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, […]

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Kikitrade today announced a US$12 million fund raise with investment from British hedge fund billionaire Alan Howard to accelerate its growth.

Huobi, OKEx and Binance have been blocked by the country’s most popular internet search engines and social media platforms.

In a new court filing, Ripple describes the damage the SEC lawsuit has already done to XRP and the payment company’s now-frozen US business.

Staking service provider Moonstake has partnered with UzNEX to provide blockchain consulting services in Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

Xinjiang and Qinghai regions in China are now banning cryptocurrency mining, after Inner Mongolia tightened its crypto mining ban last month.

A bill restricting the granting of crypto mining permits on environmental ground has passed the New York State Senate.

Iran wants to “preserve and protect national interests” in the field of digital currencies and cryptocurrencies, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says.

Cardano is set to provide tools for developers, end users and businesses to execute smart contracts in financial agreements through a new suite of products.

Shijingshan, a site for the upcoming Winter Olympics, has started supporting payments made using the state digital money, known as e-CNY.

A Miami property has set a record for the highest price paid in cryptocurrency in a real estate transaction — US$22.5 million.

Bitcoin investors in China saw greater returns in 2020 than almost any other nation — second only to the US.

Australian crypto exchange Bitunivex.com has announced plans to offset its carbon footprint by investing in green crypto initiatives.

Hong Kong will be initiating a study on a digital Hong Kong dollar as part of its plans to “future proof” the city for central bank digital currencies.

Ripple is inviting feedback from its developer community on a plan to introduce federated sidechains on the XRP Ledger.

The Ontario Securities Commission is set to take enforcement action against two companies behind the cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin for violating the province’s securities laws.

Crypto exchanges in India have partnered with the Internet and Mobile Association of India to form a self-regulatory body.

Millions of dollars worth of Bitcoin paid to ransomware hackers who shut down the main fuel pipeline on the U.S. East Coast last month has been recovered.

China has released guidelines aimed at boosting the country’s blockchain development.

Nearly 40% of Australians born between the early 1980s and mid-1990s would rather invest in cryptocurrencies than real estate, according to a nesurvey.

Cryptocurrency exchange Fasset has received three licenses from the Labuan Financial Services Authority in Malaysia for business operations in the country.

XRP last week saw inflows of US$7 million into investment products, the most since April, according to CoinShares.

Canaan, one of the largest crypto mining rig makers in the world, is opening its first-ever service center outside China—in Kazakhstan.

CoinShares has announced that its Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin physically-backed exchange traded products have cross-listed on Germany’s Börse Xetra exchange.

Binance today announced a “100 creators” campaign featuring creative talents from around the world as part of the launch of its non-fungible token marketplace on June 24.

El Salvador is proposing a bill to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender in the Central American nation. In a videotaped announcement shown at the Bitcoin 2021 Conference in Miami, President Nayib Bukele said he would submit the bill this week.

South Korea’s Financial Services Commission has announced plans to ban executive employees and exchange operators from trading on their own platforms, prompting a chorus of complaints. Fast Facts: The FSC’s Financial Intelligence Unit recently met with officials from cryptocurrency exchanges to explain upcoming amendments to the Act on Reporting and Use of Certain Financial Transaction Information, […]

Users of cybersecurity product NortonLifeLock will soon be able to mine Ethereum on their home computers through a new feature named Norton Crypto.

Following a digital yuan giveaway announced for Beijing last week, Shanghai will distribute 350,000 red envelopes to people across the city during next week’s Dragon Boat Festival.

Crypto mining equipment manufacturer Goldshell has announced that it will launch a new line of mining rigs designed specifically for home use in Asian markets.

Microblog platform Weibo has blocked more than 30 influential Chinese cryptocurrency-related accounts amid a series of actions by Beijing against crypto mining and trading.

Australia’s first capital growth fund to offer institutional exposure to BTC has announced its received inquiries from some of the country’s largest companies.

Global crypto exchange Luno is in talks with conglomerate Lippo Group to launch operations in Indonesia in order to enter the Southeast Asian market.

It is important to distinguish between developing a digital currency for currency digitalization and digitalization of assets or cryptocurrencies so that China can be more focused on preventing risks in the financial sector, said Fan Gang, a Peking University professor and a prominent advocate in China for economic reform. Fast Facts: In a keynote speech […]

Regulators Hainan province have issued a warning against illegal fundraising schemes using crypto or blockchain..

S. Korea residents with accounts in foreign crypto exchanges may have to report their crypto holdings starting in 2022. Above what amount is taxable?

Many of Britain’s crypto firms are failing to meet required anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws, says the country’s watchdog.

BitFlyer announced today that it is launching a Bitcoin-to-Japanese yen pair for currency traders in the U.S.

The market for non-fungible tokens took a beating in May amid turmoil in the cryptocurrency sector, according to industry data.

Eleven users of Upbit have filed a class action lawsuit against its owner, Dunamu Inc., seeking damages over a suspected technical failure.

Google has announced plans to lift a ban on advertising cryptocurrency wallets and exchanges that has been in place for almost three years. A ban on advertising initial coin offerings will remain, however. Fast Facts: An advertising policy update on the company’s main webpage states that advertisers of crypto wallets and exchanges targeting the US […]