Securities companies are increasing their investments in blockchain, virtual asset and metaverse startups.For instance, Mirae Asset Securities made a series B investment in bHaptics on Feb. 15. bHaptics connects the tactile sensation to content and sells related products such as vests and warmers.On
SK Square vice chairman Park Jung-ho hinted at the possibility of striking large-scale merger and acquisition (M&A) deals in the semiconductors and blockchain fields at the company's first regular shareholders’ meeting on March 28. Of special note is that Park picked the semiconductor field as t
The world’s first mandatory cryptocurrency travel rule became effective in South Korea on March 25 so that sender and receiver information is confirmed by an exchange each time a request is made for a deposit or withdrawal of one million won or more.Exchanges are not fully prepared yet. For example,
SK Square, an investment business arm of SK Group, is planning to issue its own cryptocurrency.The company announced on March 23 that it is preparing an innovative blockchain service with its partners and will transparently communicate with the market when its plan to issue a cryptocurrency takes a
The world’s first cryptocurrency travel rule becomes effective on March 25 at South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges. It is to reveal the names, nationalities and addresses of those who send and receive cryptocurrencies.Once the rule is implemented, cryptocurrency movement between an exchange and a p
WeMade’s virtual asset WeMix has been listed on the U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com.The exchange announced on its official Twitter account on March 18 (local time) that WeMix has been added to its transaction list. The exchange is an official virtual asset partner of the Los Angeles Lakers,
The new government of South Korea is expected to pursue deregulation in the virtual asset industry.At present, the South Korean government’s virtual asset-related policies include a 20 percent income tax on an annual profit of more than 2.5 million won, which is scheduled to take effect in January n
Yoon Suk-yeol of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) has been elected South Korea’s next president.The former prosecutor general defeated the ruling Democratic Party’s Lee Jae-myung by a margin of 0.8 percentage points or some 240,000 votes. It is the smallest margin of victory since a dire
The popularity of blockchain games is dwindling as most of them are simple and cryptocurrency prices are falling rapidly.According to cryptocurrency market watchers, blockchain game-related transactions have continued to fall since November last year. Specifically, the daily average fell from US$160
WeMade will cancel 20 million units of its cryptocurrency Wemix on Feb. 25.The company announced on Feb. 23 that it will perform the first cancellation of the WeMix token. As of 2 p.m. on the day, one unit of WeMix in the market was priced at 6,500 won, so the total value of the canceled tokens reac
The Korea Investment Corp. (KIC) has made its first investment in Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States.Previously, the sovereign wealth fund of South Korea said that it would not make any cryptocurrency-related investment. However, it announced on Feb. 10 that it bought
The Financial Services Commission announced on Feb. 2 that deposits at Korea's four major cryptocurrency exchanges fell from 9.2 trillion won to 7.63 trillion won from Sept. 24 to Dec. 31 last year.Specifically, the deposits consist of 77.47 percent at UPbit, 19.04 percent at Bithumb, 3.88 perce
Netmarble will focus on developing blockchain games to discover future growth drivers. It is also preparing to issue cryptocurrency for this purpose.Netmarble CEO Kwon Young-shik announced this plan in the 5th Netmarble Together with Press (NTP) meeting with reporters on Jan. 27.Netmarble and its su
North Korean hackers stole US$395 million in cryptocurrency through at least seven attacks against exchanges and investment companies in 2021, said Chainalysis, a blockchain analysis company.This is an increase of about US$100 million from 2020 and the total money collected by North Korean hackers o
WeMade announced on Jan. 6 that it participated as a strategic investor in Sygnum Bank’s Series B funding round.The other participants include Tencent, Animoca Brands, Sun Hung Kai Properties, Meta Investment and various DeFi protocols.Sygnum Bank is the first cryptocurrency bank in the world. Last
Play-to-earn (P2E) games are expected to change the paradigm of the game market, and related startups are attracting increasing investments.The Blockchain Game Alliance said on Jan. 5 that the sales of NFT-based games added up to US$2.32 billion in the third quarter of last year and the number of re
The daily use of cryptocurrencies is accelerating. More and more stores are adopting cryptocurrency-based payment, as this method is more economical than credit card-based payment and more convenient for users.At present, PCI and MLK support both online and offline payment in South Korea. PCI was de
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at jaemin.ahn@nhqv.com. -- Ed. - After a spin-off from SK Telecom (SKT), SK Square resumed trading as a new stock on Nov 29, with a starting price of W82,000. SK Square’s share price tumbled shortly afterwards amid broader sto
Shinhan Bank announced on Nov. 30 that it has developed and verified stablecoin-based overseas remittance technology for the first time in the Korean financial sector.Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies pegged to a legal tender, such as the U.S. dollar or the Korean won, at the 1:1 ratio. They are a bl
The Strategy and Finance Committee of the National Assembly passed an Income Tax Act amendment on Nov. 29. According to the amendment, taxation on capital gains from cryptocurrency transactions will start on Jan. 1, 2023 instead of Jan. 1, 2022. The bill was passed despite the Economy and Finance Mi