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Finance

Securities industry may hit brakes on digital asset business, watches regulatory variables

South Korea’s securities industry is accelerating digital asset plans but is watching regulatory moves after Bithumb’s large-scale bitcoin mispayment incident. Key issues in talks on the Digital Asset Basic Act include limiting major shareholders’ stakes in exchanges to 15 to 20 percent and requiring won stablecoin issuers to be majority bank-owned. Firms are expanding tokenised securities partnerships, while some warn new rules could curb exchange investments and shift control of stablecoin payments to banks.

Industry

Profit divide for Orion and Lotte Wellfood hinges on chocolate dependence

Orion and Lotte Wellfood posted higher consolidated sales last year from a year earlier, but their operating profit results diverged, industry officials said. Orion’s operating profit rose 2.7 percent, while Lotte Wellfood’s fell 30.3 percent. Both cited higher raw material costs, particularly a surge in cocoa prices. Orion’s core products are snacks, biscuits and pies, while Lotte Wellfood relies more on chocolate products such as Ghana and Pepero.

Crypto

Ultra-fast blockchain mainnets emerge, raising focus on generational shift

New blockchain networks touting ultra-fast, real-time performance are emerging, raising focus on whether they could lead to a generational shift in the blockchain market. Layer 1 platforms such as Solana and Sui expanded their foothold, and Coinbase-led Base rose as a leading Ethereum layer 2 platform. New entrants include Monad, a layer 1 compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine, and MegaETH, an Ethereum-based layer 2. LayerZero also plans to launch its Zero mainnet later this year.