More Troubles for Do Kwon as S. Korea Levies $78M Tax Evasion Fine

Terraform Labs is currently being charged with tax evasion fraud by the South Korean National Tax Service, a move that complicates matters for the startup that is trying to salvage its collapsed blockchain ecosystem.  Tax Evasion Charges With Proof  Local news sources claim that investigations into the Terraform Labs startup commenced around June last year. CEO Do Kwon, one of the faces of the project is accused of attempting to liquidate his personal properties in order to relocate the business elsewhere.  Terraform Labs is registered in the Virgin Islands and Singapore, however, for the sake of taxation, the South Korean Taxation Act recognizes companies the management operation is concentrated in the country. For Terraform Labs, a total of 100 billion won, (approximately $78 million) is due for payment.  The investigations revealed that Do Kwon is unpleased with the tax policies of the country, and the broad negligence has attracted a cumulative income tax fine of 4.66 billion won on Terra Virgin and a corporate tax fine of 44.47 billion won.  With many pointers showing Terraform Labs and its affiliated organizations are almost bankrupt, it is not clear how Do Kwon, who owns the majority stake in the company, will navigate the current charges against him.  Will

2022-05-20Malalim na Pagsisid

Trezor Hires Jan Andrascik as Chief Information Security Officer

Parent company SatoshiLabs announced on Wednesday that it has hired Jan Andraščík as Trezors Chief Information Security Officer (CISO).   In the new role, Andraščík is tasked with protecting SatoshiLabs data, systems, and physical security.  Before joining the cryptocurrency hardware wallets firm, Andraščík executed information security architecture roles for various leading firms including consultancies Accenture, and Deloitte, as well as financial services companies Raiffeisenbank and Česká Spořitelna (Erste Group).  While at Raiffeisenbank, Andraščík served a similar role to Trezor as a deputy to the CISO, where he was in charge of information security governance, risk management, and compliance.   Andraščík is widely recognized as an information security industry expert and is frequently asked to give talks at conferences on issues regarding national cyber security.  Pavol Rusnák, the co-founder and co-owner of Trezor holding company SatoshiLabs, talked about the development and said: “Jan Andraščík is a highly respected information security leader, and we are fortunate to have him here at SatoshiLabs. Jans experience is invaluable as we further enhance our capabilities to protect customers data, keep improving our internal security and privacy policies and practices, keeping in mind our main goal - to help people build their own self-sovereignty.”  Andraščík commented about his appointment and stated: “We

2022-05-20Malalim na Pagsisid

LimeWire to Debut Music NFTs in Partnership With UMG

LimeWire has tapped Universal Music Group to roll out exclusive music-based non-fungible tokens (NFTs).  As announced by the Universal Music Group, artists signed up on the platform will be able to showcase and share their audio recordings, audiovisual content, backstage footage, and any artwork and images as NFTs on the LimeWire marketplace and sell them directly to fans and collectors.  “NFTs are providing an exciting vehicle to enhance this connection between artists and audiences. This is why we are delighted to have partnered with LimeWire, who is focused on guiding everyday users into this expansive arena, in this new era of Web3 engagement and music appreciation,” said Jonathan Dworkin, EVP, Digital Business Development & Strategy at Universal Music Group.  The move is a huge milestone for LimeWire whose name rights were acquired by Paul and Julian Zehetmayr. The duo hopes the thrill that once characterizes the LimeWire brand back in the 2010s can return in our day. The partnership with UMG will help the startup regain credibility and the use of blockchain will help present the age-long challenge of copyright infringements that first forced the platform to shut down over a decade ago.  The new UMG-sponsored NFTs will be hosted on the LimeWire platform

2022-05-20Malalim na Pagsisid

Getty Images to Start NFT Marketplace with Candy Digital

Stock photo issuer Getty Images is diving into the world of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) through a marketplace-like platform that will float in partnership with Candy Digital, a digital collectable company.  Per the press release detailing the multi-year partnership, Candy Digital will serve as the exclusive NFT marketplace developer for the company which currently harbours more than 465 million images, including over 135 million analogue images from Getty Images photographic archive.  Getty Images is one of the pioneers of cultural representations and creative ingenuity through photography and other audio-visual content.  Through the partnership, photography and NFT collectors will be able to seamlessly purchase, sell and trade official digital collectables through the Getty Images marketplace on Candy.  “With the very best content at our core, innovation is woven into the fabric of Getty Images and this partnership speaks to our mission to connect people with our high quality, exclusive visual content,” said Craig Peters, CEO of Getty Images.  “We are proud to work with Candy Digital to expand our offering to the fast-growing global audience of NFT collectors, representing significant opportunities for the company and our global photographer community,” he added.  According to Candy Digitals official website, the company is Major League Baseballs official NFT ecosystem where fans

2022-05-19Malalim na Pagsisid

Terra Co-Founders to Face Fraud Charges in South Korea

The challenges ahead for Terras co-founders are notably more than just reviving the protocol after UST and LUNA coins collapsed last week.  As reported by a local media site, Munhwa, an organized group of LUNA and UST investors is planning to file a legal complaint against CEOs Do Kwon and Daniel Shin for alleged fraud.  Besides the planned official complaints filed with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency against Kwon on charges of fraud, the aggrieved investors are notably working with RKB & Partners to file for the seizure of the duos real estate.  Munhwa also reported that six lawyers from the Capital Markets Law Team and the Intellectual Property Team of the law firm are writing and reviewing an application for provisional seizure of property and a complaint against Kwon.  There is wide-ranging devastation amongst investors of Terras native tokens LUNA and UST. While UST investors saw their supposed stablecoin de-peg from the projected $1 to a low of $0.08784, LUNA holders saw the coin slump from a high of over $99 in the past month to a low of $0.00001675.  Kwon is still in communication with the Terra community on the next course of action to revive the tokens. While his first proposals to

2022-05-19Malalim na Pagsisid

Aventis to Become Asia's 1st Graduate School to Enter Metaverse

Aventis Graduate School unveiled its metaverse roadmap and become Asias first graduate school to enter the metaverse.  The Aventis Metaverse was built in collaboration with Multiverse Labs and Smobler Studios.  Through the metaverse, Singapore headquartered Aventis is aiming to graduate and executive education affordable and accessible across Southeast Asia.  Aventis Metaverse is expected to begin beta testing with existing students and alumni onboarding in the third quarter of 2022.  The metaverses phygital (a mix of physical and digital) design will allow professionals and executives in Southeast Asia to gain access to education through networking, conferences, and global executive or advanced management programmes.  “By focusing on phygital, senior executives and professionals in Southeast Asia can enjoy both metaverse and physical through hybrid networking and global executive conferences. We aim to have the first ASEAN Conference in September to align with the return of the F1 Night Race in Singapore,” said Samuel Teo, General Manager of Aventis Graduate School.  Currently, Phygital claims to have more than 60,000 students from around the globe.  Aventis champions human capital development.  The metaverse is an immersive digital environment populated by virtual avatars representing actual people.  As a reminder, WikiBit is ready to help you search the qualifications and reputation of projects in a bid to

2022-05-19Malalim na Pagsisid

Web3.0 is Far Better for Creators Than Web2, According to a16z

Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), a renowned venture capital (VC) firm, has published statistics demonstrating that artists gain more when they pitch their tents with Web3.0 rather than Web2.0.  The claim was made in the inaugural issue of the firms state of the crypto report, which revealed that Web3.0 presently had 22,400 developers.  It should be noted that the Web3.0 space is dominated by Non-Fungible Token (NFT) innovators who are notably leveraging blockchain to alter the art, music, and creative world in general. Web2.0 was inventive enough to allow users to generate content that everyone can enjoy. However, the main social media sites offer little or no incentive mechanisms for these artists. Web3.0 is destined to change everything.  The Andreessen Horowitz analysis compared Web3.0 creator profits to those on YouTube, Spotify, and Meta Platforms Facebook.  According to the data, YouTube produced $15 billion in content ad revenue from 37 million channels, with an average pay per channel of $2.47. The compensation decreases with Facebook, which hosts 2.91 billion users and generates $300 million in ad income. The average wage for a creator in this city is ten cents. Spotify fared better, with the 11 million musicians hosted on the platform receiving an average of $636 from

2022-05-19Malalim na Pagsisid

Coinbase to Taper Down its Hiring Plans amidst Unfavorable Market

Nasdaq-listed cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global Inc is tapering down its plans to hire more staff this year as current market realities do not permit it.  According to a blog post from Emilie Choi, the company‘s President and Chief Financial Officer, the move is necessary in order to let the company prioritize what truly matters so that the exchange, dubbed America’s largest, can exit the current harsh market realities better and stronger.  “To ensure we‘re best positioned to succeed during and after the current market downturn, we’re announcing were slowing hiring so we can reprioritize our hiring needs against our highest-priority business goals,” she said, adding that the firm is being rigorous with its “resource prioritization so we can emerge from this down cycle even stronger than we are today.”  Despite the fact that Coinbase considers growing its workforce as a yardstick for growth, it said the current market realities have pushed it to reassess its hiring needs. Emilie pointed out a green light in the decision as it will afford the company to let those already hired to be properly integrated into the firms corporate culture.  Coinbase made history when it became the first mainstream centralized cryptocurrency exchange to go public via the direct

2022-05-18Malalim na Pagsisid

Despite the Crypto Ban, Luna Trading Sparks Online Discussions in China

The value of some of the worlds most prevalent digital currencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) has increased the curiosity of Chinese residents, despite the fact that virtual asset trading is prohibited in the nation.  As a result, the luna cryptocurrency increased by more than 80% in the country on Tuesday, becoming the top searched term on the Chinese social media website Weibo on Wednesday. Furthermore, Bitcoins price has decreased to half of its value as of November 2021, making it one of the most trending searches on the internet on the same day.  Thus, the strong interest demonstrated by Chinese internet users in cryptocurrencies issues demonstrates the existence of a crypto phile group in the nation, despite the official crackdown on cryptocurrencies and virtual asset service providers. Meanwhile, China was one of the most popular countries in the world for having the bulk of the worlds bitcoin trading and mining volumes before the government and financial watchdogs began to restrict the cryptocurrencies to prevent future financial disputes.  However, the prices of the top trending digital currencies have also fallen over time as investors liquidated riskier cryptocurrencies and digital assets such as technology stocks in response to the Federal Reserves measures to raise interest

2022-05-18Malalim na Pagsisid

BitMEX Launches Spot Exchange Service

Crypto exchange platform BitMex announced Tuesday the launch of spot trading for retail and institutional traders.  As mentioned on its official website, users are now able to access the spot trading option by placing coin conversion request-for-quotes (RFQs) through Central Limit Order Books. Users can also take advantage of API trading, as well as on the go with BitMEX Lite when Spot is launched in the mobile app in the next few weeks.  The crypto exchange introduced new products, featuring seven pairs of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (XBT), Ethereum (ETH), Chainlink (LINK), Uniswap (UNI), Polygon (MATIC), Axie Infinity (AXS) and ApeCoin (APE), all against Tether (USDT).  Alexander Höpner, CEO of BitMEX, talked about the latest trading services and said:  “Today, BitMEX is one step closer to providing our users with a full crypto ecosystem to buy, sell, and trade their favourite digital assets. We will not rest as we aim to deliver more features, more trading pairs, and more ways for our clients to take part in the crypto revolution.”  According to the company, the launch comes as BitMEX published research into crypto investors across regions which revealed that the majority (60%) have experienced value growth of up to 50%, and 61% see crypto as “a

2022-05-18Malalim na Pagsisid
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