FSN and Fingo join hands to pursue tokenized securities business

Wemade Partners with Etherscan to Enhance Transparency in WEMIX 3.0 EcosystemWemade, a leading company in the South Korean blockchain gaming industry, announced on Monday a partnership with Etherscan, a renowned block explorer and analytics platform. The objective of this collaboration is to enhance transparency within the WEMIX 3.0 ecosystem.Photo by Shubham Dhage on UnsplashNew block explorerAs part of this partnership, both companies will work together to develop a dedicated block explorer for the WEMIX 3.0 mainnet and Kroma, an Ethereum Layer 2 project developed by Lightscale, a subsidiary of Wemade. The new block explorer will provide advanced functionality, enabling users to access a more transparent transaction history. The explorer is expected to be launched in the first half of this year.InteroperabilityKroma is Lightscale’s Ethereum Layer 2 project whose goal is to establish a layer 2 blockchain based on zero-knowledge rollups. Thanks to Kroma’s interoperability, the WEMIX ecosystem is anticipated to extend beyond the WEMIX blockchain, linking to external blockchains.Etherscan, one of major block explorers for Ethereum, is an established platform offering extensive analytics capabilities. It has previously developed and operated various block explorers, including BscScan for Binance Blockchain, PolygonScan for Polygon Blockchain, and Arbiscan for Arbitrum Blockchain.Through this partnership, Wemade continues its commitment to decentralizing the WEMIX 3.0 mainnet and driving innovative advancements of a transparent mega-ecosystem.

With reports of American exchange platform Coinbase having been in talks with regulators to re-enter the Indian market emerging last month, the firm has made further progress with those efforts, registering with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). In a blog post published to the Coinbase website on March 11, the company confirmed that it had successfully registered with the FIU, a national agency which is responsible for gathering, processing, analyzing and circulating data related to suspicious financial transactions.Photo by Big G Media on UnsplashOffering retail services in 2025As a consequence of this registration, the company intends to commence trading activity in India once more, with plans to offer retail services to Indian investors later this year. Commenting on the development, John O'Loghlen, Regional Managing Director for the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region at Coinbase, stated that the company is committed to building its business in markets where potential exists for crypto and on-chain innovation. He added: “India represents one of the most exciting market opportunities in the world today, and we’re proud to deepen our investment here in full compliance with local regulations.” News of this development has been interpreted as a positive for the crypto sector. Taking to X, Suraj Chawla, founder and CEO of GPU.net, a decentralized network of GPUs, suggested that the registration was indicative of a softening in the regulatory approach taken to crypto in India. He believes that the Trump administration in the U.S., which is pro-crypto, is collaborating with India’s government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He added: “This is extremely positive news with countries like UAE, IND, RUS, USA adopting mainstream crypto and working on critical infra like exchanges, ETF and stablecoins.” Taking this development as a sign of a crypto awakening in India, Chawla suggested that we could see major Indian corporations like Reliance, Tata and Adani going into mainstream crypto infrastructure. ‘Informal pressure’Coinbase was forced to disable UPI payments on its platform in India back in 2022 due to what Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong described at the time as “informal pressure” from India’s central bank, the Royal Bank of India (RBI). Armstrong offered the following take on the status of crypto in India at that time:“India is a unique market in the sense that the Supreme Court has ruled that they can't ban crypto, but there are elements in the government there, including at the Reserve Bank of India, who don't seem to be as positive on it.” In 2023 the company disabled new user sign-ups on its platform.  India’s central bank has leaned against crypto over the last few years. In January of last year, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, said that there was no place in India for “crypto mania,” following the approval of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the U.S. He said at that time that "the way we look at crypto remains unchanged, irrespective of who does what."  While taking what has been at best an ambiguous approach to cryptocurrencies, the RBI has advocated for the adoption of blockchain technology by India’s banks.

CityLabs Secures 8.55% Stake in GopaxCityLabs, a company listed on the KOSDAQ stock exchange, has stepped in as a rescue investor for the South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Gopax.The company announced last Friday that it has acquired a total of 76,308 shares of Streami, the operator of Gopax, securing an 8.55% stake in the company. The investment amounts to a total value of KRW 5.4 billion (approximately $4 million).Photo by Precondo CA on UnsplashGopax’s turbulent historyGopax has recently been facing public and regulatory scrutiny due to its internal struggles, such as undergoing major changes in leadership earlier this year following its acquisition by Binance, with Lee Jun-haeng resigning and Binance’s Asia Pacific Head, Leon Sing Foong, taking over.After this event, Streami submitted reports to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) under the Financial Services Commission (FSS) in line with requirements to inform the regulatory body about such changes. However, due to delays in the FIU’s approval process likely influenced by Binance’s various legal and regulatory challenges, there was yet another leadership transition — Foong stepped down, and Lee Joong-hoon, Gopax’s former Vice President, took over. Notably, Foong recently left Binance altogether amid regulatory crackdowns.During this process, Gopax also struggled to make principal and interest payments on its own decentralized finance (DeFi) service, GOFi, in the wake of last year’s FTX collapse. The amount of customer funds locked in GOFi totals KRW 56.6 billion, according to an announcement made by Gopax in April. Binance acquired a stake in Gopax on the condition that it would inject enough capital into Gopax to repay this amount in full.CityLabs steps inAs a result, there have been speculations that a Korean company would invest in Gopax and deliver the exchange from its woes. Some even predicted that this company might become a major shareholder, although CityLabs has acquired only an 8.55% stake due to the fact that the funds required to do so far exceed CityLabs’ annual revenue.Last year, CityLabs reported a consolidated revenue of KRW 28.4 billion and an operating loss of KRW 6.1 billion. Although its revenue increased by 2% compared to the previous year, operating losses grew by 46.9%. While the company may not have sufficient funds at present to become a major shareholder, there lies the possibility that it may increase its stake in the future.The acquisition seems to be driven by CityLabs’ interest in blockchain businesses and the crypto market. While it currently specializes in intelligent transportation systems (ITS), it was formerly Dayli Blockchain, which was affiliated with the crypto exchange Coinone and Dayli Financial Group (now known as Gowid). In 2017, Yellow Mobile became the largest shareholder of Dayli Financial, and in February 2018, it became the largest shareholder of DailyBlockchain, making Dayli Blockchain its subsidiary. Coinone was also a subsidiary of Yellow Mobile at the time. All of these ownership relations have now been restructured.CityLabs has thus been involved in the blockchain industry for some time now with previous connections to cryptocurrency exchanges while also offering decentralized identity (DID) and blockchain as a service (BaaS) products. Observations point to the possibility that its history has influenced its decision to invest in Gopax.“We acquired shares to secure an entry point into the crypto market and position ourselves as a major player,” the company said in a statement.Meanwhile, financial authorities are considering plans to examine the eligibility of major shareholders when reviewing applications from crypto businesses.