HashKey Enhances User Security with Exchange Insurance Partnership

Momentica’s NFT Photo Cards Captivate K-Pop EnthusiastsMomentica, a fan-artist engagement platform, has been captivating K-pop enthusiasts with NFT photo cards featuring their favorite artists.Dunamu and HYBELevvels, the company behind Momentica, has garnered significant attention from both the tech and the entertainment industries, as it is a joint venture between Dunamu, the operator of Korea’s leading crypto exchange, and HYBE, the agency representing world-renowned boy band BTS.K-pop photo cardsOne of the primary goals of this promising company is to introduce the K-pop fandom culture to global audiences. K-pop fans enjoy collecting photo cards featuring their favorite singers or actors, and thanks to blockchain technology, these cards can now be transformed into non-fungible tokens (NFTs), ensuring their authenticity and preventing forgeries and counterfeits. Dunamu’s blockchain expertise has combined with HYBE’s intellectual property to create a range of collectible items for K-pop fans.In a recent interview with Donga Ilbo, Levvels CEO Cha Sang-hoon explained the company’s current status and future plans. Cha said that Levvels is primarily a blockchain-based Web3 company aiming to leverage various technological tools to offer a range of services.Levvels’ Momentica issues digital photo cards called TAKEs, which capture unique and memorable moments of artists, and the collection, appreciation, and trading of these cards are facilitated through the Momentica app. Fans can use Momentica to collect digital cards featuring artists such as Seventeen, Le Sserafim, and Fromis_9. The authenticity of TAKEs is verifiable, as they are recorded on the blockchain.© Pexels/Sebastian ErviPhysical to digitalMomentica transitions the fan experience from the physical world to the digital realm. Through the app, K-pop aficionados can now exchange photo cards, promote their favorite stars, and maintain a virtual album. Exclusive content, including pictures, videos, and handwriting from some artists, will be available only on Momentica.Cha mentioned that Momentica has users across 93 countries, with Koreans constituting 40% of the total. Japanese users represent over 30%, indicating the app’s strong presence in the Japanese market. Taiwan, Indonesia, and the US follow in the number of users. Overall, the app’s popularity aligns with regional interest in K-pop.Beyond HYBEWhile the current service focuses on limited collections of digital photo cards, Momentica plans to enhance the experience by allowing K-pop fans to personalize and directly exchange cards. The company is also working on collaborations with artists from labels beyond HYBE for them to participate in Momentica.

Korean Prosecutors Say Do Kwon and His Colleagues Knew Terra Was Unviable from the BeginningKorean prosecutors claimed that Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon and the key members behind the Terra-LUNA crash were aware of the project’s unviability from the beginning, according to a file issued by the Seoul Southern District Court.©Terraform LabsTerraform Labs founders misleading Korean investorsTerraform Labs founders Do Kwon and Daniel Shin attracted 280,000 investors in Korea alone, claiming that the Terra stablecoin is a means of transaction, even though the company leaders had been notified by the financial authority that Terra-accepting businesses were impermissible. It is reported that during a search and seizure of the company, Korean prosecutors collected evidence that its employees shared such knowledge on their internal messaging system.Terra’s cross trading on crypto exchangesKnowing their cryptocurrency’s unviability, Terra executives registered its sister token LUNA for listing on major Korean crypto exchanges in May 2019. According to the Korean prosecution, they used a bot to create a trade volume of more than 800 million won in three domestic crypto exchanges by cross trading between 2019 and early last year.Cross trading is illegal in the stock market, as it is considered as an act of price manipulation, but LUNA was traded in crypto exchanges and it hasn’t been determined whether their token is a security or not. Under current Korean law, the court has to accept it as a security to punish those behind the Terra collapse.Shin’s denial of allegationsMeanwhile, Daniel Shin denied the prosecution’s allegations and argued that they had never received such a notice from the financial regulator.

Upbit Launches Campaign for Recovery of Mistakenly Transferred AssetsUpbit, the cryptocurrency exchange operated by Dunamu, announced on Tuesday (local time) that it is launching a campaign where users can get back the digital assets that they have transferred mistakenly as part of heightened efforts to protect investors and minimize their losses due to such errors.Photo by Luis Villasmil on UnsplashRole of secondary identifiersAmong the virtual assets that Upbit allows users to deposit, some require users to accurately input their unique identifiers — like a Destination Tag (D.tag) or Memo — in order to properly process a deposit. A D.tag or Memo is an additional address used to identify a transaction recipient beyond a wallet address, which is often required when trading altcoins like Ripple (XRP) and Monero (XMR). In the case of XRP, both the exchange address and the D.tag must be entered accurately for deposits to be processed properly.Enhancing investor convenienceHowever, misdirected transfers caused by incorrect or missing secondary deposit addresses occur quite frequently. Many users also remain unaware when their virtual assets have been mistakenly transferred.In response to this issue, Dunamu has organized its latest campaign to make it easier for Upbit users to recover the virtual assets that they mistakenly sent. A user can access the campaign page on the official Upbit website and search for the transaction ID (TXID) of the deposit where the secondary address was either not entered or entered incorrectly. If a matching deposit is found, they can click “Apply for Recovery” to submit a one-on-one inquiry.Previously, users were required to manually enter information such as the name and quantity of the cryptocurrency, as well as the TXID in the one-on-one inquiry. Now, this information is automatically filled in through the TXID search, boosting user convenience.In an effort to encourage campaign participation, Dunamu also said that it will waive all fees for the recovery of mistakenly transferred assets until the end of the year.As of July, the exchange has successfully processed over 99.5% of the total 45,474 recovery requests that it has received over the past five years by leveraging its industry-leading technical expertise.“Upbit will continue its efforts to protect user assets and provide convenient services,” Dunamu said.Global recognitionMeanwhile, Upbit has secured 9th place in the Kaiko Exchange Ranking for the third quarter of 2023, ranking first among Korean exchanges. Kaiko is a crypto market data company with offices in Paris, London, New York, and Singapore.The ranking evaluates exchanges based on the following criteria: governance (30%), security (20%), liquidity (15%), business (15%), technology (10%), and data quality (10%). Upbit earned a score of 76 points.Coming in first overall on the list was Coinbase with 90 points, directly followed by Bitstamp and Kraken with 86 and 82 points, respectively. Among Korean exchanges, Korbit ranked 15th worldwide with 72 points, followed by Bithumb in 17th with 72 points, then Coinone in 27th with 59 points.