech industry, Rocket Academy would be at the side, waiting to hand them that towel as they climb out of the pool.

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NFTs caused the hype and booming effect back in 2021. Now, the market has entered the bear market phase for the first two quarters of 2022. According to the “NFT Market Report Q2 2022” of Nonfungible.com, the total sales volume of NFTs in July 2022 decreased by almost US$4 billion compared to January 2022.  What happened? What are the reasons for this fiasco to happen?

What is NFT?

NFT (non-fungible token) is defined as a unique and irreplaceable identifier created by the Blockchain algorithm. It was born to first solve the problem of creating scarcity for digital artists to take control of their arts and collections’ value. Currently, the NFT market achieved its mature phase as its utilities have been explored in a variety of applications further than just arts and collections.

Current NFTs market situation

Ever since the NFTs market started to enter the bear market in May 2022, it experienced a linear decline, with the sales volume only around US$647.23 million in July, which is 26 per cent lower than June this year. The drop in sales volume led to a significant decline in the number of transactions and unique buyers.

Also, high-profile NFTs collectibles such as Bored Apes Yacht Club (BAYC) witnessed a 33 per cent drop in floor price showing the investors’ low confidence level.

Factors that caused the plummet in sales

As stated by CoinTelegraph, “Some of the key factors negatively impacting the hype around NFTs are falling Ether (ETH) prices, a lack of secondary market demand, and unrealistic gas fees.”

Also Read: Where is the future of NFTs and metaverse heading towards?

Since NFTs and Cryptocurrency have an undeniable close relationship, especially Ethereum which NFTs are minted on, the drop in price of those cryptocurrencies heavily affected the liquidity of NFTs as well as the overall stance of investors. 

In addition, the NFTs project’s community defined over 80 per cent of its success. Hence, once the community is no longer interested in the potential of the NFTs, they will immediately liquidate the NFT to reserve the cryptocurrency for safer places. 

Another reason for this is the lack of utilities and practical value that NFTs can offer. After the hype in 2021, investors noticed that most of the failing NFT projects had zero practical value and even creativity, which created a bubble in the NFT market. With the current correction of the market, NFT projects must expand their creativity and value offered to their community in order to revive its interest.

Will the NFT market recover?

In my opinion, NFT contains beneficial characteristics and its efficiency in the operating process. The current collapse of the NFT market might be a good thing when it showed a necessary innovation in NFT’s use cases must be taken to succeed. Some of the innovative applications of NFT are real-life assets ownership, GameFi, and royalty. 

For example, Binance’s CEO, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), is pushing his effort to utilise NFT in identification (ID) for the government as an effort from the industry leader. Also, Meta (formerly Facebook) recently confirmed its NFT integration across 100 countries after working with Coinbase. 

Hence, we can all agree with the undeniable benefits of NFT, and its market will recover in the long term with the practical and innovative value held. 

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Southeast Asia’s super-app giant Grab Holdings reported a 79 per cent rise in its revenue, reaching US$321 million, driven by solid growth in mobility and delivery, including Jaya Grocer’s contributions.

The losses for the quarter narrowed by 29 per cent to US$572 million from a year ago.

“In the quarter, we streamlined our organisational cost structure. We optimised our fixed costs, shut unprofitable lines of business and continued to taper incentives as a percentage of GMV,” said Grab CFO Peter Oey.

In Q2, the firm closed GrabWheels support operations in Malaysia and Singapore in the mobility segment. It also combined Indonesia’s GrabWheels operations with its car rental business in the country.

In addition, it wound up its dark store operations in Vietnam, the Philippines, and Singapore.

The adjusted EBITDA for the quarter ending June rose marginally to US$233 million from US$214 million y-o-y. This is attributed to reduced spending on incentives as a percentage of GMV.

Also Read: Grab acquires Jaya Grocer to expand its on-demand grocery delivery in Malaysia

The total gross merchandise value for the three-month period stood at US$5.1 billion, rising by 30 per cent over Q2 2021. Grab also announced that engagement with the users improved in the quarter, with monthly transacting users (MTUs) up 12 per cent y-o-y to reach 32.6 million, driven by strong mobility segment MTU growth. The average spend per user, defined as GMV per MTU, rose 16 per cent to US$155.

According to Group CEO Anthony Tan, Grab’s deliveries segment continued to grow in Q2, despite tougher year-on-year comparisons and as dine-out trends moderated food delivery demand. The company is laser-focused on accelerating its path to profitability.

In the mobility segment, GMV grew 51 per cent, and revenue rose 37 per cent y-o-y as ride-hailing demand continues to be strong. Mobility achieved segment adjusted EBITDA margin of 12.1 per cent for the second quarter, an increase of 224 basis points versus the prior quarter and in line with our expected steady-state margins of 12 per cent.

“We will get there (profitability) by doubling down on product innovation that increases user engagement and reduces our cost-to-serve and focusing on growing high-quality transactions on our platform,” added Tan.

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Grab’s Q2 revenue climbs 79%, losses narrow
The Q2 revenue rose 79% to US$321M from a year ago; Net loss narrowed 29% to US$572M; The growth is credited to its fixed cost optimisation, shutting down unprofitable business lines, and thinning down incentives.

Once SEA’s most valuable startup, Grab falls US$13B behind GoTo
The unprofitable companies are both struggling to convince investors of their moneymaking potential after staging their stock-market debuts in recent months; The ride-hailing firms are struggling to reverse losses amid competition.

Thailand’s SCBX abandons US$500M Bitkub acquisition
The due diligence (DD) exercise found numerous issues that need to be addressed by Bitkub’s management and resolved on the orders of the Thai SEC; This follows the indefinite postponement of the deal first announced in July.

Hodlnaut discloses US$280M in outstanding liability after crypto dip
The company also recently announced massive layoffs affecting 80% of staff; The news came after it froze withdrawals on August 8; The firm oversaw US$750M at its peak volume in March.

Singapore recognises 3AC liquidation, allows further probing
3AC’s core team reportedly has 5 luxury properties in Singapore; Teneo, the advisory firm handling the liquidation, has already seized 3AC’s US$40M assets, although its creditors have reported US$2.8B in unsecured claims.

‘Web3 games should aim to have sustainable tokenomics, ecosystems’
Froyo Games’s Co-Founder Douglas Gan says we will see Web3 games materialising in the next five years, infused with finance like an injection needle, boosting the entire gaming ecosystem.

LiquidX acquires Anime Metaverse to invest in anime IP, grow brand
LiquidX functions as an investor, acquirer, and operator, helping family offices and PE funds diversify into Web3; Anime Metaverse acts as a conduit for anime, manga, and dorama into Web3.

How LiquidX aims to help Web3 founders make their visions come true
LiquidX is a Web3 venture capital studio for the metaverse; It recently announced its acquisition of Anime Metaverse; It is currently in talks to acquire an additional two or three seed-stage investments by year-end.

GREENS aims to empower Indonesia’s 240M non-farmers with its meta-farming solutions
The firm has created a seed-to-meal dine-in platform, indoor growing chambers, and farming as a service for anyone to grow food in their community; It recently bagged funding from East Ventures.

Lazada ex-VP’s P2E mobile gaming platform MetaverseGo scores US$4.2M
Investors include Galaxy Interactive, Delphi Digital, Dragonfly Capital, and Mechanism Capital; MetaverseGo provides access to Web3 games without the usual prerequisite of understanding how to use cryptocurrencies.

EVOS Esports Founder’s new Web3 media startup Avium lands US$2M funding
Investors include Saison Capital, East Ventures, Mirana Ventures, and Hepmil Media; Avium builds an entertainment brand to greenlight original content by the studios behind Marvel Comics, Valve, Netflix, Prime Video, and Tencent.

Edutech firm BrightCHAMPS acquires SEA-focused Schola for US$15M
Schola offers a variety of courses in a live, 1-on-1 class model for kids from four to 15 years of age to build important capabilities for successful global careers tomorrow.

Echelon 2022: Going through the long and winding road to growth
The Echelon agenda is designed to suit a company’s journey to grow; Echelon attendees get countless opportunities to meet and connect with investors, corporates, governments, and entrepreneurs.

How mental health startup Intellect’s founder catalysed his personal battle with anxiety
Intellect’s top aim is to expand to broaden the company’s product offerings to include self-care programmes, live coaching, counselling, and crisis management services.

Singapore edutech firm Jackett raises US$1M funding
Investors are Forge Ventures, EF, Epic Angels Network, and Carousell’s Siu Rui Quek; Jackett helps teachers scan and digitise questions, create custom and personalized assessments from the platform’s library, and auto-grade them through AI.

Indonesia’s cold chain logistics startup Superkul nets funding
The lead investor is East Ventures; The startup offers a fleet of motorcycles equipped with refrigerated boxes, called Superkul boxes, that can carry -22॰C to 10॰C.

Founders of Singapore’s personal finance firm Seedly depart
Kenneth Lou and Tee-Ming Chew have handed over the reins to Yeap Ming Feng, Seedly’s marketing manager, and Ian Hutchinson, SingSaver’s general manager; SingSaver is a unit of Seedly’s parent firm Hyphen Group.

BookDoc CEO Chevy Beh passes away at 37
He has received recognition for his entrepreneurship and outstanding achievements and was the top nominee of Ernst & Young’s (EY) Entrepreneur of the Year in 2013, 2014 and 2020.

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Despite the progressively violent Russian invasion, Ukraine’s long-vibrant software sector is churning out code for clients worldwide and contributing to the country’s war effort.

Nearly a week after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, many companies in the country’s major information outsourcing industry claim to have relocated thousands of employees to the west of the country, especially the tech hub of Lviv, which has so far been largely spared the fighting and damage.

Keep reading if you’re also among the many wondering what will happen to the Ukraine IT outsourcing industry and what alternatives companies can use in times of need.

Ukraine’s IT industry before the war

Let’s not forget that the pandemic prompted a massive shift from the physical to the digital world, with entire workforces going remote and most businesses moving online. Companies around the world were forced to undergo quick digital changes, resulting in a surge in IT service demands. Ukraine was no different.

Moreover, the long-standing emphasis on high-quality education, especially in technical disciplines such as math, physics, and engineering, has laid the foundation for skilled employees. The Ukrainian workforce is inherently capable of performing the most complex technical tasks, such as developing network systems or managing entire IT infrastructures.

In fact, Ukraine’s leading enterprises have evolved over time from basic software development to higher-level work such as network infrastructure, business analysis, and interface design.

This creative flair has also spawned a thriving startup scene. Last year, a total of US$571 million was invested in Ukrainian or Ukrainian-founded technology startup companies. The country has created many unicorns (startups worth more than US$1 billion), such as software development platform GitLab and online writing assistant Grammarly.

All of this had an impact on the growth of the Ukrainian IT industry, as well as Ukraine’s IT outsourcing company. That was, of course, all before the brutal Russian invasion. Let’s review some key statistics and information about Ukraine’s IT industry before learning more about how the ongoing war has affected this sector.

Key data about Ukraine’s IT sector

Since the mid-1990s, when the first IT companies arrived, the industry has grown at an incredible rate. It now accounts for four per cent of GDP and employs around 200,000 people, with some of the highest wages in the country.

Also Read: Smart outsourcing means hiring partners without losing your core brand identity

Outsourcing has fueled much of this development. However, while the ability to hire skilled programmers at reduced prices used to be the key selling point for foreign consumers, the value proposition has altered significantly as the industry has matured.

In the Good Country Index, which ranks countries based on how much they contribute to human society, Ukraine ranked 13th out of 124 countries in the science and technology category in 2014 and 14th out of 163 countries in 2020.

The authorities considered science and technology, culture, health, and well-being among the seven categories. They examined the following parameters in the “science and technology” section: The number of international students, export-oriented tech journals, scientific and academic publications, Nobel Laureates, and the number of submissions for the International Patent Cooperation Treaty.

According to the Innovation Cities Index, Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, and other Ukrainian cities are among the world’s most inventive cities. These results are an example of Ukraine’s technological and scientific achievements in the pre-war period.

Ukraine’s IT industry during the Russian invasion

Ukraine’s IT sector has been one of the fastest-growing in Europe in recent years. It had an annual growth rate of 25 to 30 per cent and employed roughly 300,000 people.

But the conflict in Ukraine has taken a heavy toll on the local economy and global supply networks.

The IT industry in Ukraine is operating at about 80 per cent capacity at the present time, compared to its pre-war levels. However, it is unclear whether this trend will continue and what the consequences will be.

As the Ukrainian IT industry is mainly based on service exports, it is much less location-bound than other industries, allowing organisations to use flexible working methods such as teleworking and outsourcing.

Before the war, Ukraine’s third-largest export was technology, and the country aspired to become an innovation centre in the heart of Europe. However, Russia’s invasion threatens the country’s progress, and it needs support from outside its borders.

Future of Ukraine’s IT outsourcing

Much of the thriving IT sector has become resistant and accustomed to living under the pressure of the ongoing conflict that began in 2014 with Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

The Ukrainian spirit is indeed strong. One of the pillars of resistance in Ukraine is the tech community, which is an active part of society and consists of thousands of educated people with a global perspective.

However, it is unclear whether the country’s IT sector can continue to operate or not and for how long. The severity and duration of the Russian strike will significantly impact future developments and the extent of economic disruption.

If the fighting continues, business people may lose investments and cancel contracts. It’s also worth mentioning that ‘outsourcing businesses,’ which serve at least partly as outsourced IT departments for foreign companies, employ nearly 45 per cent of Ukraine’s IT labour force.

If Ukraine’s IT sector collapses, this could have consequences for many European companies. In the run-up to the war, for example, the outsourcing firm Krusche & Company warned that obstructing IT services from Ukraine could technologically cripple the West.

Also Read: How global fintech companies are reacting to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

In these challenging times, it’s important to remember that there’s always an alternative to which both Ukrainian and international clients can turn. For example, did you know that India is one of the major hubs for high-end outsourcing solutions?

According to a recent report, India is the top outsourcing destination for 80 per cent of European and US outsourcing organisations. Additionally, statistics show that India is one of the world’s largest technical and professional talent hubs in the IT sector.

Concluding thoughts

Ukraine’s dynamic IT industry, which includes a growing number of large organisations such as Google, Samsung, and Oracle, is attracting an increasing number of major corporations to set up R&D centres in the country. It’s also attracting the attention of investors looking for early entry into one of Europe’s most active IT hubs.

With the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia, international outsourcing companies have to redirect their IT projects to other valuable IT hubs in the world, like India. We hope this article could help you to form an opinion about IT outsourcing to Indian providers and find enough information about credible Indian IT companies.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. Share your opinion by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic

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Animoca Brands KK has raised a total of US$45 million from MUFG Bank and Hong Kong-based parent Animoca Brands Corporation.

Animoca Brands KK is a strategic subsidiary focusing on cooperative partnerships in Japan for NFT-related business opportunities.

The new round brings the Japanese subsidiary’s valuation to approximately US$500 million (pre-money).

Also Read: Web3 is going to redefine labour in Asia in a big way: Animoca Brands’s Yat Siu

The subsidiary will use the new capital to secure licenses for popular intellectual properties, develop internal capabilities, and promote the adoption of Web3 to multiple partners. A portion of the money will also go into increasing the value and utility of its partners’ branded content while fostering the development of a safe and secure NFT ecosystem in Japan.

Established in 2021, Animoca Brands Japan supports the adoption of Web3 among Japanese IP and content holders. It enables famous IP holders in the country to participate in the Web3 ecosystem while leveraging the network, reach, and expertise of Animoca in contributing to establishing the open metaverse.

Headquartered in Tokyo, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) is a financial group with a global network in approximately 2,400 locations in more than 50 countries. The Group has about 170,000 employees and offers commercial banking, trust banking, securities, credit cards, consumer finance, asset management, and leasing services.

The parent company develops and publishes a broad portfolio of products, including the REVV token and SAND token; original games including The Sandbox, Crazy Kings, and Crazy Defense Heroes; and products utilising popular IPs including Disney, WWE, Snoop Dogg, The Walking Dead, Power Rangers, MotoGP, and Formula E.

Also Read: Animoca Brands banks US$75M+ more to fund strategic acquisitions, investments

Its subsidiaries include The Sandbox, Blowfish Studios, Quidd, GAMEE, nWay, Pixowl, Forj, Lympo, Grease Monkey Games, Eden Games, Darewise Entertainment, Notre Game, TinyTap, and Be Media.

Animoca Brands has a growing portfolio of more than 340 investments, including Colossal, Axie Infinity, OpenSea, Dapper Labs (NBA Top Shot), Yield Guild Games, Harmony, Alien Worlds, Star Atlas, and others.

In July this year, Animoca Brands completed a capital raise of US$75.32 million. It was the second tranche of the US$359 million funding round led by Liberty City Ventures announced on 18 January 2022.

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Image Credit: Animoca Brands.

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Fintech startup Investree today announced that it had completed the acquisition of local bank Amar Bank, increasing its stake from 10.9 per cent of all issued and fully paid shares in June to 18.4 per cent.

This acquisition confirmed Investree as a minority stakeholder in the bank, while Tolaram Group remained a majority stakeholder.

In a press statement, Investree and Amar Bank said that by utilising its “solid ecosystem”, they will build a digital bank for MSMEs, who is described by the companies as “the backbone of the country’s economy”, and utilise existing products by the two companies to support MSMEs.

Investree Group operates in Indonesia under PT Investree Radhika Jaya. Currently, Investree Group itself has a business unit engaged in the provision of business solutions such as e-invoicing and stock management.

Also Read: How payment networks are crucial to the rising fintech movement

“Investree welcomes this latest step with great enthusiasm. This initiative is part of creating a cohesive cross-collaboration between fintech and banking as well as jointly innovating products, providing digital financing services and more integrated business solutions, and also expanding the reach to prospective debtors or MSME actors in cities that are part of Amar Bank’s network. In addition, this acquisition will further enhance Investree’s solid ecosystem, enabling increased strategic potential to empower MSMEs across the country. After this, we hope that we can start carrying out the key initiatives being prepared by the Investree Group and Amar Bank,” says Adrian Gunadi, Co-Founder & CEO of Investree Indonesia and CEO of Investree Regional.

Amar Bank transformed its business to be a fully digital bank in 2014. Its employees went from 17 in 2014 to more than 1,000 in 2022.

Through its platform Tunaiku, Amar Bank has disbursed more than IDR8 trillion in loans to impact more than 575,000 customers.

Vishal Tulsian, President Director of Amar Bank, said, “The strategic partnership with Investree will strengthen Amar Bank’s position as a digital bank that leverages technology to positively impact the country. Investree is the largest fintech lending player in Indonesia with a strong focus on SMEs. Amar Bank’s Tunaiku is the strongest Big Data driven digital consumer and micro businesses lending platform, and Senyumku is the most advanced AI driven digital banking platform. Amar’s strong balance sheet + Tunaiku’s digital lending + Senyumku’s digital banking + Investree’s SME lending + Investree’s ecosystem = Poised to become the strongest MSME focused Digital Bank of Indonesia.”

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Image Credit: Investree

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Following the meltdown of a well-known stablecoin, a cascade of events took place, including the insolvency of a well-known venture fund, the collapse of a vital lending project, and the aftermath of significant price drops across all major and minor currencies. The total market cap of crypto has plunged to below US$1 trillion compared to May 2022, when it was over US$2 trillion.

Despite being in bearish market conditions, decentralised finance (DeFi), which enables users to trade without intermediaries like banks, has remained steadfast in developments and looks to emerge stronger than before.

The recent events have paved the way for the shedding of weak projects and consolidation of projects with strong tokenomics and business models.

The next growth phase will see DeFi reach greater maturity and achieve long-term sustainability, with protocols having improved revenue models, governance structures and risk management practices, and at the same time receiving greater acceptance across mainstream audiences and finance professionals.

The impact of current events on crypto and DeFi

We saw bailouts ensued with Goldman Sachs leading an investor group to raise US$2 billion to buy Celsius’ assets (the centralised lending company that collapsed). BlockFi, regarded as a blue-chip lender and also a centralised entity, received a US$250 million loan from crypto exchange FTX. Regulators have started to hunker down, paying attention to enforcing guidelines ahead of their roadmaps.

Mainstream investors, many of whom were subscribed to centralised platforms, lost savings and faith in the industry, while crypto projects are impacted by resourcing and their ability to repay debt, with many having to downsize or right-size.

We also saw liquidations of collateral because DeFi applications have suffered due to practices of over-leveraging or over-stacking using the same initial capital. Troubles in one application, therefore, have cascading effects on others.

Though prices have been impacted, DeFi ultimately escaped unscathed from the recent market upset. We also see continuous investments into the space, with Citi recently announcing that it is working on its digital asset custody capabilities, while BlackRock is offering crypto for institutional investors through Coinbase.

On the philosophical front, crucial questions have surfaced: Should bailouts be an expected pattern in downturns, and how does this differentiate crypto from Traditional Finance (TradFi)? How involved will regulators be moving forward, how will their involvement change the landscape, and is this something that is welcomed? How can good DeFi projects be better insulated from the impact caused by bad projects?

Breaking down financial crises and why DeFi matters

If we follow the trajectory of finance, there is a time for new products to be introduced and go through cycles before they can emerge stronger. Similar to the 2008 financial crisis where TradFi institutions failed due to a lack of good governance, the crypto space has seen mismanagement of processes.

Also Read: Is the crypto market dead again?

These risks taken are unacceptable to mainstream investors. Recent events have prompted a deleveraging and “cleaning up” of weaker projects regarding utility, tokenomics, and ideology.

The nature of the crypto market’s downturn in 2017 and 2022 is also vastly different. The phenomenon that took place in 2017, namely the ICO bubble, caused an existential threat to the entire space.

However, the ecosystem in 2022 has significantly matured, with many more blockchains and apps created and used, as well as more financially-savvy professionals like financial institutions and venture capitalists becoming important market players.

The market conditions today are also being affected by a wider market downturn, contributed by interest rate hikes, and markets being overleveraged, which has compounded the effect on a comparably smaller crypto market.

Despite turbulent times, DeFi protocols continue to advance what financial institutions (FIs) are already good at while significantly reducing resources and optimising processes.

Blockchain technology enables protocols to operate with a substantially smaller headcount requirement due to reliance on code for processes rather than people. Developmental blockages typical of FIs are also reduced as there is less manual coordination necessary.

Distinctly different from centralised finance (CeFi) and its opaque black boxes, DeFi’s ability to track user funds on-chain enables users to understand the utility and track movements of their funds. The aforementioned Celsius and BlockFi are examples of CeFi.

The recent downfall of Celsius, which resulted in investors being unable to regain their funds, highlighted a clear lack of transparency in funds and operations. One promising possibility is more open and efficient monitoring of the on-chain activity by regulators that could significantly improve current processes that require extensive research and reporting by audit institutions.

This transparency that is evident in DeFi is the fundamental building block of a financial system that will only see greater adoption in time.

The future of DeFi is bright

We will observe more consolidations taking place through strategic partnerships and new trends emerging, such as projects taking up credit lines to create a greater buffer to secure their customer’s assets. Regulators will take a firmer approach and become more hands-on locally, while anonymity and AML will be bolstered and will aid in the upwards trajectory of DeFi.

We will see institutions continue to pour into crypto. Innovations in DeFi will continue to take place and are already on the horizon, including The Merge for Ethereum, Layer 3, and DeFi 2.0.

Also Read: Are we prepared to embrace the possibilities of Web3 beyond crypto?

While promising a bright future, there is still much more room for DeFi to mature. DeFi in its current form is relatively primitive. DeFi projects need to study and include the sophistication of TradFi that has been tried and tested over decades.

Projects need to put into place TradFI’s more rigorous safety features while creating policies for risk management. They also need to better educate everyday users about their products, not only about the benefits but also the downside risks associated with participating in these opportunities.

Besides upgrading systems, DeFi needs to take an honest look at what good governance really entails. Taking another lesson from TradFi, governance is what well-run and regulated institutions are good at, with rules and guidelines put in place to ensure investors are not defrauded.

On the jurisdictional front, certain approaches have stood out more than others. Singapore, for instance, took a strict stance before May’s events, intending to protect ordinary investors while bolstering the support of institutional investors. There is wisdom here for other jurisdictions to learn from and implement while DeFi moves forward in its maturation cycle.

The end of one era, the beginning of a new one

We have seen a significant impact on crypto and DeFi alike. However, DeFi has remained relatively unscathed and will survive the next uptake, as it was largely centralised projects that took a major hit. The recent events have sparked interest from serious institutional investors and more regulation worldwide.

It has also invigorated new DeFi possibilities, more diverse protocol segments, and new players and talents entering the space. While the journey towards recovery for projects, developers, and investors will be a continual process, the future of DeFi looks bright. These events were the catalyst for strong projects to stand the test of time, like gold being refined through a furnace.

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