Headlines

US-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global Inc. is closing the bulk of its operations in Japan as part of a move to adjust international investment amid a slump in the digital-asset sector, Bloomberg News reported. The shift comes as the firm cuts 20% of its workforce globally, the latest layoffs at the San Francisco-headquartered firm. Coinbase is scaling back in Japan even as the nation loosens some crypto rules, which has spurred rival Binance — the largest digital-asset exchange — to seek a license to return to the country.

Hong Kong securities watchdog will propose a subset of tokens it would allow for retail investors' trading, its chief executive said on Wednesday, as it presses on with a new regulatory regime that will make the city more friendly to crypto startups, Reuters reported. As investor protection will continue to be the focus of the new virtual asset service provider (VSAP) regime, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) will also seek public views about specific guardrails for retail trading, said Julia Leung, chief executive officer at the commision.

Britain’s foreign minister is meeting politicians and businesspeople in Belfast on Wednesday, bearing good news: The U.K. and the European Union are inching closer to settling a post-Brexit trade dispute that has brought economic headaches and political turmoil to Northern Ireland, the Associated Press reported. James Cleverly is traveling to Belfast two days after Britain and the EU made a significant breakthrough, striking a data-sharing agreement that will give the EU access to real-time information about goods moving to Northern Ireland from the rest of the U.K.

French unions and opposition parties on Wednesday said they would fight hard to try to derail a highly unpopular plan to make people work longer before receiving a pension, Reuters reported. President Emmanuel Macron's government, in turn, said it wasn't afraid of a nationwide call for strikes and protests on Jan. 19 and would carry on with its plan. The French will have to work two years longer to age 64 before retiring, if the reform, announced yesterday, is adopted by parliament. They will also need to work longer to get a full pension.

Individuals will now be able to alert EU competition regulators about merger breaches or illegal state aid, via an anonymous antitrust whistleblower tool previously reserved for cartels, the European Commission said on Monday, Reuters reported. The tool, introduced in 2017, results in some 100 messages received yearly, helping the EU competition watchdog detect unlawful practices more quickly and contributing to the success of competition investigations.

The World Bank slashed its 2023 growth forecasts on Tuesday to levels teetering on the brink of recession for many countries as the impact of central bank rate hikes intensifies, Russia's war in Ukraine continues, and the world's major economic engines sputter, Reuters reported. The development lender said it now expected global GDP growth of 1.7% in 2023 — the slowest pace outside the 2009 and 2020 recessions in nearly three decades. In its previous Global Economic Prospects report, in June 2022, the bank had forecast 2023 global growth at 3.0%.

German neobank Ruuky has filed for insolvency after failing to raise fresh funds, FinExtra.com reported. Launched three years ago under the brand name Pockid, the firm pivoted a year later under the new name Ruuky, offering an interactive banking app, current account and debit card for European teenagers. While the business claims to have amassed a loyal customer base, counting 250,000 app registrations, it has fallen victim to an ongoing drought in VC funding. The startup had previously raised €4 million from Cavalry Venture and Vorwerk Ventures at a valuation of €16 million.

China’s new regulation to increase scrutiny of companies’ foreign debt will become effective Feb. 10 in the market’s biggest overhaul since 2015, Bloomberg News reported. The effort will encompass debt instruments with tenors of over one year that are sold by Chinese firms or their controlled offshore entities, according to a Tuesday announcement on the National Development and Reform Commission’s website.

Adani Goodhomes Pvt. is a step closer to acquiring Radius Estates and Developers Pvt. at a 98% discount to what the bankrupt company’s creditors had been seeking, Bloomberg News reported. Adani offered to pay 319.7 million rupees ($4 million) to financial creditors, compared with their ask for 16.58 billion rupees and 15.2 million rupees to employees, the person said, asking not to be identified as the details are private.

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Tuesday upheld the order of NCLT, directing removal of the resolution professional (RP)of Shree Ram Urban Infrastructure Ltd., the Economic Times of India reported. The appellate tribunal also directed the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India to conduct an enquiry against the RP and take appropriate steps in accordance with the law.