Archives

Tokyo-based online brokerage Monex Group Inc. indicated it may join the bidding for the Japan subsidiary of the failed FTX cryptocurrency exchange.

Being on the watch, your tracker knows where you live, when you sleep and how healthy (or not) you are. What happens if your data is sold — or hacked?

Bitcoin held above US$21,000 in Tuesday morning trading in Asia with the total cryptocurrency market capitalization also briefly breaching the US$1 trillion-dollar mark in the last 24 hours for the first time since mid-November.

The central bank rolled out a “red packet” feature for its digital currency, the e-CNY, for the Lunar New Year holiday but it will require help from the tech giants it has bashed to popularize the digital yuan.

NFTs, tokenization and blockchain-based cross-border payments will see big paradigm shifts, but their success will depend on regulation, investment and adoption, writes Stephen Richardson of Fireblocks.

Bitcoin and Ether gained in Monday afternoon trading in Asia, along with all other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies.

The Bitcoin mining difficulty level jumped 10.26% on Monday morning in Hong Kong, hitting an all-time high reading of 37.59 trillion, as several U.S-based miners came back online from recent winter storms that forced them to unplug, according to data from BTC.com. See related article: Bitcoin hashrate drops nearly 40% as deadly U.S. storm unplugs […]

Lee Byung-gul, the CEO of V Global, will serve 25 years in prison after his conviction was upheld by the Supreme Court of Korea on Friday.

The U.S. House of Representatives has created a new congressional subcommittee focused on digital assets, as one of its first moves under the control of the Republican Party.

Bitcoin and Ether prices were little changed in Monday morning trading in Asia. Several of the top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies took a breather after strong gains over the weekend on the back of signs inflation may have peaked in the U.S.

Creditors of Singapore-based crypto lending and borrowing platform Hodlnaut have rejected a proposed restructuring plan and wish to liquidate the company.

Alameda Research liquidators were liquidated for US$72,000 from an on-chain position on decentralized finance (DeFi) lending platform Aave while trying to consolidate funds

Bitcoin rallied above the US$18,000 mark for the first time in nearly a month. Is this the start of a bull run or just another relief rally on the back of easing inflation pressure?

South Korea’s attempts to extradite the founder of the collapsed Terra-Luna stablecoin will remain hamstrung while the courts in Seoul dispute the charges against him.

Bitcoin and Ether rose in Friday afternoon trading in Asia, along with all other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies, after the U.S. posted a 6.5% year-on-year increase in the Consumer Price Index for December, which came in lower than inflation readings in previous months.

Crypto.com will lay off 20% of its workforce, its co-founder and chief executive officer Kris Marszalek said Friday in a Twitter post.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday charged cryptocurrency lender Genesis Global Capital and crypto exchange Gemini Trust with offering and selling unregistered securities to retail investors.

Coinbase, the world’s second largest cryptocurrency exchange by trade volume, is cutting jobs and closing down most of its operations in Japan.

Bitcoin and Ether prices jumped in Friday morning trading in Asia after the December U.S. Consumer Price Index released overnight rose 6.5%.

Bitcoin rebounded above US$18,000 on Friday as the U.S. consumer price index, rose 6.5% in December, matching expectations and continuing a downtrend from previous months.  

Cryptocurrency lender Nexo’s office in Bulgaria was raided by local authorities on Thursday over suspicion of money laundering, tax offenses, computer fraud and banking without a license.

El Salvador has passed landmark legislation that establishes a legal framework for all cryptocurrencies to build on the country’s “first-mover advantage.”

Bitcoin and Ether rose in Thursday afternoon trading in Asia, along with all other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies, as investors anticipate signs of slower inflation in the upcoming Thursday release of the U.S. Consumer Price Index for December.

Shanghai Two Sessions’ delegate urges stronger supervision in the metaverse industry, as metaverse fever continues.

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has received regulatory approval from the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority to operate as a financial institution to manage and trade in virtual currency, as part of the exchange’s continuing expansion in Europe.

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, is planning to increase staff by as much as 30% this year.

National Basketball Association (NBA) team Miami Heat’s home arena will soon be renamed after a Florida judge ended the naming rights agreement between the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange, FTX.com, and Miami-Dade County

The names of the crypto exchange’s 9 million customers and creditors will remain sealed from the public for at least three months.

DeFi Summer has cooled into Crypto Winter, but with a silver lining — investors are finally asking sensible questions like: ‘Where does the yield come from?’ writes Julian Koh of Ribbon Finance.

Bitcoin and Ether prices rose in Thursday morning trading in Asia along with most other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies, continuing almost a week’s run of price gains on signs of slower inflation in the U.S.

Immunefi founder Mitchell Amador believes the future security risks of CBDCs will highlight the benefits of DeFi.

Hong Kong has passed a new licensing regime on for crypto exchanges that will subject providers to the same legislation and rules as traditional finance.

Some 90% of user assets at WazirX, India’s largest crypto exchange by volume, are held in wallets at Binance while the remaining 10% are stored in hot and warm wallets, revealed WazirX’s proof of reserves that the company released on Wednesday.

Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has written to cryptocurrency exchange Zipmex Thailand seeking clarification on whether it has been operating as a digital-asset fund manager without permission, according to a Bloomberg report. 

Binance’s U.S. wing has received court approval to buy Voyager Digital’s crypto platform for US$20 million, as part of Voyager’s plan to liquidate in bankruptcy.

Top blockchain and crypto news: DCG under investigation. Lido DAO surges as Ethereum’s Shanghai upgrade looms. Hong Kong burnishes crypto credentials.

Bitcoin and Ethereum prices rose in Wednesday afternoon trading in Asia along with all other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies, with XRP leading gains.

Indian cryptocurrency exchanges faced a flurry of taxes on trading last year that saw volumes across most platforms drop as much as 90%, slashing income from trading fees. What’s a crypto exchange to do? Maybe sell mutual funds?

Barry Silbert of the Digital Currency Group wrote to shareholders on Tuesday to explain loans from its subsidiary Genesis Global Capital.

A Bitcoin transaction produced close to a metric ton of carbon emissions, while XRP was the most energy-efficient among the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization last year.

Binance Global, the world’s largest crypto exchange, has acknowledged flaws in its systems that allowed its BNB Smart Chain-based BUSD stablecoin to be under-collateralized by up to US$1 billion on at least three occasions, according to a Wednesday report from Bloomberg.

ConsenSys, the Ethereum software firm behind cryptocurrency wallet MetaMask, is reportedly planning to lay off at least 100 employees.

Bitcoin and Ether prices rose in Wednesday morning trading in Asia along with most other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies, continuing a strong start to the year on signs inflation is slowing in the U.S.

Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the U.S., will be letting go of about 950 employees, or about 20% of its current workforce, as part of “a further restructuring plan,” which is expected to be “substantially complete” by the second quarter of 2023. 

Microsoft is reportedly in talks to place a US$10 billion bet in OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT

India’s Decimal Point Analytics (DPA), a research and data analytics firm, has received grant funding of up to US$750,000 from The Hashgraph Association, a Switzerland-headquartered non-profit organization, to develop an asset tokenization platform on Hedera’s distributed ledger technology (DLT) network. 

Bitcoin dropped in afternoon trading on Tuesday along with most other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. Ethereum rose further while Dogecoin led gains. 

PayProtocol, the South Korean issuer of payments-focused cryptocurrency Paycoin (PCI), will reapply for a local license to stay in business.

Australian crypto exchange Swyftx is ending its crypto-interest earning product Earn on Tuesday due to a “constantly changing regulatory landscape” in the country, according to a company announcement.

NFTs in gaming have drawn mixed reactions, including gamer backlash and vitriol. What can the sector do to better meet gamers’ innermost needs?

Germany said “Godfather” virus generates a fake copy of a banking or crypto app login screen to appropriate a user’s information and steal funds.

Bitcoin and Ether gained in Tuesday trading in Asia along with most other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies, helped by signs inflation pressure is easing in the U.S.

Wyre Payments, a San Francisco-based crypto payments firm, will implement withdrawal limits for user accounts, it said in a Twitter statement on Jan.7.

Indian music composer A. R. Rahman, who won Best Original Score at the Oscars for the movie Slumdog Millionaire, has launched the ‘Katraar’ metaverse platform to promote new music creations and other art forms.

Bitcoin, Ethereum extended gains in afternoon trade in Asia on Monday along with the top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. Cardano rose the most in the last 24 hours, followed by Polygon, BNB and Dogecoin.

FTX’s collapse triggered a stablecoin sell-off, but we will need them to survive the Crypto Winter, writes Vladimir Gorbunov of Choise.com.

Hong Kong will continue pushing ahead with the development of the Web 3.0 industry as it aims to become a regional hub for the nascent industry despite the series of collapses of crypto exchanges, said Paul Chan, the city’s financial secretary on Monday.

Federal prosecutors have issued subpoenas to several U.S. hedge funds that have dealt with the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance Global Inc.

U.S. prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have started to investigate cryptocurrency-focused conglomerate Digital Currency Group (DCG), Bloomberg reported on Saturday, citing unnamed sources.

Bitcoin and Ether rose in Monday morning trading in Asia, rising with the rest of the top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, with Cardano and BNB changing the most.

Seychelles-based crypto exchange company Huobi plans to lay off about 20% of its staff, according to a Friday report from Reuters.

LDO surged as Ethereum’s upcoming March upgrade is expected to resolve current risks in ETH staking. BitDAO also gained with its buyback plan.

Bitcoin and Ether dipped in Friday afternoon trading in Asia, with nearly all other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies slipping. Dogecoin was the biggest loser, while Cardano’s ADA was the sole gainer in the top 10 cryptos.

The U.S. SEC has objected to Binance’s U.S. affiliate’s proposed US$1 billion purchase of bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital’s assets.

Hong Kong should make efforts to encourage the establishment of virtual assets rating agencies, and consider developing the e-HKD, the city’s central bank digital currency in the works, into a stablecoin, a Hong Kong lawmaker said in a recent media interview.

Animoca Brands Corp. has scaled down the target amount for its Web 3.0 and metaverse investment fund to US$1 billion.

Cryptocurrency-focused conglomerate Digital Currency Group (DCG) is shutting down its wealth management unit called HQ, CoinDesk, a DCG-owned media outlet, reported on Friday.

Bitcoin and Ether traded little changed Friday morning in Asia, with most other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies losing ground.

Slump in prices of some non-fungible tokens and other digital assets allows U.S. holders to take advantage of a loophole to reduce capital gains taxes.

Cryptocurrency bank Silvergate Capital has laid off 40% of its staff, or about 200 employees, after the collapse of FTX.com, which sparked mass withdrawals of around US$8.1 billion.

Bitcoin edged down and Ether remained unchanged on the day, in Thursday afternoon trading in Asia. Dogecoin was the biggest gainer among the top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies, while Litecoin recorded the largest loss.

A Shanghai court ruled that investments in cryptocurrency-powered play-to-earn (P2E) games are not protected by law in China.