KODA’s crypto assets in custody surpass $6B

Taiwan police uncover $320M crypto money laundering operationTaiwan police have recently exposed the largest cryptocurrency money laundering case in the nation’s history, involving 320 million USDT (approximately 10.5 billion New Taiwan dollars).Photo by DrawKit Illustrations on UnsplashCross-border laundering operationIt emerged on Tuesday that the Electronic Investigation Team of the Criminal Bureau initiated their probe after uncovering a fraudulent scheme related to a counterfeit Taishin Securities mobile software last year. This led them to a merchant with the surname Qiu, the alleged mastermind behind this operation who was suspected of laundering substantial sums through virtual currency.Qiu is believed to have maintained connections with overseas gambling and fraud groups, engaging in cross-border communication with illicit organizations in countries including Hong Kong, Malaysia and the Philippines.Their investigation revealed that Qiu had been conducting transactions involving 320 million Tether US dollar stablecoins since February of the previous year. In June, law enforcement apprehended Qiu during one of his visits to Taiwan, along with four alleged accomplices.High value goodsDuring the operation, authorities seized high-value assets from Qiu, including a Lamborghini Urus, a Lexus LM and three Audemars Piguet watches, with a combined market value exceeding TWD 13 million. The lavish lifestyle maintained by Qiu, evident from his luxury cars and high-end watches, serves as a stark reminder of the extensive underground economy driven by money laundering.Evidence from the operation suggested Qiu’s involvement in handling illicitly obtained Tether coins worth approximately TWD 70 million. Further investigations uncovered that Qiu regularly sold virtual currency and converted it into cash to effectively obscure the money’s origins, accomplishing the goal of laundering.In piecing the activities of the group together, police determined that victims were instructed to transfer their funds to fictitious accounts. In that way, the money found its way to crypto exchanges and individual crypto traders under the direction and control of the group.Qiu would also retain a 1% profit margin from the laundered amount. Several other individuals were implicated in this extensive operation, including a foreign affairs officer named Liao and two other individuals named Chen and Huang. Each of these individuals is presently under investigation, with varying levels of bail and restrictions imposed.The intricate web of transactions and the substantial amount laundered by Qiu have surpassed previous records held by the Electronic Investigation Team. As investigations continue, law enforcement is determined to uncover the full extent of this operation and trace the entirety of the money flow.Taiwan’s legislators are currently working on producing a regulatory framework for crypto in the country. The only regulatory aspect that is covered right now is oversight relative to anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) regulation. In 2018 Yang Chin-long, Taiwan’s central bank Governor, called for a need to regulate crypto on the basis of existing AML rules, with the authorities subsequently following through on that measure.In July 2022, the country’s Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) penned a letter to the banking sector, banning the purchase of digital assets via credit cards.

Blockchain and fintech company Dunamu has decided to release videos and presentations from the Upbit D Conference (UDC) 2023 — one of the biggest blockchain events in the country this year — for free on the official UDC YouTube channel, as stated in an official press release on Tuesday (KST). According to the company, it aims to support and revitalize the blockchain industry by making the content publicly available, although the offline event had an admission fee.Photo by Andrei Stratu on UnsplashExpert insightsNow in its sixth year, UDC has evolved into a comprehensive conference covering not only technology, but policies, finance and culture as well. Touting the slogan “All That Blockchain,” this year’s event brought together 39 local and international experts to present an in-depth vision of the trajectory of the blockchain industry. The conference featured a series of sessions led by key industry figures such as Matt Sorg, Head of Technology at the Solana Foundation; Roger Ver, founder of Bitcoin.com; and Oh Se-hyeon, Executive Vice President of SK Telecom, who spoke on various topics like AI, blockchain and Web3. Active online participationThis year’s UDC was also the first to be held both on and offline in a hybrid format to expand access for a bigger audience. The offline event was held at the Grand Walkerhill Seoul hotel on Nov. 13 and was streamed via YouTube. It attracted a record number of online visitors, with more than 100,000 total views on the livestream and up to 10,000 viewers watching at once. The online sessions featured guests like Laura Shi, Head of International Expansion at Consensys, who explained the convenience of using digital asset wallets for managing digital asset transactions. In addition, Pacman Blur, Core Contributor at Blur, touched on the future of NFTs and their role in Web3 ecosystems. A summary of the conference’s events and discussions can be found in the UDC 2023 Report, which is available in both Korean, English and Chinese on the UDC website. “We hope that content from UDC 2023 will bring knowledge and vision of blockchain to more people,” the company said.UDC has become increasingly popular since its inception, with more than 23,100 attendees participating over the last six years. All of the videos from this year’s conference have racked up a cumulative view count of 1.28 million as of November.

India Blockchain Week (IBW) 2024 was held on Dec. 4-5 in Bangalore with venture capital and blockchain advisory firm Hashed Emergent presenting a report at the event, with positive findings with regard to India’s Web3 sector. Titled “India's Web3 Landscape 2024 Report,” the research was presented at IBW 2024 by Hashed Emergent Senior Associate Sharanya Sahai. Photo by Asif Methar on PexelsGlobal frontrunnerThe report claims that the Web3 ecosystem in India has risen to the point where it is a global frontrunner when its progress is measured against Web3 development internationally. A broad network of Web3 startups has emerged, comprising of over 1,000 fledgling businesses.  Those enterprises are being supported in India by global investment, with Indian Web3 businesses having secured funding in excess of $3 billion since 2020. Taking a more recent snapshot, the report outlines that from January to September 2024, Indian Web3 startups received investment funding to the tune of $462 million, an 82% growth compared with the same period last year. These startups are spread across finance, infrastructure and entertainment niches within Web3, although the study found that the bulk of investment funding was placed with Web3 infrastructure businesses.  Home to 12% of Web3 developersHashed Emergent claims that India is home to 12% of the global pool of Web3 developers, second in the rankings on this metric with the greatest number of such developers living in the United States. However, the report maintains that India is in line to surpass the U.S. relative to the Web3 developer metric by 2027. The world’s most populous country also has strength and depth in terms of Web3 founders. It ranks third globally in terms of the overall size of its Web3 founder base. The Hashed Emergent report suggests that Indian founders, accounting for 5.4% of global Web3 startups, are responsible for driving growth in India relative to AI, decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN) and scaling solution projects. Stand-out examples of Indian Web3 enterprises include exchange platforms CoinSwitch, WazirX and CoinDCX, crypto developer integration toolkit provider Transak, blockchain scaling platform Polygon, blockchain-based AI startup Sentient and blockchain protocol Biconomy. Hashed Emergent singled out Sentient and Web3 infrastructure platform Avail Network as projects which have showcased “India’s growing influence in decentralized technologies” in 2024. Adoption challengesThe report points to what Hashed Emergent terms as “an undeniable picture of India’s dominance in global crypto adoption.” That finding falls in line with a report produced by Chainalysis earlier this year, establishing India as the global leader in crypto adoption according to data it compiled.  However, in an opinion piece written by Mithil Thakore recently, an Indian co-founder and CEO of Dubai-based Velar, a Bitcoin liquidity protocol, Thakore claims that there is a disconnect between such metrics and the reality of adoption on the ground in India. In the case of the Chainalysis adoption index, the Velar CEO suggests that a “mirage of adoption” is presented, with massive signup numbers not translating into tangible active participation in the market.  While adoption rates are high, he feels that a greater level of active participation is being prevented due to what he terms as an “ambiguous” stance on cryptocurrencies by the Indian government. Regulatory ambiguity puts uncertainty in the minds of investors, holding back the industry’s growth, Thakore claims.