The East Asian cryptocurrency market has seen several significant developments across the past week. From the OKX airdrop to the development of Binance’s new AI product and the Credit Bank of Moscow’s blockchain letter of credit, here is an overview of the latest news in the industry.
OKX airdrop after token trading fiasco
OKX recently announced plans to airdrop 3,014,381 Tether (USDT) to users who suffered losses as a result of the Celestial (CELT) token trading incident. The airdrop follows Celestial’s announcement of a new blockchain game and extensive social media campaigns promoting the project’s alleged backing by OKX. The price of CELT experienced a significant surge before plummeting over 60% once OKX clarified that it had no affiliation with the project apart from a $100,000 investment from OKX Ventures in November 2021.
OKX froze 714,381 USDT held in five accounts linked to the market manipulation and clawed back 1.3 million USDT from Celestial developers. The cryptocurrency exchange stated that there was evidence of “malicious market manipulation” associated with the incident. The airdrop will be delivered to affected users within the next 48 hours.
Binance and AI NFTs
Binance recently launched a new AI product dubbed “Bicasso” that allows users to turn their creative visions into NFTs with AI. Users are required to upload an image with a limit of 50MB and a description of the uploaded picture. There is currently a waitlist for AI NFT minting as it was limited to a maximum of 10,000 collectibles. CZ has apparently taken an interest in exploring AI after the popular chatbot ChatGPT reached 100 million users just two months after its launch.
FTX Japan nearly completes withdrawals
After withdrawal services reopened on February 21, FTX Japan users have withdrawn almost all of their assets. The exchange revealed that it had 80 Ethereum and 28.48 Bitcoin worth $793,000 at the time of publication among other residual assets. FTX had previously disclosed that it held 6.672 billion Japanese yen ($48.83 million) in users’ assets before regulators halted exchange in November as part of international bankruptcy proceedings.
Russia and China’s blockchain friendship
The Credit Bank of Moscow (MCB) recently issued the first blockchain letter of credit for more than 100 million Chinese yuan ($14.5 billion). A digital bank guarantee benefits the beneficiary because there is no need to wait for the paper version and make a separate request to the bank to confirm the document’s authenticity. The letter of credit is displayed to all three parties of international commerce, and it can’t be altered or falsified.
BitFlyer CEO wants to reinstate himself
Yuzo Kano, the co-founder of BitFlyer Holdings, wants to return as CEO and take Japan’s largest cryptocurrency exchange public. Kano, who owns 40% of BitFlyer, stepped down in 2019 after the exchange was ordered to adopt stronger Anti-Money Laundering measures. Since then, the exchange has been embroiled in a drama culminating in a proposed sale to Singaporean fund ACA Partners in 2022, which Kano derailed. If he returns, Kano aims to introduce stablecoins, build a token-issuance operation and potentially open up its Miyabi blockchain technology to the public.
Voyager’s 1-hour due diligence on 3AC
Now-broke cryptocurrency broker Voyager Digital barely verified the now-also-broke Three Arrows Capital’s operations and financial standing before extending it a line of credit in early 2022, according to bankruptcy court documents. Executives who attended the call said 3AC’s co-founder Kyle Davies and employee Tim Lo both participated. In a subsequent follow-up, 3AC provided a one-page document with the firm’s logo, stating the firm’s net asset value was $3.729 billion. We all know how that ended: 3AC filed for bankruptcy in June, and Voyager Digital made a similar filing in July. Voyager lent a total of $654 million to 3AC that it has yet to recoup after the former suffered severe trading losses as a result of the ongoing crypto winter.
Overall, the East Asian cryptocurrency market has seen several unexpected developments over the past week. As the industry continues to grow and mature, it will be crucial to keep an eye on these emerging trends and innovations in the region.
