Asian Banks Prepare Crypto Takeoff as Thailand’s SCB Revs DeFi Engines

Siam Commercial Bank (SCB), one of Thailand’s biggest commercial banks, is set to partner/collaborate with a local DeFi player through a subsidiary – in a week when banks all over Asia have shaped up to make major moves in the crypto scene. (Updated at 13:28 UTC: the first sentence was corrected to clarify that SCB is set to collaborate, not invest in a local DeFi player).

Per an official announcement from the Thai “ecosystem of cross-chain DeFi products” Alpha Finance Lab, the SCB’s venture subsidiary SCB 10X has partnered with Alpha.

The move is not SCB’s first in the crypto sector, either. SCB 10X has previously invested in crypto lending platform BlockFi and XRP-affiliated Ripple.

Alpha claimed,

“This partnership with SCB10X will provide Alpha with direct expertise from traditional banking and potentially onboard retail customers to DeFi through multiple angles, such as fiat on-ramp.”

The DeFi company also took to Twitter to claim that the new deal would “bridge the gap between traditional banking and DeFi.”

The firm’s CEO Tascha Punyaneramitdee is a former Product Manager at the Chinese tech and entertainment giant Tencent.

The news comes hot on the heels of reports of Singaporean banking giant DBS’ forthcoming digital exchange, as well as developments from South Korea’s Shinhan, which is set to co-build a “digital currency” platform with LG subsidiary LG CNS. In Mongolia, the Ulaanbaatar-based Trade & Development Bank of Mongolia is also readying the launch of multiple crypto developments in conjunction with South Korean and domestic blockchain and crypto players.
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