Growing Concerns about Single Crypto Exchange Listings in Korea

Korean Blockchain Fund Supports Web3 Game Developer Growth in Southeast AsiaHashed, a Seoul-based blockchain venture fund, has spearheaded a seven-figure investment round for Decentralised Gaming Ventures (DGV), a Web3 game development support entity primarily serving Southeast Asia (SEA), according to a press release. This funding will help DGV in its mission to foster the growth of promising game developers in the region.Photo by Timo Volz on PexelsSEA as a Web3 Game HubDGV has set its sights on making SEA a hub to nurture game developers and bolster the Web3 game sector. The company has already established a studio in Singapore, where 32 talented game developers work in eight different teams, providing them with the necessary resources to design and introduce new gaming titles. Over the past year, DGV has supported the release of 15 games.Studio in SingaporeDGV further plans to help game developers in the region through alliances with renowned entertainment intellectual property (IP) owners. In the past, the company has teamed up with Singapore-based designer toys and art collectibles studio Mighty Jaxx, and recently appointed gaming veteran Derrick Sim as its Chief Operating Officer. Sim has expertise in collaborating with major entertainment IPs, including Marvel, StarCraft II, and FIFA Online 2.DGV CEO Samson Oh articulated the firm’s aspiration to forge an environment that empowers developers in SEA to create blockchain-powered Web3 games, anticipated to be the gaming industry’s future. With the support from Hashed, DGV looks to reinforce the region’s reputation as a fertile ground for innovative game developers.Hashed’s Co-Founder Ryan Kim commended DGV’s effective leadership, SEA governmental backing, and firm groundwork for expansion in the Web3 gaming industry. The investment in the firm signals the Korean fund’s belief in DGV’s seasoned team and its mission to leverage IP accessibility to advance its digital ownership initiative in the gaming realm.

British multinational banking conglomerate Standard Chartered has partnered with global crypto exchange OKX in Dubai on a collateral mirroring pilot program.Photo by appshunter.io on UnsplashOff-chain collateralIn a press release published on April 10, the companies set out details of the collaboration. The initiative will facilitate institutional clients to utilize digital assets and tokenized money market funds for trading as off-chain collateral. Trading activity requires the ongoing movement of funds and assets between custodians and exchange platforms. The activity is expensive and slow. Back in 2023, OKX had collaborated with crypto custodian Komainu and asset manager CoinShares to enable collateral mirroring to overcome this operational inefficiency. In that instance, CoinShares was enabled to trade on OKX using a collateral mirroring facility provided by OKX with Komainu acting as asset custodian. This latest initiative has also seen OKX work with alternative investment management firm Brevan Howard, global investment management company Franklin Templeton and local regulator in Dubai, the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA).  Developed within regulatory frameworkThe collateral mirroring facility has been established on a pilot program basis to start with, having been developed within the regulatory framework established in Dubai by VARA. Standard Chartered will act as the digital asset custodian as part of the arrangement.  The press release points out that Standard Chartered is a Globally Systemically Important Bank (G-SIB), asserting that this will afford clients a higher level of security. By not having to manually move the digital assets, there is an additional security-related process improvement, given the ongoing risks associated with digital assets held on exchanges due to incidents of hacking. Hong Fang, OKX president, provided some insight into why the company has partnered with Standard Chartered, stating:”By leveraging Standard Chartered's position as a top custodian globally, as well as OKX's market leadership in cryptocurrency trading, the partnership sets an industry standard for current and potential institutional clients to deploy trading capital at scale in a trusted environment." OKX CEO Star Xu outlined on X that the service offering is geared towards tokenized money market funds with the aim of improving capital efficiency and counterparty risk protection. Standard Chartered launched its crypto custody services in Dubai last September. The service was established in partnership with Brevan Howard Digital, having been licensed by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), the independent regulator for financial service providers located within the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), an economic free zone. In October 2024, OKX selected Standard Chartered as its digital asset custodian for the crypto exchange platform’s institutional clients. First clientsBrevan Howard Digital and Franklin Templeton will participate as the first clients to trial the new service offering. Furthermore, as part of the collaboration, OKX platform users will gain access to tokenized on-chain assets developed and offered by Franklin Templeton. Franklin Templeton’s head of digital assets, Roger Bayston, commented on the firm’s on-chain product offering, stating: “By ensuring assets are minted on-chain, we enable true ownership, allowing them to move and settle at blockchain speed – eliminating the need for traditional infrastructure.”

LG CNS Chooses Six Startups to Foster Innovation in Digital TransformationLG CNS, the information technology (IT) arm of South Korean conglomerate LG Group, said Tuesday that it has chosen six startups to nurture under its sixth annual Startup Monster program — a program dedicated to supporting technology startups that are capable of pioneering consumer values in the realm of digital transformation (DX). By directly contributing to their growth as startups, LG CNS also aims to secure them as future business partners.Photo by Milad Fakurian on UnsplashAmong those startups is Zkrypto, a company specializing in zero-knowledge proof technology — a method of providing the validity of a statement without revealing the statement itself. Zkrypto will work with LG CNS on security solutions and privacy protection services necessary for operating digital finance services such as digital wallets and security tokens. The two companies already established their relationship earlier last month when they signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to jointly develop blockchain-powered business models.Investing in startup growthUnder the program, the companies will undergo a six-month technology assessment as well as receive KRW 100 million (approximately $75,000) in funding to demonstrate the feasibility of technology integration into their businesses. LG CNS said that it would carry out the assessment by leveraging its extensive business references and technical resources along with assistance from other IT experts.“Through the Startup Monster program, we will continue to discover and nurture promising startups with innovative technologies and create an ecosystem where we can grow together,” said Jeon Eun-kyung, Executive Director of LG CNS’ Convergence Technology Research Institute.Participants from diverse industriesThis year’s recruitment attracted over 240 applicants, resulting in a highly competitive selection ratio of 40:1. Other selected startups besides Zkrypto include GradeHealthChain, Quantum Universe, Delivery Lab, mAy-I, and Circle Platform, which specialize in emerging DX technologies, such as big data analysis, artificial intelligence (AI) modeling, and extended reality (XR).GradeHealthChain is known for its health management app LOG, which analyzes health checkup results and medical information to allocate an overall health score. Users can provide these scores and other medical information to insurance companies partnered with GradeHealthChain to receive premium discounts on insurance. In turn, the insurance companies can use this data to accurately assess the customer’s health status and recommend optimal insurance products. LG CNS plans to work with GradeHealthChain to create services for insurance product recommendations.On the other hand, Quantum Universe specializes in the planning, production, and distribution of XR content. With LG CNS, the company will jointly develop digital twin technology that replicates physical objects in a digital environment for applications in smart factories and manufacturing. They are also pursuing marketing projects using metaverse technology.mAy-I and Circle Platform were chosen for the program for their impressive technical capabilities in data collection and AI modeling. Meanwhile, Delivery Lab operates a food distribution platform in the smart logistics field.LG CNS has been actively nurturing startups and working with them through the Startup Monster program since 2018. Up until last year, a total of 22 startups participated in the program.SelectStar, one of last year’s participants, is currently collaborating with LG CNS as a data construction partner for AI businesses. The two companies have notably created KorQuAD 2.0, a Korean language machine reading comprehension dataset.In addition, Lovo, an AI text-to-speech solutions startup from the third Startup Monster program, worked with LG CNS on developing an AI contact center. According to industry sources, Lovo’s corporate value has increased more than 20 times from the time it participated in the program, reaching KRW 100 billion.