Tag: klay

Klaytn Adds Huobi to Growing Blockchain Governance Council

Klaytn has announced that Huobi has signed on as the latest member of its Governance Council for South Korean internet giant Kakao’s public blockchain project.

Huobi Takes Seat at Klaytn’s Table

According to the press releaseon Feb. 10, with the addition of the cryptocurrency exchange Huobi, the Klaytn Governance Council now has 28 enterprises onboard, these include LG Electronics, Union Bank of the Philippines and Celltrion.

Having launched its mainnet last June, Klaytn is a public blockchain platform developed by Kakao’s blockchain unit, Ground X. Designed to be a service-centric blockchain platform with an emphasis on being user-friendly. According to the release, the platform allows users with little experience in cryptocurrency and blockchain to produce real-world applications of large scale.

As a new council member, Huobi will undertake a share of the Klaytn platform ownership and work with other council members to reach key decisions on its business and technical agenda. Klaytn based applications focus on implementing and amalgamating technology of public and private blockchains into one interoperable service.

On Huobi’s addition to the Council, Sangmin Seo, Council-member, Ground X said,” We are excited for Huobi to work with other Council members to jointly run and govern the Klaytn platform, as well as create use cases that can foster the development of the global blockchain ecosystem.”

Mission Matched 

Huobi Groupis a leading global digital asset financial service provider with a stated mission of “empowering financial services and liberating global wealth” coupled with the concept of putting the needs of their users first.”

Ciara Sun, Head of Global Business Development & Partnerships at Huobi Group, said, “ The new partnership advances Huobi’s mission to make blockchain technology more accessible to users across the globe.”

Huobi Global is a revolutionary blockchain-based service provider operating 24/7. It has emerged as one of the market leaders in crypto-exchange. In a recent interview with Blockchain.News, Sun commented on Huobi’s expanding empire and collaborations, “We are active in many countries in three different ways—we have Huobi Global which accepts customers from most major countries except Japan and the US. We also have local exchanges that are 100% owned by the Huobi Group in the US, Japan, and Korea. We also have another way of penetrating different markets through Huobi Cloud, which are joint venture exchanges with local partners. Local partners include Huobi Argentina, Huobi Russia, Huobi Indonesia, and Huobi Thailand among others.”   

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Kakao Affiliates Face Probe Over Crypto Misappropriation Allegations

The prosecution has initiated a formal investigation into allegations of cryptocurrency embezzlement and breach of trust involving former Kakao chairman Kim Beom-su and executives of Kakao affiliates. The case has been assigned to the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office Joint Cryptocurrency Crime Investigation Team (led by Lee Jung-real), which conducted its first examination of the complainant on October 11, 2023.

The examination of the complainant is the first step in the investigation of the complaint case, signaling the prosecution’s commencement of a thorough investigation into the matter. On the day, the prosecution inquired in detail about the main allegations written in the complaint, the legal background, and the extent of the damage.

The prosecution has also requested additional data submission regarding the cryptocurrency Klay transactions of Kakao affiliate executives from the complainant. The complainant side mentioned that the request for supplementary data submission was made to compare and contrast the data secured by the prosecution with the content of the complaint.

Previously, on September 13, the economic democracy advocacy group, Economic Democracy 21, had filed a complaint against former chairman Kim Beom-su and executives of Kakao affiliates for embezzlement and breach of trust, among other charges. They claimed that Kakao, through its subsidiary, created the cryptocurrency ‘Klay’ and sold it to investors to collect funds, which were not used for related business but were embezzled instead. If fraudulent unfair transactions under the Capital Market Act are proven, investors who invested during this period can claim compensation for losses caused by criminal acts.

The group alleges that embezzlement occurred during the pre-sale process of Klay, with Kakao’s subsidiary collecting KRW 150 to 300 billion, which was not used for related business but was misappropriated. The funds collected from the pre-sale should have gone to either Clayton (Singapore corporation) that issued Klay or GroundX (Japanese corporation) that spearheaded blockchain projects, but there is no trace of such funds in the financial statements, as per the complaint.

Furthermore, the group contends that executives of Clayton affiliates, i.e., insiders, are accused of embezzling Klay under various pretexts. Through media promotion of ‘overseas investment projects,’ they created a pretext for siphoning off Klay, which was then received back by the affiliate.

Klay is a virtual asset issued by Kakao’s subsidiary, Clayton (later rebranded as Crust), and at one point, its market capitalization surpassed KRW 10 trillion. Although once regarded as a testament to the prowess of domestic cryptocurrencies, its price has now plummeted due to insider trading and operational issues.

Meanwhile, both Kakao and Clayton stated, “Many details are yet to be confirmed, and the raised issues are unilateral claims with no basis in fact.”

Recently, Kakao announced an alliance with nine partners to expand commercial services on its blockchain platform, “Clayton.” In collaboration with WeMade Entertainment Co.’s subsidiary, WeMadeTree, Kakao aims to develop blockchain-based gaming content​.

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