LG CNS Chooses Six Startups to Foster Innovation in Digital Transformation

Korean Banks Impose Crypto Exchanges to Maintain a Reserve of at Least 3B KRWIn a significant step towards regulating the cryptocurrency market and ensuring the safety of virtual asset users, South Korea’s Federation of Banks (KFB) has collaborated with financial authorities and virtual asset exchanges to establish the “Guidelines for the Operation of Real Name Accounts for Virtual Assets.” The KFB, as a group of banks and financial institutions, facilitates cooperation between its members and promotes the development of the financial industry.Photo by rc.xyz NFT gallery on UnsplashThe guidelines come as a response to the increasing need for stronger money laundering prevention measures and standardization in the crypto industry. The first step towards this was taken in 2018 when crypto exchanges became obliged to establish a real name account at a bank in order to provide Korean Won (KRW) deposit and withdrawal services to their customers. Currently, the exchanges that won such bank accounts are Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, and Gopax.However, this policy brought with it a set of challenges, including differing practices among various cryptocurrency exchanges, leading to inconveniences for users. Additionally, varying user protection measures, such as reserve requirements, caused confusion in the market.3 billion KRW in reservesTo address these issues, the new guidelines aim to clarify how banks operate cryptocurrency real-name accounts and bolster overall security. One of the key changes is the requirement for crypto exchanges to maintain a reserve of at least 3 billion KRW ($2.36 million). This reserve fund serves as a precautionary measure to address potential financial losses resulting from hacking incidents or system failures at crypto exchanges.Furthermore, the guidelines mandate banks to manage deposit and withdrawal limits by categorizing user accounts into limited and normal accounts. A limited account will not be converted to a normal account, which grants higher deposit and withdrawal limits, until the user’s transaction purpose and the source of funds are verified.Enhanced due diligenceIn addition, banks will perform annual enhanced due diligence (EDD) for individual account holders. This thorough review will encompass users’ identification, transaction purposes, and the origin of funds.User asset segregationTo safeguard users’ funds, crypto exchanges will be required to ensure that customer deposits are held separately or placed in trust. Regular due diligence at crypto exchanges will also be conducted by banks, with mandatory visits occurring at least once a month. Moreover, third-party services will be engaged to perform independent due diligence every quarter on crypto exchanges, providing an additional assessment of their operations.The official launch of these new guidelines is scheduled for January of next year. However, the requirement of depositing at least 3 billion KRW will come into effect earlier, starting in September of this year. Additionally, the implementation of guidelines for expanding deposit and withdrawal limits is anticipated in March of next year.

Bitcoin Miners Likely Selling at $28K Level, Says MatrixportAccording to a report by Singapore-headquartered digital asset financial services provider Matrixport, Bitcoin (BTC) is facing selling pressure at the $28,000 price level, possibly due to miners offloading their newly mined coins.The report, cited by CoinDesk on Friday, suggests that miners are being compelled to liquidate their inventory as profit margins have contracted in recent weeks.Photo by Pixabay on PexelsHashrate all-time highMining has become an intensely competitive and often unprofitable endeavor due to the ongoing rise in Bitcoin miner difficulty. The hashrate, or measure of how easily miners can discover a new block of Bitcoin reached an all-time high earlier this week. Markus Thielen, Head of Research at Matrixport, noted that given the current input cost and potential revenue expectations, most machines produced before 2022 appear to be unprofitable.“At the current input cost and potential output revenue expectations, most of the machines produced before 2022 appear to be unprofitable,” Thielen wrote.Forced sellingConsequently, miners are forced to sell their inventory at the current level rather than holding out for higher prices, which Matrixport anticipates. The report highlights the significant upside potential for miners if Bitcoin prices were to increase by 10% or more, as profitability could quadruple.The narrowing profit margins for miners reflect the challenges they face in a highly competitive market. As mining difficulty continues to rise, miners must allocate more resources and computing power to mine new coins, reducing their profitability. The situation is particularly tough for miners operating older machines, which are less efficient and more costly to run.The selling pressure exerted by miners can have a short-term impact on Bitcoin’s price. However, Matrixport’s analysis suggests that if Bitcoin experiences a notable price increase, miners could see a substantial improvement in their profitability. This potential upside convexity creates an incentive for miners to continue their operations and withstand the current market conditions.Ordinals bring increased feesOn the other hand one recent development that is assisting miners is the increase in transaction fees, with the development of Bitcoin Ordinals and BRC-20 tokens over the course of the past six months. That interest seems to be ongoing, and if anything we’re likely to see further development of tokens running on top of the Bitcoin blockchain. On Thursday, Seychelles-based crypto trading platform OKX proposed a new BRC-30 token standard which would enable staking of those tokens, alongside staking of bitcoin.Singapore-based Matrixport is a portfolio company of crypto investment venture capital firm Foresight Ventures, which is also headquartered in Singapore. The firm provides a suite of products that it is positioning to be innovative and easy to use, offering an all-in-one crypto financial services platform, enabling users to earn, invest, loan, and trade digital assets.The Matrixport report indicates that miners are likely selling their Bitcoin at the $28,000 level due to squeezed profit margins. While this selling pressure may affect short-term price dynamics, the potential for increased profitability if Bitcoin prices rise significantly provides miners with an optimistic outlook for the future.

Cultural content company Com2uS Holdings announced Monday that XPLA, its layer 1 blockchain, is now supported by on-chain content (OCC) aggregator Gall3ry. Photo by GuerrillaBuzz on Unsplash"We are pleased with the recognition of our technology and ideas, and with our collaboration with global mainnet XPLA," said Joseph Lee, CEO of Gall3ry. "We plan to provide various experiences based on our decade of expertise in the IP industry." Empowering multifaceted ownershipGall3ry offers an OCC tokenizer solution that converts off-chain data into on-chain tokens – mainly NFTs – boosting user engagement and revenue while building Web3 communities. It ultimately gives NFT holders a sense of true ownership because they can personalize their social identities and build connections with other users through their assets. In particular, they can display their NFT artwork on the Gall3ry platform to share with the community, which can lead to increased communication and engagement on social media platforms, thus lowering the barriers to entry for NFTs. Elevating gaming experiencesBy supporting the XPLA blockchain, users on XPLA can now experience an innovative and improved Play-to-Own (P2O) aspect of their favorite games. Now that Gall3ry’s solution is linked to XPLA, NFT holders will be able to experience more active and vibrant connections with each other, moving away from the now outdated concept of one-dimensional ownership on XPLA. "This partnership is a significant collaboration for XPLA and our NFT marketplace X-PLANET," said Paul Kim, Team Leader at XPLA. "It will provide new and diverse ways for holders to utilize their NFTs."