Asiastar Entertainment and Codus to Develop Casual P2E Game with NFT Rewards

China Mobile Establishes Metaverse Industry AllianceChina Mobile, one of the leading telecommunications companies in China, has taken a significant step forward in the development of the metaverse by announcing the establishment of an industry alliance during the 2023 Mobile World Congress in Shanghai.News of the development broke via a state-backed media outlet, the Shanghai Securities Journal, in its reporting from the event on Wednesday.Photo by julien Tromeur on UnsplashA trillion yuan marketAt the forefront of this endeavor is Zhao Dachun, Deputy General Manager of China Mobile. Dachun emphasized the metaverse’s potential as a trillion-yuan level market. Recognizing its significance, China Mobile has unveiled the first batch of 24 members of the metaverse industry alliance. Among them are renowned companies such as iFlytek, a leading AI company, HTC, a prominent manufacturer of VR goggles, and MGTV, a popular video streaming platform.The establishment of the alliance serves multiple purposes. It provides a platform for industry partners to engage in discussions and collaboratively shape the future of the metaverse industry. This cooperative effort will contribute to the development of industry standards, facilitating a shared vision for the metaverse ecosystem.More effective metaverse collaborationAdditionally, the alliance aims to foster resource sharing, encouraging deeper integration and collaboration among its members. By adopting a win-win mindset, the alliance members seek to collectively benefit from the new opportunities that arise within the digital economy.Further supporting the metaverse vision, Migu, the digital content unit of China Mobile, has taken significant steps by establishing its metaverse headquarters in Xiamen, a city located in the Fujian province of China.Regional government partnershipIn a promising partnership, Migu has entered into a strategic cooperation agreement with the Xiamen government to spearhead the development of a metaverse within the city. The metaverse, a digital world created through advanced technologies such as virtual reality and augmented reality, holds great potential for transforming Xiamen into a “high-quality, high-value, modern, and international” city that thrives on digital intelligence.Migu’s plans extend beyond theoretical concepts, as they outline concrete steps to realize the metaverse vision. Key application scenarios, such as the development of a metaverse version of Gulangyu Island, a renowned tourist destination celebrated for its natural beauty and historical significance, will be a primary focus. By bringing this iconic location to the metaverse, visitors will have the opportunity to experience its charm in a new digital dimension.Moreover, Migu is dedicated to accelerating research on digital governance within the metaverse. With the metaverse expected to have a profound impact on society, understanding how to effectively manage and regulate this emerging digital landscape becomes paramount. Migu aims to lead the way in establishing best practices and frameworks for responsible and inclusive digital governance.Through collaborative efforts, the promotion of industry standards, and strategic investments in key application scenarios, China Mobile is likely to play an important role in unlocking the vast potential of the metaverse. In turn, the initiative is likely to fuel the growth and transformation of the digital economy.

Thailand’s capital markets supervisory agency, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), is preparing to launch a trading system, built on distributed ledger technology (DLT), to enable securities firms to trade tokenized securities.Photo by allPhoto Bangkok on PexelsTokenized investments gaining tractionThat’s according to a report published on Feb. 3 by Bangkok-based English language newspaper, the Bangkok Post. Jomkwan Kongsakul, deputy secretary-general of Thailand’s SEC, said that tokenized investments are gaining traction. With that, the development will give the regulator experience in supervision of the latest digital-era markets. The move is also seen as an indication to securities firms of the acceptability of DLT-based tokenized trading from a regulatory perspective in Thailand. The regulator plans to sign off on permitting securities firms to trade digital tokens, bootstrapping digital token trading through accessing the large investor bases of these firms. Commenting on the initiative, Jomkwan Kongsakul stated: “The SEC is leveraging technology to enhance efficiency in the capital market by promoting an electronic securities ecosystem,” while “new regulations will be launched to facilitate the issuance of electronic securities and online purchases of debentures.” Debentures are unsecured debt instruments issued by companies to raise funds. Efficient primary & secondary market tradingThe proposed system will incorporate primary and secondary market trading of fully digitized bonds. Other features will include investor registration and multiple blockchain support with the inclusion of blockchain interoperability capabilities. It is as yet unclear which blockchains the platform will be built around. Speaking on that topic, the SEC executive stated: “In the future, there may be multiple chains for trade. Trading through DLT on all systems is connected by a shared ledger, which is expected to be completed soon.” In its preparations to launch the system, the Thai SEC has approved four digital token projects thus far. Two more projects are understood to be at the review stage. The focus is being placed on green tokens and investment-based projects. The regulator believes that through tokenization, greater efficiency and liquidity can be achieved. There’s a delay of between seven and 14 days before bonds, which have been bought on the primary market, can be traded on a secondary market. Tokenization can help to resolve this issue.  Furthermore, where bonds are too expensive for investors or too illiquid, tokenization can help in both cases, broadening access to the range of products available to the investing public. In addition to this latest news, a number of positive signs have arisen from Thailand with respect to digital assets in recent weeks. It emerged last month that the SEC is considering approving spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) within the Southeast Asian nation.  Related to that development, SEC Secretary-General Pornanong Budsaratragoon said that the agency has “to adapt and ensure that our investors have more options in crypto assets with proper protection.” Last month, comments made regarding cryptocurrency by Thailand’s former Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, were quite positive. He called on the SEC to enable the trading of stablecoins. Since then, Thailand’s Minister of Finance, Pichai Chunhavajira, discussed plans to issue a stablecoin that would be based on the Thai Baht and backed by government bonds.

Coinone’s recent addition of USDT/KRW trading pair expected to reduce Kimchi premiumCoinone, a major South Korean cryptocurrency exchange, listed USDT, a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar on the platform’s Korean won-denominated market on Thursday (local time). Its listing price was KRW 1,289.Tether Limited, the company behind USDT, asserts that their stablecoin is “backed 100% by Tether’s reserves.” These reserves comprise a variety of real-world assets such as U.S. Treasuries, overnight reverse repurchase agreements, corporate bonds and precious metals. According to CoinMarketCap, USDT’s market capitalization stands at $89 billion, ranking it third in the cryptocurrency market, just behind Bitcoin and Ethereum.Photo by DrawKit Illustrations on UnsplashFirst to list USDT/KRW trading pairDespite the significance of USDT in the cryptocurrency market, Korean exchange users have faced the limitation of not being able to purchase the stablecoin using Korean won, although these exchanges did offer markets denominated in USDT. This limitation has prompted Koreans to turn to foreign cryptocurrency services for acquiring USDT. With Coinone’s latest move, the platform has become the first to facilitate USDT/KRW trading among the nation’s five fiat-to-crypto Korean exchanges — Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit and Gopax.Regarding this development, Kwon O-hoon, Managing Partner at the law firm Cha and Kwon, told local news outlet Decenter that there seem to be no particular legal concerns with the crypto exchange’s engagement in USDT transactions. This perspective stems from the absence of stablecoin regulations in the country.Reducing the Kimchi premiumAccording to Decenter, crypto experts anticipate that the introduction of USDT/KRW trading will help in reducing the Kimchi premium, a term referring to the discrepancy in cryptocurrency prices on South Korean exchanges compared to those in foreign exchanges.For instance, according to data from CoinNess, the average price of BTC on Korean exchanges is around KRW 51,177,250. This is about 2.34% higher than its average price on foreign exchanges, which stands at KRW 50,005,909. This difference means that users on Korean exchanges need to pay an additional KRW 1,171,340 to buy one BTC, compared to what they would pay on international platforms.However, the newly added trading pair will streamline transactions between exchanges, making it simpler for investors to engage in arbitrage. This ease of transfer is expected to lead to more balanced pricing across different markets, reducing the Kimchi premium.In light of this development, Jo Dong-hyeon, CEO of blockchain company Undefined Labs, said various institutions and blockchain projects will likely find USDT increasingly useful as a store of value, given USDT facilitates easy transfers between different exchanges.