Korea’s FSC Embarks on Developing Regulatory Framework for VASPs

Wiziin Earmarks $500K Pre-Seed Funding for Blockchain InvestmentWiziin, a Vietnamese startup specializing in venture investment management, has secured $500,000 in pre-seed funding, which it plans to use to accelerate its efforts in blockchain technology investment.Photo by Peter Nguyen on UnsplashBroad networkAt the heart of Wiziin’s primary objective — to bridge the divide between investors and founders — lies the firm’s blockchain-based platform. The Wiziin platform is specifically tailored to venture investors with a focus on digital assets.Wiziin is headed up by venture capitalist Tien Nguyen and serial entrepreneur Thong Dang. The firm was established in 2020, with a view towards playing a part in what it foresees as a revolution in investment dynamics, particularly within the Asia Pacific (APAC) region. The company’s network encompasses more than 200 investors and an array of over 5,000 raised-fund companies. The company believes that this positions it to become a transformative force in the investment landscape within the region.“The established norms of venture capital funding have long followed conventional methodologies,” commented Thong Dang, Wiziin Co-Founder. “This infusion of funding serves as a catalyst for our ongoing endeavors in emerging blockchain technology, with the ultimate aim of disrupting and revolutionizing the industry. Tokenization of assets and the integration of smart contracts will form the bedrock of our innovative approach to venture capital,” he added.Homerun.clubCentral to Wiziin’s trajectory is the development of an investment platform named “Homerun.club.” This platform is engineered to foster co-investment experiences within blockchain ecosystems for individual investors.Through the elimination of intermediaries, Wiziin is striving to democratize funding access, unleashing global empowerment for entrepreneurs and inviting a more diverse spectrum of investors.The universality of blockchain technology shatters geographical limitations, enabling start-ups like Wiziin to bring investors and entrepreneurs together from every corner of the globe. This holds profound potential for startups and investors situated in expanding markets, and markets that have historically been underserved by conventional approaches to venture capital funding and investment.“While our platform operates within a decentralized framework, the importance of user verification cannot be understated, serving as both a regulatory compliance measure and a safeguard for investor interests,” elaborated Thong Dang.Dang added: “In tandem, we’re actively seeking institutional funding in the upcoming months to further fortify the platform. This strategic step will usher in a collaborative fundraising endeavor between our project and its vibrant community, fostering mutual growth and resounding success.”DAOs and start-up fundingWiziin’s approach is just one element in the ongoing shift towards blockchain-based start-up finance innovation. Many in the crypto space have also put forward DAOs or decentralized autonomous organizations, as an agent for further disruption in this area.DAOs also leverage blockchain technology, and their use can be helpful in cutting conventional venture capital firms out of the enterprise funding process. Furthermore, they can be used to cut through unwieldy regulation relative to start-up funding.With the conventional approach to start-up finance, only accredited investors gain access to early-stage opportunities. Individual investors, regardless of their net worth, can participate in a DAO-based approach to financing. The approach facilitates broader inclusion while having the effect of increasing liquidity as well.

Lion Group Holding Ltd (LGHL), a Nasdaq-listed financial services firm that provides an all-in-one platform for traders, has announced that it has secured $600 million to fund a Hyperliquid (HYPE) treasury. In a press release published by PR Newswire on behalf of the firm on June 18, the company outlined that a $600 million funding facility has been put in place by ATW Partners, a New York-headquartered investment firm that manages a number of private equity funds. Global investment bank Chardan Capital acted as the placement agent in facilitating the funding, with the first closing of $10.6 million, as per the subscription agreement.Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on UnsplashCorporate treasury strategyLion Group will use that money to launch a new corporate treasury strategy built around Hyperliquid’s HYPE token. Hyperliquid is a decentralized exchange (DEX) which was created by Hyperliquid Labs, a startup founded by Jeff Yan.  The HYPE token is the native token of the Hyperliquid platform. It’s used to secure the network through staking and for project governance. The token is also used to provide transaction incentives, while the Hyperliquid platform buys back HYPE tokens using trading fee revenues. Lion Group’s platform offers its users access to contract-for-difference (CFD) trading, total return swap (TRS) trading, over-the-counter (OTC) stock options trading, while also acting as a futures and securities brokerage. Up until 2022, the firm was based in Hong Kong, opting to relocate to Singapore at that point. Primarily, the company serves corporate clients, individual professional investors and retail investors located in China and throughout the Southeast Asian region. Future of trading is on-chainIn explaining its rationale for pursuing a HYPE treasury strategy, the company’s CEO, Wilson Wang, stated: “Hyperliquid represents a natural extension of LGHL's existing derivatives business into decentralized markets, and reflects our conviction that decentralized on-chain execution is the future of trading." Going forward, the company will pursue a strategic accumulation of HYPE, with the token serving as the firm’s primary reserve asset. In addition to HYPE, Lion Group outlined that it may also allocate funds to purchase Solana (SOL) and Sui (SUI), with these tokens to be staked and custodied with institutional-grade digital asset custodian, BitGo. Lion Group asserted that both of these assets would form “key pillars” of a treasury strategy “focused on execution-first protocols.” Wang added that the company views “protocols like HYPE, with decentralized sequencing, as foundational to building scalable DeFi systems.” The company is not the first mover in terms of launching a HYPE-based corporate treasury. On June 17, Eyenovia, Inc. (EYEN), a Nasdaq-listed ophthalmic technology firm, announced that it had entered into a securities purchase agreement with a view towards financing a $50 million HYPE treasury. Additionally, the firm plans to change its name to Hyperion DeFi and its stock ticker to HYPD later this week to reflect its new HYPE-based reserve strategy. Shares in Eyenovia closed at $4.83 on June 18, down 30.7% over the course of 24 hours. Lion Group shares closed at $3.33, up 19.78%.

Bullish Emerges as a Bidder for Bankrupt FTX ExchangeBullish, a Gibraltar-based crypto exchange with strong ties to Asia, has emerged as a prominent bidder for the bankrupt trading platform FTX, which filed for bankruptcy protection in November last year.Photo by Kelly Sikkema on UnsplashValuable customer baseUp until that point, FTX was a thriving player in the cryptocurrency market. However, it is now in the process of seeking new ownership or financial restructuring to resurrect its operations. In a report published on Tuesday, The Block outlined that according to sources familiar with the situation, Bullish is eager to acquire FTX primarily for its valuable customer base.The news follows the filing of a stakeholder brief to the bankruptcy court in Delaware in the United States by the FTX Debtor on Monday. The brief outlined that the Debtor, led by new CEO John Ray, has reached out to more than 75 bidders to evaluate the potential relaunch of the FTX exchange business.Bullish aims to leverage FTX’s existing user network, intending to convert as many of them as possible into Bullish customers. However, it’s worth noting that this complex negotiation process may face challenges and uncertainties along the way.Asian connectionsAlthough it’s incorporated and registered in Gibraltar, only 4% of the company’s staff are Gibraltar-based. Meanwhile, the firm has offices in Singapore and Hong Kong with those locations accounting for 49% of the company’s overall workforce, according to LinkedIn data. Back in November the firm confirmed that it wasn’t one of the many crypto businesses with exposure to the FTX collapse.Bullish was founded by Brendan Blumer, with Bloomer currently acting as the exchange’s Chairman. Blumer previously founded Block.one, the developer behind the EOS blockchain. He also successfully founded and later exited Okay.com, Hong Kong’s largest digital property agency.Other Asia-centric players in the crypto sector had expressed interest in buying the FTX business (or parts of the business) earlier in the year. These included Singapore’s BSQ Capital and Gamepay, India’s CoinDCX, Japan’s 5G networks developer Docomo and e-commerce giant Rakuten, and Hong Kong’s OKC Holdings.Tribe Capital interestThe Block article also outlines that US-based Tribe Capital is another significant bidder in the running. Tribe Capital had FTX within its venture portfolio prior to the exchange’s downfall and subsequent bankruptcy at the close of the previous year. It had also appeared on the list of 363 sales parties back in June, and prior to that still, it had expressed its interest in buying the business.To establish a clear timeline for its business restructuring efforts, the estate has set a deadline for new bids, which falls on September 24. The FTX estate is still at an early stage in trying to resuscitate the business. Even if it’s successful in that endeavor, it’s not expected that a new business will emerge until Q2 2024 at the earliest.Separately, a criminal prosecution against FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried is progressing with a trial scheduled to take place in New York in October. Presently Bankman-Fried is incarcerated in a New York City jail while he awaits trial, having been found to have breached his bail conditions on the grounds of witness tampering.