Etherscan expands through Solscan acquisition

South Korean entertainment production company Blade Entertainment has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Cardo, a firm specializing in custodial services for digital assets, to start a tokenized securities business, according to local news outlet Newspim on Wednesday. Blade Entertainment revealed plans to leverage its IP and content distribution rights to issue fractional investment-based tokenized securities based on underlying assets like waste landfills, electroceuticals and digital therapeutics.Photo by Verne Ho on UnsplashForging the future to tokenized securities"We will do our best to become a leader in tokenized securities by securing various underlying assets and building technology to facilitate valuation modeling for those assets," said Choi Young-in, head of the STO (security token offering) department at Blade Entertainment. "Through this agreement, we will cooperate in multiple ways with Cardo, who has expertise in blockchain and an understanding of financial products, to list our tokenized securities on the Korea Exchange’s (KRX) new securities market."  This market refers to an on-exchange market for new securities based on fractional investments that was recently designated by the South Korean Financial Services Commission (FSC) as a service under the financial regulatory sandbox system, according to a press release on Dec. 13.  The regulatory sandbox is a system run by the Korean government that exempts or suspends existing regulations for a designated amount of time for companies releasing new products and services and regulates them post-mortem if there is a problem.  Strategic collaborationBlade Entertainment said that it sought out Cardo – whose investors include one of South Korea’s major banks Nonghyup Bank – as a business partner to carry out this endeavor due to its accumulated knowledge and expertise in the blockchain sector. Cardo has also previously demonstrated its capabilities in the security token business by providing fintech solutions to financial service firm Galaxia Moneytree. "Currently, due to issues with the valuation of token securities, it is not easy for businesses in this area to operate smoothly, but we plan to issue and distribute tokenized securities of various assets soon," said Sohn Kyung-hwan, CEO of Cardo. "Based on the know-how we’ve accumulated from the two contracts we signed this year agreeing to supply security tokens platforms, we will actively help Blade Entertainment with the planning, design and platform construction of their security token venture to help establish a successful service."

Korbit and SK Planet Team Up to Promote NFT Membership ProgramKorbit, one of South Korea’s prominent cryptocurrency exchanges, has teamed up with SK Planet, a technology affiliate of the major conglomerate SK Group, in an effort to attract new users to Road to Rich, a non-fungible token (NFT) membership program.Photo by Mo on UnsplashWin up to 0.1 BTCUnder this collaboration, Korbit users will have the opportunity to win up to 0.1 BTC by completing assigned tasks. From those participating, 511 fortunate individuals will be selected as winners. The breakdown of prizes is as follows: 500 participants will earn 0.001 BTC each as third place winners; 10 second place winners will receive 0.01 BTC each; and the single top winner will be awarded the grand prize of 0.1 BTC.Quests, rewards, and rabbit NFTsRoad to Rich was introduced earlier this month by OK Cashbag, a popular customer rewards system offered by SK Planet. Road to Rich offers users daily quests involving rabbit character NFTs. Successful completion of these tasks allows users to gain various benefits, such as OK Cashbag points, which can be used at hypermarkets, restaurant chains, and other partner businesses. To participate in Road to Rich, users need to install the UPTN Station, a decentralized wallet developed by SK Planet, which allows storage, retrieval, and transfer of NFTs.According to a report by local news outlet Newspim, Oh Se-jin, CEO of Korbit, expressed the crypto exchange’s excitement about participating in the expansion of SK Planet’s Web3 ecosystem. Oh said that Korbit is committed to collaborating with SK Planet to deliver more convenient and valuable services to customers in the Web3 space.

MANTRA, a real-world asset (RWA) tokenization blockchain project headquartered in Hong Kong, has announced that it has been awarded a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) license in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In a community update published on its website, MANTRA co-founder and CEO John Patrick Mullin outlined that Dubai regulator, the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), had awarded the company the VASP license, meaning that the project is now entitled to act as a virtual asset exchange. Additionally, it is authorized to offer broker-dealer and investment management services. Photo by Aleksandar Pasaric on PexelsMullin claimed that the milestone is huge for both the company and the broader industry. He stated:”It’s a major step in our objective to bring the world’s financial ecosystem onchain by being the preferred ledger of record for real world assets. It’s a validation of our purpose,which is to provide developers and institutions with a purpose-built RWA Layer 1 Blockchain, that’s capable of adhering to real world regulatory requirements.” Scaling operations in the Middle EastThe project sees the license as a key step in broadening MANTRA’s global footprint and scaling its operations within the Middle East. Mullin outlined that both the UAE and broader Middle East & North Africa (MENA) have become “a progressive global hub and thriving ecosystem for Web3 and virtual assets owing to their regulatory initiatives and frameworks.” Mullin added that the license not only strengthens the project’s presence regionally, but it also “positions us internationally to deliver unique DeFi products that bridge the gap between decentralized finance and traditional finance.”  Shorooq Partners, a Dubai-based venture capital firm and investor in the project, commented on the announcement on X. It said that the license would mean that MANTRA would set a new standard for compliant and secure DeFi solutions. It emphasized the importance of regulatory compliance in enabling institutional DeFi adoption on a global scale. The venture capital firm was the lead investor in an $11 million funding round completed by MANTRA in March 2024. At the time, Shane Shin, founding partner at Shorooq, said that he liked MANTRA’s strategic focus on key markets like Hong Kong and Dubai, adding that the investment implicated a future where digital and traditional assets converge seamlessly. The project intends to launch DeFi-based products that have been formulated to meet investors' needs by combining the benefits of DeFi with the structure and security provided by conventional finance. Token's price performanceThe OM token is a utility and governance token within the MANTRA decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). It was the best-performing layer-1 token as of Feb. 17. At the time of writing, it’s trading at $7.59, according to CoinMarketCap data. The project also announced a $1 billion deal with UAE-based DAMAC Group, a property development company, last month.