Incheon City Surveying Residents for Blockchain-Based Public Services

Intella X Explores Ways to Integrate YGG’s Soulbound Reputation Tokens into Its WalletIntella X, a South Korean Web3 gaming platform, has announced its partnership with Yield Guild Games (YGG), a leading DeFi-powered gaming guild.Photo by Shubham Dhage on UnsplashBoosting Intella X’s global presenceThis collaborative effort is expected to boost Intella X’s presence in the global Web3 sector. YGG, boasting a membership base of over 450,000 worldwide and collaborating with more than 80 gaming companies, recently launched Superquest, a new way to earn in-game rewards. Superquest awards soulbound reputation tokens to gamers based on their level of community engagement and contributions. The two organizations will explore ways to integrate YGG soulbound reputation tokens into Intella X Wallet (IX Wallet), a Web3 wallet designated for the Intella X platform.In an attempt to expand its ecosystem, Intella X has soft-launched the Android and web versions of IX Wallet. Furthermore, the Korean Web3 platform in February joined forces with IndiGG, a sub-decentralized autonomous organization of YGG in India.Neowiz’s Q2 financialsIn the midst of these developments, Neowiz, the parent company of Intella X, last week disclosed its financial performance for the second quarter. The company garnered revenues amounting to KRW 70.1 billion ($52.7 million), signifying a year-on-year decrease of 0.2%. Neowiz incurred an operating loss of KRW 4.9 billion during the same period, venturing into negative territory in Q2. This setback can be attributed to escalated marketing expenditures associated with the launch of the mobile role-playing game “Brown Dust 2” and the third-year anniversary celebration of the MMORPG title “Kingdom.” The latter is the brainchild of game developer FOW Games, a company Neowiz acquired in May.Meanwhile, Neowiz’s Q2 net income recorded an 8% year-over-year increase, totaling KRW 22.4 billion. This one-time gain is due to the sale of certain shares the company owned in another entity as part of the wider FOW Games acquisition strategy.Path to recoveryIn the latter half of this year, Neowiz is gearing up for recovery, channeling its focus into in-house developed titles. A key highlight among these is the imminent launch of “Lies of P” on September 19. As the launch date of this soulslike video game, inspired by the narrative of Pinocchio, draws near, the company is poised to offer game packages for pre-sale commencing September 17. These packages will be accessible both online and in-person through the e-commerce platform SSG.com and the warehouse chain E-Mart Traders. An extensive global marketing campaign is also in the works, with Neowiz set to participate in Germany’s Gamescom 2023 later this month.

The Department of Science and Technology-Advanced Science and Technology Institute (DOST-ASTI) in the Philippines has launched an initiative to educate the Southeast Asian country’s young people in relation to blockchain technology and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The DOST published a blog article on its website on September 23 titled “Opening opportunities for the youth: DOST-ASTI highlights blockchain applications across various sectors.” It highlighted that technologies such as blockchain are “key forces reshaping how public and private institutions operate.” It’s on that basis that the government agency believes that there is a need to familiarize the country’s youth with blockchain technology, digital assets and NFTs. Photo by Choong Deng Xiang on UnsplashTech forum With that objective in mind, DOST-ASTI held a tech forum titled  “ASTIg Tech Talks Season 2: Blockchain for Young Innovators” on September 20 in Pasay City to fulfill that objective of aiding Filipino youngsters in becoming better acquainted with blockchain technology. The event formed part of the second National Youth Science, Technology and Innovation Festival (NYSTIF). In that effort, the agency is placing a focus on the real-world applications associated with blockchain technology, and with that, an emphasis on the fostering of this innovation going forward. DOST-ASTI placed blockchain in the same category as other emerging innovations such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI), pointing out that these are tangible innovations rather than hyped buzzwords. Job opportunities DOST-ASTI Senior Science Research Specialist Roxanne Aviñante spoke at the event, introducing the concept of blockchain to those participating students in attendance. Aviñante outlined that the emerging technology is building momentum and with that, increasingly there are job opportunities opening up within the sector. While acknowledging that blockchain’s first application was cryptocurrency, Aviñante pointed out that other use cases are being found. With that, she referred to “Self-Sovereign Identity Empowerment: Reinventing Rights and Attributes” (SIERRA), a blockchain-based system for managing intellectual property that is being developed by DOST-ASTI. Marc Jerome Tulali, a science research specialist at DOST, discussed the use of blockchain in voting systems and how it addresses deficiencies in traditional voting systems. Tulali claimed that blockchain can enhance traceability and transparency, as it provides a clear flow and record of product movement. Additionally, its characteristics make it ideal in addressing fraud and counterfeiting risks. Tulali recommended participating students to enroll in online educational courses in order to learn more about the field. He also provided details of four sample careers in blockchain, including blockchain developer, blockchain architect, NFT artist and blockchain researcher, as potential job opportunities for the students in the future. The Philippines has featured consistently within the top twenty of nations on Chainalysis’ Global Crypto Adoption Index in recent years. It has long been considered an ideal market for furthering crypto-based payments, given the large Filipino diaspora sending millions of dollars back home from overseas each year. With that remittance market in mind, Australian startup Stables Money recently partnered with Philippines-based digital assets platform Coins.ph to use a Philippine peso-based stablecoin for remittances.

Japanese crypto exchange DMM Bitcoin announced on Friday that over $300 million worth of Bitcoin was stolen from its primary wallet, marking one of the digital asset industry's largest hacks in recent years.Photo by Kanchanara on UnsplashHack confirmed without further detail"At approximately 1:26 p.m. on Friday, May 31, 2024, we detected an unauthorized leak of bitcoin from our wallet," the company stated, based on an English translation of its original statement in Japanese, which had been posted on the firm’s website. DMM Bitcoin is a subsidiary of DMM Group, which incorporates businesses covering a broad spectrum of activities including solar energy, gaming, 3D printers, FX, e-books and software. The company has, as yet, not provided any further detail relative to the manner in which the hack occurred. Notwithstanding that, DMM Bitcoin did confirm that measures have been taken to prevent any repeat of the hack. Furthermore, the company outlined that a full investigation into the hack is ongoing right now. Buy orders and leverage trades suspendedThe company has moved to reassure platform users that their digital assets are fully guaranteed. It stated: "Please rest assured that all of your bitcoin deposits will be fully guaranteed, as we will procure the equivalent amount of BTC that was leaked with support from our group companies."  The exchange has taken the decision to temporarily suspend a number of activities, including spot trading buy orders and the opening of leveraged trading positions. A temporary halt has been imposed on crypto withdrawals while Japanese yen withdrawals are permitted, albeit that the exchange suggests that service users may experience delays. Blockchain security sector responseIn light of the hack, a number of well-known blockchain security firms have been giving the matter their attention. Beosin, a blockchain security specialist, outlined that it is continuing to monitor the wallet addresses implicated in the hack, with a view towards tracing any further movement of the funds. Meanwhile, blockchain analysis firm Arkham Intelligence has offered a 1,000 ARKM token bounty to anyone who may provide information leading to the identification of the perpetrators of the hack. Blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis described the hack as “the 7th largest crypto hack ever.” The company has labeled the stolen funds within its products. Broader industry implications and historical contextThis hack is a significant blow to the industry, given that a hack on this scale has not occurred thus far in 2024 or at any point during 2023. The crypto industry has faced numerous significant breaches in the past. In 2022, a series of large-scale exploits targeted layer-1 blockchains, crypto exchanges and DeFi protocols. The largest hack amongst them implicated the BNB Chain (formerly Binance Smart Chain), which resulted in the loss of $566 million worth of BNB. The latest hack is second only (within Japan) in size relative to the 2018 hack of Coincheck, one of the country’s largest exchanges, when over $550 million worth of XEM was stolen. Japan was also host to the most infamous Bitcoin hack, that of the Mt. Gox exchange, whose bankruptcy administrators moved $9 billion worth of its remaining Bitcoin holdings on the blockchain in recent days for the first time in many years.