Metaplanet aims for 10K Bitcoin stockpile

HashKey Group, the operator of one of Hong Kong's two licensed crypto exchanges, declared its newfound unicorn status on Tuesday, having successfully raised nearly $100 million in a recent funding round.Photo by Markus Winkler on UnsplashSeries A funding roundThe term "unicorn" denotes privately held companies valued at $1 billion or more, reflecting the remarkable achievement for HashKey in the rapidly evolving crypto landscape. With a valuation now surpassing $1.2 billion, HashKey positions itself as a major player in the crypto space within East and Southeast Asia. It’s leveraging its activities that span trading platforms, venture funding, wealth management and asset management in key locations like Hong Kong and Singapore. Its Singapore arm was awarded a capital markets license by the local regulator in December. Undisclosed investorsThe fundraising initiative was first reported in May of last year and later announced by HashKey in August. It attracted contributions from both existing and new investors. While the company refrained from divulging specific investor names, it referred to them as "prominent institutional investors" and "leading Web3 institutions," signaling a mix of established entities and those already at the forefront of Web3 innovation. It was previously disclosed that the company has been backed by the support of OKX Ventures, the investment arm of the well-known OKX digital asset exchange. The funds secured will serve a dual purpose – fostering the development of a robust Web3 ecosystem and supporting licensed products in Hong Kong. HashKey's diverse business arms, including asset management, a blockchain node validation service, a tokenization service, and a Web3 incubation arm, are set to benefit from the fresh capital infusion. The allocation of funds towards these ventures aligns with HashKey's strategic vision to contribute significantly to the evolving crypto ecosystem. Hong Kong hubHong Kong, eager to establish itself as a digital asset hub, has been the backdrop for HashKey's growth. The city's dedicated virtual-asset regulatory framework, introduced in June, aims to attract companies while prioritizing investor protection. Under this framework, retail investors can trade major tokens such as Bitcoin and Ether on licensed exchanges, with HashKey Exchange and BC Technology Group Ltd.’s OSL currently leading the way. Despite the optimism surrounding Hong Kong's potential as a crypto hub, uncertainties linger. The city's ability to support multiple crypto exchanges and the long-term commitment of officials to the sector remain open questions, given its susceptibility to occasional scandals. Since commencing its retail trading service in late August, HashKey Exchange has garnered over 155,000 registered users. The platform's 24-hour spot trading volume is estimated at approximately $11 million, according to CoinMarketCap data as of this writing. While this figure may pale in comparison to Binance, the world's largest crypto platform, HashKey's focus on building a resilient and user-friendly ecosystem positions it as a strong contender in the crypto industry's ongoing evolution. The successful funding round and unicorn status attained by HashKey underscore the renewed optimism in the crypto venture capital landscape. Following a market slump in 2022 and various challenges faced by crypto startups, the recent resurgence in token prices has reignited hopes for a more favorable venture capital outlook.

WEMIX Foundation launches omnichain walletThe WEMIX Foundation, a subsidiary of South Korean blockchain gaming publisher Wemade, has officially launched the una Wallet, according to an official announcement on the company’s website on Thursday (KST). una Wallet is a core application of the Unbound Networking & Accelerating Growth Initiative, or “unagi,” the company’s newest innovative omnichain network and interoperable Web3 gaming platform.Photo by Shubham’s Web3 on UnsplashEasy asset managementThe wallet service offers a solution for users to conveniently earn, manage and trade their digital assets like NFTs and tokens on multiple blockchains — such as WEMIX3.0, Ethereum and Polygon — in one borderless place. The WEMIX Foundation said it would add more supported chains in the future.Effortless access and robust securityIn particular, una Wallet’s convenience and security stem from an easy login procedure utilizing connections to social media accounts and multi-party computation (MPC) technology. MPC is a cryptographic security measure that enables multiple parties to assess a computation without revealing their private information or data. This technology splits private keys, or mnemonic phrases, and allows users to easily recover their wallets through social login even if they lose their keys.The service also provides transaction route recommendations, allowing users to move or trade assets across chains with minimal costs or signature procedures. Subsequently, they can also view their transaction history on each chain and the movement of assets between different chains.WEMIX plans to add various features to make authentication and asset-tracking processes even easier. una Wallet is currently available on Google Play and the Apple App Store.

Monthly Active Users of Binance in South Korea Surpasses 230,000The monthly active user (MAU) count for the virtual asset exchange app Binance has surpassed 230,000 in South Korea, according to a recent analysis reported by local news outlet Etoday. This places Binance as the fourth-largest exchange in terms of user base, following more prominent local won-denominated exchanges Upbit, Bithumb, and Coinone.Photo by Vadim Artyukhin on UnsplashSoaring numbersAccording to data from the insights platform Mobile Index, the MAU for the Binance app in Korea averaged 230,965 users from February to July this year. Starting from 238,487 users in February, the number peaked at 240,000 in April, followed by a slight decrease to 219,010 in June and 215,743 in July. These figures significantly outpace the 131,799 average for Korbit and 36,123 for Gopax, recorded over the past six months.The abundance of users is also reflected in the app’s high trading volume in Korea. In May this year, Binance reportedly accounted for around $58.3 billion in trading volume from Korean users, representing approximately 13% of the total trading volume, according to the Wall Street Journal. This makes Korea the app’s second-largest market after China in terms of trading volume.These statistics are notable considering the fact that Binance does not support won-denominated trading nor has a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) license for Korean operations. They can thus be attributed to the availability of futures trading, which is not offered by local exchanges. According to the Journal, futures trading accounts for 98% of the transactions conducted by Korean users.Regulatory validationMoreover, Binance is registered on the travel rule whitelists of three of the country’s largest exchanges: Upbit, Bithumb, and Coinone. This travel rule regulation was put into effect last year, requiring financial institutions to share data on cryptocurrency transactions.Being whitelisted means that users of the aforementioned exchanges can easily make trades on Binance after completing Know Your Customer (KYC) identification procedures.Each exchange follows its own criteria to add virtual asset service providers to its whitelist, allowing only whitelisted entities to send and receive transactions.Industry experts claim that this is yet another depiction of just how lucrative Korea’s crypto market is, as is the case with the significant trading volumes recorded by domestic exchanges. This is likely driving the active efforts of foreign exchanges, including Binance, to penetrate the market.Binance’s ongoing regulatory challengesEarlier this year, Binance acquired a majority stake in Streami, the operator of Korea’s KRW-to-crypto exchange Gopax, aiming to solidify its presence in the Korean market. Following this acquisition, Streami underwent leadership transitions that saw Lee Joon-haeng step down, making way for Binance’s APAC head Leon Sing Foong. Subsequently, the leadership baton was passed to Lee Joong-hoon, the former Vice President of Gopax.For these shifts in leadership, Streami submitted reports to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) under the Korean Financial Services Commission (FSC) to inform the regulatory body about changes in company representatives. However, despite these notifications, the financial regulator has not yet granted its approval, likely influenced by the ongoing legal challenges Binance is facing in multiple jurisdictions, including that of the United States.In a seeming effort to address this regulatory impasse, Streami has recently decided to undergo yet another change in its CEO position. This marks the third leadership alteration within a span of six months. Meanwhile, the identity of the incoming CEO is yet to be disclosed.Oscillating trends of growth and declineIn related news, Mobile Index also reported that Upbit had the highest MAU among virtual asset exchange apps in Korea. From February to July, Upbit averaged an MAU count of 3,280,746, surpassing the 1,005,432 average for Bithumb, marking a threefold difference. Coinone’s average MAU during this period was calculated at 316,277.However, over the same six-month period, all won-denominated exchanges except for Korbit experienced a decline in MAU. Gopax witnessed a 22.3% drop from 42,556 users in February to 33,059 users in July. This was followed by 20%, 14.8%, and 6.8% declines for Coinone, Bithumb, and Upbit, respectively. Binance also experienced a 9.5% dip.In contrast, Korbit saw a 16.5% increase, rising from 118,816 MAU in February to 131,799 in July.