Blockchain
The Power of Blockchain for Social Good: Kakao’s Blockchain Project ‘Klaytn’ Takes Initiatives To Drive Social Impact
Ground X, the blockchain unit of the leading South Korean mobile platform, Kakao has successfully completed its first pilot that leverages blockchain technology to enable in-kind donations to be monitored and tracked from donors to beneficiaries.
Since the launch of the private testnet ‘Aspen‘ last October, the Ground X team has worked with numerous charities and non-profit organizations in Korea to use blockchain technology to generate meaningful social impact. In particular, the Korean NGOs including Good Neighbors, The Happiness Foundation, Guidestar Korea, and the Beautiful Foundation have cooperated with Ground X for identifying the pain points of charity donation processes in the current industry and discussing the promise and potential of blockchain to enhance social funding. They also supported Klaytn in identifying potential areas where blockchain technology could further be applied to help improve existing business flows.
Together with the nonprofit tech startup Prisming and the Happiness Foundation’s Happy Gift Box project, which delivers the donated goods to beneficiaries, Ground X has completed the first pilot project that leverages blockchain technology to enable in-kind donation to be recorded and tracked from donor to intermediary to beneficiary. The pilot service, developed by Prisming, utilizes Klaytn’s recently launched public testnet, Baobab, by employing both the local database and the distributed ledger function of blockchain technology. In order to maintain the privacy of the data including the prices of the donated goods, some data are recorded on the local DB only while the blockchain records the entire donation journey thereby driving a more transparent giving. The Happiness Foundation plans to integrate this pilot project with its current system by the end of 2019 to improve administrative efficiency with blockchain technology.
The second pilot, set to launch in May through a Korean mobile application service called Inconvenience Box as developed by Nitpick, rewards users for reporting ‘inconvenient’ moments or instances they experience in their daily lives. The incentivized users can then choose to use the received ‘Social Innovator Tokens,’ which are minted on the Klaytn platform, to buy products online or donate them. The Klaytn-powered Inconvenience Box, which can be downloaded for free, endeavors to make social funding to be more fun and easy and is specifically for today’s millennials.
Together with social ventures and development charities, Ground X plans to continue incubating and implementing blockchain-based solutions that can address the existing challenges in the industry. According to Dr. Jerome Lee, the Head of Ecosystem and Social Impact at Ground X, “Blockchain has the potential to become the solution to address the world’s pressing issues particularly in social and development sectors, and we seek to develop real use cases that utilize blockchain for generating positive social impact.” He further added, “We hope that Ground X can take the initiative to promote the power of blockchain in transforming social funding and charitable giving by enhancing transparency and enabling new mechanisms for tracking impact.”
Once the second pilot is over, the complete report and the source code will be made publicly available online at www.klaytn.com. Ground X plans to enforce its ecosystem by expanding its community of developers and service providers.
SOURCE Klaytn
Blockchain
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Global Supply Chain Finance Market
Blockchain
Web3 Startups Raise Nearly $1.9B in Q1 2024 Despite Overall Downtrend in Crypto VC Interest
Venture capital funding for cryptocurrency and blockchain projects has seen a notable resurgence in the first quarter of 2024, marking its first quarterly rise since 2021. Crunchbase data released today indicates that Web3 startups secured nearly $1.9 billion in funding across 346 deals during this period. This represents a substantial 58% increase from the previous quarter, offering a glimmer of hope amidst the ongoing downward trend in overall crypto VC interest.
The recent surge in funding can be attributed to investors adopting a more long-term perspective on Web3, as opposed to the hype-driven “tourist investors” predominant in recent years. Chris Metinko, the author of the report, notes that investors are shifting their focus to the AI sector, indicating a change in investment strategy. There is a growing interest in supporting the foundational infrastructure of the decentralized internet, rather than solely concentrating on crypto wallets and lending platforms, which attracted significant investments during the peak period of 2021 to 2022.
While large funding rounds were relatively uncommon in Q1, several notable investments stood out. Exohood Labs, a company integrating AI, quantum computing, and blockchain, secured a remarkable $112 million seed round at a valuation of $1.4 billion. EigenLabs, an Ether token “restaking” platform, raised $100 million in a Series B round led by a16z crypto. Additionally, Freechat, a decentralized social network leveraging blockchain technology, secured $80 million in a Series A round. These investments, among others, contributed to the increase in valuations and the emergence of four new Web3 unicorns in Q1.
Despite the recent progress, the future trajectory of Web3 remains uncertain. Metinko suggests that the next few quarters will be pivotal in determining the industry’s direction. While investors anticipate a rebound in investment as the decentralized internet evolves, it may take another year for venture capital activity to stabilize after the exuberance of 2021. Factors such as the approval of U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds and the upcoming Bitcoin halving could also influence the market, given the rising prices of Bitcoin and Ether.
A noteworthy example of significant funding in the Web3 space is Monad Labs’ recent successful funding round, which secured $225 million led by Paradigm. Monad Labs is a layer-1 blockchain compatible with Ethereum, offering faster transaction processing. This funding round harkens back to the golden era of crypto funding in 2021-2022, when L1 solutions attracted substantial investments.
Earlier this year, Balance, a digital asset custodian based in Canada, announced that it had once again reached $2 billion in assets under custody (AUC) amidst the recent market recovery. Similarly, Korea Digital Asset (KODA), the largest institutional crypto custody service in South Korea, has experienced remarkable growth in crypto assets under its custody, expanding by nearly 248% in the second half of 2023.
Analysts at Bernstein Research project that crypto funds could reach an impressive $500 billion to $650 billion within the next five years, representing a significant leap from the current valuation of approximately $50 billion. This forecast underscores the growing optimism and potential for substantial growth within the crypto industry in the coming years.
Source: cryptonews.com
The post Web3 Startups Raise Nearly $1.9B in Q1 2024 Despite Overall Downtrend in Crypto VC Interest appeared first on HIPTHER Alerts.
Blockchain
ASIC cracks down on blockchain mining firms
Three blockchain mining companies – NGS Crypto, NGS Digital, and NGS Group – along with their directors, Brett Mendham, Ryan Brown, and Mark Ten Caten, are facing legal action from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) for allegedly operating without a license, in violation of Australia’s Corporations Act. ASIC initiated legal proceedings against these entities on April 9, citing concerns about their non-compliance with financial regulations and their solicitation of Australian investors.
According to ASIC, the NGS companies promoted blockchain mining packages with fixed-rate returns to Australian investors, encouraging the transfer of funds from regulated superannuation funds to self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs) for conversion into cryptocurrency. Approximately 450 Australians invested a total of around USD 41 million in these packages, raising concerns about potential financial losses.
The legal action filed by ASIC alleges that the companies violated section 911A of the Corporations Act, which prohibits companies from providing financial services without a valid Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL). ASIC is seeking interim and final court orders to prohibit the NGS companies from offering financial services in Australia without an AFSL.
ASIC Chair Joe Longo emphasized the importance of investors carefully considering the risks before investing in crypto-related products through their SMSFs. Longo stated that ASIC’s actions send a message to the crypto industry about the regulator’s commitment to ensuring compliance with regulations and protecting consumers.
In a separate development, the Federal Court appointed receivers for the digital currency assets associated with the NGS companies and their directors to safeguard these assets amid concerns about the risk of dissipation. Mendham was also issued a travel restriction order, preventing him from leaving Australia.
While a court date for the proceedings has not been set, ASIC’s investigation is ongoing, with the regulator continuing to gather evidence and build its case. It is worth noting that the investigated companies share a similar name with NGS Super, a legitimate Australian pensions provider, leading to potential confusion among investors. NGS Super clarified that it is not involved in selling cryptocurrency or related products and has taken legal action to protect its trademark and members’ interests.
Source: iclg.com
The post ASIC cracks down on blockchain mining firms appeared first on HIPTHER Alerts.
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