Sei Labs Raises $50M to Fuel Asian Expansion

Mirae Asset Securities, South Korea’s largest asset management firm, has begun suspending trading for bitcoin ETFs, according to industry sources on Friday. This comes after an announcement made by the Financial Services Commission (FSC) stating that brokering spot bitcoin ETFs may be considered a violation of the government’s stance on virtual assets and the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act.Photo by Dmytro Demidko on UnsplashTaking preemptive measuresThe asset manager has blocked new purchases of spot bitcoin ETFs listed in Canada and Germany starting yesterday and is considering suspending trading of bitcoin futures ETFs that have been listed in overseas markets since 2021. This includes the Proshares Bitcoin Strategy ETF, Valkyrie Bitcoin Strategy ETF, Invesco Galaxy Bitcoin Strategy ETF and VanEck Bitcoin Strategy ETF. As Korean financial authorities are putting the brakes on domestic investments in the recently approved spot bitcoin ETF by the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), it is believed that Mirae Asset Securities is putting a preemptive halt to trading in other bitcoin ETFs. Spot vs futuresSpot bitcoin ETFs differ from futures ETFs in that they track the price of Bitcoin by actually holding the cryptocurrency, while the latter tracks its price through futures contracts. South Korean securities firms have been brokering futures ETFs listed in overseas market for a while now.

Exploring the motivations behind Crescendo’s multi-million dollar investment in LINE NEXTIn a move that has made headlines as the largest investment made in the Asian blockchain and Web3 industry this year, Seoul-based private equity firm Crescendo Equity Partners has decided to invest $140 million in LINE NEXT, the NFT business arm of Tokyo-based Internet giant LINE Corporation. According to South Korean news outlet DealSite, this can be seen as a strategic decision to leverage LINE’s global network, which dominates the Japanese market. Considering Crescendo’s track record of successful investments in various IT companies, the industry is keen to see whether the firm can replicate this success in the rapidly growing blockchain sector.Photo by Pepi Stojanovski on UnsplashConsortium takes controlAccording to the South Korean Financial Supervisory Service’s (FSS) Data Analysis, Retrieval and Transfer (DART) System on Thursday (local time), Crescendo’s special purpose company (SPC) established to manage the LINE NEXT investment dubbed Ludwig Holdings will act as a third party in the investment by providing KRW 130 billion in paid-in capital. Other financial investors will also contribute KRW 52 billion through a consortium formed with Crescendo, bringing the total investment amount to KRW 182 billion, or approximately $140 million.As a result of this capital increase, 795,401 new shares will be issued. Crescendo’s consortium will thus secure a 50% stake plus one more share, making it the largest shareholder group. However, among individual shareholders, LY Corporation will maintain its position as the single largest shareholder. The existing number of shares was 795,400. Crescendo plans to utilize its third fund, which raised KRW 1.1 trillion in 2021, to provide the funds by next February.Smooth transitionAlthough the consortium has become the largest shareholder group, there is no indication of an immediate change in LINE NEXT’s current management board. This decision is likely because blockchain development companies should be run by executives who are familiar with the unique ins and outs of the blockchain industry. The firm’s current CEO, Ko Young-su, is an IT expert who had been responsible for financial technology (fintech) operations at LINE Corp.Web3 expansionThrough the investment, LINE NEXT plans to popularize Web3 by expanding its global platform and developing new services. This includes DOSI, a global mobile NFT marketplace app for trading digital products, which will be integrated with LINE’s Japanese NFT marketplace LINE NFT. DOSI’s launch is scheduled for January next year.Navigating uncharted territoryMany believe that LINE NEXT’s ambitions for dominating the blockchain sector aligning with Crescendo’s tradition of investing in promising IT companies is sufficient justification for the major funding decision. However, some observers find the development surprising, considering the fact that it is rare for private equity firms in Korea to make such large investments in blockchain firms — an industry that has mostly been an unpopular choice for investors, likely due to its close association with crypto assets. Indeed, Crescendo’s interest in the company may have been partly driven by the fact that it is more focused on blockchain technology itself rather than crypto.“Crescendo seems to have focused on LINE’s global network, which pushed it to invest in its subsidiary. Considering the popularity of NFTs and other related projects last year, expanding this area of business seems plausible,” said an anonymous source from the investment banking industry. “Peter Thiel [the billionaire entrepreneur and venture capitalist who sponsored Crescendo] is known to have a keen interest in blockchain technology and is actively making investments in the sector, which probably made the decision-making process much smoother.”This development signifies yet another shift in the evolving business landscape, where parts of the industry that have not been traditionally associated with blockchain are increasingly recognizing the potential of its role in the future of industry and technology.

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."