Busan BDX Consortium named preferred bidder for Digital Asset Exchange

Korean Pharma and Running App Employ NFTs to Promote Fatigue ReliefDaewoong Pharmaceutical recently announced its collaboration with D-Run, an NFT-based running app, to employ non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in marketing a fatigue relief product to millennials and Generation Z.©Pexels/Anna ShvetsUnique NFT IllustrationsFor the project, two unique NFT illustrations have been designed, showcasing a brown bear and a red heart with arms and legs. The bear, named Uri, represents Daewoong’s fatigue relief product UR-Shot, and the heart serves as D-Run’s mascot DZ. In one NFT edition, Uri and DZ are depicted running across a bridge, while the other shows them lying down on a grassy lawn under a tree.Each edition will have 100 NFTs available for purchase on Klip Drops, an NFT marketplace operated by Kakao’s blockchain subsidiary Ground X, from April 26 to May 9. NFT buyers will receive 20 tablets of UR-Shot and D-Run merchandise.Millennial and Gen Z runnersDaewoong’s partnership with D-Run, a platform operated by online media outlet dongA.com, a subsidiary of the nation’s leading newspaper Donga Ilbo, aims to connect with the digital-savvy millennial and Gen Z runners. This collaboration promotes UR-Shot as a healthy energy booster. In November last year, Daewoong introduced NFTs featuring Uri to attract millennials and Gen Z consumers.NFTs as marketing strategyNFTs are tokens that utilize blockchain technology to prove ownership of virtual assets. Due to their scarcity and irreplaceability, NFTs have recently become increasingly influential in the digital art sphere such as paintings and videos. In particular, young consumers often use NFTs as a tool to have fun and express themselves.Park Eun-kyung, the head of the consumer healthcare marketing team at Daewoong, said that this NFT collaboration to reach out to young consumers is the first marketing initiative of its kind in the pharmaceutical industry. Daewoong will continue to keep an eye on the consumption culture of younger generations and conduct various digital marketing programs to alleviate customers’ daily fatigue, she added

South Korea is building payment rails for a tokenized won on two tracks, one led by banks extending a central bank digital currency pilot, the other by card issuers testing stablecoins, with no law yet to govern either. The Korea Internet & Security Agency and the Ministry of Science and ICT said last week they had begun a project to extend the Bank of Korea's CBDC pilot, Project Hangang, into retail payments, according to a report by local outlet Digital Asset.Ilustration generated with ChatGPTThe Korea Financial Telecommunications and Clearings Institute, which operates the country's interbank payment network, will lead the consortium of nine commercial banks, eight payment gateways and two large organizations that will pilot the payments. It will connect existing payment infrastructure to Project Hangang on a 9.6 billion won ($6.6 million) budget. The pilot tested deposit tokens, a tokenized form of commercial bank deposits backed by a wholesale CBDC. The design avoids building anything new. Consumers would pay through bank-issued deposit token wallet apps, with a physical card under consideration, and merchants would keep their existing terminals. The stated aim is faster settlement and lower fees for small merchants. The government also plans to use deposit tokens for public spending, starting with a pilot for official expenses and later a treasury model linked to dBrain, the nation’s digital budget accounting system. Card issuers defend the railsSeparately, Newspim reported the Credit Finance Association and nine card issuers, including Samsung Card, Shinhan Card, KB Kookmin Card and Hyundai Card, on July 22 concluded a joint proof of concept for won-denominated stablecoins. Run on a test network, it examined whether authorization, settlement and cancellation functioned when a won stablecoin was routed through existing card rails, and whether smart contract-based terminals and QR payments could also handle loyalty points and government-issued vouchers. The tests come as the card business faces mounting pressure. Net income at the eight card companies fell 8.9% last year to 2.36 trillion won ($1.6 billion), as merchant fee income declined despite rising card spending. With 3.09 million merchants, or 95.7% of the total, on preferential fee rates in the first half, and wallet-based stablecoin payments raising the prospect of transactions that bypass card networks altogether, issuers have reason to secure a role in whatever comes next. Their pitch is that they already own the hard part. "Issuers would have to build payment infrastructure from scratch to circulate a stablecoin," a card industry official said. Bolting a settlement function onto existing card rails, the industry argues, would also let issuers apply the fraud detection and anti-money laundering systems already running on those networks. Legislation still stalledDigital assets featured in a reform agenda announced last week by Kim Min-seok, a lawmaker and former prime minister running for leadership of the Democratic Party. "I believe we need financial reform, and one of its key aims should be to establish our sovereignty over digital assets," Kim told a news conference, according to another Digital Asset report. His agenda included passage of the Digital Asset Basic Act, a legal framework for won stablecoins, rules for issuing and trading security tokens, and investor protection. The act, covering stablecoin issuance and digital asset service providers, is targeted for passage this year. Work on the bill had been due to start after party and government consultations in March but was postponed indefinitely, with the crisis in the Middle East among the reasons cited.

Coinone Boosts Crypto Account Security with Naver Two-Factor AuthenticationCoinone, one of South Korea’s leading crypto exchanges, announced on Wednesday that it has added Naver as another channel for two-factor authentication (2FA) when signing up for an account. This move aims to enhance security and convenience for users by introducing another option for the second step of authentication in addition to KakaoTalk and one-time password (OTP) authentication.Photo by Franck on UnsplashCombatting social engineering attacks“As the popularity of investing in virtual assets is on the rise, attempts to gain unauthorized access to accounts through smishing and phishing have also increased. We hope that users can use Coinone services in a safer, more convenient manner by using Naver as an easy authentication channel,” said Cha Myunghun, CEO of Coinone.All users are required to go through 2FA when signing up for a Coinone account in order to simultaneously protect their credentials and conduct deposits, withdrawals, and transactions. Users must verify themselves with their phone number first, then once more through an additional channel like KakaoTalk, Naver, or OTP authentication.Using KakaoTalk or Naver is easy and convenient since most Koreans already have both of these apps on their phones, and it takes a relatively short amount of time to complete.Extra benefitsUsers can register for Naver authentication on both the Coinone website and the app. Once they do, they can verify themselves through the Naver app without a separate login. These users can be granted more benefits such as increased withdrawal limits, the exchange said. Those who have verified their bank accounts for storing Korean won can have a withdrawal limit of up to 500 million won (approximately $373,000).