Credit Saison launches $50M blockchain fund, deepening push into emerging markets

Alchemic Investment and Nanuhm Angels Collaborate to Boost Web3 and Blockchain InvestmentsKorean deep tech investment firm Alchemic Investments announced that it has entered into a partnership with venture capital firm Nanuhm Angels to enhance investments in blockchain, Web3, artificial intelligence, and deep tech.Photo by Precondo CA on UnsplashInvesting in the future of Web3 in KoreaThe two firms will work with the city of Incheon — a metropolitan city located near the nation’s capital of Seoul — to discover promising Web3 companies while strategically investing in and nurturing startups that aspire to innovate existing businesses using blockchain technology.They will also participate in Incheon’s roadmap for fostering blockchain businesses after Incheon Technopark’s blockchain company acceleration program kicks off this year. This program supplies Incheon-based startups and small companies with the resources required to grow their blockchain businesses, thereby establishing Incheon as a blockchain hub.“Just as Japan and Hong Kong are leading the Web3 market in Asia, many Korean startups are also likely to emerge as leaders of the market once a legal foundation is established in the country,” said Min Kyung-man, CEO of Alchemic Investments.“We plan to support global expansion through our network with major overseas companies and institutions that highly value Korea’s growth potential in leading the technologies of the future.”About Alchemic InvestmentsAlchemic Investments was established in March of this year and invests in areas such as Web3, fintech, and AI. Housing seasoned professionals in asset management and strategic investment in major corporations, the company is currently in the process of recruiting investors to establish its first fund, aiming for a funding scale of 30 billion KRW (approximately $22.7 million).About Nanuhm AngelsNanuhm Angels works with partners who have experience in managing funds worth 110 billion KRW, as well as acceleration experts skilled in business model validation and refinement and investor relations. Its investment portfolio consists of companies such as Rezi, Onthelook, and NS Studio.It is also an operator of the aforementioned Incheon Technopark blockchain company acceleration program along with a consortium consisting of Web3 gaming studio Ret Games and on-chain risk rating solution developer Undefined Labs.

Do Kwon, a South Korean national and the central figure in the 2022 collapse of the Terra blockchain ecosystem, was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Dec. 11, capping a federal case that exposed a multibillion-dollar scheme built on false promises and secret market manipulation. According to a U.S. Department of Justice press release, District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer handed down the sentence in Manhattan federal court, finding that the 34-year-old orchestrated a scheme that inflicted substantial losses on both retail and institutional investors.Photo by Tingey Injury Law Firm on Unsplash"This was a fraud on an epic, generational scale. In the history of federal prosecutions, there are few frauds that have caused as much harm as you have, Mr. Kwon," Engelmayer said, according to Reuters. Kwon, who was extradited to the U.S. in December 2024 following his arrest in Montenegro, pleaded guilty in August. Addressing the court, he acknowledged the devastation caused by the collapse. "All of their stories were harrowing and reminded me again of the great losses that I’ve caused. I want to tell these victims that I am sorry," Kwon said. A house of cardsAccording to court filings, Kwon’s deception ran from 2018 through 2022, misleading investors regarding the stability of the algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD (UST), the LUNA token, and the independence of the Luna Foundation Guard. Prosecutors outlined a pattern of fabrication across Terraform’s products. When UST lost its $1 peg in May 2021, Kwon claimed an automated "Terra Protocol" restored balance. In reality, investigators found the company secretly utilized a high-frequency trading firm to prop up the price, creating a "false impression" of the system’s resilience. The fraud extended to Terraform’s partnerships and applications. Investigators said Kwon lied about the South Korean payments platform Chai, claiming its transactions were settled on the Terra blockchain. Instead, Chai used traditional payment networks, with Terraform simply copying data to the blockchain to feign integration. Similarly, Kwon allegedly manipulated the Mirror Protocol, a platform for synthetic stock trading. While touting it as decentralized, prosecutors said he used bots, funded by stablecoins he created, to inflate volume and manipulate asset prices. The collapse and captureBy spring 2022, the ecosystem’s value exceeded $50 billion. However, when UST broke its peg again in May 2022, Terraform could not artificially restore it. The resulting crash erased at least $40 billion in value and triggered a contagion across digital-asset markets. While Kwon publicly claimed cooperation with authorities during the fallout, prosecutors introduced recordings suggesting he privately explored seeking political protection to avoid accountability. He was eventually arrested in Montenegro in March 2023 for traveling on a fraudulent passport. In addition to the prison term, Judge Engelmayer ordered Kwon to forfeit over $19 million, including interests in Terraform and its digital assets. The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) with assistance from Montenegrin and South Korean authorities. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a separate civil action. Global crackdown widensWhile the U.S. concludes the Kwon case, scrutiny of the crypto sector is intensifying abroad. DL News, citing the Belarusian outlet Onliner, reported that Belarusian authorities have blocked access to digital asset trading platforms Bybit, Bitget, and OKX. The Ministry of Information cited the Mass Media Act for the decision, though KuCoin and Binance remain accessible. The step contrasts with President Alexander Lukashenko’s earlier support for developing a national crypto reserve and mining sector. Meanwhile, the Belarusian arm of Russia’s Sputnik reported that State Control Committee chairman Vasily Gerasimov recently put in place a record system identifying wallets authorities suspect are used for criminal money laundering. 

Disagreement has emerged within the Bitcoin blockchain community, revolving around the BRC-20 token standard. Domo, the pseudonymous developer behind the creation of the token standard, has publicly expressed his opposition to an upcoming upgrade proposed by the Hong Kong headquartered project, UniSat Wallet.Photo by Kanchanara on UnsplashDue diligence concernsOn Tuesday Domo took to the X social media platform (previously Twitter) to articulate his concerns. He voiced apprehensions about hastily implementing updates in BRC-20, asserting that such a rush could potentially harm the broader BRC-20 user community. Domo's resistance is rooted in his belief that UniSat Wallet's proposed updates lack due diligence and are being introduced precipitously without considering potential repercussions. He wrote:”Recognizing the serious implications and valuations involved, I believe rushing these updates in BRC20 is reckless, disregards their peer indexers, and could potentially harm the broader community of BRC20 users.” ‘Split’ rather than ‘fork’Conversely, UniSat Wallet has declared its intention to “follow the Ordinals Jubilee upgrade, to confirm that BRC-20 is still on Ordinals without splitting into an isolated protocol." Described as a "split" rather than a "fork," UniSat Wallet's approach adapts to the Ordinals Jubilee upgrade, a transformative change in how the Bitcoin blockchain manages tokenized assets. In mapping the way forward its proposing to take, UniSat outlined that it would publish a whitepaper on Jan. 31, describing it as “the most significant present we are able to deliver” for BRC-20, Ordinals and Bitcoin. The crux of the matter lies in the method and pace of implementing these changes. Domo's concerns reflect a broader sentiment within the crypto community, where the rapid pace of advancements often collides with the need for stability and thorough vetting. UniSat Wallet's proposed changes, though innovative, may be viewed as potentially destabilizing by certain community members, especially those deeply entrenched in the current BRC-20 standard. Striking a balanceThis development is pivotal, highlighting the dynamic and occasionally contentious nature of blockchain technology and cryptocurrency standards. Web3 project incubator and investor TrustlessLabs summed up the matter in a social media post on Wednesday, drawing the following conclusions:”This situation encapsulates a critical challenge in blockchain protocol development: finding the right balance between preserving stability and embracing technological advancements.” As technology evolves, divergent opinions on the trajectory of these advancements are inevitable. The ongoing debate between Domo and UniSat Wallet serves as a microcosm of the larger conversations transpiring in the crypto space about how to strike the right balance between progress and stability. The BRC-20 token standard, an experimental fungible token standard on Bitcoin, draws inspiration from Ethereum's ERC-20 standard. It allows the creation of fungible tokens using Bitcoin’s Ordinals protocol, constituting a significant breakthrough in cryptocurrency by enabling novel forms of tokenization on the Bitcoin blockchain. This disagreement not only spotlights a critical debate in the crypto realm but also emphasizes the delicate equilibrium between innovation and stability.