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Top blockchain and crypto news: Genesis bankruptcy begins. FTX chief ponders a reboot. China’s CBDC gets a smart-contract upgrade.

Bitcoin and Ethereum fell in Wednesday afternoon trading in Asia, as Solana and Cardano led losses among the other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.

Blockchain infrastructure firm Blockstream Corporation Inc. on Tuesday said it raised US$125 million from convertible note and secured loan financing to expand its Bitcoin mining operations and meet strong demand for what it called “institutional hosting services.”

Binance Holdings Ltd., the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, acknowledged it mistakenly stored customer funds in the same wallet holding collateral for its Binance-pegged tokens, known as B-Tokens

Japan plans to introduce regulations by June this year that will allow domestic investors to trade certain stablecoins from overseas.

Bitcoin and Ether fell in Wednesday morning trading in Asia, along with the other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies as investors seemed to be taking profits after the strong gains in crypto prices since the start of the year.

Regulators should not legitimize “purely speculative” activity in crypto markets following the collapse of FTX, said Monetary Authority of Singapore Chairmen.

Bitcoin broke the US$23,000 resistance line in Tuesday afternoon trading in Asia, with most other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies by market capitalization also higher.

Genesis Global Capital’s lawyers are confident about resolving their disputes with creditors this week, with the goal of emerging from Chapter 11 in May.

Software developers for Ethereum, the world’s second-largest blockchain, on Monday said they successfully deployed a copy of the blockchain — or “shadow fork” — to run tests of the upcoming Shanghai hardfork upgrade scheduled for March.

Bitcoin edged higher to the US$23,000 resistance line, while Ether traded little changed in mixed early morning trading in Asia on Tuesday.

India announces its full year budget on Feb. 1, the last before general elections in 2024, and the cryptocurrency and digital asset industry is lobbying the government for changes in tax rules, among others.

Signature Bank will not handle transactions of less than US$100,000 for crypto exchange customers starting in February, according to exchange giant Binance.

The U.S. will open its first nuclear-powered data center offering Bitcoin mining in the first quarter of the year.

Crypto ads airing in South Africa must warn potential investors of risks, according to new guidelines by the country’s Advertising Regulatory Board (ARB).

Bitcoin dipped 0.89% in Monday afternoon trading in Asia but remained above a four-month high of US$22,00, while all other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies by market capitalization were mixed.

EU’s new Digital Operational Resilience Act aims to help firms withstand cyberattacks. Monica Oravcova of Naoris Protocol explains why it doesn’t go far enough.

Binance Charity Fund, the philanthropic arm of the world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance Global Inc., has announced it is funding 30,665 Web3 scholarships in 2023.

According to on-chain data, the trading arm of bankrupt crypto lending firm Genesis is still moving funds around on the blockchain.

Bitcoin traded little changed Monday morning in Asia, holding above a four-month high of US$22,000 amid a broader rally over the weekend, helped by comments from a U.S. Federal Reserve official backing a smaller interest rate increase at the central bank’s meeting at the end of this month.

Despite 2022’s turbulent impact on the crypto industry, Immunefi CEO Mitchell Amador believes this year could encourage better Web3 security.

Cryptocurrency is the second most owned asset class for women after cash, according to an Etoro report

India-focused accelerator Graviton has announced an initiative to help Indian Web 3.0 start-ups get up to US$50,000 in funding

Crypto lender Nexo Capital has agreed to pay US$45 million in a settlement with the SEC and the NASAA, over allegations of failing to register its lending product,

India’s crypto tax laws have caused local trading volume to plummet and the industry is hoping for better news in the upcoming budget session.

Bitcoin slipped below US$21,000 in Friday afternoon trade in Asia while prices of other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies were mixed. 

Bitcoin’s price has had its best weekly run up since February 2021 in the seven days through Jan. 18, but is that the start of a bull run or setting up the optimists for a sucker punch? Experts share their predictions with Forkast.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a bureau of the United States Department of the Treasury that combats financial crimes, has named Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, as one of the top three receiving counterparties of Bitzlato Ltd. 

FTX is exploring options to revive its bankrupt international cryptocurrency exchange, FTX.com, CEO John Ray told the Wall Street Journal.

Cardano co-founder Charles Hoskinson said he is considering acquiring CoinDesk, the media arm of the struggling Digital Currency Group.

Crypto brokerage firm Genesis Global Capital filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Thursday in the Southern District of New York.

Why insist that ‘code is law’ when the reality is riddled with human error, sloppy design and tampering? Paul Madsen of HBAR Foundation reexamines one of the central tenets of blockchain technology.

Bitcoin and Ether rebounded Friday morning in Asia along with all of the top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies. Cardano and Ripple led the gains.

Crypto prices have been on the rise so far this year, but the arrest of a crypto exchange owner has spooked the market.

The Universal Digital Payments Network (UDPN), which aims to offer interoperability between regulated stablecoins and CBDCs, was launched today at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Busan, South Korea’s second-largest city, announced Thursday that it will launch a digital commodities exchange in the second half of this year.

Bitcoin and Ethereum fell Thursday afternoon in Asia, along with all other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies on market concerns the U.S. Federal Reserve may increase interest rates further to tackle inflation. 

National Australia Bank, one of the four major banks in the country, has created a stablecoin AUDN for cross-border transactions and carbon credit trading, according to an Australian Financial Review report. 

Founder and former chief executive of FTX U.S., Sam Bankman-Fried, has rejected claims by the company’s current leadership made in a presentation on Tuesday that the team has only recovered US$181 million worth of funds from the exchange.

Singapore-based digital asset manager Amber Group has cut its Hong Kong staff by half to 40 to weather a slump in cryptocurrency prices and a cascade of bankruptcies in the industry.

Crypto brokerage firm Genesis Global Capital is preparing to file for bankruptcy as early as this week, Bloomberg reported.

Small details can make a big difference on performance, and one careless error can lead to calamity. How should those in crypto drivers’ seats navigate their path?

Bitcoin and Ether fell Thursday morning in Asia along with most other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies on concerns about the direction of the U.S. economy and interest rates.

One of the most lauded benefits of bricks-and-mortar tokenization is less intermediary involvement in transactions. Tokenization can certainly make real estate investment cheaper and more efficient, but it’s also a potential win for property professionals.

The Filecoin Foundation’s Marta Belcher unveils details to send the IPFS into space to speed up long distance communications.

Coinbase Global Inc., the world’s second largest cryptocurrency exchange by trade volume, has asked customers in Japan to withdraw crypto and fiat holdings by Feb. 16, as it halts operations “to conduct a complete review” of its business in the country.

Top blockchain and crypto news: SEC frowns on Genesis, Gemini. Solana soars. Will China tighten its embrace of WeChat Pay and Alipay to push its CBDC?

Caroline Pham, commissioner of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) commissioner, has urged regulators to develop clearer crypto industry standards.

Bitcoin and Ethereum gained in Wednesday afternoon trading in Asia, while price movements of top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies were mixed, with Dogecoin leading gains.

U.S.-based cryptocurrency bank Silvergate Capital Corp., which saw clients withdraw more than US$8 billion late last year, on Tuesday reported a US$1 billion loss for the fourth quarter of 2022, a slump it attributed to a “crisis of confidence” in the sector resulting from several large bankruptcies.

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

Bitcoin and Ether were little changed in a muted morning of trading on Wednesday in Asia, as few top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies moved by more than 1% in either direction.

IPFS will be heading to space this year to reduce latency between nodes communicating in orbit for blockchain applications, Marta Belcher of the Filecoin Foundation told Forkast.

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 Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand issued new rules for cryptocurrency custody services on Tuesday.

Climate action and Ukraine were key discussion points on the first day of the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos.

The Singapore High Court has extended the creditor protection period for crypto lender Vauld to Feb. 28, as the firm has yet to come up with a revival plan

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.

Price is the wrong measure of Web3’s true value, writes Angie Lau, editor-in-chief of Forkast. To recover from Crypto Winter, we need metrics that are less prone to whims and manipulation.

See related article: China digital currency transaction volume soars to nearly US$14B Soochow Securities, a Chinese securities firm, enabled e-CNY payments on its mobile application on Monday, marking the first use case of the central bank digital currency in securities market trade, according to state-backed finance outlet China Securities Journal. Fast facts See related article: […]

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

The Lazarus Group, a North Korean cybercrime organization, has transferred 41,000 Ether (US$63.9 million) stolen from the 2022 Harmony bridge hack onto cryptocurrency exchanges Binance, OKX and Huobi, according to blockchain data shared by Twitter sleuth ZachXBT.

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

Bitcoin held above US$21,000 in Tuesday morning trading in Asia with the total cryptocurrency market capitalization also briefly breaching the US$1 trillion-dollar mark in the last 24 hours for the first time since mid-November.

Although investors fear the Shanghai upgrade brings selling pressure to Ethereum, Amber’s Justin D’Anethan shares why this can be a bull case for Ethereum.

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.

NFTs, tokenization and blockchain-based cross-border payments will see big paradigm shifts, but their success will depend on regulation, investment and adoption, writes Stephen Richardson of Fireblocks.

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

The Bitcoin mining difficulty level jumped 10.26% on Monday morning in Hong Kong, hitting an all-time high reading of 37.59 trillion, as several U.S-based miners came back online from recent winter storms that forced them to unplug, according to data from BTC.com. See related article: Bitcoin hashrate drops nearly 40% as deadly U.S. storm unplugs […]

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.

The U.S. House of Representatives has created a new congressional subcommittee focused on digital assets, as one of its first moves under the control of the Republican Party.