XPLA to Bring The Walking Dead: All-Stars to Mainnet

Japanese crypto exchange DMM Bitcoin announced on Friday that over $300 million worth of Bitcoin was stolen from its primary wallet, marking one of the digital asset industry's largest hacks in recent years.Photo by Kanchanara on UnsplashHack confirmed without further detail"At approximately 1:26 p.m. on Friday, May 31, 2024, we detected an unauthorized leak of bitcoin from our wallet," the company stated, based on an English translation of its original statement in Japanese, which had been posted on the firm’s website. DMM Bitcoin is a subsidiary of DMM Group, which incorporates businesses covering a broad spectrum of activities including solar energy, gaming, 3D printers, FX, e-books and software. The company has, as yet, not provided any further detail relative to the manner in which the hack occurred. Notwithstanding that, DMM Bitcoin did confirm that measures have been taken to prevent any repeat of the hack. Furthermore, the company outlined that a full investigation into the hack is ongoing right now. Buy orders and leverage trades suspendedThe company has moved to reassure platform users that their digital assets are fully guaranteed. It stated: "Please rest assured that all of your bitcoin deposits will be fully guaranteed, as we will procure the equivalent amount of BTC that was leaked with support from our group companies."  The exchange has taken the decision to temporarily suspend a number of activities, including spot trading buy orders and the opening of leveraged trading positions. A temporary halt has been imposed on crypto withdrawals while Japanese yen withdrawals are permitted, albeit that the exchange suggests that service users may experience delays. Blockchain security sector responseIn light of the hack, a number of well-known blockchain security firms have been giving the matter their attention. Beosin, a blockchain security specialist, outlined that it is continuing to monitor the wallet addresses implicated in the hack, with a view towards tracing any further movement of the funds. Meanwhile, blockchain analysis firm Arkham Intelligence has offered a 1,000 ARKM token bounty to anyone who may provide information leading to the identification of the perpetrators of the hack. Blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis described the hack as “the 7th largest crypto hack ever.” The company has labeled the stolen funds within its products. Broader industry implications and historical contextThis hack is a significant blow to the industry, given that a hack on this scale has not occurred thus far in 2024 or at any point during 2023. The crypto industry has faced numerous significant breaches in the past. In 2022, a series of large-scale exploits targeted layer-1 blockchains, crypto exchanges and DeFi protocols. The largest hack amongst them implicated the BNB Chain (formerly Binance Smart Chain), which resulted in the loss of $566 million worth of BNB. The latest hack is second only (within Japan) in size relative to the 2018 hack of Coincheck, one of the country’s largest exchanges, when over $550 million worth of XEM was stolen. Japan was also host to the most infamous Bitcoin hack, that of the Mt. Gox exchange, whose bankruptcy administrators moved $9 billion worth of its remaining Bitcoin holdings on the blockchain in recent days for the first time in many years. 

Xangle and CryptoTimes partner to advance Web3 adoption in Korea and JapanXangle, a digital asset data research platform based in South Korea, announced Wednesday (local time) a collaboration with Japanese crypto media CryptoTimes with the goal of advancing the widespread adoption of Web3 technology.Photo by Shubham’s Web3 on UnsplashSharing translated reportsThe two platforms have agreed to translate and share each other’s industry analysis reports on their respective platforms. Through this partnership, they aim to bridge the gap between Korea and Japan in sharing Web3 strategies and regulatory updates, which previously faced challenges due to language barriers.As a first step in this joint effort, the Japanese translation of Xangle’s “Waiting for the Spring of Music NFTs: Industry Perceptions and Future Potential” and the Korean translation of CryptoTimes’ “Nike, Adidas and Puma’s Web3 Trend Comparison Report” were made accessible to their platform users on Nov. 27.In particular, Xangle’s reports will be featured in CryptoTimes’ research repository, CT Analysis. Through this, Xangle aims to reach a wider audience in Japan.Stronger communication between Korea and JapanJunwoo James Kim, co-CEO and co-founder of Xangle, shared his excitement regarding their collaboration with CryptoTimes, a renowned media outlet in Japan. He emphasized the significance of both Korea and Japan emerging as leading forces in the Web3 industry within Asia. Kim added that this partnership will foster stronger communication between the blockchain sectors of both nations, accelerating the widespread adoption of Web3.Discussing Web3 development, Kim outlined that we are currently in the third phase, centered around its widespread adoption. The first phase saw the birth of various ideas, while the second phase involved testing these concepts for viability.Shingo Arai, co-founder of Rokubunnoni, which operates CryptoTimes, emphasized that the trends in the Korean Web3 market are not just informational but serve as significant indicators. He noted that sharing reports is merely the beginning. Arai expressed their intent to continuously seek various collaboration opportunities with Xangle, aiming to close the information gap between Korea and Japan in the Web3 arena.

Phoenix Group adjusts public trading launch dateWhile experiencing a considerable over-subscription during its pre-market sale on Nov. 21, Dubai-headquartered crypto mining firm Phoenix Group has had to announce a slight delay to its initial public offering (IPO) on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX).Photo by David Rodrigo on UnsplashAccounting for the UAE holiday scheduleIn an announcement published on Tuesday, Phoenix Group revealed that it would list its shares on Dec. 5 instead of the initially planned Dec. 4. The adjustment is attributed to the public holidays declared for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) National Day, celebrated on Dec. 2. The day marks the formation of the UAE, and the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation has designated Dec. 2, 3 and 4 as public holidays for the private sector.“To honor this occasion and ensure comprehensive participation in the IPO, Phoenix Group PLC has rescheduled its listing date to December 5th, 2023,” the announcement states.IPO oversubscriptionAs advised by the company earlier this month, Phoenix Group achieved a successful closure of its IPO on Nov. 18, experiencing an over-subscription of 33 times the available share offering. The offering of 907,323,529 shares witnessed overwhelming demand, with retail investors oversubscribing 180 times and professional investors contributing to a 22-fold over-subscription.Discussions regarding the IPO launch in the UAE have been underway since at least July of this year, although public knowledge of the company’s intentions only became known in recent weeks.Speaking about the objective of the recent public listing, the company’s co-founders, Bijan Alizadeh and Munaf Ali, wrote:“Our aim is to be able to help create a more resilient, inclusive and diversified global blockchain economy, and this IPO is just the first step towards achieving that goal.”725MW mining capacityThe UAE-based mining operator is in the process of developing one of the largest mining facilities in the Middle East. Founded in 2016, the firm now manages 725MW of mining capacity globally, with facilities in the U.S., Canada, Europe and the Middle East.In August, it emerged that Phoenix is a key stakeholder in the development of a $300 million 150MW mining farm project which will be located at the Green Data City in the Omani capital, Muscat.Abu Dhabi-based conglomerate International Holding Company (IHC) acquired a ten percent stake in Phoenix in October. Co-founder Bijan Alizadeh is also a co-founder of M2, an Abu Dhabi-based cryptocurrency exchange that recently received a Multilateral Trading Facility and custodian license from the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM).IPO activityComing off the back of a bear market, IPO activity has been scarce within the crypto space recently. That said, it emerged recently that South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb is working towards an IPO which it hopes to complete in the second half of 2025. Meanwhile, Ripple Labs has delayed its IPO plans due to regulatory challenges the company is currently dealing with in the U.S. Earlier this month, it emerged that USDC stablecoin issuer, Circle, is looking to launch an IPO in 2024.As Phoenix Group readies itself for public trading, the adjusted launch date aligns with the company’s strategy to maximize participation and capitalize on the UAE’s crypto-friendly environment.