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As China intensifies its crypto crackdown, regulatory clarity is a beacon for safer shores in Southeast Asia.

Hong Kong, a hotbed for crypto startups and exchanges, is at a crossroads, writes Jeremy Ng of Gemini. Here’s how the industry can better secure its future.

Much of the growth in the region is driven by strong grassroots adoption rates led by Vietnam, India and Pakistan, new data from Chainalysis shows

Bitcoin investment products saw inflows of US$69 million last week amid improving investor sentiment, according to digital assets fund manager CoinShares. Fast facts “We believe this decisive turnaround in sentiment is due to growing confidence in the asset class amongst investors and more accommodative statements from the U.S. Securities [and] Exchange Commission and the Federal […]

Laos enlisted Soramitsu, a blockchain company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, to explore a central-bank backed digital currency (CBDC). The Lao Central Bank and Soramitsu’s research will begin as early as this month. Fast facts The Central Bank of Laos reportedly has recently signed a memorandum with the Japan International Cooperation Agency to discuss the development […]

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) on Monday released a white paper proposing potential technical architecture and design for the infrastructure of a digital Hong Kong dollar. The paper is one of the deliverables described in Project e-HKD, a feasibility study the HKMA announced in June 2021. Fast facts Hong Kong began its exploration of […]

In a special Q&A, a Canadian law advisor who works with Chinese clients breaks down the ban’s potential legal boundaries and concerns held by overseas Chinese.

Chinese communications giant China Mobile and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China jointly released an e-CNY wallet based on the upgraded SMS service Message over 5G. The wallet allows users to transfer money, check balances, pay bills, and perform other functions through the chat window. Fast facts Message over 5G is an upgraded text message […]

The country sees a rise in the amount of illegal currency transactions across the border while the use of virtual assets makes it almost impossible to track down.

Stablecoins combine the portability of crypto with the price stability of fiat currencies. But are they all that stable?

Technical woes continue to beset decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Compound this week as a hack resulted in 202,472 COMP, or US$68 million at the time, being transferred from its reservoir to its Comptroller where the funds remain vulnerable to being drained by subsequent transactions. Fast facts Yearn.Finance developer Banteg tweeted about the hack late Sunday […]

Mainland China’s recent clampdowns on crypto are reverberating beyond its borders. In a special Q&A, former regulator and crypto industry leader Angelina Kwan discusses what this means for Hong Kong.

This week, FTX announced it is moving its headquarters from Hong Kong to the Bahamas, as the larger Caribbean region takes on a bigger role as host to virtual currency exchanges.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) today granted licenses to DBS Vickers (DBSV), the brokerage arm of DBS Bank, and Independent Reserve, an Australian cryptocurrency exchange, to provide digital payment token services under the Payment Services Act (PS Act). Fast facts Formal approval from MAS, which follows its earlier “in-principal approval” granted to both companies […]

Markets on Tuesday in the U.S. were unsettled by the prospect that energy crises in Europe and China could lift inflation to new highs, compelling central banks to reverse accommodations sooner than expected. US Treasuries reacted with a fierce rise in yields and that spilled over to the equity markets.  Although the markets drove down […]

The Hainan International Art Exchange Center on Wednesday launched an NFT art-trading platform that supports e-CNY payments, according to China News’ report. According to the staff of the center, the blockchain platform provides services for the purchase and sale of art between art institutions. Institutional traders will be able to tokenize physical artworks as NFTs […]

Mobile game company Gamevil buys a large share of crypto platform Coinone, planning to develop blockchain-based gaming.

Although scarcely the size of a human palm, Mr. Goxx is earning big returns in the virtual currency market, raking in a 16% return as of Tuesday.

Chinese social media has been abuzz since authorities lowered the boom on crypto. Forkast.News has been following the chatter. Here’s what they’re saying on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter.

Ali Sahraee, the CEO of Tehran Stock Exchange, has resigned after Iranian authorities recently busted an illegal crypto mining operation in the basement of the bourse building, according to a report by Iran’s state media. Fast facts The authorities discovered the illegal mining rigs during a sudden inspection. The operation was being run by several […]

dYdX, the governance token for the dYdX exchange protocol, surged to a new all-time high of US$27.86 today, according to CoinGecko data. Fast facts dYdX is a decentralized exchange (DEX) built on Ethereum that currently supports perpetual contracts, margin trading and spot cryptocurrency trading, as well as lending and borrowing. It is a non-custodial exchange […]

Decentralized wallet imToken is restricting access to some of the services it offers for users in China, in the wake of the latest ban imposed by top Chinese authorities last Friday. Fast facts The company has restricted users in China from accessing and using third-party financial applications, including those from decentralized crypto exchanges, stake mining […]

DeFi tokens like dYdX soared after China’s latest move to throttle crypto. Is this a short-term spurt or decentralized finance shifting into high gear?

As Chinese authorities take aim at crypto violations outside mainland borders, Forkast.News asks lawyers in the know: Who is in China’s line of fire?

Ripple, a San Francisco-based blockchain payments company currently embroiled in litigation against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, has launched a US$250 million “creator fund” for content creators, brands and marketplaces to build non-fungible token (NFT) use cases on the XRP Ledger, according to a company blog post. Fast facts Ripple’s latest move to expand […]

Against the global tide of digital asset adoption, China’s harshest crypto ban yet heralds golden opportunities, writes Richard Byworth of EQONEX. Other governments should take note.

The Xi’an taxi industry and the Bank of Xi’an launched an e-CNY pilot program to accept e-CNY as fare, becoming the first city in China to accept digital renminbi as a taxi fare, a local newspaper reported. Fast facts Ten cabs selected as pilot vehicles have QR codes posted, and passengers can scan the QR […]

NH Nonghyup is the third bank in South Korea to invest in a virtual asset custody service while they are prohibited from running their own.

Top blockchain and cryptocurrency news: Beijing’s crypto crusade comes to a head. Chinese mining caves in. Mr. Goxx reaps robust returns.

Malaysian property developer Hatten Land has signed an agreement, through a subsidiary, with Singapore-based digital asset management company Frontier to share proceeds from jointly operating at least 1,000 cryptocurrency mining rigs within Hatten Land properties in Malaysia, according to a company statement released today. Fast facts Hatten Land has previously announced that it would repurpose […]

China’s stepped-up cryptocurrency ban continues to send shockwaves through the industry, as more crypto service providers are shutting their doors to users in China. BeePool and Tiger Brokers are among the latest to announce service suspensions. Fast facts China-based BeePool, the fourth-largest Ethereum mining pool in hashrate, said Tuesday that it has stopped registering new […]

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has slapped a US$1.25 million fine on Kraken, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the U.S., for Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) violations, the CFTC announced yesterday. Fast facts The CFTC, in its settlement with Payward Ventures Inc., the San Francisco-based company doing business under the name Kraken, said […]

Nigeria, Chile and Tajikistan have taken major steps in their plans for central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), while mainland China, Hong Kong, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates explore the potential for CBDCs in cross-border payments. Fast facts The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has launched a website for eNaira, the country’s CBDC, which will […]

Fetch.ai, an artificial intelligence lab based in the British city of Cambridge, today announced its partnership with Algbra, a London-based fintech platform, to bring artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to decentralized finance (DeFi) and the banking sector to provide minority communities with greater access to financial services. Fast facts According to a statement shared […]

China saw a fivefold increase in blockchain patents last year despite the Covid-19 shutdown.

China’s Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN) — a public-private nationwide infrastructure project to spur mass adoption of blockchain technology — is moving a step closer to more international exposure, as the company behind it is working to register a foundation based in Singapore. Fast facts Red Date Technology, the company China tapped to manage its BSN, […]

China’s crypto ban is part of a global battle over freedom and ideology, writes Michael B. Greenwald. How can the US lead the world in a different path?

China’s earlier efforts to eradicate mining may not have been as effective as the government had hoped, but Friday’s announcement is having an impact.

China assaulted crypto with a new ferocity just as Bitcoin options expired and Evergrande escaped death. Coincidence? Ben Caselin of AAX lays out the clues.

Cryptocurrency investment products saw inflows of US$95 million last week, with total inflows over the past six weeks of US$320 million, according to digital assets fund manager CoinShares. Fast facts “The continued inflows suggest the recent headwinds for digital assets, such as the widened China ban, were seen as buying opportunities for investors,” wrote CoinShares […]

At the Cardano Summit over the weekend, IOHK founder Charles Hoskinson revealed a slew of partnerships and other developments for the Cardano blockchain

Singapore-based digital securities exchange ADDX today announced it had tokenized an allocation to a global private equity fund by Partners Group, a private equity firm listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange. Fast facts The allocation from the Partners Group Global Value SICAV Fund is the first from a major private equity firm that has been tokenized, […]

Amid growing regulatory heat, Binance — the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume — will restrict users in Singapore from buying cryptocurrencies using fiat, spot trading and liquid swaps on its main Binance.com platform starting Oct. 26, according to a company announcement. Fast facts Binance is advising Binance.com users in Singapore to cease all […]

South Korea’s virtual asset industry is expected to withstand major regulatory reconstruction

Singapore-based blockchain protocol eXchange inFinite (XinFin) and trade finance distribution platform Tradeteq today announced their partnership to tokenize trade finance assets into non-fungible tokens (NFTs), according to a company statement shared with Forkast.News. Fast facts Atul Khekade, co-founder of XinFin, told Forkast.News in an interview that traditional trade finance assets that are typically paper-based such […]

Huobi’s diversified businesses outside of China reached nearly 70% in terms of trading volumes, and have been on the rise, its co-founder tells Forkast.News.

China’s intensified crackdown on cryptocurrency leaves service providers looking to stay compliant with Friday’s abrupt announcement.

India’s crypto industry will grow over 200% to reach $241M by 2030, a new study says.

How is China’s latest clampdown on crypto different from its previous bans — and how do authorities plan to catch the scofflaws? Henri Arslanian of PwC breaks it down.

Is China’s influence over Bitcoin and the global crypto market waning? Chinese exchanges get a thrashing as decentralized exchanges get happy on clampdown news.

China’s hardline stance against crypto is already rippling beyond its borders. A mainland crypto insider explains the global shakeup yet to come.

A profound shift is underway in online culture, writes Anndy Lian of BigOne Exchange. Here’s how decentralized finance might one day power the NFT and metaverse economy.

GIGXPAD, a decentralized finance (DeFi) project based in Africa, is partnering with public blockchain network Conflux to tokenize real-world assets, according to a company statement shared with Forkast.News. Fast facts The collaboration, which marks the Chinese blockchain Conflux’s first use case in Africa, will see GIGXPAD deploying a decentralized crowdfunding platform on Conflux. According to […]

Huzhou City in Zhejiang, a province in eastern China, announced the launch of a blockchain to track and record carbon emissions records. Fast facts The blockchain was built by Beijing Zhongdian Puhua Information Technology Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of State Grid. The data will be provided to third-party carbon accounting agencies, governments, and individuals for […]

The9 Ltd., a Chinese gaming company that pivoted earlier this year to cryptocurrency mining — along with Polygon and Protocol Labs — are forming an ecosystem collaboration on The9’s non-fungible token (NFT) platform NFTSTAR and GameFi play-to-earn projects. Fast facts The company said in a statement released on Thursday that NFTSTAR and The9’s GameFi projects will […]

Around 35 virtual asset exchanges will vanish as of midnight Friday, as the country imposes new rules designed to protect consumers.

Bitcoin and Ethereum prices fall after Beijing intensifies crackdown on crypto trading, mining.

The cryptocurrency mining industry is attracting more investment money. Hong Kong-headquartered crypto miner BIT Mining said it had entered into an agreement to jointly invest in a crypto mining data center in the U.S. state of Ohio, with access to power capacity of up to 85 megawatts. Fast facts The development of the Ohio mining […]

China may be a small step closer to internationalizing the yuan, though its central bank says the e-CNY is now mostly tested for domestic use.

SushiSwap, a Japanese decentralized exchange, has dismissed the claims of a white hat hacker who says two contracts on the exchange have a vulnerability that puts US$1 billion worth of user assets at risk. Fast facts An anonymous white hat hacker published a report on Thursday claiming there is a loophole in the emergency withdrawal […]

Until recently, most Southeast Asians had no internet. Now the region is abloom with blockchain innovation. How did they do it?

With the Cardano blockchain now supporting smart contract capabilities, developers will soon be able to upload their decentralized applications (DApps) and make them available to others through a Plutus dAppStore, according to a blog post by Input Output HK (IOHK) ahead of the Cardano Summit taking place this weekend. Fast facts “The store will provide […]

Umbrella Network, a decentralized oracle, has acquired Lucidity, a blockchain-based advertising and analytics platform, to bring more data transparency to advertisers, according to a company statement. Fast facts The acquisition was completed in August 2021 for an undisclosed amount, according to the company statement. Lucidity will be integrated with Umbrella Network as part of the […]

Survey shows growing consensus on adoption, investment and use cases. ‘Blockchain is here to stay.’

Amber Group, a Hong Kong-based crypto financial services company, is eyeing a direct listing in the U.S. within the next two years, Amber Group co-founder and CEO Michael Wu told the South China Morning Post in an interview. Fast facts Founded in 2017, Amber Group propelled to unicorn status this year following its US$100 million Series […]

Marquee investors like Softbank and Andreessen Horowitz are heaping love on Sorare and Dapper Labs. What does this mean for the future of the non-fungible tokens sector?

The United Arab Emirates Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) and Dubai World Trade Centre Authority (DWTCA) have signed an agreement to support crypto-assets trading and related financial activities in the DWTCA free zone. Fast facts The agreement allows the DWTCA to issue approvals and licenses for financial activities related to crypto assets and the SCA […]

The country’s crypto industry has been turned upside down with stricter operating rules that take effect tomorrow.

The property market is increasingly expensive and out of reach for today’s younger generation. Digital land sales may hit home with some buyers.

The Indian ministry of finance has formed a panel to examine how income from crypto investments can be taxed, according to a report by Inc42. Fast facts The panel will evaluate whether crypto income can be taxed as capital gains or if it requires the formation of a new category. The committee is required to […]

Ripple’s win in Bhutan comes as it suffers a setback in a US court as judge rebuffs Ripple’s request for SEC’s internal trading decisions over XRP.

The cryptocurrency market has rebounded in the past 24 hours as news broke that China Evergrande Group, the second largest property developer in the world’s most populous nation, has taken a step back from falling off a potential debt cliff today. Fast facts While the overall cryptocurrency market is still down for the week, all […]