Crypto companies seeking out Asia

Crypto is increasingly looking to Asia for a revival as the chastened sector reels from a crackdown in the U.S.

Greater regulatory clarity in Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan is a drawing card, industry executives said, compared with enforcement actions and lawsuits by U.S. agencies and slow progress in Congress toward legislation to clarify the status of digital assets.

The company heads spoke in Singapore at a high-profile Asian crypto conference, which began Wednesday right after the Binance U.S. exchange eliminated over 100 staff as the American clampdown erodes its business.

A $2 trillion crash in digital assets since 2021 added to the challenging backdrop.

Among the attendees was Tom Farley, a former New York Stock Exchange president who is chief executive at the Gibraltar-registered digital-asset exchange Bullish.

Farley said Bullish plans to apply for a license in Hong Kong after the city rolled out a new regulatory framework to develop a crypto hub.

“We have chosen not to engage in commercial activity in the US,” he said in an interview. “We are approved in many states. We could do it tomorrow. But the environment in the US is not terribly friendly. It’s frustrating.”

The U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission under Chair Gary Gensler views most tokens as unregistered securities and has acted against issuers and exchanges for failing to register with the agency.

But conflicting court judgments on the matter have stirred confusion in the U.S. Speaking before a Senate panel on Tuesday, Gensler reiterated his view that crypto is rife with fraud and misconduct.

Asia, meanwhile, is enacting crypto rules, exemplified last month by Hong Kong’s first licenses for trading platforms under its new regulations.

Intel shares finally show growth

After years of disappointing investors, Intel shares are showing signs of life.

The best performer in the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index over the past month, Intel is being viewed as both a relative value play and a potential beneficiary of geopolitical tensions with China as the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company bolsters chipmaking facilities in the U.S.

“Investors have a love-hate relationship with the stock,” said Hendi Susanto, portfolio manager at Gabelli Funds. “It isn’t out of the woods, but over the past several months Intel has demonstrated its resilience.”

The chipmaker’s shares are up by nearly 20% over the past three weeks, compared with a roughly 5% drop for Nvidia and a gain of less than 2% for the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index.

The outperformance comes as tensions between the U.S. and China continue to escalate and despite lingering reservations on Wall Street that Intel’s expensive turnaround strategy – which hinges on reestablishing its once-bulletproof lead in chip technology – will succeed.

Shares were little changed on Wednesday.

Its plan involves heavy spending, with the chipmaker building and extending facilities in the U.S. and Europe, something that may help it if the already fraught relationship between the U.S. and China deteriorates further, creating more incentive for other companies to use it as an outsourced manufacturer.

This issue is center stage now that it has been reported China plans to widen a ban on the use of iPhones, a development that could have implications for major Asia-based manufacturers like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing.

“With China ramping up tensions, the U.S. has to have a backup plan to TSMC, and Intel is the only company capable of offering anything similar,” said Daniel Newman, chief executive officer of The Futurum Group.

Stocks finish mixed after latest report

Stock futures, bonds and the dollar saw small moves, with a mixed inflation report bolstering speculation the Federal Reserve will pause its rate hikes – but refrain from calling the end of its tightening cycle.

S&P 500 contracts were little changed after extending losses in the immediate aftermath of the data.

Treasury two-year yields, which are more sensitive to imminent Fed moves, hovered near 5%.

The greenback wavered.

The so-called core consumer price index, which excludes food and energy costs, advanced 0.3% from July, the first acceleration in six months.

From a year ago, it increased 4.3%, in line with estimates and marking the smallest advance in nearly two years.

From wire reports