SHANGHAI, Aug. 19, 2026 /CNW/ — On August 17, Shanghai Electric Company (SEHK: 02727, SSE: 601727) partnered with Shanghai International Port Group and CMA CGM Group to conduct a biomethanol bunkering operation with a total volume of 8,000 metric tons, the largest single biomethanol bunkering operation on record. The bunkering ceremony at Shanghai Yangshan Port was titled “Green Fueled Globe, Lead the Future”.

The principal biomethanol supplier for this operation was Shanghai Electric’s Taonan green methanol project. This operation not only marks a significant breakthrough in supply volume but also indicates that the Taonan project is fulfilling stable production and large-scale deliveries.

Behind this success lies a fully connected interprovincial green fuel supply chain that serves as the core support. At the Shanghai International Shipping Green Fuel Sustainable‑Development Conference held on June 30 this year, Shanghai, Jilin and Liaoning officially launched the joint‑built green‑fuel transportation corridor. It establishes the north‑to‑south methanol shipment route: production at the Taonan project in Jilin, transit and storage at Dalian Port and final bunkering at Shanghai Port.

As the core production capacity base of the transportation corridor, Shanghai Electric’s Taonan green methanol project draws on Jilin’s abundant local wind and solar resources as well as biomass feedstock. Deploying independently‑developed full‑set process systems and core equipment, the facility is the world’s first large‑scale plant manufacturing biomethanol by combining green electricity and biomass. It meets the ship‑bunkering requirements of Shanghai’s International Shipping Center and provides crucial support for the development of the three major green‑fuel centers for international shipping.

Shanghai Electric will continue to focus on the complete industrial chain covering the production, storage, transportation and application of diversified green fuels. The company will intensify research into pivotal core‑technologies and continuously upgrade its integrated green fuel solution chain. Driving industrial advancement through technology‑driven innovation, Shanghai Electric cooperates with partners to accelerate construction on the integrated green-hydrogen-coupled-biomass gasification Green-Methanol and Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) project (Taonan Phase-II). The company will steadily improve its large‑scale green‑fuel supply capacity for the aviation and maritime sectors. Shanghai Electric shall further devote itself to fulfilling China’s national dual‑carbon goals and galvanizing the worldwide shift to low‑carbon clean energy.

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SOURCE Shanghai Electric

MoU with Indonesia’s Ministry of Creative Economy (EKRAF) signed at Southeast Asia Blockchain Week 2026 in BangkokCohort 9, the program’s third Asia-wide batch, concludes its 12-week bootcamp with a Final Demo in Bali, IndonesiaApplications for Cohort 10 now open, with a kickoff during EastPoint:Seoul 2026

SEOUL, South Korea and BALI, Indonesia, Aug. 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — ShardLab, the blockchain innovation arm of Hashed, will close Protocol Camp Cohort 9 with a Final Demo at Melasti Beach in Bali, Indonesia, on August 21. The program’s third Asia-wide batch follows a Memorandum of Understanding with Indonesia’s Ministry of Creative Economy (EKRAF), signed at Southeast Asia Blockchain Week (SEABW) 2026 in Bangkok.

Under the MoU, a joint effort to develop blockchain talent across Southeast Asia, six Indonesian participants joined Cohort 9 of ShardLab’s 12-week builder bootcamp after an international screening process. For Indonesia, the placements are part of a broader push to build national capacity in decentralized technologies and digital assets.

At SEABW, Deputy Chairman for Digital and Technology Creativity (EKRAF) Muhammad Neil El Himam delivered a keynote on how blockchain and Real-World Asset (RWA) tokenization could turn Indonesian intellectual property into investment-grade assets.

“We see blockchain as an opportunity to grow the economic value of Indonesia’s creative economy, and programs like Protocol Camp give our builders a direct path into the industry,” said Muhammad Neil El Himam, Deputy Chairman for Digital and Technology Creativity, EKRAF.

“The government wants Indonesia to be not only a market, but a builder. We want more Indonesian founders, developers, creators, and entrepreneurs building world-class solutions, and bringing Indonesian IP from local heroes to national champions and global markets,” said Teuku Riefky Harsya, Minister of Creative Economy, Indonesia.

The Minister also highlighted that blockchain has strong relevance to Indonesia’s creative economy because of the country’s substantial pool of creative talent and intellectual property. He noted that blockchain can strengthen IP management, increase productivity, and create new economic value for society.

Cohort 9 passed its Mid Demo checkpoint in Seoul in July 2026. Over 12 weeks, participants moved from concept to working product. All participants are fully sponsored, matched with a dedicated mentor each week, and finish the program with a product rather than a certificate. At the Final Demo in Bali, teams will present their products to mentors, partners, and the regional blockchain community.

The Protocol Camp model is already yielding tangible achievements. BeBridge won the grand prize at the SEABW 2026 AI Hackathon and launched DollarParking on Google Play, letting stablecoin holders across Asia use USDT to gain exposure to tokenized U.S. equities. ContentDAO now matches brand campaigns with creators in more than 30 countries.

Applications for Cohort 10 are open at protocolcamp.com through August 30, 2026. The 12-week program starts during EastPoint:Seoul 2026 in Seoul and is open to developers, designers, and product builders across Asia, covering both blockchain and AI. Protocol Camp has selected approximately 124 builders from roughly 500 applicants to date.

“Asia is no longer just adopting global technology; it is actively shaping its future. We are deeply grateful to Indonesia’s Ministry of Creative Economy (EKRAF) for their forward-looking vision and support in empowering local talent. As Web3 and AI rapidly integrate across the region, we aim to make Protocol Camp the premier launchpad where top builders from Indonesia and across Asia connect, build, and scale real-world innovation,” said Hojin Kim, CEO of ShardLab.

ABOUT SHARDLAB

ShardLab is the innovation arm of Hashed, a leading global digital asset venture capital firm. Established through the strategic partnership between Hashed and SCBX, Thailand’s leading financial technology group and the parent company of Siam Commercial Bank, ShardLab researches, builds, and scales frontier technologies through R&D, venture building, and ecosystem development.

By connecting founders, enterprises, researchers, and institutions, we transform bold ideas into real-world innovation. Our mission is to accelerate the adoption of AI, digital assets, and emerging technologies while building a more connected and innovative future across Asia.

MEDIA CONTACT

Rachel Kim • Head of Marketing • rachel@shardlab.com

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SOURCE ShardLab

SINGAPORE, Aug. 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — As Middle East tensions and US-China competition reshape global capital flows, Asian financial institutions are faced with a new reality: geopolitical risk has moved from being boardroom talk to driving real-time treasury and credit decisions. StoneBench, a Singapore-based thought leadership advisory and editorial studio that works with some of the region’s most prominent institutions, has published Fragmentation Finance, a research hub that examines how geopolitical shocks are rewiring capital, currency and credit across Asia-Pacific.

This hub marks the latest addition to StoneBench Perspectives, the firm’s independent publishing arm, and builds on a body of client work for some of the world’s most recognisable brands.

Navigating changes in Asian finance

Fragmentation Finance argues that the dollar-anchored, open-market order of the post-Cold War decades is eroding and that the Iran-US conflict is only the latest in a series of events accelerating this shift.

The research identifies five structural changes now underway:

Geopolitical risk has moved from quarterly country reviews onto banks’ balance sheetsLocal currency settlement is accelerating. Even as the dollar remains the pre-eminent currency for settlement, there’s strong momentum toward the greater use of parallel payment rails such as CIPSCapital is migrating toward jurisdictions perceived to be safe, and Asian hubs are the natural beneficiaries for now  Climate risk is being embedded into credit decisions although high oil prices are also pulling the region back towards coalSoutheast Asia stands to be a structural beneficiary given its neutrality, demographics, and its economies’ participation in multiple trade corridors

The hub numbers. Hong Kong now carries US$58 billion in cross-border claims on the Gulf Cooperation Council, making it the most exposed Asian lender in the region. Singapore’s population of ultra-high-net-worth individuals has grown fivefold in under five years, and there’s a surge of family offices looking to set up base in the city-state. Meanwhile, central banks’ holdings of US Treasuries have fallen to their lowest level since 2012, with gold overtaking them for the first time since 1996.

The hub’s centrepiece is a full-length whitepaper: In the eye of the storm, that traces the shift caused by recent geopolitical developments across shipping and insurance, capital reallocation, wealth migration, the search for alternatives to the dollar, and the energy transition.

For asset managers, the analysis shows which markets are absorbing capital flows and at what velocity. For banks, it maps where geopolitical risk is already embedded in balance sheets and where it remains a blind spot. And for policymakers, it sketches the contours of a financial order that may no longer be as strongly tethered to the dollar.

Fragmentation Finance is live now at https://perspectives.stonebench.sg/fragmentation-finance, alongside three sector-specific articles on currency and settlement strategies, climate risk in energy-dependent economies, and financial sector resilience in fragmented markets. Fragmentation is designed as a living resource—a repository for analysis, interviews and commentary on how the region’s financial order is evolving.

“Fragmentation Finance is where StoneBench’s own thinking meets the work we do for clients. It’s our attempt to say what we have learned from that vantage point in our own voice. We’re not commentators watching from the outside—we work inside these institutions daily. We’ve spent years helping firms in Asia make sense of global megatrends and developments and their implications on business, and we are close to how these institutions think about risk,” says Siddharth Poddar, Founder of StoneBench.

“The launch of this hub also marks the next stage in the evolution of StoneBench: moving beyond client-commissioned research to publishing thoughtful, independent, ongoing analysis under our own banner.”

The StoneBench edge

Combining deep regional expertise in Asia-Pacific with subject-matter fluency across geopolitics, technology, trade, policy and markets, StoneBench’s team of former journalists can provide the right blend of research depth, market awareness and editorial nuance across subjects.

StoneBench’s services run the entire spectrum of a thought leadership campaign, from the conceptualisation of relevant ideas and research frameworks to survey design and analysis, stakeholder interviews and secondary research, to finished editorial output in the form of standalone reports or hubs.

“Now more than ever, depth and clarity matter for organisations. We have built lasting relationships with world-class institutions by maintaining an uncompromising standard of editorial excellence. A sharp focus on quality underpins everything we do and is reflected in the trust our clients place in us,” says Poddar.

That trust has positioned StoneBench as the strategic editorial partner of choice for high-profile institutions—spanning global banks, financial service consultancies, payments companies, tech firms, multilateral development banks, think tanks and government agencies.

Beyond direct client engagements, the firm’s work has featured across leading international publications. These include the Financial Times, The Economist, Harvard Business Review, Nikkei Asia, The Kathmandu Post, Project Syndicate, The Straits Times, Business Times, Private Equity International, Infrastructure Investor, Asian Insurance Review, Global Trade Review and The Asian Banker.

The firm also publishes StoneBench Perspectives, an independent platform examining the macroeconomic and geopolitical forces shaping Asia’s commercial landscape.

To explore the firm’s work, client portfolio and research, visit www.stonebench.sg.

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SOURCE Stonebench