Sarah Chew covers Southeast Asia’s technology, fintech, digital policy, and AI adoption landscape for RECATOOLS. Her work focuses on how regulation, platform shifts, and emerging technologies affect businesses, consumers, and digital markets across Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

169
Articles
ASEAN Tech
Primary beat
May 2026
Writing since
~1124 min
Total reading
All 169 ASEAN Tech 97 Finance 65 Business 4 AI & ML 3

Articles Showing 131–140 of 169

The open door of a bank vault, its steel locking bolts and brass mechanism exposed — illustrative of the incumbent settlement institutions now signing up to operate nodes on a new ledger.
Finance

The Card Networks Just Agreed to Run Nodes on a Blockchain

Visa, Mastercard, DTCC, ICE and BlackRock are among eleven founding validators on Circle's Arc. Fees are paid in USDC, which makes the settlement asset a prerequisite for using the network.

11 Aug 2026 · 6 min read
Traffic on a tree-lined Jakarta arterial road, office towers and a construction crane rising through haze behind it — illustrative of the Indonesian market CoreWeave is entering.
ASEAN Tech

CoreWeave Is Building 360MW in Indonesia. It Will Own the Compute.

Three facilities, 360 megawatts, online in 2028. The buildings will be in Indonesia and the machines inside them will be CoreWeave's, which is the part the sovereignty language tends to obscure.

11 Aug 2026 · 7 min read
A hand holding a phone showing a grid of app icons — illustrating the store through which a rival marketplace can now be installed.
Business

A Rival App Store Is Now Inside Google Play. It Took Three Years of Litigation.

Aptoide Games went live inside Google Play in the United States on 10 August, the first competitor to do so under the Epic v. Google remedies. Catalogue access is the term that matters.

11 Aug 2026 · 7 min read
Small online seller labelling a parcel beside a laptop, illustrating the merchants this withholding tax reaches.
ASEAN Tech

Indonesia Switched On a Marketplace Tax. Four Days Later It Switched It Off.

Indonesia's four largest marketplaces began withholding 0.5% of seller turnover on 1 August. The finance minister postponed the regime on 5 August, the tax office has since set a 1 November restart with refunds, and the four collector appointments are being revoked.

8 Aug 2026 · 7 min read
Three people working together at a table with notebooks and a laptop.
Business

Singapore's Grant for First-Time Founders Got 65 Applications Last Year. It Approved 55

An 85 per cent approval rate on 65 applications says the filter is eligibility, not assessment. Two parliamentary replies set out both the numbers and the rules that produce them.

8 Aug 2026 · 8 min read
A red passenger train crossing a steel railway bridge over water.
ASEAN Tech

Two MPs Asked What the Johor Rail Link Does to Singapore Retail. The Numbers Come Later

The government says the RTS Link brings net benefits and that its taskforce reports later this year. The projected effects on spending, costs, employment and visitor flows were not given.

8 Aug 2026 · 8 min read
Business professional at the desk examining a software development agreement document.
Finance

MAS Was Asked When AI-Agent Rules Become Mandatory. It Confirmed the Scope, Not the Date

A written reply on 5 August confirmed that agentic AI sits inside guidelines MAS has not yet issued. It gave no timeline, and described the industry framework as a potential approach.

7 Aug 2026 · 10 min read
National flags of many countries flying on poles against a clear blue sky.
ASEAN Tech

ASEAN Signs One Digital Rulebook in November. Its Members Keep Writing Their Own

DEFA negotiations concluded in May and signature is set for November. In the ten weeks between, five member states legislated separately in the areas it covers.

6 Aug 2026 · 8 min read
The word FINANCE in large letters on a glass office building facade reflecting clouds and sky.
Finance

Indonesia's Crypto Market Now Answers to the Regulator That Supervises Banks

On 1 July the governance and reporting duties of a financial-sector business took effect for Indonesian crypto platforms, on a market of nearly 20 million holders.

5 Aug 2026 · 9 min read
Rows of insulators and steel busbar frames in an outdoor high-voltage electrical substation.
ASEAN Tech

Thailand Now Makes Data Centres Prove the Power Exists Before Approving Them

Since 30 March, a data-centre developer seeking Thai investment privileges must file a letter from the energy regulator confirming the electricity exists.

3 Aug 2026 · 8 min read
Editorial Policy →
Advertisement