7-Eleven is teaming up for the first time ever with the popular Hong Kong illustrator Plastic Thing to exclusively launch a series of four limited-edition ‘FAT-TASTIC Glass Mug Sets’

HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 20 July 2022 – 7-Eleven has always supported homegrown creative talent! This summer, 7-Eleven is collaborating for the first time with popular Hong Kong illustrator and creator of Plastic Thing Ip Yan, to exclusively launch a series of four ‘FAT-TASTIC Glass Mug Sets’. Plastic Thing’s main character goes by the name of Fatty (為食妹) and she’s always trying to lose weight but also loves to eat. Also included in the relatable line-up are Luison, a famous Hong Kong beauty influencer, geeky Baldboy, and Puffy, Fatty’s pet dog. And they’re here to have a FAT-TASTIC summer with you all! From 20 July (7am), customers can collect stamps at 7-Eleven or use yuu Points to randomly redeem a ‘FAT-TASTIC Glass Mug Set’. Quantities are limited and while stocks last so don’t miss out!

Introducing the droolworthy ‘FAT-TASTIC Glass Mug Set’!

Fatty was created by Hong Kong illustrator Ip Yan and has become a social media sensation amassing over 400,000 followers on Facebook and Instagram in just a few years. Ip Yan has now personally designed a summery series of ‘FAT-TASTIC Glass Mug Sets’ exclusively for 7-Eleven. Fatty features on each of the four mugs in a variety of poses and super sweet, dessert-inspired settings – including a sea of pineapples, a pancake factory, a Mount Fuji cake dreamland and a peach juice stall ­– to get you in the mood for summer!

The mug itself has an approximate capacity of 450ml and is made of translucent borosilicate glass which is both heat and cold resistant. It also has a handle which makes reheating easier without burning your fingers! Each set includes a lid and spoon. Both the cup and lid are microwave-safe so you can reheat food or drinks quickly and conveniently. The ‘FAT-TASTIC Glass Mug Set’ is ideal for serving up a whole host of tasty summer treats such as ice cream, smoothies, oatmeal with yoghurt, homemade jelly, serradura pudding, tiramisu, mousses and more! Cute and colourful, these Instaworthy mug sets will add a pop of fun to any meal occasion. So, enjoy a FAT-TASTIC summer with Plastic Thing and 7-Eleven!

Illustrator Ip Yan has also specially created a set of 10 FAT-TASTIC Summer themed WhatsApp or Signal ‘7-Eleven x Plastic Thing’ stickers. Feel free to download here: https://bit.ly/3aoPAbH

‘FAT-TASTIC Glass Mug Set’ Collectible Programme details:

Stamp distribution details:
From 20 July (7am) to 16 August 2022, customers will receive one stamp upon a $20* purchase and one more stamp for every additional $10 purchase at a 7-Eleven store*.

How to redeem:
From 20 July (7am) to 19 August 2022, customers can redeem 1 FAT-TASTIC Glass Mug Set randomly with 6 stamps plus $46. Quantities are limited, while stocks last.

Exclusively for yuu Members:
From 20 July (7am) to 21 July 2022 (two days in total), yuu Members can redeem 1 FAT-TASTIC Glass Mug Set randomly with 6,000 yuu Points plus $38.

How to redeem: yuu Members can redeem a reward coupon with 6,000 yuu Points on their yuu App, then present the QR code and add $38 at 7-Eleven stores to redeem 1 FAT-TASTIC Glass Mug Set randomly.

Redemption period in store: 20 July (7am) to 26 July 2022. Quantities are limited, while stocks last.

#Excluding the purchase of pre-order items, yuu Member pre-order/reserve items, cigarettes, milk powder, online game cards, collectible programme redemption items, mobile prepaid sim/mobile sim cards/value-added coupons, Octopus cards/products, Macau Pass cards/products, gift cards, prepaid cards, admission tickets/tickets/stamps, and plastic shopping bag charges. Also excluding payment for the following services including but not limited to: Octopus last 10 transactions printout, prepayment, Pin-On-Receipt, bill payment, donation, top up (including but not limited to Octopus, Alipay, WeChat, Tap & Go, TNG, Macau Pass, May and other e-wallets), fax & photocopying, mobile phone charging services, parcel pick-up and return, locker services, parking fee payment, Inspiration Lake activities, self-service laundry etc. For more details, please visit our website.

* Transactions at Inspiration Lake Recreation Centre and Team Disney, Hong Kong Disney Resort stores and Hong Kong Disney Resort Food Kiosk are excluded.
All prices listed are in Hong Kong dollars at Hong Kong stores and in Macanese Patacas at Macau stores.
Product images are for reference only. Terms and conditions apply.
All matters and disputes are subject to the final decision of 7-Eleven.

About Plastic Thing
Plastic Thing started out in 2013 on Facebook and Instagram as illustrations and animations depicting life in Hong Kong in an amusing yet relatable way. In recent years, it has branched out into toys, clothing and licensing. The main character is a girl called Fatty who doesn’t want to put on weight but can’t stop eating. She’s always on a diet but in reality, she loves to eat, sleep and play.

About Plastic Thing illustrator Ip Yan
The founder and illustrator of Plastic Thing, Ip Yan graduated from Hong Kong Baptist University’s Academy of Visual Arts. After seeing her graduation piece, her university tutor encouraged her to share her work on social media. She is now a full-time multimedia creator.

Hashtag: #7-Eleven

• In celebration of their 4^th anniversary, the intelligent brokerage app will be offering 0% commission fees from 1 July 2022 to 31 December 2022
• uSMART also announced the shift in their global headquarters that will be established in Singapore, a move that signals strong belief in the growth of Singapore’s retail investor market

SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 20 July 2022 – uSMART Securities (“uSMART”), a leading next generation online brokerage, is celebrating its 4^th anniversary with the launch of a 0% commission campaign promotion.

From now until 31 December 2022, all users on the uSMART app will enjoy zero commission for equity trading across all available markets (Singapore, US, and Hong Kong), and no US settlement fees charges. The move aligns with uSMART’s vision to encourage the adoption of retail investing through a combination of investor education and professional yet easy-to-use features, in the meantime making them the broker with the lowest cost in Singapore.

uSMART is an intelligent investment app with a core mission of promoting ‘smart’ trading and improving the sophistication of retail investors, backed by strategic investors such as Hong Kong conglomerate Chow Tai Fook. Through the app, uSMART provides access to financial education, expert advice, and features that lower the required starting capital needed for investment. uSMART also announced the launch of fractional share investing for US stocks in May 2022, a rare feature only offered by a select few online brokers. With fractional shares – stock units that amount to less than one full share – investors can maximise returns and diversify portfolios even with a smaller capital output.

“In Singapore, we believe that there is an untapped market of potential investors in a younger demographic that are put off by the traditionally high barriers of entry”, said Ian Leong, Chief Executive Officer, uSMART Singapore. “By removing commission and US settlement fees and offering fractional shares on our platform, we have drastically lowered the financial costs of entry, which we hope will tap into a whole generation of new retail investors.”

In a strategic move that further signals its commitment to the Singapore market and the region, uSMART also announced the move of its global headquarters here. “We have witnessed an exponential growth in retail investor participation in Asia over the last two years. Singapore makes strategic sense for our headquarters given its position as the region’s financial hub, which offers us greater access to an international talent pool and investment capital to support our global business expansion,” said Leong.

Hashtag: #uSMART

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

About uSMART

uSMART Securities, the leading online brokerage firm for intelligent investment, aims to provide professional Smart Investment experience via innovative technology to our clients globally.

Founded in December 2018, uSMART Group has a strong global workforce of 400 across offices in Hong Kong, China, New Zealand and our headquarters in Singapore. Our mission is to provide leading smart investment services to global investors, and to maximize investors’ value through monetary, knowledge and positive emotions.

For more information: https://www.usmart.sg/

Investment will be used to accelerate product development and geographical expansion

SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 19 July 2022 – XLD Finance, a borderless decentralised ecosystem that provides financial tools to emerging economies, announced today that it has successfully raised US$13M during the pre-Series A funding round led by Dragonfly Capital and Infinity Ventures Crypto.

The funds will be used to enable XLD Finance to scale its product and engineering teams to accelerate its API and product development efforts, and to expand its network of licensed partner financial institutions, as well as its merchant and biller network.

The round saw participation from Advance AI, Circle, Digital Currency Group (DCG), IDG Capital, Insignia Venture Partners, Integra Partners, Morningstar Ventures, Openspace Ventures, Sfermion, Shima Capital, Transcend Fund, TrustToken (TUSD), UOB Venture Management, Woo Network, Yield Guild Games (YGG), YOLO Ventures, Emfarsis and twenty other investors.

Established in June 2021, XLD Finance is building infrastructure to enable the delivery of financial tools to emerging economies through APIs that bridge web 3.0 and traditional finance. Its core products include crypto-based payments, disbursements, and crypto-to-fiat offramp APIs which allows web3 and crypto projects to offer tools to their users typically available only to traditional financial institutions.

With a merchant network of over 10,000 and growing, XLD Finance currently serves customers in the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, India, and Bangladesh.

It launched its first ecosystem project, xSpend, in January 2022, allowing users to spend their GameFi tokens and stablecoins to pay utility bills, buy mobile credits, and purchase goods and services using only their Metamask, Phantom, or Ronin wallet. xSpend was introduced to the Malaysian market in June 2022 after debuting in the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, India, and Bangladesh.

This month, XLD Finance is launching OmniX, a crypto disbursement platform that simplifies crypto disbursements allowing guilds and projects to pay thousands of people with crypto in three clicks. XLD Finance’s roadmap includes a crypto settlement API for merchants, an algorithmic stablecoin, and a web3 wallet Software Development Kit (SDK).

“People in emerging economies often encounter barriers that prevent them from creating financial accounts, paying for goods and services without their physical presence, sending money to loved ones at a low cost, accessing affordable credit, and building a savings portfolio, all of which prevent them from experiencing a better quality of life. I want to see a future where anyone with a mobile phone or computer and internet access can use “bank-like” financial tools via their preferred DeFi protocol or exchange,” said XLD Finance Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Ian Estrada.

Both XLD Finance’s Co-founders, Ian Estrada and Herbie Fu, bring with them extensive experience in financial services and web3.

Estrada has had more than a decade of experience in telecommunications, financial technology, cryptocurrency, and venture capital. Prior to establishing XLD Finance, he held senior executive positions in the Philippines in general management, product, and strategy at Globe Telecom, the country’s largest telecommunications company; JG Summit, one of the largest Filipino diversified conglomerates; Cashalo, the Philippines’ largest consumer lending startup; GCash, a leading payments company backed by the Alibaba Group; and BPI Globe BanKO, the microfinance arm of the Bank of the Philippine Islands.

Fu, who is also the Chief Strategy Officer of XLD, is an early participant in the crypto and DeFi space. He has invested in over 100 crypto projects, including YGG, 0x, TrustToken, FTT, Solana, Chainlink, and M1 Network. He was also a co-founder of a $60 million multi-strategies crypto fund based in San Francisco.

Commenting on the funding round, Brian Lu, Founding Partner of Infinity Ventures Crypto said, “We believe in XLD’s vision of providing infrastructure for financial inclusion in emerging markets. There is an opportunity to solve the very real global challenge of financial access with less complexity through blockchain and decentralisation; XLD’s blockchain-based products will become as relevant as more traditional options.”

Hashtag: #XLDFinance #DragonflyCapital #InfinityVenturesCrypto

About XLD Finance

XLD is the borderless decentralized ecosystem that provides financial tools across emerging economies. XLD’s goal is to modernize the delivery and infrastructure of financial services to provide all users with simple and dependable financial tools built on decentralized technology.

For more information about XLD Finance, please visit https://xld.finance/

About Dragonfly Capital

Dragonfly Capital is a renowned global crypto venture fund managed by experienced VCs and seasoned builders. The fund backs founders and companies across all sectors in the cryptoasset class, such as infrastructure, DeFi, NFT, gaming, and more. Combining distinguished industry presence and cross-border influence, Dragonfly Capital provides proven access and support for its broad portfolio.

About Infinity Ventures Crypto (IVC)

Infinity Ventures Crypto (IVC) was founded to empower and invest in pioneering GameFi, DeFi and Web3 startups. The fund’s partners have invested in crypto assets since 2015 and have guided companies through a rapidly-evolving landscape. Since August 2021, IVC, currently the most active crypto VC in Asia with over 150 portfolio investments, and has made numerous strategic investments into a diverse range of startups including Yield Guild Games (YGG) and the Japanese yen-pegged stablecoin, JPYC. It is supported by Animoca Brands, Digital Currency Group, Circle, SEGA, and more. IVC aims to innovate, build, and catapult forward the next generation of founders.

Lead sponsorship voices firm commitment to nurturing Web3 talents and promoting blockchain education in Singapore

SINGAPORE – News Direct – 19 July 2022 – ChainUp Group, a blockchain technology solutions provider, today announced its sponsorship of Morpheus Labs’ Web3 Sandbox Hackathon in Singapore. The event is the year’s most prominent blockchain hackathon and will take place from 20 – 28 July 2022 in conjunction with Singapore Blockchain Week, organized by the Blockchain Association Singapore (BAS).

At the same time, the company also announced it has joined the BAS. As part of its mission to promote blockchain adoption and drive industry development, ChainUp is stepping up efforts to build a resilient and robust blockchain ecosystem in Singapore, Asia’s top cryptocurrency hub. In joining BAS, ChainUp will be part of the blockchain community in Singapore to engage other industry players to collectively propel the growth of the industry in the region and beyond.

ChainUp’s investment in the hackathon marks its significant commitment to not only build infrastructure that connects the digital marketplace with Web3 technology, but also raise the capacities of the global developer community by engaging promising young talent. The Web3 Sandbox Hackathon will bring together thousands of developers worldwide under a common vision of blockchain utility and promoting the future of Web3 technologies.

“Web3 is undoubtedly the future of digital. As lead sponsor of the Web3 Sandbox Hackathon, we are engaging the community at the grassroots level by championing the success of our upcoming Web3 developers. This hackathon offers a timely opportunity for us to discover inventive solutions to real-life business challenges and uncover new talents to grow together with us. By working with Morpheus Labs and joining the Blockchain Association Singapore, we are showcasing our commitment to invest in and support the blockchain infrastructure development and the building of the wider ecosystem”, said Jeff Mei, Chief Marketing Officer of ChainUp.

The reality of achieving new possibilities with Web3 technologies has become more tangible than ever, as the digital marketplace becomes increasingly interconnected. This hackathon is expected to attract over 1,000 attendees, and more than 500 investors, venture capitalists, and blockchain media personnel. The quest for innovation continues with insights from industry experts and the latest developments in the Web3 space.

“This hackathon is a brilliant showcase of some of the world’s brightest developers in the blockchain. And even more than that, it is also a designated space for innovation that will set the tone for the future of Web3 technologies,” said Morpheus Labs CEO, Chuang Pei Han. “We’re pleased to be supported by ChainUp in this endeavor. Their long-term dedication to supporting ecosystem readiness for the adoption of blockchain resonates deeply with what we’re aiming for with Web 3 Sandbox Hackathon.”

During the Web3 Sandbox Hackathon, ChainUp will also be participating in a panel discussion and industrial sharing to share practical insights into the crucial role of blockchain in Web3 development. For more information about Web3 Sandbox Hackathon, please refer to this link.

Hashtag: #ChainUp

About ChainUp Group

Founded in 2017, ChainUp is a leading end-to-end blockchain technology solutions provider covering infrastructure development and ecosystem support. Built on the mission to empower businesses through blockchain technology, ChainUp’s innovative and all-around compliant solutions include digital asset exchange systems, NFT trading systems, wallet solutions, liquidity solutions, and digital assets custody and management. Headquartered in Singapore and with offices around the world, the company has served more than 1,000 clients in 30 countries, reaching over 60 million end-users.

For more information, please visit: www.chainup.com.