Asian fund acquires majority stake in The Block

South Korea’s neobank Kbank has partnered with BPMG, a domestic Web3 developer, to pursue stablecoin initiatives abroad, the Electronic Times reported. The companies are preparing proof-of-concept (POC) trials with firms in Thailand and Dubai as part of a broader push to participate in global financial infrastructure. Following a recent agreement with Kbank, BPMG has begun collaborating with a Thai company on a stablecoin project and is working with an investor in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on the issuance and operation of stablecoins. Kbank plans to leverage BPMG’s blockchain technology to develop stablecoin business models for remittances, currency exchange and payments, and to support the build-out of related systems. The bank is focusing first on Asia and the Middle East.Photo by Shubham Dhage on UnsplashReducing intermediaries and automating regulatory complianceAnother priority is cutting intermediaries in cross-border transfers to speed up remittances and reduce costs via distributed ledger technology. Drawing on BPMG’s patents in AI and blockchain, Kbank is also developing a tool to automate regulatory analysis across jurisdictions so it can tailor services to local rules. As digital transformation accelerates, stablecoins are gaining traction as a payment method for their low volatility and ability to enable real-time cross-border transactions. In April, Kbank joined the Pax Project, a stablecoin initiative backed by Japan’s three major banks—Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), and Mizuho. Through the project, Kbank is participating in trials for real-time transfers and settlement between South Korea and Japan. The bank has also formed a digital asset task force to advance the commercialization of stablecoin solutions. A Kbank official said combining blockchain with finance can deliver faster, more efficient global services and that the BPMG partnership is expected to demonstrate the practical utility of stablecoins, paving the way for integration into both domestic and international offerings. IPO timing hinges on Upbit renewalThe stablecoin push comes as Kbank is widely expected to submit a preliminary initial public offering (IPO) filing as early as this month, with a listing anticipated in October. A key variable, according to market watchers, is whether Kbank renews its contract with Upbit, South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, to provide real-name bank accounts—a regulatory requirement for fiat-to-crypto platforms. Kbank has been Upbit’s banking partner for five years, and deposits from the exchange account for roughly 20% of the bank’s total. Kbank is also seeing rising corporate activity around digital assets. As of Aug. 18, the bank had more than 100 corporate accounts dedicated to crypto trading—over double the 49 recorded at the end of last year—momentum widely attributed to its partnership with Upbit. Since launching corporate-focused services in late 2023, Kbank has provided real-name accounts to entities including government bodies, non-profits, and local municipalities. The uptick follows the financial regulator’s earlier decision to allow non-profits and trading platforms to sell crypto holdings, with implementation beginning in June.

In response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s imposition of tariffs on foreign imports into the United States, Singapore-based and Nasdaq-listed Bitdeer has pivoted in an effort to handle this latest challenge. In a discussion with Bloomberg, Jeff LaBerge, the company’s head of capital markets and strategic initiatives, said that rather than concentrating on sales and exporting crypto mining rigs, the company plans to utilize those rigs itself within its own mining operations.Photo by Traxer on UnsplashLaBerge stated: “Our plan going forward is to prioritize our self-mining.” 90-day windowThe company is also planning to take advantage of a 90-day tariff suspension period that the Trump administration put in place earlier this month, to ship mining machines from Southeast Asia to the United States.  In tandem with this short-term push on U.S. exports, it is expected that miners will focus on buying hardware during this time. Jaran Mellerud, CEO of Hashlabs Mining, told Cointelegraph last week that in the short term, there is likely to be a spike in mining rig imports into the U.S. Some reports have suggested that U.S.-based mining firms have chartered flights in an effort to quickly import mining equipment and avoid tariffs of up to 104%. Additional capital overheads for U.S. minersOver the longer term, the crypto mining services company CEO believes that tariffs will hurt U.S.-based miners, increasing their capital costs to a greater extent than in the case of overseas-based mining operations. Earlier this month Kristian Csepcsar, chief marketing officer (CMO) at Bitcoin mining technology firm, Braiins, similarly claimed that Trump administration tariff policy would likely harm domestic mining companies, while benefiting those located in regions such as Russia and Kazakhstan.  In another effort to deal with the challenge of tariffs on its products entering the United States, Bitdeer anticipates that it will begin production of its mining equipment in the U.S. sometime during H2 2025. Much has changed for the Singapore-based firm over the course of a short period of time. A month ago LaBerge told CoinDesk about its efforts to challenge the leading ASIC Bitcoin mining equipment manufacturers, Bitmain and MicroBT. He said that Bitdeer wants to become “the top player in the market,” while believing that it has the technology and know-how to do so. Challenging market conditionsEven before this tariff war bubbled over recently, the environment for Bitcoin miners was already proving to be difficult. Miners had been selling off Bitcoin reserves in recent weeks, taking profits while anticipating lower Bitcoin prices in the near future. American multinational financial services firm JPMorgan estimated recently that the market cap of the 14 U.S.-listed Bitcoin miners had fallen by 25% in March, writing off $6 billion in value in what was the third worst month for miners on record. Last month Bernstein analysts cut their 2025 price targets for a range of publicly-listed Bitcoin miners. Miners have been adapting to their business environment by upgrading equipment, cutting costs and diversifying into AI data hosting.

Poly Network Exploit Results in Billions of Nonexistent TokensPoly Network, the China-based interoperability platform, was targeted by hackers over the weekend in a major attack that resulted in the creation of billions of tokens out of thin air. It’s the second time in as many years that the cross-chain bridge has been exploited by hackers.The attacker exploited a vulnerability in Poly Network’s cross-chain bridge tool, allowing them to generate a substantial number of tokens that previously did not exist, as reported by Arhat, the Founder of 3z3 Labs, on Twitter.Photo by Shubham Dhage on UnsplashNetwork suspensionThe Shanghai-based project team behind Poly Network promptly informed its users on Sunday that its services were temporarily suspended due to the attack. The platform assured its users that it was diligently assessing the extent of the breach and the impact on assets. They emphasized their commitment to safeguarding users’ assets and urged everyone to remain calm.The hacker, at one point, held nearly $43 billion worth of cryptocurrency in their digital wallet, according to DeBank, a decentralized finance portfolio tracker. This staggering figure was corroborated by PeckShield, a blockchain data and security firm.Bridge vulnerabilitiesBridges play a crucial role in the Web3 ecosystem, enabling users to transfer assets across different networks. However, they have often been attractive targets for hackers. In this attack on Poly Network, the hackers issued themselves nearly 100 million BNB and $10 billion worth of BUSD, the Binance-branded stablecoin, on the layer-2 network Metis, revealed Colin Wu, a Chinese crypto journalist.Similarly, on the Heco network, approximately 100 trillion units of the dog-themed meme coin, Shiba Inu, were created. Additionally, a significant number of altcoins were generated on Polygon and Avalanche networks.Illiquid Metis tokensMetis clarified that the BNB and BUSD tokens issued on its network by the hackers are effectively worthless since there is no available sell liquidity. Poly Network also locked these tokens, ensuring they cannot be utilized. Arhat of 3z3 Labs acknowledged that the impact of the Poly Network attack was somewhat mitigated by the lack of liquidity, which prevented the hackers from realizing substantial gains on Metis.However, on other networks like Ethereum, the stolen tokens were exchanged on decentralized exchanges. Arhat estimated that the attacker managed to convert only a small portion of the tokens, amounting to approximately $400,000 worth of crypto, while the remaining tokens lacked liquidity and were essentially worthless.SlowMist, a blockchain security firm, suggested that the hacker’s total gains were higher. They reported that over $4 million worth of digital assets from the attack had been cashed in, including 1,500 Ethereum worth $3 million and 93 billion SHIB worth $700,000.Poly Network had previously made headlines in 2021 when it experienced a historic attack, considered the largest exploit in decentralized finance at the time. The project suffered a loss of $600 million as funds were siphoned away from Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, and Polygon. However, the hacker eventually returned $342 million worth of stolen crypto, and Poly Network took steps to repay affected users.