Tag: Hashed

Former South Korean Deputy Minister Yong-beom Kim Joins Blockchain Research Institute

by Blockchain News

Yong-beom Kim, former first deputy minister of the Ministry of Planning and Finance of South Korea, will join Hashed Open Research, a blockchain and digital technology research institute, as CEO.

Yong-beom Kim served as the First Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance of South Korea from 2019 to 2021, and also served as Deputy Chairman of the Financial Services Commission (FSC) and Chairman of the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) within the FSC.

He has extensive knowledge of the economy and will be able to help Hashed Open Research, backed by a Web3-focused venture capital firm, realize the huge potential in the blockchain space.

Kim said that South Korea is well on par with the United States in the digital field, especially in industries such as software technology, video games, and media content.

His addition has accelerated the establishment of constructive dialogue between South Korean cryptocurrency investors and domestic lawmakers. He also stressed that South Korea has the potential to become a global G2.

Newly elected President Yoon Suk-Yeol, who took office in May, pledged to deregulate bitcoin and cryptocurrency markets during his recent presidential campaign.

To help achieve this goal, the South Korean government’s top financial regulator, the Financial Services Commission (FSC), plans to revise laws related to bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, and securities.

Seven major securities companies in South Korea have applied to launch their own cryptocurrency exchanges in the country, and Samsung Securities plans to set up a cryptocurrency exchange.

Image source: Shutterstock

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South Korean VC Firm Hashed Lost Up to $3.6B to LUNA Crash: CEO

by Blockchain News

With many crypto companies notably finding it difficult to share the extent to which the collapse of TerraUSD (UST) and LUNA coins affected their businesses, Simon Seojoon Kim, the Chief Executive Officer of South Korean venture capital firm Hashed, has revealed how much the firm lost when Terra collapse back in May.

HASH2.jpg

In an interview with Bloomberg, Kim revealed that Hashed acquired as many as 30 million LUNA tokens when the project was still in its infancy. The investment grew alongside the protocol, and at the time when LUNA attained its All-Time High (ATH) back in May, the venture capital investments in the token have grown to $3.6 billion.

Kim did not reveal that Hashed sold any of the tokens prior to the crash but noted that despite the crash, his firm still believes in the potential locked up in the digital currency ecosystem. In light of this, Kim told Bloomberg that Hashed is looking to raise a new funding round with the projection to back gaming protocols building in the Wbe3.0 world.

“In the tech sector, there’s no such thing as a portfolio that guarantees success, and we make our investments with that in mind,” said Kim. “We believe in the community’s growth, and that has never changed.”

Known for his bets on platforms like Sky Mavis, the parent company of Axie Infinity, and The Sandbox, Kim is leveraging his experiences picking up good protocols in the gaming sector to back. While he takes responsibility for the turnout of the LUNA token per Hashe’s investments, Kim reiterated that the VC does not give investment advice seeing most projects it backs are in their experimental phases.

The LUNA crash has been attributed as one of the reasons for the collapse of top firms like Three Arrows Capital (3AC) and Voyager Digital.

Image source: Bloomberg

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South Korean VC Firm Hashed Lost Up to $3.6B to LUNA Crash: CEO

by Blockchain News

With many crypto companies notably finding it difficult to share the extent to which the collapse of TerraUSD (UST) and LUNA coins affected their businesses, Simon Seojoon Kim, the Chief Executive Officer of South Korean venture capital firm Hashed, has revealed how much the firm lost when Terra collapse back in May.

HASH2.jpg

In an interview with Bloomberg, Kim revealed that Hashed acquired as many as 30 million LUNA tokens when the project was still in its infancy. The investment grew alongside the protocol, and at the time when LUNA attained its All-Time High (ATH) back in May, the venture capital investments in the token have grown to $3.6 billion.

Kim did not reveal that Hashed sold any of the tokens prior to the crash but noted that despite the crash, his firm still believes in the potential locked up in the digital currency ecosystem. In light of this, Kim told Bloomberg that Hashed is looking to raise a new funding round with the projection to back gaming protocols building in the Wbe3.0 world.

“In the tech sector, there’s no such thing as a portfolio that guarantees success, and we make our investments with that in mind,” said Kim. “We believe in the community’s growth, and that has never changed.”

Known for his bets on platforms like Sky Mavis, the parent company of Axie Infinity, and The Sandbox, Kim is leveraging his experiences picking up good protocols in the gaming sector to back. While he takes responsibility for the turnout of the LUNA token per Hashe’s investments, Kim reiterated that the VC does not give investment advice seeing most projects it backs are in their experimental phases.

The LUNA crash has been attributed as one of the reasons for the collapse of top firms like Three Arrows Capital (3AC) and Voyager Digital.

Image source: Bloomberg

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Korean crypto investment firm Hashed reportedly under tax investigation

by Cointelegraph

Crypto investment firm Hashed is currently under investigation by the National Tax Service (NTS) in South Korea according to local media.

The 4th Bureau of Investigation from the Seoul Regional Tax Office, which is handling the investigation, is best known for conducting investigations into tax evasion and slush fundraising. A slush fund is a pool of funds raised through undisclosed means and set aside for undisclosed purposes.

On Dec. 7, local media reported that the exact nature of the investigation is not clear.

An official from the regional tax office told reporters that although they could not confirm the exact nature of the investigation “intense investigations on small businesses without any prior notice are not uncommonly related to slush fundraising or tax evasion on the part of the company’s CEO.”

The investigation began early last month and is set to conclude no later than the end of Feb. 2022, just a few days before the South Korean presidential election takes place on March 9, 2022.

Hashed is one of South Korea’s highest-profile crypto investment firms. It was founded in 2017 by Simon Seokoon Kim, Ethan Kyuntae Kim, and Ryan Sungho Kim, all three of whom are technically listed as CEO, or heads of the company.

Hashed launched its $200 million Venture Fund II on Dec. 1, a year after it launched a $120 million Venture Fund I. The latest fund will focus on Web3 growth opportunities.

Related: 2021 ends with a question: Are NFTs here to stay?

Hashed’s investment portfolio includes over 80 companies including several crypto networks such as Klaytn and Cosmos, DeFi protocols such as MakerDAO and Synthetix, and NFT brands like The Sandbox and Axie Infinity.

The South Korean government and the NTS have been increasingly monitoring the crypto industry throughout 2021.

However, some good news emerged following a year-long battle among lawmakers — the government passed a bill on Dec. 3 that postpones levying any tax on crypto trading for a year. When the tax comes into effect, in January 2023 instead of 2022, traders will pay 20% of any gains made over $2,100.