Korbit Joins Zero-Fee Crypto Trading Trend in South Korea

Dubai Regulator Hits OPNX With $2.7M PenaltyCrypto bankruptcy claims trading platform OPNX and its founders have been hit with a hefty fine, imposed by Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA). The penalty, amounting to AED 10 million ($2.7 million), was levied on the newly established exchange in accordance with a notice published by the regulator on Wednesday.Photo by Agnieszka Stankiewicz on UnsplashPayment outstandingVARA’s recent announcement highlighted that the fine had been imposed in May and remains outstanding. The regulatory body disclosed that individual fines of AED 200,000 ($54,451) each were imposed on Su Zhu and Kyle Davies, the controversial founders of failed Singapore-based crypto hedge fund, Three Arrows Capital (3AC). Additionally, fines were also imposed on two other co-founders of OPNX. The penalties were attributed to failures in adhering to regulations governing marketing, advertising, and promotions.OPNX, established earlier this year by Su Zhu and Kyle Davies in collaboration with Mark Lamb and Sudhu Arumugam, positioned itself as a trading platform for crypto claims following the collapse of their Three Arrows Capital (3AC) fund last summer. The duo has since made Dubai their primary operational base.Further action“In light of the company’s unpaid fine, VARA shall determine consequential actions warranted against OPNX, which may include further fines, penalties, and/or taking any actions necessary to recover payment and definitively remedy the behavior,” stated VARA in an official statement.Dubai is making a concerted effort to nurture the development of crypto-related business, implementing various initiatives in order to bring that about. However, as part of that strategy, Dubai’s regulatory landscape for cryptocurrencies has taken a more stringent turn this year, with the introduction of a new regulatory framework mandating that companies catering to retail investors must secure full licensing from VARA.Concerns arose in February when regulatory authorities discovered that OPNX was actively seeking customers for its platform and collecting personal data without proper authorization.Formal reprimandsIn April VARA issued an investor alert, outlining that OPNX was not a regulated entity although it was operating from Dubai. Shortly afterwards, formal reprimands followed for the two 3AC founders, alongside Mark Lamb, Sudhu Arumugam, and OPNX’s CEO Leslie Lamb.Leslie Lamb, in a previous interview with Bloomberg, emphasized that OPNX had not actively marketed itself toward Dubai or the broader UAE market. She stressed the company’s full cooperation with VARA’s ongoing investigation, asserting that no regulatory guidelines had been breached.“While Kyle and I contributed the initial ideas for OPNX, Leslie is very much the CEO, and we aren’t involved in day-to-day operations,” stated Su Zhu, clarifying their roles.Despite the regulatory setback, both Su Zhu and Kyle Davies continued to promote OPNX on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter).It emerged recently that the claims trading platform has been eyeing the acquisition of failed crypto lender Hodlnaut, which is currently undergoing court-supervised restructuring in Singapore. Zhu and Davies have come in for a lot of criticism within the crypto sector, having left a long list of unpaid creditors as a consequence of the failure of 3AC. The duo recently suggested that they would contribute profits from OPNX to 3AC creditors despite the fact that they have been uncooperative with the 3AC bankruptcy process.

SK C&C and NEAR Foundation Forge Strategic Partnership to Fuel Web3 GrowthSK C&C, the information and communications technology affiliate of the South Korean conglomerate SK Group, last week announced its strategic partnership with the NEAR Foundation, the organization supporting the NEAR Protocol blockchain, aiming to broaden its Web3 business initiatives.The partnership ceremony was held earlier this month at a hotel in Seoul and saw attendance from Choi Cheol, the Head of Web3 and Convergence Group at SK C&C, along with Marieke Flament, the CEO of the NEAR Foundation.NEAR Protocol is a layer 1 blockchain that enables enterprises to build private shards that can be connected to the public blockchain.Photo by Shubham Dhage on UnsplashBlockchain research and global marketingThrough this agreement, the two companies will establish a mutual support system to strengthen their business networks, cooperate on research and business projects related to blockchain technology, spanning all industries, and execute global marketing strategies to elevate their brands and accelerate the Web3 ecosystem.SK C&C’s ChainZ and NEAR ProtocolAs part of this initiative, the two sides seek to link SK C&C’s own blockchain platform, ChainZ, with NEAR Protocol to develop a Web3 market that supports both public and private blockchains. Focusing on the financial infrastructure sector, SK C&C aims to inject momentum into its ventures in domains like the sharing economy market — a flourishing ground for second-hand item trading platforms — and in the gaming, content, and commerce sectors, where the issuance of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) is expected.Tailored corporate solutionsThey will delve into the development of Web3 solutions tailored for corporations, concentrating on areas like supply chain management and enterprise resource planning (ERP). ChainZ’s Key Recovery System will play a pivotal role in enhancing security and simplifying account management, while NEAR Protocol will support high transaction speeds, scalability, and interoperability between multichains.For example, assets like inventories, orders, loans, and bills of lading can be marked with tokens based on NEAR Protocol. These can then be verified at each stage of an entire trade process through digital signatures recorded on ChainZ.Moreover, SK C&C will leverage the NEAR Foundation’s global network as a stepping stone for global market entry, while NEAR Protocol will utilize the business network of SK C&C to garner customers in the Korean market. This effort to expand NEAR’s presence in South Korea also aligns with its joining hands with Dongdaemun, an administrative district in Seoul, earlier this month.SK C&C’s Choi Cheol underscored the efforts underway across various industrial sectors, including public, finance, manufacturing, and commerce, to develop Web3 services driven by public blockchains. He stated that beginning with NEAR Protocol, SK C&C would intensify collaborations with different public blockchain projects to broaden the ecosystem for Web3 services.

Matrixport, a Singapore-headquartered digital assets financial services firm, announced the acquisition of Switzerland-based Crypto Finance Asset Management (CFAM), a regulated crypto fund management firm. The acquisition, completed by way of an all-cash deal, signifies Matrixport’s expansion into the European market. The company announced the deal via a blog post published on the Matrixport website on Sept. 30. Photo by Lin Mei on UnsplashCFAM rebrandAs part of the acquisition, CFAM will be rebranded to Matrixport Asset Management AG (MAM), providing institutional-grade crypto investment solutions, while continuing to act as a crypto market infrastructure provider.  CFAM CEO Stijn Vander Straeten stated that the company’s strategy focused on “trading, custody and staking as well as other post-trade services.” He added, “This move allows us to put all our focus on expanding our core services within the digital asset ecosystem in Switzerland, Germany and across the European markets.” CFAM had formed part of the Crypto Finance Group, an entity part-owned by the Deutsche Börse Group. Regulatory complaint acquisitionIn its press release, Matrixport outlined that the acquisition has been completed with regulatory approval having been granted by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), the Swiss independent financial markets regulator, which supervises banks, insurance companies and financial institutions in Switzerland. CFAM became the first FINMA-approved manager of a crypto fund in Switzerland. Commenting on the acquisition, Matrixport Co-Founder and CEO John Ge, stated: “We are delighted with the establishment of MAM and warmly welcome the team to the Matrixport family. The acquisition enables clients access to the most innovative, compliant crypto asset management products, and aligns with our strategy to further expand services in Europe.” Personnel changesA number of personnel changes have been made as part of the acquisition. Stefan Schwitter has been appointed as CEO of MAM. Schwitter previously held the role of head of asset management at CFAM. The executive claimed that the complementary strengths of Matrixport and CFAM “will add value to the existing and future client base of Matrixport Group on a global level.” Matrixport was established in 2019 and currently holds over $6 billion in assets under management (AUM). Its founders include Jihan Wu, the co-founder of Chinese crypto miner manufacturer Bitmain and Singapore-based crypto cloud mining company Bitdeer. The firm is licensed as a money services business (MSB) in the United States, while also being licensed to trade in Hong Kong as a trust or company service provider (TCSP) and as a money lender. Matrixport offers its accredited investor and institutional clients over-the-counter (OTC) services, prime brokerage services, digital asset custody through qualified custodian Cactus Custody, asset management and access to real-world asset (RWA) tokenization. In September, the company offered tokenized RWA access in the form of XAUm, a gold-backed token, via its subsidiary company, Matrixdock. It emerged earlier this year that Matrixport had been listed on the Global Unicorn Index, a list of companies compiled by the Huron Research Institute, believed to have a valuation in excess of $1 billion while not yet listed on a public exchange.