OCBC, Lion Global, and DigiFT Launch Southeast Asia's First On-Chain Tokenized Gold Fund
On April 22, OCBC, Lion Global Investors, and digital asset exchange DigiFT launched the OCBC-LionGlobal Physical Gold Fund Token — ticker GOLDX — marking Southeast Asia's first tokenized physical gold fund issued on a public blockchain. The token operates on both the Ethereum and Solana networks, and as of April 16 the underlying LionGlobal Singapore Physical Gold Fund held S$669.4 million (approximately US$525.9 million) in assets under management, just four months after the fund's launch.
All three parties in the launch are regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Institutional investors and corporate accredited investors can purchase GOLDX tokens using stablecoins or fiat currency through the DigiFT platform, receive tokens directly in blockchain wallets, and redeem for stablecoins or fiat. The structure is designed to serve Web3 participants holding idle stablecoin capital who want physical-gold exposure without navigating traditional fund distribution channels.
The launch coincides with quantified evidence of Southeast Asia's appetite for tokenized real-world assets. A joint Bitget and Block Scholes report published on April 21 found that Southeast Asia accounts for 81.9% of total RWA trade volume on Bitget, and 26.2% of the exchange's active traders globally across its 125 million user base. The report attributed the regional concentration in part to the appeal of 24/7 settlement and the growing use of tokenized assets for real-time cross-asset hedging. Globally, the tokenized RWA market surpassed US$18.23 billion by January 2026, up from US$1.89 billion in January 2024.
Thailand SEC Opens Consultation on Letting Crypto Firms Add Derivatives Licenses Within Existing Entities
Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission opened a public consultation on April 22 inviting feedback on proposed amendments that would allow licensed digital asset businesses to apply for derivatives licenses within their current corporate structures, removing the existing requirement to incorporate separate legal entities for derivatives activity. The consultation window runs through May 20, 2026.
The proposal builds on a February 2026 amendment to the Derivatives Act that formally recognised digital assets as eligible underlying instruments for futures contracts. That amendment established the legal foundation; the April consultation addresses the market-access question of how incumbents can expand without the full cost of a corporate restructure. The SEC Board approved the licensing proposal at its meeting on April 2.
The draft framework comes with explicit safeguards. A digital asset exchange seeking a derivatives license would face enhanced conflict-of-interest controls given its access to clients' order-book data, and the SEC has signalled that additional oversight requirements would apply to operators holding both license types simultaneously. SEC Secretary-General Pornanong Budsaratragoon stated the initiative aims to "strengthen the status of crypto as an investment asset class and broaden investment opportunities."
Coins.ph Connects USDT and USDC to the Philippines' National QRPh Merchant Network
On April 22, Coins.ph announced the integration of USDT and USDC into the Philippines' national QRPh payment standard, making stablecoin settlement immediately compatible with approximately 700,000 QRPh-enabled merchant terminals across the country. QRPh is the national QR code standard developed by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and underpins the country's interoperable retail payment infrastructure.
The integration allows Coins.ph users to complete a QRPh transaction using Philippine pesos, supported stablecoins, or a hybrid combination of both within a single checkout flow, with real-time conversion quotes generated before execution. In December 2025, Coins.ph processed approximately ₱30 billion in QRPh transactions, establishing the platform's baseline infrastructure scale before the stablecoin feature was added.
The Philippines context matters for understanding the significance of this deployment. The country ranked among the global leaders in remittance inflows in 2025, and a substantial portion of Coins.ph's user base holds stablecoin balances tied to overseas worker remittances. The QRPh integration opens a direct path from those incoming stablecoin holdings into domestic point-of-sale spending — a use case that has historically required converting to pesos first, introducing friction and conversion cost.
Eyes on the Week Ahead
Thailand's two active consultations run in parallel: the crypto ETF rules published April 10 close May 11, and the derivatives licensing proposal opened this week closes May 20. Industry participants have a narrow window to respond to both papers while the SEC is still actively shaping what Thailand's digital-asset product landscape will look like by year end.
Southeast Asia Blockchain Week 2026 is scheduled for May 20–21 at ICONSIAM in Bangkok, with institutional roundtables on RWA tokenization and the regional regulatory frontier. Vietnam's Ministry of Finance has not confirmed any approved crypto exchange applicants under its five-year pilot program; roughly ten institutions have signalled intent, and the licensing outcome remains outstanding.
Layer 7 Ventures is a research-driven firm focused on AI and cryptocurrency in Southeast Asia. Views expressed are those of the firm and do not constitute investment advice.
