Chinese Central Bank Official Emphasizes Need for Digital Yuan Retail Payments

SK Securities introduces fractional investment service with three partnersSK Securities, a major South Korean securities firm, announced on Friday (local time) that it has launched a service aimed at enabling fractional investments.Photo by Mathieu Stern on UnsplashReal estate, artworks and luxury goodsThis service involves three fractional investment companies: real estate platform Funble, online art auction house Seoul Auction Blue and luxury goods platform Treasurer.This offering represents the first phase of the fractional investment alliance, delivering a wide array of investment insights from these platforms. Funble presents details on housing subscriptions, special housing supplies and key real estate market indicators. Seoul Auction Blue provides analyses of the art market along with information on individual artworks. Additionally, Treasurer offers insights into an assortment of luxury collectibles, including fine wines. Customers of SK Securities can easily access this service through the company’s mobile trading system called Frequency 3.0.Second phase in H1 2024As part of the second phase, SK Securities is developing an API-integrated system designed to link with assets on these fractional investment platforms. This system is slated for launch in the first half of the upcoming year.An SK Securities spokesperson explained that the firm has rolled out this novel service to guide its clients through the emerging arena of fractional investments, while also enriching their investment options. Beginning with this offering, SK Securities aims to broaden its collaborative efforts with fractional investment entities. Furthermore, the firm is committed to advancing the security token ecosystem, which will involve channeling investments into blockchain startups and participating in security token consortiums.On a related note, SK Securities inked a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Woori Bank and Samsung Securities in September, targeting the development of business models for security tokens within the bounds of regulatory compliance.

EOS Granted Whitelist Approval by Japanese RegulatorsThe open-source layer-1 blockchain platform EOS has secured whitelist approval from the Japan Virtual and Crypto Asset Exchange Association (JVCEA).The EOS Network Foundation, an entity established with a view towards supporting and safeguarding the development of the EOS blockchain network, announced the approval via a blog post published to its website on Wednesday.EOS raised eyebrows with a staggering $4 billion initial coin offering (ICO) back in 2018. This approval will likely act as a shot in the arm for the project, given the period of relative stagnation that has followed the ICO.Photo by Paul MARSAN on UnsplashEOS price respondsThe approval paves the way for EOS to be traded against the Japanese yen, potentially opening up new avenues for the cryptocurrency’s adoption and utilization. The endorsement has had an immediate impact on the EOS token’s value, driving its price up by 5.54% over the course of the past seven days in a surge of market activity.At the time of writing, the EOS token is trading at $0.622 with an accompanying market capitalization of $696 million. This positive market response underscores the significance of regulatory greenlights in the cryptocurrency sphere.Mid-September trading launchThe Japanese Financial Service Authority (FSA) will oversee the regulation of EOS trading on local Japanese crypto exchange BitTrade, a well-established platform in the Japanese crypto space. The anticipated commencement of EOS token trading on BitTrade is slated for mid-September.The EOS development team is coming out the better end of its interaction with regulators in this instance. However, that hasn’t always been the case. In 2019 the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the United States fined technology company Block.one, which at that time was responsible for the EOS ICO. All things considered, the sanction was recognized by most in the crypto space as being very much on the lighter end.Fostering Web3 growthJapan’s crypto ecosystem has been actively seeking ways to integrate and foster the growth of the Web3 industry. Its regulators have been lauded more recently, given that Japanese customers of failed crypto platforms like FTX were protected from those failures due to regulatory rules that insisted upon crypto platforms ring-fencing and safeguarding user funds.There have also been several initiatives taken to collaborate with international regulators on developing regulatory standards relative to digital assets. Earlier this month, the Japanese Financial Accounting Standards Foundation (FASF) met with the Korea Accounting Institute (KAI) to work on establishing accounting standards for digital assets.Japan’s Financial Services Authority (FSA) is also participating in Singapore’s Project Guardian, an initiative driven by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to explore the potential of digital assets.Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s supportive stance on Web3, describing it recently as “the new form of capitalism,” further reinforces Japan’s ambitions to establish itself as a hub for cryptocurrency activities. This regulatory nod for EOS could potentially mark the beginning of a broader trend, attracting more projects and investments to the Japanese crypto sector.

South Korean digital marketing company FSN’s subsidiary Fingerlabs has been selected as a tenant of the city of Busan’s Blockchain Offshore Firm Development Center. The company confirmed that it moved in recently on Jan. 2.Photo by Héctor J. Rivas on UnsplashFostering growth and collaborationThe Blockchain Offshore Firm Development Center is part of a project conducted by the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) and the Ministry of Science and ICT and operated by Busan to create a special corporate cluster of blockchain firms, thus revitalizing the blockchain industry and nurturing a sustainable industrial ecosystem. "We are excited to be a new tenant at the Blockchain Offshore Firm Development Center,” said Kim Dong-hoon, CEO of Fingerlabs. “We will share our business know-how with other tenants and commit to joint growth. We will also actively participate in various programs provided by the center to contribute to Busan's leap into becoming a digital economy city." Various companies operating blockchain-related businesses outside of Busan were selected to be a part of the development center after a comprehensive overall evaluation of factors like technological facets, marketability and contributions to innovation. Corporate residents have access to various infrastructure and benefits, including facilities and programs at the Busan Blockchain Venture Convention, also dubbed “b-space”. Fingerlabs plans to participate in various programs led by the public sector such as councils, seminars and conferences to help Busan – notably the first regulation-free special zone for blockchain businesses in South Korea – foster its digital economy based on its expertise in the field of Web3.  Innovating Web3 solutionsFingerlabs has grown to become one of the country’s major blockchain companies through its varied services and products, which are provided to corporate clients like SK Planet, Lotte Home Shopping and SK Networks. In particular, it recently launched Bling, a participatory Web3 membership platform that allows businesses to create and manage NFTs that are linked to membership-only benefits. The company also operates a Web3 content distribution hub called Xclusive and Favorlet, an NFT wallet and customer management service.