Matrixport Bullish Despite Bitcoin’s Price Standoff

SBI Holdings and TradeFinex Partner to Create a Trade Finance JV in JapanJapanese financial services conglomerate SBI Holdings has joined forces with UAE-based TradeFinex to establish a dynamic joint venture. The objective of the partnership is to propel the widespread adoption of the XDC Network within Japan’s trade finance sector.Details of the agreement between the firms emerged last Friday. The strategic collaboration represents a move toward harnessing blockchain technology to infuse transparency, efficiency, and accessibility into the fabric of trade finance and supply chain management.At its core, the XDC Network stands as an enterprise blockchain platform which is compatible with the Ethereum virtual machine (EVM). In recent times, the XDC Network has cultivated partnerships with several international organizations, including the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). It has pioneered solutions aimed at cost reduction, transaction acceleration, and transparency augmentation within the trade finance sphere.Photo by Timelab on UnsplashBuilding upon related partnershipSBI Holdings, deeply ingrained in Japan’s financial services sector, has taken significant strides to embrace the potential of blockchain technology. Earlier this year, its subsidiary, SBI VC Trade, partnered with the XDC Network, becoming the inaugural Japanese exchange to facilitate the cryptocurrency asset XDC. Building upon this previous collaboration, SBI VC Trade has been proactive in championing the expansion of the XDC Network’s presence in Japan.The freshly minted joint venture between SBI Holdings and TradeFinex has the potential to serve as a catalyst for further XDC Network growth in Japan. A central goal is to localize XDC Network-related information, thereby rendering it more accessible to Japanese businesses and investors.Additionally, the venture is actively scouting for cryptocurrency exchanges who are prepared to use and promote the XDC network, further amplifying its adoption. Exploring collaborations with subnet and layer-2 enterprises forms an integral part of their strategy.Japan’s evolving stance on blockchainThe timing of this collaboration coincides with Japan’s evolving stance on blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies. Emerging reports indicate the Japanese government’s contemplation of allowing startups to raise capital through cryptocurrency tokens, marking a seismic shift away from conventional stock listing processes.In April the Japanese government released a whitepaper on Web3, in its efforts to explore ways to foster innovation in the emerging sector. Furthermore, Japan’s National Tax Agency has made adjustments to its cryptocurrency-related tax code, underscoring a proactive stance toward regulating the cryptocurrency industry. Related to that, the country’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) has been exploring tax exemptions relative to unrealized crypto gains.Japan has become known historically as a center of technological innovation. There have been soundings recently that it can rediscover its abilities in that respect through the development of Web3.The strategic alliance between SBI Holdings and TradeFinex charts a promising trajectory for the XDC Network within Japan’s trade finance sector. Anchored in a project that aspires to offer innovation, transparency, and operational efficiency, this joint venture offers considerable potential to spearhead the adoption of blockchain technology within one of the world’s most prominent financial markets.

ZkLink Snags $10M Funding Ahead of Mainnet LaunchZkLink, a layer 2 multi-chain blockchain network project based out of Singapore, has secured $10 million in funding in advance of its mainnet launch which is scheduled for Q3, 2023.Photo by Markus Winkler on UnsplashStrategic funding roundThe Singaporean project offers a blockchain infrastructure layer that enables the ability to trade digital assets across various disparate blockchain networks. Coinbase Ventures, the investment arm of US cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, focuses its attention on early-stage cryptocurrency and blockchain projects.That’s precisely why it has now participated in a $10 million investment in the Singaporean start-up, given that the ZkLink network doesn’t launch on mainnet for a number of months yet. Other participants in the funding round included Ascensive Assets, SIG DTI, BigBrain Holdings, Efficient Frontier, among others.In posting news of the funding to social media, ZkLink confirmed that the fresh strategic funding round has brought total funding to date to $18.5 million. “The funds raised take zkLink a step further to envision a multi-chain future with unified liquidity and seamless multi-chain user experience while remaining fully trustless and self-custodial,” the project stated.Its previous $8.5 million funding round was completed in October 2021. Among the early investors on that occasion were Arrington Capital, DeFi Alliance, Huobi Ventures, Ascensive Assets, Morningstar Ventures, GSR, Marshland Capital, Skynet Trading, ZBS Capital, and others. New York-based blockchain financing and investment platform, Republic Crypto, was the lead investor at that time.Bridging assets securely acrossZkLink uses zero knowledge technology in order to connect various layer one and layer two networks. A zero knowledge proof is the core innovation that the approach relies upon, with the proof presenting as a cryptographic technique that ensures that no data is revealed during a transaction, save for the exchange of some known value already evident to both prover and verifier.That approach makes for efficient cross-chain bridging, guaranteeing strong security without external trust assumptions. By connecting various layer one and layer two networks, zkLink claims that it empowers the next generation of decentralized trading products.Developers can access ZkLink application programming interfaces (APIs) in order to create order book decentralized exchanges (DEXs), NFT marketplaces, among other use cases. The project is harnessing zero knowledge technology to abstract away all the complexity of multi-chain trading while keeping it ultra secure and true to the ethos of crypto.A multi-chain futureWith blockchain networks being highly fragmented, the concept of a multi-chain future is one that is being increasingly embraced within the crypto space. Various projects have been launched in an effort to effect such a scenario. However, the first generation of bridging solutions have proven to be weak from a security perspective. Zero knowledge technology is seen as a potential solution to this issue.Effecting a seamless multi-chain will also bring about greater efficiencies. As a case in point, currently USDT-Ethereum and USDT-Solana exist as separate assets on distinct blockchains representing the very same USDT stablecoin. With seamless bridging, there would be no need for the duplication.In recent days, the ZkLink project team has been busy working on safety features related to securing decentralized finance protocols. In a press release associated with that work, ZkLink Co-Founder Vince Lang stated: “It is unacceptable that billions of dollars are lost each year due to custody fraud or cross-chain bridge exploits, so we encourage other DeFi protocols to conduct the same test to prove self-custody of user’s funds.”

Korean Crypto Exchanges Struggle Despite Market RecoveryThe results of a recent study by the South Korean Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) released on Monday revealed that ten domestic cryptocurrency exchanges have reported zero revenue from transaction fees, with half of them struggling to achieve a daily average trading volume of KRW 1 million ($740).Photo by Maxim Hopman on UnsplashTrends of growth and declineThe study looked into data from 35 registered virtual asset service providers (VASPs) for the first half of this year. The findings showed that compared to the second half of last year, the crypto market capitalization and Korean won deposits increased, but exchanges faced growing challenges, illustrated by a widening gap between leading fiat-to-crypto exchanges and smaller crypto-only exchanges.In the first half of this year, the operating profit of won-based exchanges reached KRW 259.8 billion (approximately $193 million), a 46% increase compared to the second half of last year, which recorded KRW 177.9 billion. In contrast, crypto exchanges recorded an operating loss of KRW 32.5 billion. Notably, out of 21 crypto-only exchanges, 10 of them reported no revenue at all from transaction fees, and 18 were in a state of complete capital impairment. Meanwhile, the operating profit of won-based exchanges was concentrated among the country’s top two exchanges, Upbit and Bithumb.But from a broader perspective, as of the end of June, this year’s total capitalization of the crypto market reached KRW 28.4 trillion — a 46% increase compared to the end of the second half of last year. Korean won deposits also increased by KRW 400 billion, or 11%, compared to the previous half. The overall operating profit was KRW 227.3 billion, up 82% from KRW 124.9 billion at the end of the second half of last year.“The first half of this year saw a rise in prices of virtual assets and investor sentiment, leading to an increase in Korean won deposits, overall market capitalization, and operating profits for exchanges, compared to the second half of 2022,” the FIU remarked.The number of new listings and delistings on virtual asset exchanges also surged with 169 new listings and 115 new delistings. These represented a more than double increase and a 47% increase, respectively, compared to the second half of last year. 66% of the delisted crypto assets were coins that had been exclusively listed on a given exchange.Despite the market’s recovery, trading volume and the number of users have slightly decreased. The daily average trading volume in the domestic crypto market for the first half of this year was KRW 2.9 trillion, down 1.3% compared to the second half of 2022. In addition, the number of registered accounts with VASPs also dropped by 19% to 9.5 million compared to the end of last year. This can be attributed to a growing number of dormant accounts and the removal of duplicate accounts.The quantity of verified users has also declined. The number of individuals and corporations that had completed the mandatory Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures needed to engage in trading decreased by 210,000 to 6.06 million (including duplicates) compared to the end of 2022. The majority of users, or those who own less than KRW 1 million in virtual assets, dropped by 7%.On the other hand, the amount of virtual assets leaving the country increased. In the first half of this year, a total of KRW 22.1 trillion was transferred to whitelisted overseas operators or individual wallet addresses, marking a KRW 500 billion increase compared to the second half of last year. This trend could be accredited to futures trading and arbitrage trading influenced by the so-called “kimchi premium” — a term used to describe the difference between trading prices of cryptocurrencies in Korea and in other foreign exchanges.Age demographicsOther findings showed that the age group that traded the most virtual assets is in their 30s, accounting for 30% of all users. Within this group, men make up 70%, with 1.27 million men recorded as engaging in crypto trading. Following closely with 1.2 million, men in their 40s were the second-largest demographic.