Odaily Planet Daily reports that the Singapore Police Force announced the arrest of three Singaporeans suspected of money laundering related to the Prince Group between November last year and January this year. An arrest warrant has also been issued for another Singaporean woman, Chen Xiuling. To date, the total value of Singaporean assets seized or prohibited from disposal in connection with this case exceeds S$500 million (approximately RMB 2.7 billion). Analysis indicates that Singapore, with its highly developed digital financial environment and large high-net-worth population, is also a breeding ground for fraud. Locally, fraud has evolved into crimes supported by artificial intelligence and blockchain, resulting in total losses exceeding S$1.1 billion in 2024. (Jiemian News)

According to sources familiar with the matter, the election for Iran's Supreme Leader may be postponed until next week. The sources said that the highest level of security measures have been implemented to ensure the smooth conduct of the election by the Council of Experts. The election may be held in person after the funeral of the late Supreme Leader Khamenei. (CCTV News)

Odaily Planet Daily reports that the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) is aiming to issue the first batch of stablecoin issuer licenses in March. Previously, it was reported that HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank were expected to be among the first to receive approval. In response, HSBC Holdings CEO Georges Elhedery stated that HSBC is interested in participating in all of Hong Kong's innovative developments and hopes to have a role to play. Stablecoins enable seamless, real-time trade payments 24/7, and Hong Kong allows HSBC to explore related innovative technology services within the financial system. For example, tokenized deposits are part of this ecosystem. HSBC has already utilized blockchain technology to help issue bonds, such as Hong Kong government sustainable bonds, and is also involved in tokenized gold business. (Hong Kong 01)

Odaily Planet Daily reports that Akave, a decentralized cloud storage service provider, has announced the completion of a $6.65 million seed funding round. Participants included CVP NLH Advisors, Protocol Labs, No Limit Holdings, Blockchain Builders Fund (BBF), Big Brain Holdings LLC, the Avalanche Foundation, and the Filecoin Foundation. Akave Cloud, built on the Layer 1 blockchain Avalanche, aims to support enterprises running data-intensive AI and analytics workloads. The new funding will primarily be used for sales and marketing expansion. (Businesswire)

Odaily Planet Daily reports that Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Bowman, in a speech titled "Liquidity Resilience, Financial Stability, and the Role of the Federal Reserve" at a roundtable hosted by the Committee on Capital Markets Oversight, pointed out that 15 years after the global financial crisis, it is necessary to reassess whether the current regulatory framework for bank liquidity has truly enhanced the resilience of the financial system, rather than merely "appearing effective" at the compliance level. The current prudential liquidity framework mainly includes tools such as the Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR), Net Stable Funding Ratio (NSFR), Internal Liquidity Stress Test (ILST), and resolution planning, which theoretically can help banks cope with short-term withdrawals and long-term market shocks. Without fundamental reform of the discount window to make it a truly usable and consistent liquidity safety net, the banking system will continue to build additional buffers by hoarding high-quality liquid assets, thereby compressing credit supply and increasing demand for reserves, forcing the Federal Reserve to maintain a larger balance sheet. Future reforms should focus on whether regulatory requirements truly translate into systemic resilience and carefully assess the potential impact of liquidity regulation on bank behavior and the macroeconomy.