Upbit procures ISO 22301 certification

Backpack Exchange, a crypto exchange that joined the Japan Virtual Currency Exchange Association (JVCEA) last December, has recently acquired FTX EU, the European arm of the failed crypto exchange business FTX. According to a press release, the business comes with a European MiFID II license, with the acquisition having been approved by the Cypriot regulator, the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC). Furthermore, a Delaware bankruptcy court in the United States, which is dealing with the FTX bankruptcy, has also rubber-stamped the acquisition. Backpack Exchange was co-founded by CEO Armani Ferrante, alongside other former FTX executives. According to the firm’s LinkedIn page, it has established its headquarters in Japan. The company also has links to Dubai, having acquired a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) license for its Backpack Wallet product from  Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) in 2023.Photo by Christian Lue on UnsplashRebuilding trust As a consequence of having acquired FTX’s European arm, Backpack Exchange will now assume responsibility for the distribution of court-approved FTX bankruptcy claims to FTX EU users. In the company’s press release, Ferrante spoke of the importance of the distribution process in rebuilding trust. He stated: "Customer restitution is a crucial step to rebuild trust and confidence in the industry, and Backpack is committed to returning FTX EU customers’ funds as fast and as safely as possible." In response to a query from FTX creditor activist Sunil Kavuri on X, Ferrante outlined that FTX EU users “will only be able to claim their euro claims funds directly from Backpack EU.” Ferrante clarified that FTX EU customers who had pending crypto withdrawals at the time of the bankruptcy will have their crypto claims dealt with via the FTX bankruptcy estate. In a Series A financing round early last year, Backpack was valued at $120 million. Through FTX EU, it now acquires a MiFID II license, further facilitating the global expansion of the company. With FTX EU now forming Backpack’s EU arm, the company will offer crypto-derivative products, including perpetual futures. This product offering is scheduled to go live in Q1 2025. Bankruptcy process controversy The bankruptcy of FTX EU has been controversial, starting off with the European entity being illegally filed into a U.S. bankruptcy process. In early 2024, the FTX Debtors suggested that the entity was worthless. It later wanted to buy out the entity itself, outbidding a third-party bidder. A short time afterwards, the FTX Debtors reached a settlement with the former FTX EU team. It’s understood that Backpack has acquired FTX EU for $32 million.  The FTX Debtors’ attempt to buy the business itself has cast a cloud over the bankruptcy process. When it first emerged that the business had been sold, there was some speculation as to if this would mean a rebooted FTX within the European market, but Backpack’s acquisition confirms that this was not to be the outcome.  Japan could have offered another opportunity to reboot the business, but instead, FTX Japan was acquired by bitFlyer and absorbed into its existing business. With regard to the main FTX business entity, the FTX Debtors told the bankruptcy court that there was no interest in the business from buyers. 

Japan’s largest bank, MUFG, has teamed up with KlimaDAO Japan, the provider of a digital reserve currency backed by carbon credits, to explore the use of the JPYC stablecoin for settling tokenized carbon credit transactions on the Progmat blockchain platform. Settlement on ProgmatProgmat provides the infrastructure to enable the issuance of various stablecoins. Last September, MUFG announced a collaboration with Binance geared towards stablecoin issuance. The JPYC stablecoin, operational since 2021, functions as a prepaid money instrument, similar to a prepaid card, due to its existence before Japan’s stablecoin legislation. Under new regulations, JPYC can either obtain a money transmitter license or issue a trust-style stablecoin with a bank like MUFG acting as the trustee for the stablecoin's reserves. Last year, JPYC formed a partnership with MUFG implicating the use of the Progmat platform.  This partnership, along with the involvement of Kansai Electric subsidiary Optage as the integration partner, sets the stage for the KlimaDAO stablecoin experiments. Optage will provide the corporate infrastructure required to manage the carbon credits added to the blockchain and provide a means for funds settlement to be achieved via bank transfer. Through the use of various local stablecoins for the purpose of settlement, it’s hoped that improved liquidity on a global basis may be achieved.Photo by Dan Meyers on UnsplashInitially recognized for making tokenized carbon credits accessible on public blockchains, KlimaDAO's functionality extends beyond this. The organization also offers the capability to retire credits. Last year, KlimaDAO expanded its reach by launching Carbonmark, an enterprise-focused marketplace.  This platform, which utilizes blockchain technology, namely Polygon, and smart contracts, offers a user-friendly experience by integrating traditional payment methods like bank transfers and SAP integration.  J-CreditsJapan operates a national scheme known as J-credits, and the Tokyo Stock Exchange has introduced a secondary market for these credits. J-credits are designed to certify the amount by which greenhouse gas emissions have been reduced through the use of carbon sinks in Japan. However, the volume of J-credit transactions remains low, reflecting the broader state of Japan's voluntary carbon market.  KlimaDAO aims to address this by launching the KlimaDAO Japan Market, simplifying the process for domestic companies to purchase and utilize carbon credits. This initiative will involve tokenizing J-credits, referred to as D-Carbons.  Andrew Bonneau, KlimaDAO co-founder, outlined on X that “@KlimaDAO is in a unique position to facilitate an efficient J-Credit market on chain, while serving as the base infrastructure for integrating these assets with 3rd party services.” While the initial phase will use traditional bank payments, the ultimate goal is to transition to using stablecoins, particularly the JPYC stablecoin. Norbert Gehrke, an observer of developments within the Japanese fintech scene, outlined on Medium that the Japanese carbon credit market is likely to reach three trillion yen ($19.15 billion) by 2030. Meanwhile, the global carbon credit market has a current value of 39 trillion yen ($249 billion). KlimaDAO Japan has mentioned the use of a permissionless blockchain for this initiative but has fallen short of confirming that the Polygon network will be relied upon. Japan has several homegrown blockchains, which might be considered for this project.  At the time of writing, the KLIMA token had risen 31% over the course of the previous 24 hours, with a unit price of $3.53 according to CoinGecko. 

The Department of Science and Technology-Advanced Science and Technology Institute (DOST-ASTI) in the Philippines has launched an initiative to educate the Southeast Asian country’s young people in relation to blockchain technology and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The DOST published a blog article on its website on September 23 titled “Opening opportunities for the youth: DOST-ASTI highlights blockchain applications across various sectors.” It highlighted that technologies such as blockchain are “key forces reshaping how public and private institutions operate.” It’s on that basis that the government agency believes that there is a need to familiarize the country’s youth with blockchain technology, digital assets and NFTs. Photo by Choong Deng Xiang on UnsplashTech forum With that objective in mind, DOST-ASTI held a tech forum titled  “ASTIg Tech Talks Season 2: Blockchain for Young Innovators” on September 20 in Pasay City to fulfill that objective of aiding Filipino youngsters in becoming better acquainted with blockchain technology. The event formed part of the second National Youth Science, Technology and Innovation Festival (NYSTIF). In that effort, the agency is placing a focus on the real-world applications associated with blockchain technology, and with that, an emphasis on the fostering of this innovation going forward. DOST-ASTI placed blockchain in the same category as other emerging innovations such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI), pointing out that these are tangible innovations rather than hyped buzzwords. Job opportunities DOST-ASTI Senior Science Research Specialist Roxanne Aviñante spoke at the event, introducing the concept of blockchain to those participating students in attendance. Aviñante outlined that the emerging technology is building momentum and with that, increasingly there are job opportunities opening up within the sector. While acknowledging that blockchain’s first application was cryptocurrency, Aviñante pointed out that other use cases are being found. With that, she referred to “Self-Sovereign Identity Empowerment: Reinventing Rights and Attributes” (SIERRA), a blockchain-based system for managing intellectual property that is being developed by DOST-ASTI. Marc Jerome Tulali, a science research specialist at DOST, discussed the use of blockchain in voting systems and how it addresses deficiencies in traditional voting systems. Tulali claimed that blockchain can enhance traceability and transparency, as it provides a clear flow and record of product movement. Additionally, its characteristics make it ideal in addressing fraud and counterfeiting risks. Tulali recommended participating students to enroll in online educational courses in order to learn more about the field. He also provided details of four sample careers in blockchain, including blockchain developer, blockchain architect, NFT artist and blockchain researcher, as potential job opportunities for the students in the future. The Philippines has featured consistently within the top twenty of nations on Chainalysis’ Global Crypto Adoption Index in recent years. It has long been considered an ideal market for furthering crypto-based payments, given the large Filipino diaspora sending millions of dollars back home from overseas each year. With that remittance market in mind, Australian startup Stables Money recently partnered with Philippines-based digital assets platform Coins.ph to use a Philippine peso-based stablecoin for remittances.