BingX embarks on rebrand to further service offering

dYdX Foundation CEO Shares the Importance of Korean Developers of the Cosmos NetworkDecentralized crypto derivatives exchange dYdX is in the midst of a significant transition, as it prepares to move away from its current Ethereum-based layer-2 protocol to Cosmos, a decentralized network of independent blockchains. Meanwhile, senior members of the dYdX Foundation, a Swiss-based not-for-profit entity behind the derivatives exchange, paid a visit to South Korea on the occasion of Korea Blockchain Week: KBW2023, which is an annual event that spans from September 4 to 10 this year.Photo by Mariia Shalabaieva on UnsplashBusy Q4Regarding the upcoming v4 update on a Cosmos-based blockchain, Charles d’Haussy, the CEO of the dYdX Foundation, shared his thoughts in an interview with CoinNess. He expressed anticipation for a bustling fourth quarter this year but also acknowledged that the exact timeline remains uncertain, as it hinges on the voting processes, including one for bridging tokens to Cosmos, within the dYdX community.Utility token on v4As part of dYdX’s migration to Cosmos, its governance token will undergo a transformation into a utility token. The forthcoming dYdX v4 will be fully decentralized, with 100% of the fees collected from the exchange distributed to stakers and validators. Following the completion of this migration, the current dYdX protocol on Ethereum will eventually become deprecated.Exclusive focus on crypto derivativesIn a significant milestone, dYdX achieved over $1 trillion in total trading volume on its Layer 2 platform on July 14 of this year. d’Haussy expressed pride in this achievement and highlighted that dYdX’s competitive edge lies in its exclusive focus on crypto derivatives.DeFi mullet memeAlthough DeFi derivatives trading currently represents just 1% of the overall crypto derivatives volume, d’Haussy is optimistic about its future growth, predicting an acceleration. In a parallel to how traditional banks offer an array of products that originate from external entities such as brokerages and insurance companies, Charles d’Haussy envisions that centralized exchanges will provide a diverse range of offerings sourced from decentralized platforms. He expressed his strong belief in the idea encapsulated by the DeFi mullet meme, which features the phrase “Fintech In The Front, DeFi In The Back.”Top-tier Cosmos builders in KoreaWhen asked about his visit to Korea, d’Haussy emphasized the presence of top-tier Cosmos builders in the country. He underscored South Korea’s importance within the Cosmos ecosystem, highlighting that 10% of dYdX’s testnet participants are Korean companies.

Korean Prosecutors Allocate $734K Budget for Crypto Crime InvestigationsThe South Korean Supreme Prosecutors’ Office has earmarked a budget of up to KRW 986 million (approximately $734,000) this year for investigations pertaining to virtual assets, according to data received by the local newspaper Law Times from the Ministry of Justice last Thursday. The significant size of the budget suggests that the prosecution is prioritizing efforts to combat the growing surge in virtual asset-related crimes.Photo by Tingey Injury Law Firm on UnsplashBudget divisionWithin this budget, KRW 778 million has been designated for the purchase of software licenses for virtual asset tracing and analysis equipment, while KRW 280 million has been allocated for an integrated strategic plan to establish a platform for analyzing and tracing unauthorized virtual asset transactions. The budget for this platform consists of preliminary planning costs. Related expenditures are expected to increase as the project is fully implemented.“It is true that our budgets are being concentrated on crimes related to virtual assets due to the fact that they have recently become a social issue,” said a prosecution official. “It may not be a lot compared to our overall budget, but assigning almost KRW 1 billion for one specific field of investigation is still a considerate amount.”Rising crypto crimesIn Korea, crimes associated with virtual assets have been increasing annually. This includes tax evasion, bribery, foreign exchange law violations, and money laundering, as well as cryptocurrency market issues including issuance, listing, and distribution. According to the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, reported cases of suspicious virtual asset transactions received by the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (KoFIU) surged from an average of 66 cases per month in 2021 to 900 cases in 2022, then 943 cases in 2023 — a fourteen-fold increase in just three years.Subsequently, the scale of the damages caused by cryptocurrency crimes has also seen a sharp rise. The total value of all reported damages skyrocketed from KRW 467.4 billion in 2017 to KRW 1.02 trillion last year, more than doubling in five years. The cumulative loss over this period exceeds KRW 5.3 trillion.Focused effortsThe prosecution has thus dispatched financial experts from organizations including KoFIU and Korea Exchange to create a joint virtual asset crime investigation unit under the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office dedicated to investigating cryptocurrency crimes.The prosecution’s Cybercrime Investigation Division has also begun developing a tracking system optimized for the Korean market to trace the flow of virtual assets. The foreign software that is currently being used for tracking comes with considerable expenses and limitations, particularly for tracking flows within the domestic market, where there are many transactions involving smaller, locally-issued cryptocurrencies called “kimchi coins.”“We are dedicating our manpower and technological development to virtual asset investigations,” said a high-ranking official from the prosecution. “We will also strive to secure the budget necessary for these efforts.”

With reports of American exchange platform Coinbase having been in talks with regulators to re-enter the Indian market emerging last month, the firm has made further progress with those efforts, registering with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). In a blog post published to the Coinbase website on March 11, the company confirmed that it had successfully registered with the FIU, a national agency which is responsible for gathering, processing, analyzing and circulating data related to suspicious financial transactions.Photo by Big G Media on UnsplashOffering retail services in 2025As a consequence of this registration, the company intends to commence trading activity in India once more, with plans to offer retail services to Indian investors later this year. Commenting on the development, John O'Loghlen, Regional Managing Director for the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region at Coinbase, stated that the company is committed to building its business in markets where potential exists for crypto and on-chain innovation. He added: “India represents one of the most exciting market opportunities in the world today, and we’re proud to deepen our investment here in full compliance with local regulations.” News of this development has been interpreted as a positive for the crypto sector. Taking to X, Suraj Chawla, founder and CEO of GPU.net, a decentralized network of GPUs, suggested that the registration was indicative of a softening in the regulatory approach taken to crypto in India. He believes that the Trump administration in the U.S., which is pro-crypto, is collaborating with India’s government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He added: “This is extremely positive news with countries like UAE, IND, RUS, USA adopting mainstream crypto and working on critical infra like exchanges, ETF and stablecoins.” Taking this development as a sign of a crypto awakening in India, Chawla suggested that we could see major Indian corporations like Reliance, Tata and Adani going into mainstream crypto infrastructure. ‘Informal pressure’Coinbase was forced to disable UPI payments on its platform in India back in 2022 due to what Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong described at the time as “informal pressure” from India’s central bank, the Royal Bank of India (RBI). Armstrong offered the following take on the status of crypto in India at that time:“India is a unique market in the sense that the Supreme Court has ruled that they can't ban crypto, but there are elements in the government there, including at the Reserve Bank of India, who don't seem to be as positive on it.” In 2023 the company disabled new user sign-ups on its platform.  India’s central bank has leaned against crypto over the last few years. In January of last year, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, said that there was no place in India for “crypto mania,” following the approval of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the U.S. He said at that time that "the way we look at crypto remains unchanged, irrespective of who does what."  While taking what has been at best an ambiguous approach to cryptocurrencies, the RBI has advocated for the adoption of blockchain technology by India’s banks.