The Seoul AI Innovation Tour 2024 comes to an end, sharing insights on digital finance

Seoul’s Seocho District Leverages Blockchain Coins to Catalyze Social ImpactSeocho District, one of the 25 districts in the South Korean capital of Seoul, is leveraging blockchain technology to tackle environmental and welfare issues with the introduction of the “Good Seocho Coins,” as reported by local news outlet Shinailbo.Photo by TANIM MUNSHI on UnsplashContribute and earn rewardsUnder this program, residents of Seocho can earn Good Seocho Coins by engaging in socially beneficial activities. Each coin holds a value of 100 KRW ($0.076) and can be utilized for various purposes such as accessing facilities, enrolling in educational courses, and making purchases at the Seocho Community Center and the Seocho Joongang Senior Welfare Center.From recycling to in-kind donationsTo earn these coins, residents can participate in three categories of activities: recycling, identifying marginalized households, and making in-kind donations. By returning items like paper bags, clothes hangers, empty plastic bottles, and ice packs to 300 Carbon Zero-certified stores within the district — ranging from coffee shops to laundromats and butcher shops — residents can earn coins. For instance, returning ten hangers or empty plastic bottles would earn them a coin.Residents who identify marginalized households and assist them in obtaining welfare benefits will receive ten coins, while those who connect them with social services will earn five coins.Talented individuals can also contribute to the community and earn coins. For example, photographers, hairdressers, makeup artists, and performers of the non-verbal comedy show Nanta can donate their services and earn one coin per hour. Additionally, health educators and volunteers can earn coins by assisting residents aged 60 or older.Expanding horizonsOriginally conceived as an initiative to promote the health and community engagement of elderly individuals, the Good Seocho Coin project underwent revisions last month to encompass a broader community through regulatory changes.Mayor Jun Sung-soo of Seocho District stated that the aim of this initiative is to harness the potential of blockchain technology and motivate district residents to actively contribute towards tackling a wide range of social challenges. He further highlighted the district’s intention to broaden the scope of this initiative in order to cultivate a sense of pride and satisfaction among the residents, leading to a positive ripple effect throughout the community.

German multinational investment bank Deutsche Bank, is collaborating with Singapore's central bank on asset tokenization.  Project GuardianThe company announced on May 14 via a press release that it has joined the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) Project Guardian. Project Guardian is an international collaboration between a number of market regulators, led by MAS. Other participants in the initiative include the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) and Switzerland’s Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA). The project focuses on asset tokenization relative to wholesale funding markets and decentralized finance (DeFi) applications.Photo by Mariia Shalabaieva on UnsplashThe bank outlined how it intends to participate as part of the collaboration, stating: “As part of the asset and wealth management workstream, the bank will test an open architecture and interoperable blockchain platform to service tokenized and digital funds. It will then propose protocol standards and identify best practice to contribute to industry progress.” The bank’s participation in the project will be headed up by its Asia Pacific (APAC) head of securities and technology, Boon-Hiong Chan. Anand Rengarajan, Head of Securities Services for Asia Pacific and the Middle East, commented on the development, stating:“Contributing to Project Guardian will bolster our efforts to help shape the new frontier of asset servicing, and strongly position us to contribute to industry progress, and not only anticipate our clients’ needs but exceed their expectations.”  Memento Blockchain partnershipDeutsche Bank outlined that it intends to work closely with Memento Blockchain on the project. In fact, it has an existing ongoing collaboration in place with Memento, the developer of a decentralized asset management platform. Memento has developed multi asset swap products and it is currently working towards the development of a zero knowledge layer-2 solution. The duo have worked together over the course of the past two years. A proof-of-concept known as Project DAMA (Digital Assets Management Access) emerged from that partnership. That body of work will be extended into DAMA 2.  Memento Blockchain is the software developer behind the Domani Protocol. It stated on X that more technical details relative to the collaboration will be released in the coming weeks. It added that the collaboration will also involve Interop Labs, the developer of the Axelar Network, the programmable Web3 interoperability platform.  Earlier this year, the Axelar Foundation established a partnership with payment technology firm Ripple Labs with a view towards tokenizing real world assets (RWAs) on top of the XRP Ledger, enabled via Axelar. Axelar co-founder and Interop Labs CEO Sergey Gorbunov told Cointelegraph that “it’s now clear that secure blockchain interoperability is required to unlock the trillion-dollar potential in asset tokenization.” Gorbunov added that “Deutsche Bank and Project Guardian are leading innovation toward establishing the open systems that will enable this technology.” He highlighted the relevance of the Axelar Network in that endeavor, suggesting that “Axelar is critical infrastructure for institutional adoption."

Samjong KPMG and Xangle to explore on-chain data for crypto accountingSamjong KPMG, the South Korean branch of accounting giant KPMG, is set to collaborate with digital asset data research platform Xangle to conduct a joint study focused on discovering different ways to apply on-chain data in the realm of cryptocurrency accounting. That’s according to a report by local news outlet The Korea Economic Daily.On-chain data encompasses all transaction records found on a blockchain. This type of data enables real-time verification of transactions, benefiting from the blockchain’s transparency and decentralized framework. Despite these advantages, the complexity of accessing and interpreting on-chain data is often seen as a barrier to entry, requiring specialized knowledge.Photo by Sasun Bughdaryan on UnsplashCrypto accounting and tax filingThe partnership between the two entities is poised to tackle challenges in the crypto sector faced by enterprises. Samjong KPMG will use this collaboration to improve their cryptocurrency consulting services, offering solutions in areas like virtual asset issuance, asset management and disclosure, internal controls and the accounting and tax filing complexities associated with cryptocurrencies.ERP solutions for virtual assetsMeanwhile, Xangle will have the opportunity to gain insights into the practical needs and concerns of businesses in relation to on-chain data as the company is currently developing enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions for virtual assets. The joint effort will enhance Xangle’s ability to align technical data with real-world business applications.Park Sung-bae, a Partner at Samjong KPMG, commented on this development, stating that the accounting firm plans to utilize the outcomes of their joint study with Xangle to address the uncertainties surrounding virtual asset disclosure requirements. This initiative is aimed at improving accounting transparency within South Korea’s cryptocurrency market.Lee Hyun-woo, Co-CEO of Xangle, highlighted that the company has concentrated on establishing the necessary infrastructure for processing on-chain data and conducting research to deepen their understanding of it. He added that their latest collaboration with Samjong KPMG will enhance Xangle’s expertise in the areas of cryptocurrency taxes and accounting. Lee underlined the platform’s commitment to streamlining the accounting processes related to virtual assets, viewing it as an initial step towards facilitating broader Web3 adoption.