On Aug. 31, Line, Japan’s most widely utilized messaging app with more than 200 million active users, revealed the launch of its own cryptocurrency called LINK. Upon its announcement, Line immediately listed LINK on its digital asset exchange BitBox, which it launched back in July of this year. Uniquely, as Cointelegraph reported, Line has decided not to conduct an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) to raise a significant amount of capital in exchange for the distribution of its token. Instead, Line utilized a mechanism called ‘airdrop’ to give users LINK as compensation for utilizing products within the Line ecosystem. Essentially, LINK …
The ICON Foundation, creator of the ICON (ICX) project, has issued an official response to the news that South Korean tax authorities are investigating its technical partner, ICONLOOP. In a statement published on Monday, the chairman of the ICON Foundation, Min Kim, said that the ICON Foundation would not be affected by the investigation, noting that ICONLOOP is operated as a separate entity. The ICON Foundation is a non-profit organization based in Switzerland. In late 2017 it conducted an initial coin offering for the native coin of the ICON blockchain, ICX, raising over $42 million in the process. ICONLOOP is …
Hdac Technology, the blockchain arm of South Korea’s largest car manufacturer Hyundai Motor Group, plans to set up a $10 million blockchain investment fund in 2019. Hdac testnet to launch in November 2019 Hdac will spend the funds on launching its mainnet, developing decentralized applications, supporting new industry startups and creating an ecosystem with a “cryptocurrency compensation system,” Korean outlet The Financial News reported on Oct. 6. Hdac, the issuer of the Hyundai token (HDAC), is planning to release its mainnet in the first quarter of 2020, the report notes. As previously announced, the testnet is scheduled to launch in …
Ground X, the blockchain arm of South Korean internet giant Kakao Corp, has announced the launch date of its own blockchain platform, a Cointelegraph correspondent learned at Consensus 2019 on May 13. Per the announcement, the Klaytn mainnet will launch on June 27, 2019, and will purportedly be a major driver of blockchain adoption in the country. Kakao has a 96% market share in South Korea, with a presence in messaging, gaming, content services, financial services and mobility services. Kakao announced its intention of launching a blockchain platform last March, and released a testnet version of Klaytn in October. The …
Sirin Labs, a Swiss-based smartphone developer, will release a blockchain-based phone in November this year, the company told Cointelegraph on July 11. In December 2017, Sirin Labs raised $157.8 million for the project during their Initial Coin Offering (ICO), with $110 million gathered over the first 24 hours. Sirin Labs had also previously released a privacy-focused smartphone in 2016, with a market price of $16,000. The new blockchain-based phone, called Finney, is scheduled to go to market with an expected price of $1,000, Sirin Labs told Cointelegraph. Based on the Android system, Finney will run on SIRIN OS and include …