Bitget pledges $10 million to empower women in Web3

At the end of last month, social derivatives trading platform ZKX, a protocol that runs on the Ethereum-centric Starknet layer-2 network, shut down blindsiding the project’s stakeholders. That event has led to Singapore-headquartered digital assets firm Amber Group speaking out, calling for cryptocurrency projects to be more accountable and transparent going forward. Not economically viableNews of the project shutdown emerged when ZKX founder Eduard Jubany Tur took to X on July 30 to outline the discontinuation of the protocol. Tur claimed that the project was “unable to find an economically viable path for the protocol.” In a long-form post, the ZKX founder outlined that user engagement had been minimal, resulting in disappointing trading volumes. By extension, Tur claimed that revenues didn’t come anywhere close to covering cloud server expenses. “The market is undervaluing the work done and infrastructure built by appchains and dApps coming from ecosystems like ours,” Tur added. Pseudonymous blockchain sleuth ZachXBT had a different take on the matter, claiming that the shutdown represented a rug pull. Amber Group chimed in on the subject on X on Aug. 3. Amber suggested that it wouldn’t break any contractual non-disclosure obligations it had with regard to ZKX but that aside, the firm took the opportunity to share its perspective more broadly in an effort to promote transparency.Photo by Markus Spiske on PexelsAmber Group criticismAmber Group criticized the ZKX team on the basis of a lack of transparency. It stated: “The last update we received was on July 30, when the project announced the cessation of operations. This decision was made without prior communication, highlighting the importance of transparency in our industry.” Staying with that theme, it claimed that clear communication and transparency are essential for fostering trust and collaboration within the crypto community, and that such principles would guide future projects. Amber Group had acted as a market maker relative to the ZKX project. It borrowed and purchased ZKX tokens in support of the launch of the token and in an effort to support token liquidity post-launch. It had secured two million ZKX tokens from the open market, with its overall holding totaling three million ZKX tokens. Project investor HashKey Capital also took to the X social media platform on the subject. Like Amber Group it too criticized the ZKX project for its lack of accountability and transparency. It described the project’s reluctance to communicate as “disappointing,” while it asserted that Tur’s handling of the situation had been “regrettable.” Ye Su, founding partner at ArkStream Capital, expressed a similar complaint, stating on X that “when ZKX shut down, as investors, we got zero heads-up.” He also singled out Tur, claiming that “Edward took the money from early supporters without any communication, showing no moral standards and losing his right to future entrepreneurship in the industry.”

BC Card Accelerates Launch of NFT Guarantees for Secondhand Luxury Goods TradesSouth Korean credit card issuer BC Card announced on Sunday that it has applied for two domestic patents for blockchain technology that will be used to issue digital guarantees for purchases of luxury goods, such as bags, watches, and more. These guarantees will be minted as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that can later be accessed by buyers or sellers during secondhand trades, which often pose risks and uncertainty regarding product quality or authenticity.Enhancing trust and securityThese NFTs will be based on paper or digital payment receipts — which contain detailed information on purchase receipts, such as product names, payment amounts, purchase dates, and shop information — that a customer receives after purchasing goods at stores that accept BC cards.Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on UnsplashBecause the guarantees are stored on a blockchain, they are almost impossible to tamper with. BC Card anticipates that this service will offer advantages like boosted safety, convenience, and security for both buyers and sellers who wish to partake in transactions of secondhand luxury goods.In addition, the data distributed across servers eliminates concerns about data loss. To achieve this, BC Card plans to collaborate with telecommunications provider KT and BC’s subsidiary, VP, which specializes in electronic payment services.“Through this patent application, we expect to significantly enhance the trustworthiness of secondhand luxury goods transactions in Korea,” said Kwon Sun-moo, Director of the New Financial Research division at BC Card. “After the patents are registered, we plan to collaborate with companies under KT Group like KT Alpha as well as other distribution companies in a business-to-business-to-consumer (B2B2C) system.”Access through a digital walletCustomers can take a photo of a receipt with their phones or download it, then upload it to BC Card’s financial platform, Paybook. The photo is then converted into an image that is automatically stored as an NFT on the blockchain network.Once a seller registers a payment receipt for a product that they bought, then the subsequent NFT guarantee can be accessed or sent through their BC Card digital wallet — a feature that the company plans to launch soon — at any time during future transactions. This offers a convenient solution to the possibility of losing receipts, which traditionally requires manually downloading them again from the card company’s website or app.Revolutionizing secondhand tradeThis new technology could play a significant role in the booming resell and secondhand goods trading market, the company said. According to data from the Korea Internet & Security Agency last year, the domestic secondhand market has grown from a scale of KRW 4 trillion in 2008 to KRW 24 trillion in 2021 and is projected to exceed KRW 30 trillion this year.“Through the registration of payment receipts, we can analyze consumption patterns and even suggest improvements in spending habits to our customers,” Director Kwon highlighted.BC Card is also considering offering luxury appraisal and authentication services along with the future launch of the NFT service.

According to a report by Nikkei Asia, Kasikornbank (KBank), Thailand’s second-largest bank, has entered into a partnership with Bangkok-based firm Orbix Technology and Singapore’s StraitsX to roll out a cross-border payments solution based on the use of stablecoins. StraitsX provides payments infrastructure for digital assets in Southeast Asia. It also issues XSGD, XUSD and XIDR, stablecoins that are pegged to the Singapore dollar, the U.S. dollar and the Indonesian Rupiah. Orbix Technology contributes towards the collaboration by providing blockchain infrastructure, in this case, its Quarix blockchain, which was developed to support transactions in both foreign currencies and baht, convert real-world assets into digital tokens and enable real-world identity confirmation of the blockchain user.Photo by Mathew Schwartz on UnsplashProject Carina The groundwork for this latest collaboration was accomplished through a partnership between KBank and American investment bank JPMorgan’s JPM Coin (now known as Kinexys Digital Payments) in April. Known as Project Carina, the collaboration explored wholesale cross-border payments using Q-money, KBank’s digital Thai baht, which runs on Orbix Technology’s Quarix blockchain and forms part of Thailand’s regulatory sandbox. The objective of Project Carina was to effect the transfer of Thai baht, using Q-money, to a U.S. dollar-denominated bank account, via Kinexys Digital Payments. Using that process, a cross-border multi-currency transfer could be effected efficiently in real time. Spending Thai baht in Singapore In part, building upon that earlier project, this latest collaboration, which commenced at the end of November, brings StraitsX into the fold alongside KBank and Orbix. The service targets Thai tourists visiting Singapore, enabling them to spend their Thai baht-based Q-money at retail outlets in Singapore. Thai visitors account for 2.4% of arrivals to the city-state each year. Many retail stores in Singapore now enable the use of payment systems like PayNow, a real-time payment service offered by a group of Singaporean banks; GrabPay, a payments wallet that features as part of the Grab super-app; and Alipay+, another cross-border mobile payments system. StraitsX has collaborated with these payment systems, opening up access to this latest offering led by KBank. In November, StraitsX added access to the GrabPay and Alipay+ systems. Users of the Q-money app can scan the codes generated via these payment systems, enabling the user to pay in Thai baht for the item they are purchasing priced in Singaporean dollars. Effectively, the system enables and exchange and conversion of digital baht for the StraitsX XSGD Singaporean dollar stablecoin. The three companies showcased their blockchain-based cross-border payment innovation at the Singapore FinTech Festival last month. At the time, Orbix Technology Managing Director Yarnvith Raksri stated:”Quarix has played a significant role in driving the Q-money by KBank app and integrating it with the StraitsX system to allow seamless cross-border payments via blockchain, making them as convenient as domestic transactions.” KBank competitor Siam Commercial Bank (SCB), Thailand’s oldest bank, announced in October that it was partnering with fintech firm Lightnet to launch a stablecoin-based remittance service.