GRVT snags license to become world’s first regulated DEX

Incheon City to Host Blockchain Conference Showcasing its VisionIncheon City will host a blockchain conference, Incheon Metanomics 2023, to showcase its vision at the Songdo Convensia Convention Center on May 9.The event will present the city’s goal of building a blockchain ecosystem and fostering digital economy growth. About 150 blockchain experts from around the world are expected to attend, according to Block Media.Insightful talksProminent industry figures, including Leon Sing Foong, the head of Asia-Pacific operations at cryptocurrency exchange Binance; Steve Park, Asia-Pacific head of public policy at online game platform Roblox; and Justin Kim, a solutions architect at semiconductor company AMD, will speak at the event. Foong will talk about the collaboration between crypto exchanges and governments, Park will provide insights into the future of the metaverse, and Kim will address upcoming trends in decentralized storage systems.Registration for the conference is free and open until May 4 through Event Us, with a live stream of the event available on YouTube.Incheon and DubaiIncheon has been working towards establishing a special digital economy zone within the city by utilizing blockchain technology. In March, Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok met with Ahmed Bin Sulayem, the executive chairman of the UAE’s Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), to discuss cooperation in the blockchain industry and digital economy.The DMCC, a free trade zone in Dubai, hosts over 65,000 workers from more than 21,000 companies across 180 countries. Notably, the DMCC crypto center is home to a community of over 500 crypto firms, fostering the Web3 and blockchain economy.Similarly, Incheon operates a free trade zone that connects 147 cities with populations exceeding 1 million within a three-hour flight radius. The Incheon Free Economic Zone is appealing to global blockchain companies as it offers flexible business operations for foreign entrepreneurs.© Pexels/joon young, Park

3AC Founder Secures Restraining Order in SingaporeSu Zhu, the Co-Founder of the defunct crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC) has successfully obtained a restraining order against BitMEX Co-Founder and former CEO, Arthur Hayes, in a Singaporean court.Photo by Monstera on PexelsNo communication “by any means”Crypto publication CoinDesk stated on Wednesday that it had seen a copy of the court order, which was originally issued on May 5. According to the details of the order, Hayes is prohibited from “making any threatening, abusive or insulting communication that would cause the Applicant harassment, alarm or distress.”Additionally, the former CEO of crypto trading platform BitMEX is forbidden from using “threatening, abusive or insulting words” in relation to Su Zhu. The order, which was issued by Judge Sandra Looi Ai Lin, clarifies that the BitMEX Co-Founder is not permitted to publish “any identity information” relative to Zhu or to communicate with him “by any means.”$6 million owedIt’s an understatement to say that Zhu, alongside fellow 3AC founder Kyle Davies, are not on Hayes’ list of favorite people in recent times. Following the 3AC collapse, Hayes has maintained that he is owed $6 million by the duo. Since the collapse of the hedge fund, Hayes has been tweeting out at the pair, calling them out relative to his claim that the duo have a debt obligation to him to the tune of $6 million.While both Hayes and Zhu have blemishes on their records, Hayes is much better regarded within the crypto community than Zhu. The BitMEX Co-Founder narrowly avoided a prison sentence in 2022 with the much lesser sanction of six months home detention being applied. That arose due to federal charges brought against him on the basis that he didn’t implement anti money laundering (AML) compliance procedures and checks at BitMEX while he was CEO of the firm.Despite this failure, Hayes remains popular within the crypto space, with his insightful commentary being lauded given that since he left BitMEX he has taken to writing blog articles relative to crypto and the broader economic situation. However, blog site Medium has taken to disabling access to his most recent blog article. The blog page states that the post “is under investigation or was found in violation of the Medium Rules.”Lacking a welcomeIn contrast with Hayes, commentary relative to the 3AC duo of Zhu and Davies has lacked warmth. Neither of the duo had jumped on social media for a number of months following the collapse of 3AC. More recently they have both tried to rehabilitate themselves, with many commentators within the space seeing it as a cynical move.In February the duo launched Open Exchange, more commonly known as OPNX, a trading platform for crypto-related bankruptcy claims. At that time, Hayes tweeted out that he interpreted the news as the return of the crypto bull market.Earlier this month, OPNX claimed that it had the backing of several credible entities in the crypto space. However, immediately afterwards, a number of those firms clarified that they had nothing to do with the startup.Meanwhile, crypto-focused venture capital investor Michael Arrington tweeted out his disdain in relation to the 3AC founder’s successful fund raise:“Three f***ing arrows dip****s successfully raising a new fund is the saddest bulls**t I’ve heard in a long time.”The regulator in Dubai has also failed to roll out the red carpet for the duo’s new venture. In April, it issued an investor alert in relation to OPNX. Subsequently, it has followed up with a formal written reprimand issued to Zhu and Davies, given that the business is not registered with the regulator although operating out of Dubai.

CUBE, a hybrid crypto exchange that settles trades on-chain using secure multi-party computation, announced on its official X account that it has listed ACS, the native token of Solana-based monetization platform Access Protocol.  The hybrid exchange utilizes its custom rewards platform, Blocks, to engage users through unique packages for listing traders and token holders. Participants in the listing will be eligible for campaign rewards.  Bartosz Lipinski, CEO and co-founder at CUBE, recently revealed plans around Isometric (ISO), an intent-based transaction network, enabling cross-chain trading to eliminate the need for asset bridging.  “When we started building Cube, we wanted everything to be an intent… Everyone will be able to submit intents to the network and verify settlements on multiple chains using the decentralised MPC that we’ve built,” Lipinski said during his presentation at the Solana Breakpoint conference. “Through the decentralised MPC integration layer, you will be able to actually use the value on different layer ones without cannibalising it,” he went on to share.  ISO will be the platform token powering governance, staking, and decentralized custody, according to Cube's announcement. Both Token and Mainnet launch are expected to happen some time in Q2 2025.  In a related development on Monday, Cube announced its partnership with the Argentinian government. The company plans to explore leveraging the Isometric network as a catalyst for the South American nation’s financial system.