Timmy Shen

China banks in Hong Kong are offering services to crypto businesses, Bloomberg reported on Monday, as more digital asset firms operate in the city.

Bitcoin’s mining difficulty level rose 7.56% on Friday, hitting an all-time high along with the network’s hashrate, showing miners are applying more computing power.

Angelina Kwan, who helped shape early Hong Kong automated trading services and internet trading regulation, told Forkast the upcoming virtual asset licensing regime is almost identical to that for traditional financial institutions.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has warned Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the U.S., it may face legal charges related to staking services and digital asset listings.

South Korean singer G-Dragon has launched an NFT collection on OpenSea in collaboration with Fandom Studio.

Crypto in Taiwan remains largely unregulated, but lawmakers have requested the cabinet to appoint a regulator by May 16 to oversee all things crypto.

New York Community Bancorp will assume all deposits and certain loan portfolios of the failed Signature Bank, the FDIC said on Sunday.

Guo Wengui, an exiled Chinese billionaire, was arrested in New York on Wednesday for allegedly orchestrating a more than US$1 billion fraud conspiracy that included cryptocurrency, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). See related article: U.S. banking regulators warn against cryptocurrency fraud, contagion risks Fast facts […]

The decision to shut down Signature Bank at the weekend was not related to cryptocurrencies, the New York regulator told Reuters on Tuesday.

Circle said its $3.3 billion of USDC cash reserves at the collapsed Silicon Valley Bank will be available Monday after regulators stepped in to backstop deposits.

The Forkast SOL NFT Composite dropped 6.13% over the past week while sales increased. Industry expert suspects casino-like behavior of traders moving funds to new projects.

Canaan’s shares on Nasdaq closed 3.83% lower at US$2.51 on Wednesday after the cryptocurrency mining rig maker reported an 82% year-on-year drop in revenue on Tuesday for the fourth quarter of last year, citing “lackluster market demand” for mining machines as the price of Bitcoin fell.

The Forkast 500 NFT Index dipped 1.25% to 4,235.97 in the 24 hours through 10:00 a.m. in Hong Kong on Thursday.

Stablecoins could have a place in the U.S. financial services sector if appropriate regulation is put in place, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said on Tuesday at a hearing before Congress.

Ethereum validators are benefiting from the increasingly heated competition between the two largest NFT marketplaces that is driving up gas fees, but the windfall may not last much longer.

The number of unique buyers rose to an all-time high this week after crypto exchange Coinbase dropped free NFTs to celebrate the launch of its new Layer 2 network Base.

Look for blockchain, self-reliance in technology discussions in China’s biggest political meetings of the year as China’s President Xi Jinping’s aims to build a digital economy.

Nishad Singh, former engineering chief of bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, pleaded guilty to fraud and several other criminal charges at a hearing on Tuesday related to the collapse of the company, Bloomberg reported.

NFT sales more than doubled this week, with NFT marketplace Blur remaining the talk of the town.

A Taiwanese lawmaker has reiterated that the cabinet will have to mandate an acting central authority to shape regulatory frameworks and development roadmap for the cryptocurrency industry by May 16, a move that would push Taiwan closer to adequate crypto regulation.

It remains unclear whether the U.S. SEC’s enforcement action against cryptocurrency exchange Kraken represents a broader crackdown on staking, according to Timothy Massad, former Commodity Futures Trading Commission chairman.

Hong Kong’s proposed crypto licensing regime received Huobi Global’s pledge to return to the city, and more companies may follow, industry experts told Forkast.

Vancouver-based cryptocurrency mining firm Hive Blockchain Technologies Ltd. reported bigger losses in its latest quarterly earnings report published Tuesday, mainly due to Ethereum’s Merge and lower Bitcoin prices.  See related article: Bitcoin mining difficulty dips 0.5% over two weeks after hitting record high Fast facts See related article: Bitcoin miner Greenidge Generation cuts NYDIG debt […]

Taiwan’s Ministry of Justice said on Wednesday that it may be adding cryptocurrencies to the list of properties for public servants to declare. 

Blur.io, the NFT marketplace that beat OpenSea’s trading volume in the past month, airdropped its platform tokens on Valentine’s Day, contributing to the global NFT sales increase this week.

Academics from Stanford Law School and Stanford University are the previously two unknown individuals who signed bonds that allowed the release of FTX crypto exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried from prison on bail, according to court filings released Wednesday. 

The intensifying regulatory oversight in the U.S. is highlighting the increasing need for non-U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins in the cryptocurrency industry, Binance Chief Executive Officer Changpeng Zhao said on Tuesday.  See related article: Be careful what you wish for? Regulators pick up pace in the crypto industry crackdown Fast facts See related article: SEC may make […]

Red Date Technology, the developer of China’s state-backed blockchain infrastructure Blockchain-based Service Network, has partnered Dubai-based Singularity Innovations to offer blockchain infrastructure services in the Middle East and Africa, as the Chinese blockchain network continues to go global.

Bitcoin’s mining difficulty level edged down 0.5% in the two weeks through Sunday after hitting an all-time high in the previous adjustment, according to data from BTC.com.

Hester Peirce said using enforcement action to dictate law in an emerging industry is the act of a “lazy” regulator, after the SEC fined the U.S.-based Kraken crypto exchange for failing to register staking programs.

Bitcoin sank below US$22,000 on Thursday morning in Asia after the U.S. SEC slapped a fine on the Kraken exchange, sparking concerns that regulators are set to take a tougher line on crypto trading.

Robinhood Markets Inc., the U.S.-based financial services company, aims to purchase the 55 million of its shares that FTX-linked Emergent Fidelity Technologies bought in May 2022, according to its earnings report released Wednesday.

Beijing’s market regulator warned that projects marketed in the country as non-fungible tokens or with metaverse-related concepts risk being involved in illegal fundraising or fraudulent activities.

Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com has partnered with Korean drama distributor Studio Dragon to issue NFTs inspired by popular Korean drama series, including the hit Crash Landing on You, the exchange said on Monday.

Crypto layoffs last month matching 41% of the total industry job cuts in 2022, a new study finds.

U.S. prosecutors are investigating California-based cryptocurrency bank Silvergate Capital Corp. for how it handled accounts tied to now-bankrupt crypto exchange FTX and its brokerage arm Alameda Research, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing sources familiar with the matter.

Meta Platforms Inc., the former Facebook, said losses at its Reality Labs division developing virtual reality technologies widened last year, but the company’s Q4 earnings beat expectations and it projected overall stronger growth into 2023, according to its earnings report released Wednesday.

Troubled U.S.-based Bitcoin mining firm Greenidge Generation Holdings Inc. has restructured more of its debt to investment management service provider NYDIG and investment bank B. Riley Commercial Capital, the company announced on Tuesday.

A U.S. federal judge has granted motions to reveal the identities of the two unnamed co-signers of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s US$250 million bail bond.

Bitcoin’s mining difficulty level rose 4.68% on Sunday, hitting an all-time high, as the networks’ hashrate also continued to increase.

Xiaohongshu, or “Little Red Book,” a popular social media application widely described as the Chinese equivalent of Instagram, has integrated layer-1 public blockchain Conflux Network, allowing users to showcase their non-fungible tokens on their profile pages, Conflux announced on Thursday.

Hainan province, a popular tourist destination in South China, published a notice on Sunday vowing to step up oversight on non-fungible tokens, or “digital collectibles,” which authorities said come with risks of fraud, money laundering and illegal fundraising.

Hong Kong’s new digital asset-friendly policies could set the city up as the home for secondary NFT marketplaces from China as trading of ‘digital collectibles’ remains a gray area on the mainland.

The central bank rolled out a “red packet” feature for its digital currency, the e-CNY, for the Lunar New Year holiday but it will require help from the tech giants it has bashed to popularize the digital yuan.

Bitcoin and Ether rose in Friday afternoon trading in Asia, along with all other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies, after the U.S. posted a 6.5% year-on-year increase in the Consumer Price Index for December, which came in lower than inflation readings in previous months.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday charged cryptocurrency lender Genesis Global Capital and crypto exchange Gemini Trust with offering and selling unregistered securities to retail investors.

Bitcoin and Ether rose in Thursday afternoon trading in Asia, along with all other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies, as investors anticipate signs of slower inflation in the upcoming Thursday release of the U.S. Consumer Price Index for December.

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has received regulatory approval from the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority to operate as a financial institution to manage and trade in virtual currency, as part of the exchange’s continuing expansion in Europe.

ConsenSys, the Ethereum software firm behind cryptocurrency wallet MetaMask, is reportedly planning to lay off at least 100 employees.

Hong Kong will continue pushing ahead with the development of the Web 3.0 industry as it aims to become a regional hub for the nascent industry despite the series of collapses of crypto exchanges, said Paul Chan, the city’s financial secretary on Monday.

U.S. prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have started to investigate cryptocurrency-focused conglomerate Digital Currency Group (DCG), Bloomberg reported on Saturday, citing unnamed sources.

Bitcoin and Ether dipped in Friday afternoon trading in Asia, with nearly all other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies slipping. Dogecoin was the biggest loser, while Cardano’s ADA was the sole gainer in the top 10 cryptos.

Hong Kong should make efforts to encourage the establishment of virtual assets rating agencies, and consider developing the e-HKD, the city’s central bank digital currency in the works, into a stablecoin, a Hong Kong lawmaker said in a recent media interview.

Cryptocurrency-focused conglomerate Digital Currency Group (DCG) is shutting down its wealth management unit called HQ, CoinDesk, a DCG-owned media outlet, reported on Friday.

Slump in prices of some non-fungible tokens and other digital assets allows U.S. holders to take advantage of a loophole to reduce capital gains taxes.

Bitcoin edged down and Ether remained unchanged on the day, in Thursday afternoon trading in Asia. Dogecoin was the biggest gainer among the top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies, while Litecoin recorded the largest loss.

MoneyGram has requested the court to seal certain portions of summary judgment materials in Ripple Labs’ ongoing lawsuit against the SEC.

Bitcoin and Ether rose in Wednesday afternoon trading in Asia, along with all other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies. Solana led gains with an 18% surge, followed by Cardano and BNB.

The Bitcoin mining difficulty level fell 3.59% on Tuesday morning in Asia, after some U.S. mining firms unplugged due to deadly winter storms over the holiday season on top of continued cash shortages mainly caused by low Bitcoin prices and high energy costs. 

Top Solana-based NFT projects DeGods and Y00ts are moving away from the network, both projects announced on Twitter on Monday.

Blockchain browser and mining pool BTC.com said on Monday that it got hacked earlier this month, and lost around US$2.3 million of its own assets and US$700,000 of clients’ assets.

Bitcoin and Ether edged up slightly on Tuesday morning in Asia, along with nearly all other non-stablecoin top 10 cryptocurrencies. XRP led the gains with about 5.6%, followed by Cardano and Polygon.

A centuries old Taiwan temple dedicated to a popular goddess has latched onto non-fungible tokens or NFTs as a means for worshippers to get access to pilgrimages and other events.

Caroline Ellison, former chief executive of trading firm Alameda Research, told a federal judge last week that she agreed with executives of FTX, including former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, to mislead lenders and customers on how much Alameda was borrowing from the now-bankrupt exchange.

The Bitcoin network hashrate has dropped by more than 38.8% from its peak on Wednesday, as many U.S.-based miners have been forced to switch down their facilities due to deadly blizzards. See related article: British Columbia suspends new electricity connections for crypto miners Fast facts See related article: Bitcoin mining difficulty rises 3.27% in latest […]

Bitcoin and Ether changed little on Monday morning, along with nearly all other non-stablecoin top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.

Failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX Trading Ltd. has asked a bankruptcy court to keep US$450 million worth of Robinhood shares frozen, as three parties battle for the true ownership of the assets. 

Bitcoin and Ether traded higher Friday morning in Asia, along with nearly all other non-stablecoin top 10 cryptocurrencies. Dogecoin led the gains with a rise of nearly 4.5%, followed by Cardano and XRP. BNB edged lower.

The federal judge in the ongoing lawsuit between the SEC and Ripple has granted a joint motion from all parties to extend the deadline for the Daubert Motions that would exclude certain expert testimonies.

Core Scientific said it may sell some of its mining facilities under development that could be worth up to a gigawatt of power after it filed for bankruptcy protection.

Troubled U.S.-based Bitcoin mining firm Greenidge Generation Holdings Inc. has entered a debt restructuring agreement with NYDIG, a cryptocurrency service provider to which Greenidge owes US$74 million.

The latest Bitcoin mining difficulty level rose 3.27%, as miners continue to face cash shortages due to low Bitcoin prices and high energy costs.