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Top blockchain and crypto news: Ethereum rises and rivals follow. Taxing times for US investors. New life for reborn crypto miner.

Amid the global energy crisis, nine companies from four countries — China, Japan, Australia and Saudi Arabia — announced they will jointly build a blockchain documentation platform to speed up customs clearance and cargo delivery to trade the commodities of energy, chemical products and metal. Fast facts Platform participants includes Sinochem Energy, Mitsui.Co, Macquarie CGM, Saudi […]

Speaking at the Singapore FinTech Festival, Singapore central bank chief Ravi Menon announces the launch of Project Orchid, a digital dollar project.

Affinidi, a Singapore-based technology company founded by state-owned investment firm Temasek, today announced the launch of a new business unit called Finnovate that aims to serve millions of underbanked individuals and small and medium enterprises across Southeast Asia by leveraging on Web 3.0 blockchain technologies. Fast facts Affinidi Finnovate is partnering with the financial services […]

The Central American nation is the first to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. As many countries face similar issues of large unbanked population and high remittance fees, will others follow suit?

New Jersey-based crypto banking services provider BlockFi and investment management firm Neuberger Berman jointly filed for a Bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday. Fast facts In September, the U.S. got its first Bitcoin-linked ETF with the launch of ProShares Bitcoin Strategy Fund. But ProShares’ ETF was backed […]

Signaling increased confidence in the future of digital assets, cryptocurrency investment products saw institutional investment inflows of US$174 million last week — the 12th consecutive week of inflows — bringing year-to-date inflows to a record US$8.9 billion, according to digital assets manager CoinShares. Fast facts Institutional investment into crypto products have surged this year with […]

BTC and ETH are surging to dizzying new heights today as part of a broader crypto market rally. What’s going on?

Before the crypto-enthusiastic mayor-elect has been sworn in, a grassroots effort announces it will launch a Bitcoin-backed token to support the city.

Mastercard has partnered with three crypto companies in Asia Pacific — Hong Kong-based Amber Group, Bitkub in Thailand, and CoinJar in Australia — to launch crypto-funded payment cards, according to a Nov. 8 media statement. Fast facts The three companies are the first APAC-based cryptocurrency platforms to join Mastercard’s global Crypto Card Program, which enables […]

Cryptocurrency exchange Huobi Global, which obtained a distributed ledger technology license from the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission in 2018, will be migrating its spot trading services to the regulated entity in Gibraltar (“Huobi Gibraltar”), the company announced today. Fast facts Huobi has received approval from the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission to migrate its cryptocurrency spot […]

The city’s disaffected post-protest youth and recent statistics suggest a brain drain in the city’s future.

China’s capital city, Beijing, is  inviting public tenders on a project to build a blockchain platform and computing center for government affairs with a total bidding price of 242 million yuan (approximately US$37.8 million). Fast facts The bidding project, “Beijing Municipal Experimental Blockchain Platform,” is for storing residents’ and city facility’s information and dealing with […]

Digital assets are disrupting financial services in ways not seen since the Middle Ages, writes Alex Tapscott of Ninepoint Partners. Here is the taxonomy for the future of finance.

As China continues to crack down on the private tutoring sector, one education-tech company has decided to pivot into blockchain and cryptocurrency mining. Fast facts Nasdaq-listed Meten Holding Group, which officially changed its name from Meten EdtechX Education Group in August, has moved forward with plan for the new business venture in the crypto world, […]

The country will follow global crypto guidelines in excluding non-fungible tokens (NFTs) from its categorization of virtual assets — meaning income from NFTs may remain untaxed in Korea.

Ethereum reached a new all-time price high of US$4,766 earlier today, flying past its previous all-time high record of US$4,634 set five days ago, according to CoinGecko data. Fast facts The world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market value has been on a record run since late last month. On Oct. 28, Ethereum’s price climbed to US$4,416 for the first time. The […]

hashport, a public utility that facilitates the movement of digital assets between distributed ledger technology networks without the need for a native network token, today announced that it will launch on Nov. 9, according to a media statement. At launch, hashport will connect the Hedera public distributed ledger to the Ethereum and Polygon networks. Fast […]

The familiarity of centralized systems may feel comforting, but decentralized technologies like blockchain are the wave of the future, writes Corey Petty of Status.

Solana Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners and cryptocurrency exchange FTX today announced that they are partnering to invest US$100 million on gaming studios and projects building on the Solana blockchain. Fast facts “Gaming has a massive opportunity to bring the next billion users to Web3,” said Amy Wu, partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, in a statement. […]

Chinese companies are in a craze for trademark registrations related to the metaverse, and Baidu and NetEase are the latest tech giants to register such trademarks. Fast facts According to the QiChacha, a website where you can search for information about Chinese company information, shows that NetEase has applied for three trademarks with the metaverse: […]

As Solana surges to new all-time highs, 50 fintech experts surveyed by Finder offer predictions on SOL’s price outlook for the end of the year and longer-term.

The traditional financial industry is getting its feet wet in tokenization of assets, and there’s an influx of interest in the private asset space, as Mathew McDermott, managing director of Goldman Sachs, said today at a Hong Kong Fintech Week panel moderated by Angie Lau, editor-in-chief and founder of Forkast.News. Fast facts McDermott said Goldman […]

22 private sector finance heavyweights together with the BIS and central banks of China, Hong Kong, Thailand, and UAE aim to achieve a production-ready international trade settlement platform using CBDCs.

Canaan is seeking $14 million in alleged losses from Shenzhen HighSharp Electronic Technology and Sichuan Yinbimei Technology.

India digital payments giant Paytm will consider launching crypto-related services if it becomes a regulated asset class in the country, Paytm CFO Madhur Deora told Bloomberg TV on Thursday. Fast facts “Bitcoin is still in a regulatory gray area, if not a regulatory ban in India,” Deora said. “If it [Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies] was […]

The idea of the metaverse has gone from the realm of science fiction to the latest business model of major companies from Facebook to Nike. What do metaverses powered by blockchain look like, and why is there so much interest in Decentraland?

DBS Bank — Southeast Asia’s largest lender — intends to scale its crypto exchange as it invests in blockchain and wants to be nimble to adapt to how DeFi evolves.

London-headquartered fintech startup Revolut is looking to build its own crypto exchange, according to a new job posting. Fast facts The selected candidate will lead neobank Revolut’s “technical team to architect and build Revolut Crypto exchange,” the job posting says. The candidate will need experience in building order matching engines, like those used on crypto […]

The bell has rung on the friendly, post-Election Day competition between leaders of two major American cities for who will be the crypto-friendliest mayor of all.

Equities and Bitcoin have a clearly demonstrated bond, but now oil is strengthening its relationship to crypto, too

Solana prices keep cresting to new heights, making SOL a top-five cryptocurrency by size. What makes Solana and its ecosystem stand out? Forkast.News explains.

Project Serum, a decentralized exchange on the Solana blockchain, has seen its total value locked (TVL) more than double over the past month to US$2.468 billion, according to data from a new Serum Markets Analytics dashboard launched today. Fast facts Solana — a high performance blockchain and alternative to Ethereum — has been gaining ground […]

Lee Jae-myung, the ruling Democratic Party’s candidate for the upcoming presidential election in South Korea, may include in his election pledges setting up a government sector dedicated to supervising the virtual asset industry. Fast facts It is reported that Lee is considering including a plan in his presidential campaign to set up a unit similar […]

DeFi is here to stay, but regulations are still lacking. Jason Blick of EQIBank explores the challenges and how authorities can move forward.

BTS’ label dreams bigger than just dominating the K-pop world — they want to digitize the IP even more.

Information Technology (IT) firms in South Korea set up shop in the realm of the metaverse, with their first step being non-fungible token (NFT) platforms.

Police crack a tele-fraud case related to digital yuan money laundering, potentially thanks to the CBDC’s ‘managed anonymity’ feature.

The price of Solana (SOL), the native cryptocurrency of the high-performance proof-of-stake Solana blockchain, hit a new all-time high US$245.69 this morning Asia time and briefly overtook Tether as the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market value, according to CoinGecko data. Fast facts Solana’s price surge comes ahead of the inaugural Breakpoint conference organized by the Solana Foundation, which will […]

As the U.S. economy shows signs of recovery from the pandemic-related recession, the Federal Reserve has announced it will begin tapering the US$120 billion a month it spends on bond purchases, hoping to address concerns of rising inflation. This has caused unease in the crypto industry as Bitcoin adoption over the past 18 months has […]

NYC Mayor-elect Eric Adams said he wanted to ‘look at what’s preventing the growth of Bitcoins and cryptocurrency in our city.’

Pay-for-play on Web 3.0 will instigate seismic shifts from centralized social media to community-driven platforms, writes Solo Ceesay of Calaxy. How would it work?

One of Asia’s largest fintech events returns for its sixth year with a hybrid format of live and virtual sessions. Regulators, corporations and experts share what’s important now in crypto.

Blockchain technology company Huobi Group is celebrating its 8th-year anniversary with a slew of events and giveaways — including a space trip “to the outer perimeters of Earth” — and a focus on expanding its global footprint, according to a company announcement. Fast facts Founded in 2013 in China, Huobi has made global expansion a priority […]

Yi Gang reiterates the PBOC’s stance to protect data, while failing to address privacy concerns over digital yuan.

On the heels of Facebook, or now Meta, Microsoft and Nike are also racing into the metaverse action. Fast facts Microsoft is introducing a more fun working environment experience by announcing 3D avatar and immersive meeting settings, according to media reports. The Verge reported that Microsoft will use artificial intelligence to listen to the creator’s […]

Top blockchain and crypto news: Stablecoins at regulatory crossroads. Squid Game crypto players suffer shocking fate. Are metaverses China’s new national insecurity?

Dogecoin and Shiba Inu are gaining massive traction and ranking among the top five traded cryptocurrencies on Indian exchanges. Fast facts Dogecoin contributed 13.76% to the overall trading volume of CoinSwitch Kuber, which claims to be the largest Indian crypto exchange with over 10 million customers, over the last six months, according to a report […]

Wrapped XRP (wXRP) will be supported on the Ethereum blockchain from December, according to an Oct. 31 announcement by Wrapped.com, a cross-chain wrapped assets provider. Fast facts Wrapped XRP will be backed 1:1 with XRP — the native cryptocurrency of the XRP Ledger (XRPL) — and held in custody with Hong Kong-based licensed digital asset […]

Ethereum crosses the $4,600 mark for the first time and Solana overtakes Cardano as the fifth-largest cryptocurrency by market value.

Amid debate in Australia surrounding the banking sector’s relationship with cryptocurrency, the country’s largest bank, Commonwealth Bank, will soon be allowing customers to buy, sell and hold crypto assets directly through its app — making it the first bank in the country to do so. Fast facts Partnering with leading global crypto exchange and custodian […]

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange is going to expand its crypto derivatives offerings and launch Micro Ether futures on Dec. 6, pending regulatory review. Fast facts Micro Ether futures will be sized at 1/10th of one Ether, allowing access to a wide range of investors amid surging Ether prices, according to a press release. Ether reached […]

Director Quentin Tarantino announced he will auction seven uncut scenes from Pulp Fiction as non-fungible tokens.

Thailand’s oldest bank, Siam Commercial Bank, has acquired a majority stake in the country’s largest crypto exchange Bitkub. Fast facts Siam Commercial Bank Securities, a subsidiary of SCB, has purchased 51% stake in Bitkub for approximately US$535.6 million, according to an announcement on Tuesday. The transaction is expected to be completed by the first quarter […]

The outcome of a Miami civil trial may uncover who Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto really was, and who owns his rumored US$66 billion in Bitcoin.

It’s a red light for those who bought the controversial token inspired by the Netflix mega-series Squid Game, as its developers appear to have cashed out their investments, leaving SQUID’s price to plunge 99.99%.

The highly awaited report outlines recommendations for stablecoin regulation and asks regulatory bodies to combat risks until Congress introduces new laws.

In a city where memories disappear every day, people are turning to blockchain to preserve news archives — so the first drafts of history will survive.

While the idea of the metaverse has many people talking and Chinese tech giants showing signs of making a foray into the space, a Beijing-based state-owned think tank has warned of the national security risks that the metaverse could bring. Fast facts In a research report titled “Metaverse and National Security” published Saturday by China […]

Sebastien Borget, COO and co-founder of The Sandbox tells Forkast.News how NFTs and an open and decentralized metaverse is transforming the way we live, work and play.

The hacked DeFi platform called China’s cyber police first thing as most users appear to be in China.

Bitcoin miners saw another mining difficulty adjustment on Monday, with an increase of 7.85%, recovering to the level recorded in May, according to data from BTC.com. Fast facts The mining difficulty level is now at 21.66 trillion at block height 707,616, reflecting the most difficult level since a previous adjustment on May 13, the data show. The latest […]

Cryptocurrency investment products saw inflows of US$288 million last week, with total inflows year-to-date at a record of US$8.7 billion — 30% higher than the total for 2020, according to digital asset manager CoinShares. Fast facts Bitcoin continued to lead with institutional inflows of US$269 million last week, albeit at a significantly lower level compared […]

The big-money world of NFTs is also attracting hackers, thieves and con artists. How do you know if that Ape NFT or digital Banksy is fake?

DOT, the native cryptocurrency of the Polkadot blockchain network, crossed the US$50 mark for the first time on Nov. 1 and reached a new all-time high (ATH) of US$50.87, surpassing its previous peak of US$48.73 in May, according to CoinGecko data. DOT, currently the 8th-largest cryptocurrency by market value, was trading at US$48.69 as of […]

CMCC Global, a venture capital firm based in Hong Kong, is targeting US$300 million worth of assets in its latest crypto fund, according to Bloomberg. Fast facts Since being launched in April, CMCC’s fourth digital asset fund has gathered assets close to an estimated value of US$90 million with a goal to reach the US$300 […]

This follows an attack on Cream Finance that also resulted in a $130M hack.

Shanghai outlined its plan to expand digital yuan pilot programs into the city’s five-year plan, in a recently released policy statement, “Shanghai’s Five-Year Plan of Comprehensive Promotion of Urban Digital Transformation.” Fast facts The plan said the city will expand pilot program for online and offline payments, transportation and government services. Shanghai is among the […]

Ant Group and Tencent recently rebranded NFT projects as digital collectibles amid China state media criticism.

Blockchain has achieved platform status, writes Don Tapscott of Blockchain Research Institute. Get ready for the ‘trivergence’ that will shake up the world.

The darling of the play-to-earn gaming world had an explosive start but now struggles with deflation and lower player earnings. Is the play-to-earn model sustainable?

More local governments in China are taking actions to crack down on cryptocurrency mining and trading, with Ganzhou, a prefecture-level city in the eastern province of Jiangxi, having deployed checks and inspections on local businesses. Fast facts The economic development zone in Ganzhou announced that it is working with the central bank’s local branch, the […]