AhnLab Blockchain Company to integrate digital wallet into Sogang University’s education metaverse

Abu Dhabi’s Venom Ventures Fund faces market challengesA report by The Block on Friday suggests that Abu Dhabi’s ambitious Venom Ventures Fund, heralded earlier this year with promises of $1 billion investment in Web3 startups, is facing challenges in following through on its mission.Photo by Nazar Skalatsky on UnsplashWhat is Venom?Venom is a collaboration between the Venom Foundation and Iceberg Capital, an alternative asset management company also based in Abu Dhabi. The venture was conceived by Peter Knez, former Co-Chief Investment Officer of BlackRock’s fixed income division and Mustafa Kheriba, Iceberg’s Executive Chairman.In a tweet thread published back in August, the firm described the fund as “old money meets new, the perfect platform for leading the next iteration of blockchain development.” The fund outlined that its approach incorporated venture capital, the offering of a project incubator and a specialist advisory service.Knez has set out lofty ambitions for the fund, stating:“The vision is to drive billions of users into our layer one Blockchain technology by being institutional quality and regulated, and by being such we can actually partner with the government and institutions to help them develop framework for stable coins, for cross-border payment system for tokenization of real world assets and thereby help web2 businesses and citizens move to web3.”At the time of its announcement, Venom Ventures boasted a $20 million investment in Nümi Metaverse and a $5 million strategic investment in Layer 1 blockchain Everscale.Unexpected silenceFurther details on deals struck since January have been scarce, although the fund was reported back in August to have been involved in a blockchain-based carbon credits project, backed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE).According to The Block, there has been an unexpected silence from the venture as its first year in business comes to a close, despite the initial buzz in the crypto community that greeted the launch of the fund.Venom Ventures positioned itself to cover the entire venture spectrum, from seed to late-stage investments, even offering grants ranging from $25,000 to $200,000. However, a closer look reveals a stark contrast between the fund’s ambitious promises and its current progress. The fund’s website lacks a portfolio section, displaying only a “coming soon” notice.Blockchain mainnet yet to launchThe venture fund has yet to launch its Venom blockchain mainnet, according to Christopher Louis Tsu, CEO of the Venom Foundation. The lack of updates and communication has raised concerns among industry observers about the fund’s overall progress and its ability to fulfill its investment commitments.The broader context of the crypto market adds to the challenges faced by Venom Ventures. Q4 2023 is expected to see a significant drop in venture funding for Web3, down to approximately $2.7 billion from the peak of $13.5 billion in Q1 2022. Market events have left VCs cautious, with notable instances of significant investments being marked down to zero.Amidst these challenges, crypto startups have turned to the Middle East for capital. However, some industry insiders caution that the perceived ease of accessing capital in the Middle East might be a mirage. With that, it remains to be seen whether the fund can revive its initial momentum and deliver on its promise to fuel the growth of Web3 startups in the ever-evolving crypto landscape.

Japan’s largest bank, MUFG, has teamed up with KlimaDAO Japan, the provider of a digital reserve currency backed by carbon credits, to explore the use of the JPYC stablecoin for settling tokenized carbon credit transactions on the Progmat blockchain platform. Settlement on ProgmatProgmat provides the infrastructure to enable the issuance of various stablecoins. Last September, MUFG announced a collaboration with Binance geared towards stablecoin issuance. The JPYC stablecoin, operational since 2021, functions as a prepaid money instrument, similar to a prepaid card, due to its existence before Japan’s stablecoin legislation. Under new regulations, JPYC can either obtain a money transmitter license or issue a trust-style stablecoin with a bank like MUFG acting as the trustee for the stablecoin's reserves. Last year, JPYC formed a partnership with MUFG implicating the use of the Progmat platform.  This partnership, along with the involvement of Kansai Electric subsidiary Optage as the integration partner, sets the stage for the KlimaDAO stablecoin experiments. Optage will provide the corporate infrastructure required to manage the carbon credits added to the blockchain and provide a means for funds settlement to be achieved via bank transfer. Through the use of various local stablecoins for the purpose of settlement, it’s hoped that improved liquidity on a global basis may be achieved.Photo by Dan Meyers on UnsplashInitially recognized for making tokenized carbon credits accessible on public blockchains, KlimaDAO's functionality extends beyond this. The organization also offers the capability to retire credits. Last year, KlimaDAO expanded its reach by launching Carbonmark, an enterprise-focused marketplace.  This platform, which utilizes blockchain technology, namely Polygon, and smart contracts, offers a user-friendly experience by integrating traditional payment methods like bank transfers and SAP integration.  J-CreditsJapan operates a national scheme known as J-credits, and the Tokyo Stock Exchange has introduced a secondary market for these credits. J-credits are designed to certify the amount by which greenhouse gas emissions have been reduced through the use of carbon sinks in Japan. However, the volume of J-credit transactions remains low, reflecting the broader state of Japan's voluntary carbon market.  KlimaDAO aims to address this by launching the KlimaDAO Japan Market, simplifying the process for domestic companies to purchase and utilize carbon credits. This initiative will involve tokenizing J-credits, referred to as D-Carbons.  Andrew Bonneau, KlimaDAO co-founder, outlined on X that “@KlimaDAO is in a unique position to facilitate an efficient J-Credit market on chain, while serving as the base infrastructure for integrating these assets with 3rd party services.” While the initial phase will use traditional bank payments, the ultimate goal is to transition to using stablecoins, particularly the JPYC stablecoin. Norbert Gehrke, an observer of developments within the Japanese fintech scene, outlined on Medium that the Japanese carbon credit market is likely to reach three trillion yen ($19.15 billion) by 2030. Meanwhile, the global carbon credit market has a current value of 39 trillion yen ($249 billion). KlimaDAO Japan has mentioned the use of a permissionless blockchain for this initiative but has fallen short of confirming that the Polygon network will be relied upon. Japan has several homegrown blockchains, which might be considered for this project.  At the time of writing, the KLIMA token had risen 31% over the course of the previous 24 hours, with a unit price of $3.53 according to CoinGecko. 

Bullish Emerges as a Bidder for Bankrupt FTX ExchangeBullish, a Gibraltar-based crypto exchange with strong ties to Asia, has emerged as a prominent bidder for the bankrupt trading platform FTX, which filed for bankruptcy protection in November last year.Photo by Kelly Sikkema on UnsplashValuable customer baseUp until that point, FTX was a thriving player in the cryptocurrency market. However, it is now in the process of seeking new ownership or financial restructuring to resurrect its operations. In a report published on Tuesday, The Block outlined that according to sources familiar with the situation, Bullish is eager to acquire FTX primarily for its valuable customer base.The news follows the filing of a stakeholder brief to the bankruptcy court in Delaware in the United States by the FTX Debtor on Monday. The brief outlined that the Debtor, led by new CEO John Ray, has reached out to more than 75 bidders to evaluate the potential relaunch of the FTX exchange business.Bullish aims to leverage FTX’s existing user network, intending to convert as many of them as possible into Bullish customers. However, it’s worth noting that this complex negotiation process may face challenges and uncertainties along the way.Asian connectionsAlthough it’s incorporated and registered in Gibraltar, only 4% of the company’s staff are Gibraltar-based. Meanwhile, the firm has offices in Singapore and Hong Kong with those locations accounting for 49% of the company’s overall workforce, according to LinkedIn data. Back in November the firm confirmed that it wasn’t one of the many crypto businesses with exposure to the FTX collapse.Bullish was founded by Brendan Blumer, with Bloomer currently acting as the exchange’s Chairman. Blumer previously founded Block.one, the developer behind the EOS blockchain. He also successfully founded and later exited Okay.com, Hong Kong’s largest digital property agency.Other Asia-centric players in the crypto sector had expressed interest in buying the FTX business (or parts of the business) earlier in the year. These included Singapore’s BSQ Capital and Gamepay, India’s CoinDCX, Japan’s 5G networks developer Docomo and e-commerce giant Rakuten, and Hong Kong’s OKC Holdings.Tribe Capital interestThe Block article also outlines that US-based Tribe Capital is another significant bidder in the running. Tribe Capital had FTX within its venture portfolio prior to the exchange’s downfall and subsequent bankruptcy at the close of the previous year. It had also appeared on the list of 363 sales parties back in June, and prior to that still, it had expressed its interest in buying the business.To establish a clear timeline for its business restructuring efforts, the estate has set a deadline for new bids, which falls on September 24. The FTX estate is still at an early stage in trying to resuscitate the business. Even if it’s successful in that endeavor, it’s not expected that a new business will emerge until Q2 2024 at the earliest.Separately, a criminal prosecution against FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried is progressing with a trial scheduled to take place in New York in October. Presently Bankman-Fried is incarcerated in a New York City jail while he awaits trial, having been found to have breached his bail conditions on the grounds of witness tampering.