Ondo Finance announces APAC expansion

KISA Seeks Partners for Regional Blockchain Innovation Support Center ProjectThe Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) announced on Monday (local time) that it is working with the Ministry of Science and ICT to recruit metropolitan local governments to participate in the 2024 Regional Blockchain Technological Innovation Support Center Establishment Project, which seeks to aid the balanced development of the nation’s blockchain industry and the exploration of technology and services.Photo by Shubham Dhage on UnsplashWith the establishment of the support center, KISA plans to seek out blockchain services linked to regional industries and provide support for the development of blockchain technology and services to foster local businesses.Funding opportunities and application processThe metropolitan local governments selected for this project will be able to leverage KRW 1.8 billion (approximately $1.3 million) in government funding as well as regional expenses to pursue activities such as verifying related services and supporting blockchain and service development through incubation, workforce training, investment endorsement and legal consultations.Applications are open to 14 metropolitan local governments nationwide, excluding those in the country’s largest cities, Seoul, Busan and Daegu. Each applicant is required to form a consortium with one local information technology and communication (ICT) organization that the government invested in or funded and submit their applications through the KISA website by December 5 at 4 p.m. KST.Envisioning the future of Korea’s blockchain industryKISA President Lee Won-tae expressed his hopes that the support centers would become central hubs for blockchain technology within regions nationwide, ultimately contributing to regional economic prosperity. “KISA will continue our efforts to promote balanced regional development and nurture the blockchain industry ecosystem,” he said.

SafePal Delves Into Korean Market Through Klaytn PartnershipThe Seychelles-based team behind non-custodial digital asset wallet provider, SafePal, has made its first attempt at conquering the Korean market through a partnership with South Korean enterprise blockchain, Klaytn.The collaboration will see the wallet provider support digital assets native to the Klaytn blockchain network. For Klaytn ecosystem users, it also means that they can access in excess of one hundred blockchains, which are already supported by SafePal’s non-custodial wallet. Both entities articulated their thoughts relative to the partnership, with SafePal doing so via a blog post published late last week. Meanwhile, the Klaytn project team expanded on the development in a post to its website on Tuesday.Photo by Mathew Schwartz on UnsplashKorean expansionKlaytn-native digital assets will be supported via SafePal’s mobile app, hardware wallet and its browser extension-based wallet. SafePal acknowledges the leading position that the Klaytn network takes in Korea, relative to the metaverse, blockchain gaming and other Web3 verticals. While SafePal already has 10 million users, this move demonstrates that it has plans on expanding that user-base to incorporate millions more, in this case Korea-based Klaytn network users.Alluding to that Korean expansion, Veronica Wong, Co-Founder and CEO of SafePal stated: “Klaytn is a leading blockchain in Korea for Web3 and DeFi, so this partnership made perfect sense, as we want users to access exciting opportunities in all established ecosystems globally.”Bringing Klaytn dApps to SafePal usersThe Klaytn project team is viewing the hook-up in the same manner. In its announcement it outlines that the collaboration can serve its purpose in “bringing in Klaytn’s next 10 million users with SafePal.” The partnership also serves to bring leading Klaytn dApps to that new user-base of 10 million. That includes on-chain instant swap protocol, Klayswap, blockchain play-to-earn game DeFi Kingdoms, Korean NFT marketplace Pala, leveraged yield farming project, Kleva Protocol and DEX aggregator Swapscanner.Conceived by the dominant messaging app provider in Korea, KAKAO, in 2018, the development of the Klaytn blockchain is now guided by the Klaytn Foundation. The project has set out a governance roadmap that will see the project achieve decentralization later this year.SafePal growth trajectorySafePal has been hitting its numbers when it comes to expanding its user base. Over the course of the past year, it has grown its user-base from 8 to 10 million. Its support for 100 blockchains results in overall support for in excess of 200,000 token types, including NFTs. That growth strategy belies further comments that Wong made relative to this latest collaboration:“While the self-custody offered by Web3 and DeFi is increasingly important amidst growing concerns about traditional financial systems, adoption is still hindered by language and geographical barriers. Klaytn is a leading blockchain in Korea for Web3 and DeFi, so this partnership made perfect sense, as we want users to access exciting opportunities in all established ecosystems globally.”With no let up in its growth strategy, SafePal followed up on Friday with an announcement that it had integrated the recently launched low latency, high throughput layer one SUI network and its native token, $SUI.

India’s NPCI Looks to Recruit Blockchain TalentIndia’s National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), a collaborative initiative led by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in partnership with 247 Indian financial services companies, is actively seeking an experienced blockchain technologist to spearhead efforts in exploring the potential applications of blockchain technology within contemporary payment systems.The NPCI, responsible for operating India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI), a domestically developed instant payment system, plays a pivotal role in facilitating inter-bank peer-to-peer and person-to-merchant transactions across the country. The organization has recently posted a job listing for a Head of Blockchain on LinkedIn, demonstrating its interest in harnessing the power of blockchain technology.Photo by Siddharth K Rao on UnsplashIdentifying blockchain use casesThe ideal candidate for this critical role should be a seasoned technologist with a minimum of six years of hands-on experience in the development and implementation of blockchain solutions. Their primary responsibility will be to identify and evaluate potential use cases for blockchain-driven solutions within the payments ecosystem.Additionally, the senior leadership position demands a profound technical grasp of various blockchain platforms and a track record of involvement in at least two pilot blockchain projects.UPI has been a remarkable success in bolstering India’s payment infrastructure, so much so that other countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), France, Nepal, and the UK have expressed interest in adopting the UPI payment system to varying degrees.Potential blockchain integrationDespite UPI's runaway success, it’s likely that the NCPI foresees more change coming down the tracks with a need to respond appropriately. Recently, Indian billionaire businessman Mukesh Ambani suggested that his company, multinational conglomerate Reliance Industries (RIL), would delve further into the use of blockchain technology, particularly where central bank digital currency (CBDC) is concerned.V Subramanian, Managing Director of one of Ambani’s companies, Reliance Retail, stated that India’s digital rupee CBDC would eventually outperform UPI. Incorporating blockchain elements into UPI could potentially introduce blockchain technology to millions of users, instantly validating its transformative capabilities.The NPCI’s job posting for a blockchain leader has already garnered significant attention, with over 600 applicants expressing their interest at the time of publication. It is anticipated that the NPCI’s recruitment drive for blockchain expertise will expand in the near future as promising blockchain use cases are uncovered and developed.The NPCI has been paying attention to the development of blockchain technology over a number of years already. In 2020, it launched a project to build a blockchain-based payments platform called Vajra, albeit that it looked to implement a permissioned blockchain model to ensure that only authorized parties could access the network. Truly decentralized networks can’t control who chooses to use such networks.The blockchain is designed such that the NPCI acts as a Clearing House Node, with overall admin rights over the network. Its Notary Node level features Aadhaar authentication, with a view to securing the network. Participant Nodes feature authorized banks and payment services providers, who have the requisite permissions to read and write transactions on the blockchain.