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Cryptocurrency advocacy group Chamber of Digital Commerce (CDC) has sought to be an amicus curiae (Latin for friend of court) in the lawsuit between the Securities and Exchange Commission and Ripple Labs. See related article: Ripple opposes SEC request to seal expert witness identities in XRP lawsuit Fast facts CDC Wednesday filed several documents in […]

South Korea will issue a guideline for regulating the metaverse instead of applying existing law on video games, the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) announced at a government briefing on Wednesday. See related article: S.Korea’s science ministry announces ethical principles for the metaverse Fast facts The guideline that will be used to better promote […]

Seongnam, the 12th most populated city in South Korea, is planning to recreate the city in the metaverse and will issue non-fungible token (NFT) citizenships to give access to municipal information, according to local media reports. See related article: South Korea’s capital city launches first stage of “Metaverse Seoul” Fast facts The city will finalize […]

Bitcoin was little changed while most of the crypto top ten by market capitalization rose, edging the entire crypto market cap back above US$1 trillion in Thursday morning trading in Asia. Ether and Cardano led the gains after Wednesday’s slump on inflation concerns in the U.S. See related article: Markets: Bitcoin, Ether drop on CPI […]

London-based Ownera has raised US$20 million in a Series A funding round from investors including banking giant JPMorgan and private asset management firm LRC Group. See related article: Tokenized assets may make up 10% of global GDP by 2030: report Fast facts The funds will be used to deploy a global interoperability network to unlock […]

Diamond Standard Co. has raised US$30 million in a Series A funding round led by Left Lane Capital and Horizon Kinetics, the company announced in a statement.  See related article: De Beers to use Tracr blockchain to assure sourcing of diamonds Fast facts The blockchain startup allows institutional and retail investors to trade tokenized counterparts […]

Top blockchain and crypto news: Binance bets on Ethereum Merge. What does Terra’s sudden resurgence mean? China seeks to expand e-CNY ecosystem.

Tencent Cloud, the cloud computing services arm of the Chinese tech giant, on Tuesday, announced it signed a memorandum of understanding with Web 3.0 firm Strange Universe Technology to create and host virtual reality (VR) spaces for businesses. See related article: Tencent Cloud continues blockchain expansion with two new platforms  Fast facts See related article: […]

Global investment firm KKR has partnered with digital assets securities firm Securitize to offer tokenized positions for its clients with at least US$5 million in investible assets, exposing them to its US$4 billion health care equity fund, the Wall Street Journal reported. See related article: Guide to tokens and NFTs: what is ‘tokenization’ and how […]

Cryptocurrency markets continued their skid in Wednesday afternoon trading in Asia, with the global market capitalization dipping to around US$997 billion, down 6% in the last 24 hours. All cryptocurrencies in the top 10 by market cap fell. Solana led the losers, with Bitcoin coming in second. Stock markets slumped. See related article: Markets: Bitcoin, […]

Ethereum post-Merge will be much more attractive to institutional investors keen on ESG and earning stable yields, writes Wei Zhou of Coins.ph. Here’s why.

In a decision involving Litecoin, a Chinese court says there are no rules ‘that negate the protectability of cryptocurrency itself as virtual property.’

South Korean prosecutors investigating the collapse of Terra-LUNA have issued an arrest warrant for Terraform Labs cofounder and chief executive officer Kwon Do-hyung, also known as Do Kwon, the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office told Forkast. See related article: Securities or not? South Korea to evaluate Terra’s LUNA token Fast facts “Violation of the capital […]

Amid its bankruptcy proceedings, crypto lender Celsius Network LLC, one of the major players in the contagion that struck the industry earlier this year, plans to reorganize as a crypto custody business, according to audio shared by a customer of the company and a report by the New York Times. See related article: Celsius files […]

Over a month after placing the Ethereum coin-mixing tool Tornado Cash under sanctions, the U.S. Treasury Department announced a way for Tornado Cash users to recover their funds on Tuesday.  See related article: Tether says didn’t freeze sanctioned Tornado Cash addresses so as to not interfere in investigations Fast facts The new guidance provides a […]

South Korea’s Cytown Metaverse is holding a virtual poll and discussion on the topic of giving the members of K-pop megagroup BTS a special exemption from the country’s mandatory military service. See related article: Google approves South Korea’s Cyworld metaverse app Fast facts Cytown opened a public poll on the topic in Cy-agora, the virtual […]

Bitcoin mining difficulty rose by 3.45% on Wednesday, reaching an all-time high, according to data from BTC.com. See related article: Argentinian tax agency conducts first-ever raids on illegal crypto mining farms Fast facts The mining difficulty reading was at 32.05 trillion, as of block height 753,984, the data showed. The difficulty level, which changes about […]

EDX Markets Crypto Exchange, backed by Charles Schwab, Citadel Securities, Fidelity Digital Assets, Paradigm, Sequoia Capital and Virtu Financial, seeks to settle trades on the blockchain for greater speed and efficiency at lower cost, eliminating the need for bilateral settlements, according to a press release on Tuesday. See related article: FTX agrees to help South […]

Global cryptocurrency exchange Huobi Global announced it will sign a memorandum of understanding with South Korea’s Busan city on Wednesday to help the city establish its first crypto exchange and promote its blockchain ecosystem. See related article: Binance to help S. Korea’s Busan build first city-backed exchange Fast facts The agreement entails Huobi providing technical […]

Bitcoin fell almost 10% with Ether close behind in Wednesday morning trading in Asia as the August U.S. consumer price index, a key inflation indicator, came in higher than expected overnight, driving down equity markets and pointing to more agressive interest rate increases by the Federal Reserve. All cryptocurrencies in the top 10 by market […]

Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, dropped over 4% at 9.40 p.m. Hong Kong time, after the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the consumer price index (CPI) had inched up 0.1% in August from July.  See related article: Markets: Bitcoin, Solana continue rally, Ether slips in anticipation of Merge Fast facts The […]

Tighter restrictions on cryptocurrency usage in China have prompted leading storage service platform RRMine Global to close its mainland China operations and move its headquarters to Singapore. See related article: China has seen blockchain’s future and it doesn’t include cryptocurrencies Fast facts “As Singapore has been one of the world’s most open economies for a […]

Argentina’s tax collection agency (AFIP) has concluded its first-ever operations against illegal and “clandestine” crypto mining farms operating within the country, the agency announced last week. See related article: Crypto miners should disclose energy data, US lawmakers say Fast facts The AFIP conducted four raids on crypto farms that were under the guise of other […]

The Crypto Fraud and Asset Recovery Network (CFAAR), which calls itself the first global network of its kind, has launched a Hong Kong-based chapter in collaboration with seven local finance, law, and crypto regulation experts.  See related article: Australia establishes federal crypto police unit Fast facts The Crypto Fraud and Asset Recovery network began in […]

Identifying characteristics of securities in Terra’s tokens could help South Korea with new charges on Terraform Labs and CEO Do Kwon.

The Merge is the most anticipated event in the crypto industry in years, but could the multibillion dollar non-fungible token industry become an unexpected casualty?

Bitcoin and Solana continued their rallies in Tuesday afternoon trading in Asia, both up over 10% in the past week. However, Ether continued to slip as the market awaited the upcoming Etherium “Merge.”  See related article: Markets: Bitcoin, Solana lead gains in crypto top ten, Ether slips ahead of Merge Fast facts Bitcoin was up […]

Tokenized assets are expected to expand into a US$16 trillion business opportunity by 2030 — making up 10% of global GDP by the end of the decade — from US$310 billion in 2022. This is according to a new report by global consulting firm BCG and the digital exchange for private markets ADDX. See related […]

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said it is unable to determine the proportion of cryptocurrency holdings by the general public in the city-state as these include transactions with both Singapore-based as well as overseas service providers.   See related article: Singapore’s MAS says needs to do better job explaining crypto policy Fast facts “Data on […]

Crypto exchange Huobi has ceased topping-up service for seven kinds of privacy-focused tokens on its exchange as it prepares to delist the tokens on Sept. 19, citing regulatory concerns. See related article: Privacy protocol Monero completes upgrade to make transactions more private Fast facts See related article: Huobi-incubated Chinese NFT platform iBox ends international operations

The most critical upgrade in Ethereum’s history is just around the corner, so what will it mean for prices of cryptocurrency?

The largest coffeehouse chain in the world recently announced a new non-fungible token platform, while other coffee chains have eyed the technology long before.

Cryptocurrency firm Ripple Labs filed a letter of response on Monday to oppose the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s request to seal portions of legal filings that contain information identifying the SEC’s proposed expert witnesses, as the SEC’s lawsuit against Ripple Labs drags on. See related article: SEC seeks to seal information exposing expert witness […]

Ethereum’s completion of its much anticipated ‘Merge’ this week will unlikely improve the network’s long-term speed or scalability, writes Mark Lurie of Shipyard Software. Why is this so, and why will it still be good for innovation?

The financial services giant Fidelity Investments is considering a move that would allow its individual brokerage customers to trade Bitcoin (BTC), according to a Wall Street Journal report.  See related article: Fidelity’s crypto arm wants to add Ethereum trading, plans hiring spree Fast facts The WSJ cited “people familiar with the matter” and a statement […]

Bitcoin rose to hold its gains above US$22,000 in Tuesday morning trading in Asia, a price it crossed on Monday for the first time in three and half weeks. Ether slipped, while Solana posted the largest gains among the top ten tokens by market capitalization. See related article: Markets: Bitcoin sole gainer in crypto top […]

India’s financial crime fighting agency has allowed WazirX to resume banking operations after unfreezing its bank accounts, the crypto exchange said on Monday. See related stories: India’s WazirX says it has no-tolerance policy on illegal activities Fast facts WazirX, one of India’s largest crypto exchanges by trading volume, said in a statement that its active […]

The eleven winners highlight the achievements and importance of women in the burgeoning Web3 space.

Banque de France and the Central Bank of Nigeria will headline the newest batch of eight members joining the Linux Foundation’s enterprise blockchain ecosystem, the Hyperledger Foundation. See related article: Back to the future: Blockchain returns to the real world Fast facts See related article: How enterprises are fueling blockchain adoption among SMEs

Cryptocurrency-related insurance is a vast untapped market, with less than 1% of crypto investments covered amid hacks and losses in the industry running into the billions of dollars, Cointelegraph reported, citing an executive from decentralized insurance protocol InsurAce. See related article: DeFi insurance: Why buy coverage for your digital assets? Fast facts Dan Thomson, the […]

Bitcoin rose back above US$22,000 in Monday afternoon trading in Asia, while Ether slipped. Solana saw the second-biggest gain among the 10 largest coins by market capitalization after Bitcoin, while the rest of the top 10 were little changed. See related article: Markets: Bitcoin sole gainer in crypto top ten, Ether dips, Polkadot leads losers […]

Ethereum has long grappled with centralization, which the Merge will unlikely address in a meaningful way, writes Daniel Dizon of Swell Network.

Singapore-based crypto trader Alphalab Capital put together charts to show investors how different exchanges plan to handle Ether after the Merge. Note, some exchanges declined to comment.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a motion seeking to seal portions of the filings that contain information identifying the SEC’s expert witnesses in its lawsuit against Ripple Labs. See related article: SEC, Ripple take XRP lawsuit battle to media as well Fast facts The SEC wrote in the motion on Friday that […]

China’s central bank is pushing for interconnectivity between its digital yuan and other traditional digital electronic payment tools through universal QR code payments, as the country expands the pilots for its digital currency. See related article: China to speed up, expand digital yuan smart contracts, PBOC official says Fast facts Fan Yifei, a deputy governor […]

A South Korean man in his 30s was recently sentenced to four years in prison after producing and storing sexually exploitative content involving minors he lured on the metaverse. See related article: South Korea struggles to prevent sexual harassment of minors in the metaverse Fast facts The man, whose identity was not made public, had […]

Amid an increased focus on cryptocurrency among global regulators and lawmakers, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is launching a new office dedicated to reviewing filings related to digital assets. See related article: MicroStrategy and Michael Saylor sued by District of Columbia for evading taxes Fast facts The SEC is adding the Office of […]

Bitcoin held weekend gains to move toward US$22,000 in Monday morning trading in Asia, while other tokens in the top 10 by market capitalization were flat to lower. Ether slipped, along with Polkadot and XRP. See related article: Markets: Bitcoin, Ether little changed; Polkadot leaps Dogecoin into crypto top ten Fast facts Bitcoin rose 0.3% […]

Interoperability is a key characteristic for the metaverse to be useful, writes Dr. Dimitry Mihaylov of National Univ. of Singapore. But the technology and laws are still lacking.

Bitcoin and Ether rallied in late Friday afternoon trading in Asia, helping drive up the global cryptocurrency market capitalization more than 5% to back above the US$1 trillion mark.  Solana led the gains among tokens in CoinMarketCap’s top 10 by market capitalization.  See related article: Markets: Bitcoin, Ether little changed; Polkadot leaps Dogecoin into crypto […]

Over US$30 million worth of cryptocurrency stolen by North Korea-linked hackers has been seized by law enforcement, with the help of crypto organizations like the Chainalysis Crypto Incident Response Team. See related article: North Korea behind Ronin hack: US Fast facts This marks the first time that digital assets stolen from North Korean hacking groups […]

White House says carbon footprint of crypto industry does not align with goals to decarbonize the economy.

Demand for non-fungible tokens connected to the late monarch surge along with prices.

The Singapore-based bank said it will buy land in the metaverse to create the ‘DBS BetterWorld’ and build a virtual community.

Bitcoin and Ethereum were largely unchanged in Friday morning trading in Asia. Polkadot rose to leapfrog Dogecoin into the top 10 list by market capitalization, while Solana posted the biggest percentage gain on the list. See related article: Markets: Bitcoin climbs above $19,000, Ether bounces back, BNB gains on staking Fast facts Bitcoin rose less […]

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) should lead the way in global regulation of crypto assets, India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has urged IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva at their meeting in New Delhi. See related article: Crypto regulation has to ‘take its time’: India FM Nirmala Sitharaman Fast facts At their meeting on Wednesday, they […]

WazirX, India’s largest crypto exchange by volume, has begun to publish data-driven reports for over 200 coins listed on its exchange, with data from  crypto intelligence firms Crebaco and IntoTheBlock.  See related article: TZ APAC, NUS join for blockchain, computing education Fast facts Research reports by Crebaco published on WazirX aim to help readers understand […]

Bitcoin held onto gains above US$19,000 in late afternoon trading in Asia. Ethereum also rallied to post the biggest gain among tokens in CoinMarketCap’s top 10 by market capitalization. Terra Luna Classic surged more than 50%. See related article: Markets: Bitcoin climbs above $19,000, Ether bounces back, BNB gains on staking Fast facts Bitcoin rose […]

The US$258 billion lawsuit filed against Tesla CEO Elon Musk by an American Dogecoin investor accusing him of running a Dogecoin cryptocurrency pyramid scheme is heating up as new players are summoned in the case. See related article: Markets: Dogecoin still in the dog house; Bitcoin, Ether make up some ground Fast facts First filed […]

Two U.S. Federal Reserve officials have called for new regulations specifically for stablecoins and reiterated the new asset class holds risks similar to traditional finance. See related article: Financial Stability Board calls for high regulatory standards for stablecoins Fast facts Michael Barr, the Fed’s vice chair for supervision, said on Wednesday at a Brookings Institution […]

Cryptocurrency lender Nexo has launched a spot, margin and futures trading platform for retail clients with the launch of Nexo Pro. See related article: Nexo and Fidelity Digital Assets expand institutional lending services Fast facts The London-based crypto platform aims to offer retail clients access to institutional-grade aggregated liquidity with no minimum funding requirements, the […]

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand (Thai SEC) has filed a police complaint against cryptocurrency exchange Zipmex and Akalarp Yimwilai, cofounder of the company and CEO of its Thai unit, for non-compliance. See related article: Thailand mandates warnings on crypto ads Fast facts In a statement, Thai SEC said it had ordered Zipmex to […]

A financial regulator in Vermont has all but said that bankrupted Celsius Network LLC resembled a Ponzi scheme at times, alleging the crypto lender had used new investor funds to repay previous investors, as well as misled investors about its financial health and bolstered its balance sheets by using its CEL token. See related article: […]

GameStop shares jumped over 11% in after-market trading on Wednesday following an announced partnership with the cryptocurrency exchange giant FTX US, which will focus on “new e-commerce and online marketing initiatives.” See related article: FTX agrees to help South Korea’s Busan build its own crypto exchange Fast facts The announcement came in tandem with GameStop’s […]

Bitcoin is the most secure blockchain, and Ethereum’s proof-of-stake move will expose it to more security risks, writes Jagdeep Sidhu of Syscoin Network.

Bitcoin rose above US$19,000 on Thursday morning in Asia, recovering along with other tokens in the top 10 by market capitalization after a sharp sell off on Wednesday. Ether moved higher after the Binance exchange, the world’s biggest, said it would offer Ether staking, a move that boosted its own BNB token. See related article: […]

Switzerland-based SEBA Bank, a global cryptocurrency lender, has introduced Ethereum staking services aimed at enabling clients to earn staking rewards on Ethereum. See related article: Ethereum’s Bellatrix upgrade now live despite concerns Fast facts Ethereum staking services would enable clients to earn rewards on a monthly basis, with adjustable lock-up periods available post-Merge, SEBA Bank […]

Top blockchain and crypto news: USDC gets the boot from Binance. MicroStrategy looks for Lightning strikes. STEPN heads to Hong Kong.

Bitcoin fell further in Wednesday afternoon trading in Asia, while Ether lost the most ground among the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. Ethereum Classic fell more than 15%.   See related article: Markets: Bitcoin slumps below US$19,000, Ether drops despite Merge progress Fast facts Bitcoin dropped 5.6% in the past 24 hours to US$18,801.4 at […]

The second-last upgrade required ahead of “The Merge” has gone live, though some kinks may need to be ironed out before the main event.

China’s Blockchain-based Service Network wears two hats in building blockchains: one for business in China and one for everywhere else, but it doesn’t see a role for crypto in either.

The country’s growing ties to crypto could expose its financial sector to volatility and ‘damage its credibility,’ a researcher says.