B. Riley Financial Agrees Strategic Bitdeer Share Purchase

South Korean digital marketing firm FSN has entered into a strategic alliance with Fingo Company, the operator of the music copyright platform Fingo, to jointly work on a tokenized securities project based on the recently raised funds, according to local news site Newsis on Monday (KST).Photo by Chris Liverani on UnsplashUnlocking synergiesThrough this partnership, FSN and Fingo aim to collaborate on a token securities project. As both companies have experience in leveraging IP, they are expected to apply their expertise to the new business. In particular, FSN operates several IP-based Web3 projects such as Sunmiya Club and Bellygom NFT through its subsidiary Finger Labs, through which the firm has been demonstrating its competitive edge. Fingo also owns a variety of content-based IPs and is cooperating with major domestic securities companies. The two firms’ business capabilities are thus expected to create great synergy in the market. Fingo’s service allows anyone to share revenue made from music, a concept referred to as music revenue sharing, which was once limited to creators or singers only. Last year, it took a step into the tokenized securities sphere by signing a business deal with Mirae Asset Securities, the country’s largest asset manager, to establish a token securities service and launch innovative financial investment products. FSN has been gearing up to take on this collaborative project, namely a recent success in raising a total of KRW 10 billion (approximately $7.5 million) in funding. The company explained that with this considerable funding paired with its knowledge of Web3 and blockchain technology and experience in collaborative partnerships, it will be equipped to settle into the tokenized securities market seamlessly. Charting new horizons"As we have secured large-scale funding under stable conditions, we expect to successfully pursue new businesses, including that in tokenized securities," FSN CEO Lee Sang-seok said. "We will steadily expand new businesses by establishing partnerships with companies with competitiveness in various areas, starting with Fingo Company, which has a competitive edge in tokenized securities and music IP," he said.

South Korea: Crypto Exchange Execs Indicted on Manipulation ChargesA number of executives at Coinone, one of South Korea’s leading cryptocurrency exchanges, have been indicted on charges related to market manipulation.That’s according to a report published by South Korean news outlet, The JoongAng, on Monday. The complaint details no less than forty-six coins that are alleged to have been the subject of manipulation in some form. That represents one in four of the total number of coins that the exchange has enabled for trading on the platform.Photo by Burak The Weekender on PexelsFour executives indictedThe indictment lists four Coinone executives, Mr. Jeon, Mr. Kim, Mr. Ko, and Mr. Hwang. The four have been charged with employing illegal mechanisms to manipulate coin listings, resulting in the four executives profiting to the tune of 2.98 billion Korean Won, which amounts to $2.26 million dollars according to current fx exchange rates.The complaint specifies that these offenses were committed between December 2019 and November 2022. South Korean prosecutors further allege that prior to various projects obtaining a token listing on Coinone, company executives made them sign third-party market-making contracts. That in and of itself is not unusual.One of the key aspects of a new coin listing (and an ongoing listing for that matter), is the need to have sufficient liquidity in place to ensure that the coin can be traded without being susceptible to market manipulation. Low liquidity conditions open the door to bad actors moving the market relative to a particular token.Cross tradingThe indictment is far more specific in calling out illegal cross trading activity. It’s likely that these key Coinone employees would have been expecting such an indictment to land at their doors. Last week, it emerged that LUNA tokens associated with Terraform Labs’ failed Terra USD (TUSD) algorithmic stablecoin project, had been illegally cross traded on three South Korean crypto exchanges: Bithumb, GoPax and Coinone.Cross trading is the practice of trading an asset on an exchange without recording the transaction transparently on the exchange. Strictly speaking, the activity can be legitimate although most exchanges prohibit the practice as it can be used to affect market manipulation.A cross trade could be permitted in a scenario where the price is deemed to be competitive at the time that the trade takes place. While this can more easily be determined in conventional markets as the practice is covered by specific regulation, that’s not the case in most jurisdictions right now where digital asset trading is concerned. By extension, there’s a complete lack of transparency and a lack of reporting.As other market participants don’t have visibility of this type of trading activity, they are unaware as to whether a better price is available on the market or not. In an unregulated state, the practice undermines trust.In the case of Coinone, the executives enabled the practice in order to provide an illusion with regard to trading activity. That meant that trading volumes claimed were inaccurate, misleading ordinary traders and exchange users. Along with trading volume in these coins being artificially boosted, so too were token prices.In the indictment, prosecutors explicitly alleged that cross trading was being employed in an illegal manner:“This price manipulation causes misunderstandings about the trading volume and market price among general members of the exchange, and induces [service users] to participate in the coin transaction and buy the coin.”

Tokenpost, a South Korean media outlet covering news on blockchain and crypto, launched the open beta version of its Web3 news polling service jointly developed with PUNKPOLL – a voting and polling platform based on the MINA protocol – that provides random surveys based on daily news for readers to participate in.Photo by Element5 Digital on UnsplashProviding the backbone for digital democracyThe polling service utilizes MINA's zero-knowledge blockchain (zkBlockchain) technology to protect personal information and operate an independent news polling system free from centralized management. It aims to realize the core values of direct democracy in the digital realm by enabling readers to express their opinions through polls. Users’ identities are verified through PUNKPOLL’s Social Graph Authentication, a decentralized method where multiple users mutually verify each other’s identities. The service is most easily accessible through the KakaoTalk messaging app. Readers who participate in the survey will be rewarded with Tokenpost Tickets and PUNK tokens. Tokenpost Tickets can be used to enter prize sweepstakes via the Ticket Store, and PUNK tokens can be exchanged for MINA tokens at a 1:1 ratio starting from a minimum of 5 PUNK tokens.  This collaboration between Tokenpost, PUNKPOLL and MINA Protocol is expected to be an important step in introducing a new model of direct democracy for the digital age. About Tokenpost and PUNKPOLLTokenpost was founded in February 2017 as the first blockchain-focused media outlet in South Korea. It has been providing key information on the blockchain and cryptocurrency market. In 2018, it was the first media enterprise in the world to introduce a news platform that offers user rewards, and in 2019, it preemptively released a system for blockchain notarization of news articles, leading the way in utilizing Web3 technology in the media industry. PUNKPOLL is known for its secure and transparent decentralized voting platform that leverages distributed technology and the MINA protocol, allowing users to participate anonymously and reap the benefits of direct democracy. The company aims to resolve the problems of the existing voting system in an innovative way.