JULYASIA BUSINESS OUTLOOK8As stated by recent regulatory documents, Bitkub has agreed to sell a 9.22 percent ownership in the company to Asphere Innovations, a local game publisher, for a stunning $17.8 million. This capital injection is expected to strengthen Bitkub's financial stability, allowing it to continue operations in a volatile market.Bitkub's fundamental offering is a user-friendly platform for crypto enthusiasts to trade digital assets. This Thai-based FinTech firm obtained a license from Thailand's Ministry of Finance in 2019, which adds to its legitimacy in the crypto market.The freshly acquired capital of $17.8m is expected to help Bitkub in expanding its digital asset services throughout Thailand. With over 6.2m people owning crypto in the country, as of last year, Bitkub stands to gain significantly from this digital asset boom.In other news, Bitkub has come under fire after a potential takeover by Thai bank SCBX was canceled due to regulatory concerns. The due diligence process revealed a number of difficulties that Bitkub's management needed to address, as well as additional ones that the country's Securities and Exchange Commission ordered Bitkub to address.Bitkub claimed $80 million in revenue in 2022, a 48 Percentage decline from the previous year owing to the crypto winter. During the same timeframe, the company's profits fell by 86 Percentage due to the difficult period. In accordance with prominent consumer electronics shop M.Video-Eldorado; Chinese smartphones dominated the Russian market in the first half of 2023, accounting for more than 70 Percentage of all sales, up from approximately 55 Percentage the previous year.After Samsung and Apple reduced sales in the nation due to the conflict in Ukraine, Chinese manufacturers like Xiaomi and Realme have become the country's top sellers of smartphones. With nearly 13 million units sold, overall smartphone demand in Russia is up 17 Percentage from the same time last year.Since the majority of Western brands left the Russian market, Beijing has become more and more Moscow's go-to source for everything from gadgets to automobiles."Brands from China systematically continue to strengthen their presence," M.Video said in a statement on Tuesday (Jul 4), adding that flagship models and foldable smartphones from Chinese brands were seeing particular demand.Eight out of the 10 best-selling smartphones in Russia in the first six months of this year were Chinese, M.Video said. The Kremlin has told officials to stop using Apple iPhones, saying that Western intelligence agencies have compromised them using surveillance software. Apple has denied those claims. NEWSROOMCRYPTO FIRM BITKUB RAISES $17.8 MILLION BY SELLING 9.22PERCENTAGE STAKECHINESE SMARTPHONES DOMINATE RUSSIAN MARKET WITH 70 PERCENTAGE MARKET SHARE
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