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

Cultural content company Com2uS Holdings announced Monday that XPLA, its layer 1 blockchain, is now supported by on-chain content (OCC) aggregator Gall3ry. Photo by GuerrillaBuzz on Unsplash"We are pleased with the recognition of our technology and ideas, and with our collaboration with global mainnet XPLA," said Joseph Lee, CEO of Gall3ry. "We plan to provide various experiences based on our decade of expertise in the IP industry." Empowering multifaceted ownershipGall3ry offers an OCC tokenizer solution that converts off-chain data into on-chain tokens – mainly NFTs – boosting user engagement and revenue while building Web3 communities. It ultimately gives NFT holders a sense of true ownership because they can personalize their social identities and build connections with other users through their assets. In particular, they can display their NFT artwork on the Gall3ry platform to share with the community, which can lead to increased communication and engagement on social media platforms, thus lowering the barriers to entry for NFTs. Elevating gaming experiencesBy supporting the XPLA blockchain, users on XPLA can now experience an innovative and improved Play-to-Own (P2O) aspect of their favorite games. Now that Gall3ry’s solution is linked to XPLA, NFT holders will be able to experience more active and vibrant connections with each other, moving away from the now outdated concept of one-dimensional ownership on XPLA. "This partnership is a significant collaboration for XPLA and our NFT marketplace X-PLANET," said Paul Kim, Team Leader at XPLA. "It will provide new and diverse ways for holders to utilize their NFTs."

Amid the heightened excitement about the potential incorporation of virtual assets into the traditional financial system, the Korea Exchange (KRX), the country’s only securities exchange operator, plans to run a pilot test on central bank digital currency (CBDC) transactions using distributed ledger technology (DLT). The pilot test is scheduled in the second half of this year, as part of KRX’s effort to respond to rapidly evolving financial technologies, Yonhap Infomax reported.  The KRX is targeting the carbon trading market for this pilot test, aiming to develop a DLT-driven carbon trading system. The objective of this initiative is to check the feasibility of applying the Delivery versus Payment (DVP) to carbon credit trading facilitated by dedicated tokens. The project will be undertaken in cooperation with the Bank of Korea (BOK), with whom the KRX signed a memorandum of understanding last year to forge digital financial infrastructure. Additionally, the exchange is planning to create a cloud-based settlement and payment system for brokerage and non-brokerage firms.Photo by Marcin Jozwiak on UnsplashLG CNS, an integrated security system provider, and Koscom, a financial IT company, will supervise the CBDC pilot program. They are tasked with conducting a comprehensive assessment of the entire process, from developing the decentralized ledger payment system to assuring its quality.  Broad application of DLTA DLT system records all transactions on a peer-to-peer network and verifies them through every participant. This eliminates the need for a central authority, thereby increasing its reliability and transparency. Currently, the DLT is of particular interest to many financial institutions worldwide, including the SIX Swiss Exchange. These financial institutions are actively experimenting with CBDC to improve the security and efficiency of their DVP settlements.  In particular, the carbon credit market is experiencing a significant integration with the DLT. A KRX official said that the exchange plans to test the maturity of DLT systems and the interoperability between the BOK’s network and those of other organizations. This will evaluate DLT’s effectiveness within the carbon credit market. The person added that this pilot test aims to establish technological standards regarding the CBDC payment and blockchain network registration, which will provide a critical reference for future technical experiments in the industry. 

Lack of Funds Sees Multichain Cease OperationsThe development team behind Multichain, a cross-chain protocol, has recently announced its decision to cease operations due to a lack of operational funds.This announcement follows a report by blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, which suggested that insiders may have orchestrated a “rug pull” by withdrawing funds. The Multichain team took to Twitter on Friday to inform their community about the suspension of their business activities, citing a lack of alternative sources of information and operational funds as the primary reasons for their decision.One crucial factor contributing to the shutdown is the absence of communication with the CEO, Zhaojun, who had been missing and is now understood to be in the custody of Chinese authorities. The team explained that they had reached out to Zhaojun’s family and discovered that the police had seized his computers, phones, wallets, and mnemonic phrases.Photo by Christian Lue on UnsplashOperational controlThroughout the project’s lifespan, Zhaojun had maintained control over operational and investor funds. Consequently, the team, along with all their funds and access to servers, found themselves at Zhaojun’s mercy, as he now remains under police custody.Attempting to salvage the situation, Zhaojun’s sister initiated an asset preservation act and transferred some funds to addresses under her control. However, the team soon received news that Zhaojun’s sister, too, had been detained by the police and was now unreachable. Faced with these unfortunate circumstances, the team reluctantly announced the cessation of their operations.DeFi centralization risksThe debacle has raised concerns about the lack of decentralization demonstrated by the level of control Zhaojun had over the project. It prompted comment from Chris Blec, a DeFi Researcher & Analyst who has been highly critical of a whole host of DeFi projects on the basis that while many DeFi projects claim to be decentralized, they’re critically flawed and are centralized to a point that puts them at critical risk.Taking to Twitter, Blec stated: “Dude gets thrown in jail, admin keys to Multichain are on his computers, sister eventually uses his computer to steal money, now she’s in jail too. THIS IS WHY WE DECENTRALIZE.”The Multichain debacle traces back to May when the suspension of Multichain routes for an upgrade caused delays in fund transfers. The uncertainties surrounding the protocol prompted crypto exchange Binance to halt deposit and withdrawal support for certain Multichain bridged tokens.Adding to the platform’s woes, significant outflows from the Multichain MPC bridge platform raised concerns of an exploit. Observers analyzing the blockchain data reached a consensus on July 6 that the protocol had been hacked, as over $100 million worth of assets were withdrawn from the Fantom bridge on the Ethereum side.As Multichain now faces the unfortunate reality of halting its operations, it serves as a stark reminder of the challenges and risks inherent in the blockchain industry. The lack of operational funds, combined with the absence of communication with key figures and critical points of centralized failure have proven insurmountable for this cross-chain protocol.