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Following El Salvador’s move to become the first country in the world to recognize Bitcoin as legal tender, a Paraguayan congressman has announced plans to do the same in the South American nation next month.

Forkast.News speaks with Michael Wu, Amber Group’s co-founder and CEO, on how the crypto firm is going from $100 million to $1 billion in valuation.

The number of Australian women investing in cryptocurrency has grown this year from 7% in January to 11% in June.

Money may be easy to part with when it’s free, but as Shanghai’s first experimental e-CNY giveaway shows, it’s not so easy finding shops to take it.

The city’s mayor says it welcomes an exodus of miners from China amid a generalized clampdown on the industry.

Miners face imminent shutdown as power companies told to cut electricity, according to multiple reports.

Dashing hopes of greater regulatory clarity for the cryptocurrency industry, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s recently released annual regulatory agenda does not mention Bitcoin or cryptocurrency regulations.

Global securities index MSCI plans to launch a cryptocurrency index, according to CEO Henry Fernandez.

Institutional digital asset manager Grayscale announced today that it is exploring 13 more assets for its trusts, mainly related to decentralized finance.

Chinese stock trading app Futu Niuniu has suspended Chicago Mercantile Exchange cryptocurrency futures services and stopped supplying crypto market information.

Gorilla Mobile, Singapore’s newest mobile virtual network operator, is set to roll out blockchain technology to offer contract-free services.

Australian investors adversely impacted by repeated system failures on Binance are considering taking a class action lawsuit to recoup their losses.

The National Republican Congressional Committee in the US will begin accepting donations in cryptocurrency.

Singapore-based decentralized exchange SynFutures has closed a $14 million series A round to bring crypto derivatives to new users around the world.

South Korea’s Financial Services Commission today revealed plans to ban cryptocurrency exchanges in the country from listing their own coins.

Yunphant is set to build a second headquarters for its blockchain company in the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing, according to a report by China News.

Bitcoin sheds 4% but BTC’s share of the total crypto market grows after US Fed projects higher inflation and plans interest hikes earlier than expected.

SynFutures, a Singapore-based decentralized derivatives exchange, today announced the closure of a US$14 million series series-A funding round led by Polychain Capital.

In a recent conference, central bankers from Cambodia and Singapore discuss how digital currencies are transforming existing payment systems for the better.

PSB Academy, a private education institution in Singapore, ACCESS, a crypto non-profit, and learning platform Skilltree today announced the launch of a blockchain diploma program.

Former executives from online travel platforms have partnered with Binance-backed Travala.com to launch an Airbnb-like decentralized home-sharing platform.

The El Salvadorean Department of Labor and Social Welfare has had to clarify it is not within its purview to determine whether salaries can be paid in Bitcoin.

Top blockchain and crypto news: Bitcoin finds fresh favor in Global South. Why would hackers demand a Bitcoin ransom? Chinese miners eye Yunnan probe.

Permissionless, open source and decentralized, Web 3.0 will transform computing and data storage. Maria Paula Fernandez of Golem Network explains how.

France-based PlanetWatch, which records air quality data on Algorand’s blockchain, has launched its first test sensor in Hong Kong.

Chinese homegrown public blockchain platform Chang’An Chain has been equipped with 96-core blockchain-specific chips, and 23 companies joined its ecosystem yesterday.

BitDAO — a new decentralized autonomous organization that aims to promote and propel the mass adoption of open finance and the decentralized tokenized economy — has announced the completion of a US$230 million private sale.

Nasdaq-listed Diginex, a Singapore-based digital asset financial services company, today announced a rebranding of its businesses, including the EQUOS cryptocurrency exchange, as EQONEX.

The Indian government and leading industry stakeholders are reviewing elements of legislation that proposed a ban on cryptocurrencies.

Fifty South Korean crypto exchanges have applied for certification under the country’s Information Security Management System — the first step in meeting stringent new crypto exchange regulations.

The ASEAN Financial Innovation Network (AFIN) is partnering with enterprise software firm R3 on a central bank digital currency (CBDC) sandbox.

Coinbase will add Shiba Inu, Chiliz and Keep Network to its professional trading platform with full trading beginning at 9am PT if liquidity conditions are met.

A judge has denied the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s request for documents related to Ripple’s XRP transactions and lobbying efforts that took place after the SEC filed its lawsuit last December, according to a new legal filing. Fast facts: “As discussed in the Court’s earlier Opinion and Order denying access to Ripple’s privileged communications, […]

Following rumors of a possible ban on cryptocurrency mining in the province last week, its energy regulator has clarified an approach to the industry that looks set to rein in rogue operators.

The Chinese University of Hong Kong and Ethereum software company ConsenSys today announced the launch of a Covid-19 digital health passport.

What does it mean to own an NFT, and why are some NFTs vanishing? Alexander Hobbs of Zenotta explains the weaknesses in NFTs’ underlying technology.

Thailand’s securities regulator has announced new rules for cryptocurrency exchanges in the country, including a ban on utility tokens and meme tokens.

Input Output Hong Kong has announced on Twitter that it has launched AlonzoBlue2.0 to the Cardano testnet.

Ethereum saw its largest institutional outflows on record last week as outflows from Bitcoin eased, according to a report by CoinShares.

On June 14, the difficulty of Bitcoin mining fell 5.3%, the first time this year that there have been two consecutive downward adjustments.

Africa has emerged as the region with the highest growth in P2P Bitcoin trading volume over the past six months.

A judge overseeing discovery in the U.S. Securities and Exchanges Commission’s lawsuit against Ripple Labs has granted the SEC’s request to extend deadlines by 60 days as well as a request by co-defendants Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and executive chairman Chris Larsen to obtain information from 16 cryptocurrency exchanges outside the United States. Fast facts: […]

Ant Group, Ping An Group and Tencent Cloud ranked as the top three among 50 leading Chinese industrial blockchain enterprises in 2020.

Bitcoin transactions in El Salvador during May increased by more than four times compared to a year ago, yet fiat remittances still represent the vast majority of transactions in the country.

China’s central bank has unveiled four specifications of digital wallets for the country’s state-issued digital currency, the e-CNY.

Four people have been arrested and more than 400 Bitcoin mining machines seized by police in the Malaysian city of George Town.

India’s central bank has clarified that cryptocurrencies are not illegal, but that does little to prevent lenders from refusing to provide crypto-related services.

One of DeFi’s hottest trends, yield farming can bring riches but is not for crypto beginners or those who can’t afford to lose. Forkast.News explains why.

Blockchain provides greater data transparency and security than ever before, but the technology is not immune to cyber attacks and data breaches.

Huobi Group has announced the launch of a Blockchain Assets Center to provide a standardized, streamlined process for projects seeking to list on its cryptocurrency exchange, Huobi Global.

With Kusama slot parachain auctions underway, the first starting next week, Plasm and Shiden networks prepare for a multi-chain future with Polkadot.

India’s Enforcement Directorate has issued a show cause notice to cryptocurrency exchange WazirX for alleged foreign exchange violations involving 27.9 billion rupees (US$382 million).

Twitter’s founder and CEO says the integration of Bitcoin layer-2 payments — the Lightning Network — into the social media platform may be on the horizon.

A former governor of the People’s Bank of China said today that some cryptocurrencies have forfeited their opportunity to return to use as methods of payment.

Despite regulatory uncertainty over cryptocurrency trading in India, some of the world’s largest crypto exchanges are looking to enter the market.

Yunnan is getting prepared to ban cryptocurrency mining activities, BTC.top, one of the country’s major mining pools, today told Forkast.News, citing a screenshot of a notice.

Auction house Sotheby’s has sold a non-fungible token of a digital artwork known as “CryptoPunk, Alien #7523” for US$11.8 million.

Chinese crypto mining rig maker Bitmain is reportedly set to meet with miners and industry participants next week to discuss relocating mining operations overseas.

Australian serviced office firm Business Hub will accept cryptocurrency as payment for rent on serviced office space and other business services as of July 1.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will meet with El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele to finalize discussions around a pandemic relief loan to support the Central American nation. In a Thursday press briefing, IMF spokesman Garry Rice also implied that El Salvador’s decision to make Bitcoin a national currency will be a focus of the meeting for the IMF team.

GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, is investing in BC Group—the parent company of OSL, Hong Kong’s first licensed cryptocurrency exchange.

Unique Network, an NFT chain for Polkadot, and NFT protocol RMRK announced today that they are partnering on expanding the functionalities of NFTs across blockchains.

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision has launched a public consultation on preliminary proposals for the treatment of banks’ crypto asset exposures.

Cryptocurrency mining prohibition in Xinjiang and Qinghai follows Inner Mongolia ban.

Jump Trading, a high-frequency trading firm, is joining Oxygen, a decentralized finance prime brokerage protocol, as a strategic partner and market-maker to provide liquidity on the Oxygen platform.

The BIS, together with the central banks of France and Switzerland, are collaborating on a wholesale central bank digital currency experiment for cross-border settlements.

Retirement investment platform ForUsAll is partnering with Coinbase to expand access to cryptocurrencies through the U.S. 401(k) pension scheme.

South Korea’s main finance sector regulator has launched an investigation of accounts operated by crypto exchanges under false or third-party names.

Ravi Menon, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, says technologies such as blockchain will help Asian nations to reduce carbon emissions.

Paris-based crypto hardware wallet provider Ledger announced today the completion of a US$380 million series-C fundraise.

Beijing-based Red Date Technology — the face of China’s ambitious nationwide blockchain service network — receives a big investment boost.

Ninety-three percent of millennial current or former cryptocurrency holders in the U.S. would consider using their digital coins for everyday purchases, according to a recent survey.