Terraform Labs Co-Founder Daniel Shin Denies Wrongdoing in LUNA Collapse

Singapore-based startup Pontem, a Web3 product development studio, has successfully raised $6 million in a recent funding round. Broad venture capital participationThe firm announced details of the funding round via a press release published on Thursday.  The round was co-led by Faction and Lightspeed Venture Partners. The financing includes participation from notable contributors such as Pantera Capital, Aptos Foundation, market maker Wintermute, Singaporean trading firm Altonomy, Shima Capital and Kraken Ventures. This latest capital infusion brings Pontem's total raised funds to $10.5 million, building upon the $4.5 million secured in June 2021 through a private token sale led by Mechanism Capital, Kenetic Capital, Delphi Ventures and Hong Kong’s Animoca Brands.Pepi Stojanovski on UnsplashExpanding Move utilityThe primary focus of the funds is to empower developers in creating applications that are compatible with both the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and Move, expanding the utility of the Move programming language beyond its current usage on the Aptos and Sui blockchains. Move is a rust-derived programming language which was originally developed by Facebook with the intention of using it to power the Diem blockchain, prior to the company abandoning the project. It’s a platform-agnostic language designed for the writing of safe smart contracts. It distinguishes itself from the EVM's Solidity language by enhancing throughput through parallel processing. Pontem contends that Move is particularly appealing to Web2 developers from traditional finance and tech sectors due to its similarity to familiar static-type languages. Pontem envisions breaking the temporary vendor lock-in associated with the EVM, offering developers a versatile programming language that supports the security and scalability required for widespread adoption. Alejo Pinto, co-founder of Pontem, highlighted the objective of utilizing the capital influx to increase the usage of Move beyond the Aptos and Sui blockchains, providing dApp teams with a programming language that facilitates the addition of new features, promoting security and scalability. Pinto emphasized that Pontem seeks to address the vendor lock-in issue on Ethereum, enabling easier entry for Web2 developers and fostering their confidence in the decentralized space. Banafsheh Fathieh, Partner at Faction, praised Pontem's role in building critical primitives for the Move ecosystems. Pantera Capital Managing Partner Paul Veradittakit expressed excitement about investing in Pontem, recognizing the team's efforts in constructing essential financial and technical infrastructure to attract consumers and developers to the decentralized web. Lumio Layer 2The allocated capital is earmarked for developing Move Virtual Machine products on EVM-compatible blockchains like Ethereum. This includes Lumio, a Move-based Layer 2 solution which the company introduced in December. It operates as an optimistic rollup on Ethereum and leverages alternative Layer 1s like Aptos to process transactions. Pontem disclosed that products deployed on Aptos, such as the Pontem Wallet and Liquidswap DEX, have gained significant traction with 40,000 weekly active users and up to $1 million in daily volume. Looking ahead, Pontem envisions extending its support to the Solana Virtual Machine and other blockchain languages, underscoring its intention to provide a comprehensive development environment for decentralized applications. The funding secured in this round signifies a crucial step for the fledgling company in advancing the compatibility and accessibility of the Move programming language within the broader blockchain ecosystem. 

Hong Kong’s Development as Crypto Hub May Soften Chinese Stance on CryptoHong Kong is making waves in the crypto sector that could potentially signal a shift in China’s attitude toward digital assets. That’s a theory that has been given consideration by crypto analytics firm Chainalysis in a recently released report highlighting Hong Kong’s crypto transformation and suggesting a growing tolerance for crypto within China’s corridors of power.Photo by farfar on UnsplashOTC trade showing resilienceDespite China’s stringent regulations and the ongoing crypto market downturn, Hong Kong’s over-the-counter (OTC) crypto market has demonstrated remarkable resilience, with a transaction volume of $64 billion in the past year. While this is slightly less than China’s $86.4 billion, it’s a noteworthy achievement considering Hong Kong’s smaller population and the challenges facing the crypto industry.The close relationship between China and Hong Kong has led some industry commentators to speculate that Hong Kong’s rise as a crypto hub could indicate a shift in China’s stance on digital assets.The crypto-friendly environment in Hong Kong has not gone unnoticed. Merton Lam of Crypto HK, an OTC digital asset trading center in the city, notes that cryptocurrencies have become an integral part of investment portfolios for banks, private equity firms, and high-net-worth individuals in the region. Even Chinese state-owned businesses are launching cryptocurrency-focused investment funds.Hong Kong cornering institutional tradeWhat sets Hong Kong apart in the crypto landscape is its proficiency in large institutional crypto transactions, with 46.8% of its annual crypto trades exceeding $10 million. In contrast, retail trades under $10,000 accounted for just 4% of the city’s crypto volume, slightly below the global average of 4.7%. This institutional dominance distinguishes Hong Kong from other Asian regions.For comparison, South Korea heavily relies on retail trading on centralized exchanges, while Japan maintains a transaction breakdown that aligns closely with global trends, balancing centralized exchanges with DeFi protocols.A cautionary noteHowever, Dave Chapman of OSL Digital Securities offers a note of caution, suggesting that Hong Kong’s promotion as a crypto hub might be more exploratory, aimed at gaining a better understanding of digital assets without significantly loosening mainland policies.Despite the uncertainties, Markus Thielen, Head of Research and Strategy at Singapore’s Matrixport, believes that Hong Kong is acting as a “testing ground” for broader cryptocurrency adoption in China. The city’s unique position makes it an attractive destination for the crypto asset management industry, setting it apart from other jurisdictions that often view crypto firms as service providers rather than end-users.Hong Kong’s progress is particularly noteworthy when considering the broader context of East Asia’s crypto market. Chainalysis analysis reveals that East Asia’s share of crypto transaction value dropped from around 30% in 2019 to less than 10% by the second quarter of 2022 due to China’s crypto bans. Hong Kong’s recent surge could potentially act as a “tailwind” to reignite crypto activity in the region.The evolving relationship between the mainland and the autonomous territory of Hong Kong may hold the key to understanding the future of cryptocurrency in the region.

Rotonda Launches iOS Version of Web3 Bithumb Burrito WalletRotonda, a subsidiary of Korean crypto exchange Bithumb, said Monday that it has officially released the iOS version of its Web3 digital wallet, Bithumb Burrito Wallet. This comes as part of the company’s efforts to make the app available for Web3 users on all operating systems.Photo by Shubham’s Web3 on UnsplashBoosted accessibilityRotonda has recently expanded the number of mainnets supported on the wallet to a total of 11 in order to enhance the accessibility of the service as well. Plans are underway to continuously improve features and build a user-friendly experience and interface.“By expanding our iOS-based services, we expect more users to be able to experience the new Web3 ecosystem,” the company said. “We will continuously enhance necessary features on Burrito Wallet for our users and strengthen competitiveness as a global service.”Collaborative eventThe company is also holding a two-part promotional event to mark the latest release in collaboration with ROACORE, an art tech platform created by ROALAND Foundation that allows non-fungible token (NFT) trading and NFT-based service experiences for artists and consumers. Users of the platform can participate in various Web3 experiences such as content consumption and offline events by using the native token ROA CORE (ROA).For the first part of the promotion, the first 10,000 users who sign up for Burrito Wallet and add the ROA token will receive 10 ROA tokens.The second part is a Learn-To-Earn (L2E) activity aimed at introducing ROACORE to users in a more engaging manner. Both new and existing wallet users can partake in a quiz after learning about ROACORE on the app. Four ROA tokens will be given to the first 5,000 participants.This promotional event will run from now until September 3. All reward tokens will be airdropped to winners, Rotonda said.Upcoming eventsRotonda is also set to co-host Next Block 2023 — a conference for exploring new business collaboration opportunities in building a new ecosystem for Web3 projects — with Bithumb META, Bithumb’s metaverse subsidiary on September 4.