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Blockchain-Powered Data Validation Platform Enhances Cross-Boundary Academic Credential Verification

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HONG KONG, Feb. 26, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — With the continuous development of the Greater Bay Area, data flow between Shenzhen and Hong Kong becomes increasingly frequent. Recently, WeBank Technology Services, in collaboration with Certizen Technology from Hong Kong, launched an innovative application in the education sector on the Shenzhen–Hong Kong cross-boundary data validation platform, supporting Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) in securely and efficiently verifying the educational information of students from Chinese mainland. This application not only facilitates relevant process for these students studying in Hong Kong, but can also support Hong Kong universities in optimizing the admission review processes and safeguarding academic integrity.

Instant Verification Improves Admission Review Efficiency

In recent years, the number of Chinese mainland students applying to Hong Kong universities has been on the rise. For graduate applications alone, Hong Kong universities receive tens of thousands of documents such as diplomas, degree certificates, and transcripts each year. While manual verification is time-consuming and prone to errors, there are also challenges that online cross-boundary data transmission faces, including the high compliance threshold for sensitive personal data and the lack of necessary digital infrastructure. There is an urgent need for an innovative solution to efficiently verify educational information while complying with regulations in both regions.

In January 2025, WeBank Technology Services and Certizen Technology proposed an innovative solution for reliable academic credential verification on the Shenzhen–Hong Kong cross-boundary data validation platform. Chinese mainland students can obtain their academic documents through a trusted data space built by the Authority of Qianhai Shenzhen. The platform generates a hash value (“data fingerprint”) for the documents using cryptographic algorithms and records it on the blockchain to ensure data immutability.

After students submit their application materials on the university’s official website, the university generates a set of “data fingerprint” based on the same cryptographic algorithm. The university then compares the two sets of ‘data fingerprint’ on the cross-boundary data validation platform to verify the authenticity and consistency of the data. During the verification process, the platform does not access the original documents, but only compares the online “data fingerprint” to quickly complete the reliable verification.

As the first university to connect to the platform, PolyU’s Policy Research Centre for Innovation and Technology (PReCIT) predicts a trimmed verification cycle from eight hours to under two minutes per 100 applications while maintaining accuracy by combining this innovative solution with the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) and its verifiable credential technology.

The First Shenzhen-Hong Kong Cross-boundary Data Infrastructure Expands to New Scenarios

The launch of the cross-boundary academic credential verification service marks a significant breakthrough of the Shenzhen–Hong Kong cross-boundary data validation platform in the education sector. It was jointly developed under the guidance and support of government departments from both regions. It is operated by China (Qianhai) Internet Exchange, Shenzhen Credit Service and WeBank Technology Services. WeBank providing the overall solution design and technical support.

The service platform is developed based on the Distributed Data Transmission Protocol (DDTP) concept proposed by WeBank, and is built with the technology ofthe open source blockchain platform FISCO BCOS. It uses the immutability and traceability of blockchain technology to secure authenticity of user-carried data through hash value verification, meeting cross-boundary data regulatory requirements while safely and efficiently enabling cross-boundary data flow. Notably, DDTP has successfully obtained approval for standardization from the IEEE Standards Association (IEEE SA). This positions DDTP to potentially become the first international standard in the field of trustworthy personal data portability.

As the first digital cross-boundary infrastructure between Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, the Shenzhen–Hong Kong cross-boundary data validation platform has been applied in eight scenarios across institutions, including MSME financing, enterprise account opening, and cross-boundary tuition payment. It has not only provided convenience for residents and enterprises in both regions but also injected new energy into the deep integration and high-quality development of the Greater Bay Area’s economy.

About WeBank Technology Services
Launched in Hong Kong in June 2024, WeBank Technology Services sets out to leverage WeBank’s cutting-edge fintech capabilities and digital finance best practice to deliver a variety of superior digital finance and digital infrastructure solutions to digital banks, financial institutions, government agencies, and industry partners worldwide.

About WeBank
Launched in 2014, WeBank Co., Ltd. (“WeBank”) is the first digital bank in China. WeBank provides convenient financial services to micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and the public, and continuously improves the quality of services in response to customers’ specific needs. WeBank ranks No. 1 in The Asian Banker’s Global Top 100 Digital Banks in 2025. By June 2024, WeBank has served over 400 million retail customers and 5 million MSMEs.

WeBank focuses on innovation and technology. WeBank has maintained its proportion of technical personnel above 50% since its establishment, while its research and development expenses have accounted for around 10% of its revenue. WeBank is now at the top of the industry in core technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, cloud computing and big data.

 

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/blockchain-powered-data-validation-platform-enhances-cross-boundary-academic-credential-verification-302385704.html

SOURCE WeBank Technology Services

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Power Knot MEA Recognized as THE BIZZ 2026 Winner for Business Excellence

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FREMONT, Calif., Oct. 3, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Power Knot LLC, the market leader for on-site organic waste management solutions, announced that its sister office, Power Knot Middle East (PKME), has been recognized as a THE BIZZ 2026 Winner by the World Confederation of Businesses (WORLDCOB).

The recognition reflects PKME’s business excellence, leadership, and quality standards, highlighting its work to help organizations across the UAE and wider Gulf region improve food waste management.

PKME provides on-site food waste biodigestion technology through the LFC biodigester, an automated system that uses microorganisms and oxygen to digest food waste into wastewater within 24 hours. The regional team supports customers from equipment selection and installation to ongoing technical support.

Designed for commercial operations, the LFC biodigester helps facilities process food waste where it is generated, reducing reliance on storage, collection, and off-site disposal. This approach helps businesses reduce waste handling, improve kitchen hygiene, and lower the costs associated with transporting food waste to landfill.

Power Knot’s complementary equipment, including BCG shredders, SBT bin tippers, and water management systems, supports facilities with different waste volumes and operational requirements.

The award recognizes Power Knot’s commitment to delivering practical solutions backed by reliable equipment and customer support. As organizations across the Gulf seek more efficient ways to manage food waste, the team continues to help customers turn sustainability goals into everyday operational improvements.

About THE BIZZ Awards

The BIZZ Awards, hosted by the World Confederation of Businesses (WORLDCOB), recognize business excellence, innovation, and leadership across more than 130 countries. Winners are evaluated on business leadership, management, quality, innovation, and corporate social responsibility, joining a global network of organizations committed to excellence and continuous improvement.

For more information access https://thebizzawards.com/

About Power Knot

Power Knot provides safe, reliable, and economically sound solutions for commercial, industrial, and military organizations worldwide seeking to reduce waste and lower their environmental impact. Our products help organizations reduce their carbon footprint by efficiently moving, lifting, grinding, digesting, pumping, filtering, and reporting on waste streams. Designed, developed, and manufactured in Silicon Valley, California.

For more information, visit powerknot.com.

marketing@powerknot.com

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/power-knot-mea-recognized-as-the-bizz-2026-winner-for-business-excellence-302897697.html

SOURCE Power Knot LLC

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SafeGuard Privacy Wins Second AdExchanger Award for Best Privacy Technology

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SafeGuard Privacy has won the 2026 AdExchanger Award for Best Privacy Technology, its second win in the category and fourth straight year as a finalist. The award recognizes its role as the infrastructure behind privacy diligence in digital advertising, from powering the IAB Diligence Platform to bringing privacy diligence into IAB Tech Lab’s agentic buying specs.

NEW YORK, Oct. 3, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — SafeGuard Privacy has won the 2026 AdExchanger Award for Best Privacy Technology, its second win in the category and its fourth consecutive year as a finalist. The award recognizes SafeGuard Privacy’s work as the infrastructure behind privacy diligence in digital advertising, including the IAB Diligence Platform and privacy diligence built into IAB Tech Lab’s agentic buying specs.

“When we started SafeGuard Privacy, the industry handled privacy diligence with spreadsheets and hope. Now it runs through a shared standard. As AI agents start buying media, diligence has to move at machine speed without losing its legal rigor.” Richy Glassberg, CEO, SafeGuard Privacy

“When we started SafeGuard Privacy, the industry handled privacy diligence with spreadsheets and hope,” said Richy Glassberg, CEO and Co-Founder of SafeGuard Privacy. “Now it runs through a shared standard, inside the IAB Diligence Platform and the Tech Lab’s agentic buying specs. Seeing AdExchanger recognize that shift, for the second time, means a lot. The next shift is already here. As AI agents start buying media on behalf of brands, diligence has to move at machine speed without losing its legal rigor. That’s what we’re building now, and I’m proud of the team doing it.”

Glassberg brings more than three decades of experience across media, advertising, technology, and privacy, including as a member of the founding team of CNN.com and a co-founder of the Interactive Advertising Bureau.

Highlights:

Industry standard: The IAB chose SafeGuard Privacy to power the IAB Diligence Platform and built the standardized assessments behind it.Agentic advertising: SafeGuard Privacy is integrated into IAB Tech Lab’s AAMP 2.3, bringing privacy diligence into the Buyer Agent as media buying moves to AI agents.International expansion: The IAB Diligence Platform expanded to Europe through work with BVDW and Nexida in Germany, including certification for the German market.Legal AI: Privacy Assist™ is purpose-built AI for privacy diligence. It suggests assessment answers, drafts RFI responses, and searches across vendors, assessments, and privacy law, turning days of work into minutes.Legal depth: Assessments cover 24+ U.S. states and global privacy requirements, built around how data moves through advertising.Adoption: A thousand companies are on the SafeGuard Privacy platform, including major advertisers, top agency holding companies, and ad tech companies that span the breadth of the industry.Recognition: SafeGuard Privacy has won AdExchanger’s Best Privacy Technology award twice and has been a finalist four consecutive years.

“Establishing a consistent approach to privacy diligence is critical to building greater accountability across digital advertising,” said Michael Hahn, EVP & General Counsel, IAB. “Our work with SafeGuard Privacy on the IAB Diligence Platform has helped make privacy compliance and vendor due diligence more standardized and scalable across the industry. Congratulations to Richy and the entire SafeGuard Privacy team on this well-deserved recognition and their continued commitment to advancing privacy standards.”

SafeGuard Privacy continues to build software that addresses the practical challenges companies face as advertising technology, data use, and privacy requirements become more complex.

“SafeGuard Privacy has helped us make our diligence efforts more efficient and standardized across partners. The ability to easily share assessments and the integration with the IAB Diligence Platform has helped set an industry standard and support our compliance efforts. The new agentic tools only help advance those efforts, and we are excited to leverage them,” said Rachel Glasser, Chief Privacy Officer, Magnite.

As privacy diligence becomes a more fundamental part of how the advertising ecosystem operates, SafeGuard Privacy will continue investing in the standards, software and legal expertise that make it possible to do that work at scale. From the IAB Diligence Platform to the next generation of agentic advertising, the company is focused on building privacy infrastructure that can keep pace with how the industry operates – and how it continues to evolve.

About SafeGuard Privacy

SafeGuard Privacy is the only privacy compliance solution purpose-built for companies that use consumer data. It is the first legal assessment and vendor management platform for leading global brands, publishers, and Ad Tech. The IAB chose SafeGuard Privacy to power the IAB Diligence Platform, creating the industry standard for privacy regulation compliance and vendor due diligence. Standardized, comprehensive, and fully auditable, SafeGuard Privacy now includes Privacy Assist™, the first suite of privacy-specific AI tools that helps compliance and legal teams complete assessments and RFIs faster with transparency and accuracy. SafeGuard Privacy makes it easy for buyers and sellers to accelerate growth while staying ahead of fast-changing privacy risks.

For more information, visit www.safeguardprivacy.com.

Media Contact

Matt Anderson, SafeGuard Privacy, 1 9174074047, matt@safeguardprivacy.com, www.safeguardprivacy.com

Lana McGilvray, Purpose Worldwide, 1 512.970.8310, lana@purposenorthamerica.com, https://www.purposenorthamerica.com/

View original content:https://www.prweb.com/releases/safeguard-privacy-wins-second-adexchanger-award-for-best-privacy-technology-302897501.html

SOURCE SafeGuard Privacy

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ARTBOX, KOREA’S ICONIC LIFESTYLE RETAILER, MAKES U.S. DEBUT WITH LOS ANGELES POP-UP FEATURING GLOBAL K-POP ICON ILLIT

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The Korean retailer, founded in 1984, will open its first U.S. retail activation on Melrose Avenue from October 3–11, marking the first step in ARTBOX’s broader American expansion

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 3, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — ARTBOX, Korea’s original design-lifestyle retail brand, is officially coming to America. From October 3 through October 11, 2026, the beloved Korean retailer will take over 8250 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90046 for its first directly operated U.S. retail activation, introducing American consumers to the products, original characters and sense of discovery that have made ARTBOX a retail destination across South Korea.

Kicking off the nine-day pop-up on October 3, ARTBOX will celebrate its U.S. arrival alongside the global K-pop group and ARTBOX ambassador ILLIT — YUNAH, MINJU, WONHEE, IROHA— bringing K-pop and Korean lifestyle together with ARTBOX’s world of original characters and products on Melrose Avenue. The partnership brings together two Korean names with strong Gen Z audiences, introducing ARTBOX and its distinctly Korean approach to lifestyle retail to U.S. consumers.

The October 3 opening celebration will feature a special appearance by ARTBOX global ambassador ILLIT, who will join the opening remarks and photo call, meet with selected media, and experience the pop-up firsthand through a store tour and DIY decorating activity.

Following the opening celebration, consumers will be invited to step inside the ARTBOX universe through a series of immersive zones combining shopping, original character IP, K-culture and interactive experiences. The current pop-up design includes:

Step Into the Fun Side: An immersive entrance welcoming guests into the ARTBOX world, anchored by oversized ARTBOX characters — including alien character Lazywag — and visual content.Meet the ARTBOX Gang: A dedicated character and IP experience showcasing ARTBOX’s original characters alongside character merchandise, collectibles, stationery and accessories.Immerse in the K-Fever / Unbox the K-Wave: A K-culture experience featuring ILLIT, K-pop and interactive photo moments, connecting ARTBOX’s Korean roots with the global cultural phenomenon surrounding Korean entertainment.DIY at the Cute Custom Corner: A hands-on customization experience inspired by Korea’s decorating culture, with opportunities to personalize items such as journals, phones and accessories.Take Your Treats Home: A shoppable finale featuring ARTBOX products alongside an exciting Gacha experience.

More than a traditional shopping experience, the pop-up is designed as a roughly 40–45 minute journey through ARTBOX’s world of original characters, interactive moments, constantly refreshed products and highly visual spaces.

FROM SEOUL TO LOS ANGELES

Founded in Seoul in 1984, ARTBOX began with a simple premise: everyday objects should never have to be ordinary. What started as a design-led stationery business has evolved over four decades into a major Korean lifestyle retail destination, spanning 222 stores across South Korea and more than 20,000 active SKUs.

Today, ARTBOX extends far beyond stationery, bringing together eight lifestyle categories encompassing character goods and K-culture, stationery and writing, home and living, beauty and wellness, fashion and travel, gifts and seasonal products, digital and mobile accessories, and food and snacks. At the center of the brand are its original character IPs, which extend across products, collectibles, retail experiences, collaborations, licensing and social storytelling. Together, this mix of design, curation, character and culture gives ARTBOX broad appeal across Gen Z and Millennials, families, tourists and K-culture audiences.

Now, ARTBOX is looking beyond Korea.

Los Angeles marks ARTBOX’s first step into the U.S. market, with Southern California serving as the first phase of the retailer’s broader expansion plans. The Melrose pop-up will introduce American consumers to ARTBOX’s retail model, products and in-store experience firsthand.

The move comes as Korean culture continues to shape entertainment, beauty, fashion, food and lifestyle globally, creating an opportunity for ARTBOX to introduce another side of Korean culture to U.S. consumers.

“Los Angeles is a natural starting point for ARTBOX’s U.S. journey, bringing together culture, creativity and diverse communities,” said Kevin Cho, Head of Global Business at ARTBOX. “This pop-up marks an exciting first step as we introduce ARTBOX’s unique take on Korean lifestyle retail to U.S. consumers.” 

The Los Angeles pop-up will also give ARTBOX an opportunity to introduce the brand directly to U.S. consumers as it explores a longer-term footprint in the market. The company is actively exploring long-term retail opportunities with landlords and development partners in the United States.

The ARTBOX Los Angeles Pop-Up will run October 3–11, 2026 at 8250 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90046, with public hours from 4:30 PM–8:30 PM on October 3 and 11:00 AM–7:00 PM from October 4–11.

For more information, visit
https://www.instagram.com/artbox.global_official
https://www.tiktok.com/@artbox.global_official
https://www.youtube.com/@artbox_official 

ABOUT ARTBOX
Founded in Seoul in 1984, ARTBOX is Korea’s original design-lifestyle retail brand, transforming everyday objects into experiences people want to discover, collect and share. With 222 stores across South Korea, ARTBOX brings together stationery and writing, home and living, beauty and wellness, character goods and K-culture, fashion and travel, digital and mobile accessories, gifts and seasonal products, and food and snacks through a constantly evolving mix of original design, curation and culture. Built around more than four decades of product development, retail operations and design expertise, ARTBOX creates discovery-driven retail experiences where consumers can shop, explore, play and share.

MEDIA CONTACT
Foundation
artbox@wearefoundation.co

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SOURCE ARTBOX

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