Tether Alters ToS in Singapore Restricting USDT Redemption

Almost 60K Korean Crypto-Holding Households Owe $389M in Unpaid Social Insurance PremiumsThe National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) in South Korea is intensifying its efforts to collect overdue premiums. Many high-income individuals who can afford to pay premiums for social insurance, including health insurance, have been neglecting their dues.Photo by Hush Naidoo Jade Photography on UnsplashVirtual assets for seizureAccording to the documents submitted on October 18 by the NHIS to lawmaker Jung Choun-sook, a member of the National Assembly’s Health and Welfare Committee, the NHIS is actively identifying a range of assets, including copyrights and virtual assets, that can be seized from these individuals. The NHIS aims to recover overdue premiums through stringent measures such as confiscation and government auctions. This move is designed to deter high-income earners from neglecting their obligations, ensuring fairness for those who consistently pay their premiums.Almost 60,000 crypto-holding householdsThis year, the NHIS discovered that 59,513 households, despite owning virtual assets, had outstanding social insurance premiums amounting to KRW 525 billion ($389 million). The NHIS has initiated collection efforts. In 2021, the insurance agency identified 5,336 households with virtual assets that had unpaid social insurance premiums totaling KRW 62.2 billion. Of this, the NHIS successfully collected KRW 6.92 billion, representing 11.13% of the total arrears.On this matter, lawmaker Jung highlighted that the government should strive to bolster the NHIS’s financial health. She underscored the importance of identifying concealed income sources or assets, like cryptocurrency holdings, of premium defaulters to ensure the collection of their overdue premiums.

Crypto emerges as topic in Indonesian election campaignAs Indonesia gears up for its upcoming presidential election, the country’s crypto market has become a focal point for political discourse. Gibran Rakabuming Raka, a vice presidential candidate and the eldest son of President Joko Widodo, recently unveiled his plans to foster expertise in blockchain and crypto within the Southeast Asian nation.Chosen as the running mate for presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto, the 36-year-old politician aims to elevate tech education in Indonesia, opening avenues for the younger generation, particularly in the realm of digital assets. According to a report by Indonesian online news portal detikNews, while speaking at a political gathering on Dec. 10, Gibran asserted:“We are preparing blockchain experts, we are preparing cyber security experts, we are preparing crypto experts.”Photo by Nick Agus Arya on UnsplashCrypto potentialIndonesia has emerged as being ahead of the curve in terms of crypto adoption, ranking seventh on Chainalysis’ 2023 global crypto adoption index. With an estimated 18 million crypto investors, the country boasts a robust industry association that also functions as a self-regulatory body.Local news media reported in October that the Southeast Asian country has seen a 10.1% year-on-year increase in the number of crypto investors. At the time, Tirta Karma Senjaya, Head of the Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency, said, "Growth in the number of crypto investors in Indonesia continues to increase, but investors are still looking for the right time to buy crypto.”Private sector entities have also identified the raw potential. In the same month, Web3 consulting firm Tiger Research, in partnership with South Korean crypto data platform Xangle, produced a report which identified significant potential for the development of Indonesia’s Web3 market. There are over 30 crypto exchanges operating in the country, acting as the primary channel through which growth in crypto is propelled in Indonesia.Capitalizing on crypto interestThe government, under President Widodo, has actively sought to capitalize on this crypto enthusiasm, going as far as establishing a local “stock market” dedicated to crypto assets.Gibran’s proactive stance on crypto education aligns with his broader vision of positioning Indonesia at the forefront of the global digital revolution. The country’s rapidly growing tech landscape and crypto adoption make it an opportune space for fostering expertise in these cutting-edge technologies.As the presidential election approaches, Gibran’s commitment to cultivating a pool of crypto experts underscores the potential influence of the crypto industry in shaping Indonesia’s economic future.An international topicCrypto is increasingly becoming an important topic in elections globally. In the United States, many of the presidential candidates, particularly within the Republican Party, have publicly expressed their interest in crypto and blockchain. Yesterday, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse took to the X social media platform on the subject, stating:”Team @Ripple is putting a stake in the ground, leading the charge with other industry leaders to support pro-innovation and pro-crypto candidates in the 2024 US election cycle. The US cannot afford to continue taking a back seat on the global stage.“With Indonesia’s election frontrunners, Prabowo and Gibran, expressing interest in the sector, it remains to be seen how this focus on crypto will resonate in the upcoming political debate on Feb. 4.

Bitget Introduces Innovative MPC Wallet for Enhanced SecurityBitget, the Seychelles-registered crypto derivatives platform, has unveiled a cutting-edge security and key management feature that could potentially be a game changer in terms of the way users safeguard their assets.Photo by Shubham’s Web3 on UnsplashIntroducing Multi-Party Computation (MPC)As confirmed via a press release on Tuesday, the Bitget team has introduced the Multi-Party Computation (MPC) wallet service to its Bitget Wallet, a relatively new solution in the realm of cryptocurrency security. This development comes on the heels of the launch of the account abstraction wallet service powered by the Ethereum scaling protocol Starknet in July.The introduction of the MPC wallet could well be a paradigm shift relative to crypto security as it leverages a distributed key generation mechanism, distributing multiple key shares to various locations under the control of different parties. This approach introduces a robust process, demanding that the owners of these distributed private key shares collectively sign and authorize transactions.Notably, the MPC wallet shatters the conventional industry practice of relying on users to store or memorize mnemonic phrases and private keys. In a departure from the current norm, this wallet streamlines the user experience by eliminating the need for mnemonics and instead implementing a password-based authentication method provided by Bitget, effectively eliminating the reliance on a single-point private key.Unlocking MPC technologyBitget’s vision with the MPC wallet is to deliver a user experience reminiscent of traditional Web2 products and services. From a technical standpoint, the MPC wallet is rooted in a threshold signature scheme, employing secure large prime numbers to underpin its security architecture.This consumer-oriented development mandates a minimum number for signature authorization, requiring two-thirds of the total key shares to complete the signature necessary for authorizing a transaction. Notably, the final key share finds secure refuge on a backup cloud server, contributing to a highly decentralized and secure ecosystem.Moreover, the MPC wallet offers a robust sharing mechanism that automatically invalidates key shares on older devices when new devices are integrated. This innovative feature substantially mitigates the risk of key shares being compromised on outdated or forgotten devices, reinforcing user confidence and security.Trending towards crypto self-custodyBitget’s introduction of the MPC wallet underscores the growing significance of self-custody in the cryptocurrency space. In the wake of high-profile failures and security breaches on centralized exchanges, such as FTX, self-custody has emerged as a paramount consideration for cryptocurrency enthusiasts and investors.As a testament to this trend, in March 2023, Ledger, a prominent hardware wallet manufacturer, secured $109 million in funding to bolster hardware production and develop novel products, underlining the increasing demand for secure and user-centric solutions in the crypto world.Bitget Wallet is a rebrand of the wallet produced by BitKeep, a Singapore-based project which Bitget acquired earlier this year. The crypto platform has been working on various initiatives that go some way towards reassuring customers. It had previously introduced proof of reserves reporting. While this system doesn’t provide the whole picture, proof of reserves does go some way in reassuring customers that their funds are still held by the platform and not loaned out or otherwise removed from the platform.