KuCoin Report Points to Marked Increase in Crypto Investors in Turkey

Military Bank (MB Bank), a subsidiary of Vietnam’s Ministry of National Defence and a top-five bank in Vietnam serving 33 million customers, has partnered with South Korea’s Dunamu to launch the Southeast Asian nation’s first domestic digital asset exchange. Dunamu is the operator of Upbit, South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. In a statement published on its website on Aug. 13, Dunamu outlined that the two companies had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the objective of forging a technical partnership to foster Vietnam’s virtual asset market. With that overarching aspiration, the companies plan to establish a digital asset exchange. The deal was signed on Aug. 12 at the Korea-Vietnam Business Forum, an event that was held at the Lotte Hotel in Seoul. Through Upbit, Dunamu has considerable experience and know-how in the crypto exchange business. Its purpose in this partnership is to bring that ability and Upbit’s technology to the establishment of a new exchange in Vietnam.Photo by Peter Nguyen on UnsplashDunamu CEO Oh Gyeong-seok commented on the development, stating: “Vietnam's potential is shown by the more than 20 million virtual asset holders, annual trading volume of more than $800 billion and the inflow of global top 5 blockchain assets.” The Dunamu CEO added that when Vietnam’s proven growth potential meets the Upbit model, it will provide an opportunity to go further than the creation of a crypto exchange, with the development and design of “the entire national digital financial infrastructure based on trust.” Growing and developing Vietnam’s digital financial marketThis aspiration was shared by Military Bank Chairman Liu Zongtai, who stated: “In the future, Vietnam and Korea, Military Bank and Upbit will work together to grow and develop Vietnam's digital financial market as reliable cooperation partners.” As well as sharing its technology and infrastructure, Dunamu will also advise the company on matters such as regulatory compliance and investor protection. Vietnam has previously been hailed as a market that is seeing a significant level of crypto adoption. According to Statista, the market is expected to experience significant growth in the coming years. Crypto user penetration has been forecast to reach over 21% by 2026. The Vietnamese government has also been putting things in order to accommodate crypto assets. In June, the Vietnamese National Assembly passed the Digital Technology Industry Law. The legislation goes some way in providing regulatory clarity, with the categorization of virtual assets and crypto assets. Last October, the authorities set out a blockchain strategy for the Southeast Asian nation, with the aspiration of achieving regional leadership relative to the digital assets sector by 2030. Upbit is a significant player in the crypto sector. According to CoinMarketCap data, it’s the fourth-largest spot exchange platform globally, measured in terms of trading volume. For the month of July, it achieved a trading volume of $110.21 billion, trailing Bitget at $126.05 billion and Bybit at $122.3 billion, while Binance led the market with $683.41 billion. 

Busan to Merge Blockchain and Coffee through Smart Logistics PlatformThe Korean southern port city of Busan and its regional institution for industrial innovation, Busan Techno Park, announced that they will begin developing a collaborative platform that facilitates smart logistics in the local coffee industry through the use of blockchain technology. The project is aimed at enhancing transparency and trust in the industry by tracking the entire logistics process — from the importation of raw coffee beans through Busan Port to distribution to businesses, then purchase by consumers.Photo by Theo Crazzolara on UnsplashTracking production and flavor profilingThe platform will use artificial intelligence (AI) technology to track the distribution of coffee beans as well as objectively analyze various types of coffee to arrange flavor profiles based on factors such as weather, storage conditions, and the environment. This would eliminate any room for subjective opinions that are usually associated with taste evaluation.“This project aims to develop blockchain technology that can be used to trace the background of coffee beans starting from their country of origin,” said Kim Hyung-kyun, Director of Busan Techno Park. Blockchain technology’s strength lies in its ability to solve the problem of a lack of transparency between coffee producers and consumers.The platform was selected in April as a technology commercialization initiative under the Korean Ministry of Science and ICT’s 2023 Special R&D Zone Development Project. It is set to receive a total of KRW 11.8 billion (approximately $8.9 million) in governmental, private, and municipal funding until December 2025.Fostering transparency and securing a competitive edgeA ceremony was held at the Asti Hotel in Busan on Tuesday to kickstart the project and form the Busan R&D Innovation Valley Committee — consisting of two subcommittees dedicated to distribution and technology, respectively — to carry out the initiative.“It will be possible to manage data on changes in ingredients and quality due to storage conditions and duration. This will give sellers a competitive advantage and allow consumers to enjoy better-quality coffee at reasonable prices,” explained Oh Dong-joon, who is in charge of the distribution subcommittee.After the platform has been developed over the next three years, it will be available for coffee businesses and startup entrepreneurs in Busan. “In the case of specialty coffee, traceability and transparency are important. When the platform is established, it will be a significant help in verifying objective data related to problems that may occur during the import and storage of coffee beans,” remarked Jeon Joo-yeon, CEO of Busan-based specialty coffee brand Momos Coffee.Jung Yo-han, leader of the business mining division under the project’s technology subcommittee, added that consumers will be able to buy coffee that they can trust after it has been traced through the distribution process. The city will also be able to stimulate startups by leveraging blockchain technology and take advantage of the project’s scalability by applying it to all agricultural and marine products that are imported through Busan Port.

Klaytn Foundation partners with CoinMarketCap to support Web3 startups and developersThe Klaytn Foundation, South Korean conglomerate Kakao’s Layer 1 public blockchain, announced on Monday (local time) that it has been selected to be one of the official partners of CoinMarketCap Labs (CMC Labs), a Web3 startup accelerator program operated by the crypto information platform CoinMarketCap.Photo by Shubham Dhage on UnsplashEmpowering buildersThe CMC Labs program offers builders an array of benefits that serve to promote their projects, boost discoverability, communicate with users, and more. This includes the “Learn and Earn” campaign, where startup owners can attract users through a system that distributes token rewards after engaging in educational content. The Airdrop Campaign, on the other hand, helps participants keep up to date on a startup project’s important developments, such as price movements. Startups can also promote their projects through a long-form article or YouTube video published on the CMC Deep Dive platform.Fostering the growth of dAppsCoinMarketCap, in turn, has agreed to be a partner in the Ignite On Klaytn (IOK) Program — a program run by the Klaytn Foundation to support promising developers both in Korea and abroad in their endeavors to bring their decentralized apps (dApps) to the Web3 market, thus cultivating the Klaytn ecosystem. Developers stand to benefit because they can concentrate their efforts on product development, while the program provides support for other crucial aspects like wallets, API nodes and development outsourcing.Through this latest collaboration with CoinMarketCap, the Klaytn Foundation plans to assist various projects in their entry into the global market. It also aims to play a bridging role, enabling more projects within the Klaytn ecosystem to participate in the CMC Labs program.“We are looking forward to the mutual participation of Klaytn Foundation and CoinMarketCap in our respective programs, which is expected to provide momentum to Klaytn’s ongoing efforts to expand its reach into Asia and global markets,” explained Seo Sang-min, Representative Director at the Klaytn Foundation.