ANNUAL REPORT 2023 23 The Group’s collaboration with China to tap the power of blockchain technology will allow ease of cross-border transactions to take place and will mark MYEG’s presence in the global market. In demonstrating the potential for Web3 technology to not only improve but profoundly transform the way business is conducted globally, MYEG has marked major milestones in rolling-out decentralised applications that represent realworld commercial use cases. Moreover, the Group has also entered into pioneering collaborations and subsequently secured relevant regulatory approvals to deploy a blockchain-based customs clearance and processing services for trade flows into China. In this regards, 2023 proved to be an eventful year for MYEG on the Web3 front. In March 2023, the Group signed a partnership agreement with East Logistic-Link Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned agency of the GACC, to jointly provide a full suite of cross-border trade facilitation services that include certificates of origin on the Zetrix blockchain platform. Other certificates relevant to cross-border trade like food safety, quarantine, and bill of lading can also be issued on the chain. The service, known as ZTrade, will enable all data in these certificates to be available accurately in near real-time, hence, increasing the efficiency of tariff computation and customs clearance. In short, exporters using the service will enjoy the benefits of faster and more convenient clearance processing for trades going into China. Exporters in Malaysia would be the first to have access to this first-of-its-kind facility. In May 2023, Zetrix announced the successful live deployment of the Xinghuo International Supernode, along with the introduction of Xinghuo BIF naming services, namely Xinghuo BNS and Xinghuo DIS, which are fully compliant with W3C International Standards. In July 2023, MYEG, together with its Philippines-incorporated companies, signed agreements for a collaboration with Philippines’ BOC and with CDEC to adopt ZTrade. This paves the way for the Philippines, in particular exporters in the country, to also gain access to the ZTrade solution after their counterparts in Malaysia. October 2023 saw Zetrix tokens going public following a successful IEO on Coinstore, a Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange. Following the IEO, which involved the sale of 1.2 million Zetrix tokens at a price of USDT5 each, Zetrix tokens were subsequently listed on three exchanges, primarily Coinstore and MEXC, and have significantly increased in market value since. Also in October, Summer Capital Limited (“Summer Capital”), a leading investment management and advisory firm with a presence in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia, announced its intention to host nodes on Zetrix. This investment came at a time of significant development for the digital assets and blockchain industry in Hong Kong even as the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission introduced a new regulatory framework for virtual asset trading platforms which is set to further boost the adoption of cryptocurrencies in the city. More recently, following on from Summer Capital’s investment in Zetrix, the partners have shown their intent to strengthen their presence in Hong Kong’s Web3 space. In January 2024, a strategic collaboration was formed between Zetrix, Web3Labs Hong Kong, and Summer Capital to further propel Hong Kong’s Web3 ambitions and establish Zetrix as the preferred blockchain infrastructure for Hong Kong government-aligned applications. Not only would this partnership enhance Zetrix’s position as the preferred Layer-1 platform for blockchain applications in Hong Kong, the collaboration also aims to catalyse Hong Kong’s and the region’s financial systems as well as launch a dedicated Global Accelerator Program to incubate and nurture promising start-up building applications on the Zetrix platform. In November 2023, MYEG announced its partnership through Zetrix with Chinese banks to initiate a pilot project offering supply chain financing products for international importers and exporters. Starting with the Bank of China, the end-to-end solution offers a soft landing for trading firms with fully digital onboarding, including registration of a Chinese legal entity, bank account opening and credit assessments. Approved clients will enjoy low-cost financing and quicker release of drawdowns as the service leverages on-chain events recorded and verified on Zetrix. By tracking and verifying the transactions on chain, banks will be able to reduce their risks and enhance their ESG (environmental, social and governance) ratings, in turn reducing the overall cost of financing for end users. MANAGEMENT DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS (cont’d) Summer Capital PERFORMANCE
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDgzMzc=