Coinone reports decline in customer inquiries due to improved user convenience

Carrieverse, a South Korean blockchain gaming project based in the Metaverse, launched its global version on March 28. Since then, the game has reportedly seen over 100,000 daily active users (DAU) every day, hitting 150,000 DAUs on its first day of release. The DAU index and related infographics were released by Carrieverse on April 1, according to the local media outlet Kyunghyang Games.  A joint venture between Carriesoft and Mantisco, this blockchain-enabled metaverse platform provides users with various content centered around the life of the game's main character, "Carrie," and her friends. At the heart of the project lies the “Play, earn, and own” model. Aside from the content backed by the "Carrie and Friends" intellectual property (IP), the project has expanded its footprint by launching the Cling Wallet, the NFT project "Kola from the Space" and the crypto game "Superkola Tactics."Photo by GuerrillaBuzz on UnsplashUsers from Southeast Asia and Latin AmericaAccording to data provided by Carrieverse, a significant portion of its users come from Southeast Asian and Latin American countries. Notably, in Indonesia and Vietnam, Carrieverse ranked second and third respectively in the newly released game section of their Google Play Store. The game generated the 15th-largest revenues of all games played in the Philippines and the 16th-largest revenues in Thailand. Carrieverse is reportedly on the top 100 casual games on Google Play Store across 86 countries.  The game also topped the trending chart on the global blockchain ranking site "PlayToEarn" on the day of its global launch, securing second place as of the following Sunday.  Building a robust IP-based metaverse platform The CEO of Carrieverse, David Yoon, said that Carrieverse strives to lead the Korean blockchain gaming industry and contribute to Korea's reputation as a Web3 powerhouse. Yoon said, "A sound ecosystem is being created due to the increase in on-chain data such as wallet generation and conversion of the governance token $CVTX, as well as the increased incineration of Celeb, which can be exchanged for $CVTX. The value of the game and $CVTX will continue to rise further." Carrieverse has also announced plans for various large-scale IP collaborations with other companies, intending to become an IP-based metaverse platform with high DAUs.  

Crypto.com Gets AI UpgradeSingapore-headquartered Crypto.com has launched an updated service offering which pioneers further innovation through the use of artificial intelligence (AI).Adding an AI companionAnnouncing the addition on its website on Tuesday, the company outlined that it is “furthering its innovation pipeline by introducing its first-ever Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered-initiative, Amy.”An AI companion which is based on OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Amy has been added to help users learn about crypto and the crypto industry, with the ability to provide close to real time information relative to specific crypto projects and tokens. The objective of the company in adding the tool is to provide greater help and support to the average Crypto.com user.Beta phase roll-outWhile the innovation is grounded and driven by ChatGPT, it will be customized and further trained to provide more accurate and more relevant results based on the likely needs and queries of a typical Crypto.com service user.The feature has been launched as part of a beta phase offering. For the moment, customers will be restricted to its use relative to Crypto.com/Price , and that feature availability is being restricted to a group of select users for the time being.The company plans to broaden the AI-based offering over time, with the feature being rolled out on a scaled basis to additional Crypto.com users over a number of weeks. Crypto.com’s Executive Vice President of Product, Abhi Bisarya, said that “as with other businesses and sectors, we see incredible potential and opportunity in the convergence of AI with the crypto industry and our platform specifically.”Bisarya went on to add: “We are excited to be testing this emerging technology through our Amy pilot project. We are bullish on the innovation of AI in crypto, and we look forward to continuing to enhance the utility of Amy and deploy additional AI-powered capabilities.”AI surgeAI has captured the imagination of the broader public in recent months. Central to the surge in interest in the technology has been the roll-out of ChatGPT. The AI tool achieved an active user-base of 100 million in the space of just two months. To put that in perspective, it took Instagram two and a half years to achieve that metric. More recently, TikTok got there in nine months.Crypto.com is not alone in harnessing the power of AI to develop a higher quality product and service offering. At the beginning of March Changpeng Zhao (CZ), CEO of Binance, announced the launch of Bicasso, an AI-driven non-fungible token (NFT) platform.The tool allows users to harness AI to produce NFT-based digital art. By providing the AI innovation with descriptive prompts, the tool then generates an AI-infused artwork for the user.Additionally, last month the global crypto exchange launched Binance Sensei, an AI-driven learning tool that the company has integrated with its crypto and blockchain education platform, Binance Academy. The tool leverages AI to assist users in accessing the Binance Academy knowledge base.Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

In a recent announcement on Facebook, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has raised alarm bells about a new form of cyber scam that exploits deep-fake technology. Deep-fake technologyThe Prime Minister highlighted the emergence of deceptive videos utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) to create false portrayals of him endorsing cryptocurrency scams. This development underscores the escalating sophistication of online scams and the deployment of advanced technology to mislead the public. Deep-fake technology has emerged as a powerful tool for scammers, enabling them to manipulate genuine footage to produce highly convincing yet entirely fabricated content. In the latest incident, a deep-fake video features Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong endorsing a nonexistent crypto investment platform purportedly associated with entrepreneur Elon Musk. This video, a manipulated version of an interview on CGTN, showcases the concerning level of realism achievable with deep-fake technology. The incident emphasizes the growing trend of utilizing AI in perpetrating scams. Prime Minister Lee underscored the deceptive nature of these videos, articulating the potential damage they could inflict by leading unsuspecting individuals to invest in fraudulent schemes. The Singaporean government maintains a vigilant stance on such scams, consistently urging citizens to exercise caution and verify information from official sources.Photo by Guo Xin Goh on UnsplashPrevious issuesThe exploitation of public figures in financial scams is not a new phenomenon. Prime Minister Lee has been a recurrent target of such scams, dating back to 2018. At that time, the government issued public warnings about Bitcoin investment scams falsely claiming the Prime Minister’s endorsement. More recently, in July, another fake video featuring Lee Hsien Loong surfaced, prompting renewed public warnings. In 2021, the Prime Minister’s name and photograph were used without his consent in an effort to sell cryptocurrency. The data was taken from his X (formerly Twitter) profile. At the time, Lee wrote:“The site’s creators are anonymous, but I have sent an open tweet out to ask that my name and photo be removed from the site immediately, as I have nothing to do with the platform. I urge everyone to remain vigilant when dealing with cryptocurrency platforms.” That was a much less sophisticated identity-related scam. More often than not, scammers and fraudsters tend to be early adopters of technology. That’s proving to be the case with the use of deep-fakes in this instance. A need for cautionAs he did in 2021, Prime Minister Lee has urged the public to exercise caution in light of this more recent incident. He advises against responding to scams promising guaranteed investment returns or giveaways. There’s every sign that the Prime Minister’s warning is warranted. In September it emerged that six Singaporeans lost more than $100,000 when a scammer tricked them into buying tokens on a cryptocurrency trading platform. More recently, five Americans were conned out of $10 million in a scam that involved a spoofed domain of the former Singapore International Monetary Exchange (Simex). This call for public vigilance is part of a broader government effort to address the surge in cyber fraud. These repeated incidents underscore the challenges posed by digital technologies in spreading misinformation and financial fraud.