Standard Chartered joins China’s CBDC pilot trials

Saudi Arabia’s NEOM Forms $50M Animoca Brands PartnershipHong Kong’s Animoca brands, a gaming and metaverse venture capital firm, is embarking on a partnership with Saudi Arabia’s NEOM Investment Fund, focusing on pioneering Web3 initiatives.Animoca announced the initiative via a statement published to its website on Monday. NEOM is an ambitious project aiming to create a futuristic urban oasis in northwest Saudi Arabia, serving as a nexus for technology, commerce, entertainment, and tourism. It is planning to invest $50 million in Animoca.Photo by Hala AlGhanim on UnsplashDeveloping Web3 service capabilitiesThis collaboration will see Animoca harness its expertise to develop Web3 service capabilities with broad global applications in tandem with NEOM, aligning with NEOM’s vision of becoming a cutting-edge tech hub of the future.Animoca Brands has been a prominent player in the Web3 investment arena for several years. In July 2022, the company’s valuation soared to $6 billion, with backing from notable entities such as Singapore’s state investment fund, Temasek. Despite its ambitious goal to secure $2 billion for its metaverse fund in November of the same year, those expectations were significantly tempered following the FTX collapse. Consequently, in March, Animoca revised its target to a more modest $800 million.In-house market makingA report by The Block on Friday revealed that Animoca has been making efforts to pitch an in-house market making service to fledgling Web3 businesses within its portfolio. That service has been presented by the company to more than 400 startup projects in which it has been an investor over recent months.The key market makers in the crypto space include Wintermute, Keyrock, and GSR. This move by Animoca potentially puts Animoca in direct competition with these primary crypto-sector market makers. An in-house digital asset team has been tasked with offering the service. An Animoca spokesperson stated:“Its primary role, much like the treasury teams in many large corporations, is to optimize the utilization of the company’s balance sheet. The team does conduct market-making to ensure there is enough buy/sell liquidity for certain tokens, which is similar to the function that third-party market makers conduct, except that we choose to perform this in-house for scale and efficiency.”Saudi diversificationAs part of its Vision 2030 initiative, Saudi Arabia has been looking to diversify away from its predominantly oil-based economy. In an interview last month, Animoca Brands Founder Yat Siu outlined that the Middle Eastern country is embracing new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain, encompassing blockchain-based gaming and Web3.In July it emerged that the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) were looking to extend the level of collaboration between the two territories relative to international payments and tokenization.This renewed interest from state-backed funds in Animoca suggests a potential shift in the Web3 venture capital landscape, coinciding with broader indications of a thaw in the crypto winter. The collaboration with NEOM and the injection of $50 million underscore the growing recognition of Web3’s potential, cementing Animoca Brands’ position as a key player in the ever-developing Web3 space.

Singapore-regulated Telcoin, a developer of financial applications for mobile users, has successfully restored user balances following an exploit that saw approximately $1.2 million worth of funds transferred from affected accounts.Photo by Martin Sanchez on UnsplashUnauthorized withdrawal of assetsThe incident, which occurred in late December, was attributed to an error in the interaction between Telcoin's digital wallet and a proxy contract on Polygon. In a blog post which was published on Wednesday, the company shared a full post-mortem analysis report which it commissioned Hong Kong-based blockchain security firm BlockSec to carry out, relative to the exploit. The fault in the proxy contract's implementation caused a technical conflict that allowed for the unauthorized withdrawal of assets. Fortunately, no admin keys were compromised, ensuring that the broader Telcoin ecosystem remained unaffected. In response to the security breach, Telcoin took action by immediately freezing the use of its application as a precautionary measure. The team initiated an investigation and committed to releasing updates promptly to address the issue and restore normalcy. The identified address associated with the exploit was 0x35d2775e5f95596509951b140d68fc5b9185ff98. TEL token freefallDespite the initial market turbulence, with the price of the Telcoin (TEL) token plummeting, the cryptocurrency has demonstrated resilience. On Dec. 25, TEL fell from a peak price of $0.00235146 to $0.00122535, representing a 48% decrease. At the time of writing, the price has slightly rebounded, trading at $0.001335. Nevertheless, it's still down 40% over the course of the past month's trading. In a social media direct message to CoinDesk recently, Telcoin's founder and CEO, Paul Neuner, expressed pride in how his team responded to the issue, stating: “Making the decision to preemptively restore affected user wallets from our company treasury was a no-brainer, and I’m proud of the team for making that happen in record time.” Regulatory standingTelcoin's regulatory standing played a crucial role in instilling confidence during this challenging time. Although headquartered in Tokyo, the company is regulated in Singapore as a Major Payment Institution (MPI) by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). The firm is also registered and regulated in other global markets, including Canada and Australia. Telcoin maintains offices in Singapore, Tokyo, Dubai and Los Angeles. The company had been active in trying to shape regulation in the United States in 2023, with company executives having made repeated visits to Washington D.C. to meet with Financial Services Committee members and staffers on Capitol Hill. In April of last year, the company extended its service offering to the European market, starting out initially in Lithuania.It appears that the restoration of Telcoin's application services led to a significant boost in user confidence. The company reported a 400% increase in deposits compared to the previous month. Users responded favorably to Telcoin's swift resolution of the security breach, with a ratio of $3.60 being deposited for every $1 withdrawn in the first day since the service restoration. Telcoin's measures, collaboration with security experts and the surge in user deposits appear to have resulted in a resilient recovery. The saga highlights the importance of prompt and transparent responses in maintaining trust in the face of crypto security issues.  

Busan Hosts Blockchain Conference with Aim to Become Digital Financial HubBusan Metropolitan City hosted a blockchain conference on Monday as part of its aim to establish itself as a leading digital financial hub, according to Korean news agency News1.©Pexels/BERK OZDEMIRDot-com bubble comparisonDuring the conference, Kim Sang-min, chairman of the Busan Digital Asset Exchange Establishment Committee, highlighted the distortion in the blockchain landscape caused by unfair trading due to market monopolies and subsequent regulatory challenges. He compared the current situation to the dot-com bubble, stating that despite past issues, Korea has become a technological powerhouse. Kim suggested that while there may be challenges in the crypto exchange industry, excessive regulation should be avoided to promote growth.Kang Dae-goo, CEO of crypto exchange Borabit, agreed that many industries face initial growing pains, and the crypto industry is no exception. He urged Korea to join the race with financially-advanced countries promoting cryptocurrency in order to thrive in the digital age.Busan as digital financial centerExperts at the event identified Busan as the city with the greatest potential to become the nation’s premier digital financial center. Kim noted that Busan, which has been designated as a zone with lenient blockchain regulations, houses financial institutions with assets totaling 261 trillion won (~$195 billion) as of 2021. The city also hosts various international events for games and movies, providing ample content to develop virtual asset ecosystems.Kim proposed the establishment of a digital asset exchange that focuses on investor protection, emphasizing decentralization, fairness, and integration. He called for addressing current monopolistic governance practices and resolving unfair practices within crypto exchanges, such as cryptocurrency listing evaluations.More efforts urgedAttendees at the conference suggested that the Busan government and regional banks should take the lead in building infrastructure to attract companies. Kang noted that even though Busan has been designated as a blockchain special zone for four years, 48% of the industry remain unaware of this. He encouraged Busan to step up its efforts, citing examples of other municipalities, such as Incheon, which are actively engaging in various blockchain projects.Kang stressed the importance of public bodies providing infrastructure and support to attract businesses, adding that a business-friendly environment with a proper screening scheme will facilitate self-correction within the blockchain market as problematic companies are gradually filtered out.