Binance re-enters South Korea with GOPAX exchange
Major cryptocurrency exchange Binance is coming back to South Korea with a new acquisition of the local crypto trading platform Gopax.
With the new capital, Binance plans to enable customer withdrawals and interest payments for Gopax’s yield product GoFi.
Kazakhstan’s digital currency in pilot stage
The National Bank of Kazakhstan (NBK) has launched a digital tenge pilot project, according to a report published jointly by the bank and Binance on Feb. 3.
In his introduction to the report, NBK Deputy governor Berik Sholpankupov wrote about the bank’s vision of a “collaboration between Traditional Finance and DeFi” that could increase financial inclusion and support international trade.
Japanese prime minister says DAOs and NFTs help support government’s ‘Cool Japan’ strategy
Fumio Kishida, the prime minister of Japan, has come out in support of blockchain as a potential solution for technological issues facing the country.
He added that the Japanese government could use aspects including NFTs and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) in efforts to revitalize regions and promote “Cool Japan” — a national strategy aimed at showing off the country’s innovations and culture to the rest of the world.
Terra USTC surges 66% following approval to re-peg to $1
On Jan. 3, the Terra Classic community passed a proposal to relink LUNA Classic and the de-pegged USTC stablecoin.
Terra Classic Stablecoin Terra UST (USTC) has surged over 66% following a governance approval to re-peg the stablecoin.
Axie Infinity players can now stake their in-game assets to earn rewards
Players of the well-known blockchain game Axie Infinity will soon be able to borrow money against their assets, such as staked AXS and staked RON, thanks to cooperation between MetaLend and Sky Mavis.
Users may stake their real estate and NFTs on-chain, and they will soon be able to stake AXS, the ecosystem’s governance token.
Crypto fugitive Do Kwon plots comeback
Do Kwon is staging a comeback after Terra’s $60 billion collapse. The disgraced CEO of Terraform Labs, whose stablecoin, Terra, collapsed last year, is working on several new products and bulking out his engineering department with new hires.
Do Kwon will develop new products for Terra 2.0, the new blockchain that was relaunched just a few weeks after the demise of LUNA-UST took place.
eBay hiring multiple Web3 roles following NFT marketplace acquisition
Leading e-commerce site eBay is hiring several Web3 roles focusing on KnownOrigin, the NFT marketplace that the company acquired in June.
According to the LinkedIn job posting, the Crypto Counsel role will primarily serve KnownOrigin and focus on advising the company’s blueprint as it expands into non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and other blockchain technology.
Bitcoin mining could help scale solar power
According to a report published by Ark Invest, BTC miner, if incorporated into a solar system, would simply be able to absorb any excess energy arising, and produce BTC tokens that can then be sold to break even on the costs, or even turn a profit.
In this way, any excess energy produced wouldn’t be wasted. According to the report, a solar power system with a BTC miner can help provide more than 99% of end-user demand without losing any profitability.
Amazon Web Services hiring to pump its Web3 clientele
E-commerce giant Amazon’s (AMZN) cloud’s service, Amazon Web Services (AWS), is hiring staff to help increase its clientele in the Web 3 space.
Blockworks earlier this week reported that Amazon is preparing a non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace. AWS is the biggest cloud infrastructure provider in the world with 34% of the global market as of Q3 2022, according to TechCrunch.
China’s Suzhou city sets goal to become metaverse hub by 2025
As reported by Forkast News, the city aims to become the main attraction for metaverse development and innovation, according to Forkast News report. Suzhou is also targeting to attract over 200 companies that focus on virtual reality technology within its borders by 2025.
Even though the city didn’t disclose budget information for its plans, it is targeting to launch 30 different scenarios that primarily focus on areas of healthcare, city planning, tourism, and education.