Tokenpost and PUNKPOLL launch open beta service for Web3 news polling service

Korean Crypto Exchange Giants Lead Market Expansion With Increased ListingsSouth Korea’s top three cryptocurrency exchanges Upbit, Bithumb and Coinone have all increased the number of cryptocurrencies they listed for trading this year compared to last year, making them responsible for leading the market’s activity and expansion.Photo by Maxim Hopman on UnsplashDynamic shifts in listing and delisting trendsA recent analysis by local news outlet News1 on the number of cryptocurrencies listed and delisted this year on the country’s major fiat-to-crypto exchanges Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit and Gopax — listed in order of market share size — revealed that Upbit and Coinone have increased their number of listings and delistings compared to last year.The remaining three exchanges, on the other hand, showed differing results. Bithumb increased its number of listings by 47 compared to the number listed last year, while delistings decreased by three, and Gopax listed eight fewer tokens and delisted one more token. Meanwhile, Korbit’s listings decreased by 37 tokens, while delistings decreased by only one.Among the five exchanges, Bithumb listed the highest number of new cryptocurrencies this year, with 80 new currencies in total added as of Monday (local time). This represents a more than double increase compared to the 33 currencies added last year. It is also 18 more than Coinone’s 62 new currencies and 50 more than Upbit’s 30.Differing approaches based on situational factorsGopax and Korbit have taken a more conservative approach compared to Upbit, Bithumb, and Coinone, which have been more aggressive in their listing strategies. In particular, as of Oct. 4, Bithumb has also been offering free transaction fees in an effort to regain its market share. This aggressive approach can be interpreted as an effort to weather the recent crypto winter, although it hasn’t been very successful.Conversely, the exchange that delisted the most cryptocurrencies this year was Coinone, with 38 taken down as of Monday, marking a significant increase compared to last year when it delisted 26. This can be accredited to the platform’s efforts to improve its reputation and operating system following an incident earlier this year where two former employees were booked for taking bribes in exchange for listing certain cryptocurrencies. Coinone CEO Cha Myung-hun subsequently issued an apology and pledged to take proper measures to prevent such an event from recurring. Since then, the exchange has been actively looking into carrying out delistings tied to issues like the amount of currency in circulation or market price manipulation.Bithumb and Upbit came in second and third for most delistings this year, with 22 and 18, respectively.However, Korbit showed the least fluctuation in the number of listings and delistings this year — nine and three, respectively — among the five exchanges. This is a sharp contrast owing to its conservative listing policy. Speculation suggests that the platform might adopt a more aggressive stance if market conditions improve in the second half of the year.On the other hand, Gopax listed 10 tokens and delisted eight tokens. The exchange has notoriously been dealing with operational difficulties due to regulatory roadblocks despite optimistic outlooks after its acquisition by Binance, one of the world’s most prominent exchanges. Along with the recent appointment of Cho Young-joong as the new CEO of CityLabs, the company that acquired an 8.55% stake in Gopax, the exchange has been working on resolving regulatory issues and improving the state of operations.

The Ethereum Foundation is set to make a significant impact on the Southeast Asian Ethereum community as it announces Bangkok as the location for Devcon 7.Photo by Viktor Forgacs on UnsplashFocusing on Southeast AsiaThe Ethereum developer conference will be held in the Thai capital from Nov. 12 to 15. The decision signifies a broadened vision for the event, shifting from a city-focused approach to embracing the entire Southeast Asia region as the backdrop for this community gathering. To underscore the Foundation’s intent, it has renamed the event from Devcon 7 to "Devcon Southeast Asia." Expressing enthusiasm about the potential and rapid growth of the Ethereum community in Southeast Asia, the Ethereum Foundation sees the scheduling of Devcon 7 for 2024 as an opportunity to deeply engage with local communities, providing meaningful support and empowerment. This shift aims to make Devcon 7 a more inclusive and regionally focused event, aptly named "Devcon Southeast Asia" to highlight its broader reach and impact. There has already been a positive reaction from crypto community members in the region in response to the choice of Bangkok for the conference. Navaporn Nalita, the founder of Crypto City Connext in Thailand wrote that “Bangkok's collaborative ecosystem, welcomes Devcon 2024 with open arms (and open blockchains)! Thailand's vibrant dev scene is primed to ignite alongside the world's brightest minds.” In short order, community builders have been looking to make the most out of the opportunity. Aligning with crypto growth potentialAccording to the blog post published by the Ethereum Foundation outlining the announcement, the choice of Bangkok as the host city aligns with the region's crypto adoption growth. Countries like Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand have shown remarkable positions in the Global Crypto Adoption Index, underscoring the pivotal role of Southeast Asia in the global Ethereum landscape. To support Ethereum events, grassroots communities and educational initiatives in Southeast Asia, the Ethereum Foundation (EF) initiated the Road to Devcon (RTD) Grants round on June 29. This grant round is specifically aimed at individuals in Southeast Asia actively building communities, developing educational activities, and contributing to the growth of the Ethereum ecosystem. Encouraging smaller meet-ups over large events, the EF set the maximum grant at $1,000. The initiative aims to empower the Southeast Asian Ethereum community by providing support along the Road to Devcon. In a recent Chainalysis research report, Vietnam has emerged as the leader in cryptocurrency adoption within Southeast Asia, claiming the top spot in the region and ranking third globally in the Global Crypto Adoption Index for 2023. This index considers transaction volumes, protocols, web traffic patterns and factors like population size and purchasing power. The competition among Southeast Asian countries to establish themselves as crypto hubs is evident. Each nation adopts different regulatory approaches, with Singapore and Thailand implementing stricter measures. There has been a steady stream of Ethereum developer-centric conferences in recent years. 2022 featured EthDenver, Avax Barcelona, Devconnect Amsterdam, Devcon Bogota and EthSF (San Francisco). EthDenver, EthCC Paris and Devconnect Istanbul followed in 2023. As Devcon Southeast Asia approaches, the Ethereum Foundation anticipates fostering deeper connections and collaboration in this vibrant and evolving ecosystem. 

MEVerse and XPLA forge partnership to herald new era of blockchain gamingMEVerse, the blockchain metaverse platform operated by South Korean gaming company ME2ON Group, and global layer 1 blockchain XPLA have established a partnership to share their respective technologies and create content to popularize Web3 gaming, according to an official announcement on XPLA’s Medium on Wednesday (KST). Their larger goal outlines a commitment to redefining the industry’s landscape by creating a dynamic and engaging metaverse for users worldwide.Photo by Scott Graham on UnsplashHigh hopes“XPLA aims to broaden the horizons of the Web3 industry and contribute to the popularization of blockchain through collaboration with various projects. We plan to work closely with the MEVerse platform, which has secured a high-level lineup of Web3 games, to provide participants with an even richer experience,” said Paul Kim, Team Leader at XPLA.Seamless metaverse experienceMEVerse is known for leveraging its high-speed blockchain technology, which can process 9,000 transactions per second, to help users immerse themselves in the metaverse and enjoy the content it has to offer. Notably, it employs a Proof of Formulation (PoF) consensus algorithm developed by blockchain service platform FLETA — a more eco-friendly alternative to Proof of Work (PoW) that prevents forks by confirming blocks and transactions in real time. The platform also implements cross-chain technology to enhance scalability and interoperability.MEVerse’s blockchain infrastructure includes the Web3 P2E casual game portal MEVerse GameZ, non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace MEVerse DEX, blockchain explorer MEVerse Scan, and more. It also features games like X Heroes: NFT War and Pocket Battles: NFT War.This development is the newest partnership in XPLA’s growing lineup. The platform recently teamed up with Study-to-Earn (S2E) project EDUM and Game and Earn (G&E) platform PERPLAY in an effort to branch out its business.