Kaspersky Says Crypto Phishing on the Rise in the Philippines

Hana Financial and FSS join hands to foster young digital talentHana Financial Group said Sunday that the South Korean financial holding company held a proclamation ceremony for the second Hana Digital Power On Project last Thursday — a program designed to cultivate young digital talent in emerging technologies like blockchain and big data — at the Hana Global Campus in Incheon.Support from tech juggernautsThe program, sponsored by the Korean Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) and several tech giants such as Google, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, and SK Telecom, was first held last year. This year’s project saw the participation of over 50 individuals forming 16 teams, Hana said.Photo by Marvin Meyer on UnsplashCompetitions and trainingA contest centered around new digital technology was also held on the same day. Participating teams proposed ideas for solving issues that may arise in the financial industry using artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud computing, and big data technologies.Winning teams will be rewarded up to KRW 10 million (approximately $7,500) in prize money along with the opportunity to visit several information technology companies. They will also have the chance to participate in a hackathon competition organized by SK Telecom to further develop their ideas.They will also undergo a four-week digital education program put together by Google, Microsoft, and Amazon, as well as practical training provided by the Hana Institute of Technology. Notably, graduates of the program will be exempt from going through the initial screening process when applying for positions at Hana Financial Group.Officials including Lee Bok-hyun, Governor of the FSS; Lee Hoon-kyu, Director of Future for Youth Foundation; and Ham Young-joo, Chairman of Hana Financial Group, were in attendance.“We will strive to cultivate young digital talent and create employment opportunities for the youth,” said Hana Chairman Ham. FSS Governor Lee also added that there is a need to secure interdisciplinary talents capable of generating innovative ideas.

The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC), the statutory body tasked with regulating and developing capital markets within the Southeast Asian nation, has published a consultation paper in an effort to garner public feedback on potential enhancements to its crypto regulatory framework. In a press release published to its website on June 30, the SC claimed that its proposals seek “to enhance competitiveness of Malaysia’s regulated digital asset market, improve investor protection and strengthen the resilience and integrity of [Digital Asset Exchange] operators.”Photo by Vlad Shapochnikov on UnsplashEasing listing requirementsIn the event that the proposals are adopted, one key change would see a liberalization of the listing requirements for digital assets. Where certain key eligibility criteria have been met, the regulator would allow the listing of digital assets on digital asset exchanges without prior SC approval. The regulator stated that it wants to make this change in order to speed up the time taken to get digital assets to market as they emerge. By setting out additional criteria, there will be greater exchange operator accountability. Exchange operators would bear responsibility for listing tokens in compliance with the requirements set out by the regulator.  Assets could only be listed once those assets and the underlying protocol and network had undergone security audits which had been carried out by an independent and qualified blockchain security auditor, with the audit results made public.  For the purposes of the “Liberalised Listing Framework,” the asset must have been trading on a Financial Action Task Force (FATF)-compliant virtual asset service provider (VASP) platform for a minimum of one year. The regulator believes that easing the listing requirements will result in a broader digital asset product offering being made available in Malaysia. Last month, Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) started a public consultation process aimed at revising token listing rules. Coin listing processes have also come under scrutiny from the authorities in South Korea recently. Segregating client assetsAmong the proposals is a plan to oblige exchange platforms to properly segregate client assets from operational funds and assets held by the exchange business. In recent years, many failed crypto exchange platforms, most notably FTX, got into difficulty by co-mingling customer funds with operational funds. Furthermore, the regulator doesn’t want any cross-over of assets between the local exchange operator and any overseas affiliate companies it may have.The SC stated that it is cognizant of recent global exchange failures, which has led it towards further enhancing crypto exchange operational governance and controls. It suggests that only 10% of client assets should be held by a Malaysian exchange in hot wallets, with the remaining 90% held in cold or offline wallets. The SC said that it welcomes feedback from members of the various stakeholder groups on the proposals outlined. The public consultation period runs from June 30 through Aug. 11.  Malaysia is expected to have 4.74 million crypto users by 2026. That would equate to 13% of Malaysians using crypto by then.

Rotonda revamps Burrito Wallet with cross-chain swapping, added mainnet and moreRotonda, a subsidiary of South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb, has recently revamped its Web3 wallet Burrito Wallet to make the app more convenient for users, according to Korean news agency Etoday on Wednesday (local time). The newest version features an improved mainnet support system, user interface (UI) and user experience (UX), with a stronger focus on enhancing user convenience and creating a framework for optimal investment.Photo by Shubham’s Web3 on Unsplash“Through this service renewal, we hope that many users will be able to experience a more convenient and unique web3 environment. We will continue to improve our services to establish Burrito Wallet as a user-friendly crypto wallet platform,” the company said.Expanded options for token tradingMost notably, Burrito Wallet now offers cross-chain swapping, which allows users to trade token currencies that have been issued on different mainnets. This is a step up from regular crypto swapping, which only allows the swapping of tokens issued on the same mainnet. Cross-chain swapping between the Ethereum, BNB Smart Chain, Matic, Avalanche and Arbitrum mainnets is now supported by the deSwap Liquidity Network (DLN), a decentralized cross-chain exchange built by deBridge Finance. DLN facilitates secure and unlimited liquidity transfers across chains with zero slippage.Rotonda added that it would continue to expand its lineup of swap platforms through collaborations with major industry names like Kana Labs, WOOFi and Unizen.Better user experienceThe company also added new features to help users make optimal investments. This includes a new notification bot dubbed “Burrito Chef,” which sends notifications for announcements, updates and events within the app. Users can quickly and conveniently check the insights they need to inform their personal investments and get the most out of the app’s services.On the UI front, a “Home” tab has been added, which provides users with a concise overview at of the most commonly used features like wallet, swap and chat, along with the most popular content. Token rankings by category — such as most swapped tokens and most rising tokens — that were previously available on the “Swap” tab have been moved to the “Home” tab and placed in the foreground of the screen. Rotonda also explained that it aims to provide a more customizable experience by adding more detailed chart features.The wallet also now supports the Sui mainnet, bringing the total number of supported mainnets to 12.This development comes shortly after Rotonda recently launched Burrito Wallet in the Latin American region in a move to expand its global user base.