The Afternoon Update with Lynlee Foo

Coinbase, one of the largest centralised crypto exchanges globally, is shaping the future of blockchain innovation. It is making efforts to create best-in-class user experiences that it hopes will do away with the complexities associated with crypto. Base, its Layer 2 blockchain solution for the Ethereum network is designed to offer faster, cheaper and more secure transactions. In an exclusive interview with Money FM 89.3, Jesse Pollak, creator of Base and Head of Protocols at Coinbase, shares his insights on the benefits of on-chain payments, Coinbase’s efforts to drive this transformation, and the next big thing in crypto. He also tells us why he thinks Singapore is leading the way in the digital asset space.

Investment volumes in Asia Pacific’s commercial real estate have surged to their highest levels since the 2022 rate-hike cycle, driven by cross-border investments and strong demand for office and logistics assets. Singapore stands out with a 118% year-on-year increase in Q3 2024, fueled by institutional interest in industrial, retail, and life sciences. Pamela Ambler, Head of Investor Intelligence, Asia Pacific, at global real estate services firm JLL, shares her insights on the key trends shaping this growth, and the outlook on CRE including where CRE firms will deploy capital in 2025.

Sustainability is a crucial area of focus in the fashion industry. The increasing awareness of the negative impacts of fast fashion on the environment and society has led to the need for sustainable practices.  The Singapore Fashion Council (SFC) strongly promotes circularity in fashion and has recently launched an initiative to drive home the importance of embracing circularity and the perpetual cycles of regeneration, reuse, and resource optimisation in production. The SFC is the official association for the textile and fashion industry in Singapore.  Zhang Ting-Ting, CEO of the Singapore Fashion Council shares more about the latest trends and sustainable practices in the fashion industry.

In Southeast Asia, streaming entertainment is mostly consumed via smartphones by users heavily reliant on their mobile devices. This means most businesses would stand to gain from using software designed with the smartphone in mind. To that end, industry players like Agora, a pioneer and leader in real-time engagement technology, are looking into mobile-first and AI-enhanced communication solutions. What sort of innovations can we expect? For more about their work, Lawrence Wu, Head of (Internet of Things)IoT Industry,and Effie Pang, Director of Sales, share more about their rapidly expanding video streaming and AI-driven communications software services that are mobile oriented for a more positive user experience. 

Nvidia reported Q3 earnings today (20 Nov) and results suggest that Nvidia is continuing to grow quickly while demand for its powerful artificial intelligence chips remains high. However, the reported number of a 94% year-on-year surge in revenue for the third quarter to $35.08 billion is still a consecutive slowdown from the previous three quarters.  In terms of price action, shares fell 2% in extended trading, from $145 a share to $142. The Options market expected moves of about 10%.   Isaac Lim, Chief Market Strategist, at online investment platform, Moomoo Singapore, discussed this price action and the possible implications of the consecutive revenue slowdowns, and where Nvidia is headed in 2025.

The industrial real estate market in Vietnam has experienced a dramatic increase in foreign direct investment over the past two decades. As the country continues its transformative phase attracting a new wave of high-value investments, what are the factors that are shaping Vietnam’s industrial sector and contributing to its success, especially in the growth of new technology sectors such as data centres and electric vehicles? What do investors need to know about Vietnam's evolution into a major manufacturing, logistics, and digital hub in Southeast Asia? More importantly, how will Trump 2.0 impact the outlook for the country's industrial real estate?  John Campbell, Director, Head of Industrial Services, Savills Vietnam, who is based in Ho Chi Minh city, shares his perspectives. 

Stablecoins and tokenisation are gaining momentum in today's complex financial landscape, driving innovation across payments and remittances, and bridging the gap between traditional finance and decentralised finance, to pave the way for the future of payments. How will current developments change the way we pay? Will the rise of stablecoins challenge the established financial systems, or complement and enhance existing frameworks? Jason Tay, Head of Commercial at stablecoin firm, StraitsX, tells us more. StraitsX holds a major payment institution license in Singapore, and is the issuer of XSGD, Singapore's first dollar-backed stablecoin.

According to business intelligence platform Statista, blockchain technology is forecast to increase to nearly 1,000 trillion U.S. dollars by 2032. Blockchain is at the heart of cryptocurrency, and with rising acceptance and adoption of cryptocurrencies, and growing interest in decentralised finance (DeFi) platforms, the cryptocurrency market in Singapore is anticipated to grow rapidly in the next few years. What will it take for Singapore to be a Web3 hub in this region? What are the security challenges businesses should be aware of? Gu Ronghui, Associate Professor of Computer Science at Columbia University is one of two founders of CertiK, an industry-leading Web3 security firm headquartered in New York. CertiK says alongside its auditing work, it has reported over 4,000 security incidents in the Web3 community, and discovered more than 115,000 code vulnerabilities, safeguarding over $360 billion in digital assets. Prof Gu, a pioneer in blockchain security, shares invaluable insights into the Web3 space including the challenges and opportunities, and Singapore's role in Web3 development.

Have you heard of a condominium hotel or condotel? As the name may imply, it is a condominium that operates as a hotel, which you could own because units within the hotel are individually owned and managed for you. Hannah Yulo Luccini, CEO of Hotel101 Global, tells us a bit more about how such projects work and how it is different from traditional time-shares with their Condotel project in Niseko, Japan. 

Digital health innovations are playing a more pivotal role in disease management and treatments. From electronic health record integration to wearable devices and mobile applications, advancements in digital technologies are offering more opportunities to improve health outcomes.  On World Diabetes Day (14 Nov), Industry Insight takes a look into the healthcare technology industry and discuss trends specific to diabetes management with Dr. Kenneth Lee, Regional Medical Director, Abbott Diabetes Care, Abbott.