The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at hwdoh@nhqv.com. -- Ed. Semiconductors such as GPUs, automotive semiconductors, SiCs, and APs, are all in short supply. While demand is sound, the main issue is a lack of manufacturing facilities. We expect the supply shorta
NXC, the holding company of Nexon, is reportedly planning to acquire about 65 percent of virtual asset exchange Bithumb Korea for approximately 500 billion won from Bithumb Holdings and Bithumb Korea chairman Lee Jung-hoon. Major Bithumb shareholders include Bithumb Holdings (74 percent), Vidente (1
The Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) said in its recent report that South Korea is currently the 11th-largest alternative finance market in the world.Alternative finance can be defined as financial channels, instruments and processes outside the conventional financial systems. It is c
The daily cryptocurrency trading volume of the South Korean market reached 3,145.3 billion won on Dec. 20. The amount spiked about 25-fold in less than one year. For reference, the daily trading volume of Samsung Electronics shares was 1,272.7 billion won on Dec. 18.This year, the cryptocurrency tra
Cryptocurrency exchange UPbit held a developer conference on Dec. 3. There, the new Act on Reporting and Use of Certain Financial Transaction Information to become effective next year was discussed by experts.“According to the act, a tax rate of 20 percent will be applied to virtual assets starting
The Financial Services Commission announced on Nov. 2 an amendment to the enforcement decree of the Act on Reporting and Use of Certain Financial Transaction Information. The main purpose of the act is to impose the duty of money laundering prevention on virtual asset businesses.According to the ame
An amendment to the enforcement decree of the Act on Reporting and Use of Certain Financial Transaction Information, which contains detailed provisions as to mandatory cryptocurrency business report to be introduced in March next year, is taking concrete shape. According to the amendment, the inform
Samsung Electronics has introduced a standalone turnkey security solution for mobile devices to offer protection for tasks such as booting, isolated storage, mobile payment and other applications.The solution consists of a tiny Secure Element (SE) chip (S3FV9RR) and enhanced security software. The s
Korea's leading cryptocurrency exchanges Bithumb and UPbit suffered a sharp drop in sales last year along with the virtual asset trading volumes in the exchanges.According to the Data Analysis, Retrieval and Transfer System of the Financial Supervisory Service, Bithumb Korea's sales dropped
The Legislation and Judiciary Committee of the National Assembly passed an amendment to the Act on Report on and the Use of Specific Financial Transaction Information on March 4. If the National Assembly adopts the amendment on March 5, every virtual asset service provider such as cryptocurrency exc
BGF Retail has forged a partnership with Danal, Inc. to introduce Paycoin, a cryptocurrency payment service, to CU convenience stores nationwide.CU announced on March 3 that it has introduced the Paycoin service to enhance convenience for customers and reduce commission fee burdens on merchants.Payc
The year of 2020 will be the first year of a U.S.-China digital finance war based on blockchain and cryptocurrency technology, SK Securities said in a recent report. The brokerage says that the two countries are stepping up efforts to preoccupy techfin using blockchain technology.“The United States
Naver's Japanese subsidiary LINE is accelerating the expansion of its new financial business. Following Singapore, LINE opened a cryptocurrency exchange in the United States.LINE announced on Feb. 25 that it has opened “Bitfront,” an exchange where people can trade cryptocurrencies with U.S. dol
With the South Korean government planning to include taxation on cryptocurrencies in its tax reform plan for next year, tax experts pointed out at a seminar held on Feb. 21 that a low level of trading tax should precede gradual transfer income tax application.The government is scheduled to announce
Bithumb, a cryptocurrency exchange, said on Feb. 18 that it signed a strategic partnership agreement with BitMax, a Singaporean exchange.The two companies will develop new services and strengthen their competitiveness in the global market by working together. They will actively cooperate in the deve
“Klip,” a cryptocurrency wallet developed by Kakao Blockchain subsidiary GroundX, will be released for the first time in conjunction with KakaoTalk, the most popular mobile messenger service in Korea, in the first half of this year. Klip will accompany Kaikas, a cryptocurrency wallet for web browser
Malta-based cryptocurrency exchange Binance announced on Feb. 16 that it has opened cryptocurrency purchase services based on the 15 currencies including the South Korean won. Market watchers say Binance’s South Korean market penetration is likely to take shape based on the new service.The other cur
South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Coinone announced on Feb. 10 that it launched daily staking of Luna coins. Earlier, Coinone launched the same service for Atom coins in November last year.Coinone’s daily staking service is characterized by automatically providing a daily interest for a coin depo
Cryptocurrencies developed by South Korean blockchain startups are continuing to rally.For example, Upbit announced on Feb. 9 that ICON was traded at around 800 won on Feb. 4 after standing at around 130 won in early January this year. Trading at that level in that cryptocurrency exchange was for th
Cryptocurrency exchange Coinone has delisted a total of four cryptocurrencies since October last year, including the three delisted during the past one month. Those are Augur, Contents Protocol, Engine and Cosmo Coin.“We have decided to stop supporting the trading of the cryptocurrencies subject to