UAE Accelerates Cross-Border Payments with JPMorgan’s Onyx

Wemade joins hands with Dubai Chambers to expand Web3 and gaming endeavors in Middle EastSouth Korean blockchain gaming publisher Wemade has partnered with the Dubai Chambers to support each other’s objectives for making advancements in the Web3 and gaming sphere.Photo by Kent Tupas on UnsplashTheir commitments were exchanged when Wemade CEO Henry Chang met with Mohammad Ali Rashed Lootah, the President and CEO of the Dubai Chambers, during his trip to the United Arab Emirates this week for this year’s Abu Dhabi Finance Week and the Fortune Global Forum, according to industry sources on Tuesday (KST).The Dubai Chambers of the UAE is a non-profit public agency that plays a central role in creating an environment for businesses in Dubai to thrive, thus bolstering the business landscape. It is divided into three sectors — commerce, international and digital economy.A strategic allianceDuring the meeting, the Dubai Chambers pledged to support Wemade’s business expansion in the Middle East region by helping the company establish networks with local organizations and companies. It also vowed to facilitate active exchange between Wemade and the Dubai Chambers’ overseas offices in 27 countries. In turn, Wemade stated that it would strengthen its local business capabilities to contribute to the growth of Dubai’s gaming and Web3 industries.“Dubai is one of the most dynamic regions leading the next-generation gaming industry, and the role of the Dubai Chambers is crucial. Wemade will actively support Dubai’s gaming industry initiatives with the experience and technical expertise that we have accumulated over the years,” Chang said. Lootah also expressed his anticipation for the partnership, reaffirming Dubai’s commitment to fostering a tech-savvy ecosystem.Earlier this month, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Crown Prince of Dubai, announced a new vision to grow Dubai into one of the top ten cities for gaming in the world by creating 30,000 new jobs and increasing GDP by $1 billion by 2033.Strengthening tiesChang and Lootah’s meeting is the latest development in the budding business relationship between Wemade and the UAE. Previously, a delegation from the Dubai Chambers visited South Korea in September, during which it visited Wemade’s headquarters. Wemade also opened an office in Abu Dhabi earlier this year.

XPLA to Bring The Walking Dead: All-Stars to MainnetXPLA, the blockchain gaming platform operated by South Korean gaming company Com2uS Group, has announced that it will onboard Com2uS Holdings’ mobile collectible role-playing game (RPG), The Walking Dead: All-Stars.Photo by Rebekah Yip on UnsplashBringing a fan-favorite story to the gaming worldThe Walking Dead: All-Stars is based on the globally renowned “The Walking Dead” comics, leveraging the global intellectual property owned by Skybound Entertainment. It has received acclaim for its post-apocalyptic setting, characterized by captivating artwork that captures the ambiance of the original comics. Robert Kirkman, author of the comics and Chairman of Skybound Entertainment, has been directly involved in overseeing the project, earning support from fans of the series. The game has also been labeled as an Editors’ Choice app on Google Play.“The Walking Dead: All-Stars vividly brings to life the illustrations of the original comics, which triggered a global zombie craze. We will bring new forms of fun centered around in-game ownership for users worldwide within XPLA’s Web3 ecosystem, ” said Son Kyung-hyun, CEO of FunFlow, the Com2uS subsidiary that developed the game in collaboration with Skybound Games.The Web3 update for the game is scheduled to take place later this month, XPLA said. Users who connect their crypto wallets to the game will be able to collect in-game items and exchange them for XPLA, the platform’s native token, allowing players to own and utilize the assets that they have acquired in the game. Currently, the XPLA token is actively traded on global crypto exchanges such as Crypto.com, Gate.io, and HTX (formerly Huobi Global), as well as major domestic exchanges like Bithumb, Korbit, and GOPAX.Building the game lineupXPLA has been continuously onboarding Web3 games based on hit IPs, such as action RPG Summoners War: Chronicles, casual game MiniGame Party, fishing game Ace Fishing: Crew, and massively multiplayer online RPG (MMORPG) Idle Ninja Online, establishing itself as a global Web3 content hub centered around gaming and entertainment.

Chinese Fentanyl Producers Taking Payment in CryptoA report produced by blockchain analytics and crypto compliance solutions firm Elliptic has found that most Chinese suppliers of fentanyl precursors are accepting payments for the illicit material in cryptocurrency.In a blog post published on its website on Tuesday, Elliptic claimed that 90 percent of the 90 China-based firms, from which its researchers received offers of fentanyl precursors, accepted cryptocurrency as a form of payment. The majority of fentanyl which is trafficked into the United States is manufactured using imported fentanyl precursors like the material that the Elliptic researchers were offered.Seventeen of the suppliers even offered to provide fentanyl itself. Others still offered to supply synthetic opioids, equally or more potent than fentanyl, which are currently legal to both produce and supply within China.Photo by Hal Gatewood on UnsplashTracking blockchain transactionsIn tracing back transactions relative to these illicit suppliers, the Elliptic researchers’ analysis demonstrated that the digital asset wallets used by the rogue suppliers have received thousands of payments. The research team has estimated the net worth of those transactions to total $27 million.It appears that a move towards crypto payments is trending with this group of suppliers as there has been a 450% increase year-on-year when it comes to payments for fentanyl precursor using crypto.The study highlighted activity related to Dutch national Alex Peijnenburg. An alleged fentanyl supplier, Peijnenburg, made an $85,000 payment in crypto to one of the ninety fentanyl precursor suppliers identified by Elliptic researchers. In November of last year, the Dutchman was sanctioned by US authorities relative to his activities.Global trade and distributionThe report stated: “During our correspondence, the suppliers showed no concerns about how the chemical would be used, with some explaining that it was their best-selling product and could be used to produce fentanyl.”It went on to state that “others pointedly mentioned that they had sold it to customers in Mexico.” Mexico is a significant location in the global drugs trade, given the activity of drug cartels within the country. One supplier offered an insight to researchers as to the preferences of their nefarious Mexican clients, stating: “They always use USDT or Bitcoin to pay. It is no problem.”While it looks like these nefarious Chinese companies are able to trade into and out of crypto assets, that should be a difficulty for them as China banned the offering of crypto trading services going back a number of years already. Furthermore, foreign digital asset exchanges are prohibited from servicing the needs of Chinese clients where crypto is concerned.Elliptic’s research team uncovered that the majority of the illicit drugs trade suppliers have been using workarounds in order to gain access to overseas digital asset exchanges. The suppliers have used intermediaries in order to convert crypto into Chinese yuan.The report concludes that this part of the international fentanyl trade can be dealt with and “disrupted by the services that act as gateways into and out of crypto assets.” On arriving at that conclusion, Elliptic has acted by notifying the digital asset exchanges that these suppliers are using. “[We] have flagged hundreds of crypto addresses in our tools as being linked to this activity,” the report states.Crypto had infamously been associated with illicit activity on the dark web in its earliest years. It has moved well beyond that although due to its decentralized nature, it’s difficult, if not impossible, to control who utilizes decentralized digital currency.