The philanthropic arm of Binance — Binance Charity — is set to fund 30,655 scholarships to students keen on forging out a career in Web3 in 2023. The Binance Charity Scholar Program (BCSP) will provide free Web3 education and training courses which will enable tech-savvy students to upskill without having to leap-frog any unnecessary financial barriers, Binance Charity explained, in a January 20 blog post: “We recognize that digital education and skills development can be out of reach for many, resulting in a blockchain industry that lacks diversity and talent. The Binance Scholar Program changes all that, covering the costs …

According to local news outlet News1, Busan, South Korea will establish a decentralized digital commodities exchange. Officials said the platform is scheduled to start operations this year and will support local cultural content via digital assets. “Taking advantage of the strengths of Busan, such as the Busan International Film Festival, G-Star; [the exchange] will include tokenization of intellectual property rights in the film and game fields, as well as gold, precious metals, agricultural and livestock products, ships, real estate, etc.” As told by the Busan Digital Asset Exchange Establishment Promotion Committee, the plan involves coordinating domestic financial companies and digital …

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission charged cryptocurrency lending firm Genesis Global Capital and crypto exchange Gemini with selling unregistered securities through Gemini’s “Earn” program. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission started the process of getting a default judgment in its case against Ooki DAO after the decentralized autonomous organization missed the deadline to respond to the lawsuit. It also filed suit against digital artist Avraham Eisenberg and charged him with two counts of market manipulation in connection with an exploit of the decentralized finance platform, Mango Markets. In South Korea, tax agents raided the Seoul headquarters of cryptocurrency exchange …

The Seoul Metropolitan Government has launched its Metaverse Seoul project, allowing residents of the South Korean capital city to access city services in a virtual environment. In a Jan. 16 press briefing, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon announced the launch of the first phase of Metaverse Seoul following beta testing of the project. According to the mayor, the online environment will be a “place of communication for citizens” of the capital city, allowing them to virtually visit many of Seoul’s attractions, access official documents, file certain complaints, and receive answers to questions on filing municipal taxes. '메타버스 서울' 내놓은 오세훈 "독자적 …

The ongoing saga of the South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb continues, this time with ruling from local courts. On Jan. 13 the South Korean Supreme Court finalized its ruling that the exchange must pay damages to investors over a 1.5-hour service outage on Nov. 12, 2017. According to a local news source, the damages are equivalent to $202, 400 - or 251.4 million in the regional currency won. Initially, a district ruled against the investors, though it was later overturned. The finalized ruling from the Supreme Court ordered damages to be paid ranging from as little as $6 to around …

Ethereum price (ETH) gained 10.2% from Jan. 4 to Jan. 10, breaching the $1,300 resistance without much effort, but has the Ether price move cast a light on whether the altcoin is ready to begin a new uptrend. Will Ethereum’s former resistance level turn to support? After testing the $1,200 support on Jan. 1, the eight-week ascending channel has displayed strength, but Ether bulls fear that negative newsflow might break the pattern to the downside. Despite the positive price trend, the sentiment around Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies hasn't been very enticing. For example, on Jan. 8, Xiao Yi, the former …

Following the report about Huobi Korea’s planned buyout of its shares from Huobi Global, the latter revealed that the deal has already been made, and the two platforms have been operating completely separately since the Fall of 2022. In the press release from Jan. 11, Huobi Global, which rebranded to Huobi in Nov. 2022, confirmed that it has already broken all the ties with Huobi Korea, its former subsidiary in South Korea. According to the statement, in Oct. 2022. the About Capital fund became the largest shareholder and actual controller of Huobi Global, but the deal didn’t include Huobi Korea's …

The South Korea-based cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb is under a “special tax investigation” by the country’s National Tax Service (NTS), according to local reports. On Jan. 10 tax agents raided the exchange’s headquarters in the country’s capital city Seoul as a part of a compliance investigation. The investigation was carried out by the 4th Bureau of Investigation of the Seoul Regional Tax Service, which specifically investigates “special tax investigations”, as opposed to standard ones. Previously, Bithumb was under a special tax investigation in 2018 by the NTS, through which it won roughly $64 million in income tax. This story is developing …

Local media reported Jan. 9 that cryptocurrency exchange Huobi Korea is preparing to purchase its shares from Huobi Global and change its name. About 72% of shares in Huobi Korea are owned by Huobi Global cofounder Leon Li. Huobi Korean chairman Cho Kook-bong would take over Li’s share in the Korean company. Cho is also the owner of a major crypto mining operation in the country, according to local outlet News1. Huobi has experienced a number of issues in recent days. It reportedly planned laid off 20% of its workforce Jan. 6, after a $6 million outflow that week.

Lee Jung-hoon, the former chair of the South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb, was found not guilty on Jan. 3 by the 34th Division of the Criminal Agreement of the Seoul Central District Court. Jung-Hoon was on trial under accusations of violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment Of Specific Economic Crimes due to fraud. The case has been ongoing since October 2018, when the former chairman allegedly defrauded 100 billion won ($70 million) during negotiations for the acquisition of Bithumb from Kim Byung-gun, chairman of the cosmetic surgery company BK Group. Jung-hoon could’ve faced an 8-year sentence had he been …

Although having been granted the opportunity to enjoy Christmas and the New Year with his family, former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has very few reasons for optimism in 2023. The United States Department of Justice has launched an investigation into the whereabouts of approximately $372 million in missing digital assets from FTX and its U.S.-based subsidiary, FTX US. According to SBF, the incident was perpetrated by either a former FTX employee or someone who had unauthorized access to a former employee’s computer. It would be great to know which former employees started to transfer out funds from Alameda Research just …

Six executives from the $1.5 billion (2 trillion won) South Korean crypto exchange fraud V Global have received prison sentences up to eight years — but three were not detained so they could fight certain charges in court. V Global operated between July 2020 and April 2021, and roped in around 50,000 investors by promising 300% returns on investments alongside sizable payments for referring new customers. According to a translation of Dec. 26 reports from South Korean media outlets such as Economist.co.kr, two high-ranking execs, named Mr Yang and Mr Oh, got eight years and three years apiece for their …