Japan’s Largest Airline Opens NFT Marketplace

Japanese crypto exchange DMM Bitcoin announced on Friday that over $300 million worth of Bitcoin was stolen from its primary wallet, marking one of the digital asset industry's largest hacks in recent years.Photo by Kanchanara on UnsplashHack confirmed without further detail"At approximately 1:26 p.m. on Friday, May 31, 2024, we detected an unauthorized leak of bitcoin from our wallet," the company stated, based on an English translation of its original statement in Japanese, which had been posted on the firm’s website. DMM Bitcoin is a subsidiary of DMM Group, which incorporates businesses covering a broad spectrum of activities including solar energy, gaming, 3D printers, FX, e-books and software. The company has, as yet, not provided any further detail relative to the manner in which the hack occurred. Notwithstanding that, DMM Bitcoin did confirm that measures have been taken to prevent any repeat of the hack. Furthermore, the company outlined that a full investigation into the hack is ongoing right now. Buy orders and leverage trades suspendedThe company has moved to reassure platform users that their digital assets are fully guaranteed. It stated: "Please rest assured that all of your bitcoin deposits will be fully guaranteed, as we will procure the equivalent amount of BTC that was leaked with support from our group companies."  The exchange has taken the decision to temporarily suspend a number of activities, including spot trading buy orders and the opening of leveraged trading positions. A temporary halt has been imposed on crypto withdrawals while Japanese yen withdrawals are permitted, albeit that the exchange suggests that service users may experience delays. Blockchain security sector responseIn light of the hack, a number of well-known blockchain security firms have been giving the matter their attention. Beosin, a blockchain security specialist, outlined that it is continuing to monitor the wallet addresses implicated in the hack, with a view towards tracing any further movement of the funds. Meanwhile, blockchain analysis firm Arkham Intelligence has offered a 1,000 ARKM token bounty to anyone who may provide information leading to the identification of the perpetrators of the hack. Blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis described the hack as “the 7th largest crypto hack ever.” The company has labeled the stolen funds within its products. Broader industry implications and historical contextThis hack is a significant blow to the industry, given that a hack on this scale has not occurred thus far in 2024 or at any point during 2023. The crypto industry has faced numerous significant breaches in the past. In 2022, a series of large-scale exploits targeted layer-1 blockchains, crypto exchanges and DeFi protocols. The largest hack amongst them implicated the BNB Chain (formerly Binance Smart Chain), which resulted in the loss of $566 million worth of BNB. The latest hack is second only (within Japan) in size relative to the 2018 hack of Coincheck, one of the country’s largest exchanges, when over $550 million worth of XEM was stolen. Japan was also host to the most infamous Bitcoin hack, that of the Mt. Gox exchange, whose bankruptcy administrators moved $9 billion worth of its remaining Bitcoin holdings on the blockchain in recent days for the first time in many years. 

Ant Group Restructuring With Implications for BlockchainAnt Group, an affiliate company of Chinese conglomerate Alibaba, is understood to be undertaking a significant restructuring that could have broader implications for the digital asset industry.Photo by Shubham Dhage on UnsplashPotential IPOAccording to a recent report published by Bloomberg, the company is contemplating a separation of its blockchain and database management services, as well as its international business, from its core financial operations in China. It’s being speculated that the move is a precursor to Ant Group’s application for a financial holding license in China. Furthermore, it could be part of a bid to revive its suspended initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong.The company had been under regulatory scrutiny from the Chinese authorities over the course of the past three years. That investigation culminated in a hefty fine of 7.12 billion yuan ($995 million). The consequences of that regulatory investigation have taken a toll on the company’s valuation, plunging from a peak of $280 billion before the IPO cancellation in 2020 to a current estimated value of $79 billion.Blockchain business implicationsBy pursuing this restructuring, Ant Group seeks to refocus on its core financial services within China. It’s unclear what the outcome will be for non-core businesses such as blockchain-based ventures. Potentially spinning these businesses off could unlock hidden value in blockchain-related activities. However, such a move would also raise questions regarding the future of these non-core businesses and their potential impact on the broader digital asset industry.AntChain, the blockchain technology developed by Ant Group, holds a prominent position in China, being widely adopted across various sectors. Should Ant Group decide to spin off or divest this business, it could significantly alter the blockchain landscape in the country.Originally introduced as “Ant Blockchain” in 2017 alongside Alipay, AntChain expanded its services to provide blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS) to Ant Group’s partners in 2018. In mid-2020, Ant Group took a step further by transforming Ant Blockchain into a separate entity and rebranding it as AntChain. Besides blockchain solutions, AntChain is also actively involved in developing Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT), risk control technologies, and other value-added tech services.The wide adoption of Ant Group’s blockchain technology has played a pivotal role in promoting blockchain implementation in China. Last year the company unveiled a blockchain storage engine called Letus, as a mechanism to lower storage costs of blockchain networks. Another project saw it partner with a Malaysian investment bank in an effort to develop a crypto trading and portfolio management app. These are individual instances of the company’s varied activities in the blockchain space.Any alterations to its blockchain operations could impact the pace and scale of blockchain adoption in the country. While the Chinese authorities have discouraged crypto trading and mining, they have very much encouraged blockchain development.The restructuring appears to be a response to the increasing regulatory pressures in the fintech industry. A further tightening of regulations on blockchain operations for fintech companies might potentially hinder innovation and growth in the sector.Most likely the guiding hand of the government in China will have a material effect on how these blockchain-based businesses develop in the event of an Ant Group restructuring that would see them being spun out.

Metabora Singapore officially launches blockchain-based app for golf fansMetabora Singapore, a subsidiary of South Korean blockchain game developer Metabora formerly known as Kakao Friends Games, has officially launched BirdieSquad, a blockchain-based community platform for fans of professional golfers in the Korea Ladies Professional Golf Association (KLPGA). This comes after the beta version that was launched in August quickly gained popularity, topping the ranks of sports-related apps.Photo by Splash Pic on UnsplashRevolutionizing the golf fandomBirdieSquad was developed by Kakao VX, the digital sports arm of Korean internet juggernaut Kakao, with the goal of creating an innovative and fun playground for golf fans to interact and create a fandom-based community. Users can own NFTs of their favorite golfers — which come in six tiers: Uncommon, Rare, Super Rare, Epic and Legendary — which are stored in personal wallets, and earn various rewards based on players’ actual performance results. They can also interact with other users and compete in “cheer-offs”. During off-seasons, Metabora plans to host various events such as AI-based championship tournaments.The platform is currently working with 46 professional golfers, including Han Jin-seon, Park Hyun-kyung, Lee Ye-won and Kim Min-byul. The platform said that it would bring more athletes in the future.“As we strive to create a new fandom culture where pro golfers and fans can interact, we will expand our ecosystem by onboarding various entertainment content revolving around gaming and sports,” said Lim Young-joon, Chief Business Officer of Metabora Singapore.Expanding partnershipsMeanwhile, the company has been expanding its partnerships with various global blockchain networks such as Polygon, NEAR Protocol, Ethereum and BNB Chain to expand its global ecosystem.