KCS Says Illegal Forex Transactions for Crypto Purchases Amount to $7.7B

Metalpha Technology Holding Limited, based in Hong Kong, has strategically invested in NextGen Digital Venture Limited, aiming to enhance institutional participation in the digital asset space. This move is part of Metalpha's broader effort to bridge the gap between traditional finance (TradFi) and the crypto sphere.Photo by cottonbro studio on PexelsBuilding on Next Generation FundNews of the collaboration broke via a PR Newswire press release published by Metalpha on Monday. The deal builds upon a previous partnership struck by the two companies in April of last year, which resulted in the creation of Next Generation Fund I. This fund is specifically tailored to leverage Grayscale Investments LLC's suite of products, with Grayscale being one of the world’s largest crypto asset managers. Notably, the fund has demonstrated solid performance, surpassing bitcoin's annualized return by 35%. This success has instilled confidence in Metalpha, fostering optimism for the fund's future achievements. NextGen Digital is a Hong Kong-based investment company that aims to provide cryptocurrency and Web3 exposure to institutional clients in the conventional finance realm. Alongside its previous partnership with Metalpha, the firm has invested directly in Web3 startups such as iZumi Finance, a liquidity-as-a-service DeFi protocol. In announcing the Metalpha investment, NextGen founding partner Jason Huang said that the company “is committed to providing secure, compliant cryptocurrency investment opportunities and is always focused on achieving alpha returns.” The company is leveraging its Hong Kong Type 9 license, while aspiring to deliver secure and compliant cryptocurrency investment opportunities. Adrian Wang, president and director of Metalpha Technology Holding, expressed enthusiasm about the partnership, stating: "The launch of the NextGen fund marks the first step for both parties to jointly develop compliant products with generous returns. We look forward to establishing a more solid partnership in the future.” Wang had previously stated that clients of the Next Generation Fund were overseas Chinese institutions. “Some of them are family offices, some of them are public companies,” he stated. On-boarding TradFi investmentPositioned as a notable platform in Asia, NextGen aims to facilitate traditional finance's seamless entry into the realm of cryptocurrencies. This strategic investment by Metalpha underscores the evolving landscape where traditional financial institutions increasingly embrace the potential of digital assets. Metalpha, recognized as one of Asia's leading providers of crypto derivatives solutions, collaborates closely with traditional financial entities, including family offices and crypto mining firms. Holding both Type 4 and Type 9 licenses from the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) of Hong Kong, Metalpha is authorized to advise on securities and engage in real estate investment scheme management or securities and futures contracts management. In May of last year, Metalpha secured a $5 million investment from leading crypto mining equipment manufacturer, Bitmain. Metalpha counts hybrid crypto exchange GRVT among its portfolio of investments. In September it emerged that it had invested in ParaX, a Web3 super app developed by Parallel Finance. In February 2023, the Litecoin Foundation partnered with Metalpha in an effort to provide environmentally friendly mining techniques to the Litecoin ecosystem.

Singaporean VC Pledges Funding for Web3 AcceleratorSingaporean crypto investment venture capital firm, Foresight Ventures, has committed to doubling down on funding a Web3 Accelerator.Back in November, the firm launched Foresight X, a Web3-focused incubator program. At the time, it committed to allocating $10 million to be divided between three categories of Web3-centric projects and collaborations. Fast forward six months and the firm is now committing to stump up an additional $10 million in funding for the project.Categories include ecosystem projects, research grants, and an eight-week incubator program which was initially offered to thirty early-stage projects. In that initial funding round, start-ups were being supported with funding of $50,000, up to a maximum of $200,000.Photo by Shubham Dhage on UnsplashSecond phaseThe project is now entering its second phase, accepting applications once again from a new round of start-up applicants. In this instance, the focus will move towards Web3 projects with an emphasis on artificial intelligence (AI), zero-knowledge cryptography, bitcoin, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), machine learning, and liquid staking derivative products.With second-round funding, each selected project will be funded to the tune of $200,000 rather than the funding range of $50,000 to $200,000 employed on the first phase. Additionally, up to three mentors will be assigned to each successful applicant project. On top of that, one fund partner from Foresight Ventures will be assigned to each start-up in order to provide them with a steer towards growth and development. The program will culminate with a Demo Day, facilitating each project to showcase their service or product offering.Bitget partnershipFounded in 2020, Foresight Ventures has progressed in a short space of time, from having $80 million assets under management (AUM) to an AUM of $400 million today. The venture capital outfit is led by seasoned venture professionals with backgrounds in companies like Google, Bitmain and Sequoia Capital.Among its leading investments is SEI, the layer one blockchain project that is optimized for transaction speed and throughput. In April, the company committed $50 million towards SEIs $120 million ecosystem fund. In January, it invested $15 million in Singapore-based digital asset infrastructure and market making firm, CyberX.Last month the firm partnered with crypto derivatives trading platform Bitget in contributing towards its Asia-focused Web3 fund. Focused on funding outstanding Web3 projects in the region, Bitget has put together a $100 million fund. Foresight Ventures joined Dragonfly Capital, SevenX Ventures, DAO Maker and ABCDE Capital in expressing interest in investing in the fund, ultimately investing and partnering with Biget on the initiative.The firm has come a long way in a short space of time, signaling its intent in March 2022 when it committed to investing up to $200 million in Web3 start-ups and blockchain projects over the course of three years. Other key Foresight Ventures portfolio companies include Singapore-based digital assets financial services firm, Matrixport, and metaverse developer Everyrealm. Aside from its headquarters in Singapore, the firm also maintains a presence in Shanghai, allowing it the reach to cover crypto-related projects throughout the Asian region.

XPLA and PERPLAY join forces to bolster rewarding mechanism to Web3 gamesSouth Korean gaming corporation Com2uS Group’s layer 1 blockchain XPLA has entered a business agreement with the mobile Game and Earn (G&E) platform PERPLAY to boost the sustainability of its ecosystem and take Web3 gaming to new heights, according to an official announcement on Thursday (KST).Photo by ROBIN WORRALL on UnsplashXPLA’s vision“XPLA is a project working towards promoting new levels of fun in Web3 gaming and building an ecosystem based on a fair system of sharing rewards with users,” said Paul Kim, Team Leader at XPLA. “Through this partnership with PERPLAY, we are one step closer to fulfilling our Web3 philosophy, which is centered around the participants in our ecosystem.”Rewards for everyoneThe PERPLAY app runs on a Proof of Play (POP) algorithm that employs a rewarding mechanism that distributes tokens to users based on their game playtime and collection of tiered NFTs. PERPLAY users can earn $XPER and $PER token rewards by playing any mobile game — existing or newly downloaded — that they have registered in the PERPLAY app.XPLA hopes to integrate this algorithm into its ecosystem to add a rewarding layer to various games on its mainnet, offering a unique and elevated gaming experience. The first of these games will be Com2uS Holdings’ popular mobile role-playing game (RPG) The Walking Dead: All-Stars.“We see this partnership with XPLA as an opportunity to further strengthen the PERPLAY user ecosystem,” said Lim Jae-chung, CEO of PERPLAY. “Starting with The Walking Dead: All-Stars, we will bring the PERPLAY experience to various Web3 games on XPLA.”In a related development, XPLA has partnered with Google Cloud, which will serve as a Volunteer Validator for its blockchain protocol. The collaboration with the cloud computing platform is expected to enhance the integrity of the XPLA network.