Danny Park

Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX told creditors that it lost around US$415 million worth of cryptocurrencies to hacks since it filed for bankruptcy.

Bitcoin inched up and Ether slipped in Tuesday afternoon trading in Asia, with most other top 10 cryptocurrencies trading lower on the day.

S. Korea’s capital city opened the first stage of ‘Metaverse Seoul’ on Monday, which it claims is the first city-backed public metaverse in the world.

A South Korean court ruled against the release of a blockchain P2E game last Friday after determining that in-game NFTs promote speculation.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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%.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The U.S. Federal Reserve, FDIC and the OCC have issued a joint statement to warn banks of the risks with crypto assets.

Binance declined to comment on reports in local media that it is in late stage talks to acquire South Korean digital asset exchange GOPAX.

Yosuke Matsuda, the president of Square Enix, has reaffirmed the gaming company’s commitment to blockchain technology.

Barry Silbert, the CEO of Digital Currency Group rejected claims that the company borrowed US$1.6 billion from its Genesis Global Capital.

OKB, the utility token of OKX, jumped by up to 15% during Asia trading hours on Monday. OKT, the native token of the OKX Chain, was up 13%.

Bitcoin and Ether prices gained on Friday morning in Asia, while other top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization were mixed.

A group of S.Korean hackers stole 8.5 billion Korean won (US$6.7 million) worth of cryptocurrencies from Kim Jung-ju, the late founder of Nexon.

South Korea took a real shine to the metaverse in 2022, with the central government, regions and cities all interested in getting a piece of the virtual reality pie, despite criticism that the technology has a long way to go.

Japan-based game company Gumi has announced a business alliance with Square Enix SBI Holdings to grow its metaverse business.

Bitcoin and Ether fell on Thursday morning in Asia. Solana lost 11% of its value, the steepest drop among top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies.

British Columbia has paused new electricity connection requests from crypto miners for 18 months to support the province’s climate action.

Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang, two integral members of the Sam Bankman-Fried now collapsed cryptocurrency businesses, are cooperating with prosecutors.

The new restructuring team of FTX has reportedly located over US$1 billion in cash assets that are held in U.S. financial institutions.

Sam Bankman-Fried, former CEO of FTX, has signed documents in the Bahamas for extradition and is scheduled to the U.S. on Wednesday.

A S.Korean court has approved prosecutors’ request to freeze assets of US$93.3 million belonging to seven former associates of Terraform Labs.

Busan announced the steering committee for its flagship exchange, but it didn’t include global partners earlier linked to the project.

South Korea’s Gyeongbuk Province plans to use the metaverse to expand economic and other relations with Vietnam.

Bitcoin and Ether were little changed on Monday after a weekend slump amid worries about a global recession and the stability of crypto exchanges.

Japan’s ruling party approved a proposal that exempts companies issuing crypto from taxes on unrealized gains on retained tokens.

Bitcoin and Ether prices fell Friday morning in Asia, along with most of the top 10 non-stablecoin crypto, as U.S. stocks had their biggest declines in weeks.

A Japanese lawmaker called for more transparent regulations following the FTX meltdown, where investors were not warned of the risks with FTX Token.

An official in the South Korean city of Busan said the authorities have received no confirmation that Binance has pulled out of a partnership to establish the country’s first city-backed crypto exchange, as reported by local media.

Interpol fugitive and chief of Terraform Labs Pte. Ltd. Kwon Do-hyung has registered his residential address in the Republic of Serbia.

Wemade Co. filed an immediate appeal against the court’s Dec. 7 decision that rejected the developer’s request to disallow four of the nation’s largest crypto exchanges from delisting its native cryptocurrency, WEMIX.

Bitcoin and Ether both rose more than 3% in Wednesday morning in Asia, as the U.S. consumer price index came in lower than expected.

The fall from grace: Once one of the most admired figures in crypto, the former head of the FTX exchange is unlikely to see his Bahamas penthouse anytime soon after being arrested Monday on U.S. charges that are expected to lead to his extradition.

Sam Bankman Fried, founder and former CEO of FTX exchange, was arrested and taken into custody by the Royal Bahamas Police on Monday.

S.Korean authorities may mandate companies to pursue direct approval from regulators to list their crypto on local digital assets exchanges.

Interpol fugitive Kwon Do-hyung flew to the Republic of Serbia last month, South Korean prosecutors told Forkast, confirming local media reports.

Wemade, a S.Korean blockchain game maker, announced that it will buyback and burn US$10 million worth of its WEMIX token to stabilize its value.

Bitcoin rose back above the US$17,000 mark in Friday morning trading in Asia, helped by gains in U.S. equities overnight.

The South Korean blockchain game maker’s WEMIX cryptocurrency will be removed from the country’s four major cryptocurrency exchanges that collectively account for more than 95% of the country’s crypto trading volume.

A Seoul court has dismissed the injunction filed by Wemade Co. Ltd. to stop four local digital asset exchanges from delisting WEMIX cryptocurrency

The Bank of Korea (BOK) claimed it needs the authority to monitor and supervise stablecoins, according to the South Korean central bank’s report published on Monday.

The majority (58.3%) of South Koreans with assets of 1 billion Korean won (US$760,000) said they don’t plan to invest in cryptocurrencies.

Seoul judge dismisses prosecutors’ request for arrest warrant for Terra’s Daniel Shin, derails their plan to investigate Shin in custody

Wemade Co. Ltd. said its in talks to have Binance Institutional Services take custody of its native cryptocurrency, WEMIX.

Following a hearing on Friday, the court is expected to finalize its decision on an injunction Wemade filed against four exchanges.

Terra cofounder Daniel Shin attended a court hearing on Friday morning in South Korea that will decide on local prosecutors’ request to issue an arrest warrant.

Daesung’s venture capital subsidiary recently established a fund worth 110 billion Korean won (US$84.5 million) for expanding investments into metaverse startups.

The collapse of FTX.com and its far-reaching impacts will hinder North Korea’s ability to profit from cryptocurrency hacks, says one analyst.

Shinhan has opened a metaverse to provide financial and non-financial services, claiming to be the first bank in the country to provide such a platform.

A court in South Korea will review if prosecutors are allowed to arrest and bring Terraform cofounder Daniel Shin and seven others into custody, for charges including fraud.

Sony Japan unveiled Mocopi, a set of wearable motion-tracking sensors that captures user movements that are reflected by virtual avatars

The blockchain game maker fights delisting of its symbolic WEMIX crypto token.

South Korea’s science ministry released a guideline of core ethical principles for metaverse application participants.

The cryptocurrency lender was hit by the earthquake set off across the industry by the collapse and bankruptcy of the FTX crypto exchange this month, and other companies are looking vulnerable.

Crypto lender BlockFi Inc. and eight of its affiliates have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in the U.S.

LINE’s cryptocurrency exchange based in the U.S., BITFRONT, has announced closure on Monday to shift its focus to developing LINE’s blockchain ecosystem.

Companies based in the U.S. and South Korea have filed for more than 75% of patent applications related to the metaverse, VR and AR.

South Korean prosecutors may charge Terraform Labs cofounder Daniel Shin with fraud for promoting the Terra stablecoin as a payment method despite multiple warnings from financial regulators that it was against the law.

The delisting poses a great obstacle to the game maker’s growing blockchain empire, while Wemade’s CEO blames the crypto exchange

While the crypto industry grapples with the definition of blockchain-based digital tokens, South Korea wants to nail down the terminology.

South Korea’s telecommunications giant SK Telecom (SKT) is launching its Ifland metaverse in 49 countries in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

Bitkub, one of the largest crypto exchanges in Thailand, is aiming to list in Hong Kong as early as 2024 when it goes public.