DBS Bank pilots government grants on blockchain

U.S. regulator, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), has fined Seychelles-headquartered crypto prime brokerage Falcon Labs as part of an overall settlement with the company.  The CFTC had found that the company had operated as an unregistered futures commission merchant (FCM) and furthermore, that it had enabled access to digital asset exchanges without the requisite registration.Photo by Joshua Hoehne on UnsplashSettlement termsIn a press release published to its website on May 13, the CFTC set out the nature of its settlement with Falcon Labs. The parties have agreed that Falcon Labs must discontinue its activities in acting as an unregistered FCM, with particular emphasis on it having provided U.S. individuals with access to digital asset derivatives trading.  Furthermore a fine of $1,179,008 has been applied in disgorgement and in addition, Falcon will have to pay a civil monetary penalty of $589,504. These penalties have been significantly reduced by comparison with the CFTCs original ask, on the basis that Falcon Labs cooperated fully with the CFTC’s Division of Enforcement over the course of the regulator’s investigative process into the activities of the company. In its statement the regulator set out its intent relative to enforcement going forward. Ian McGinley, the CFTC’s Director of Enforcement, stated:”The CFTC is taking the fight one step further by, for the first time, charging an intermediary that inappropriately facilitated access to those exchanges. Today’s action highlights that the CFTC will not hesitate to charge any entities—exchanges or intermediaries—who are providing customers access to digital asset products and services that require registration but have failed to appropriately register.” McGinley added that “the CFTC’s enforcement program has made clear it will not tolerate digital asset exchanges that fail to register with the CFTC or comply with the agency’s rules that maintain integrity in the derivatives markets.” No admission of guiltIn responding to the CFTCs original complaint, Falcon Labs tried to up the ante in terms of compliance. It moved to improve customer identification controls. As a consequence of its market position as a trading intermediary Falcon Labs enabled customer trading on a number of digital asset exchange platforms.  That activity included facilitating U.S.-based institutional customers relative to crypto derivatives trading. It allowed its own account with various digital asset trading platforms to be used, through a system of sub-accounts, by its customers, oftentimes without adequate customer information having been sought. In reaching this settlement with the CFTC Falcon Labs has not made any admission of guilt relative to the regulator’s findings. Alongside paying the agreed upon fines, it will voluntarily agree to adhere to the implementation of improved controls and to withhold its services from user groups that are deemed to be restricted, including all U.S. nationals. Taking to the X social media platform to comment on the matter, Mike Sellig, a partner at New York-based law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher, claimed that the settlement demonstrated that the CFTC was following in the footsteps of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), establishing “a body of widely applicable precedent.”

The global version of Night Crows, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by South Korean game company Wemade, officially launched yesterday, as announced in the company’s press release.  Night Crows Global is currently available across 170 countries, except for South Korea and China. Players can experience the game on mobile and PC in nine languages including English, Japanese and Thai. Photo by Nik Shuliahin 💛💙 on UnsplashPowered by Unreal Engine 5, Night Crows Global maximizes visual performance by delivering highly realistic lighting and shadow effects. The game is set in 13th-century Europe and merges history and fantasy, offering an intriguing in-game universe. Players can enjoy intense battles backed by cutting-edge graphics. They can choose their weapons from four class types –  one-handed sword, staff, two-handed sword and bow – and explore various content including a Unified Exchange.  Tokenomics and character NFTs powered by blockchain technology Night Crows Global implements multi-tokenomics to tokenize a total of seven types of in-game items and adopts character NFTs, which compresses game character data into easily identifiable attributes.  These character NFTs can be exchanged for the game’s main token, CROW, within the WEMIX PLAY blockchain gaming platform, connecting the in-game and real-world economies. In addition, the omnichain network strategy enhances user accessibility, enabling users of other blockchain networks connected to Wemade’s WEMIX3.0 ecosystem to play the game with ease.  Meanwhile, Night Crows has already demonstrated its popularity before the global launch. Since its initial launch in April last year in Korea, the game topped mobile game sales on Google Play and App Store, the two most prominent mobile app markets in the country. Upcoming in-game events In celebration of the global launch, Night Crows Global holds various in-game events for up to four weeks. The month-long celebration comprises a check-in event “Festival 1: Answer to the Call,” a mission event “Festival 2: Birth of a New Member” and a ranking event “Festival 3: News from the Night Crow Perch.” By completing these events, players will be rewarded with various items such as “Dawn’s Lustrous Weapon Style Summon.”  Wemade CEO Henry Chang expressed his excitement about the global launch, saying that Night Crows Global will be able to capture global audiences’ attention by offering new omnichain experiences and high-quality multi-tokenomics. He added that Night Crows Global’s success will revitalize not only WEMIX PLAY but also spur the overall growth of the WEMIX mainnet ecosystem.  

Terraform Money Trail Leads to Swiss BankAuthorities in both South Korea and the United States continue to advance their investigations into Terraform Labs, the Singapore-based company behind collapsed algorithmic stablecoin Terra USD (TUSD) and its South Korean CEO, Do Kwon, with the latest developments involving transfers made to a Swiss bank.©Pexels/Robert StokoeFollowing the moneyIn a lawsuit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the United States in February, the Commission claimed that Do Kwon and his company Terraform Labs transferred 10,000 Bitcoin to a Swiss bank. It now appears that the bank in question is digital asset banking specialist, Sygnum Bank.It’s understood that Do Kwon converted a large proportion of that Bitcoin into cash. According to Finbold, the Financial Securities Crime Joint Investigation Division at the Seoul Southern District Prosecutor’s Office has disclosed that it is following the digital asset trail to Switzerland in an effort to secure associated funds.LFG fundsThe funds are believed to have belonged to the LUNA Foundation Guard (LFG), an entity that was established with the objective of building reserves and safeguarding the USD peg of the Terra USD algorithmic stablecoin during volatile market conditions.Roughly 130 billion won, or $100 million, is being pursued, between digital assets and cash held within various Sygnum accounts. South Korean authorities had previously indicated that they were investigating transfers made by Do Kwon to a prominent Korean law firm. Earlier this week, they charged ten individuals connected to Terraform Labs with various offenses.During the press conference in which those charges were brought, the Seoul Southern District Prosecutor’s Office stated:”We have also confirmed that $100 million has been used in several places, not left in the Sygnum account as it is, and some transfers have been made to the Kim & Chang law firm account (at the attorney’s expense) and the remaining amount is about billions of won.”International complexityThis recent phase in the investigation is revealing the international nature of the case and the complexity that brings with it. Authorities in the United States and South Korea have submitted requests to have certain Sygnum Bank accounts frozen. Do Kwon and Terraform Labs are trying through the courts to have the SECs involvement dismissed on the basis that Terraform was a Singaporean company and Do Kwon a South Korean national, and on that basis they claim that the SEC lacks jurisdiction.Sygnum, being a Swiss entity will have to abide by what Swiss authorities instruct it to do relative to the Terraform-related funds held in accounts with the bank. Sygnum told Finbold that it couldn’t comment on whether it had received requests to freeze assets.The bank stated: “We can communicate that after the collapse of Terra in May 2022, on the basis of an official court order, Sygnum transferred more than 70% of the Bitcoin-sale FIAT proceeds into the escrow account of an international and to other reputable law firms.” It added that no Swiss or foreign authority has accused Sygnum of any wrongdoing.