Belarusian diplomats are seeking South Korean investors for the country's growing blockchain and fintech industry, Korea JoongAng Daily reported September 6. During a visit to Seoul on Tuesday, the deputy foreign minister of Belarus Andrei Dapkiunas reportedly stated that Belarus endeavors to establish relations with Korean investors interested in “fourth industrial revolution” technologies, including blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI). In an interview with Korea JoongAng Daily, Dapkiunas noted that Belarus has developed “groundbreaking state legislation” in the IT sector, and said that the country is “making innovative strides on blockchain, cryptocurrency, start-up development and software production.” The two countries have …

South Korea’s national postal service Korea Post (KP) will meet with Goldman Sachs executives to gain “know-how” about cryptocurrencies, Bloomberg reported Wednesday, September 5. The service, which oversees an investment fund of $112 billion, said a meeting about crypto had already taken place with Goldman’s incoming chief executive, David Solomon, in New York. Speaking to the Bloomberg in an interview, the post service’s president Kang Seong-ju confirmed that KP officials would also travel to Hong Kong to meet with Goldman’s dedicated cryptocurrency team there, which the banking giant set up earlier this year. “I asked Goldman to pass on their …

The Korea Internet and Security Agency (KISA), a sub-organization of the South Korean Ministry of Science and ICT, has announced plans to expand public blockchain pilot projects to revitalize the domestic blockchain market, ZDNet Korea reports September 4. The South Korean government plans to spend about $9 million to spread blockchain projects throughout public and private sectors. This year, the government has spent around $3.8 million on the blockchain projects. The goal is to find efficient cases in the public sector and to identify the best options, bringing them to the commercial sector through multi-year governmental support. This year, the …

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 …

South Korea has begun a six-month training course to turn forty-two applicants into “blockchain specialists,” local media report Monday, September 3. Aiming to increase the availability of skilled professionals in South Korea’s burgeoning blockchain economy, the course is the result of a three-way partnership between the Ministry of Technology and ICT, the Korean Standards Association (KSA) and the Hong Kong-based blockchain and IoT startup Waltonchain. The course will focus on preparing participants for “immediate” employment upon completion in January 2019. “We will provide a one-stop support for employment and business start-ups as well as education for the professional training of …

South Korea’s SBI Savings Bank has signed an MoU with DAYLI Intelligence, a specialist in AI and blockchain technology, to bolster its fintech business, Money Today reports September 3. DAYLI Intelligence provides blockchain solutions and AI-based tech infrastructure for financial institutions. The firm will reportedly assist SBI in implementing both blockchain and machine learning to maximize work efficiency and reduce costs across various financial products and services. DAYLI will provide SBI with solutions based on ‘LoopChain,’ the protocol that it has developed alongside blockchain startup theloop as part of the ICON ecosystem. The latter is a project that aims to …

Friday, August 30: following the mid-week’s strong upswing, the crypto markets subsequently saw widespread corrections, but most cryptocurrencies are today consolidating these higher lows. The vast majority of cryptos are in the green, as Coin360 data shows. Market visualization from Coin360 Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at around $6,925 at press time, up around 1 percent on the day, according to Cointelegraph’s Bitcoin price index. Having broken through the $7,000 threshold earlier this week, the top coin began to dip August 29, trading as low as $6,827 by August 30. Bitcoin’s 7-day price chart. Source: Cointelegraph Bitcoin Price Index On the …

The government of a South Korean province will issue its own blockchain-based digital currency in a move to replace a state loyalty scheme, local media first reported Monday, August 27. Officials in Gyeongsangbuk-do will partner with blockchain startup Orbs to create Gyeongbuk Coin, which it will roll out to consumers in lieu of the existing “Hometown Love Gift Cards.” Gyeongsangbuk-do includes South Korea’s fourth-largest city, Daegu, with Gyeongbuk Coin set to see merchant acceptance across the region. “There are still many problems to be solved by notifying merchants of the way they use coins, creating separate programs, and issuing coins,” …

This article previously conflated Terra and partner company TMON. It has been updated for clarity. A new stablecoin project out of South Korea, dubbed Terra, revealed it has closed a $32 million funding round led by a string of major crypto exchanges, in a press release Wednesday, August 29. Terra was co-founded by Daniel Shin, the creator of South Korean e-commerce marketplace Ticket Monster (TMON), which boasts a considerable $4 billion in total sales. According to the press release, upon launch the stablecoin will be integrated into the payment systems of the so-called Terra Alliance, a group of global eCommerce …

Bithumb, one of the largest South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges, will open up account registrations after a month-long freeze, local media outlet Yonhap News reports Wednesday, August 29. According to a spokesperson from banking partner Nonghyup Bank, Bithumb will meet specific requirements as dictated by South Korean law in return for regaining banking support. Nonghyup had previously suspended its services for Bithumb at the end of July, rumors at the time suggesting the decision had come after the exchange lost $17 million in its most recent hack a month previously. “We decided to keep the investor assets separate, and we will …

North Korea (DPRK) has attempted to mine Bitcoin (BTC), Yonhap News reported August 27, citing a report compiled by a research unit from South Korea's state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB). Yonhap notes that the mining attempt – which was allegedly conducted “on a small scale” between May and July 2017 – appears to have been unsuccessful, although the reasons for this remain unclear. According to Yonhap, the KDB report claims that North Korea’s interest resides in the essential "characteristics of cryptocurrencies, including anonymity, difficulties of tracing money and cashability." The KBD research unit reportedly cited a local media report as …

Samsung SDS, the IT arm of tech giant Samsung, has developed BankSign, a blockchain-based certification tool for banks, according to an official announcement August 27. The development by Samsung SDS is a joint project with the Korea Federation of Banks (KFB). BankSign aims to provide a simple transaction method within various banking systems by requiring certification from only one bank. Certification can be verified on the platform using passwords, fingerprints, or patterns. According to the announcement, BankSign enables customers to acquire a certification that is valid for up to three years, replacing the existing certificate system, which requires annual renewal …