How Asia's Crypto Communities View the Tariffs and Trump's Embrace of Crypto

Unchained

Laura Shin

News, Tech News, Business News

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 22 April 2025

⏱️ 82 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The U.S. is rattled by tariffs, economic uncertainty, and political U-turns on crypto. But across Asia, the response has been … different. In this episode of Unchained, we check in with two of the sharpest observers of Asia’s crypto landscape: Emily Parker, China and Japan advisor of the Global Blockchain Business Council, and Yat Siu, chairman of Animoca Brands. They unpack how Asia views the Trump crypto pivot, what’s actually happening inside China, why Hong Kong may be the most important jurisdiction in crypto right now, and how Japan and Korea are quietly shaping the future of regulation, stablecoins, and DeFi. Plus: Is crypto really banned in China? Why Korea is lifting its “shadow ban” Why crypto gaming is thriving in Asia And what the West can learn from it all Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com Thank you to our sponsors! Bitwise Guests: Emily Parker, China and Japan Advisor at the Global Blockchain Business Council Yat Siu, Chairman of Animoca Brands Links WSJ: Crypto Is Illegal in China. Binance Does $90 Billion of Business There Anyway. Timestamps: 🌏 0:00 Introduction 😌 5:43 Why Chinese sentiment around tariffs is calmer than in the U.S. 🗣️ 8:24 What crypto conversations are really about in China right now 🔁 11:28 How Asia reacted to the U.S. crypto U-turn under Trump 🏦 20:13 Are Asian nations quietly building up bitcoin reserves? 📜 23:19 How Asia has more regulatory clarity than the U.S. 📈 25:13 Why crypto adoption in Asia is outpacing that of other regions 🇰🇷 30:22 Why DeFi hasn’t taken off yet in South Korea – Don’t miss this! 🌐 38:05 The potential rise of non-USD stablecoins in Asia 👀 43:52 Is crypto actually banned in China? 💴 55:51 Whether the digital yuan is being adopted 🔓 1:00:28 Korea potentially lifting its “shadow ban” on institutional crypto investment? 📊 1:05:15 Why some Asian companies choose to IPO in the U.S. and whether more are coming 🎮 1:10:21 What’s really happening with Web3 gaming in Asia right now Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey everyone, thank you for supporting Unchained, where we do our best to help you stay on top of
0:05.8	crypto news. If you enjoy the show, we'd really appreciate it if you could take a moment right now
0:11.4	to leave us a five-star review. This helps other listeners discover Unchained. And who knows,
0:17.5	you may hear me read your review on an upcoming episode.
0:22.9	Crypto isn't actually really banned in China.
0:24.0	Like, that's not really true.
0:26.8	Like, that's just kind of like a media trope that people say.
0:31.0	But like, you know, like if China actually really wanted to ban crypto, like it would.
0:33.8	Like, you know, China's pretty good at banning things when it wants to do it.
0:37.5	There are, it's not that hard to trade crypto in China. So the question is,
0:38.6	it's like, why is this happening?
0:47.1	Hi, everyone, welcome to Unchained, your no hype resource for all things crypto. I'm your host,
0:52.1	Laura Shin. Every episode, we feature comments from listeners. Today, we have two comments responding to my recent interview with Bass's Jesse Pollack.
0:54.9	On Farcaster, B-926 says, quote, the intention of Bass's content coin was to empower creators,
1:01.4	but it ended up being traded like a meme coin. So what went wrong? The intention isn't bad,
1:05.8	but the timing is off. It launched into a market where trust is low, attention spans are shorter
1:10.6	than ever, everything gets beam coined. If it were launched at a different where trust is low, attention spans are shorter than ever, everything
1:11.8	gets bean coined. If it were launched at a different time or in a different context, it might
1:16.3	have been seen as an experiment. Instead, the launch felt like someone showing up to a pool party
1:20.4	in a suit. Awkward. On X, ECJ writes, look at his smile, bro. Just made a ton of money and absolutely loves the chaos.
1:29.3	What your comment featured? Write a review of the podcast overall or leave a comment on our video on YouTube, X, or Farcaster.
1:36.3	This is the April 22nd, 2025 episode of Unchained.
	...

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