Explaining the stunning rise of Singapore crypto unicorn Matrixport

The Top Up is Tech in Asia’s free newsletter that breaks down the biggest stories and trends in fintech. [Read from your browser]( The Top Up 💵 Welcome to The Top Up! Delivered every Wednesday via email and through the Tech in Asia website, this free newsletter breaks down the biggest stories and trends in fintech. If you’re not a subscriber, get access by [registering here](. Hello {NAME} Singapore minted its latest unicorn earlier this month: Matrixport, the crypto-finance venture created by the founders of Bitmain, a Chinese manufacturer of bitcoin-mining hardware. Matrixport’s customers are mainly the “crypto wealthy” - high-net-worth individuals and institutional investors who own at least US$1 million worth of crypto. The startup offers a Wall Street-style of investing, taking tried-and-tested techniques in traditional finance and applying them to the crypto space. Ranging from trading to structured products, Matrixport's financial services offer clients the potential to earn up to 30% annualized interest rates on a savings account, take zero-cost loans with zero liquidation risks, and access to double-digital annualized returns regardless of market conditions. In this week’s story, Derek Lim takes a closer look at the Singapore-based startup’s product offerings. Matrixport is planning to broaden its customer base soon. When it does, would its offerings be something you’d try? We’d love to hear what you think. -- Melissa THE BIG STORY  [How a Singapore crypto startup became a unicorn in just two years]( Image credit: Timmy Loen Established by high-profile founders, Matrixport promises zero-cost loans and double-digit annualized yields to its clients. DEEP READS 1️⃣  [A new digital bank could instill VC faith in Indonesia’s sharia fintech]( Photo credit: Alami While Indonesia is home to the world’s largest Muslim population, sharia banking in the archipelago remains an exception rather than a norm. Venture backing for startups in sharia finance are few and far between, as VCs remain unconvinced of the potential that an industry worth US$2.2 trillion globally holds. This makes Alami, a peer-to-peer lender backed by Golden Gate Ventures, AC Ventures, and Quona Capital, an anomaly. Fresh off a funding round from earlier this year, the Jakarta-based fintech firm is set to launch a “sharia digital bank” called Hijra in the coming months. Its biggest competition? Tech giants and their digital banking arms. Alami expects that it’s only “a matter of time” before these companies begin entering the sharia market. 2️⃣  [7 insights into PolicyBazaar’s prospects for profitability from its IPO filings]( A wave of initial public offerings is sweeping across India’s startups. Leading the pack is food tech firm Zomato, which has seen share prices soaring more than 70% since its public listing in July. PolicyBazaar is looking to ride on that boom by targeting to raise US$809 million via its stock market debut. With a path to profitability that's clearer compared to Zomato's, the insurance policy aggregator could even make a bigger splash on the public market. *Tech in Asia* dug through PolicyBazaar’s filings and numbers, and we outlined what caught our eye.  3️⃣  [Embedded finance won’t make every firm into a fintech company]( You’ve heard the prevailing narrative that [every company]( is becoming a fintech firm. Part of that optimism can be attributed to the rise of embedded finance: It helps companies outside the financial sector such as ecommerce players, traditional retailers, and airlines to launch branded credit cards and other financial services. Lazada’s Visa credit card is a good example of this trend, which we wrote about [previously](. Often, this is done through “white-labeling,” which means outsourcing risk management, credit checks, and dispute resolution to providers with the know-how instead of building these features from ground up. But just because a company offers digital financial services does not make it a fintech firm. TRENDING NEWS Check out Tech in Asia’s coverage of Asia’s ecommerce scene [here](. 1️⃣  [Visa enters metaverse with first NFT purchase]( Global payments giant Visa has entered the non-fungible token (NFT) space with its recent US$150,000 purchase of CryptoPunk 7610, a pixelated artwork featuring a female character sporting a mohawk, green eyes, and pink lipstick. Why it matters: The move lends legitimacy to the NFT movement as it increasingly becomes mainstream. This will also help the payments giant to “understand firsthand what it takes to acquire, custody, and interact with an NFT,” explains Cuy Sheffield, head of crypto at the payments giant. The purchase could potentially pave the way for new services that companies like Visa and traditional banks will need to offer in order to stay relevant. 2️⃣  [Robinhood tumbles as slowdown in trading by retail investors hits outlook]( Photo credit: 123rf The US-based online brokerage is expecting lower trading volumes to affect the results of its third quarter earnings as cryptocurrency-driven trading fades. As the US economy opens up, less active trading may also have a bigger impact on growth. In true “bringing Wall Street to the masses” fashion, Robinhood gained popularity during the pandemic by letting retail investors trade meme stocks - like video game retailer GameStop and movie chain AMC - at zero commissions. In recent months, a large part of Robinhood’s growth came from cryptocurrency trading, after the price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies soared. Why it matters: Robinhood’s wild success amid the pandemic has spurred similar offshoots in Asia, including Chinese trading apps Tiger and Moomoo as well as [KTrade in Pakistan](. We wrote about the rise of China’s Robinhoods [here](. Millions of retail investors, including youngsters stuck indoors and professionals switching to a work-from-home arrangement, began dabbling in stock and cryptocurrency trading during the pandemic, and their new pursuit will likely become a permanent habit. The result has been fast growth as well as higher trading activity and balances in online brokerage accounts. However, what Robinhood is experiencing could signal limits to that exuberance. 3️⃣  [Philippine central bank to put 3-year pause on digital bank applications]( The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas will close the application window for three years to allow the regulator “to better monitor” the performance of the industry, central bank governor Benjamin Diokno said in a briefing last week. The number of digital banks will be limited to seven in the meantime. Five licenses have been awarded to UNObank, UnionDigital Bank, GoTyme, Overseas Filipino Bank, and Tonik Bank. Why it matters: The move signifies a pullback at a time when digital banking is picking up in neighboring ASEAN countries. We previously discussed the [opportunity in Indonesia]( where tech giants might be well-placed to clinch one. 4️⃣ [Ethereum founder is skeptical of Dorsey’s and Zuckerberg’s plans]( Vitalik Buterin, the engineer widely recognized as the inventor of Ethereum, has voiced his skepticism about Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s plan for the company to create a new business focused on decentralized financial services that uses Bitcoin, as well as Mark Zuckerberg’s idea to turn Facebook into a “metaverse company.” Why it matters: From Facebook and Twitter to JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, established companies have been working on ways to incorporate blockchain into their existing businesses. For instance, Dorsey has [talked about]( how a global currency like Bitcoin could help the company reach “every single person on the planet,” while Facebook is backing its own digital coin called Diem. In Twitter’s case, creating and enforcing rules on a Bitcoin-based system, compared to one like Ethereum - the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency - could also prove to be a challenge, in Buterin’s words. That’s because Bitcoin was designed to be a “currency of the house” and lacks the functionality to be governed by “smart contracts” or a set of rules that govern how those assets get released, he added. STARTUP WATCH 1️⃣ [Philippine cryptocurrency exchange startup gets $12.5m in funding]( Launched in 2018, Philippine Digital Asset Exchange (PDAX) allows Filipinos to buy bitcoins using local currency in a country that has seen the third-highest rate of cryptocurrency usage in the world behind Nigeria and Vietnam, according to the World Economic Forum. Since March 2020, the company claims to have grown its user count by 25x and monthly volume transactions by 80x.  2️⃣ [Ex-Lazada execs’ insurance marketplace secures $9m funding]( [Lifepal]( which was set up by a team that includes ex-Lazada executives Giacomo Ficari and Nicolo Robb in 2019, has just closed a US$9 million series A funding round led by ProBatus Capital. The Indonesia-based company currently offers more than 300 insurance products, such as health, life, automotive, property, and travel, from over 50 insurance partners. According to Lifepal, its user numbers have grown 12x since last year. That’s it for this edition - we hope you liked it! Not your cup of tea? You can unsubscribe from this newsletter by going to our preference center at the bottom of this email. In the meantime, if you have any feedback or ideas, feel free to get in touch with Terence, our editor-in-chief, at terence@techinasia.com. See you next week! P.S. 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