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Another $18.9M Hong Kong exchange scandal, HTX ‘sorry’ airdrop: Asia Express

Hong Kong rocked by another $18.9 exchange fraud scandal, HTX offers airdrop in wake of $30M hack, and digital yuan takes off in HK and China.

Our weekly roundup of news from East Asia curates the industrys most important developments.

Yet another crypto scandal in Hong Kong 

Scammers posing as investment experts allegedly enticed 145 victims to tip $18.9 million into the unlicensed Hong Kong crypto exchange Hounax.

According to reports earlier this week, the police said investors were allegedly promised up to 40% return per annum with “no risk” in its advertisements. After users deposited their funds, they were unable to withdraw them. On Nov. 1, the Securities & Futures Exchange (SFC) of Hong Kong listed Hounax on its billboard of suspicious crypto exchanges but clarified that because Hounax was unlicensed at the time of the incident, it was not subjected to the regulators enforcement actions.

This was the second scandal involving a crypto exchange in Hong Kong in recent months. In September, another unlicensed exchange, JPEX collapsed after allegations of a Ponzi scheme unsurfaced, leading to 66 arrests and an estimated $205 million in investors’ losses.

Despite the scandals, Hong Kong regulators appear to remain steadfast in their commitment to transforming the city into a major Web3 hub. On Nov. 27, SFC CEO Julia Leung explained that “even if the grace period ends tomorrow, fraud will still occur, so there is no intention to modify the grace period and other measures for the time being.”

Under current regulations, a grace period for crypto exchanges to operate without registration will end in June 2024. On Nov. 30, the SFC stated that it seeks to legitimize initial coin offerings in the city to create more revenue for the national budget.

A former ad from the defunct Hounax exchange.
A former ad from the defunct Hounax exchange. (Medium)

In other Hong Kong crypto news, the financial institutions Interactive Brokers and Victory Securities this week announced they had secured crypto licenses, with the former partnering with licensed crypto exchange OSL to immediately provide Bitcoin and Ethereum trading services to its Hong Kong clients.

And on Nov. 29, Darryl Chan, deputy chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, announced a multinational effort to create a cross-chain bridge for Chinas digital yuan central bank digital currency. Dubbed “mBridge,” the protocol seeks to reduce transaction fees and improve speeds for cross-border uses of the digital yuan CBDC. The first pilot tests will begin in mainland China and Hong Kong.

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Foreign banks join e-CNY pilot testing

Standard Chartered, HSBC, Hang Seng Bank, and Taiwan-based Fubon Bank have begun testing the digital yuan in cross-border transactions.

According to local news reports on Nov. 28, the four foreign banks will also integrate digital yuan transfer services for their clients and enable them to deposit and withdraw digital yuan. Personal banking accounts will also support the official digital yuan app and self-custody wallet. Yuesheng Song, president and vice-chairman of Hang Seng China, commented:

“The central bank’s launch of the digital RMB, a legal currency in digital form, is an important step for China to explore the development of digital currency and promote the internationalization of the RMB. Hang Seng China follows the national financial development policy advocacy and actively supports the application and development of the central bank’s digital currency.”

In the first three quarters of 2023, the use of the digital yuan in transactions was up 35% year-on-year, reaching $1.39 trillion, China Daily reported. On Nov. 29, the first-ever digital yuan student loans were issued in the province of Suzhou, with $26,230 worth of loans being issued directly into the digital wallets of 13 recipients.

List of banks supported by the e-CNY app, including Standard Chartered, HSBC, Hang Seng Bank, and Fubon Bank. (Baidu)
List of banks supported by the e-CNY app, including Standard Chartered, HSBC, Hang Seng Bank, and Fubon Bank. (Baidu)

HTX back to normal

HTX exchange (formerly Huobi Global) has reopened deposits and withdrawals after a devastating hot wallet hack that drained the exchange of $30 million on Nov. 22.

According to the Nov. 26 announcement, the exchange has since resumed deposits and withdrawals on the Bitcoin, Ethereum and Tron networks.

“Huobi HTX once again promises to fully compensate for the losses caused by this attack and 100% guarantee the safety of user funds. The amount of funds lost by Huobi HTX this time accounts for a very small amount of the total funds of the platform,” the exchange said.

The firm has also announced that a special airdrop will take place in December designed to reward its “loyal users.” Airdrop tokens will reportedly come from “upcoming high-quality projects,” and the amount to be received will be determined by a users’ average net assets on the HTX exchange denominated in Tether (USDT).

Justin Sun, de-facto owner of the HTX exchange (Twitter)
Justin Sun, de-facto owner of the HTX exchange. Incredibly, Warren Buffett did not convert to crypto following the meeting. (X)

Immediately after the incident, Justin Sun, founder of the Tron ecosystem and de-facto owner of the HTX exchange, commented, “we will cover the loss and all assets are SAFE.” Despite assurances, however, this was the fourth exploit involving the HTX ecosystem within the past two months. Around the same time as the HTX exploit, the HTX Ecosystem Chain (HECO) bridge was hacked for $87 million.

On Nov. 10, Poloniex, an exchange acquired by Sun in 2018, was hacked for $100 million due to allegedly compromised private keys. The exchange resumed withdrawals on Nov. 30. On Sept. 25, HTX was drained of $8 million in a security incident. The exchange has since clawed back $8 million in stolen funds and issued a 250 Ether bounty to the hacker.

Pudgy Penguins CEO says praise he gets ‘is actually pretty sad’: NFT Creator 

Pudgy Penguins now has 1M Instagram followers and is stocked in 2000 Walmarts. CEO Luca Schnetzler, 25, explains where everything went right.

Pudgy Penguins minted in July 2021, but quickly saw high drama after its former founder came under suspicion he was going to rug the project. 

A few months later Luca Schnetzler stepped in. With an entrepreneurial streak since his early teens he had a history of building internet businesses and bought the project and its intellectual property of 8,888 cute little Pudgys for $2.5 million in April 2022.

It was an instinct and intuitive decision. I saw this thing that I was hugely invested in before I bought it that I thought had all of the potential. I was complaining and crying on a daily basis to the founders about how they sucked, and how they could do better. Rather than just doing that, I just stepped up to the plate, Schnetlzer says.

The narrative of quickly shifted from a rug that could trend to zero to one of hope and optimism when Schnetzler set out a vision for the project the community could rally behind. 

Schnetzler became one of the standout PFP project leaders during the NFT bear market, and the Penguins bucked the trend of cratering floor prices. Since he took over as CEO, the Pudgy Penguins floor has risen from around the 1 ETH mark to 6.32 ETH. Holders and the wider NFT community believe that Schnetzler has a game plan for success and the ability to execute it.

Pudgy Penguins - A Brave New World
Pudgy Penguins – A Brave New World (X)

He says the decision to snap the project up wasn’t as risky as it may have seemed.

We bought something that netted almost $10 million in six months for $2.5 million. Royalties were making it half a million dollars per month. It was a pretty good business on its face. Intuitively, I think it just comes down to the vision when you close your eyes and you picture Pudgy Penguins, it’s pretty easy to see where this thing can go. 

Constant momentum and growth has been key to Pudgys ascent into one of the top PFP projects, with the cute penguin brand spreading across social media outside of traditional crypto channels like X and Discord. Pudgys Instagram has just crossed 1 million followers, while its GIF strategy has been highly effective, only days ago crossing the 10 billion views chasm.

Schnetzler thinks its a little bit sad that he gets such praise, when it just highlights how little effort other PFP projects put into trying to grow their brands. 

Everyone’s been saying that their NFT project is a brand, they have hundreds of millions of dollars that they raised from the community and venture capital at ridiculous valuations. Yet none of them are actually doing the basics of building a brand, he says. 

Some people really sing my praises, and it’s actually pretty sad because I do think we do some things really well, dont get me wrong, but I mean, this should have been the bar all along. The fact that we are doing so many things that so many projects are not doing when they have 10-20 times the resources and 2-3 times the experience is pretty shameful.

Pudgy Penguins #6775
Pudgy Penguins #6775 (OpenSea)
Pudgy Penguins #6179
Pudgy Penguins #6179 (OpenSea)
Pudgy Penguins #3564
Pudgy Penguins #3564 (OpenSea)

Finding the entrepreneurial spirit

Despite only being 25 years old, Schnetzler actually started his entrepreneurial journey over a decade ago. Growing up poor and bouncing around couch to couch at friends places, Schnetzler says he needed to start earning at a young age.

I’ve really been out of school working for 10 years and it’s pretty crazy to say, but thats what its been,” he says, noting most people dont even start working until they finish college in their 20s

Then you do 10 years after you leave college and you’re 33, and then people start to see success in their 30s. That seems to be the time horizon. I think my childhood forced me to start early. I didnt have the luxury of chilling out or having a childhood where I could just go home and play video games and not worry about anything. I was forced to go work and figure things out.

Character building versus brand building 

To date, most PFP projects are built around a centralized character with a variety of different traits to give each NFT a slightly different look and feel. Take the OG collection CryptoPunks, the Bored Apes, and it is also true for the Pudgys. But it’s not the case for Gary Vees VeeFriends, which boasts 270 individual characters.

Schnetzler believes character building around one individual character is the easier of the two options. 

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At the end of the day, I think Gary is trying to tackle a tougher challenge. It’s part of the cards I was dealt and have, and he created his cards. I think he’s doing a great job with VeeFriends. I think ultimately he has to create familiarity. Creating familiarity around a character is a lot easier than creating familiarity around a brand, says Schnetzler.

Theyre two different things and because his universe isn’t predicated on one character, but a multitude of different characters and different animals in different shapes. He is betting and taking a shot at the brand, and the brand name versus the character. 

I’m going after the character first and then worrying about the brand because I believe there’s enough people that love penguins and few enough penguin brands out there.

Luca Schnetzler IRL at Walmart
Luca Schnetzler IRL at Walmart (X)

A brave new world – Walmart pallet program 

In September this year, Pudgys announced a groundbreaking deal with retail giant Walmart that saw Pudgy Penguin physical toys available for sale and in prominent locations in over 2,000 stores throughout the U.S.

The pallet program is one of the most prestigious places you can get because it gives prime real estate to people walking the floor. It signals Walmart’s belief in the brand and their belief in NFTs and Web3 being a vertical for their retail locations, says Schnetzler.

If that can become a general norm in the worlds biggest retailer it gives us a real shot to succeed. Its one thing to be in the crevices of the toy shelf, its another thing to be front and center for everyone to see. That program doesnt happen for brand-new brands. Its normally a program for Barbie, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or people that have movies and TV shows off the backs of their releases.

Building a legacy brand with no playbook 

One of the most common questions consistently thrown at a PFP project is “how do you drive value back to holders?”

In response to criticism about its toy product extension, Schnetzler laid out his plan on how Pudgy Penguins are thinking about value accrual to holders using a classic funnel diagram.

The funnel is not something that I’ve really invented. I mean, you can throw Star Wars and any other big legacy IP onto that funnel, and thats the strategy. The idea, though, with NFTs is the value of the first edition collectible is a huge anchor to the business. If you put any first edition collectible at any legacy brand on the bottom of that funnel, it still makes the most sense, he says.

I want to build a legacy brand, the likes of a Hello Kitty, a Star Wars and a Pokemon.

That’s easier said than done, he admits, saying theres no roadmap to follow for a PFP project.

Hello Kitty took 60 years to build. My holders dont have 60 years for me to go build something. If I lose momentum and traction within the holder base, then I ultimately lose everything because I dont believe you can build a successful Web2 business while your Web3 business fails.

Pudgy World
Pudgy World (pudgypenguins.com)

Rapid-fire Q&A

Your entrepreneurial inspiration 

I love everything that I think Steve Jobs represents. For me personally, I’ve tried to be my own man, but the one person that I found huge inspiration from, you can kind of tell it in my leadership style, is really Steve Jobs.

The intense pressure of a founder 

It’s not easy, but it’s also not the worst thing. One of the reasons why we got here is because of the community. I think I’m in a great situation because I bought the project and I didn’t take any money from them. The nature of people who hold Pudgy Penguin PFPs, theyre good people.

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You cant really be an angry, miserable person and then go click buy on a Pudgy Penguin. The art kind of creates a culture that already filters a lot of that nonsense out. Now, I empathize with a lot of other people who I see go through the chaos.

What you would tell a Mom about Pudgys

What I would tell a Mom is, hey, this is a great value proposition for your son or daughter. This is way more fun than any other $10 toy.

Why? Because they unlock a bunch of things in the digital world that not only entertain them when they go to bed or when theyre at recess or on the playground. But also entertains them when they are at home on their iPad and computer. It’s a 2-for-1 bang for buck special.

Were the Pudgy gifs planned?

The gifs were totally random. But the second we saw it, we quadrupled down, but it was totally random in the beginning. It was a sheer accident but a happy accident.

I don’t need people to know about Pudgy Penguins now, but you want to know something when NFTs are the talk of the town again, and all those people have been using Pudgy gifs the whole time, that’s going be a really good source of credibility for them once everyone starts to want to buy NFTs.

Whats your position on royalties?

It shouldn’t be 0% and it shouldnt be 5%. I think it’s somewhere in the middle. I think the number is between 1% and 1.5% is where I think the enforceable royalty should stand. The reason being is because you just have to incentivize the creator. [That’s] what made YouTube great, what made TikTok great.

Are you a Wim Hof fanboy? 

Every day I do his breathing technique and I get high doing it. I recommend it because it’s the quickest way you can get high for free. I’m also setting up my cold plunge now. 

Where are Pudgys three years from now?

We’re the face of NFTs, we’re the face of Web3. We have brought the most value to holders emotionally and fiscally. Three years from now were probably launching a movie. The movie is close.

Links:

X: twitter.com/LucaNetz

Website: http://www.pudgypenguins.com

Pudgy Penguins GIFs top 10B views, CEO sets sights on Disney, Hello Kitty: NFT Creator 

Pudgy Penguins now has 1M Instagram followers and is stocked in 2000 Walmarts. CEO Luca Schnetzler, 25, explains where everything went right.

Pudgy Penguins minted in July 2021, but quickly saw high drama after its former founder came under suspicion he was going to rug the project. 

A few months later Luca Schnetzler stepped in. With an entrepreneurial streak since his early teens he had a history of building internet businesses and bought the project and its intellectual property of 8,888 cute little Pudgys for $2.5 million in April 2022. 

It was an instinct and intuitive decision. I saw this thing that I was hugely invested in before I bought it that I thought had all of the potential. I was complaining and crying on a daily basis to the founders about how they sucked, and how they could do better. Rather than just doing that, I just stepped up to the plate, Schnetlzer says.

The narrative of quickly shifted from a rug that could trend to zero to one of hope and optimism when Schnetzler set out a vision for the project the community could rally behind. 

Schnetzler became one of the standout PFP project leaders during the NFT bear market, and the Penguins bucked the trend of cratering floor prices. Since he took over as CEO, the Pudgy Penguins floor has risen from around the 1 ETH mark to 6.32 ETH. Holders and the wider NFT community believe that Schnetzler has a game plan for success and the ability to execute it. 

Pudgy Penguins - A Brave New World
Pudgy Penguins – A Brave New World (X)

He says the decision to snap the project up wasn’t as risky as it may have seemed.

We bought something that netted almost $10 million in six months for $2.5 million. Royalties were making it half a million dollars per month. It was a pretty good business on its face. Intuitively, I think it just comes down to the vision when you close your eyes and you picture Pudgy Penguins, it’s pretty easy to see where this thing can go. 

Constant momentum and growth has been key to Pudgys ascent into one of the top PFP projects, with the cute penguin brand spreading across social media outside of traditional crypto channels like X and Discord. Pudgys Instagram has just crossed 1 million followers, while its GIF strategy has been highly effective, only days ago crossing the 10 billion views chasm. 

Schnetzler thinks its a little bit sad that he gets such praise, when it just highlights how little effort other PFP projects put into trying to grow their brands. 

Everyone’s been saying that their NFT project is a brand, they have hundreds of millions of dollars that they raised from the community and venture capital at ridiculous valuations. Yet none of them are actually doing the basics of building a brand, he says. 

Some people really sing my praises, and it’s actually pretty sad because I do think we do some things really well, dont get me wrong, but I mean, this should have been the bar all along. The fact that we are doing so many things that so many projects are not doing when they have 10-20 times the resources and 2-3 times the experience is pretty shameful. 

Pudgy Penguins #6775
Pudgy Penguins #6775 (OpenSea)
Pudgy Penguins #6179
Pudgy Penguins #6179 (OpenSea)
Pudgy Penguins #3564
Pudgy Penguins #3564 (OpenSea)

Finding the entrepreneurial spirit

Despite only being 25 years old, Schnetzler actually started his entrepreneurial journey over a decade ago. Growing up poor and bouncing around couch to couch at friends places, Schnetzler says he needed to start earning at a young age.

I’ve really been out of school working for 10 years and it’s pretty crazy to say, but thats what its been,” he says, noting most people dont even start working until they finish college in their 20s 

Then you do 10 years after you leave college and you’re 33, and then people start to see success in their 30s. That seems to be the time horizon. I think my childhood forced me to start early. I didnt have the luxury of chilling out or having a childhood where I could just go home and play video games and not worry about anything. I was forced to go work and figure things out.

Character building versus brand building 

To date, most PFP projects are built around a centralized character with a variety of different traits to give each NFT a slightly different look and feel. Take the OG collection CryptoPunks, the Bored Apes, and it is also true for the Pudgys. But it’s not the case for Gary Vees VeeFriends, which boasts 270 individual characters.

Schnetzler believes character building around one individual character is the easier of the two options. 

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At the end of the day, I think Gary is trying to tackle a tougher challenge. It’s part of the cards I was dealt and have, and he created his cards. I think he’s doing a great job with VeeFriends. I think ultimately he has to create familiarity. Creating familiarity around a character is a lot easier than creating familiarity around a brand, says Schnetzler. 

Theyre two different things and because his universe isn’t predicated on one character, but a multitude of different characters and different animals in different shapes. He is betting and taking a shot at the brand, and the brand name versus the character. 

I’m going after the character first and then worrying about the brand because I believe there’s enough people that love penguins and few enough penguin brands out there.

Luca Schnetzler IRL at Walmart
Luca Schnetzler IRL at Walmart (X)

A brave new world – Walmart pallet program 

In September this year, Pudgys announced a groundbreaking deal with retail giant Walmart that saw Pudgy Penguin physical toys available for sale and in prominent locations in over 2,000 stores throughout the U.S.

The pallet program is one of the most prestigious places you can get because it gives prime real estate to people walking the floor. It signals Walmart’s belief in the brand and their belief in NFTs and Web3 being a vertical for their retail locations, says Schnetzler. 

If that can become a general norm in the worlds biggest retailer it gives us a real shot to succeed. Its one thing to be in the crevices of the toy shelf, its another thing to be front and center for everyone to see. That program doesnt happen for brand-new brands. Its normally a program for Barbie, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or people that have movies and TV shows off the backs of their releases.

Building a legacy brand with no playbook 

One of the most common questions consistently thrown at a PFP project is “how do you drive value back to holders?”

In response to criticism about its toy product extension, Schnetzler laid out his plan on how Pudgy Penguins are thinking about value accrual to holders using a classic funnel diagram. 

The funnel is not something that I’ve really invented. I mean, you can throw Star Wars and any other big legacy IP onto that funnel, and thats the strategy. The idea, though, with NFTs is the value of the first edition collectible is a huge anchor to the business. If you put any first edition collectible at any legacy brand on the bottom of that funnel, it still makes the most sense, he says. 

I want to build a legacy brand, the likes of a Hello Kitty, a Star Wars and a Pokemon.

That’s easier said than done, he admits, saying theres no roadmap to follow for a PFP project.

Hello Kitty took 60 years to build. My holders dont have 60 years for me to go build something. If I lose momentum and traction within the holder base, then I ultimately lose everything because I dont believe you can build a successful Web2 business while your Web3 business fails.

Pudgy World
Pudgy World (pudgypenguins.com)

Rapid-fire Q&A

Your entrepreneurial inspiration 

I love everything that I think Steve Jobs represents. For me personally, I’ve tried to be my own man, but the one person that I found huge inspiration from, you can kind of tell it in my leadership style, is really Steve Jobs.

The intense pressure of a founder 

It’s not easy, but it’s also not the worst thing. One of the reasons why we got here is because of the community. I think I’m in a great situation because I bought the project and I didn’t take any money from them. The nature of people who hold Pudgy Penguin PFPs, theyre good people.

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You cant really be an angry, miserable person and then go click buy on a Pudgy Penguin. The art kind of creates a culture that already filters a lot of that nonsense out. Now, I empathize with a lot of other people who I see go through the chaos.

What you would tell a Mom about Pudgys 

What I would tell a Mom is, hey, this is a great value proposition for your son or daughter. This is way more fun than any other $10 toy.

Why? Because they unlock a bunch of things in the digital world that not only entertain them when they go to bed or when theyre at recess or on the playground. But also entertains them when they are at home on their iPad and computer. It’s a 2-for-1 bang for buck special.

Were the Pudgy gifs planned?

The gifs were totally random. But the second we saw it, we quadrupled down, but it was totally random in the beginning. It was a sheer accident but a happy accident.

I don’t need people to know about Pudgy Penguins now, but you want to know something when NFTs are the talk of the town again, and all those people have been using Pudgy gifs the whole time, that’s going be a really good source of credibility for them once everyone starts to want to buy NFTs.

Whats your position on royalties?

It shouldn’t be 0% and it shouldnt be 5%. I think it’s somewhere in the middle. I think the number is between 1% and 1.5% is where I think the enforceable royalty should stand. The reason being is because you just have to incentivize the creator. [That’s] what made YouTube great, what made TikTok great. 

Are you a Wim Hof fanboy? 

Every day I do his breathing technique and I get high doing it. I recommend it because it’s the quickest way you can get high for free. I’m also setting up my cold plunge now. 

Where are Pudgys three years from now? 

We’re the face of NFTs, we’re the face of Web3. We have brought the most value to holders emotionally and fiscally. Three years from now were probably launching a movie. The movie is close.

Links:

X: twitter.com/LucaNetz

Website: http://www.pudgypenguins.com

HTX hacked again for $30M, 100K Koreans test CBDC, Binance 2.0: Asia Express

HTX hacked for $30M — the ecosystem’s fourth hack in recent months — 100K Koreans test out CBDC, and Binance is dead, long live Binance!

Our weekly roundup of news from East Asia curates the industrys most important developments.

HTX exchange hacked… again 

In the fourth hack affecting the HTX (formerly Huobi Global) ecosystem in just two months, the exchange lost $30 million via a hot wallet hack that occurred on Nov. 22. 

In its Nov. 23 announcement, the exchange promised to fully compensate for the losses caused by this attack and 100% guarantee the safety of user funds,” as well as restore services within 24 hours of the attack. The day prior, the HTX Eco Chain (HECO) bridge was exploited for $86.6 million. An investigation is ongoing. 

In September, the HTX exchange was hacked for $7.9 million; this was followed by a $100 million hack against the Poloniex exchange, a related entity, in November. Justin Sun, the Chinese blockchain personality and de-facto owner of HTX (not to mention an “advisor” to, but probably owner of, Poloniex, founder of Tron and CEO of BitTorrent), stated after the attack that “HTX Will Fully Compensate for HTXs hot wallet Losses. Deposits and Withdrawals Temporarily Suspended. All Funds in HTX Are Secure.” Sun previously also madeassurancesthat “all user assets are #SAFU” in the aftermath of the September hack against HTX.

Huobi rebranded to HTX during this years Token 2049 event in September. Although its executives have repeatedly reassured that the exchange is doing well, the exchange ran into a number of serious incidents this year, including an alleged employee revolt.

Justin Sun during Web3 Hong Kong. (Twitter)
Justin Sun blushes as he shares a stage with Nina on April 11.

Binance pleads guilty, settles criminal charges for $4.3 billion

Crypto exchange Binance has agreed to plead guilty to violating the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act, knowingly failing to register as a money-transmitting business, and willfully violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The exchange will pay $4.3 billion in penalties and forfeiture to the U.S. Justice Department. 

According to the Nov. 21 announcement, Changpeng Zhao, co-founder and CEO of Binance, has also pled guilty to one count of willfully violating the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act. Zhao has since entered his personal plea in the District Court for the Western District of Washington.

At the time, Zhao was granted a $175 million bond that allowed him to reside in Dubai pending his sentencing hearing on Feb. 24. However, the U.S. Department of Justice has since appealed that decision, asking to confine his residence to the U.S. pending the sentencing hearing due to Zhao allegedly possessing an “unacceptable risk of flight.”

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In its indictment, the Department of Justice noted that, in a few noticeable incidents and despite reassurances, Binance facilitated over $1 billion in illicit transactions for Iranian users, the Russian marketplace Hyrdra and cryptocurrency mixer Bestmixer. and it solicited U.S. users without prior registration. Binance was also accused of deliberately masking such actions as “complying with U.S. law would stifle their efforts to grow Binance’s profits, market share, and trading volume.”

The same day, Zhao stepped down as the CEO of Binance. “I made mistakes, and I must take responsibility. This is best for our community, for Binance, and for myself,” he stated. 

“Binance is no longer a baby. It is time for me to let it walk and run. I know Binance will continue to grow and excel with the deep bench it has.”

While Zhao still owns a majority in the exchange, he will be barred from being involved in the exchange’s everyday operations. Richard Teng, Binance’s global head of regional markets, was named the exchange’s new CEO. In his inaugural statement, Teng stated that the exchange’s fundamentals were “VERY strong” and that Binance is still “the world’s largest crypto exchange by volume.”

Blockchain analytics firm Nansen has noted that despite the guilty plea, it did not witness any “mass exodus of funds” after the incident. While the exchange witnessed nearly $965 million worth of withdrawals, its total holdings increased to $65 billion. On November 23, CZ’s X account was temporarily suspended after removing “Binance” from his profile name. 

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland during the indictment announcement. (DoJ)
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland during the indictment announcement. (DoJ)

South Korea invites 100,000 people to test CBDC

The Bank of Korea, South Korea’s central bank, will invite 100,000 Korean citizens to purchase goods with deposit tokens issued by commercial banks as part of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot test. The first of such trials began in October. 

According to local news reports on Nov. 23, “participants will be restricted to using the currency solely for its designated purpose of payment. Other uses, including personal remittance, will not be permitted at this time.” Although the Bank of Korea has not yet decided whether or not to implement a CBDC, further trials are expected, including an integration simulation system for carbon emissions trading on the Korea Exchange. It said: 

“Recently, the rapid digitalization of the economy has led to a growing demand for a digital form of public currency. This demand is evident in the private sector, where new payment instruments such as stablecoins have been developed and are already widely used in certain sectors.”

Evening in downtown Seoul.
Evening in downtown Seoul. (Source: Pexels)

65% plunge in Web3 Games in ’23 but ‘real hits’ coming, $26M NFL Rivals NFT: Web3 Gamer

Can Shrapnel save Web3 gaming after a horror 2023? Why Disney’s NFT platform is “irrelevant” and the $26M NFT in free mobile game NFL RIvals.

As the year winds down, every gaming company and its dog are dropping year-in-review reports.

A recent report from blockchain gaming accelerator Game7 suggests that many game developers had an enforced nap instead of pumping out new games.

This year, just 223 Web3 games were launched, a 65% drop from the 640 games started in 2022 and even more distant from the 811 games that got going in 2021.

Game7
Web3 game releases per year (Game7)

So whats the deal with the sudden nosedive in output?

Well, the optimistic answer is Rome wasnt built in a day.

It seems to be what Immutable co-founder and president Robbie Ferguson believes that many great Web3 gaming hits are on the way … but patience is required. 

Speaking to Magazine, Ferguson says that there has been a significant surge of money into Web3 games lately, and developers are focusing on crafting standout hits:

The last year has been really interesting, Web3 gaming has had such an influx of investment, its just the time-lag of the production of games until we start seeing hits … roughly $15 billion U.S. has been invested in Web3 gaming over the past 3 years.

Immutable now has more than 200 games on the platform, and games such as Shardbound Blade Of God, Arkbound and Galactico Manager 24 have 8+ figures in funding collectively, and have shipped multiple 10 million+ player hits,” according to Immutable spokesperson Alex Revutsky.

Similarly, John Stefanidis, CEO of Balthazar Gaming DAO, mentions the amount of cash flowing in the Web3 gaming scene, even though new money from retail is yet to flow back into the overall crypto markets.

“The appetite has significantly increased. Projects are minting out and raising money again. I think the belief in Web3 has continued to grow, even in the bear market, Stefanidis says.

But in 2024, the real hits wont just be tossing money around to keep players hooked, at least according to Gabby Dizon, co-founder of Yield Guild Games. 

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In a recent interview with Cointelegraph, Dizon declared that the most successful Web3 games in 2024 will pivot from play-to-earn (P2E) to instead focus on being entirely free-to-play to attract players.

Keep an eye on Shrapnel, the AAA first-person extraction shooter blockchain game, to see whether it will emerge as a hit or a flop.

The game has been getting a ton of hype in the industry. 

Its set on Earth in the year 2038, where the objective is to gather valuable in-game assets and safely extract them while facing off against enemies and rival players.

The coming months will also see the debut of the long-awaited Illuvium games, along with other big titles.

However, Stefanidis told Magazine that the games that will score big might just be the ones doing the classic, promise less, but deliver way more:

“I think the challenges that games are having right now are trying to deliver on the huge number of promises that they’ve made, and they’re struggling to acquire users off the back of that when there are other games coming out that are promising much less.”

Ferguson predicts that the first hit blockchain game will catalyze an entirely new narrative as developers will be able to see the playbook used to make successful games.

By the end of this year, there should no longer be any roadblocks for a game thats successful enough from being able to succeed.

Blowfish Studios announce early access to Phantom Galaxies

The team behind the new sci-fi action RPG game Phantom Galaxies described the gaming space as “challenging and unpredictable” when it announced early access to the game.

Are the developers fessing up to a little bit of market jitters as they roll out the new game?

Its probably unnecessary as the title has garnered considerable attention online, already clocking up over 100,000 followers on the X platform, aka Twitter.

Published by Blowfish Studios, a subsidiary of Web3 giant Animoca Brands, Phantom Galaxies is available for free on both Steam and the Epic Games Store. 

Set in the aftermath of an interstellar war, the game unfolds as the Commonwealth and the Union come together to establish the Ranger Squadron   an outfit of skilled mecha pilots who guard human colonies on the outer edges of space.

Players join the squadron as an ensign a junior ranked officer controlling a transforming Starlighter, fighting against pirate factions and aliens. 

According to an official blog post, an official governance token called Astrafer can be used to splash on credits, Ores, and U-Cubes for upgrading the Starfighter.

There are three ranger tracks available in the game. The first two, Standard and Advanced, hook every player up with rewards after hitting certain levels. But heres the bummer Astrafer isnt part of the rewards for these two tracks, unfortunately.

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The priciest option for players is the Elite Track. Right now, this track is the only way to earn Astrafer in the game, but dont worry, they swear it wont be like this forever.

The Elite Track is the only way to receive ASTRAFER in-game currently, but this will change in future.

However, if users arent into making moolah, they can hop on the Standard Track for free.

Disneys Web3 platform irrelevant

Disney has decided to dip its toes in the nonfungible token space after tossing its metaverse plans out the window earlier this year along with 50 jobs.

In a partnership with blockchain and metaverse firm Dapper Labs, it has created an NFT platform that will offer iconic cartoon characters from the past century on the marketplace, dubbed Disney Pinnacle. 

The platform will also include icons from Pixar as well as heroes and villains from the Star Wars galaxy, styled as collectible and tradable digital pins.

But … is this buzz around mega-billion dollar companies jumping into the Web3 scene still a thing?

Ilja Moisejevs, co-founder of Solana NFT marketplace Tensor, believes it really isnt worth the fuss:

Not sure if it’s an unpopular opinion but Disney, Nike, Sbux, the next Web2 brand getting into Web3 … is irrelevant. It’s like worrying if Walmart will start using the web in 1999. Sure they will, eventually, who cares 99% of web’s value capture was done by web-native startups.

Hot Take: NFL Rivals

NFL Rivals is a mobile blockchain game published by Mythical Games in collaboration with the National Football League (NFL).

The gaming crew only recently bid farewell to Ethereum blockchain and jumped ship to Polkadot. They pointed the finger at Ethereums sluggish transaction speeds and wallet-draining costs. 

Before you roll your eyes at an NFL title, nope, you dont need to be a sports guru for this one. 

Honestly, its not really a game thatll make die-hard sports fans excited. Its straightforward, and thats the beauty of it.

I got sucked into the gameplay, and I swear Ive never seen an NFL match. 

NFL Rivals
NFL Rivals is a free mobile game.

If youre on the hunt for a fresh game to kill time during a delayed flight or keep you entertained when your dates fashionably late, this is the one. 

Better yet, it doesnt cost you a dime to play on your iPhone or Android. 

The tutorial was surprisingly efficient, not like those never-ending ones. It covered throws and kicks and got right into the gameplay without any fuss. 

Once youre in the game, you wear the team manager hat. You assemble your players every game, level up, recruit better players (and ditch the underperformers).

Rivals 2
You can buy and sell players in NFL Rivals.

Once you hit level four in the game, you unlock the option to buy, sell, and trade individual NFL players as NTFs on the Mythical online marketplace.

$26M
Jaquan is available for the low, low price of $26M

I took a quick peek at the marketplace, and the big shot collectible is Jaquan Brisker, selling for a massive 100 million MYTH.

Thats around $26 million USD, in case you were wondering.

If youre not ready to splash that type of cash, no worries you can grab yourself a bargain with Justin Houston for just 1.5 MYTH, about $0.39 USD.

What I do like about NFL Rivals is that it seamlessly fits into the iPhone screen, unlike some soccer and tennis games that Ive tried where your thumbs end up covering half the action. Not cool. 

Controls? Pretty smooth. Even if youve got chubby fingers, this game wont have you pulling your hair out. 

More from the Web3 gaming space

  Popular game studio Avalon has teased its new User-Generated Content (UGC) MMORPG in a 90-second trailer. 

  Immutable teams up with Japanese game developer Black Tower Studios to release Web3 game Arkbound.

  Gaming giant Ubisoft has announced plans to launch an Ethereum nonfungible token (NFT) for its upcoming game Champion Tactics. 

  PancakeSwap expands its gaming offerings with the launch of PancakeSwap Gaming Marketplace.

Michael Saylor’s a fan, but Frisby says bull run needs a new guru: X Hall of Flame

Bitcoiner Dominic Frisby counts Michael Saylor as a fan… but says we need a new Bitcoin evangalist & narrative to propel the next bull run.

Dominic Frisby recalls meeting MicroStrategys Michael Saylor for the first time at a crypto event. What started off as an awe-struck moment became confusing after things took an unexpected turn.

I saw Michael Saylor there. I was like, Wow, thats him! he tells Magazine. But it was Saylor who quickly came over and introduced himself before Frisby had a chance:

He just came up to me and said, Ive seen some of your videos, and I really like your work and what youre doing. Would you like to come over to dinner?

Frisby explains he was thrilled to be hanging with the OG Bitcoin maxi in Saylors house, which is much nicer than his own.

Every time I watch a Michael Saylor video, I get orange pilled. The guy is so clever, he declares.

Its something of a mutual admiration society, with Saylor frequently sharing Frisbys television appearances discussing Bitcoin.

Frisby is not just a Bitcoiner and has his fingers in a bunch of different pies, including cracking jokes on stage as a respected comedian, writing books and hosting TV shows.

With a modest 32,300 followers on Twitter some way behind Saylors massive 3.1 million hes still making a name for himself and can often be heard talking about Bitcoin on radio stations like BBC 5.

Oh, and ever heard of hit U.K. show Money Pit? Well, Frisby was the face of it. He admits he has a knack for juggling multiple balls at once.

Im a bit of a jack of all trades, and I just tend to go and do whatever interests me in any given moment.

Frisby can also boast of having penned one of the very first credible books on Bitcoin, Bitcoin: The Future of Money, published by Unbound back in 2014. 

I think it was the first book on Bitcoin from a recognized publisher, he declares.

Despite his admiration for Saylor, he thinks the next generation needs its own Bitcoin champion.

I think Roger Ver was a brilliant evangelist for Bitcoin. Saylor was a brilliant evangelist for Bitcoin. But when the next bull market happens, we need a new evangelist. We need to find some new narratives to propel the story.

And even though hes a self-proclaimed Bitcoin maximalist, he admits hes got a small bag of Ether tucked away, even if thats more an investment in Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin than the actual network itself.

My portfolio is probably over 90% Bitcoin, and Ive got some Ethereum. That guy [Vitalik] Buterin, hes obviously really clever. And I sort of think by investing in Ethereum, youre effectively investing in Vitalik.

What led to Twitter fame?

Frisby admits that his Twitter is a bit all over the place, a bit of a hopscotch.

He acknowledges that things might be better for him if he just focused on ranting about one topic.

If I just tweeted about crypto all day long, I would probably have a much bigger following than I do.

His followers spiked in 2021 when Frisby and a group of others went to well-known landmarks in the United Kingdom and beamed messages onto them.

I was involved in this thing where we got a projector. And we went round projecting slogans on public buildings, he explains.

Frisby decided to project the message Bitcoin fixes this on the Bank of England.

What type of content can people expect?

Frisbys tweets are all over the place one day its Bitcoin, the next its CBDCs, and then he throws in some comedy or drops a new music video.

His latest project is a parody song and music video on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

Titled Programmable money, Frisby plays the chairman of the World Economic Forum, Klaus Schwab. He starts off chanting CBDC and then goes these monitor every purchase you make, every transaction or decision you make.

It cost me a few thousand quid, and I had to call in a lot of favors. Yeah, I mean you can see its an expensive video.

It looks like its paying off, getting shoutouts from well-known economist Lyn Alden and the famous Bitcoin podcaster Peter McCormack.

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What content do you enjoy?

Frisby is a Bitcoin maxi for all the wrong reasons.

I just dont have the time to study all these other coins, and Im in various WhatsApp groups and stuff and Telegram chats, and I just cant keep up with this new coin and that new coin. I just dont have the time or the energy.

He rattles off a few of his favorite commentators, like Lyn Alden, Peter McCormack, GiGi, Bitcoin entrepreneur Robert Breedlove and Adam Back, CEO of Blockstream.

Predictions?

By the sound of it, Frisbys been thrown the prediction ball before:

Do you want me to give you a headline stupid prediction that will get loads of clicks because Ive said Bitcoins going to half a million dollars, or do you want me to give you a realistic one that in three years time people go, You got that prediction right!

Obviously, we want the prediction that gets lots of clicks, but well take what we can get.
Frisbys prediction seems pretty reasonable for the upcoming cycle, suggesting we might hit an average price between $70,000 and $100,000.

But it could shoot up to a whopping $250,000 during this cycle. Maybe we should put that in the headline?

DMT and a Hellboy outfit — How diewiththemostlikes got on SuperRare: NFT Creator

Relentless & funny NFT Creator diewiththemostlikes says “good meat” instead of “gm!” and got on SuperRare thanks to DMT and a Hellboy outfit.

Mark Wilson the artist known as diewiththemostlikes has a truly unique style to his art and a presence that could be described as grotesque, performative, thought-provoking and hilarious all in one packet of rolled-up ground beef.

In a digital art market where supply can be infinite, the Indiana-based artist really stands out from the crowd with his ability to garner attention by often ridiculing the NFT space and eliciting both humor and sadness within his work.

An author of five books, diewiththemostlikes has a passion for not only visual art but also scribing his streams of consciousness. He originally minted his first NFT on March 26, 2021, on Foundation after a random account on X reached out because Wilson had made a joke campaign poster for comedian Eric Andre that went viral.

This dude reached out and just said, Hey, I have a Foundation invite. Would you want to mint a piece on there? I said I dont know what minting is. I dont know what Foundation is. I have no clue what any of this shit is, Diewiththemostlikes explains.

He said, It could be a good avenue for your digital art, so I said, Well, fuck it, man. Its not like Im not doing anything with it now. Its getting two likes on Instagram from fucking porn bots. So, whatever, Ill mint something, and maybe I can sell something finally as an artist that would be nice. 

It was a relatively slow start, but consistency and persistence positioned him well, and hes often received praise from other well-known artists such as OSF. 

Now knocking on the door of digital art stardom, diewiththemostlikes still hasnt come to grips with the position he finds himself in.

I still honestly cant really wrap my head around this shit thats going on. I just assumed I was gonna die alone doing something I hated. To be part of this kind of movement with all these other really insane artists who are on this crazy trajectory and who are constantly leveling up is really cool. Its pretty wild, he says.

our memories were beef too by diewiththemostlikes
Our memories were beef too by Diewiththemostlikes. (SuperRare)

Origin of catchy and cumbersome name

How did the name diewiththemostlikes come about? Well, in classic die fashion, theres humor and an underlying meaning.

Ive got the most common name to ever exist, Mark Wilson. When I was applying for apartments, people would think it was a scammer name because Mark Wilson is a super common name here in the States. They would do a background check and think I was a fake person. 

Im cool with my name… But diewiththemostlikes kind of came in, and its funny because its actually a really cumbersome name to say. A lot of people during interviews will ask what they even call me. Its a really long and kind of an unenjoyable name to say, but I suppose that I find comfort in that. Discomfort, if you will, or the inability to kind of determine what I should be called is awesome.

The name pokes fun at a world where we seek likes on social media for dopamine hits, which Wilson points out is a transactional existence.

Its a really interesting distillation of our transactional existence as a whole and kind of how fucking sad and depressing it can be in many ways. But also the beauty of it, obviously, none of us would be here; we wouldnt be talking here without Twitter. Certainly, my art wouldnt be doing what it was doing, or I wouldnt be able to impact anybody without a platform.

Big! Election Day! by diewiththemostlikes
Big! Election Day! by Diewiththemostlikes. (onetie-alltie.com)

Finding a story in peculiar places

Observing society and its idiosyncrasies is a big inspiration, and his work often carries open or sometimes subliminal messages that make collectors really stop and think.

Of course, always the prankster with a dry sense of humor, diewiththemostlikes is quick to tie a bow around it with some over-the-top window dressing.

I would say theres stories in the most peculiar places. Theres a story in every sagging ass of anyone walking around the fucking dregs of this country, he says. Within those kinds of nuanced little wrinkles, scabs and wounds is where I thrive and where I love to exist.

This lens on life and humanity is often exaggerated… If you look a little deeper on my pieces, theyre definitely documentarian but certainly grotesque at a very surface level.

regarding the inhalation of failing dreams by diewiththemostlikes
Regarding the inhalation of failing dreams by Diewiththemostlikes. (SuperRare)

Good meat! Sublime satire

The tsunami of crypto X accounts posting gm led to a series of meat art.

Good meat originally arose out of a place of complete ridicule, which is where a lot of my art I feel like comes from. Its satire; its ridicule; its hilarity. I was really annoyed with the transactional state of everybody just saying gm, with nothing else to say. It was gm with a fucking coffee mug, and that was it. Then you just see gm, gm, gm, gm. It was just like, What the fuck are we all doing here? This is insane, dude, says Wilson.

So, then I kind of came up with good meat as a way to ridicule that, and I was posting art with the pieces originally, and then it kind of transitioned into now. Im just gonna post meat pictures now because that fits the kind of dull exchange. The dull morning exchange that we all participate in.

Its just like heres a big heaving pile of rotting meat. Enjoy it or dont enjoy it. Its all good. But its funny because now people will say good meat back, or theyll have their own good meat-inspired post, and its fucking super cool. I love that meat is infecting the space in some capacity.

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Notable sales to date

we saved our marriage by diewiththemostlikes
We saved our marriage sold for 8 ETH ($22,900 equivalent on date of sale) on April 29, 2022. (SuperRare)
after the streetlights stopped grieving by diewiththemostlikes
After the streetlights stopped grieving sold for 12 ETH ($22,300 equivalent on date of sale) on June 2, 2023. (SuperRare)
precious moments by diewiththemostlikes
Precious moments sold for 12 ETH ($19,900 equivalent on date of sale) on June 16, 2023. (SuperRare)

Rapid-fire Q&A

Influences

I dont have a ton, honestly, and most of that is just because I dont have any art background. I would actually say, growing up, most of my influence was actually in the books I was reading. People like Irvine Welsh, Haruki Murakami, Michel Houellebecq, and, of course, Hunter S. Thompson. All those kinds of absurdists are where I love to dwell.

I should obviously mention Ralph Steadman, who is a fucking incredible illustrator. When I got into this space, somebody said, Your stuff reminds me of Ralph Steadman, and I think thats incredible.

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Personal style of art

I think one word I would use is relentless. The style itself its funny; I never took an art class in high school and was described as adequate. Thats really the extent of my art history. I didnt study art. Its more or less I bludgeoned my way into making these things. Its been like 20,000 hours on the iPad and in my basement making canvases and acrylic.

Its just bludgeoning stuff out that I feel like has to come out or else itll rob me from the inside, so relentless and unflinching, I guess, are the two words that I would use. Theres almost a psychotic pursuit and an urgency to what I want to tell people.

Which hot NFT artists should we be paying attention to? 

Xer0x I feel like hes massively slept on, like horrifically slept on in many ways. Thats a guy whos obsessed with his craft, and he makes super deep, very personal pieces that are true artistic achievements.

Alien Queen Alien Queen is the shit, but shes probably not even up-and-coming anymore. 

James Bloom Hes a true blockchain artist. The dude is making these super technical and really fucking rad pieces that evolve and change based on interactions.

Omega by xer0x
Omega by Xer0x. (SuperRare)

Notable collector 

I have to give a massive shout-out to SuperRare Zach. Hes been so nice and cool, and he onboarded me after this crazy absurdist tweet campaign to get on SuperRare. To get accepted to SuperRare, it was essentially a tweet that I sent that said I just submitted my application video.

It is me doing DMT and performing How Stella Got Her Groove Back while dressed like Hellboy or something. It was just like an insane tweet, and he just said, This is nuts. Youre on. Id already been putting in work and stuff, but I would say Zach is awesome.

Favorite NFT in your wallet 

Oh, man, I would have to say Pindar Van Arman made this dope ass quantum portrait of me thats super special. Its really goddamn rad. Thats probably my favorite piece that I own. Its a dope-ass piece, and he was so nice to do it. He didnt ask; he just made it. 

Quantum Portrait of diewiththemostlikes by Pindar Van Arman
Quantum portrait of Diewiththemostlikes by Pindar Van Arman. (OpenSea)

What do you listen to when creating art?

I love music. I mean, the absurd part of me would say that I create to Nickelback and Creed and fucking all those other dumb bands. But really, I listen to a shit ton of doom metal and death metal. Bands like Bongripper, Gate Creeper and Withered. Anything thats just slow, grimy and brutal is the only way that you can kind of describe it.

Links:

X: twitter.com/toadswiback 

Website: https://onetie-alltie.com/about/ 

No civil protection for crypto in China, $300K to list coins in Hong Kong? Asia Express

Chinese court knocks back civil lawsuit over “illegal” crypto, Hong Kong exchanges gain momentum, The Block gets $60M from Singapore firm.

Our weekly roundup of news from East Asia curates the industrys most important developments.

Hot week for Hong Kong exchanges 

Hashkey Exchange one of the first regulated crypto exchanges in Hong Kong has announced insurance coverage for clients assets stored in its hot and cold wallets. accounts. The policy will cover 50% of Hashkeys digital assets in cold wallets and 100% of digital assets in hot wallets, paying out from $50 million to $400 million in the event of a claim.

Hashkey’s partnership with fintech OneDegree will also see the pair co-develop novel crypto security solutions for the exchange to manage server downtime, data back-up, and load control. “Getting insurance cover from OneInfinity by OneDegree not only fulfills the Securities and Futures Commission requirements, we believe the collaboration can also enhance our financial, technical, and service infrastructure to provide our customers with comprehensive protection,” said Livio Wang, chief operating officer of Hashkey Group.

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Wang also disclosed that the exchange plans to submit four major altcoins for listing approval to the Hong Kong Securities & Futures Commission. Since its license was approved in August, Hashkey has grown to over 120,000 customers with a cumulative trading volume surpassing $10 billion. 

Hong Kong
Hong Kong cityscape (Pexels)

BC Technology Group, the owner of another licensed exchange, OSL, has announced a $91 million strategic investment from BGX crypto group. BGX CEO Patrick Pan called the investment “a strategic move that reflects our belief in the immense potential of the digital asset market.” Last month, Bloomberg reported that BC Technology Group was seeking to spin off the OSL exchange for $128 million, which the company denied at the time.

While Hong Kong crypto exchanges are gaining traction, the barrier to entry for users and token developers alike appears to be high. In an announcement on Nov. 15, Hashkey stated that token developers must pay a non-refundable application fee of $10,000 for listing their coins or tokens on the exchange.

Hashkey also warned that developers should expect a total cost of $50,000 to $300,000 for the listing process, if approved, in addition to due diligence or advisory fees.

Hashkey's crypto insurance partnership with OneDegree. (Hashkey)
Hashkey’s crypto insurance partnership with OneDegree. (Hashkey)

The Block gets a fresh start

Crypto media publication The Block has received a $60 million investment for 80% of its equity from Singaporean venture capital firm Foresight Ventures but will still operate as a separate company.

As told by CEO Larry Cermak on Nov. 13, the deal “gives The Block a fresh start ahead of the bull market and provides us with more capital to build out new exciting products and expand our footprint into Asia and the Middle East.”

Forrest Bai, CEO of Foresight Ventures, told Cointelegraph that “the purchase of The Block marks a crucial milestone, substantially strengthening Foresight Ventures’ position in the cryptocurrency sector.”

The Block became embroiled in the FTX scandal last year when it came to light that former CEO Mike McCaffrey took millions of dollars in loans from FTX founder and convicted felon Sam Bankman-Fried. Much of the capital was used to buy out his shares. The Block reportedly laid off 33% of its staff due to the overall market downturn and fallout from the incident.

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No civil protection for crypto in China 

A third Chinese court has voided a crypto investment contract on the basis that cryptocurrencies contravene the spirit of its crypto ban and, therefore, are not protected by law, at least in civil disputes.

As narrated by the Liaoning Zhuanhe People’s Court on Nov. 14, the plaintiff, Wang Ping, lent the equivalent of $552,300 Tether (USDT) to a friend, Zhao Bin, for the purposes of investing in altcoins in 2022. The transaction resulted in heavy losses for Wang, leading them to subsequently file a lawsuit demanding the return of the principal. The defendant, Zhao, refused.

At trial, the presiding judge ruled that the plaintiff had no right to judicial relief as transactions between cryptocurrencies are classified as “illegal activity.” Therefore, all “virtual currency and related derivatives violate public order and good customs, and the relevant civil legal actions are invalid, and the resulting losses shall be borne by them.”

“Virtual currency does not have the same legal status as legal currency. Virtual currency-related business activities are illegal financial activities. It is also an illegal financial activity for overseas virtual currency exchanges to provide services to residents in my country through the internet.”

The ruling follows other precedents set by Chinese civil courts earlier this year. However, recently, the Chinese government has clarified that certain criminal acts pertaining to digital currencies, such as theft of nonfungible tokens, are prosecutable under the penal code. Chinese has enforced its crypto ban since 2021.

Philippines to issue tokenized bonds 

The Philippines Bureau of Treasury (BTr) is seeking to raise the equivalent of $180 million from its domestic capital market through the issuance of tokenized bonds.

As announced on Nov. 16, the tokenized bonds are one-year fixed-rate government securities that pay semi-annual coupons offered to institutional investors starting next week. The bonds will be issued in the form of digital tokens and maintained in the BTr’s distributed ledger technology (DLT) registry. “As part of the National Governments Government Securities Digitalization Roadmap, the maiden issuance of TTBs aims to provide the proof-of-concept for the wider use of DLT in the government bond market,” the institution said.

In July, Cointelegraph reported that nonprofit The Blockchain Council of the Philippines partnered with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to foster Web3 adoption in the Southeast Asian country. The organizations will be working to educate and collaborate with local stakeholders within the Philippine blockchain ecosystem, including government bodies, Web3 developers, and civil societies. 

Crypto in the Philippines
The Philippines looks like leaping directly from cash to a digital currency future.

‘$10K JPGs’ scare away gamers, Animoca’s crypto game streaming plans: Web3 Gamer

Animoca buys game streaming platform Azarus that rewards users with crypto, Project Xeno, and why $10K NFTs scare away real gamers.

Animoca Brands buys streaming platform for blockchain games

Hong Kong Web3 gaming giant Animoca Brands (The Sandbox, Revv, Phantom Galaxies), has acquired blockchain-powered streaming platform Azarus for an undisclosed sum.

Built around the slogan streams are not TV, Azarus allows users to livestream their gameplay while using tokens for incentives and rewards. Animoca Brands says it wants to change gaming culture with Azarus tech, by enabling streamers to generate new sources of income, engage their audience and reward their followers while allowing viewers to support their preferred creators. 

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This is actually how Twitch won out over the competition originally. By focusing on the interaction between streamers and their audience and designing layered incentives for users to be a part of the community, Azarus also has the potential to grow to a point where blockchain games can meet a much bigger audience.

Collaborating with known brands and streamers, Azarus has already disbursed rewards exceeding $2 million to a diverse audience of over 20 million unique players.

Animoca Brands Executive Chairman Yat Siu likens Azarus to the early days of The Sandbox, which Animoca also invested in, while Azarus CEO Alexander Casassovici says the deal amplifies our vision.

Were not just enhancing streaming; were pioneering a movement where every viewer becomes an active participant, and every stream becomes an immersive experience.

Animoca has a promising library of Web3 games under its umbrella, which means it already has the content necessary to develop the game streaming experience. Now, combined with Azarus tech, Web3 gamers can build a much more vivid community by banding together around their favorite games. The acquisition can also pave the way for Web3 gaming to become a popular profession onboarding the next wave of gaming talent to take part in the future of blockchain gaming.

GAM3 Awards returns with a familiar jury

Web3 gamings new night of nights, the GAM3 Awards, is returning for its second year with three new categories: Best Fighting Game, Best Sports Game and Best On-Chain Game.

Thanks to a bunch of big-name sponsors including Amazon, Google, Magic Eden and the Blockchain Game Alliance, theres $2 million worth of prizes up for grabs.

The first installment last year saw over 100 nominees across 16 categories, more than 250,000 votes, and a livestream of the event reaching over 30,000 users.

Big Time, a free-to-play multiplayer action RPG game set to launch its preseason, won Game of the Year, while Shrapnel, a competitive extraction shooter currently preparing for its public playtest, was the winner of the Most Anticipated Game award.

The events jury comprises prominent figures from the gaming world, including Web3 gaming VCs, chains, infrastructure partners, content creators and yours truly. The jurys decision will affect 90% of the final outcome, with community votes accounting for the remaining 10%.

The grand finale is planned to happen on Dec. 14 and will be streamed live.

Teaching financial literacy through Web3 games

The crypto and blockchain world gathered in Istanbul this week for Binances flagship event, Binance Blockchain Week. And, of course, blockchain gaming was a huge part of the two-day summit. Between the networking and servings of delicious Turkish food, I found a space to attend a panel where CryptoPotato editor-in-chief George Georgiev was asking some on-point questions about Web3 gaming to industry experts: Animoca’s Siu, Gomble co-founder Chris Chang, Xterio chief operating officer Jeremy Horn.

Who cares about this $10,000 jpeg!

Those were the words of Xterio’s Horn to underline the point that when developers focus on financial gain, they scare away actual gamers. He also compared the attitude of gamers in the East to the ones in the West regarding Web3 games, stating that Eastern gamers have a higher tolerance for pay-to-win elements, as they are more familiar with free-to-play games.

In gaming, we teach people all the time about new systems, added Siu. When you think about every new game you played, you come out of it youve learned a new skill.

He said his children could talk all day about Pokemon characters, Call of Duty skills and Apex Legends characters off the top of their heads. Gamers learn stuff all the time in the games they play.

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And its true. You learn attacking patterns in Elden Ring after rage quitting ten times and getting killed five times as often. Gamers know the players names in your favorite football club from playing FIFA. Some people even have military knowledge from games like Battlefield and Call of Duty.

So, when he said we could teach financial literacy through tokenized Web3 games and educate these games players, I believe he has a valid point. What Web3 needs is mainstream adoption, and to achieve that, people need to know that it isnt a scam or a get-rich scheme. That can only happen through education. Siu noted:

Were finally getting to the moment in time where the work from all of the developers working in Web3 is finally paying off.

I really would like to see those promises fulfilled. People are starving for good games, especially in Web3. Good, quality games are the only way to gain popularity for Web3 gaming. When they come out and only if theyre really good people will turn their heads and say, Oh look, there is that game in Web3 that I wanna play!

Hot Take: Project Xeno

Artwork for PROJECT XENO
PROJECT XENO promotional art. (PROJECT XENO)

Developed by Japan-based CROOZ Blockchain Lab, Project Xeno is a tactical turn-based player versus player (PvP) game where players can battle each other using their NFT characters. It has a play-to-earn model, which rewards players for their in-game achievements with crypto assets.

Xenos are NFT characters used in battles that can be upgraded with leveling, weapons (that are NFTs) and charms (also NFTs). Each Xeno has two passive skills and a special skill. Special skills can be used by spending a special meter and leveling up using the in-game currency.

The players can put their three Xenos wherever they like in a 3×3 space. Characters are divided into six classes, which can equip four skill cards each. There are glimpses of a team-building aspect and some effort to put strategy elements in, but it needs some improvements.

The English translation is done poorly, with many examples, such as the Skill strengthen tab in the shop. Progression feels very slow and requires quite a bit of grinding if you are not willing to spend money. It’s a no from me, but if youd like to check the game out, Project Xeno is free-to-play and downloadable on Android and iOS.

The gameplay is fairly simple. It made me wonder if itd be more fun if Project Xeno were an auto-battler or an idle game, as it felt like it didnt even need me around to play the game at times. The graphics are fun, but dont expect too much on that front.

More from Web3 gaming space:

Layer 1 blockchain and smart contract platform Sui teams up with Space and Time to provide Web3 game developers with zero-knowledge-proof-based tools.

Immutable announces four upcoming Web3 games for its zero-knowledge scaling solution, zkEVM: GensoKishi Online, Cursed Stone, Sailwars and Rave.

Illuvium is set to launch on the Epic Store Nov. 28.

Decentralized cloud provider Aethir gets backing from Nvidia.

Grammy-nominated DJ and world-famous music producer Steve Aoki collaborates with STEPN for a digital sneaker collection.

Ronin-based mobile RTS game Wild Forest begins open beta on Nov. 9.

Solana Labs launches the beta version of GameShift, a Web3 service for game developers.

China’s surprise NFT move, Hong Kong’s $15M Bitcoin fund: Asia Express

China issues legal guidance that gives NFT markets hope, Bitget invests $10M in Indian startups, SEBA Bank’s Hong Kong license: Asia Express.

China to protect NFTs 

In a surprise move, the Chinese government has guaranteed legal protection for NFTs.

In response to a series of often conflicting judicial opinions on the state of cryptocurrency in the country, the Chinese government has officially issued a legal commentary on dealing with cases of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) theft and their status as virtual property protected by law. 

According to a Nov. 9 publication by Chinas state-controlled Southwest University of Political Science and Law (SUPL), digital collectibles such as NFTs unlike ordinary online images conform to the characteristics of online virtual property due to their non-tamperable features, unique codes and detailed transaction information.

“This highlights the scarcity of digital collections, which have both use value and exchange value,” jurists write. “According to Article 127 of the Civil Code, it can be seen that from the perspective of civil law, online virtual property is regarded as an object of rights that ‘is different from property rights, creditors rights, intellectual property rights, etc. and is protected by civil law’.”

In addition, jurists state that the theft of NFTs, therefore, carries applicable criminal penalties, which can be evaluated in conjunction with related offenses committed during the course of the theft, such as hacking into computer systems or data theft.

“Digital collections have technical characteristics that cannot be copied, indicating that the holder has exclusive control. If the digital collection is stolen by others, the holder loses exclusive control,” jurists from SUPL say. 

“Although our country has not yet opened the secondary circulation market for NFTs, consumers can rely on the trading platform to complete operations such as purchase, collection, transfer, and destruction, and achieve exclusive possession, use, and disposal rights.”

China has seen a rise in civil disputes this year involving cryptocurrencies, with some courts ruling that virtual assets are protected by law and others saying they are not. Last month, Chinese government-owned newspaper China Daily announced a 2.813 million Chinese yuan ($390,000) grant for third-party contractors to design an NFT platform. In May, Chinese prosecutors announced they would crack down on “pseudo-innovations” within its NFT market. 

Chinese judge explains why the Bitcoin lending contract was invalid and therefore denied relief for breach of contract.
A Chinese judge explains that according to current laws, parties in a crypto lending contract are not entitled to judicial protection.

Bitget’s to invest in India 

Cryptocurrency exchange Bitget will invest $10 million over five years in startups primarily based in India. 

According to the Nov. 7 announcement, startups will have the opportunity to pitch to Bitget and venture capitalists including Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Ventures, and Draper Labs, during the BUIDL for Web3 multichain summit in India.

“Bitget aims to identify valuable and promising projects in the crypto space and provide them with comprehensive support, accelerating innovation in emerging technologies,” the exchange says. To qualify, projects must have a minimum viable product and hold multiple layers of security functionalities with auditing transparency.

Gracy Chen, Bitgets managing director, says that India is “the most wanted place to invest in Asia,” citing its constant advancements in blockchain and overall entrepreneurial spirit. The exchanges previous investments in Indian Web3 startups include AI-based script generator Grease Pencil, AI resume generator HAIr, and AI dermatological app Derma360. 

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Linekongs $15M Bitcoin Fund 

Linekong Interactive, a Chinese tech firm listed on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (HKEX), will kickstart a $15 million fund dedicated to revitalizing the Bitcoin (BTC) ecosystem. 

According to founder Wang Feng, the new fund is dubbed “BTC Next” and will accelerate novel projects developing asset issuance, exchanges, virtual machines, NFTs and GameFi protocols on the Bitcoin blockchain.

“BTC NEXT will participate in the research and investment of Bitcoin network ecological assets as early as possible, publish crypto investment portfolios regularly, and update the list of Bitcoin ecological crypto assets participating in investment,” Wang writes. 

The Bitcoin ecosystem has expanded greatly this year with the invention of Ordinals and Inscriptions, two novel data storage methods that, together, allow users to mint unique digital assets on the Bitcoin blockchain. The market cap of Bitcoin tokens minted on the BRC-20 standard, mirrored after the Ethereum ERC-20 standard, has surpassed $1.4 billion since inception.

Linekong was founded in Beijing in 2007 with a focus on video games and cinema. In 2018, Wang Feng resigned as CEO of Linekong to focus on blockchain, founding several projects in the nonfungible tokens, decentralized finance, and Bitcoin mining space. He returned to Linekong as CEO in 2022 after an invitation from the firms board of directors to better integrate Linekong products with Web3.

The Ordinals Timeline
The Ordinals timeline. (Originals Bot)

SEBA Bank approved in Hong Kong 

Swiss fintech SEBA Bank has received a license from Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC). 

The license permits SEBA Bank to conduct regulated activities in Hong Kong and distribute virtual asset-backed securities, advise on crypto assets, and manage crypto investment accounts on behalf of clients. It also permits SEBA Bank to distribute, manage, and advise on traditional securities, such as stocks. 

“Hong Kong has been at the center of the crypto economy since Bitcoins inception, and we are very pleased to have added this Hong Kong license with the full approval from the SFC to our existing licenses in Switzerland (FINMA) and Abu Dhabi (FSRA),” comments SEBA Bank CEO Franz Bergmueller. Meanwhile, Amy Yu, the firm’s Asia-Pacific CEO, praised the SFC for creating a “facilitative” environment during the licensing process. 

Cointelegraph previously reported that SEBA Bank launched institutional Ethereum staking services in September. In early 2022, the firm raised $119 million in a Series C funding round. 

The Hong Kong Web 3.0 Festival gallery hall (Twitter)
The Hong Kong Web3 Festival gallery hall (Twitter)