Wemade CEO to attend Abu Dhabi Finance Week and Fortune Global Forum next week

GroundX to Bring NFT Activities to 2023 Seoul Light Hangang Bitseom FestivalGroundX, the blockchain subsidiary of South Korean conglomerate Kakao, said Tuesday that it will host NFT-related activities at Seoul’s largest laser art festival, the 2023 Seoul Light Hangang Bitseom Festival, from October 6 to 15 in collaboration with the Seoul Metropolitan Government and other affiliates like LG Uplus and the Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture.Photo by Wes Hicks on UnsplashMerging physical activity, learning, and artThe activities will fall under the theme of “3L”: Light Run, Laser Art, and Lecture. Light Run is a four-kilometer running course scheduled for October 6 and 14, for which GroundX will mint NFT certificates for participants who complete the course. The NFTs will contain information about the participant, as well as the date of the event and a record of completion. They will then automatically be sent to and stored in the participant’s Klip wallet, GroundX’s digital wallet service, and can be accessed at any time on the Klip app and KakaoTalk Wallet.GroundX said that it will also showcase digital artworks by eight artists, including Kim Duk-ki, Han Seung-ku, and Berry Kim. These works will be displayed on LED platforms installed at the Banpo and Ichon Hangang Parks.Kim Tae-keun, Head of Business at GroundX, is set to participate as a lecturer for the Bitseom Lecture segment on October 8, where he will discuss NFT art and the company’s vision for the media art industry. Bitseom Lecture is an outdoor art convergence lecture program that introduces immersive media artworks and technology in virtual reality (VR) and extended reality (XR).Bringing the NFT experience to Seoul“We hope that citizens visiting the Bitseom Festival will be able to get the real NFT experience through our media art displays, lectures, and running course completion certificates,” GroundX said. “We will continue to collaborate with various organizations and create NFT use cases through participation in offline festivals and events.”

Dubai-headquartered global crypto exchange Bybit has integrated the Avalon Finance protocol within its platform to offer users greater opportunities to earn yield on Bitcoin. Avalon Finance is a decentralized lending protocol that offers a range of financial services on the Merlin Chain, a Bitcoin layer-2 network. It facilitates users to borrow stablecoins using their Bitcoin as collateral, while also providing opportunities to earn yield by contributing to digital asset liquidity pools.Photo by Kanchanara on UnsplashCeFi to DeFi bridgeAvalon Labs, the driving force behind the Avalon Finance protocol, took to X on April 14 to outline that the protocol had gone live on Bybit. It stated:”By integrating with Bybit Earn, Avalon unlocks new yield opportunities for Bitcoin holders by arbitraging our fixed-rate institutional borrowing layer — delivering predictable, enhanced returns through a seamless CeFi-to-DeFi bridge.” Avalon claims to offer a mechanism which brings Bitcoin into DeFi. It accepts FBTC, an omnichain digital asset with $1.25 billion in total value locked (TVL), pegged 1:1 with Bitcoin, as collateral, while lending it out at fixed interest rates. USDT stablecoin borrowed on the strength of that Bitcoin can then be deployed by platform users to execute high-yielding DeFi strategies via the Ethena Labs synthetic dollar protocol, implicating the use of Ethena USD (USDe) and Ethena Staked USD (sUSDE). In this way, the Avalon Finance protocol is providing a conduit between centralized finance and decentralized finance. Avalon Labs claims that the offering turns Bitcoin into a productive asset. It stated: “Returns are stable, secure, and passed back to Bybit Earn users—making Bitcoin a productive asset while maintaining simplicity and risk control.” More exchange collaborations plannedIt’s understood that Avalon plans to collaborate similarly with other crypto exchanges in the future. Towards the end of 2024, the firm raised $10 million in Series A funding, with the funding round having been led by Framework Ventures, with participation from UXTO Management, Presto Labs and Kenetic Capital. At the time, Avalon Labs asserted that the funding would be used to expand its Bitcoin-centric ecosystem.  BTC-backed public debt fundTaking to X in February, the project outlined that after years of research, it was working towards the launch of a Bitcoin-backed public debt fund that would fall within the parameters of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) regulatory framework. The firm stated:”By exploring regulated investment structures, we aim to bridge the gap between traditional finance and crypto, opening new opportunities for Bitcoin-backed financial products.” Regulation A is an exemption offered by the SEC enabling a company to sell securities to the investing public without full registration. Should it eventually take this path forward, the project would pioneer this approach to launching a public debt fund as little progress has been made by others in taking such a Bitcoin-related product forward to date. Towards the end of last month, Avalon Labs announced that it has added support for BlackRock’s “BUIDL” fund, a tokenized fund created by the world’s largest asset manager, which invests in short-term U.S. Treasury bills.

Bitget commits fund to bolstering Indian blockchain innovationBitget, the Seychelles-incorporated derivatives and copy trading platform, has unveiled its plan to invest significantly in Indian-based blockchain startups.Photo by Sylwia Bartyzel on Unsplash$10 million fundThe company announced the initiative by way of a press release published by PR Newswire on Monday. This strategic move is part of Bitget’s Blockchain4Youth (B4Y) initiative, which has earmarked a $10 million fund for Web3-focused projects.Bitget revealed that the B4Y initiative kicked off on Nov. 6 and will continue until Dec. 4, coinciding with BUIDL for Web3, India’s multi-chain summit event. This summit, sponsored by Bitget in collaboration with Lumos Labs and BuidlersTribe, provides a platform for Indian startups to showcase their innovative concepts to Bitget as well as prominent venture capitalists.Nurturing Web3 startupsThe core objective of Bitget’s investment initiative is to identify and nurture high-potential projects within the cryptocurrency space, offering them financial support to drive innovation in cutting-edge technologies.As part of the Blockchain4Youth project, Bitget has committed to deploying $10 million in investments over the next five years. Through complementary research the company has carried out recently, Bitget is likely to have identified that targeting the younger demographic is going to be good for business over the longer term.Gracy Chen, Managing Director at Bitget, lauded the developing blockchain and crypto sectors in India. Chen emphasized India’s status as a prime investment destination in Asia, citing the country’s abundance of talent and entrepreneurial drive.BUIDL for Web3Notably, the BUIDL for Web3 initiative is set to attract a diverse array of developers and founders, celebrating their resilience and creativity. The month-long program will commence by shortlisting over 100 startups, ultimately selecting 10 to present their projects to Bitget and well-known venture capitalists such as Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Venture and Draper Labs. To facilitate this process, Bitget has established a dedicated portal to receive applications from aspiring startups.Chen stated:”India’s resilience and constant advancements towards blockchain and crypto makes it the most wanted place to invest in Asia currently. The talent, the entrepreneurial spirit, it’s everything celebratory and we’re here to empower it. With our Blockchain4Youth, we look forward to accelerating the next big fours of crypto space.”Strategic investmentThe crypto derivatives platform has been active when it comes to investment recently. Last month, it unveiled a $100 million crypto ecosystem fund. Titled the EmpowerX Fund, the initiative was revealed during the company’s fifth anniversary summit held in Singapore.In April, Bitget invested $20 million into Sei Labs, the development company behind the Sei layer one blockchain. The company has been actively progressing various aspects of the business in 2023. In August it rebranded the BitKeep Wallet to Bitget Wallet following the acquisition of the Singaporean project earlier in the year. Integration of that business had added additional users to its platform such that it exceeded the 20 million user mark.Bitget’s commitment to investing in the Indian blockchain ecosystem is a testament to the rapidly evolving landscape of crypto innovation in the country. However, India is not its only target market. In July, the firm indicated that it was looking to expand further within the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.