Author: Duc Dao

Singapore technology giant Sea Ltd and OpenAI will launch the Sea x OpenAI Codex Hackathon in Singapore on June 6, 2026, marking the start of a regional hackathon series across the Asia-Pacific region.

ENEOS Holdings will acquire American energy giant Chevron’s downstream fuels and lubricants businesses across several Asia-Pacific markets in a transaction valued at $2.17 billion.

BTSE Bhutan, a provider of trading and custody services for virtual asset, has received in-principle approval from the Gelephu Financial Services Office to obtain a Financial Services License in Gelephu Mindfulness City.

Vietnam's leading technological firm FPT and Japan's industrial giant Mitsubishi Motors will collaborate in software and digital technologies, including the potential establishment of a future joint venture focused on the automotive sector.

Enterprises across the Asia-Pacific region are rapidly increasing investments in agentic AI, with 42 percent of organizations planning to allocate at least $1 million to AI agents over the next 12 months, according to a new report released by Informa and technology research firm Omdia.

Melazyme, a precision fermentation startup focused on functional biomolecules, has raised $2 million in a seed funding round led by SeaX Ventures, with participation from Stellaris Venture Partners and Plug and Play Ventures.

Vietnam’s digital asset exchange could begin official operations as early as the third quarter of 2026 under a pilot framework approved by the government, Deputy Minister of Finance Nguyen Duc Chi said.

Financial institutions across Asia-Pacific are moving aggressively to build digital asset infrastructure, with custody and tokenized securities emerging as key priorities, according to 2026 survey report “The Financial Grid” conducted by digital asset infrastructure company Fireblocks.

Most bankers expect artificial intelligence (AI) agents to become part of the workforce within the next five years, according to the “AI in Banking Benchmark” report released by NASDAQ-listed nCino, a platform for agentic AI banking.

AWARP, a financial infrastructure project focused on emerging markets, has secured a strategic investment from Animoca Brands to support the development of real-world asset (RWA) tokenization and cross-border payment networks.