In recent years, the proportion of venture investment in blockchain industry in Southeast Asia is relatively high which is approaching 30%. Although most of the countries except Singapore or Thailand are still in the early stage without mature trading platforms, wallets or media or perfect industrial ecology, the governments of Southeast Asia have taken steps to formulate relevant regulatory policies to restrict the healthy development of blockchain industry.

According to the chart above, the proportion of investment in the blockchain in Southeast Asia has reached 30%. The blockchain industry has become an emerging industry in Southeast Asia after the Internet, artificial intelligence and Fintech. With the maturation of the blockchain industry, more attempts have been made in the field of blockchain management and supervision.

The industry related to the blockchain in Southeast Asia has developed at the same time, but we can also see the imbalance of the related industry. Besides the crypto exchanges, media and investment institutions are another two major industries. Secondly, apart from Singapore, Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam with local exchanges, the rest of the countries have no or immature local crypto exchanges. Therefore, the blockchain-related industry in Southeast Asia has great prospects.

Apart from Thailand’s regulatory framework for initial coin offerings (ICO) that took effect on July 16, 2018. Singapore updated the Payment Services Bill (PSB) in 2019 to address security vulnerabilities in crypto exchanges and proposed ICO project guidelines.

For the blockchain industry, the degree of Internet development and mobile phone usage have a great impact on blockchain and crypto transactions. In Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, Internet usage rate has reached 80%, which is much higher than that in other countries. Internet usage in Indonesia, Laos and Vietnam is much lower than the average, but with the continuous development of the economy, the rate is growing.

In a word, Singapore, Philippines and Thailand have a positive attitude towards the development of blockchain and allow licensed transactions. ICO has legal benefits in Singapore and Thailand, and the relevant laws and regulations are relatively improved. The governments of Vietnam and Indonesia have introduced a series of relevant regulatory laws to restrict ICO. While Malaysia is more cautious about blockchain regulation.