Hyosung TNS and APoT Join Hands to Promote NFT Portal Service

China Launches National Blockchain Center to Develop TalentHaving initially been announced in February, China’s National Blockchain Technology Innovation Center was formally launched on Wednesday. The center is based in China’s capital city of Beijing, and plans to collaborate with existing crypto and blockchain businesses, think tanks that concern themselves with blockchain and digital assets, and local universities in an effort to further advance blockchain technology within China’s borders.Photo by Hanson Lu on UnsplashEnterprise blockchain developmentEncompassed within the National Blockchain Technology Innovation Center lies the Beijing Academy of Blockchain and Edge Computing. The academy’s leading achievement to date has been its development of the ChainMaker blockchain. The state-sponsored blockchain incorporates clusters of high performance servers of 1,000 units or more, and it claims to achieve a throughput of 240 million transactions per second.The blockchain is being geared towards enterprise use, and the sharing of information between businesses. The ChainMaker project team has also developed an immutable storage mechanism called “Hong”. It’s understood that the team plans to open-source that technology in due course. The storage system is being used by around 80 government departments in Beijing to collect and store data.ChainMaker is collaborating with fifty corporations, with most of them being state-owned entities.Linking up separate networksIn these efforts to advance China’s blockchain sector, the Center is being backed by China’s Ministry of Science and Technology. One of its key objectives is to ensure that the research center enables a comprehensive, nation-wide network to link together disparate blockchain systems, including those already built, within China. Furthermore, the Chinese authorities want the Center to support existing industries, serving them by bringing blockchain technology to their operations, and in that way advancing businesses with that added competitive edge.Zheng Zhiming, a leading academic at the Chinese Academy of Sciences said that existing blockchain projects are isolated from each other. Zhiming believes that this is holding them back, impeding their growth. This latest approach through the National Blockchain Technology Center is geared to address that shortcoming.It’s interesting to note that while the Chinese authorities have taken a very hard line in relation to cryptocurrencies, they are very much trying to advance their blockchain sector. Likewise, they are pulling out the stops for China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) project, the digital yuan or e-CNY.It emerged last week that the Bank of China has partnered with French international banking group BNP Paribas, in an effort to promote further use of the digital yuan among the bank’s corporate clients.A dual strategyMeanwhile in China’s autonomous territory of Hong Kong, the city has been given an implicit mandate from the Chinese central government to open its doors to cryptocurrency-related businesses. Cleverly, the Chinese are covering both eventualities. While they don’t want citizens within mainland China to have access to decentralized cryptocurrencies and dApps, they still don’t want to miss out on any upside that the technology and its innovation may bring.On that basis, Hong Kong has been given the space and freedom to compete for crypto business on a global basis, competing in that respect with other emerging centers such as Singapore and Dubai.

A new report indicates that the global use of cryptocurrency is not only growing but also quickening, with the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region setting the pace. According to the sixth Chainalysis Global Crypto Adoption Index, released on Sept. 2, India has emerged as the new leader in overall adoption across 151 countries. The index analyzes where value is being transferred, how new users are entering the ecosystem, and which areas are experiencing the most rapid expansion.Photo by Naveed Ahmed on UnsplashIndia leads global crypto adoptionIndia now holds the top spot in the overall index, with the U.S. following in second place. The APAC region demonstrates significant momentum, with Pakistan (3rd), Vietnam (4th), Indonesia (7th), and the Philippines (9th) all securing positions in the top ten. Further down, South Korea and Japan are ranked 15th and 19th, respectively.2025 Global Crypto Adoption Index Top 20 Source: ChainalysisThe picture changes when the data is adjusted for per capita GDP, which highlights grassroots movements. By this measure, Ukraine ranks first, followed by Moldova, Georgia, and Jordan. Hong Kong comes in fifth, Vietnam sixth, while Singapore and South Korea rank 16th and 18th, respectively.2025 Global Crypto Adoption Index Top 20 (Pop. adjusted) Source: ChainalysisRegional transactions surge as APAC gains groundOn-chain transaction data confirms a shift in economic gravity. In the year ending June 2025, APAC's transaction value soared by 69% year-over-year, climbing from $1.4 trillion to $2.36 trillion. While Europe ($2.6 trillion) and North America ($2.2 trillion) still handle larger absolute volumes, growth is accelerating nearly everywhere. APAC's growth rate more than doubled from 27% to 69%, while Latin America's rose from 53% to 63%. In terms of capital entering the crypto market via centralized exchanges, the U.S. leads as the largest fiat on-ramp, processing over $4.2 trillion. This is approximately four times the volume of South Korea (over $1 trillion), while the EU recorded just under $500 billion. Asset preferences also show regional variations; Bitcoin accounted for 47% of purchases in the U.K. and 45% in the EU, but just over 20% in South Korea.  India's top ranking aligns with the latest domestic developments, such as the Independence Day launch of the Bitcoin Policy Institute India, which aims to focus on sovereign mining, policy, and education. Legal and security challenges in IndiaHowever, this rapid growth is accompanied by notable legal and security hurdles. In a high-profile case, an Indian anti-corruption court sentenced 14 individuals, including 11 police officers, to life in prison for a 2018 kidnapping and crypto extortion scheme. In another development, creditors of India's crypto exchange WazirX approved a new restructuring plan over a year after a $234 million hack allegedly linked to North Korea’s Lazarus Group. An earlier proposal was rejected by the Singapore High Court in April. The revised plan shifts oversight of recovery tokens—representing outstanding balances—from WazirX’s Singapore entity to Zanmai India, regulated by India’s financial authority, with repayments funded by profits and recovered assets. Some 150,000 creditors, representing $206 million in claims, voted between July 30 and Aug. 6 as WazirX also moved operations to a Panama-based unit called Zensui. Separately, on April 16, India’s Supreme Court dismissed a petition from 54 hack victims, ruling it lacked authority to legislate on crypto policy. While India’s headlines highlight the frictions of rapid growth, the broader picture is clearer. The Chainalysis index illustrates a global crypto market expanding across all income levels for varied reasons. In developed nations, clearer regulations and institutional involvement are key drivers. In many emerging economies, factors like remittances and access to U.S. dollars via stablecoins are more prominent. 

Monex Group, a well-known securities broker in Japan’s financial services sector, is delving further into the digital currency space through the acquisition of a majority stake in 3iQ Digital Holdings, a Canadian crypto asset management company. Whilst the acquisition was announced via a joint press release on Thursday, the specific details of the deal were not disclosed.Photo by sebastiaan stam on UnsplashAchieving growth through cryptoYuko Seimei, the CEO of Monex Group, emphasized the long-term strategy of strengthening their asset management business. By incorporating 3iQ into their portfolio, the aim is to achieve substantial growth by catering to the evolving crypto asset management needs of institutional investors and crypto exchanges globally. Monex Group is already a key player in the Japanese crypto landscape, owning the Coincheck exchange. Coincheck is one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in Japan. It has regained market dominance after a cyber attack resulting in the theft of $534 million in digital assets in 2018. Monex collaborated with Japanese telecommunications firm NTT DOCOMO in October, forming Monex Securities as a holding company containing Coincheck, while selling NTT DOCOMO a 49% stake. ETF focusThe acquisition of 3iQ marks Monex’s strategic move to extend its exposure to the North American crypto industry. This adds to the conglomerate’s existing presence in the United States through the ownership and operation of TradeStation, an American brokerage firm. 3iQ, operating under a Canadian license, has come to prominence in the crypto-sphere for launching two exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in Canada. Notably, it introduced Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs on the Toronto Stock Exchange, showcasing innovation in a region where regulatory approval is awaited by U.S.-based companies. Spot bitcoin ETFs have been hotly tipped to offer the next form of crypto adoption, potentially facilitating the in-flow of massive amounts of money currently within the domain of traditional finance. While the focus has been largely on the United States in that regard, other centers such as Hong Kong are similarly gearing up towards offering spot ETF crypto products to both institutions and retail investors. Amid that background, this acquisition by Monex didn’t go unnoticed by ETF sector professionals. Bloomberg Intelligence ETF Research Analyst James Seyffart took to social media platform X on Thursday to draw attention to the deal. Frederick Pye, the Chairman and CEO of 3iQ, expressed enthusiasm about joining forces with Monex Group. With Monex already owning Coincheck, a crypto exchange powerhouse in Japan, Pye highlighted the potential synergy. The collaboration is seen as an opportunity to enhance Coincheck’s offerings, particularly for institutional investors. Pye characterized the partnership as a groundbreaking collaboration that promises to reshape the crypto industry. Monex’s acquisition of 3iQ is aligned with its broader vision of being a key player in the global crypto asset management landscape. The move not only expands their reach into North America but also positions them to capitalize on the growing demands of institutional investors in the evolving digital currency market.