Minseung Kang

U.S. President Donald Trump urged the Democratic Party that it is "destroying the U.S. economy" and called for the abolition of the Senate filibuster. As the federal government shutdown drags on, he again raised ending the filibuster as a 'nuclear option' to break the budget deadlock. On the 8th (local time), President Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social that "the Democrats are getting what they wanted by destroying a great economy," and said, "Terminate the filibuster immediately (TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER)." This remark came as the federal government shutdown exceeded 30 days, setting a record for the longest in history. Hundreds of thousands of federal employees are on unpaid leave due to delays in passing the budget, and effects such as flight delays and interruptions to public services continue. President Trump is raising pressure by demanding the forced passage of the budget through changes to Senate rules rather than negotiating with the Democrats.

Global cryptocurrency exchange Binance plans to list MetaArena (TIMI) on Binance Alpha. On the 8th (local time), Binance's official wallet account 'Binance Wallet' said via X (formerly Twitter), "Binance Alpha will list MetaArena for the first time on the 9th." Users holding Alpha Points can apply for the airdrop through the event page at the start of trading; detailed schedule and participation methods will be announced later. MetaArena is a project building a Web3 gaming ecosystem, aiming to be an integrated game hub that connects players, developers, and the community by combining artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain technology. The project is powered by the Sei Network. Meanwhile, Binance Alpha is a platform that selects and lists early-stage projects by comprehensively considering marketability·trends·technical aspects; an Alpha listing does not necessarily mean immediate listing on Binance's main exchange.

"CBDC (central bank digital currency) has now moved beyond the research stage and entered a phase of verifying the efficiency of actual payment systems. In Phase 1, experiments were conducted focusing on digital currency for inter-institutional payments, and we are currently pursuing Phase 2 demonstrations such as the tokenization of government subsidies." On the 4th, at the '2025 Blockchain Promotion Week X Web 3.0 Conference' held at COEX in Gangnam, Seoul, Seong Jun-yi, team leader of the Bank of Korea's Digital Currency Office, said this during the session titled 'Project Hangang, Bank of Korea Digital Currency Test Results.' In his presentation, Team Leader Seong disclosed the Phase 1 results of 'Project Hangang,' a real-transaction test of central bank digital currency led by the Bank of Korea. The test focused on digital currency for settlement between financial institutions, and seven commercial banks participated: Shinhan, Nonghyup, Kookmin, Woori, Hana, Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK), and Busan Bank. The experiment took place for about three months from April to the end of June. Through this test, the Bank of Korea verified the real-transaction efficiency of CBDC for inter-institutional settlement, and in some scenarios it simulated payment environments using consumer-participation digital vouchers. Three smart contract–based vouchers were issued—Seoul Youth Culture Pass, Busan Silla University–exclusive voucher, and Daegu Education and Culture Voucher—and on- and offline payment experiments were conducted. Team Leader Seong said, "This demonstration experiment focused on verifying whether deposit tokens can perform the function of reserve balances." He also explained that during the experiment they checked whether interoperability between systems was secured, including transaction processing using smart contracts, inter-account linking, and ledger consistency verification. The Bank of Korea is currently pursuing Phase 2 of 'Project Hangang.' In cooperation with the Ministry of Economy and Finance, it is conducting a 'pilot project for tokenizing government subsidies' that manages the disbursement process of government subsidies on a blockchain basis. This project aims to manage the public finance disbursement process with smart contracts to prevent fraudulent claims and strengthen the transparency of disbursements. Team Leader Seong explained, "This system is based on a permissioned (private) blockchain, where only authorized institutions can participate as nodes to validate transactions," and added, "This approach secures both reliability and security." Meanwhile, the Bank of Korea is also participating in 'Project Agora,' an international payment cooperation project led by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). This project is an experiment to improve the efficiency of large-scale cross-border remittances and trade settlements using tokenized deposits and institutional central bank digital currency, aiming to apply smart contracts instead of the existing SWIFT-based messaging method to enable automatic settlement and clarify responsibility structures.

"The 'verifiable credentials (Verifiable Credentials·VC)' developed by W3C are not simply a technology to verify identity, but a technology that is changing how global trade and digital identity systems operate. In transaction processes such as trade, they can increase trust and, by selectively sharing only the necessary information, protect personal data while reducing costs by billions of dollars." In the keynote speech at the "2025 Blockchain Promotion Week X Web 3.0 Conference" held on the 4th at COEX in Gangnam, Seoul, Brent Zundel, chair of the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) Verifiable Credentials Working Group (Verifiable Credentials Working Group·VCWG), said this. The W3C is an international standards organization founded under the leadership of Tim Berners-Lee, who created the World Wide Web (WWW), and has defined fundamental web specifications such as HTML and HTTP. The working group led by Zundel recently adopted the 'Verifiable Credentials Data Model 2.0' as an official standard. This standard was completed after nearly ten years of development and is beginning to be used across various industries. Observers say the web is evolving beyond a mere space for information to a stage that handles trust. The concept of 'verifiable credentials' can be easily understood by the digital vaccine certificates used during the COVID-19 period. At that time, the structure that proved an individual's vaccination history without forgery or alteration and could be presented only when necessary is precisely the basic principle of VC. Issuers correspond to governments or medical institutions, holders to individuals, and verifiers to airlines or public agencies. In this way, information is securely issued and presented and verified only within the necessary scope, which is the core structure of VC. He said, "The core of verifiable credentials is the 'selective disclosure' of information," adding, "Only the necessary information can be shared, protecting companies' intellectual property and confidential information. It can maintain trust in transactions." He added, "The traditional method of exchanging trade documents by email or invoice took a lot of time and cost, but VC-based systems automate issuance and verification, so billions of dollars in savings are expected." Meanwhile, VC 2.0 also has the technical foundation for large-scale use. It uses a web-standard format called JSON-LD to easily connect with most internet systems, and through cryptographic signatures and status-checking functions it can automatically verify the issuance time and validity. Zundel said, "This standard will develop into an API that directly connects browsers and digital wallets (virtual asset wallets)," and "This will usher in an era in which governments, companies, and international organizations build trust infrastructure together," he predicted.

"The combination of blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) will become the driving force that opens a new innovation ecosystem. The government will actively support these technologies so that they strengthen the trust foundation of the digital society and bring about changes that the public can experience." Ryu Je-myeong, 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT, said this in a congratulatory speech at the '2025 Blockchain Promotion Week X Web 3.0 Conference' held at COEX in Gangnam, Seoul, on the 4th. The event was hosted by the Ministry of Science and ICT and jointly organized by the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) and the Institute for Information and Communications Technology Planning and Evaluation (IITP). The vice minister identified stablecoins as a central technology of change. He said, "Stablecoins herald a digital payment revolution that transfers value across borders quickly and at low cost." He said, "They shorten fund settlement that used to take days in the existing financial system to real time, and by reducing complex intermediary steps, they maximize payment efficiency," and forecasted, "This will spread beyond simple financial innovation to trade settlement, person-to-person transactions, transactions between artificial intelligence agents, and the real economy as a whole." He also emphasized the convergence of blockchain and AI as a core technology of the Web 3.0 era. He pointed out that although AI is developing rapidly, ensuring the reliability and transparency of data remains a challenge. Blockchain technology can play an important role in building a trustworthy artificial intelligence ecosystem by providing tamper-proof data histories and transparent access records. He viewed the combination of AI and blockchain not merely as a technological integration but as leading to the creation of an innovation ecosystem across industries. He mentioned concrete examples such as precision medicine through the secure sharing of medical data and smart contracts in which blockchain automatically executes contracts and settlements for logistics demand predicted by AI, saying, "The combination of the two technologies will accelerate the automation and efficiency of industrial structures." He also said, "With the era of stablecoins and artificial intelligence, blockchain is once again being recognized as a core technology that reshapes the global digital economy," and added, "The government is reorganizing national strategies to grow digital assets and the blockchain industry and to secure global competitiveness." He added, "We will actively work to create a sustainable ecosystem so that blockchain and Web 3.0 technologies can contribute to realizing a trust-based digital society," and "The government and the private sector will cooperate to proactively respond to technological changes and create examples where blockchain technology makes the daily lives of citizens more convenient." The vice minister emphasized, "The Ministry of Science and ICT will support the growth of innovative companies and the sustainable development of industries and will do its best to ensure that the blockchain industry takes firm root."

"The future of digital wallets is in open source. Just as web browsers grew through open standards and open source, wallets must also increase transparency and interoperability based on open source." At the '2025 Blockchain Promotion Week X Web 3.0 Conference' held on the 4th at COEX in Gangnam, Seoul, Daniel Goldscheider, CEO of the Open Wallet Foundation (OWF), said that digital wallets (virtual asset wallets) will develop on global technical standards and open-source code. The Open Wallet Foundation is a non-profit organization under the Linux Foundation that aims to create an open-source wallet ecosystem where developers worldwide can collaborate under neutral governance. He said digital wallets are expanding beyond merely storing IDs or credit cards to become an authentication infrastructure covering everyday life, such as boarding passes, virtual assets (cryptocurrencies), and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). He explained that for such core systems, open standards are needed rather than closed structures, and that an open-source foundation is essential to secure both interoperability and security. Open source is a method by which developers around the world build and improve the same code together, forming the foundation of open technology. Interoperability refers to the ability of different networks to connect and freely exchange information. CEO Goldscheider cited the development of web browsers as an example, saying, "The internet could expand rapidly because of public standards like HTTP and HTML," and emphasized, "When digital wallets are developed as open source, efficiency, cost savings, and improved security can be achieved together." He added, "Most digital wallets will operate on an open-source basis in the future," and "Global cooperation among governments, companies, and developers is necessary for this." Meanwhile, major global companies such as Google, Huawei, Mastercard, and Visa participate as sponsors of the Open Wallet Foundation, which operates around 30 open-source projects. Some of these are used by the United Nations (UN) pension program and the government of British Columbia, Canada.

Aria draws attention by tokenizing global artists' music Partial acquisition of major music IPs including BTS, BLACKPINK, Justin Bieber, Maroon 5 "Challenging the IP market worth 8 quadrillion won through blockchain real-world asset tokenization" Expectations focused ahead of the 'ARIAIP' token launch Aria Protocol, a representative ecosystem project of STORY, a blockchain infrastructure story for intellectual property (IP), held its first domestic meetup 'Meeting the Future of IP Assetization' at Merkle in Gangnam, Seoul on the 1st to great acclaim. More than 1,200 attendees gathered, creating the spectacle of a queue extending outside the venue. Aria drew attention by consecutively acquiring partial IPs of global artists such as BTS, BLACKPINK, Justin Bieber, Maroon 5, and Miley Cyrus, and recently announced the upcoming launch of its native token 'ARIAIP', concentrating investor expectations. "Challenging the 8 quadrillion-won IP market… Aria presents a vision of blockchain real-world asset tokenization" Aria Protocol is a web3 platform that combines intellectual property and real-world assets (RWA), on-chain-ing the rights and value of creative works to build a new investment ecosystem. The project aims for a structure in which IP can be traded in the form of real-world assets and targets a transparent market that creators, consumers, and investors can all participate in. Han Won-seok, Aria Protocol investment lead (photo), said in his keynote, "The global IP market, including music, art, video, patents, and trademarks, is approximately $60 trillion (about 8 quadrillion won)," adding, "Nevertheless, most transactions rely on private contracts, making the market opaque and creating high entry barriers for both creators and investors." He explained, "Aria is improving these structural inefficiencies through blockchain-based RWA tokenization and building an ecosystem that raises the value and liquidity of IP." There are actual results. Through the 'Aria Premiere Launch (APL)' held last February, Aria raised about $11 million (about 15.7 billion won) and acquired partial copyrights of 48 tracks by global artists including Justin Bieber, BLACKPINK, and BTS. APL token holders receive a share of the revenues generated from those copyrights, and the expected annualized return (APY) was presented at the level of 5~8%. Aria is also experimenting with an 'expandable IP' ecosystem, such as holding a remix contest for singer Nana's comeback album. It is discussing IP catalog tokenization with major content company Contents Technologies and expanding its business across music and art by collaborating with global digital art platform Sedition to showcase works by more than 1,000 artists and over 7,000 pieces. Han Won-seok said, "Aria's native token 'ARIAIP' will be used as a core tool for ecosystem operations such as project governance participation, revenue distribution, and staking rewards," and added, "The official release is scheduled within 1–2 weeks, and detailed schedules will be announced through STORY's official channels and X (formerly Twitter)." "A new stage for K-POP… connecting fans, creators, and investors through blockchain" In the subsequent panel discussion, panelists said K-POP is forming a new market order where creators, fans, and investors coexist by combining blockchain and IP assetization, and they predicted this trend will become the next growth engine for K-POP. The panel discussion was moderated by Jang Chae-seon, STORY Korea head, and featured Han Won-seok, Aria Protocol investment lead, and Doko, CEO of PIG Entertainment, as panelists. Han Won-seok said, "If K-POP fan culture combines with blockchain-based distributed investment and community-centered funding, more interesting music projects could emerge," adding, "It will be a change that provides new opportunities for creators and a tangible participation experience for fans." He added, "Now the structure is moving away from one label bearing all the burdens toward more communities and supporters forming large funds through distributed and fractional investments." He said, "For a participatory ecosystem to take root, the technical infrastructure to support it is essential," adding, "It is important to build a solid foundation for investor risk management and market growth." He emphasized, "On the IP-specialized layer that STORY has built, we focus on connecting creators and consumers based on RWA and increasing licensing efficiency to lower entry barriers." The CEO of PIG Entertainment also said, "The global success of K-POP is still in its early stages," predicting, "The domestic entertainment structure is equipped with a system that responds quickly to trend changes, and various forms of IP and content businesses will continue to expand." He explained that as IP is being converted into assets, revenue structures are diversifying. He said, "In the past, it was difficult to earn revenue without going through copyright holders or associations, but now tokenization via blockchain has made forms of participation such as fractional investment possible," adding, "For example, just as you can buy Bitcoin in units of 0.0001, IP investment now has an innovative structure that allows participation and attachment with small amounts." He analyzed that the IP industry is evolving into a much more flexible and fair direction through tokenization. Jang Chae-seon said, "New technologies such as AI and blockchain have the potential to grow the IP industry by 10x or 100x," adding, "STORY and Aria are establishing infrastructure on this balance and creating an environment where market participants can access the industry more easily," and asked readers to watch for various products and opportunities that many users can participate in going forward. Kang Min-seung, Bloomingbit reporter minriver@bloomingbit.io

The market capitalization of stablecoins such as Tether (USDT) and USDC was slightly higher compared with the previous week. On the 25th, according to decentralized finance (DeFi) dashboard DeFiLlama, the market capitalization of stablecoins including USDT was approximately $309.02 billion (about 445 trillion won). This is an increase of $1.553 billion (0.51%) from the previous week. Tether currently accounts for 59.26% of the total stablecoin market capitalization. Typically, increases in stablecoin issuance and holdings can act as a factor increasing buying pressure in the market and are considered a bullish signal. The opposite can be interpreted as meaning demand for crypto assets has decreased.

U.S. President Donald Trump suggested that a trade agreement with South Korea is "pretty close to being finalised," indicating a final accord could be reached soon. On the 25th (local time), according to foreign media including the Australian Indian News, President Trump told reporters aboard his private plane (Air Force One) en route to Malaysia that "the U.S.-South Korea trade agreement is pretty much in the final coordination stage" and that "if South Korea is ready, I'm ready as well." Trump's remarks came as the two countries, after reaching a framework deal in July, continued negotiations over detailed implementation measures. Under that agreement, South Korea pledged an investment plan worth $350 billion in the United States, and the United States agreed to lower tariffs on Korean-made cars from the existing 25% to 15%. However, the agreement has not yet come into effect because differences remain over funding methods and detailed investment items. A U.S. government official emphasized, "We are willing to 'nail down' the agreement as soon as South Korea is ready to fulfill an appropriate level of commitments."

The Pakistani government said that if peace talks with Afghanistan break down, armed conflict is inevitable. On the 25th (local time), according to overseas economic news channel Walter Bloomberg, Pakistan's defense minister said, "Afghanistan wants peace, but if an agreement is not reached, open war (open war) is inevitable." Recent tensions between the two countries have led to actual armed clashes. The two countries have pointed to the Islamist armed group Pakistan Taliban (TTP) as the cause of the clashes. Pakistan argues that the TTP has hideouts inside Afghanistan and carries out terrorist attacks within its borders, while the Afghan Taliban denies this.

After the United States passed a stablecoin regulatory bill, reports say the use of stablecoins as a means of actual payments and remittances has been spreading rapidly. On the 25th (local time), Bloomberg reported that blockchain data analytics firm Artemis said that as of August, payments and remittances for goods and services via stablecoins exceeded 10 billion dollars. That is a 70% increase compared with February (6 billion dollars) and more than double compared with August last year. Artemis projected, 'If this trend continues, annual payment volume would reach 122 billion dollars.' This sharp increase emerged after the implementation of the stablecoin regulatory bill 'Genius Act', signed by President Trump in July. The bill established federal regulation for stablecoin issuers for the first time and required issued tokens to be fully backed by high-liquidity assets such as U.S. Treasury securities. Andrew Van Aken, a data scientist at Artemis, said, 'Since the passage of the Genius Act, the growth rate of stablecoin supply has become noticeably steep,' and 'the bill appears to have had a gradual effect on market growth.' According to the report, about 64% of stablecoin payments were business-to-business (B2B), reaching 6.4 billion dollars per month. This is a 113% surge from February, and it has surpassed peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions of 1.6 billion dollars per month for the first time. Companies appear to be using stablecoins to bypass complex international remittance networks. Van Aken explained, 'Companies are tired of the inefficiencies of the existing system that goes 'bank → correspondent bank → receiving bank',' adding, 'In large transactions averaging 250,000 dollars, the speed of stablecoins is the greatest competitive advantage.' He added, 'Stablecoins are more efficient than traditional currencies in terms of revenue generation and the speed of capital movement,' and 'the more they are proven to be a better form of money, the more trust and adoption will accelerate.' As the use of stablecoins for payments spreads rapidly, traditional finance is also responding. The U.S. bank joint payment network Zelle said it plans to expand international remittance services in the future and intends to use stablecoins as payment infrastructure in this process.

It was reported that the United States and China made progress in trade talks held in Malaysia. The two countries finished the first day of talks and are scheduled to resume the dialogue on Sunday (local time). On the 25th (local time), according to overseas economic breaking news channel Walter Bloomberg, a U.S. Treasury spokesperson described the U.S.-China trade talks as "very constructive." The talks were held as President Trump and President Xi Jinping are set to meet next week in South Korea.

Italian supercar brand Ferrari plans to issue a limited digital token for its top-tier customers to allow participation in the auction of the Le Mans-winning model '499P'. On the 25th, according to crypto asset (cryptocurrency) specialist media Cointelegraph, Ferrari will collaborate with fintech firm Conio to release the 'Token Ferrari 499P' as a limited edition in 2027. This token will be issued only to members of the 'Hyperclub', an exclusive network of 100 ultra-high-net-worth individuals with a passion for racing. Enrico Galliera, Ferrari's head of marketing and sales, explained it was "an attempt to strengthen the sense of belonging among the most loyal customers." Token holders can trade with one another, and will be given opportunities to purchase rare vehicles, including the 499P, through limited auctions. Ferrari plans to unveil this project alongside the start of the 2027 World Endurance Championship (WEC) season. Earlier, Ferrari introduced Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and USDC payments in the United States in 2023 and expanded to Europe last year, continuing its crypto-friendly moves.