Infinite Block Launches Ethereum Staking Service for Corporations

Bithumb Live Files for BankruptcySouth Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb’s live commerce platform Bithumb Live — an attempt at business diversification — has filed for bankruptcy. The platform entered bankruptcy proceedings last year, brought on by business difficulties and various suspicions of embezzlement involving its CEO.Photo by Melinda Gimpel on UnsplashAccording to legal sources on Monday, the Seoul Bankruptcy Court declared Bithumb Live’s bankruptcy last Monday. The court plans to hold creditor meetings and inspections on November 28 to incorporate creditors’ opinions into the bankruptcy proceedings and assess the status of the company. Major companies like LG Uplus, SK Telecom, SK Magic, and Lotte Card are among the platform’s creditors.Bithumb Live’s backgroundBithumb Live was founded in September 2021 by Bithumb and Bucket Studio, who each invested KRW 6 billion (approximately $4.4 million). Bucket Studio is a content distribution company that gained considerable attention with the global success of the Netflix original series “Squid Game” last year because it holds a 15% stake in Artist Company, an entertainment planning agency co-founded by “Squid Game” lead actor Lee Jung-jae and actor Jung Woo-sung. In particular, Bucket Studio’s CEO Kang Ji-yeon is the sister of Kang Jong-hyun, who is embroiled in allegations related to the ownership of Bithumb.Bithumb and Bucket Studio each hold a 37.5% share of Bithumb Live, making a combined ownership of over 75%. Bithumb Live, led by Kang Ji-yeon, had been established with the intent to create a commerce platform with various features like a metaverse, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and cryptocurrency payments. After its establishment, it announced that it would challenge its key competitor Naver’s prominent live shopping platform by preparing to sign deals with 15 different companies.Financial hardshipsHowever, the platform hit a roadblock just one year after its establishment and found itself unable to escape financial difficulties. According to last year’s business report, Bithumb Live’s liabilities exceeded its assets by approximately KRW 248 million and the platform recorded a net loss of KRW 10.2 billion. Unable to withstand such losses, it announced an indefinite temporary closure via its internal messenger to employees in October of last year. The employees ended up working only four hours a day, resulting in a more than 50% reduction in working hours. Subsequently, the number of employees, which was 73 in September, plummeted to just four in January of this year, essentially signaling a total stop to business operations. In the first half of this year, Bithumb Live’s net loss amounted to almost KRW 1.1 billion.Management entanglementsOn top of these financial strains, the company was also plagued by Kang Ji-yeon and her brother Kang Jong-hyun’s owner’s risk, which encompassed allegations of embezzlement and misappropriation. In July of this year, Kang Ji-yeon was sent to trial on charges of embezzlement and misappropriation at Bucket Studio. Along with her brother and former Chorokbaem (CRB) Group Chairman Won Young-sik, she was accused of granting call options on convertible bonds held by Bithumb affiliates Vidente and Bucket Studio for free to companies controlled by Won’s children between December 2021 and July 2022, inciting damages worth approximately KRW 58.7 billion to the respective companies. In the process, she was also found to have received KRW 32.2 billion in acquisition payments. Kang Jong-hyun had been detained and on trial since February of this year.Bithumb Live’s largest shareholder, Bucket Studio, is also in a tight spot. Back in June, the Korea Exchange imposed a penalty of three points on Bucket Studio for reversing its disclosure. The company had been penalized five points the previous month after withdrawing its decision to issue convertible bonds. In particular, the studio also recorded an operating loss of KRW 7 billion and a net loss of KRW 195.6 billion last year based on consolidated financial statements. In the first half of this year alone, it suffered an operating loss of KRW 896 million, raising red flags for its management.

SBINFT, a Web3 subsidiary of the Japanese financial giant SBI Holdings, is launching a proof-of-concept experiment in collaboration with Obayashi Corporation, a major Japanese construction firm. The initiative, scheduled to run from Feb. 1 to Feb. 28, 2026, aims to test whether non-fungible tokens (NFTs) can drive user engagement and support community development. According to a press release distributed via PR Times, the project will use SBINFT Mits, the company’s NFT marketing platform, within the framework of Minmachi SHOP, a platform operated by Obayashi. Minmachi SHOP allows users to vote on, book, and purchase various goods and experiences—ranging from prepared meals to workshops—hosted in temporarily reserved spaces within offices and nearby buildings.Photo by Andrey Metelev on UnsplashPolygon-based NFTs underpin membership systemThe upcoming experiment introduces a blockchain-based membership system to this ecosystem. Users will create accounts on SBINFT Mits and receive a membership card NFT issued on the Polygon blockchain. This digital asset will serve as a dynamic record of their engagement within the Nakanoshima–Yodoyabashi area. During the trial, users can increase their membership rank through activities like utilizing services offered through Minmachi SHOP and inviting new users to the platform. These interactions are recorded as metadata on the blockchain. The companies aim to evaluate whether this on-chain data—stripped of personally identifiable information—can serve as an objective metric for community development. While specific incentives are still being finalized, higher membership ranks may unlock benefits such as discounts, access to exclusive services, or invitations to restricted events. EXPO2025 legacy program seeds partnershipThe partnership emerged from the MUIC Innovation Co-Creation Program, an initiative organized by MUIC Kansai, a foundation established by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and MUFG Bank. Designed as a hub for the EXPO2025 legacy, the program connects diverse stakeholders to foster social implementation platforms. Obayashi joined the program to explore how Minmachi SHOP could support community initiatives based on local demand. Simultaneously, SBINFT sought partners to test NFTs as incentives for sustained user engagement. Through program discussions, the companies identified NFT-based gamification as a potential mechanism to connect local governments, developers, and residents. The collaboration comes amidst a broader push by SBI Holdings into the digital asset space, even as executives voice concerns over Japan’s regulatory environment. In December, Tomoya Asakura, CEO of SBI Global Asset Management, criticized the slow pace of Japan’s cryptocurrency tax reform. According to DL News, Asakura warned on X that Japan risks falling behind jurisdictions like the U.S., Asia, and the Middle East due to a tax regime that levies up to 55% on crypto profits and prohibits loss carryovers. Although the Financial Services Agency (FSA) has signaled its intent to reclassify crypto as an investment vehicle—potentially lowering the tax rate to a flat 20% in line with traditional assets like stocks—legal amendments are not expected to take effect until 2028, reflecting the time required to revise relevant laws and government ordinances. As Japan’s regulatory framework around crypto continues to evolve, SBI continues to expand its Web3 footprint. Asakura’s comments came after reports that SBI Holdings plans to launch a yen-backed stablecoin in the second quarter of this year through a partnership with Startale. Together with Sony Group, Startale established a joint venture called Sony BSL to launch Soneium, a public Ethereum layer-2 network. However, the conglomerate is also recalibrating its portfolio. In September, Bloomberg reported that SBI Zodia Custody, a joint venture with Standard Chartered’s Zodia Custody, would discontinue operations. The decision to close the venture, which was split 51% to 49% between SBI and Zodia respectively, was described by a Zodia executive as a strategic alignment rather than a withdrawal. An SBI spokesperson confirmed that the dissolution was an effort to generate greater collective impact across the company's digital ecosystem, rather than a retreat from crypto custody services. 

EOS Granted Whitelist Approval by Japanese RegulatorsThe open-source layer-1 blockchain platform EOS has secured whitelist approval from the Japan Virtual and Crypto Asset Exchange Association (JVCEA).The EOS Network Foundation, an entity established with a view towards supporting and safeguarding the development of the EOS blockchain network, announced the approval via a blog post published to its website on Wednesday.EOS raised eyebrows with a staggering $4 billion initial coin offering (ICO) back in 2018. This approval will likely act as a shot in the arm for the project, given the period of relative stagnation that has followed the ICO.Photo by Paul MARSAN on UnsplashEOS price respondsThe approval paves the way for EOS to be traded against the Japanese yen, potentially opening up new avenues for the cryptocurrency’s adoption and utilization. The endorsement has had an immediate impact on the EOS token’s value, driving its price up by 5.54% over the course of the past seven days in a surge of market activity.At the time of writing, the EOS token is trading at $0.622 with an accompanying market capitalization of $696 million. This positive market response underscores the significance of regulatory greenlights in the cryptocurrency sphere.Mid-September trading launchThe Japanese Financial Service Authority (FSA) will oversee the regulation of EOS trading on local Japanese crypto exchange BitTrade, a well-established platform in the Japanese crypto space. The anticipated commencement of EOS token trading on BitTrade is slated for mid-September.The EOS development team is coming out the better end of its interaction with regulators in this instance. However, that hasn’t always been the case. In 2019 the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the United States fined technology company Block.one, which at that time was responsible for the EOS ICO. All things considered, the sanction was recognized by most in the crypto space as being very much on the lighter end.Fostering Web3 growthJapan’s crypto ecosystem has been actively seeking ways to integrate and foster the growth of the Web3 industry. Its regulators have been lauded more recently, given that Japanese customers of failed crypto platforms like FTX were protected from those failures due to regulatory rules that insisted upon crypto platforms ring-fencing and safeguarding user funds.There have also been several initiatives taken to collaborate with international regulators on developing regulatory standards relative to digital assets. Earlier this month, the Japanese Financial Accounting Standards Foundation (FASF) met with the Korea Accounting Institute (KAI) to work on establishing accounting standards for digital assets.Japan’s Financial Services Authority (FSA) is also participating in Singapore’s Project Guardian, an initiative driven by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to explore the potential of digital assets.Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s supportive stance on Web3, describing it recently as “the new form of capitalism,” further reinforces Japan’s ambitions to establish itself as a hub for cryptocurrency activities. This regulatory nod for EOS could potentially mark the beginning of a broader trend, attracting more projects and investments to the Japanese crypto sector.