Crypto Exchange Crypto.com enters South Korea by acquiring PnLink Co. and OK-Bit Co.

Crypto exchange firm Crypto.com made an impressive announcement during the?Korea Blockchain Week 2022?in Seoul.

The exchange achieved a key milestone in South Korea after acquiring two local firms:

1. PnLink Co. - A Payment provider
2. OK-Bit Co. - A Virtual asset service provider

This means that Crypto.com has now obtained the electronic financial transaction act, which establishes a "foundation for the sound development of the electronic financial industry." The exchange also secured virtual asset service provider registration in South Korea, which will allow Crypto.com to offer crypto asset exchange and custody services.

Things have been going good for Crypto.com recently:

• Received in-principle approval for a major payment institution license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore
• Received regulatory approval from two European nations, Italy and Cyprus.
• Obtained regulatory approval in Greece from its Hellenic Capital Market Commission.
• Gained provisional approval of its virtual asset license from the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority.

Patrick Yoon, general manager of Crypto.com, says South Korea is a "tremendously important market for Crypto.com in advancing blockchain technology."

With pro-crypto president Yoon Suk-yeol entering the office this year, Soth Korea is becoming a crucial market for crypto uptake, together with solid regulations.

60 million NFTs could be minted in one transaction: StarkWare founder

Here's another announcement from?Korea Blockchain Week:?The StarkWare founder announced the launch of its new Recursive validity proof technology.

StarkWare is a Zero-knowledge- (zk)-Rollup tech company. Founder Eli Ben-Sasson says its new Recursive validity proofs could roll up as many as 60 million transactions into one on the Ethereum blockchain.

Btw, ZK-rollup is a layer 2 scaling solution that enables blockchains to validate transactions more quickly and at a cheaper rate - Combines hundreds or even thousands of token transfers into a single transaction.

Ben-Sasson also added the number could "go up to 60 million with more engineering and tweaking."

"We could go to six million at the very least, and this is in the near term. That's something that would be very easy to do," he added.

Crypto lending platform Hodlnaut halts withdrawals

It seems like crypto winter will last longer than expected. Given current market conditions, lending platform Hodlnaut has become the latest to halt withdrawals, token swaps, and deposits.

Hodlnaut wants to "focus on stabilising our liquidity and preserving assets." The company said it has also withdrawn its license application with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

We don't have a definite date for when withdrawals will be resumed.

But, the company says its next update on the matter will be on August 19, 2022.

Hodlnaut is also taking a social media detox, but the firm will address all user communication through email, Twitter and Hodlnaut Telegram.

The Hodlnaut website has also removed its team page, which formerly featured the company's two founders, five employees, and an advisor. An archive of the page can be seen on the Wayback Machine.