Nassau and Treasure Labs Go Metaverse to Step into the Future of Style

South Korean authorities will require homebuyers to disclose funds originating from cryptocurrency sales, a move aimed at increasing transparency in the nation's tight real estate market. The new rule is part of a wider government effort to address housing affordability, which is particularly pronounced in Seoul, and to integrate digital assets into its regulatory framework. The change, announced on Sept. 7 as part of new housing supply measures, will alter the mandatory funding plan submitted during property transactions. Proceeds from digital assets will be listed as a distinct category, similar to funds from stocks or bonds. Officials are also expanding loan disclosure requirements to include business loans and overseas borrowing, closing potential financing loopholes.Photo by Traxer on UnsplashImpact of asset volatility on property valuesThe policy follows growing evidence that volatility in assets like cryptocurrency can spill over into the property market. A 2024 study cited by Maeil Business Newspaper highlighted that both the COVID-era stock rally and Bitcoin's 2023 price surge had a discernible impact on housing values. According to Yu Jung-suk, a professor at Dankook University, apartments in Seoul's affluent Gangnam district are particularly sensitive to fluctuations in Bitcoin and the KOSDAQ index. He noted that high-profile property acquisitions by young crypto investors, even if few in number, can significantly sway market sentiment. Professor Yu suggested that regulators may need more comprehensive tools to manage the risks connecting different asset classes. The government's new measures also seek to cool the capital's housing market, where prices have continued to rise despite a slowdown in growth. In contrast, prices in areas outside Seoul have been declining since 2022. To address the supply-demand imbalance, officials plan to begin construction of 1.35 million new homes in the Seoul metropolitan area between 2026 and 2030. Stablecoin regulation and CBDC trials advanceBeyond real estate, officials are developing a formal regulatory structure for stablecoins. The Presidential Commission on Policy Planning is reportedly considering a model where a consortium of banks and fintech firms would be granted rights to issue a won-pegged stablecoin. Supervision for this new system would fall to a proposed Financial Stability Council, a body intended to serve as a central coordinator for financial policy, comprising the finance ministry, the Bank of Korea, and other regulators. The initiative aims to combine the stability of the traditional banking sector with the innovation of non-bank financial companies. The evolving regulatory environment is attracting attention from global industry leaders. Executives from Tether, the issuer of the USDT stablecoin, met with Shinhan Financial Group CEO Jin Ok-dong in Seoul on Sept. 8. While Tether representatives stated they were monitoring the regulatory climate, they confirmed no specific business plans were discussed. Separately, the Bank of Korea is moving forward with digital currency experiments. In partnership with government agencies and six major commercial banks, the central bank will launch a pilot program to test the use of a digital currency for distributing state subsidies and vouchers. 

BitKeep Changes Name to Bitget Wallet Following AcquisitionContinuing the trend set by industry giants like Binance, KuCoin, and OKX, cross-chain wallet provider BitKeep has undergone a transformation, rebranding itself as Bitget Wallet. This strategic shift comes on the heels of the wallet’s acquisition by the prominent Seychelles-headquartered crypto exchange, which acquired a controlling stake for $30 million in March.Photo by Jon Tyson on UnsplashBitget Swap unveiledThe rebranding announcement, made on August 10, coincides with the unveiling of Bitget Swap, a novel cross-chain swap mechanism integrated into the wallet. This innovative feature draws liquidity from a network of approximately 100 decentralized exchanges spanning across 20 chains. The move positions Bitget Wallet as a versatile platform catering to traders seeking fluidity and efficiency across diverse cryptocurrencies.Bitget Wallet users are set to benefit from an enticing proposition as the exchange merges its offerings. A collective Bitget User Protection Fund, boasting a substantial $360 million pool, has been established.The fund is anchored by 6,500 Bitcoin, ensuring robust safeguards against security incidents. This initiative finds its origins in the wake of the FTX exchange collapse last November, with the fund’s value boosted by a subsequent $60 million capital appreciation due to the rally in Bitcoin prices.The synergy between the two businesses has already borne fruit for Bitget. Last month, it clarified that it had surpassed 20 million users, with the wallet integration believed to be responsible for a large part of that user growth.Growing painsBitKeep’s past wasn’t without its challenges. A security breach occurred in December when the wallet’s Android Package Kit (APK) was compromised by malware, causing losses of around $8 million among users who had installed the compromised package. In a commendable move, the company fully compensated the affected users on March 29, signaling its commitment to rectifying such setbacks.Moka Han, Chief Operating Officer of Bitget Wallet, underscored the wallet’s security-focused approach. Han revealed that cross-chain bridges are subject to stringent third-party security audits by notable entities like SlowMist and CertiK before deployment. Rigorous post-deployment monitoring further guarantees a resilient security environment.Payment channel integrationIn its recent evolution, Bitget Wallet has integrated five stable payment channels, including Banxa, Simplex, Alchemy Pay, MoonPay, and FaTPay. These integrations empower users to conveniently purchase cryptocurrencies within the wallet using methods such as credit cards, Google Pay, and Apple Pay. Additionally, the wallet has introduced a peer-to-peer marketplace, characterized by comprehensive security measures that protect both buyers and sellers.Bitget Wallet’s appeal extends far and wide across the Asia Pacific (APAC) region, boasting an impressive user base exceeding 10 million individuals. This figure constitutes nearly half of MetaMask’s user count, signifying the wallet’s considerable popularity.The company didn’t allow the rebrand milestone to pass without taking the opportunity to further promote its offering. On Thursday, it commenced a “Mystery Box Airdrop” event, offering new Bitget Wallet users the opportunity to claim individual rewards of up to 1,000 USDT.Biget’s wallet integration is in line with the changing landscape of crypto exchanges generally, with other prominent players such as OKX, KuCoin, and Binance having also ventured into the realm of self-custody wallets, enhancing their service offerings beyond traditional exchange operations.

Superscrypt Backs Airstack’s Web3 Developer PlatformSingapore-based Superscrypt, an early stage blockchain investment company founded by state-owned global investment conglomerate Temasek, has led an investment round into Web3 developer platform, Airstack.Photo by Giorgio Trovato on UnsplashIndian influenceAirstack closed out the second tranche of its pre-seed funding round, having raised the largest portion of the $7 million raise via Superscrypt. Although based in Miami Beach, Florida, Airstack has a strong Indian influence. Three of its five founders, Deepesh Kumar, Vysakh Nair and Sarvesh Jain originate from the world’s most populous country.The firm’s main offering is to enable developers to be able to easily query on and off-chain data and integrate that same data into the Web3 apps that they are building. Airstack enables this functionality by featuring GraphQL, a query language for APIs and a runtime for fulfilling those queries with the user’s existing data, as a core component of its platform.Achieving greater functionality still, the start-up enhances that use of GraphQL by incorporating the use of artificial intelligence (AI). The company’s Miami Beach-based CEO and Co-Founder, Jason Goldberg, elaborated on the technology it is using in an interview with CoinDesk: “We did extensive interviews with developers over the past year, gaining insights into their previous tool usage and the challenges they faced. Airstack was built to directly address those pain points.”Recent platform launchThe product offering was launched last month and has already lured in over two hundred developers to use the platform. Those developers are harnessing the functionality of Airstack’s platform to assist them in their efforts to bring a broad range of dApps to market.Developer projects are grounded in areas such as marketing engines, decentralized finance (DeFi) portfolio optimizers, customer resource management tools, advertising platforms, and decentralized social media apps, together with messaging applications.With just a straightforward query and response approach, developers can use Airstack platform functionality to query, combine, and integrate on-chain or off-chain, cross-chain, and cross-application data. The offering applies to queries relative to the Ethereum and Polygon blockchain networks. The project intends to support additional blockchain networks going forward, while also intending to increase the level of query complexity made available to platform users.Joining Superscrypt on the Airstack cap table are Hashed Emergent, NGC, Primal Capital, UOB Ventures, Signum Capital, and others. Goldberg articulated the firm’s strategy going forward: “Our immediate focus is to onboard thousands of developers onto Airstack in the coming months. We aim to identify the areas where we add the most value and where genuine business use cases emerge before finalizing our pricing model.”Social app upgradeAt the same time as this funding announcement, Airstack also revealed a separate development related to its Jam social app. Taking to Twitter on Tuesday, Goldberg provided details on an update to the app which utilizes Airstack functionality in order to create social groups based on NFT ownership and collector status. That functionality can be extended further, so that data can be gathered across projects, creating bespoke user profiles relative to the user’s blockchain activity and presence.At the same time as this funding announcement, Airstack also revealed a separate development related to its Jam social app. Taking to Twitter on Tuesday, Goldberg provided details on an update to the app which utilizes Airstack functionality in order to create social groups based on NFT ownership and collector status. That functionality can be extended further, so that data can be gathered across projects, creating bespoke user profiles relative to the user’s blockchain activity and presence.