Hong Kong Crypto Licensing Yet to Result in Job Surge

CJ ONE to Sell 3,000 NFTs for New Membership ServiceCJ ONE, a lifestyle membership service operated by digital service company CJ OliveNetworks of South Korean conglomerate CJ Group, announced on Tuesday that it will sell 3,000 digital membership NFTs for its new lifestyle service, PRISM ONE. This comes as part of efforts to enhance brand value and boost customer benefits.Photo by Choong Deng Xiang on Unsplash“The PRISM ONE Membership NFT is an important milestone that reflects changes within CJ ONE. As a lifestyle membership, our brand will strive to provide unique experiences in all aspects of our members’ lives,” said Ha Jae-young, Head of Data Marketing at CJ OliveNetworks.Tier benefitsThe NFTs are categorized into four tiers — Basic, Special, Premium, and Prestige — with higher tiers offering more benefits. Depending on the tier, which will be decided randomly, customers can receive up to 10,000 CJ ONE membership points per month and eight times the number of points that they accumulated the previous month over a period of half a year.CJ ONE points can be used like cash at various CJ Group subsidiaries that offer services in culture, dining, shopping, and entertainment, as well as over 30 brand partners such as cafe Mega MGC Coffee, convenience store CU, and refinery company Hyundai Oilbank.10 customers with the Prestige NFT will also be chosen to receive benefits worth KRW 1 million, including welcome packages from CJ The Market, CJ Group’s online grocery shopping mall, and accommodation vouchers to use at Starville, a luxury “glamping” — a portmanteau of “glam” and “camping” — site.Limited sales and resell opportunitiesMinted with a new brand identity design, the NFTs will be sold for KRW 45,000 each on the NFT trading platform Pala starting from 7 PM (Korea Standard Time) on September 13. Customers who participate in an event until September 3 can win a chance to purchase them at a discounted price of KRW 42,000 prior to the public sale. Payments can be made with Polygon tokens (MATIC) or Korean won, and digital wallets Klip and MetaMask are also supported, the company said. In particular, the NFTs can be resold on trading platforms like Pala.

The trustee of the failed Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox is preparing to initiate repayments of bitcoin (BTC) and bitcoin cash (BCH), prompting fears of a market sell-off among traders and investors.Photo by Dmytro Demidko on UnsplashConfirming repayment detailsThe crypto community on the /mtgoxsolvency subreddit disclosed that the Tokyo-based bitcoin exchange has initiated the process of verifying creditors' addresses for forthcoming repayments. Emails have been sent to creditors, confirming that their repayment details have been validated with relevant cryptocurrency exchanges. The communication from Mt. Gox appears to be staggered, with users on different platforms receiving emails at varying times. Some Bitstamp users reported receipt of the email, while several Kraken customers mentioned that they were still awaiting the confirmation. Mt. Gox, cautioning creditors, clarified that users with disabled or frozen accounts would not be able to receive repayments using the provided addresses. Additionally, the emails specifically pertain to payments in bitcoin and bitcoin cash. This recent communication follows Mt. Gox's announcement in November, where it committed to returning approximately 142,000 bitcoin, 143,000 bitcoin cash and 69 billion Japanese yen, valued at over $5.67 billion at the announcement date and approximately $6.46 billion at the present moment. During the November announcement, Mt. Gox assured creditors that repayments would commence in the following months and weeks. Creditors with payment methods deemed "effective at this time" were earmarked to receive their assets first. Towards the end of December, some creditors reported the addition of yen-denominated balances to their PayPal accounts by Mt. Gox, signaling progress in the repayment process. Market fearsThe fear among market participants of a distribution of bitcoin from the Mt. Gox estate has cast a shadow over the sector over the course of a number of years. With this latest development, it appears that the estate is finally on the cusp of executing on that distribution. If distribution is achieved in the short term, it will come at a time when bitcoin has experienced a major unit price pullback already. Since the approval of spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States earlier this month, it appears that another bankrupt crypto exchange, FTX, has sold $1 billion worth of Grayscale Bitcoin ETF shares into the market. That move is believed to have been responsible for a dramatic drop in bitcoin’s unit price. In tandem with that event, some commentators believe that a pullback at this point is healthy for the market. That’s the view of Charles Edwards, founder of Capriole Investments. Taking to social media, Edwards wrote:”We're still not here yet. This pullback is very overdue and lower is healthier.” At the time of writing, bitcoin has a unit price of $39,884, down from a high earlier this month of $48,494. Confirmation emails have been reported by several Reddit users, with Bitstamp confirming for most, and a few Kraken users also acknowledging receipt. Nevertheless, a significant number of Kraken users mentioned they are yet to receive the confirmation email. Mt. Gox officially closed its doors in February 2014, almost a decade ago, after succumbing to an exploit in 2011.  

Sejong Telecom to showcase real estate STO platform at 2023 Blockchain Grand WeekSejong Telecom announced that it is participating in the upcoming 2023 Blockchain Grand Week from Wednesday to Thursday in Seoul to showcase BBRIC — its blockchain-based security token offering (STO) service that tokenizes real estate profit rights — while securing business partners in the process.Photo by Precondo CA on UnsplashLeveraging blockchain technology in real estateBBRIC is built and operated on distributed ledger technology, which protects investors by digitizing their real estate profit rights and recording them on the ledger. This customizable solution enables enterprises to operate and manage the life cycle of an STO, including token issuance, investment product sales, investor deposits and transactions.Corporate clients can seamlessly integrate BBRIC into their respective services or platforms to issue and trade security tokens, calculate dividends, conduct settlements and organize shareholder meetings. They can also securely manage tokens and digital wallets based on smart contracts.“Our technology-intensive STO solution will be a great help to companies that are preparing STO-related projects,” said Park Hyo-jin, head of Sejong Telecom’s marketing strategy division.Bringing BBRIC to the massesThe 2023 Blockchain Grand Week — hosted by the Ministry of Science and ICT and jointly organized by the National IT Industry Promotion Agency (NIPA), the Korea Internet and Security Agency (KISA) and the Institute of Information and Communications Technology Planning and Evaluation (IITP) — aims to promote the value of blockchain technology in enhancing trust in the digital age.Additionally, Sejong Telecom plans to introduce BBRIC at SoftWave, the largest software exhibition in Korea, set to take place at the end of this month. This follows the company’s presentation at the Busan Blockchain City Conference, which showcased the feats of technological innovation in regulation-free zones. Sejong also seeks to expand its network and accelerate the commercialization of its service.The company will also share updates on its submission for a proof of concept (PoC) project to the NIPA. This project involves building a blockchain-based platform for issuing and distributing security tokens and integrating systems for the utilization of mineral resources.Sejong Telecom also recently partnered with enterprises like Hyosung TNS and KOREIT to promote BBRIC and expand the products and services available on the platform.