South Korea sanctions North Korean tech workers for cybercrimes and crypto theft

Over 3,700 participants flock to Upbit D Conference to explore insights in blockchainThe sixth annual Upbit D Conference (UDC), a major blockchain event in South Korea hosted by the country’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, commenced on Monday (local time) at the Grand Walkerhill Seoul Hotel. Touting the theme “All That Blockchain,” the conference gathered some 3,700 participants — including 39 blockchain experts from 29 countries — both online and offline.Aimed at contributing to the blockchain ecosystem, UDC has gained acclaim as a non-profit event featuring in-depth lectures by experts from around the globe. While it initially focused on industry and technology alone, the conference has since expanded its scope to cover areas such as policy, finance, business, culture and trends.Photo by Gerd Altmann on PixabayLively guest discussionsHighlights of the event included a session led by Roger Ver, the founder of Bitcoin.com, who discussed the trajectory of the blockchain industry and the current status of Bitcoin. Korean telecommunications giant SK Telecom’s Executive Vice President, Oh Se-hyeon, also shared insights into the prospects of Web3 and blockchain services in Korea.Other speakers included Emily Parker, Executive Director of CoinDesk; Howard Fischer, former Senior Trial Counsel at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); Nizam Ismail, former Founding Chairman of the Regulatory and Compliance Sub-Commitee at Blockchain Association Singapore; and Kim Kab-lae, Senior Research Fellow at the Korea Capital Market Institute. Together, the four experts discussed country-specific perspectives and current issues regarding the rapidly changing regulatory landscape of the global virtual asset industry.“As blockchain’s influence expands across the economy, culture and society, UDC has evolved into a comprehensive conference capable of encompassing all aspects of blockchain. We hope it serves as a place that sparks positive inspiration and valuable connections,” said Song Chi-hyung, Chairman of Dunamu, the operator of Upbit.Growing recognitionOver the past five years, UDC has seen participation from over 1,190 companies and nearly 19,100 individual attendees. As of this month, the cumulative number of views on the conference’s official YouTube videos has reached 1.12 million. Videos of all of this year’s sessions can be viewed on the UDC YouTube channel and website.

Disagreement has emerged within the Bitcoin blockchain community, revolving around the BRC-20 token standard. Domo, the pseudonymous developer behind the creation of the token standard, has publicly expressed his opposition to an upcoming upgrade proposed by the Hong Kong headquartered project, UniSat Wallet.Photo by Kanchanara on UnsplashDue diligence concernsOn Tuesday Domo took to the X social media platform (previously Twitter) to articulate his concerns. He voiced apprehensions about hastily implementing updates in BRC-20, asserting that such a rush could potentially harm the broader BRC-20 user community. Domo's resistance is rooted in his belief that UniSat Wallet's proposed updates lack due diligence and are being introduced precipitously without considering potential repercussions. He wrote:”Recognizing the serious implications and valuations involved, I believe rushing these updates in BRC20 is reckless, disregards their peer indexers, and could potentially harm the broader community of BRC20 users.” ‘Split’ rather than ‘fork’Conversely, UniSat Wallet has declared its intention to “follow the Ordinals Jubilee upgrade, to confirm that BRC-20 is still on Ordinals without splitting into an isolated protocol." Described as a "split" rather than a "fork," UniSat Wallet's approach adapts to the Ordinals Jubilee upgrade, a transformative change in how the Bitcoin blockchain manages tokenized assets. In mapping the way forward its proposing to take, UniSat outlined that it would publish a whitepaper on Jan. 31, describing it as “the most significant present we are able to deliver” for BRC-20, Ordinals and Bitcoin. The crux of the matter lies in the method and pace of implementing these changes. Domo's concerns reflect a broader sentiment within the crypto community, where the rapid pace of advancements often collides with the need for stability and thorough vetting. UniSat Wallet's proposed changes, though innovative, may be viewed as potentially destabilizing by certain community members, especially those deeply entrenched in the current BRC-20 standard. Striking a balanceThis development is pivotal, highlighting the dynamic and occasionally contentious nature of blockchain technology and cryptocurrency standards. Web3 project incubator and investor TrustlessLabs summed up the matter in a social media post on Wednesday, drawing the following conclusions:”This situation encapsulates a critical challenge in blockchain protocol development: finding the right balance between preserving stability and embracing technological advancements.” As technology evolves, divergent opinions on the trajectory of these advancements are inevitable. The ongoing debate between Domo and UniSat Wallet serves as a microcosm of the larger conversations transpiring in the crypto space about how to strike the right balance between progress and stability. The BRC-20 token standard, an experimental fungible token standard on Bitcoin, draws inspiration from Ethereum's ERC-20 standard. It allows the creation of fungible tokens using Bitcoin’s Ordinals protocol, constituting a significant breakthrough in cryptocurrency by enabling novel forms of tokenization on the Bitcoin blockchain. This disagreement not only spotlights a critical debate in the crypto realm but also emphasizes the delicate equilibrium between innovation and stability.  

Pakistan’s Ministry of Finance has signed off on the establishment of the Pakistan Digital Assets Authority (PDAA), a body which will be responsible for the implementation of regulations governing blockchain and the digital assets sector. In a report published by Pakistani English-language newspaper Dawn, the media outlet outlined that the Ministry of Finance has taken this step in an effort to embrace future innovation in the finance sector.  The new agency will be responsible for monitoring the operations of digital wallet service providers, stablecoin issuers, the development firms behind decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, crypto custodians and crypto exchange platforms. Photo by Hamid Roshaan on UnsplashFrom crypto ban to crypto regulationIn October 2022, Pakistan was removed by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog, from its grey list. The following year, Pakistan’s Minister of State for Finance and Revenue, Aisha Ghaus Pasha outlined that banning cryptocurrency was a condition of the country’s removal from the FATF grey list. Accordingly, the South Asian country proceeded to ban digital assets, with Ghaus Pasha declaring that crypto would “never be legalized in Pakistan.”Despite the adverse position taken previously by the authorities in Pakistan where digital assets were concerned, in 2024 a survey carried out by Chainalysis revealed that Pakistan featured strongly in terms of retail-level crypto adoption. With this latest development, Pakistan is moving forward progressively with digital assets, albeit that it is doing so while being cognizant of the current requirements demanded by FATF related to crypto. The newly-formed PDAA will act to ensure FATF-compliant innovation, while striving for economic inclusion and the adoption of digital assets in a responsible manner. Regulating to lead crypto innovation rather than catching upPakistan’s current Minister for Finance and Revenue, Muhammad Aurangzeb, said that “Pakistan must regulate not just to catch up — but to lead.” He added that through the establishment of the PDAA, a digital assets regulatory framework that protects consumers will be created. Furthermore, he claimed that such an approach would attract global investment, putting Pakistan “at the forefront of financial innovation.”Another area of focus for the PDAA will be the facilitation of the tokenization of government debt and national assets. Pakistan runs an annual average electricity surplus of 4,000 megawatts. In 2024, total electricity generation was recorded at 92,091 GWh while demand weighed in at 68,559 GWh. With that, the Pakistani authorities want the PDAA to create the correct conditions that will lead to regulated Bitcoin mining operators utilizing this energy resource. Other objectives which have been set out for the new agency include encouraging the growth of startups aimed at building blockchain-based solutions at scale, the regulation of what is estimated to be a $25 billion informal crypto market and the provision of legal clarity within the crypto sector in Pakistan for both local and international investors. This latest positive development follows the formation of the Pakistan Crypto Council (PCC) back in February. That event signaled a policy shift in Pakistan with regard to digital assets. In March PCC CEO Bilal bin Saqib said that Pakistan was done sitting on the sidelines and that the authorities now want to see Pakistan develop as a “leader in blockchain-powered finance.”