Korean Investment Firm Partners with Open Asset to Build Security Token System

Tokenpost, a South Korean media outlet covering news on blockchain and crypto, launched the open beta version of its Web3 news polling service jointly developed with PUNKPOLL – a voting and polling platform based on the MINA protocol – that provides random surveys based on daily news for readers to participate in.Photo by Element5 Digital on UnsplashProviding the backbone for digital democracyThe polling service utilizes MINA's zero-knowledge blockchain (zkBlockchain) technology to protect personal information and operate an independent news polling system free from centralized management. It aims to realize the core values of direct democracy in the digital realm by enabling readers to express their opinions through polls. Users’ identities are verified through PUNKPOLL’s Social Graph Authentication, a decentralized method where multiple users mutually verify each other’s identities. The service is most easily accessible through the KakaoTalk messaging app. Readers who participate in the survey will be rewarded with Tokenpost Tickets and PUNK tokens. Tokenpost Tickets can be used to enter prize sweepstakes via the Ticket Store, and PUNK tokens can be exchanged for MINA tokens at a 1:1 ratio starting from a minimum of 5 PUNK tokens.  This collaboration between Tokenpost, PUNKPOLL and MINA Protocol is expected to be an important step in introducing a new model of direct democracy for the digital age. About Tokenpost and PUNKPOLLTokenpost was founded in February 2017 as the first blockchain-focused media outlet in South Korea. It has been providing key information on the blockchain and cryptocurrency market. In 2018, it was the first media enterprise in the world to introduce a news platform that offers user rewards, and in 2019, it preemptively released a system for blockchain notarization of news articles, leading the way in utilizing Web3 technology in the media industry. PUNKPOLL is known for its secure and transparent decentralized voting platform that leverages distributed technology and the MINA protocol, allowing users to participate anonymously and reap the benefits of direct democracy. The company aims to resolve the problems of the existing voting system in an innovative way.

Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), an independent state agency responsible for the supervision of capital markets including the digital assets sector within the Southeast Asian nation, has moved to block five cryptocurrency exchange platforms. In a statement published by the agency to its website on Thursday, May 29, the SEC outlined that it deems the five exchanges, namely OKX, Bybit, CoinEx, XT.com and 1000X.Live, to be unauthorized crypto trading platforms.Photo by REY MELVIN CARAAN on UnsplashCountering money laundering activityIt is acting against these platforms “to protect investors” and to prevent their use for money laundering purposes. In offering services to Thai users on an unauthorized basis, the exchanges were found to be in breach of Thailand’s Digital Asset Business Act B.E. 2561 (2018). The agency has asked the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (MDES) to take measures to block local access to these online platforms. That block will be put in place on June 28. On that basis, the SEC has advised Thai users of such platforms to proceed to remove their assets from them before that June 28 deadline.  An updated version of the Royal Decree on Measures to Prevent and Suppress Technology-related Crime, (No. 2) B.E. 2568 (2025), was introduced by the Thai government in April. It facilitated the establishment of the Committee for the Prevention and Suppression of Technological Crime.  Following practices overseasThe committee met with the MDES in April, with the parties setting out the process through which unauthorized digital asset platforms would be restricted and blocked. On that occasion, similar practices carried out in other jurisdictions within the Asian region were referred to.  In December 2023 India’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) moved to block nine offshore crypto exchanges, having issued them with compliance show-cause notices.  In April 2024 the Philippines SEC requested that Google and Apple remove apps associated with global exchange Binance from the local versions of their application stores. Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) similarly ordered both companies to remove apps belonging to unregistered crypto exchanges in February of this year. Back in March, the Thai SEC filed a lawsuit against Aux Cayes FinTech Co. Ltd., an OKX affiliate company. The complaint alleged that OKX had been running an unlicensed exchange in Thailand, and was filed with the Economic Crime Suppression Division of the Thai police force. The SEC outlined on March 21 that a similar criminal complaint had been filed against XT.com. It’s understood that Bybit, CoinEx and 1000X.Live have also been recipients of complaints on the same basis. Earlier this year, the Economic Crime Suppression Division considered taking action against Polymarket, a crypto-based prediction market, on the basis that the platform violated Thailand’s gambling laws, and in doing so, posing a risk to economic and social stability in Thailand. In April 2024, the SEC issued a warning to crypto exchange platforms against the use of misleading advertising, drawing their attention to the fact that advertising of that nature would potentially place those platforms in breach of regulatory guidelines. 

WEMIX comes in 9th in CoinMarketCap’s TVL chain rankingSouth Korean gaming publisher Wemade’s layer 1 blockchain network WEMIX has ranked 9th in CoinMarketCap’s list of largest blockchains in crypto ranked by total value locked (TVL). TVL refers to the U.S. dollar value of assets locked or staked on a blockchain. It is a key indicator of liquidity as well as investor and developer participation in a blockchain ecosystem.Photo by GuerrillaBuzz on UnsplashWEMIX’s statsAs of this writing, WEMIX’s TVL is $555.4 million, outpacing 10th place-holder Cardano by over $100 million. Its market capitalization is $1.27 billion. Staking accounts for the largest share of WEMIX’s TVL, which implies a high level of on-chain activity and trust among users in the blockchain’s stability and potential for growth.Expansive ecosystemWEMIX is building a large-scale ecosystem centered on the WEMIX3.0 mainnet, which features popular platforms like the blockchain gaming platform WEMIX PLAY; decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) and NFT platform NILE; and decentralized finance (DeFi) platform WEMIX.Fi.The firm’s more recently developed platform is its joint omnichain network with Chainlink Labs dubbed the Unbound Networking & Accelerating Growth Initiative, or “unagi,” which will serve as an interoperable Web3 gaming platform linking multiple blockchains. It is expected to boost WEMIX’s growth into an even larger mega-ecosystem.