South Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy will hold four rounds of briefings with public and related agencies, the ministry said on Thursday. Minister Kim Jeonggwan will chair the sessions and receive reports from agency heads. The ministry will check each agency's key tasks and implementation plans in line with government policy direction and state projects, and review responsibilities such as disaster and safety management, public communication, regional economic revitalisation and shared growth.

Bitcoin-based DeFi protocol Babylon has raised $15 million from a16z Crypto and plans to expand the market for bitcoin-collateralised loans, Cointelegraph reported. The investment was made via purchases of Babylon's native BABY token. Babylon plans to use the funds to build bitcoin-collateral infrastructure. Founded in 2022, it is developing a trustless vault system to support on-chain loans using bitcoin collateral without moving funds. Babylon partnered with Aave Labs in December.