From Cointelegraph · By Andrew Fenton
Tampered Ledger wallets cost Singapore users $2.7M: Police
Singapore police say at least two cases involving tampered Ledger hardware wallets have been reported since Sept. 10, with combined losses of about 3.5 million Singapore dollars ($2.7 million). It places the first local report almost a month before the wider incident became public.
It’s not clear from the October 28 consumer alert if the September 10 case was reported to police at the time, or was made retrospectively. If the report was timely, it raises questions as to whether Ledger was informed, or if the Singapore Police Force was in a position to issue a public warning earlier. However, the October 28 advisory suggested the police investigation was still in the preliminary stages.
Ledger issued a public alert about tampered Ledgers being found in the CryptoBilis supply chain on October 9. Almost $100 million was drained from wallets containing spyware components.
On Oct. 13, Ledger said it has asked retailers in Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Hong Kong to suspend sales of Ledger devices as investigations are ongoing.
Singapore police issue tampered Ledgers warning three weeks after the story broke. Source: Singapore Police
Malaysia, Thailand join Singapore’s cross-border stablecoin push
Bank Negara Malaysia and the Bank of Thailand joined Singapore’s BLOOM initiative on Friday as policymaker members.
BLOOM, short for Borderless, Liquid, Open, Online, Multi-currency, is a public-private initiative that intends to help financial institutions use stablecoins and tokenized deposits for cross-border payments. It was launched by the Monetary Authority of Singapore in October last year and counts Airwallex, Mastercard, Ripple, Visa and the World Bank Group as members.
DBS survey finds lots of corporate interest in tokenized money
A survey by Singapore bank DBS found that almost 90% of 422 global businesses surveyed are either adopting, or are interested in adopting, tokenized cash to accelerate payments.
SOUTH KOREA
Groundhog Day as Korean lawmakers consider fourth delay of crypto tax
Government officials in South Korea are reportedly weighing another delay of the country’s cryptocurrency tax policy, currently scheduled to be implemented in January 2027.
According to a Monday report from South Korean news outlet Newsis, the crypto income tax could be pushed to 2029 in part because it’s the earliest that officials will be able to share information on taxes related to digital asset exchanges with the US.
The policy, which would impose a 22% tax on crypto gains for investors earning more than 2.5 million Korean won ($1,883) annually.