Zodia Custody Expands Its Custodial Services to Singapore

South Korea’s largest crypto exchange, Upbit, suffered a security breach on Nov. 27 that resulted in the theft of 44.5 billion won ($30.4 million) in digital assets, all taken from the exchange’s hot wallets. The stolen tokens were all Solana-based, and Upbit CEO Oh Kyoung-suk said in a statement that no users will incur losses, as the company will cover the full amount with its own reserves.Photo by FlyD on UnsplashHot-wallet breach hits 24 tokensThe exchange said in a statement that the compromised tokens were transferred to an unknown external wallet at around 7:42 p.m. UTC on Nov. 26. In total, 24 cryptocurrencies were affected, all within the Solana ecosystem. The stolen assets ranged from infrastructure tokens such as Solana (SOL) to staking-related assets like Jito (JTO), along with the stablecoin USD Coin (USDC) and memecoins including Bonk (BONK), Moodeng (MOODENG), and Official Trump (TRUMP). According to Oh, the breach was followed by an emergency security review of the affected networks and wallets. He added that all remaining assets were moved to cold storage to prevent further unauthorized transfers. Oh also said the exchange is working to trace the stolen assets and block on-chain movements wherever possible, noting that Solayer (LAYER) tokens worth 2.3 billion won ($1.6 million) have already been frozen. Upbit is also reaching out to relevant projects and institutions for assistance. This marks Upbit’s second theft case. The first took place on Nov. 27, 2019, exactly six years ago to the day, according to News1. Authorities focus on Lazarus’ involvementFinancial authorities are investigating the incident, and North Korea’s Lazarus Group is being treated as the leading suspect, the Maeil Business Newspaper reported. Lazarus is also believed to have been behind the 58 billion won ($40 million) worth of Ethereum (ETH) stolen from Upbit in 2019. A government official told the paper that the latest breach did not appear to stem from a server intrusion but may have involved a stolen administrator account, allowing the attackers to impersonate internal staff and move assets—similar to the method used in the 2019 case. Security analysts echoed that assessment. One investigator said the stolen funds moved through exchange wallets before being mixed, a pattern often linked to Lazarus. He added that mixers, which are prohibited in Financial Action Task Force (FATF)-member jurisdictions, make tracing difficult and that attackers typically route assets through countries outside that framework, further pointing to North Korea. Following the incident, Upbit suspended deposits and withdrawals for all assets and said services will resume once security is fully verified. The halt has also affected trading dynamics on the exchange, with CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju noting that retail investors are fueling altcoin spikes as arbitrage bots remain offline. Dunamu, Naver set $6.8B growth planThe security crisis struck at a particularly sensitive moment for Upbit’s operator, Dunamu, overshadowing what was intended to be a celebratory corporate milestone. On that same day, Dunamu, Naver, and Naver Financial held a joint press conference to outline their global expansion strategy. Dunamu brings its blockchain and crypto infrastructure, Naver contributes its position as Korea’s dominant search engine, and Naver Financial adds its payment platform serving 34 million users. The event came after reports that Naver Financial and Dunamu had approved a merger plan through a comprehensive share swap, with the ratio set at 1 to 2.54. The three companies said they will combine their respective strengths to invest 10 trillion won ($6.8 billion) over the next five years in building an ecosystem centered on Web3 and artificial intelligence (AI).During the press conference, Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon said no decisions have been made on a Nasdaq listing for the newly combined Naver Financial–Dunamu entity or on whether it might eventually merge with Naver, according to TechM. She said dual listings remain a matter requiring national consensus. Choi also noted that while Naver Financial is a Naver subsidiary, Dunamu is the larger partner, and a later merger between the combined entity and Naver is unlikely.

The South Korean government has begun the process of selling its stake in NXC, the largest shareholder of Nexon, a video game company originally founded in South Korea and now headquartered in Japan. According to the Seoul Economic Daily, which cited industry sources, the Ministry of Economy and Finance began a public sale process on June 30 for its shares in NXC. These shares were received as payment for inheritance tax from the family of Nexon’s late founder, Kim Jung-ju. In February 2023, Kim’s widow, Yoo Jung-hyun—who also serves as chair of the board at NXC—along with other family members, transferred 851,968 NXC shares to the government to settle the inheritance tax liability.Photo by Kelly Sikkema on UnsplashEarlier failed sale attemptsThe government’s latest attempt to sell the shares follows two previous efforts that failed, primarily due to high asking prices at the time. The current estimated value of the shares stands at 4.7 trillion won (approximately $3.47 billion), reflecting a 20% premium over their net value due to the rights associated with company control. However, the shares are expected to sell at a lower price, since acquiring them would not lead to actual control of the company—Kim’s surviving family still holds a majority stake in NXC. Industry insiders view Chinese tech giant Tencent as a strong contender to purchase the shares. However, Tencent recently denied reports from last month that claimed it had approached Kim’s surviving family to discuss a possible acquisition of Nexon. The company had also expressed interest in acquiring Nexon back in 2019 but ultimately did not take part in the bidding process. According to Chosun Ilbo, a Tencent acquisition is being viewed as a possibility, as the Shenzhen-based firm continues efforts to secure overseas intellectual property. One industry source noted that Tencent tends to invest in Korean game developers every three to four years. The source also mentioned that Tencent had approached Korean venture capital analysts specializing in gaming last year to gather information for a potential acquisition shortlist. If Tencent were to purchase all of the government-held NXC shares, it would become the second-largest shareholder in the company. Given its ongoing investments in the Korean gaming sector, the source said it is likely Tencent will participate in the sale process organized by the government. Nexon’s blockchain pushNotably, Nexon has been expanding its presence in the cryptocurrency space. According to data from Bitcoin Treasuries, the company holds 1,717 Bitcoin (BTC), acquired at an average price of $58,226 per coin. Beyond its BTC investment, Nexon is actively exploring blockchain technology through its Web3 IP-expansion project, NEXPACE.  This initiative features the MapleStory Universe ecosystem, along with MapleStory N, a PC-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) that incorporates blockchain technology. Both projects are powered by the NXPC token. MapleStory was originally developed by Wizet Studio in 2003 and became part of Nexon when the company acquired the studio the following year. 

Gate Ventures, the investment arm of Gate.io, a global cryptocurrency exchange with its origins in China, has gotten together with Thailand’s Boon Ventures and Movement Labs, to launch a $20 million fund aimed at supporting projects that utilize the Move programming language, as well as interoperability with the Ethereum ecosystem.  Accelerating Move-based blockchain adoptionMovement Labs is a developer of modular Move-based blockchains. A press release published on PR Newswire on Oct. 13 outlined that the firms intend to direct the fund towards a number of key areas. Firstly, its objective will be to accelerate the adoption of Move-based blockchain solutions. Secondly, the fund will be directed towards supporting projects which enhance security and performance in decentralized networks. A further objective is the extension of support to projects which bridge Move and Ethereum virtual machine (EVM) ecosystems. The final key objective has been set out to drive innovation in Web3 infrastructure and applications. Gate Ventures Managing Partner Kevin Yang claimed that the $20 million fund “marks a significant milestone in [the company’s] mission to drive forward-thinking solutions in the Web3 ecosystem.” Yang added that in collaborating with Movement Labs and other forward-thinking entities within the Web3 sector, the company is “paving the way for the future of decentralized technology.”Photo by Nino Steffen on UnsplashMentorship & hackathonsWeb3 startups supported by the fund will be given access to a mentorship program, while hackathon events will also be organized. Furthermore, there will be an opportunity for selected startups to participate in a research grant program relative to blockchain interoperability. Gate Ventures garnered attention within the industry recently, with the announcement in August that it had entered into a partnership with Abu Dhabi’s Blockchain Center. That collaboration has led to the establishment of Falcon Gate Ventures, a $100 million Web3 innovation fund.Last month, the company participated in the Series A funding round of Kroma, an Ethereum layer-2 network project. While interoperability is singled out as a key objective of this fund, Movement Labs has been working towards that goal recently. Last week, the firm appointed an omnichain interoperability protocol project, LayerZero, as an interoperability provider. It’s envisaged that the partnership will enable developers using the Move programming language to create decentralized applications that can run across various blockchain networks, including EVM. While Facebook parent company Meta developed the Move programming language, Movement Labs has worked towards developing its use further. Earlier in the year, Movement partnered with Aptos Labs, a firm that was founded by ex-Meta employees that has built out a network based on Move, in another effort to bring about blockchain interoperability relative to EVM and non-EVM networks. A spokesperson for Movement Labs told Cointelegraph that “the ultimate goal is to create an integrated blockchain environment where developers can build across platforms without sacrificing security or performance.” Back in April, Movement raised $38 million in a Series A financing round which was led by Polychain Capital. At the time, Movement Labs Co-Founder Rushi Manche said that he and his co-founders “started building Movement to increase the velocity of innovation in crypto where the next Facebook can be built on-chain by developers who do not have the resources for large development teams and expensive auditors.”