Zipmex cryptocurrency exchange’s US$100 million venture capital buyout may be in danger, after buyer V Ventures missed the US$1.25 million payment due on March 23

Bitcoin and Ether rose during Asian trading hours on Friday, along with most of the top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, with Litecoin posting the biggest gains.

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.

Bitcoin bounced back above US$28,000 on Friday morning in Asia amid a rebound in all top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies and gains in equities overnight.

South Korea’s police said they confirmed the identity of a man arrested in Montenegro, Europe, as the Terraform Labs co-founder Kwon Do-hyung, who is wanted on charges of fraud related to the collapse of the stablecoin and cryptocurrency project he led.

Bitcoin and Ether fell during Asian trading hours on Friday, along with most of the top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, with Binance’s BNB sustaining the biggest loss in the top 10.

A former employee of the Coinone exchange was arrested Tuesday on charges of accepting bribes in exchange for listing certain cryptocurrencies.

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.

Bitcoin fell on Thursday morning in Asia, tracking equities lower after the U.S. Fed indicated interest rates could stay higher for longer.

Seychelles-based cryptocurrency exchange Bitget said it has invested US$30 million in decentralized multi-chain wallet BitKeep to become its controlling shareholder. 

Magic Eden, the largest Solana-based non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace, has launched its “audited” Bitcoin Ordinals for NFT traders.

Bitcoin continued to trade above US$28,000 on Wednesday afternoon in Asia. Ether also rose, along with all other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies with XRP and Cardano leading gains.

The IRS intends to tax NFTs as collectibles in the U.S. and is soliciting public opinions on the proposal through June.

The Texas legislature introduced a bill on Tuesday to attract more Bitcoin-related businesses and protect the rights of Bitcoin holders, miners, and developers.

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

Bitcoin held above US$28,000 on Wednesday morning in Asia amid a rebound in most top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies. XRP led the winners.

The Bitcoin Fear & Greed index rose to a 16-month high of 68 points today, signaling that investors are becoming more greedy than fearful.

WazirX, India’s largest crypto exchange by trade volume, has blacklisted over 2,431 accounts between October 2022 and March 2023, based on its internal monitoring process as well as under the direction of law enforcement agencies (LEA). 

Bitcoin and Ether fell in Tuesday afternoon trade in Asia after rallying through the past week, while financial authorities injected cash into markets to ease liquidity pressures and took other steps to address concerns over a banking sector crisis in the U.S. and Europe. 

Terraform Labs co-founder Shin Hyun-seung, also known as Daniel Shin, was again called in for questioning by South Korea’s prosecutors on Monday.

Bitcoin traded flat below US$28,000 on Tuesday morning in Asia. Most other top cryptocurrencies retreated ahead of a U.S. decision on interest rates.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) aims to publish cryptocurrency and stablecoin consultations feedback by the middle of this year, it said Monday.

Over 80 foreign and Mainland China companies have expressed their interest in establishing a Web3 company in Hong Kong, ahead of new crypto regulations that will take effect from June

Bitcoin traded above US$28,000 on Monday afternoon in Asia, a gain of 25% over last week, as a banking crisis in the U.S. and Europe prompted traders to see Bitcoin as a safe haven.

Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com will soon be able to extend its services in Dubai, after it received a Minimal Viable Product (MVP) Preparatory License from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA). 

Paris-based Kaiko will move its Asian headquarters to Hong Kong as it sees growing crypto-related opportunities in the city.

South Korean prosecutors are investigating Lee Sang-jun, the CEO of Bithumb’s holding company, for alleged bribery in listing certain tokens on the platform.

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

Bitcoin briefly breached US$28,000 at the weekend in a bullish run extending into Monday morning in Asia amid worries about bank risk.

Bitcoin and Ether rallied by the end of Asian trading hours on Friday afternoon, together with all other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.

Salesforce has partnered with Polygon Labs to help its clients develop non-fungible token (NFT) based loyalty programs on the Polygon blockchain.

Signum Digital said it’s the first company to win preliminary approval in Hong Kong to operate a platform to trade security tokens.

Bitcoin neared the US$25,000 mark on Friday morning in Asia. Cryptocurrencies gained as the U.S. and Europe moved to backstop troubled banks with cash.

US, and German shuttered ChipMixer, a cryptocurrency service that allegedly laundered more than US$3 billion in crypto since 2017.

The Indian central bank and the UAE will jointly run pilot programs on their central bank digital currencies, according to the Reserve Bank of India. 

Bitcoin and Ether declined by the end of Asian trading hours on Thursday afternoon, with all the top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies also falling, apart from Binance’s BNB.

The court ruling in a lawsuit brought by the SEC against Ripple will have minimal impact on the company’s business, APAC policy director Rahul Advani said.

South Korean prosecutors said they will expand cooperation with overseas legal agencies to facilitate the arrest and extradition of Do Kwon.

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 […]

Bitcoin and Ether dropped in Thursday morning trading in Asia along with most other leading tokens amid broader concerns about bank liquidity.

Poolz Finance, a cross-chain crowdfunding launchpad for Web3 projects, has been exploited for US$390,000 worth of digital assets

A deal valued at over US$1 billion between Binance.US and Voyager should be put on hold while key legal objections are worked out, says U.S. government.

Bitcoin and Ether rose on Wednesday afternoon in Asia, along with all other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. Solana and Polygon were the biggest gainers, both rising above 5% in the last 24 hours.

Digital asset platform Anchorage Digital will lay off 75 employees as it restructures to meet regulation challenges.

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

Bitcoin and Ether continued strong price gains, with most of the top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies logging advances for the past seven days.

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, announced that it is halting its British pound deposits and withdrawals.

Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, rallied past the US$26,000 mark at 09:15 p.m. in Hong Kong, shortly after the release of the United States Consumer Price Index (CPI)

Bitcoin and Ether rose the most in the top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies by market capitalization on Tuesday afternoon in Asia. Cryptocurrencies have been on a rebound since U.S. regulators took charge of the failures in the banking industry and moved to protect deposits across crypto-linked banks.

Amid the NFT hype in 2022, Chinese buyers’ complaints about NFT scams and price manipulations surged 30,000% to 59,700 from 198 in the year before.

Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, will wind down its non-fungible token operations on both social media services.

Former employees of Do Kwon’s Terraform Labs are being questioned by the FBI and U.S. prosecutors in New York.

Bitcoin continued to gain in morning trading in Asia, as regulators acted to backstop the U.S. banking industry. Most of the top 10 cryptocurrencies gained.

Euler Finance, a decentralized finance lending protocol has lost approximately US$197 million in an exploit, according to online crypto security analysts.

Bitcoin and Ether gained in Monday afternoon trade in Asia, along with all other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, after U.S. regulators took charge of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, both with exposure to crypto industry, protecting deposits and confirming that no losses will be borne by the taxpayer. 

Circle said the USDC reserve deposits held at the failed Silicon Valley Bank will be recovered when banks open on Monday.

Bitcoin and Ether led a rebound in cryptocurrencies in Asia morning trading as U.S. regulators backstopped banks with ties to the crypto industry.

U.S. regulators closed New York-based Signature Bank, one of the biggest lenders in the crypto industry, due to risks of a systemic failure.

Meta Platforms, the parent company of the social media applications Facebook and Instagram, is exploring a decentralized text-based Twitter alternative.

Bitcoin and Ether tumbled during Asia trading hours on Friday afternoon, with Dogecoin leading losses among the top 10 largest non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, pressured by crypto bank Silvergate’s liquidation

The NY State Attorney General is suing crypto exchange Kucoin for not registering as a securities and commodities broker-dealer and calling itself an exchange.

The U.S. has proposed an excise tax on cryptocurrency miners equal to 30 percent of the cost of the electricity they use.

The Forkast 500 NFT Index fell to a near two-month low in Asia trading on Friday morning, with sales slumping on the Ethereum and Solana blockchains, the two biggest for non-fungible tokens. Polygon, the third biggest, saw a sales surge.

Bitcoin and other leading cryptocurrencies slid Friday morning in Asia, tracking equities amid red flags on interest rates and concern about fallout from the Silvergate collapse.

CFTC chair Rostin Behnam has called Ethereum a commodity and not a security, in apparent contrast to past statements from SEC Chairman Gary Gensler.

Bitcoin and Ether fell in evening trading in Asia Thursday, with XRP the sole gainer in 24 hours among the top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies by market cap.

NFTs have entered China’s Two Sessions, with a delegate to propose an NFT regulatory framework.

South Korea is investing 27.7 billion Korean won (US$21 million) into local services looking to utilize the metaverse, the ministry of science announced Wednesday, following Tuesday’s news that it would establish a US$30 million metaverse fund to help startups expand their businesses. See related article: Japanese tech, finance firms sign pact to build metaverse economic […]

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.

Silvergate Capital said Wednesday it will cease operations and liquidate its bank unit.

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.

The shuttering of Silvergate Bank was not unexpected, but it still drove Bitcoin and most of the top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies lower on Thursday morning in Asia.