OKX Appoints Nomura Portfolio Co as Custodian

Artifact Labs Raises $3.25MArtifact Labs, a Hong Kong-based start-up company that concerns itself with Web3 and metaverse products from leading brands, has raised $3.25 million in a recent funding round.Photo by Pixabay on PexelsThe NFT-focused company, which was spun out of Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post (SCMP) in 2022, has received funding from Blue Pool Capital and Animoca Ventures, with Blue Pool leading the funding round. Blue Pool Capital is the investment vehicle of Alibaba founders Jack Ma and Joe Tsai.The company was borne out of a decision taken by the SCMP in 2021 to launch an NFT standard called artifact, which was geared toward recording historical data. Its starting point in that endeavor was the sale of NFTs of its very own historical front pages. That included iconic historical snapshots such as the return of Hong Kong to the Chinese in 1997, the outbreak of avian flu, the onset of the Asian financial crisis and the death of the UK's Princess Diana in 1997.Expansion of operationsArtifact Labs has said that it intends to use the funding to expand company operations. Executing on that, the firm intends to fill multiple developer positions.Phillip Pon, CEO of Artifact Labs commented on the development via a press release:“It’s not about creating new IPs for speculation — for example NFT hype projects — it’s about driving new engagement with historically significant collections by using Web3. We want to carve new space in the younger public’s consciousness for historical brands and artifacts, while supporting these important organizations with new revenue streams to fund their preservation work, we are also solidifying immutable on-chain data preservation through NFTs.”It appears that the firm will release NFT collections on behalf of preservation organizations, while at the same time developing technology to assist institutions in preserving their archives on the blockchain.NFTs with inherent valueLast year, Artifact Labs Founder and former CEO of the SCMP, Gary Liu, said in an interview that NFTs need to contain a certain inherent value beyond just being endorsed by a number of people. Liu stated: “There has to be intrinsic value in the asset itself or the underlying asset that it represents. That’s what is going to drive NFT innovation.”That philosophy is borne out by one of Artifact’s recent collaborations. In February, the firm partnered with RMS Titanic, Inc, a company that’s dedicated to preserving the legacy of the infamous sunken ship. Central to the partnership was an intention to mint NFTs based upon over 5,500 artifacts that have been recovered from the sunken wreckage.In January Artifact Labs partnered with Dubai-based data intelligence and marketing technology firm, MEmob+. The objective of the firms in teaming up is to have the complete range of expertise necessary between them in order to offer brands and companies a strategic advisory service when it comes to delving into the metaverse. Artifact’s art platform Materia, will be harnessed by MEmob+ to assist brands who want to develop art projects in the metaverse.

OKX Ventures, the investment wing of the Seychelles-based cryptocurrency exchange OKX, has disclosed a strategic A-round investment in Polyhedra Network. Details of the investment have been outlined through a press release published via PRNewswire on Tuesday. Specializing in the creation of Web3 infrastructure, Polyhedra Network places a premium on interoperability, scalability and privacy, leveraging advanced zero-knowledge (ZK) proof technology.Photo by Precondo CA on UnsplashInteroperability with privacyA ZK proof provides the ability for one party to cryptographically prove to another party that it possesses a certain piece of information without having to reveal the actual underlying information to the other party. Central to Polyhedra Network's product offering is its zkBridge protocol, a system facilitating trustless and efficient cross-chain infrastructure for both layer-1 and layer-2 interoperability. The protocol empowers the receiving chain to verify specific state transitions on the sending chain. This approach ensures robust security without external assumptions, effectively reducing the costs associated with on-chain verification. Polyhedra Network made an initial impact in 2023 with the launch of the "zkBridge Mainnet Alpha." That product enabled interoperability over 20 layer-1 and layer-2 blockchains, including well-known networks such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB Chain and Arbitrum. Distributed proof systemThe innovative strides of Polyhedra Network, which was founded in the United States by James Zhang, Tiancheng Xie and Nikhil Shah, continued in 2023 with the introduction of deVirgo, a novel distributed proof system expediting proof generation. The deVirgo protocol also incorporates recursive proofs which trim on-chain proof verification costs associated with zkBridge. Last month, Polyhedra Network unveiled its Bitcoin messaging protocol with zkBridge, ushering trustless interoperability into the Bitcoin ecosystem through the use of ZK-proof technology. Asian backingBy championing entrepreneurs contributing to the blockchain industry's advancement, OKX Ventures is helping to build innovative companies, bringing global resources and historical experience to the forefront of blockchain projects. It is one of many Asia-centric venture firms to do so. Polyhedra has secured backing from Hong Kong’s Animoca Brands and HashKey Group, Singapore’s UOB Venture Management, NGC Ventures, Signum Capital and Foresight Ventures, alongside KuCoin Ventures. In an initial funding round in February 2023, the UC Berkeley team attracted $10 million in funding. By April, a pre-Series A round had raised a further $15 million. Dora Yue, the founder of OKX Ventures, expressed their honor in participating in the investment in Polyhedra Network's interoperability infrastructure. Yue lauded the creativity demonstrated by Polyhedra Network's team in developing advanced ZK-proof mechanisms, emphasizing the balance achieved between ZK interoperability and scalability. OKX Ventures, with an initial capital commitment of $100 million, is committed to supporting Polyhedra Network's vision of seamlessly connecting the Web2 and Web3 worlds, aiming to attract a more extensive user base to the industry. As the investment arm of the global crypto exchange platform, it dedicates itself to exploring top-tier blockchain projects on a global scale. Its focus is on fostering cutting-edge blockchain technology innovation, aspiring to support the healthy development of the global blockchain space and investing in long-term structural value.

Cheongju City Targets Cryptocurrency to Recoup Unpaid TaxesSouth Korea’s Cheongju City, located 112km south of Seoul, has announced today that it will tackle local tax delinquents, focusing on the confiscation of their virtual assets.Photo by Karolina Grabowska on PexelsTax debtors owing over KRW 1 millionTo address this challenge, Cheongju City has requested records of cryptocurrency holdings for 8,520 individuals, each owing over KRW 1 million ($747) in local taxes, from seven cryptocurrency exchanges, including Upbit and Bithumb. The city’s plan is to seize and then liquidate these cryptocurrencies to recover the pending tax amounts.This move is facilitated by the amended Act on Reporting and Use of Specified Financial Transaction Information. Under this act, virtual asset service providers (VASPs) must uphold obligations such as confirming the identity of their customers and notifying authorities of dubious transactions. Moreover, the city is keenly monitoring the transfer of virtual assets, focusing particularly on those owned by individuals with unresolved tax dues.Legal groundsIn 2018, the South Korean Supreme Court ruled that virtual assets are recognized as intangible yet legitimate assets, which can be subject to confiscation. It is this ruling that empowers Cheongju City to act against tax arrears by seizing cryptocurrencies.Last year, Cheongju City scrutinized the crypto records of 16,000 individuals and successfully recouped KRW 68 million in taxes from 17 defaulting taxpayers. Cryptocurrencies of those still evading their tax responsibilities remain under confiscation.A city official said that Cheongju will take firm and swift action to collect delinquent payments from those who conceal assets or are repeat offenders.