Internal Dispute Sees Co-Founder Depart 5ire

Emurgo Looks to Fill in Missing Cardano Ecosystem ComponentsEmurgo, the Singapore-based commercial arm and a founding entity of the Cardano blockchain network, plans on working towards filling in the gaps relative to needed Cardano ecosystem components.So said Emurgo Founder and CEO Ken Kodama, in a recent discussion with Andrew Fenton, the Editor of Cointelegraph’s magazine. Emurgo is one of the three entities governing Cardano and has taken on the task of addressing what it perceives as “missing” components in the Cardano blockchain when compared to other leading blockchains.Photo by Traxer on UnsplashAddressing 21 categoriesKodama outlined a strategic shift in Emurgo’s approach, describing it as a transition to a venture studio model to address 21 specific categories that he and his team believe require attention. According to Kodama, the solutions to these gaps will either be built by Emurgo themselves or sourced through investments, hackathons, or grants to incentivize developers within the Cardano community. Kodama stated: “So, that’s what we need to focus on, shifting from where we are today into a venture studio model.”One area that the Emurgo CEO is looking to address is the need to introduce layer 2 solutions to enhance Cardano’s scalability. While other blockchains have seen significant development in this area, Kodama feels that Cardano needs to catch up. Therefore, it’s a priority for Emurgo to cultivate a similar environment within the Cardano network.Along those lines, Emurgo is exploring zero-knowledge rollups and optimistic rollups, indicating the firm’s commitment to exploring and investing in what is the latest cutting-edge blockchain technology. To this end, they’ve already organized hackathons centered around these themes.Developer proficiency issueThe Emurgo boss feels that one of these 21 shortfalls is more pressing than the rest. Kodama acknowledged that the barrier of having developers proficient in more obscure programming languages like Haskell and Plutus is a difficulty. He believes the current pool of developers with expertise in these languages is insufficient. To address this, Emurgo is keen to promote Aiken, a toolkit and a new programming language designed to facilitate the development of smart contracts on the Cardano blockchain.Another one of the highlighted gaps is the absence of a robust decentralized identity (DID) system for enterprise adoption within the Cardano ecosystem. Kodama voiced his concern in this respect, stating: “We don’t see that much DID application being built on Cardano. So, that’s the first gap, or primary gap that we need to fill in.”“Aiken and other programming language applicability are quite important to broaden the number of builders able to build on top of Cardano. We have been educating builders to code in Haskell and Plutus. We had more than 2,000 graduates. However, that’s not really enough,” Kodama added.Emurgo has high hopes for Aiken and similar programming languages that can be integrated into Cardano, with the aim of diversifying the pool of developers capable of creating smart contracts on the platform, using a variety of programming languages.

When Samsung Securities surveyed its high-net-worth clients about which investment assets they believed would be most effective for wealth growth in the future, only a small fraction, 1.9%, pointed to virtual assets, as reported by South Korean news outlet Newsis. The majority favored domestic and foreign stocks, which garnered a significant 45.4% of the vote. Following this, domestic and foreign bonds were chosen by 18.1% of respondents, and real assets like real estate and gold were also considered favorable, with 16.8% backing these options.Photo by Lukas on PexelsInvestment preferences of high-net-worth clientsThe survey conducted by Samsung Securities involved a select group of 368 participants, each with assets totaling KRW 3 billion ($2.3 million) or more. It focused on their perspectives regarding this year’s stock market trends and their individual investment strategies. This specific demographic provided insights into the investment preferences and outlooks of high-net-worth individuals. In the survey, when these individuals were queried about the methods they’ve used to accumulate their wealth, the most prevalent answer was investment in financial instruments such as stocks and funds, with 35.9% indicating this as their primary method. Business income was the second most common source of wealth, cited by 29.9% of participants. Wage income was also a significant contributor, mentioned by 19.6%. Additionally, gifts and inheritance played a role, accounting for 7.1% of wealth growth. Meanwhile, real estate investments were the least common, with only 6.5% of the respondents identifying it as a key wealth growth strategy. Regarding the optimal timing for stock purchases this year, a notable portion of the investors expressed a preference for the beginning of the year, with many pinpointing the first quarter as the ideal time, as indicated by 51.6% of respondents. This preference was followed by the second quarter, favored by 27.7%, the third quarter at 13.6% and the fourth quarter being least favored with only 7.1%. In terms of promising industries for investment, over half of the respondents, 50.6%, identified artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductors as the most prospective sectors. These technologies are viewed as pivotal in shaping the future of the tech industry. Following AI and semiconductors, rechargeable batteries, which were the top-performing segment in the previous year, garnered notable interest, with 16.7% of respondents favoring them. The survey identified key figures likely to impact the stock market this year: former U.S. President Trump (30.4%), U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Powell (15.8%), U.S. President Biden (7.1%) and Saudi Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman (3.3%). Business leaders like Tesla’s Elon Musk (6.0%), OpenAI’s Sam Altman (5.4%) and Novo Nordisk’s Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen (2.4%) were also mentioned for their influence. When asked about the most important issue of the financial market for the new year, 51.1% pointed to “interest rate cuts in major economies” as their top concern. Following this, 15.2% highlighted the outcome of the U.S. presidential election as a significant issue. Additionally, the advancement of new industries such as AI and robotics was flagged as an important topic by 10.3% of those surveyed. Stock market experts’ crypto optimismIn contrast, a 2024 stock market outlook survey by local media outlet Money Today, which polled 225 stock market experts, showed a more optimistic stance towards investing in cryptocurrencies this year. When questioned about their willingness to invest in crypto assets like bitcoin, 20% responded very affirmatively, and an additional 34.2% expressed a similar interest, totaling over half of the respondents showing readiness to invest in cryptocurrencies. Meanwhile, 18.7% were unsure, and 27.1% had negative views, including 16.4% saying “no” and 10.7% opting for “strongly no”. In the newspaper survey, when specifically asked about bitcoin’s future value, 24.9%, the largest group of respondents for this question, predicted that bitcoin’s price would reach or exceed KRW 70 million, the highest estimate provided in the survey’s options. Meanwhile, 17.8% of the experts estimated that the price would range between KRW 60 million and 70 million. 

GroundX to Bring NFT Activities to 2023 Seoul Light Hangang Bitseom FestivalGroundX, the blockchain subsidiary of South Korean conglomerate Kakao, said Tuesday that it will host NFT-related activities at Seoul’s largest laser art festival, the 2023 Seoul Light Hangang Bitseom Festival, from October 6 to 15 in collaboration with the Seoul Metropolitan Government and other affiliates like LG Uplus and the Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture.Photo by Wes Hicks on UnsplashMerging physical activity, learning, and artThe activities will fall under the theme of “3L”: Light Run, Laser Art, and Lecture. Light Run is a four-kilometer running course scheduled for October 6 and 14, for which GroundX will mint NFT certificates for participants who complete the course. The NFTs will contain information about the participant, as well as the date of the event and a record of completion. They will then automatically be sent to and stored in the participant’s Klip wallet, GroundX’s digital wallet service, and can be accessed at any time on the Klip app and KakaoTalk Wallet.GroundX said that it will also showcase digital artworks by eight artists, including Kim Duk-ki, Han Seung-ku, and Berry Kim. These works will be displayed on LED platforms installed at the Banpo and Ichon Hangang Parks.Kim Tae-keun, Head of Business at GroundX, is set to participate as a lecturer for the Bitseom Lecture segment on October 8, where he will discuss NFT art and the company’s vision for the media art industry. Bitseom Lecture is an outdoor art convergence lecture program that introduces immersive media artworks and technology in virtual reality (VR) and extended reality (XR).Bringing the NFT experience to Seoul“We hope that citizens visiting the Bitseom Festival will be able to get the real NFT experience through our media art displays, lectures, and running course completion certificates,” GroundX said. “We will continue to collaborate with various organizations and create NFT use cases through participation in offline festivals and events.”