Bitcoin Association taps Jeff Chen, Masumi Hamahira to accelerate BSV growth in Asia

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Bitcoin Association has appointed two new Asia-based ambassadors, with responsibility for supporting the growth of Bitcoin SV across the region.

Representing Bitcoin SV in Singapore is Jeff Chen, the founder and CEO of web browser Maxthon. With over 600 million users, Maxthon has just released its version 6 browser, bringing with it a host of Bitcoin SV features, currently in beta. Chen is also currently working on NBDomain, a domain registry service powered by the Bitcoin SV blockchain.

His counterpart based in Malaysia will be Masumi Hamahira, a senior executive at Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, the world’s fifth-largest bank. In 2011, Hamahira was appointed Executive Advisor for the Islamic Banking Window at MUFG (Malaysia) and has demonstrated a strong interest in pursuing applications of blockchain technology to Islamic finance use cases. An initial member of the Bitcoin SV Technical Standards Committee, Hamahira brings an intimate understanding of the technology, as well as the world of financial services.

With both appointments coming from Southeast Asia, CoinGeek spoke to Bitcoin Association’s Manager for Southeast Asia, Ella Qiang, to find out the motivation behind the move.

“Southeast Asia is the new battleground for the digital economy with tremendous potential for adoption of blockchain technology,” she explained.

“Jeff and Masumi are high-calibre leaders in the technology and financial services space, with deep industry expertise and a bold vision for how Bitcoin technology could bring value to their industries. I am excited and look forward to collaborating with the new Singapore and Malaysia ambassadors to further advance Bitcoin SV adoption in Southeast Asia.”

Welcoming the appointments, Bitcoin President Jimmy Nguyen said the new ambassadors would help meet the growing demand for Bitcoin SV across the region.

“With Asia being a region in which we are seeing an explosion of interest in Bitcoin SV, now is the right time for Bitcoin Association to expand our presence and accelerate our outreach to enterprises and developers in two key Southeast Asian countries – Singapore and Malaysia,” he said.

“Jeff and Masumi have made considerable contributions to the Bitcoin SV ecosystem and are excellent advocates for the advantages of the world using a single public massively scalable blockchain. As leaders in their respective fields, I’m confident that the addition of Jeff and Masumi to our ranks of global ambassadors will be another positive step in the incredible growth story of Bitcoin SV.” 

Asia is one of the fastest-growing regions in the world for Bitcoin SV development and adoption, the two new ambassadors will work to raise the profile of Bitcoin SV, while helping entrepreneurs, developers and consumers take full advantage of the technology.