Growing Concerns about Single Crypto Exchange Listings in Korea

Haru Invest Announces Withdrawal & Deposit PauseHaru Invest, a crypto yield platform founded in South Korea and headquartered in Singapore, has announced the suspension of deposits and withdrawals on Tuesday, citing concerns over the accuracy of information provided by one of its service partners.Photo by Muhammad Zaqy Al Fattah on UnsplashInternal investigationIn a statement, the company expressed its apologies to investors and customers, assuring them that the suspension was a necessary measure taken to protect their interests. In another blog post, the company stated: “For the purpose of protecting our users’ assets under our custody, we have come to make a tough decision that any deposit and withdrawal requests will be suspended until further notice, starting from June 13, 2023, at 0:40 UTC.”Following an internal inspection process, Haru Invest conducted a thorough investigation into the matter and concluded that immediate action was required. The company stated that it is currently engaged in a fact-finding process against the operator in question and intends to take the necessary measures to address the situation.“Rug pull” denialHaru Invest emphasized that this issue does not involve a “rug pull,” a term commonly associated with scams in the cryptocurrency space. The company assured its stakeholders that it remains committed to protecting its investors and is actively working towards a resolution.Earlier reports suggested that Haru Invest employees were working remotely and that the company’s offices had closed. However, Haru Invest clarified that certain media articles contained inaccurate information regarding these claims. The company expressed regret over the misinformation and emphasized the importance of factual accuracy in reporting.According to Haru Invest’s website, the platform boasts a significant user base of over 80,000 members. It has facilitated crypto-earn payouts totaling 9.8 million and processed a staggering $2.27 billion in transactions. Haru Invest aims to provide an annual yield of 12% on most of its earn products, offering investors an attractive opportunity in the crypto space.Haru MiningIn September of the previous year, Haru Invest successfully raised $4 million in funding, valuing the company at $284 million. This achievement demonstrates the confidence investors had in the platform and its potential for growth.As recently as last month nothing looked untoward when it emerged that the company had launched Haru Mining, a collaboration with Canadian crypto miner, Pow.re. In a press release at the time, the firm explained that the move would help to diversify its products, with mining always having been an area of interest for the company.In the same month, Haru had announced an integration with Mercuryo, a London-based digital asset management platform.As Haru Invest continues to address the concerns raised by the investigation, investors and customers await further updates regarding the resumption of normal operations. The company has promised that “more details will be shortly announced on the Haru Invest Blog as soon as we get to the bottom of this.”

Eggverse and SPLabs team up to venture into Southeast Asian Web3 marketSeoul-based non-fungible token (NFT) resell platform Eggverse has signed a strategic business agreement with SPLabs, a blockchain hub operating across Asia, according to the South Korean news outlet Maeil Business Newspaper on Thursday. The two companies plan to work together to enter the Southeast Asian Web3 market, vowing to share their respective technologies and insights into navigating international markets. They agreed to jointly work on digital marketing campaigns, organize networking events and analyze data to develop the best strategies for a successful business landing overseas.Photo by Shubham’s Web3 on UnsplashGrowing global reach“Through this agreement, we aim to introduce our unique services and technology to global users, thus strengthening our competitiveness,” Eggverse said. “With the addition of SPLabs’ expertise in the Southeast Asian market, we look forward to the synergies that will be created.”Leading innovationHeadquartered in Singapore, SPLabs specializes in blockchain platform development and Play-to-Earn (P2E) game publishing. As a global blockchain hub with a focus on Vietnam, South Korea and Japan, the firm specializes in creating gaming finance (GameFi), metaverse and Web3 platforms. It also has extensive experience in building on blockchains, such as BNB Chain, Avalanche, Ethereum, Polygon, Sui and more.Eggverse is known for its Web3-compatible service that allows customers to mint and resell real-life items like hotel vouchers and artwork as NFTs — the first of its kind in South Korea. The company also recently established a business partnership in September with Lotte Homeshopping to work on NFT, metaverse and blockchain services.

Euroclear, a Belgium-based financial services company that specializes in post-trade services relative to the clearing and settlement of securities, has announced that it has invested in Singaporean digital market infrastructure firm Marketnode. The investment, which the firm announced via a press release published to its website on Oct. 17, is the company’s first in the Asian market. Established with a distributed ledger technology (DLT)-based financial infrastructure, Marketnode offers its services via two distinct platforms. The company claims that through its Gateway platform it offers a one-stop issuance, data, workflows and tokenization services.  Meanwhile, Fundnode streamlines fund transactions, processing and record-keeping, while using blockchain technology in doing so. Euroclear’s CEO for the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, Philippe Laurensy, set out the company’s thinking in making this strategic investment, stating: “Partnering with Marketnode demonstrates our shared commitment to developing a new generation of funds market infrastructure by leveraging Euroclear’s global footprint, established fund infrastructure and digital capabilities. This first strategic investment in Asia also reinforces the region’s importance to Euroclear’s positioning and business growth. We are excited to join Marketnode’s pioneering journey in the rapidly growing area of digital assets and support the company’s international service expansion.”Photo by Thomas Somme on UnsplashProminent backersMarketnode is backed by Temasek and the Singapore Exchange Group (SGX), having been established in 2021 as a joint venture by the two firms. Notable financial firms such as Citi, HSBC, Deutsche Bank and State Street joined the pilot phase of Marketnode’s Fundnode platform in 2022.  Back in May, HSBC doubled down on its involvement, leading Marketnode’s Series A investment round. HSBC also partnered with Marketnode and Singaporean bank UOB in 2023, in the build-out of an end-to-end, issuance-to-distribution wealth management product infrastructure, run on blockchain rails. That project formed part of Project Guardian, a collaborative initiative led by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), designed to explore tokenization and network interoperability. Marketnode CEO Rehan Ahmed spoke about what this latest investment means for the company. He stated: “Euroclear’s global connectivity, operational expertise and market-leading position as a trusted financial market infrastructure will catalyse the growth of Marketnode’s platforms, especially Fundnode.” Ongoing blockchain interestWhile this may be Euroclear’s first foray into the Asian market, it’s not its first step into the world of blockchain and tokenization. The European clearinghouse launched a tokenized securities issuance service in 2023. The Digitally Native Notes (DNN) service enables the issuance, distribution and settlement of fully digital international securities, running on R3’s Corda blockchain. The first DNN was issued using the system by the World Bank, raising €100 million to finance its sustainable development activities. Earlier this month, it emerged that Euroclear, alongside the World Gold Council and international law firm Clifford Chance, had collaborated on a pilot project led by real-world asset (RWA) tokenization firm Digital Asset. The project concerned itself with the tokenization of UK bonds (gilts), Eurobonds and gold, using the Canton Network protocol.