Changpeng Zhao, CEO of the world’s second largest crypto exchange by adjusted volume Binance, has revealed that the company will launch its decentralized trading platform later this month. This development was reported by a Cointelegraph correspondent at the Deconomy conference in Seoul. Zhao, most known in the industry as CZ, is attending Deconomy — a crypto conference held in South Korea from April 4-5. Speaking briefly at the panel dubbed “Centralized vs Decentralized,” CZ has made two major announcements. According to CZ, Binance DEX — a decentralized crypto exchange powered by Binance’s blockchain — will become fully available in April. …

South Koreans will need Bitcoin (BTC) once its as-yet-unknown applications have been developed, Andreas Antonopoulos told the ongoing Deconomy conference in Seoul on April 4. Speaking at the event attended by a Cointelegraph correspondent, the celebrated Bitcoin educator and entrepreneur forecast a fundamental shift in Bitcoin’s presence on the world stage. The largest cryptocurrency will usurp the current fiat-based banking system, Antonopoulos said, but only after developing the next generation of use cases will the true global need for Bitcoin become obvious for the average consumer. “What we’re doing today is trying to simulate the existing system with fewer intermediaries …

South Korea’s central bank has included a summary of research on central bank digital currencies (CBDC) in its 2018 annual payment settlement report issued Tuesday, March 26. The development of distributed ledger technologies (DLT) and crypto assets has fueled a debate over CBDCs, especially after Uruguay and Tunisia issued their own, the report reads. The Korean central bank had also conducted its own research on CBDCs while it was considering launching one earlier in 2018 — an idea that was later put aside. The report included tests of blockchain-based solutions: generally speaking, the Korean experts believe that crypto assets can …

Kakao Corp, a major Internet conglomerate and service provider for popular South Korean messaging app KakaoTalk, and an Ireland-based ticketing startup have signed a partnership agreement to develop a blockchain-based payment system. Irish business news outlet Fora reported on the partnership on March 23. The new partnership agreement will focus on applying the former's blockchain platform technology Klaytn, the brainchild of Kakao subsidiary Ground X, to both a blockchain-based payment system and on analytics applications with Irish startup Festy. In mid-March, Ground X’s Klatyn announced that they had plans to repeat their initial coin offering after already raising $90 million …

The president and CEO of Samsung SDS — an IT and consultancy subsidiary of the South Korean tech conglomerate Samsung Group — has said that blockchain can improve productivity in the manufacturing industry. President and CEO Hong Yuan Zhen’s comments were reported by local media agency Sina Technology News on March 26. Sina reports that the executive made his statement during the "Boao Forum for Asia 2019 Annual Meeting," which is being held in Boao in China’s Hainan province between March 26 and 29. During a forum devoted to the development of data resources, Hong Yuan Zhen is reported to …

United States-based crowdfunding platform SeriesOne has partnered with security token protocol platform Polymath, according to a press release published on March 19. The new partnership intends to create a digital securities offering ecosystem via the SeriesOne platform. According to the press release, the partnership between SeriesOne and Polymath will let token issuers create and manage regulatory-compliant security tokens from the initial offering stage to trading on a secondary exchange. SeriesOne CEO Michael Mildenberger expressed confidence that Polymath’s security token protocol, ST-20, is set to improve the process of raising capital on the platform. Polymath’s ST-20 protocol is a token standard …

Disclaimer: this article previously implied that Dunamu was a subsidiary of Kakao. It has been updated for accuracy. Dunamu, a firm backed by South Korea’s largest Internet corporation Kakao, is reportedly launching a blockchain service platform designed to help companies start businesses. Korea’s JoongAng Daily reported the news on March 19. The platform, which is called Luniverse and supervised by blockchain technology research lab Lambda256, is geared to help IT startups develop blockchain-based services. The platform reportedly has a high level of security and an automated scaling function, that can adjust blockchain sizes in accordance with the amount of data …

A major hospital in South Korea’s capital city has announced plans to launch a blockchain-based platform aimed to improve its medical services. The news was reported by the Daily Medi, a healthcare sector-focused Korean news outlet, on March 17. According to the publication, the “Smart Hospital” project was jointly developed by the Korean Ministry of Science and ICT and the Seoul Medical Center, and aims to improve data accuracy and reduce processing timing for the aforementioned hospital. The article also states: “Seoul Medical Center will build an automated, personalized, integrated medical information platform by providing electronic prescription delivery, certificate issuance, …

Major South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb is reportedly cutting up to 50 percent of its workforce, a report from CoinDesk Korea stated on March 18. According to the report, an unnamed official has confirmed that the exchange will reduce its staff from 310 (at the start of March) to around 150, and is offering a voluntary redundancy plan and training support to employees: “Voluntary retirement is part of our support program for former employees and is intended to provide assistance and training for job placement. Apart from that, [Bithumb’s] trading volume has decreased compared to the previous year, [so] we …

South Korea’s biggest internet corporation Kakao will reportedly integrate its crypto wallet in its messaging app KakaoTalk, local financial news agency Fnnews reported on March 18. According to the report, more than 44 million South Korean KakaoTalk users will be able send peer-to-peer transactions using Kakao’s crypto-powered wallet. The South Korean messaging giant will reportedly integrate the wallet in KakaoTalk after the launch of blockchain platform Klaytn’s commercial service, a spin-off of Kakao’s subsidiary Ground X. Recently, Bloomberg reported that the company will conduct another $90 million-capped initial coin offering (ICO) after already raising $90 million. According to Fnnews, Klaytn …

United Kingdom-based banking giant HSBC is seeking banking partners in South Korea to deploy the blockchain platform Voltron in the country, Korean news outlet The Korea Times reports on Tuesday, March 12. As reported, Voltron is a platform that enables companies to process and settle their trading invoices via blockchain. The solution was launched in October 2018 by blockchain consortium R3 and eight banks — including HSBC, ING and Standard Chartered — and is currently at the pilot stage. HSBC's Innovation Director on Blockchain Joshua Kroeker, cited by The Korea Times, says that the company is planning to launch Voltron …

The crypto unit of South Korea’s largest internet conglomerate Kakao Corp will repeat its initial coin offering (ICO) after netting $90 million from investors, Bloomberg reported on Mar. 11. Klaytn, the blockchain platform which is the responsibility of spin-off firm Ground X, will now seek to raise another $90 million as soon as this week. In December 2018, Kakao had first announced that it was planning to raise around $300 million through Ground X to develop its own token. According to Jason Han, CEO of Ground X, IDG Capital, Cresendo Equity Partners and Translink Capital were some of the venture …