TheFintechBuzz.com – Page 34

P01NT, a utility NFT, curate the world in a DAO way

June 21, 2022 Published by TheFintechBuzz.com

BCA Labs announced to sponsor the 4th NFT·NYC 2022, and from June 18 to 23, a series of digital artworks will be presented by BCA Labs at The BLANC Art Space in New York, including “Take Off,” “NTDD-1,” and of course the “P01NT” Project. P01NT was also honourably invited to Consensus 2022 by CoinDesk’s MetaGala, where 9 pieces of P01NT NFTs were presented and ultimately auctioned off. Through the Giving Block, the funds raised from the auction will be used to support the next generation of web3 entrepreneurs. BCA Labs will host various NFT theme satellite events in the following week, covering a wide range of topics including NFT, community culture, Soulbound, DAO, GenZ, decentralized curation, etc.

P01NT—BCA Labs

Although people have developed diverse features for NFTs today, most NFT collectors are inclined to use NFTs as a “social-networking tool”, an innovative way to meet new friends. When people have fulfilled a wish to showcase collections in the private domain, they will gradually have the desire to display their collections to a wider audience. Thus, our new design of P01NT.co may provide the perfect solution.

Every P01NT NFT corresponds to a display block space, upon users’ acquisition of P01NT NFTs, holders can find a booth on P01NT.co to exhibit the NFT from their wallet of their own choice. P01NT holders can divide their interactive and combinatorial NFT art pieces into three dimensions: point, line, and plane. The curatorial process will not only be presented online, but also every digital alteration will be mapped, recorded and shown at the offline exhibit.

To introduce the rules of the “game”, first and foremost, users can easily add and exhibit any type of NFT into the “P01NT”. The second dimension is formed as individual “points” enjoin into “lines” of “points”, where every user is a key participant and they may impact the layout of the exhibit, either as an individual curator or by jointly creating the space with others. The last dimension takes “lines” and creates a “plane” where triangles, circles, squares, and rectangles take shape, and become the final carriers of user’s artwork. In other words, P01NT can not only act as a canvas for displaying the NFTs, they also incorporate the rarity features and showcase the combinatorial features of their NFTs.

To be more specific about the alignment design, if the booth is in the “plane” series, then users can form a 2×2, or even larger booth in the overall exhibit. As each individual collector chooses the placement of their own NFT, they are also creating a new curatorial experience by merging their work with that of others. It will be possible to see a BAYC exhibited alongside an unknown sketch, or someone else may buy the booth space around BAYC, building a frame around them. This two-dimensional plane becomes an interactive bridge between one and the other collector, without knowing or communicating with each other in the real world, they can convey interests and share ideas with people at any part of the world on P01NT.

In this current era of the creator economy, the emergence of P01NT has broken the traditional barriers between artists, collectors, curators, and patrons. It is much simpler to become a creator to showcase NFT artworks to the world, a curator to find undiscovered “treasures”, or even a patron and leave the mark and influence of digital identity across the globe.

The concept of P01NT’s collective curation provides every ordinary users the opportunity to participate in the creation of art. Furthermore P01NT becomes the role of the user’s entry pass to step their first step into BCA’s meta-verse.

P01NT Rights and Interests

The Bitcoin 2022 MIAMI stop was the first time that P01NT has taken on a mission of bringing the wishes of these NFTs’ holders to “Say Hi” to the public, it marked the beginning of the global tour of “P01NT”. P01NT’s mission is just like its name, making a point to endow every NFT holder with the privileges of curating their own art exhibition. With the step of a simple wallet connection, everyone can bring their NFT artwork to every point of the globe where “P01NT” exists.

P01NT will keep encouraging new kinds of NFT exhibitions to emerge and interact with new pass holders to stimulate DAU growth, through the “show-to-earn” logic. For instance, the participation of artists and holders in curatorial profit sharing.

BCA will be dedicated to build and empower P01NT community continuously. The P01NT Blue Chip community will not only be able to participate in the collective curation with young rising artists, BCA Gallery Shanghai will host several flash salons offline to meet holders’ needs.

Curate NFTs in a DAO way

There are more and more exciting new projects empowered with the idea of DAOs. Although NFTs have always been related, the full potential of the social attributes that NFTs carries have not yet been fully discovered or acknowledged especially on the level of NFT applications. The P01NT project combined DAO’s democratic and egalitarian form together with NFT art, allowing all users to take part in the art creation process.

P01NT’s root of origin began with the concept of the DAO and continued to experiment through various NFT art. From the perspective of curation, it empowers casual users to become more creative and gives all pass holders the opportunity to participate in the creation process. Every P01NT holders serve as a governor of the chain nodes, their participation in the curation is just like the decision-making process and the ecological creation of DAO. Every move will be recorded on the blockchain, and all the dynamics will be reflected on this unified “canvas” as an integrity to light up the booth in every P01NT world journey and in the whole crypto universe.

SOURCE BCA Labs

Episode Six announces a double first with Galaxy FinX

June 16, 2022 Published by TheFintechBuzz.com

Episode Six, a leading global payment and banking infrastructure provider, today announced a new relationship with Galaxy FinX, Vietnam’s newest fintech builder that is re-shaping the future of money and banking in the country. The deal represents two firsts for Episode Six: a partnership in Vietnam as well as with a pure-play virtual-bank builder in Southeast Asia region.

Galaxy FinX selected Episode Six to provide modern cloud-based card and payment processing, which includes consumer credit- and debit-card services as well as connections to Vietnam’s domestic financial switch services. Just as Episode Six’s Tritium platform helps traditional banks innovate and offer digital solutions, it is also purpose-built to deliver key capabilities to virtual and digital banks. Tritium offers a multi-asset class digital wallet management system that can open gateways to card scheme processing and transfers across bank networks, including ATMs and Point of Sale (POS) devices.

“Episode Six is proud to be working with Galaxy FinX, which is our first partnership in Vietnam and our first with an entirely virtual-bank builder in Southeast Asia,” said John Mitchell, CEO and Co-Founder of Episode Six. “There is tremendous growth potential for digital-only banking in Vietnam and across Southeast Asia, where millions of consumers and small businesses remain unbanked or underbanked. Our technology is ideally suited to helping pioneers like Galaxy FinX design and deliver products that meet the needs of digitally-native customers in Vietnam and beyond.”

As a virtual-bank builder, Galaxy FinX will offer financial-service products, such as savings, lending, payments and insurance, digitally to Vietnam’s growing consumer base. Episode Six will provide a market-tested backbone for Galaxy FinX’s card services, allowing the new company to process payments and configure products to adapt to changing market conditions. Partnering with Episode Six also gives Galaxy FinX the flexibility to grow its business and focus on customers and evolving market dynamics rather than on underlying tech developments.

“Episode Six has a proven track record of its payments technology globally and in Asia-Pacific. Vietnam is growing to become a digital economy and Episode Six’s modern cloud-based card and payment processing platform will enable us to develop better digital propositions to serve the needs of the local market and our customers,” said Marcin Miller, CEO of Galaxy FinX. “We look forward to exploring opportunities with Episode Six as we continue to expand our products and services in Vietnam and across other markets in Southeast Asia in the future.”

Within this decade, the ongoing and worldwide shift from physical to digital represents hundreds of billions of dollars of value in the banking industry alone. Asia’s emerging economies are at the cutting edge of these trends; Singapore as an advanced economy is already innovating in the space but look for even greater acceleration in neighbouring Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia as well as Vietnam. Digitalization is rapidly transforming the payments landscape for businesses and consumers. Research from IDC predicts that by 2030, 80% of global consumer payments will transact on mobile and connected devices and will not be processed by traditional institutions. Episode Six is a provider of the payment rails that make this transition possible.

Vietnam is especially ripe for change because cloud- and mobile-based banking is quickly becoming a standard in the country, where large sections of the population have lacked access to traditional checking or savings bank accounts historically. According to data from Merchant Machine, Vietnam is the world’s second-most unbanked nation. Together, Episode Six and Galaxy FinX will help change that dynamic.

Episode Six’s Tritium platform provides a comprehensive set of more than 550 APIs that facilitate innovation and customization for its clients. Its natively global solution handles different languages, currencies and country-specific regulatory requirements, and is adaptable for cloud or on-premise hosting options for real-time transfer across multiple asset classes, including fiat currencies, and other value storages, such as loyalty and reward points.

Plintron wins the MVNE of the Year 2022 Award at MVNOs World Congress

June 14, 2022 Published by TheFintechBuzz.com

Plintron has won the MVNE of the year award at the MVNO Awards held during the MVNO World Congress 2022, Berlin. This award is given to an MVNE/A that has successfully partnered with multiple MVNOs and MNOs, and fostered commercially beneficial partnerships and propositions for all parties. The award judging criteria was cost of the Solution, Reliability and level of Innovation.

Subhashree Radhakrishnan, Co-founder and Vice Chairman, Plintron said, “Plintron is delighted to win the prestigious MVNE of the Year 2022 Award at the MVNO World Congress and this is in recognition of our constant focus on innovation and the reliability and quality of our services.”

Plintron has launched services in 5 countries over the last two quarters and has aggressive growth plans for the coming months as well. Plintron offers an innovative Mobile Virtual Network Aggregator (MVNA) model which in addition to its customisable, flexible and affordable MVNE platform also offers wholesale airtime contract and readymade roaming alliances. Plintron also offers other value additions like white labelled self-care portal, white labelled app and access to 1000+ third party partners and multiple payment gateways.

Plintron’s focus is on empowering brands to extend into mobile services with a view to adding an additional revenue stream apart from also increasing customer loyalty and engagement. Plintron offers a complete end–to–end customisable package offered as Telecom as a Service (TaaS) and completely handles the regulatory & telecom aspects while the brands concentrate on their core competence of sales and marketing.

Plintron has focused offerings for niche segments and also supports all market models including an innovative aggregator model.

Segments of focus include, Banks, Fintech, Utilities, IoT, ISP, Fixed Line Service providers, Sporting clubs, Educational Institutions, Tourism service providers, Retail, Communities, Affinity groups and Consumer brands.

VEON Ventures Makes $15m Series A Investment in Dastgyr

June 14, 2022 Published by TheFintechBuzz.com

VEON Ltd. (NASDAQ: VEON, Euronext Amsterdam: VEON), a global digital operator that provides mobile connectivity and services, announces today that the Group’s VEON Ventures division has completed a US$ 15 million investment as part of a Series A round for Dastgyr, a Pakistan-based B2B e-commerce marketplace platform. This investment will contribute towards boosting Pakistan’s e-commerce market.

Dastgyr offers businesses a one-stop-shop application that connects thousands of retailers with suppliers to give them access to real-time visibility on pricing and financing rates. Platform partners have included Coca-Cola, Nestle, and Reckitt.

“As part of VEON’s transformation into a digital operator that delivers a growing range of services to our customers we are investing in leading digital companies like Dastgyr in the countries where we operate. These investments are the building blocks of the digital ecosystem that will enable us to deliver on our strategy,” said Mohd Khairil Abdullah, CEO of VEON Ventures. “Pakistan, with its rapidly growing digital sector, is a key market for VEON. By bringing together Dagstyr’s e-commerce business with Jazz’s communications network and JazzCash’s mobile payments platform, we will catalyse growth in digital services in Pakistan. This would be further enhanced by the digital banking services that we have ambitions to provide.”

The deal is VEON Ventures’ largest investment in a Pakistani start-up and reflects the Group’s continued commitment to the region and to the growth of Pakistan’s digital economy.

“Pakistan’s start-up ecosystem is at a critical juncture and only startups focused on addressing key challenges and adopting localized solutions will survive and thrive,” added Aamir Ibrahim, CEO of Jazz. “This investment highlights VEON’s commitment to scaling up Pakistan’s digital economy and provides Dastgyr with a platform to build synergies with Jazz’s subscriber base of 75 million and with JazzCash, further integrating the startup into Pakistan’s fintech ecosystem.”

Dastgyr will remain an independent entity, with a minority position being taken by VEON Ventures. The new investment round will support Dastgyr’s expansion into 15 new cities in Pakistan, alongside its existing network in Karachi, Lahore, Sialkot and Gujranwala.

“We are thrilled to achieve this milestone in the current global economic environment,” said Zohaib Ali, co-founder of Dastgyr. “We welcome the new investors to the Dastgyr family as we continue to work relentlessly toward our vision of building an AliBaba for emerging markets worldwide. We’re lucky to have found strategic partners who believe in our mission and have displayed unwavering faith in our team. Financial inclusion, which is central to the startup’s mission, will uplift and enable Pakistan’s small- and medium-sized retail entrepreneurs, potentially unlocking up to an additional US$ 10 billion for the country’s GDP, according to our estimates.”

VEON Ventures’ investment in Dastgyr Series A funding was made alongside Zinal Growth, DEG, Khwarizmi Ventures, OTF Jasoor Ventures, Cedar Mundi Ventures, Reflect Ventures, Century Oak Capital, Haitou Global, GoingVC, Astir Ventures, K3 Diversity Ventures, Chandaria Capital, along with the founders of Property Finder, Ayoconnect, Quiqup and senior management from DoorDash.

UP Fintech’s market share in Singapore increased to 19%

June 10, 2022 Published by TheFintechBuzz.com

UP Fintech Holding Limited (the “Company”, a NASDAQ-listed company under the ticker “TIGR”, and all its subsidiaries and consolidated entities), a leading online brokerage firm focusing on global investors, today reported its unaudited financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2022. Total revenue in the first quarter was US$52.6 million. Non-GAAP net loss was US$1.9 million.

At the end of the first quarter, customer accounts totaled 1.9 million, and the number of customers with deposits increased to 703,500, an increase of 87.1% from the same quarter last year. The company’s net asset inflow was US$3.5 billion this quarter.

Mr Wu Tianhua, CEO and founder of UP Fintech commented, “despite challenges such as macroeconomic uncertainties and market volatility, we remain committed to creating value for our users and believe that our continuous investment in R&D will put us in a solid position to expand globally in the long run. For U.S securities, over 90% of cash equities and 70% of options contracts are self-cleared through our U.S subsidiaries. In our headquarters in Singapore, our flagship mobile trading App, Tiger Trade continued to lead the online brokerage market as the total number of registered accounts in Singapore now represents nearly 19% of Singapore’s population aged between 20 and 70. Meanwhile, we entered the Australian market, which serves as a robust springboard for the company’s further growth. By remaining at the forefront of technologies and related market trends, we look forward to becoming the go-to platform for one-stop global investment for many more global investors.”

Market Share in Singapore Markets reached 19%

In the first quarter, the company continues to deepen its presence in Singapore with local registered accounts increasing 15.1% Q-o-Q. The total number of registered accounts in Singapore now represents 19% of Singapore’s population aged between 20 and 70. While continuing to scale the user base in Singapore, with the number of average monthly active users reaching nearly 700,000 in the first quarter, the company maintains a high engagement level.

With strong R&D capabilities, the company now self-clears all of its clients’ Singaporean equities trades, as well as becoming one of the seventeen local agents who internally handle the entire process from trading and clearing to depository. This also allows the company to further improve order efficiency and expand account types to better serve clients in Singapore. In addition, the company has become a go-to trading platform for more options investors in Singapore. During the first quarter, the number of local options users at Tiger Trade increased by 65.8% year-over-year, and the percentage of accounts that hold options increased by 18.1% year-over-year.

Retail investors in Singapore are increasingly interested in funds and other wealth management products. In Q1, the number of local customers investing in the Fund Mall increased by 453.1% year-over-year, and the AUM of the Fund Mall increased by 579.8% year-over-year. Other than funds in HKD and USD currencies, the company has added 513 funds in SGD currencies to further meet the customers’ needs for asset allocation. By the end of the first quarter, local users holding SGD funds had increased, reflecting a 138.9% quarter-over-quarter increase and AUM increased by 56.6% quarter-over-quarter. The number of Cash Plus users increased by 39.0% quarter-over-quarter and AUM increased by 36.0% quarter-over-quarter.

While consolidating the leading position in Singapore against a challenging macro environment, the company officially entered the Australian market in March and has been growing steadily. Within just one month, Tiger Trade has been recognized by financial comparison site Mozo in the 2022 Experts Choice Awards, specifically in the Casual ASX Trader category, which looked at the best options for investors making small or infrequent trades on the Australian Stock Exchange. Tiger Trade also soared in popularity as it has quickly moved to the top 60 of the Apple Store ranking in terms of downloads of finance apps, delivering significant validation of its product competitiveness.

Wealth management business continues to grow steadily with AUM being doubled

Q1, commission income was US$30.5 million, a 2% increase from last quarter. UP Fintech continues to keep research and development at the core of the company, strengthening product offerings and optimizing services to meet customer needs. With options having increasingly risen in popularity, the company added more options features such as a comparison between implied volatility and historical volatility on individual stock pages, maximum buying and selling power, as well as optimizing the simulated trading experience for options.

The company also launched the sub-new stock feature, where customers can discover companies that were listed less than a year and showed their growth potential. A simulation tool that allows customers to calculate the probabilities for successfully subscribing to new shares in a HK IPO was also introduced this quarter. In addition, online subscription for international offerings was made available on Tiger Trade for HK IPO, helping high net worth customers to easily subscribe with one click.

At the end of the first quarter, the company’s Fund Mall business grew steadily. The AUM of the Fund Mall increased by 99.4% year-over-year and Cash Plus, the company’s idle cash management product, increased by 44% year-over-year in AUM.

Helping to fuel this growth is the company’s proactive investment in its R&D efforts. In the first quarter, the company optimized time efficiency for order confirmation for Clash Plus as funds transfer-in and out can be made as soon as T+0 day. Benefiting from a meticulous selection of funds and close partnerships with top global asset management firms, Fund Mall continues to provide customers with high-quality fund products. The average returns for the top ten funds increased 13.9% compared to the last quarter.

Ranked third in the U.S. IPO underwriting by deal count among brokerages

According to the company’s Q1 financial results, other revenues, which include revenue from investment banking and ESOP, reached US$5.1 million in Q1. The company remained steadfast in its commitment to strengthening corporate services such as investment bank businesses and has earned a reputation as an innovative digital investment banking leader in the past three years. During this quarter, the company participated in serval HK IPOs including Lepu Biopharma and AInnovation. The company also participated in 8 U.S. IPOs and served as an underwriter in 7 of these IPOs. According to third-party data, UP Fintech ranked third in the U.S. IPO underwriting by deal count among brokerages in the first quarter, reflecting the trust and confidence clients have in the company’s ability to meet fundraising needs under uncertain markets.

Leveraging its deep expertise in the tech industry, the company issued several research reports on topics such as Web3 and Coinbase. The company has also partnered with nearly 20 emerging companies from different industries including retail, SaaS and biomedicines, helping them to better attract global investors.

UP Fintech added 25 ESOP (employee stock ownership plan) clients in the first quarter with total clients now accumulated to 338. With one-stop services from plan design and implementation to execution and reporting, Tiger ESOP has become the go-to ESOP services provider for many pre-IPO and listed companies.

In this quarter, corporates such as Alibaba, WWF Singapore and Medlive joined the Tiger Community and opened enterprise accounts. The company also launched an investor QA function where global investors can directly ask companies questions on Tiger Trade and expect to receive a response from them. Leveraging a variety of innovative investor relations & PR services, the company continued to see corporates of all sizes and in all industries adopting the Tiger online community as their preferred platform to amplify global reach.

Safe Harbor Statement

This announcement contains forward−looking statements. These statements are made under the “safe harbor” provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward−looking statements can be identified by terminology such as “may,” “might,” “aim,” “likely to,” “will,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “future,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “estimates” and similar statements or expressions. Among other statements, the business outlook and quotations from management in this announcement, as well as the Company’s strategic and operational plans, contain forward−looking statements. The Company may also make written or oral forward−looking statements in its periodic reports to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) on Forms 20−F and 6−K, in its annual report to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties, including the earnings conference call. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the Company’s beliefs and expectations, are forward−looking statements. Forward−looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward−looking statement, including but not limited to the following: the cooperation with Interactive Brokers LLC and Xiaomi Corporation and its affiliates; the Company’s ability to effectively implement its growth strategies; trends and competition in global financial markets; changes in the Company’s revenues and certain cost or expense accounting policies; the effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic; and governmental policies and regulations affecting the Company’s industry and general economic conditions in China, Singapore and other countries. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in the Company’s filings with the SEC, including the Company’s annual report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC on April 28, 2022. All information provided in this press release and in the attachments is as of the date of this press release, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in the Company’s filings with the SEC.

Office space occupied by unicorns to more than double by 2024: Colliers

June 10, 2022 Published by TheFintechBuzz.com

Unicorns, or startups with a valuation of USD1 billion or more, are likely to occupy about 14 million sq feet of office space by 2024, a two-fold rise from the current level. This is led by large offices that unicorns are likely to lease across major markets of Bengaluru, and Delhi NCR. Unicorns are likely to lease an average of about 2.7 million sq feet of office space annually across 2022-24 across the top six cities, a three-fold increase from the preceding three years.

“India has already seen about 15 new unicorns so far this year. At the same time, we are now staring at a funding slowdown in the space which is likely to be a short-term blip. We are likely to see enquires coming back into the market in a few months for flex space, as well as traditional space, especially from fintech, e-commerce and logistics startups. Offices become even more crucial for startups wherein they are trying to set up and inculcate culture for the organization. Startups with a clear business model and good corporate governance will continue to grow and expand as the country’s digital economy is strong. On the whole startups (unicorns+non-unicorns) are likely to occupy 78 million sq feet of office space by 2024, a 16% increase from 2021,” Ramesh Nair, Chief Executive Officer, India and Managing Director, Market Development, Asia, Colliers.

Leasing by startups in mn sq ft

Bengaluru top startup hub, followed by Delhi-NCR

Bengaluru remains the top startup hub with a 34% leasing share during 2019-22, with Koramangala, HSR and Indiranagar being the preferred locations for startups. A well-developed ecosystem, deep technology talent, and a culture of entrepreneurship are major factors attracting startups here.
Delhi-NCR is amongst the fastest-growing markets in terms of leasing by startups. Delhi-NCR witnessed a three-fold increase in leasing by startups during 2021 on a YoY basis. The region benefits from being a catchment for education institutions in North and East India, and strong infrastructure.
Mumbai has seen certain pockets of startup activity over the years. However, relatively higher rentals, and high cost of living are often seen as deterrents by early-stage companies.

While metro cities remain the core hubs for startups, non-metro cities are seeing growth in startup leasing as well as flex space take-up due to low cost of living, reduced CAPEX and work from anywhere trend. Emerging hubs such as Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Indore, and Coimbatore are likely to witness a rise in flex space and startup occupancy as entrepreneurs are increasingly leveraging these locations to launch operations.

Talent Partner Forsyth Barnes Announces 10% Company Wide Pay Rise to Aid Cost of Living Crisis

June 9, 2022 Published by TheFintechBuzz.com

Executive Search Firm, Forsyth Barnes, announced that everyone in the company would be receiving a 10% raise across their offices in London, Nottingham, and New York. The decision was made in response to rising energy and fuel prices to minimize the impact of the cost of living increases.

“We are incredibly proud to have developed a family of talented, hard-working, and loyal individuals. We are a people-first business who will always, always look after our own,” said Managing Partner Scott Parsons.

Forsyth Barnes’ second Managing Partner, Roheel Ahmad thanked the team for their hard work and resilience over the past six years, stating, “Your ambition to work alongside us and grow this business into a lasting legacy that is bigger than any of us is infectious and inspiring, and this is just one of the ways we give thanks to you all.”

Speaking with some employees, it’s clear how significant this gesture is. “I had relocated to our London office at the end of 2021, and the cost of living had already increased. This is such an unexpected surprise, adding to all of the other incentives, rewards, and raises over the years. I’m so excited and proud to work for such a people-centric business,” notes one employee.

The business profits funding this raise are wholly organic, as Forsyth Barnes has never received external funding. “We are built entirely off the back of our own success,” said Parsons. He continues, “The main driver for us as business owners is to ensure everyone within our team will work their best selves and leave the office each day their best selves too.”

Klaytn lays foundation for Metaverse-as-a-Service with key infrastructure partners

June 9, 2022 Published by TheFintechBuzz.com

Global crypto adoption has exploded in recent years, increasing by more than 800% between 2020 to 2021. While the majority of the world has yet to purchase their first NFTs, major brands from fashion, tech, entertainment to gaming are recognizing the significance of the metaverse and taking their first steps into the nascent space.

Gaming titan, Netmarble, has released their first Play-to-Earn games on Klaytn this year — A3: Still Alive and Ni No Kuni: Cross Worlds. Fashion brands such as Gucci, Burberry, Balenciaga and Prada have all launched their own NFT collections, and companies like ALTAVA Group are focused on bringing high fashion into the Metaverse. Asian NFT marketplace East NFT has onboarded popular LGBTQ content from Thai-based Y Series content production houses onto the Klaytn chain.

Aligning with their vision to be the bridge connecting Web2 to Web3, Klaytn Foundation continues to forge key strategic partnerships and collaborations for a Metaverse-as-a-Service model, which will allow Web2 companies, game publishers, content creators and other users to “plug-in” seamlessly into the metaverse.

Speaking on the strategy to transform the Klaytn ecosystem, David Shin, Head of Global Adoption, explained, “We believe that the formation of Web3 will be a collaborative effort. And hence, rather than to build every tool needed by ourselves, we’re tapping into the strength of our allies, and hope to create a cohesive metaverse that will allow any companies, content creators and users to easily climb onboard.”

With that, Klaytn is thrilled to highlight key partners and collaborators of H1 2022 that will help to pave the way for interoperability, decentralization and smooth exchanges in the Klaytn metaverse.

Parity Technologies
Parity Technologies is a Web3 software development company that created the Substrate SDK, used to develop the Klaytn-Substrate — a sidechain bridged to Polkadot and Klaytn Mainnet. The Klaytn-Substrate will act as an intermediary environment, where collaborative technological, business case, and community initiatives can combine in interesting and synergetic ways. It acts as “canary network” to safely, efficiently, and quickly capture new use cases, new technologies, and provide the community with more options for building great things within the Klaytn ecosystem. [Read more]
Adgorithmics
Adgorithmics, a Singapore-based AI-enabled e-commerce advertising platform, recently launched an innovative NFT-based incentive and customer loyalty program, called MetaGacha. For every purchase, customers can receive a MetaGacha NFT which can serve as a membership card for exclusive deals, or be used to exchange for vouchers or promotions. Sales agents can also receive NFT for every deal. This can help online merchants to expand their reach and increase sales, while bringing substantial value to customers and agents in the form of NFT. [Read more]
Smart Token Labs
Smart Token Labs is an Australian blockchain company that has built two highly successful open source products. AlphaWallet is the world’s first 100% open-source wallet and blockchain apps platform. TokenScript combines token and smart contract logic into a standardized interface, creating “Token Layer” functionality that can be deployed in wallets and on websites. The technology builds a pathway to smart token composability, and addresses issues with trust, interoperability, security, and interface seen with current token transactions. [AlphaWallet; TokenScript]
Soramitsu
Soramitsu is a Japanese fintech company with expertise in developing blockchain-based solutions for digital asset and identity management. They are the developer of and major contributor to the open-source blockchain platform Hyperledger Iroha, digital currency for the National Bank of Cambodia, a closed-loop payment system for the University of Aizu in Japan, an identity verification system prototype for Bank Central Asia in Indonesia, and many more. The team is set to work on implementing the first open-source DEX on Klaytn. [Read more]
Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN)
Klaytn will be establishing an Open Permissioned Blockchain (OPB), the Chongqing Chain, on the Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN), a multi-chain public infrastructure network that aims to be the standard for all blockchain deployments. Through the development of the Chongqing Chain, it would be possible for Klaytn developers to plug in to the China blockchain network, providing an entry into the massive China market, and vice versa for Chinese developers looking to go global. [Read more]

Emperor Entertainment Group and Hins Cheung shares insight and sneak peek into Metaverse project “Hertz City”

June 8, 2022 Published by TheFintechBuzz.com

After announcing its foray into the metaverse in an online press conference in the beginning of May, Emperor Entertainment Group (EEG) went on to announce Hertz City – its first NFT (Non-fungible Tokens) collection, Hertz, and virtual city in the Sandbox Metaverse leads by artist Hins Cheung where he will play the role as Mayor Hins.

The Philosophy behinds Hertz City

Designed with the goal of creating a virtual wonderland for creatives and music lovers, Hertz City aims to attract young aspiring artists by providing them a decentralised platform to grow and showcase their talents in a community with support by EEG.

Emperor Entertainment Group understands the importance of artists having the right outreach and is dedicated to sharing its extensive resources gained over the last decades for public access. With the capability of the metaverse, the obstacles faced between artists and the entertainment industry will be a thing of the past.

Shirley Hughes, the CEO of the Group, said at the press conference: ‘The Metaverse is the new frontier of the ever-growing digital world. EEG has been re-inventing itself with multimedia entertainment innovations. Narrowing down the boundary amongst artists and fans. To further provide our users with more enhanced entertainment experiences. It is our goal to work with more professional partners to expand our presence in the metaverse.’

Hertz City will be supported by MetaTimes (a subsidiary of VAR LIVE and Times Capital), where they will put their experience in game development and fintech into the project. Bringing a perfect balance of fun and investment.

At Hertz City, you can both have fun and achieve your dreams. Designed as a game in the Sandbox Metaverse, Citizens of Hertz City can expect games, singing sessions, contests and even collaborate on a new song with their favourite artists.

In fact, the experience has already begun. Fans of Hins Cheung can take advantage of the opportunity and join the discord server: [@Hertz – https://discord.gg/hertz]. Where Hins Cheung have been frequently spotted having singalong sessions and interactions with fans.

The Soul of Hertz City –

Hins Cheung, a Singer, Songwriter, Producer & Restaurateur

Well known for helping aspiring artists, the multiple award winning singer – Hins Cheung, will take on the role as Mayor Hins of Hertz City where he will be providing his guidance and sharing his experience growing as an artist.

Additionally, Mayor Hins will organise events, hold virtual concerts and interact with citizens. The experience? – A new and immersive way for fans to be closer with their idols and share the music and entertainment related materials internationally.

Exclusive Privileges Come along with the Hertz NFT

Hertz NFT collection consists of 8121 unique artwork carefully curated by Hins Cheung, EEG and team members of MetaTimes. Hins Cheung is the first artist of many to enter this project and Emperor Entertainment Group plans to continually integrate corporate value into this project and other artists will be brought on board in the future. NFT holders will enjoy many benefits such as priority for subsequent projects, exclusive features in the Hinsland Metaverse, and real-world benefits such as priority access to concert tickets and merchandise.

Hertz City is a revolution of “blockchain x music”. In Hertz City, everyone can be a music creator and every user can enjoy an auditory carnival for free. Aspiring singers will be able to showcase their talents, get in touch with music producers and expand their network (e.g access to sponsors, record deal, advertising).

Keeping good music updated online, Hertz City draws musicians and listeners closer, and brings music back to its own purity and freedom of creativity. In the Web3.0 era, Emperor Entertainment Group will lead Asia to a new world of digital music.

Are you ready to be a citizen of Hertz City?

For the latest updates on and priority to the NFT (whitelist),

Follow Discord, Twitter & IG

https://discord.gg/hertz

http://twitter.com/hertz_city

http://instagram.com/hertz_city

The AMA (ask me anything) session will be hold on the 10th June 2022 at Discord (@hertz) Stage Channel at HKT 9pm. The session will be opened to join freely @hertz.

Pando Finance will launch two active Hong Kong listed SFC authorized public ETFs, Blockchain ETF and Innovation ETF, around Q4 2022

June 8, 2022 Published by TheFintechBuzz.com

Pando Finance was successfully granted the unconditional license from the Securities and Futures Commission (“SFC”) of Hong Kong to carry out Type 1, 4, and 9 regulated activities, in the scope of Dealing in Securities, Advising on Securities and Asset Management services according to the Hong Kong SFO in May 2022.

The company will provide fund management services of Hong Kong listed exchange-traded funds (ETFs), other services, including Private Equities, Alternative Asset Fund Management, Discretionary Account Management, Securities Brokerage and Investment Advisory.

Pando Finance has a team of investment professional consisting of seasoned technology and blockchain related experts based in Hong Kong. Pando Finance creates thoughtful investment products designed to help investors express their vision of the future. Pando Finance will launch two active SFC authorized public ETFs listed in the Hong Kong Exchange (HKEx) around the fourth quarter 2022 (subject to regulatory approval). One active ETF will focus on blockchain technology related theme that will invest at least 70% of its net assets in stocks of blockchain related companies such as such as Ledger System, Decentralized Database, Payment, Crypto Mining, and companies that will benefit from the use or development of blockchain technology.

Another active ETF product will be focusing on innovation technology theme related companies, including but not limited to Metaverse, Robotics and Artificial Intelligence, Video Games & E-sports, Fintech, and other technology related sectors. The objective of Pando Finance’s funds are to provide higher return growth over the long-term through investment in portfolio of actively managed securities with high-quality and sustainable growth equities. The funds of Pando Finance will also emphases on diversification in order to mitigate unnecessarily idiosyncratic risk and to enhance risk-adjusted return.

SOURCE Pando Finance

Author: TheFintechBuzz.com