Busan City Aims to Cultivate Growth in Blockchain and Fintech Industries

Polymarket activity under scrutiny in Taiwan due to election contractsTaiwanese law enforcement is currently delving into the activities of online influencers and community members promoting Polymarket contracts related to the upcoming presidential election which is due to be held on Jan. 13.Polymarket is a New York-based Ethereum-centric prediction market. The platform runs on the Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution network Polygon. The project invites platform users to bet on the outcomes of a broad spectrum of events, ranging from politics to entertainment.Users deposit USDC stablecoin, choose an event to bet on and purchase “outcome shares” through USDC. The user has the ability to trade those shares anytime before the resolution of the contract.Photo by Ethan Lin on UnsplashPossible election law violationsThe Taiwanese investigation came to light in a report by Taiwan-based crypto publication BlockTempo, which was published last week. The investigation comes as concerns arose about potential violations of Taiwan’s Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act, which explicitly prohibits gambling on election outcomes.Multiple influencers and crypto community members have reportedly been subpoenaed for their involvement in Polymarket contracts, allowing users to place bets on the January election. At present, the betting pool for the election holds over $300,000, with a market prediction favoring the Democratic Progressive Party’s Lai Ching-te, also known as William Lai, with a 78% chance of winning.However, the legality of such betting activities is in question under Article 88–1 of Taiwan’s election law. It stipulates that anyone gambling on the outcome of an election or recall in a public place or a place open to the public may face imprisonment, short-term detention or a fine of up to NT$100,000 ($3,196.85).Sherman Lin, an attorney at Taipei-based Lin & Partners, emphasized the seriousness with which law enforcement views gambling activities related to presidential elections in Taiwan. He explained that broad legal interpretations under the Presidential Election and Recall Act have led to investigations and convictions of gambling website operators targeting Taiwanese gamblers. Lin stated:“Law enforcement agencies in Taiwan are vigilant in investigating any gambling activities related to presidential elections.”“Broad legal interpretations have been applied to gambling crimes under the Presidential Election and Recall Act, leading to investigations and convictions of gambling website operators in Taiwan targeting Taiwanese gamblers,” he added.Prohibited in United StatesComparing the situation to the United States, where gambling on election outcomes is illegal in most states, Lin noted that enforcing such regulations often falls under the jurisdiction of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Polymarket’s Terms of Use explicitly prohibit usage by U.S. persons.Despite potential legal consequences for gambling activities in Taiwan, including participation, promotion and platform hosting for betting pools like Polymarket, Lin pointed out that enforcing actions against overseas entities poses jurisdictional challenges. Taiwan’s legal reach is primarily limited to domestic actors, creating complexities in addressing decentralized platforms like Polymarket.Lin suggested that law enforcement may focus on online influencers who promoted the Polymarket contract, as seen in previous cases involving the collapse of the unlicensed crypto exchange JPEX in Hong Kong.Moreover, while there are legal precedents for pursuing centralized entities organizing election gambling, Lin highlighted that no established legal precedent in Taiwan currently exists for decentralized platforms organizing election betting.

Shinhan Card to launch NFT-based art-tech service next yearSouth Korean credit card company Shinhan Card is set to launch its art-tech service dubbed “Prestige Collection” next year, according to Park Young-woong of the Digital R&D team during his presentation at the seventh annual Shinhan Future’s Lab Demo Day event held in Seoul on Wednesday.Photo by Yi Liu on UnsplashDigitizing investments in artArt-tech — a portmanteau of art and money management technology — refers to an investment method that involves purchasing or owning artworks as assets and earning profits from their sales.“We are planning to launch our art-tech service next year, which will include exhibition recommendations, NFT ticketing and NFT art warranties to work in tandem with Shinhan Card’s payment services,” Park said. He also mentioned that it is currently undergoing legal evaluations.Making event access more efficientThe inception of this upcoming release started in September, when Shinhan carried out a collaborative proof of concept (PoC) mechanism with two member startups from the ninth installment of its Future’s Lab startup acceleration program, Art Map and SnapTag.Art Map is an art curation service put together by a team of database experts, software developers, artists, curators and designers that gathers metadata based on users’ preferences to recommend exhibitions and other art-related events for them to enjoy. On the other hand, SnapTag offers a variety of services based on its patented invisible watermark technology dubbed LAB Code. LAB Code is able to create an encrypted code by subtly converting image pixels of items like product packages, photos and illustrations and applying those files to printing or production processes without damaging or changing the original image.Last month, Art Map and SnapTag used their respective technologies to work with Shinhan Card to issue and verify blockchain-based NFT tickets for the Sneakers Unboxed special exhibition held at the Sejong Museum of Art. Shinhan was responsible for minting NFTs as tickets for exhibitions promoted on Art Map’s platform, which could be issued and stored on the My NFT section on Shinhan’s mobile app ShinhanpLay. Visitors would then be able to use SnapTag’s digital check-in service Keefo to enter the exhibition.This NFT ticketing system was proven to be a time-efficient and secure alternative to traditional ticketing procedures, which come with several inconveniences like long wait lines, delayed entry, illegal ticket resells and monopolization of customer data by major ticketing conglomerates. This is especially true for music performances by famous artists, where competition during ticket sales can become intense.“Our NFT ticketing service will evolve into an art-tech management service that focuses on art,” Park explained. “Prestige Collection will leverage Art Map’s art concierge platform, SnapTag’s LAB Code technology and Shinhan Card’s My NFT service.”

The U.S. Department of Justice said on Dec. 2 that it had seized the web domain tickmilleas.com, which was used to facilitate cryptocurrency investment fraud (CIF) schemes, adding to two others seized last month as part of actions against the same Burma-based network. According to the announcement, the domains were operated by scammers based in Kyaukhat, Burma, who presented the site as a legitimate investment platform in order to solicit deposits from victims.Photo by Markus Spiske on UnsplashPromises of high returns as baitVictims who reported the activity to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) indicated that the recently seized website displayed fabricated investment returns and showed purported deposits credited to their online accounts. These figures appeared during guided walkthroughs of falsified trades, creating the appearance of a functioning platform. The Justice Department said the domain seizures are among the first actions taken since it established its first district-level CIF strike force, known as the Scam Center Strike Force, three weeks earlier. The unit operates under the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. According to the DOJ, the group behind the scheme is known as the Tai Chang scam compound. The network is described as being affiliated with the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA) in Burma, Trans Asia International Holding Group Thailand Company Limited, and other entities. The U.S. Treasury listed these parties as specially designated nationals on Nov. 12, citing their ties to Chinese organized crime and their involvement in developing scam hubs across Southeast Asia. Russia probes crypto briberyWhile the U.S. case focused on fraud targeting individual investors, a separate development in Russia involved alleged corruption tied to cryptocurrency. DL News, citing a local media report, said Russian prosecutors are seeking to seize a portfolio of luxury assets linked to Georgy Satyukov, a fugitive former employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, after investigators concluded he had accepted illicit payments in Bitcoin and Ethereum, described as the world’s largest cryptocurrencies. Russian authorities allege that between March and October 2021, Satyukov received $184 million in Bitcoin and $30 million in Ethereum from operators of the failed WEX crypto exchange in return for shielding them from a criminal investigation. WEX had taken over the operations of the BTC-e trading platform in 2017. Investigators say Satyukov liquidated much of his cryptocurrency holdings and used the proceeds to purchase residential and commercial properties in several cities, as well as high-end cars, luxury watches, and jewelry. They have identified $29.6 million in assets believed to be linked to the alleged bribes, which could be transferred to the Federal Treasury if prosecutors win a conviction. The U.S. domain seizures and the separate corruption investigation in Russia illustrate the varied ways cryptocurrency has been implicated in recent criminal cases. Both developments underscore the continued attention authorities are giving to the risks surrounding digital assets.