Nomura Subsidiary Achieves In-Principle Approval in Abu Dhabi

Circle CEO to Deliver Keynote Address at Korea Blockchain Week in SeptKorea Blockchain Week (KBW) 2023, an annual blockchain conference co-hosted by FactBlock and Hashed, will be held in South Korea in September. At the highly anticipated event, Jeremy Allaire, Co-founder and CEO of stablecoin issuer Circle, will deliver a keynote address during the conference’s main event, IMPACT, as per reported by local news outlet News1.Photo by Shubham Dhage on UnsplashKeynote addressAllaire will discuss the role of stablecoins, likening them to HTTP for money and emphasizing their ability to facilitate efficient transactions in the digital economy. According to CoinMarketCap, Circle’s stablecoin USDC is currently the world’s sixth-largest cryptocurrency, with a market value of $27.3 billion.The conference will also feature a session on the combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchains, with insights provided by Illia Polosukhin, Co-founder of Near Protocol. Polosukhin is known for his contribution to the groundbreaking 2017 paper “Attention is All You Need,” which revolutionized generative AI.Other notable attendees include Sébastien Borget, Co-founder of The Sandbox; Hilmar Veigar Petursson, CEO of CCP Games; Dan Held, Marketing Advisor at Trust Machines; Ed Felten, Co-founder of Offchain Labs; and Caroline D. Pham, Commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).110 blockchain leadersKBW 2023 will be held at various venues in the Seoul metropolitan area from September 4 to 10. The flagship event, IMPACT, will take place at the luxury hotel Shilla Seoul on September 5 and 6. This two-day gathering will bring together some 110 distinguished global blockchain leaders.Jeon Seon-ik, CEO of blockchain community builder FactBlock, described IMPACT as a high-end Web3 conference focused on discussing the latest trends in the sector. Jeon expects attendees to benefit from the insightful content provided by project leaders.Kim Seo-joon, CEO of early-stage venture investor Hashed, stated that the conference aims to provide blockchain enthusiasts with a comprehensive overview of the rapidly-evolving blockchain industry. Kim hopes that participants will gain valuable information from global Web3 leaders and discover new business opportunities.

Cross Trading of LUNA Tokens Uncovered on Three Korean Crypto ExchangesAccording to a report by the Maeil Business Newspaper on Wednesday, it was discovered that cross trading of LUNA tokens took place on three South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges: Bithumb, Coinone, and GoPax.Three crypto exchangesAn indictment by the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office against Terraform Labs co-founders Do Kwon and Daniel Shin, along with interviews conducted within the cryptocurrency industry, revealed that Bithumb, Coinone, and GoPax were involved in cross trading LUNA tokens with a combined value of $598 million. Specifically, Bithumb accounted for $224 million, Coinone for $299 billion, and GoPax for $74 billion.The prosecution has confirmed that cross trading continued until the end of February 2022, a period marked by significant demands for virtual asset legislation from both the market and academia. Despite widespread calls for regulations to curb unfair trading practices, these instances of cross trading went undetected.Classification of LUNAMoreover, it is reported that legal punishment for the $598 million worth of cross trading is challenging unless LUNA tokens are officially recognized as securities by the court. Under the Korean Capital Markets Act, only cross trading involving tokens identified as securities can be subject to penalties as a form of market manipulation.During a plenary session of the National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon made a statement suggesting that LUNA tokens could be considered securities due to their backing by real-world assets. However, he said that this distinction might not apply to other tokens.On April 25, the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Shin and others as accomplices to Kwon, assuming that LUNA tokens were indeed securities. This case now revolves around whether the prosecution can successfully establish the classification of LUNA tokens as securities during the trial, making it the central issue in the case.Photo by Kanchanara on UnsplashCrypto investor protection legislationLast Thursday, the National Assembly’s National Policy Committee approved a bill known as the “Virtual Assets User Protection Act,” signaling an accelerated legislative process. However, there are arguments suggesting that the definition of cross trading should be further clarified in either the legislation or enforcement decree.A representative of a law firm specializing in virtual assets stated that the implementation of the User Protection Act would take another year even after its promulgation, making it challenging to retrospectively penalize cross trading practices that had already occurred.

Upbit Launches Campaign for Recovery of Mistakenly Transferred AssetsUpbit, the cryptocurrency exchange operated by Dunamu, announced on Tuesday (local time) that it is launching a campaign where users can get back the digital assets that they have transferred mistakenly as part of heightened efforts to protect investors and minimize their losses due to such errors.Photo by Luis Villasmil on UnsplashRole of secondary identifiersAmong the virtual assets that Upbit allows users to deposit, some require users to accurately input their unique identifiers — like a Destination Tag (D.tag) or Memo — in order to properly process a deposit. A D.tag or Memo is an additional address used to identify a transaction recipient beyond a wallet address, which is often required when trading altcoins like Ripple (XRP) and Monero (XMR). In the case of XRP, both the exchange address and the D.tag must be entered accurately for deposits to be processed properly.Enhancing investor convenienceHowever, misdirected transfers caused by incorrect or missing secondary deposit addresses occur quite frequently. Many users also remain unaware when their virtual assets have been mistakenly transferred.In response to this issue, Dunamu has organized its latest campaign to make it easier for Upbit users to recover the virtual assets that they mistakenly sent. A user can access the campaign page on the official Upbit website and search for the transaction ID (TXID) of the deposit where the secondary address was either not entered or entered incorrectly. If a matching deposit is found, they can click “Apply for Recovery” to submit a one-on-one inquiry.Previously, users were required to manually enter information such as the name and quantity of the cryptocurrency, as well as the TXID in the one-on-one inquiry. Now, this information is automatically filled in through the TXID search, boosting user convenience.In an effort to encourage campaign participation, Dunamu also said that it will waive all fees for the recovery of mistakenly transferred assets until the end of the year.As of July, the exchange has successfully processed over 99.5% of the total 45,474 recovery requests that it has received over the past five years by leveraging its industry-leading technical expertise.“Upbit will continue its efforts to protect user assets and provide convenient services,” Dunamu said.Global recognitionMeanwhile, Upbit has secured 9th place in the Kaiko Exchange Ranking for the third quarter of 2023, ranking first among Korean exchanges. Kaiko is a crypto market data company with offices in Paris, London, New York, and Singapore.The ranking evaluates exchanges based on the following criteria: governance (30%), security (20%), liquidity (15%), business (15%), technology (10%), and data quality (10%). Upbit earned a score of 76 points.Coming in first overall on the list was Coinbase with 90 points, directly followed by Bitstamp and Kraken with 86 and 82 points, respectively. Among Korean exchanges, Korbit ranked 15th worldwide with 72 points, followed by Bithumb in 17th with 72 points, then Coinone in 27th with 59 points.