Cointelegraph spoke with Josua Kim, CEO of Vinetree Corp. — the company behind GameTalkTalk DApp on the blockchain-based Lutena Protocol. Mr. Kim spoke about blockchain applications in the video gaming space, and Vinetree’s vision of the industry’s future. In search of better ways to match games with potential users Kim believes that game companies are going to find it more and more difficult to effectively target their marketing dollars. Kim explained: “As much as our clients are important to us, our users are at the forefront of our business and we want to give them peace of mind that our …

The firm behind major South Korean social gaming app GameTalkTalk has rolled out a blockchain project for gamers. The new platform includes a reward-based social media DApp, a matchmaking peer-to-peer gaming platform and a digital item exchange. Vinetree Corporation, the company behind GameTalkTalk, announced the Ludena Protocol on April 20, saying that, in the second quarter of 2020, users worldwide will be able to receive the app’s internal digital assets — know as "stars" — for completing in-game missions and downloading new games. A native token and user data collection are on the roadmap Stars can be used to purchase …

The South Korean government has stated that the blockchain market represents a “golden opportunity” for the country. They are now calling for private sector companies throughout South Korea to exploit this potential. According to a report published on April 17 from Fn News, the Vice Minister of Strategy and Finance, Koo Yun-cheol, held a meeting on blockchain technology which brought together a number of private industry experts. Opportunities in the European and U.S. markets Koo pointed to positive forecasts regarding the growth of blockchain technology development in foreign markets, such as Europe and the US. He added: “The size of …

The lack of uniformity among different jurisdictions’ cryptocurrency laws makes it difficult for crypto exchanges seeking to expand to new markets. While some countries are embracing and fostering innovation, others are more hostile to Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies. Further exacerbating the difficulty is the lack of regulatory certainty in many jurisdictions, including the United States. Below are four of the most significant international regulatory milestones so far in 2020. The European Union’s AML rules now apply to cryptocurrency exchanges The European Union’s Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism rules now apply to crypto custodians, such as wallets …

Huobi Korea announced on April 8 that they would be ending support for Monero (XMR) trading starting on April 9, 2020. They stated that this was due to "low trading volumes and anonymity functions". They did not, however, reference the recent Nth room case, in which South Korean media has speculated the exploitation ring used XMR to complete anonymous transactions. According to the South Korean newspaper, Sisa Journal, headlines covering the sexual exploitation case remained rampant in the country, with many news outlets suggesting that Monero has been used for criminal acts, specifically in the Nth case. The quoted case …

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance is enabling citizens in five further countries to buy cryptocurrency using Visa debit and credit cards with their national fiat currencies. The new service, announced April 10, will extend card support for the Colombian peso, the South Korean won, the Kenyan shilling, the Kazakhstani tenge and Peru’s neuvo sol. At launch, a total of five cryptocurrencies are available for purchase: Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Binance Coin (BNB), XRP, Binance USD (BUSD) and Tether (USDT). A busy month Binance’s announcement — evidently a positive step for its international user base — follows shortly after the exchange was yesterday …

South Korea’s largest public blockchain project, ICON (ICX), announced its new Loop Fault Tolerance 2.0 (LFT 2.0) consensus algorithm on April 8. The new algorithm claims to make performance improvements in scalability and network bandwidth over the popular Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT) consensus types, without compromising security. Innovation reduces network load and improves throughput The LFT 2.0 white paper was published on today been published on Github, following three years of research and development. It marks the first time that a South Korean team has successfully innovated on this element of blockchain technology. PBFT-based algorithms, such as those used …

The Bank of Korea announced on April 6 that it has launched a pilot program to assess the logistics of issuing a central bank digital currency — or CBDC. While the South Korean central bank has no immediate plans to introduce such a currency, the pilot scheme will ensure that it is prepared to do so in the face of changing market conditions. 22-month pilot scheme Following theoretical research conducted in February 2020, the pilot will comprise a technological and legal review of CBDC issuance. It began in March and is scheduled to run for 22 months, through to December …

Major South Korean bank KB Kookmin Bank is expected to launch a cryptocurrency custody service in the near future. According to a report from local news outlet Digital Today on March 27, the bank filed a trademark application for KBDAC, referring to a proposed Digital Asset Custody subsidiary, at the end of January, 2020. KBDAC trademark application for crypto-related industries In the application to the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the bank expresses its desire to trademark KBDAC in over 20 areas, all relating to the cryptocurrency industry. These include trading, consultation and management of digital assets like Bitcoin (BTC) and …

The alleged ringleader of a notorious Telegram sex crime chat group has been paraded in public after millions signed a petition demanding the Korean Government publicly name him. Cho Ju-bin, 24 — who went by the username ‘Banksa’ or ‘doctor’ — was arrested and charged last week along with 17 others for distributing and selling photos and videos of the sexural exploitation of women and minors. They are accused of blackmailing women and minors into starring in the videos, which were then sold to other users. Cho made hundreds of millions of won in cryptocurrency from the Nth Room Telegram …

Two South Korean ministries have announced their support for the blockchain industry in the country with plans to allocate up to $3.2 million in funding to local startups to encourage the use of such technology. The Ministry of Science and ICT (Information and Communications Technology) and the Ministry of Information and Communication Industry Promotion will launch a pilot program called "Blockchain Technology Validation Support in 2020" to carry out the project, according to a March 16 report. The plan is to select nine projects through free public offerings and grant each one up to 450 million won ($360,000) in funding. …

Bitcoin has been on a downward streak for the last week, down around 15 percent over the last seven days. That’s bad but it could be worse. You might have put your money in stocks. Some people, though, remain optimistic. RT’s Max Keiser predicts that the coronavirus will push Bitcoin up to $100,000, and JPMorgan’s CEO Jamie Dimon will be begging the Fed for money to buy coins. Dimon might want to diversify though. Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, has suggested that it might not be BTC that pushes the number of cryptousers from 50 million to 5 billion. He …