Klaytn and Incheon City’s NFT Project Set to Bring Blockchain to the Public

Dunamu, the operator of South Korea’s leading crypto exchange Upbit, announced today that it launched a new crypto price tracking service, Bitcoin-Ethereum Duo Index (Duo Index). The news was reported by the local media outlet Etoday.  The service tracks the two most prominent tokens, Bitcoin and Ethereum, each being the top performer and the runner-up in terms of market capitalization in the crypto asset market. It is a strategy index that equally weights Bitcoin and Ethereum, with their holding ratio updated to 1:1 every month. The weightings of the two cryptocurrencies in the index are subject to an adjustment factor, which is based on their prices. The BTC-ETC Duo Index is currently available on the Upbit Cryptocurrency Index (UBCI) website. Photo by Markus Winkler on UnsplashThe Federal Reserve’s approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs in January has drawn significant attention from many investors, driving up the prices not only of Bitcoin but also Ethereum. Dunamu explained that this heightened interest surrounding Bitcoin and Ethereum is the reason behind its launch of the Duo Index. New tool to boost crypto portfolio’s performance Referencing the Duo Index can help investors estimate their own crypto assets portfolios and boost their performances based on the indicators it offers, including the winning rate of the two coins combined.   The current winning rate of the Duo Index stands at over 58%, which is three percentage points higher than that of the Upbit Market Index (UBMI), which tracks not only Bitcoin and Ethereum but also other altcoins. The high winning rate of the Duo Index demonstrates the bullish sentiment surrounding the two top coins. A Dunamu official stated that the company will continue to keep up with the crypto market trend and further release other strategy indices that would serve the emerging needs of the investors.  

Rotonda Launches iOS Version of Web3 Bithumb Burrito WalletRotonda, a subsidiary of Korean crypto exchange Bithumb, said Monday that it has officially released the iOS version of its Web3 digital wallet, Bithumb Burrito Wallet. This comes as part of the company’s efforts to make the app available for Web3 users on all operating systems.Photo by Shubham’s Web3 on UnsplashBoosted accessibilityRotonda has recently expanded the number of mainnets supported on the wallet to a total of 11 in order to enhance the accessibility of the service as well. Plans are underway to continuously improve features and build a user-friendly experience and interface.“By expanding our iOS-based services, we expect more users to be able to experience the new Web3 ecosystem,” the company said. “We will continuously enhance necessary features on Burrito Wallet for our users and strengthen competitiveness as a global service.”Collaborative eventThe company is also holding a two-part promotional event to mark the latest release in collaboration with ROACORE, an art tech platform created by ROALAND Foundation that allows non-fungible token (NFT) trading and NFT-based service experiences for artists and consumers. Users of the platform can participate in various Web3 experiences such as content consumption and offline events by using the native token ROA CORE (ROA).For the first part of the promotion, the first 10,000 users who sign up for Burrito Wallet and add the ROA token will receive 10 ROA tokens.The second part is a Learn-To-Earn (L2E) activity aimed at introducing ROACORE to users in a more engaging manner. Both new and existing wallet users can partake in a quiz after learning about ROACORE on the app. Four ROA tokens will be given to the first 5,000 participants.This promotional event will run from now until September 3. All reward tokens will be airdropped to winners, Rotonda said.Upcoming eventsRotonda is also set to co-host Next Block 2023 — a conference for exploring new business collaboration opportunities in building a new ecosystem for Web3 projects — with Bithumb META, Bithumb’s metaverse subsidiary on September 4.

Kbank’s Upbit Customer Deposits Total $2.2BKbank, an internet-only bank in South Korea, is facing criticism due to its relatively high proportion of cryptocurrency customer deposits compared to other banks. Kbank reportedly manages approximately KRW 3 trillion (equivalent to $2.2 billion) in deposits from customers of cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, which accounts for about 18% of its total customer deposits.This percentage stands out, being notably higher than other banks that provide accounts to the other four crypto-to-fiat exchanges in Korea. That is according to a report by Maeil Business Newspaper, which obtained documents submitted to lawmaker Kim Hee-gon by the Financial Services Commission (FSC).According to Korean law, crypto exchanges must secure real-name bank accounts from banks to offer crypto trading services against the Korean won. Kbank offers its accounts to Upbit, the dominant player in the Korean crypto market.Photo by David McBee on PexelsNotable exposure to crypto exchangeThe FSC documents showed that Kbank’s Upbit customer deposits totaled KRW 3.09 trillion, making up 18% of its total deposits, which amount to KRW 17.2 trillion.In a striking contrast, Nonghyup Bank had 0.2% of its deposits, equivalent to KRW 557.8 billion, in Bithumb, which is the nation’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange. Kakaobank, another internet-only bank, had 0.3% (KRW 112.2 billion) of its deposits in Coinone. Shinhan Bank held 0.01% (KRW 43 billion) in Korbit, and Jeonbuk Bank had a similarly small 0.02% (KRW 4.2 billion) in Gopax.Lawmaker Kim pointed out that Kbank has become a bank dedicated to crypto trading. Kim proposed that financial authorities take proactive measures to assess the potential risks that may emerge when Kbank utilizes Upbit customer deposits as a basis for offering credit loans. Such risky financial practices could potentially result in higher loan defaults and the emergence of a greater number of individuals with poor credit histories, which could ultimately jeopardize the stability of the financial market.Regulatory gapThe current Financial Transaction Reporting Act mandates that virtual asset service providers (VASPs) segregate customer deposits from their own assets as a measure to combat money laundering. However, it has been noted that there are regulatory gaps stemming from the absence of specific guidelines for the custody of these deposits.According to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), Nonghyup and Kakaobank store deposits in separate accounts within the bank. On the other hand, Kbank and Jeonbuk Bank keep deposits in corporate accounts under their respective exchange partners’ names.When deposits are stored in separate accounts within the bank, only the bank has access to those funds, and they are essentially operated in a manner similar to a trust, preventing the bank from using the funds arbitrarily. In contrast, funds held in corporate accounts can be used by the bank as a source for lending. Lawmaker Kim warned that in scenarios such as exchange bankruptcies or similar situations, banks holding customer funds in corporate accounts could face difficulties in ensuring customer protection.Each of these banks receives reserve funds from crypto exchanges in anticipation of potential compensation requirements in the event of unforeseen losses. The FSS states that as of the end of last month, the reserve amounts held by each bank were as follows: Kbank had KRW 200 billion, Nonghyup Bank had KRW 100 billion, Kakao Bank had KRW 73 billion, and both Shinhan Bank and Jeonbuk Bank had KRW 30 billion.Kbank’s Upbit customer deposits are approximately 72 times larger than Shinhan Bank’s Korbit customer deposits. However, the reserve amounts held by Kbank are only 6.7 times greater than those held by Shinhan. Lawmaker Kim emphasized the importance of banks maintaining reserve funds that are proportional to the customer deposits held in their partner crypto exchanges.Signs of recoveryMeanwhile, the Korean cryptocurrency industry, which faced a downturn in the latter half of last year due to events like the Terra collapse and FTX’s bankruptcy, has exhibited signs of recovery in the first half of this year.The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of the FSC recently reported that the cryptocurrency market cap in South Korea has reached KRW 28.4 trillion as of the end of June this year. This reflects a 46% increase compared to the end of last year when it stood at KRW 19.4 trillion. Additionally, the total operating profit of domestic exchanges surged by 82% to KRW 227.3 billion over the past six months, compared to the previous figure of KRW 124.9 billion.The total market’s max drawdown (MDD) was 62%. MDD assesses the extent to which an asset has declined in value from its highest point to its lowest point within a specific time frame, before experiencing a recovery. The FIU considers this MDD to be high, urging investor caution.