☕️ Court orders RM167.4 mil Bitcoin worth returned to scam victims

1. MARKET SUMMARY 📈

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE 🔢

More than 6,000 – Regional ride-hailing giant Grab is planning to expand a charging network for electric vehicles in Vietnam to that number of ports by 2028, a fifteenfold increase from the network’s current total of about 400 ports. According to Grab, nearly half of the planned charging ports will be located in Hanoi. This move also backs a brand-neutral alternative to the dominant charging system, which is proprietary to VinFast, and comes as the country accelerates its shift toward cleaner transport. The dominant charging system, V-Green, operates around 150,000 ports for electric motorbikes and cars, but serves only VinFast vehicles as V-Green is 90%-owned by Pham Nhat Vuong, the founder of VinFast and chairman of the Vingroup conglomerate.

396,175 – According to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM), that’s the number of live births recorded in 2025, down 18,743 from 414,918 in 2024, a decline of 4.5% that reflects a continued downward trend in Malaysia’s birth rate. The DOSM also reported a decrease in crude birth rate (CBR) to 11.6 births per 1,000 population in 2025 from 12.2 in 2024. The report also recorded that Malays had the highest CBR with 14.9 births per 1,000 population, while Chinese remained the lowest with 5 births per 1,000 population. By state, Terengganu recorded the highest CBR with 18.7 births per 1,000 population, while Penang recorded the lowest at 9.3. In terms of total fertility rate (TFR), Malaysia fell from 1.6 children per woman aged 15-49 years in 2024 to 1.5 in 2025. The report recorded that the TFR for Malays and Indians remained unchanged at 1.9 and 1.1 children per woman, respectively, while Chinese recorded the lowest TFR, declining from 0.9 children per woman in 2024 to 0.7 children per woman in 2025. This weekend, produce. 

More than USD1 tril (RM4.08 tril) – That’s how much food loss and waste costs the global economy each year, according to the UN. Al Jazeera reported that about 1.05 bil tonnes of food is wasted every year worldwide, which is about 19% of the food available to consumers. Households accounted for most of the wastage at 60%, followed by restaurants and other food services at 28%, and shops at 12%. This means that, on average, every person in the world wastes about 132kg of food a year, of which 79kg is thrown away at home. By country, the Maldives wastes the most food, with each person throwing away about 260kg a year, twice the global average. Following the Maldives are Syria, the Dominican Republic, the Seychelles, Mexico, and Tunisia, with each wasting more than 210kg per person. On the other end, Spain recorded some of the lowest levels of wastage, at about 39kg or less per person. Malaysia wastes about 210kg of food per person, according to the UN report.

3. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

Court orders RM167.4 mil Bitcoin worth returned to scam victims
The High Court has ordered the government to return 497.82 bitcoin to nine people who were cheated in an investment scheme that promised daily returns of 1%. The cryptocurrency was valued at USD17.6 mil (RM71.85 mil) based on 2023 prices and had been seized from two wallets linked to Fadino Khairuman and Asyran Ismail. Today’s price - RM167.4 mil. The nine claimants had deposited a total of 362.04 bitcoin into a Bitkingdom wallet between 2015 and 2016 after being misled about the promised returns. The bitcoin was later transferred through several transactions into wallets linked to the two men.

Justice Arief Emran Arifin found that the claimants had proven, on a balance of probabilities, that they were cheated and still had a legal interest in the seized bitcoin. He said the case was not about recovering a debt, but returning property obtained through cheating. The court ordered the 497.82 bitcoin to be distributed among the nine claimants based on how much each originally deposited. Their individual shares range from 0.68% (RM1.14 mil) to 11.7% (RM19.6 mil) of the total.

Pearly-Thinaah end 18-year Denmark drought
Pearly Tan and M Thinaah ended Malaysia’s 18-year wait for the Denmark Open women’s doubles title after beating Japan’s Hinata Suzuki and Nao Yamakita 21-18, 21-11 in just 36 minutes. The world No. 5 pair became only the second Malaysian women’s doubles team to win the title, following Wong Pei Tty and Chin Eei Hui in 2008. The Denmark triumph earned Pearly-Thinaah USD70,300 (RM287,048), while the runners-up received USD33,250. It adds to a sizeable haul from their years on the World Tour, with third-party prize-money records putting each player’s career earnings at around USD420,000 since 2019 (their past earnings here). The result also strengthens their position in the race for the World Tour Finals, where only the top eight pairs qualify.

There is little time to celebrate as Pearly-Thinaah now head straight into the French Open, where they won their breakthrough Super 750 title in 2022. They begin against Turkiye’s Bengisu Ercetin and Nazlican Inci, hoping to carry their renewed form into another deep run. The tournament is still scheduled to go ahead despite unrest in France, where protests turned violent over the weekend. Arena Grand Paris in Tremblay-en-France is about 17km northeast of Place de la République, one of the main protest areas.

Hope this doesn’t happen to our badminton champs:

Biz:
Sarawak gets RM100 mil digital fund: Borneo Digital Capital Fund PLT has launched a RM100 mil private equity fund to support digital infrastructure and smart city projects across Sarawak. The fund will be managed by Aureus Strategies PE and will focus on digital infrastructure, smart city and AI solutions, as well as platforms linked to renewable energy, utilities and electric mobility. The aim is to help technology companies and project owners roll out new systems without having to cover the full cost upfront. Financing could come through subscription models, service contracts and revenue-sharing arrangements. The fund will prioritise projects with stable cash flows and long-term growth potential, including projects backed by contractual payments from the Sarawak government.

Borneo Digital Capital has also signed an agreement with Borneo Development Capital I to explore co-funding for eligible turnkey design-and-build projects. The fund forms part of Sarawak’s wider digital economy push as the state works towards a GDP target of RM282 bil by 2030. It is structured as a closed-end private equity fund and is open to sophisticated investors, with a minimum investment of RM250,000.

UBB delays trust payouts: UBB Amanah has delayed some Oct trust income and maturity payments after saying it is facing temporary liquidity constraints caused by late repayments from certain investee companies. Trust income due on Oct 15 will now be paid by Nov 15, while payments due on Oct 30 will be made by Nov 30. For trusts maturing on those dates, UBB has set a release period of up to 90 days. Compensation will be calculated at 8% a year on a daily-rest basis from the maturity date. UBB said it is trying to recover outstanding amounts from the investee companies and is also looking at alternative funding arrangements to improve its liquidity. It did not identify the companies behind the delayed repayments.

The company said trust assets remain intact and clients’ entitlements will not be affected. The latest delay follows earlier scrutiny over UBB Amanah’s cash trust products and previous internal notices about payment arrangements. In Aug, its Labuan-licensed investment bank, UBB Investment Bank, also paid a RM10 mil compound to Bank Negara Malaysia and the Labuan Financial Services Authority over failures involving suspicious transaction reporting and customer due diligence.

Shorts:

1. DAP reps face KPI test
   DAP representatives who fail to meet performance targets could be dropped from future elections, party secretary general Anthony Loke said. Perak DAP uses strict KPIs covering constituency work, public service and representatives’ presence on the ground. Loke said underperforming representatives could be replaced. He also confirmed that Pakatan Harapan has completed seat allocation talks for the Melaka state election ahead of polling on Nov 14.

2. Perak plans elephant food bank
   Perak is considering an elephant food bank and buffer zone near natural habitats to reduce human-elephant conflicts. The proposal comes after wild elephants repeatedly entered farms in Bukit Bangkong, affecting 9.7ha of land and 12 farmers. State officials said seasonal fruiting and shrinking habitats can push herds into settlements, while the Forestry Department and Perhilitan are now assessing suitable locations for the initiative.

Meanwhile, elephant feeding on top of a waterfall:

4. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

Berkshire Hathaway bets on Bending Spoons
Berkshire Hathaway (BH) is certainly bending Warren Buffett’s investment philosophy when it invested USD330 mil (RM1.35 bil) in Bending Spoons on top of a USD600 mil injection when the company went public in Jul. BH now has 4% of the company. In the past, Warren Buffett’s philosophy was simple - invest only in companies he has a deep understanding of. And he has always avoided technology companies (except for Apple and Alphabet) due to their expensive valuations and hard-to-understand business models. But with Buffett retiring from his position as CEO (and he is now the chairman), new CEO Greg Abel might be changing things up.

BH is now investing at a valuation of about 100 times the company's earnings per share, which is definitely very expensive considering that the price-to-earnings ratio for the Italian market is 14.5 times. Did we tell you that Bending Spoons is an Italian technology conglomerate that actively buys tech companies, reorganises them, and uses their earnings to fund future deals? Kinda like Berkshire Hathaway too. Some of the company’s acquisitions: AOL, Evernote, Vimeo, Eventbrite, WeTransfer - view more here.

Tiger Shroff’s narrow escape from shooting
Tiger Shroff, Bollywood actor and professional footballer, survived a close-range shooting without any gunshot wounds. He was leaving a football ground in the Juhu suburb of Mumbai with a slow-moving car when at least two men fired multiple shots from close range at the front passenger seat of the car. Two people were injured, including Shroff’s driver. Three people were detained in Rajasthan in connection with the incident while police are still investigating the shooting attempt.

Shroff is the son of veteran Bollywood actor Jackie Shroff. He made his debut with Heropanti in 2014 and has appeared in many action films. He is known for his dancing and martial arts, and he also made his debut as a professional footballer for Mumbay FC in Oct 2024. Apparently, gangsters are deliberately targeting people in the film industry to create an “atmosphere of fear” and extort money from celebrities, according to the All-Indian Cine Workers Association.

Shares Giveaway!
Elon’s ‘One SpaceX share for every American child’
Elon is doing his Oprah Winfrey impression. He said that he would give every child in the United States a share in his SpaceX company. And this would not be the last, as he said, “This will be the first of many”. According to data from the US Census Bureau, there are around 73 mil children under the age of 18. Maybe he’s trying to outshine President Donald Trump’s promise last month to give every American adult USD5,000 (RM20,413) if the Republican Party retains control of Congress in Nov’s mid-term elections. However, he didn’t really provide any details on how he’s going to do this. Is this just a publicity stunt?

Anthropic also pledges shares giveaway
Anthropic is committing 5% of its shares to a new public benefit fund to make donations for the ‘public good’. The Public Benefit Fund could support initiatives including nonprofit donations, direct distributions to people and efforts to address AI’s impact on the labour market. The fund would be a wholly-owned limited liability company and would receive an additional 2% of Anthropic’s shares for every 50% increase in the company’s value above a baseline that has not yet been disclosed. Anthropic is marketing itself as a safety-first AI lab, as it used 80 pages of the 261-page main body of its prospectus talking about its risk factors. One of them is the replacement of workers with AI. According to the IMF, 40% of jobs will either be augmented, downgraded or eliminated by AI, with the number as high as 60% in advanced economies.

“Vaping affected my voice” - Selena Gomez
“I vaped nicotine a lot. It’s so stupid, and it changed my voice”, said Selena Gomez in a candid Instagram post. In the post, she said she has weaned herself off nicotine recently and that “It’s really hard, but I know if you are going through something you can get through it too. It sucks.”

She also has the chronic autoimmune disease lupus, which has been suggested could affect her vocal cords. Lupus flare-ups can cause inflammation around the larynx (voice box), which can cause your voice to become raspy and strained. According to a report from doctors, vaping has been linked to breathing problems, wheezing, coughing, dental issues, poor sleep, mental health problems and even eye symptoms.

Shorts:

1. Osaka’s famous Glico Man to close for renovation
   Tourists to Japan! Osaka’s famous Glico Running Man will be turning off its lights on Nov 30 as it prepares for its first major renovation in over 12 years. The current Glico Man is already the sixth-generation display and is the neon-lit heart of Osaka’s Dotonbori district. It has welcomed locals and visitors since its installation in 1935. The renovation will swap out older hardware for more up-to-date LED technology, but details are scarce on what it will look like. While the construction is underway, the landmark will be hidden behind a protective banner. Glico said that the renovation would be done by Spring 2027.
   Learn: How did the Glico man come about?
   

2. Australia’s 10-year multiple-entry visa for Southeast Asia
   Australia lovers, rejoice! Australia has a Frequent Traveller visa designed for people from 11 countries to visit for tourism or business. It will be valid for up to 10 years, with multiple entries. And you can stay for up to 3 months per entry. Eligible countries are China, Brunei, Cambodia, the Philippines, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Timor-Leste. However, the downside is that it costs AUD1,845 (RM5,255). For more details, you can visit here.

5. FOR YOUR EYES 📺

1. “The stupidest thing I have watched in my entire life is people donating to our former PM Najib Razak”. UM student leader Ummi asking point blank KJ and Johor MB Onn Hafiz about corruption. Bravo young lady. As for KJ’s response..

2. How to speak like a politician.