Korean | Crypto

Wemade added Chainlink to its Korean won stablecoin alliance to strengthen oracle and data infrastructure as South Korea debates stablecoin regulation. Blockchain company Wemade added Chainlink Labs to its Global Alliance for KRW Stablecoins (GAKS), expanding the consortium’s data and oracle infrastructure as it builds compliance-focused rails for won-pegged stablecoins.  On Tuesday, Wemade announced that Chainlink will provide technical support for data integrity, infrastructure standards and tokenized asset use cases. Wemade said Chainlink’s role will also focus on supporting standardization and enabling alliance members to leverage oracle services.  The addition follows earlier partnerships with blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, security auditor CertiK and remittance provider SentBe, which collectively formed the GAKS initiative.  Read more

On paper, South Korea has been one of the world’s loudest crypto markets for years. In practice, it has been a strangely narrow one. If you were a regular person, you could trade on the big won exchanges. If you were a company with cash on the balance sheet, you mostly sat on your hands. […] The post Bitcoin liquidity is about to get crunched by a new Korean law that legally excludes 99% of buyers appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Mirae Asset Group is reportedly in talks to acquire South Korea’s crypto exchange Korbit in a deal valued at up to $100M, according to local media. Mirae Asset Group is in talks to acquire Korbit, South Korea’s fourth-largest cryptocurrency exchange, in a deal valued at roughly 100 billion to 140 billion Korean won ($70 million to $100 million). The potential acquisition would be led by Mirae Asset Consulting, a non-financial affiliate of the group, which has reportedly signed a memorandum of understanding with Korbit’s major shareholders, according to a Sunday report from The Chosun Daily. Korbit is primarily owned by NXC and its subsidiary Simple Capital Futures, which together hold about 60.5% of the exchange. SK Square owns an additional 31.5% stake. Read more

South Korean retail investors are becoming a significant driver of Ether’s growing value, alongside global institutional investors and corporate treasuries, Mow said. South Korean retail investor capital is fueling Ether’s price momentum and the rise of corporate Ether treasury firms, according to industry insiders, as the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency trades just 7% below its all-time high. The “only thing” keeping the Ether (ETH) price and Ether treasury companies at their current levels is about $6 billion worth of Korean retail capital, according to Samson Mow, CEO of Bitcoin technology company Jan3. “ETH influencers have been flying to South Korea just to market to retail. These investors have zero idea about the ETHBTC chart and think they’re buying the next Strategy play,” said Mow in a Monday X post, warning that this “won’t end well.” Read more

South Korean lawmaker’s bill would make ICOs legal again. Chinese state firm deletes posts about $70M worth of RWAs on Ethereum. Asia Express. A South Korean lawmaker has introduced draft legislation to create a framework for cryptocurrencies, including legalizing initial coin offerings (ICOs) and setting rules for stablecoin issuance. The proposal, announced Thursday by ruling Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Kang-il, would lift South Koreas ban on ICOs. The nation banned the fundraising method in 2017 during a speculative frenzy remembered as the ICO boom. The prohibition pushed Korean projects to launch tokens overseas. Lees bill seeks to replace the blanket prohibition with a disclosure-based regime. The draft law defines the digital asset sector as an independent industry, dividing it into nine business categories that include trading, brokerage, custody, payments and investment management. Trading and brokerage firms would require licenses, while other activities would operate under a registration system. ...

South Korean lawmaker’s bill would make ICOs legal again. Chinese state firm deletes posts about $70M worth of RWAs on Ethereum. Asia Express. A South Korean lawmaker has introduced draft legislation to create a framework for cryptocurrencies, including legalizing initial coin offerings (ICOs) and setting rules for stablecoin issuance. The proposal, announced Thursday by ruling Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Kang-il, would lift South Koreas ban enacted in 2017 during a speculative frenzy remembered as the ICO boom. The prohibition pushed Korean projects to launch tokens overseas. Lees bill seeks to replace the blanket prohibition with a disclosure-based regime. The draft law defines the digital asset sector as an independent industry, dividing it into nine business categories that include trading, brokerage, custody, payments and investment management. Trading and brokerage firms would require licenses, while other activities would operate under a registration system. Read more

South Korea’s BDACS has rolled out institutional custody support for XRP, following its partnership with Ripple and integration with top South Korean exchanges. South Korean crypto custodian BDACS has launched institutional custody support for XRP following its February partnership agreement with Ripple. The move provides institutions with regulated access to one of the world’s most actively traded digital assets. The rollout, announced via BDACS’s X account on Tuesday, enables institutions to securely store and manage XRP (XRP) using Ripple Custody, Ripple’s enterprise-grade custody solution. “We’re thrilled to offer custody support for XRP, one of the most popular digital assets in Korea, to our institutional clients,” BDACS wrote. “This launch strengthens our long-standing partnership with Ripple and underscores our commitment to the Korean market.” Read more