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With the announcement of funding invested in Japanese firm Startale Labs, gaming giant Sony will increase its already active exploration of Web3 and the possibilities inherent in blockchain technologies.

Collaborative venture building involves pooling resources, expertise and ideas — a strategy ideal for Web3 startups to succeed, writes Katherine Ng.

As the US escalates its crackdowns on digital asset companies, it’s also losing its dominance in crypto — to Asia’s advantage, writes Henry Liu of BTSE.

The final story in a three-part series on Asia metaverse developments looks at China’s national strategy, which has seen dozens of cities and provinces release spending plans and training schemes to adopt this digital world in real-world industries. China’s initiatives, however, face challenges from regulation and global competition.

South Korea, China, Japan — East Asia’s three industrial powerhouses are taking their economic rivalry to the virtual world. Each is developing a domestic metaverse in a race to become the region’s industry leader. This first account in a three-part series takes a look at what’s happening in South Korea.

Ghassan Jumblat, fintech director at financial services company Integrated Communications Channel discusses the evolution of the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, as the city positions itself as a future hub for digital assets.

Bitcoin rose and Ether fell, while most top 10 cryptos inched up following the U.S. SEC’s lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase.

Top blockchain and crypto news: Binance, Coinbase in SEC firing line. Solana NFTs slump as Bitcoin’s surge. New dawn in Hong Kong crypto regulations.

Decentralized autonomous organizations are the future of business, writes Lomesh Dutta. The key is designing them to avoid management and voting pitfalls.

China’s Zhengzhou city issued a set of policy proposals Wednesday to support metaverse companies, including a 10 billion yuan (US$1.42 billion) metaverse fund.

Opinions about Web3 gaming remain divided, but it’s undeniable that NFTs and GameFi offer players big opportunities, writes Ramona Ciocea of Protokol.

Top blockchain and crypto news: Asia’s crypto hub race. Is US debt ceiling fight a boon or a bane for crypto? China’s red carpet for metaverse investment.

Hong Kong is the most crypto-ready jurisdiction in the world, based on the number of blockchain startups per 100,000 people and the number of crypto ATMs proportional to the population, according to a new study by forex education platform Forex Suggest. 

While U.S. regulators continue debating over whether cryptocurrencies are securities or commodities, the digital assets industry is being pleasantly welcomed by several Asian cities. And the competition is really hotting up now.

For every PayPal or Google, countless other startups from the bubble days of yore took investor money down the toilet, writes Naveen Agnihotri. What makes this AI boom any different?

Japan was an early believer in blockchain and cryptocurrencies until exchange hacks brought a crackdown. But that was then. Now the government has become a crypto cheerleader.

It’s currently fashionable to publicly knock blockchain gaming, but behind closed doors, a growing number of developers are realizing its potential, writes Tim Dierckxsens of Venly.

The startup, originally incubated by the South China Morning Post, has closed a financing round led by Blue Pool Capital and Animoca Ventures.

Top blockchain and crypto news: JPMorgan swoops as another bank falls. NFT market rivalry heats up. Bitget seeks Hong Kong exchange license.

Temasek, Singapore’s state-owned investment firm, has denied that it had invested in Array, an algorithmic cryptocurrency developer.

Seychelles-based cryptocurrency exchange Bitget expects more clarity on Hong Kong’s licensing regime from June as the city pushes ahead with plans to attract blockchain and cryptocurrency entrepreneurs.

Google Cloud has announced that its node hosting service, the Blockchain Node Engine, will be available for developers on the Polygon blockchain. 

Top blockchain and crypto news: Coinbase in court to force SEC’s hand. PEPE surge lifts memecoin mood. China paves CBDC path with payroll.

Crypto’s share of venture capital money is now going to artificial intelligence, says Mysten Labs founder, Evan Cheng.

Forkast Labs’ NFT indexes reveal Polygon’s US$3 million incentive to move y00ts over to its blockchain may have cost its users.

Paul Chan said it is the right time for the city’s Web3 push ahead of Hong Kong’s busy week of blockchain and finance gatherings.

A major state-owned firm in China is launching two cryptocurrency funds in partnership with investment firm Waterdrip Capital. 

Amid the current banking crisis, each side is exhibiting disdain for the other when neither holds the moral high ground, writes Rachel Lin of SynFutures.

Top blockchain and crypto news: Arbitrum to segment AIP-1. DeGods NFT collection moves to Ethereum. Crypto on the agenda at ‘China’s Davos.’

Largest Solana NFT DeGods has started its migration to Ethereum just days after Y00ts began to move to Polygon.

From the ashes of Lehman Brothers to this year’s bank failures, Bitcoin has proven itself as a necessary part of the global financial system, writes Mike Belshe, CEO of BitGo.

The blockchain world is hampered by many of the same problems as the early internet, writes Amrit Kumar of Altlayer. What could RaaS do for the industry?

Dubai-based Fasset says Indonesia digital asset adoption is still in early stages, but the country’s young population is taking to crypto faster, encouraging exchanges to move in despite infrastructure constraints.

Top blockchain and crypto news: Binance targeted in CFTC lawsuit. Law catches up with Do Kwon. Chinese banks bet on Hong Kong crypto.

Hong Kong’s new crypto licensing regime isn’t the only bullish sign for the city’s digital asset industry, says Signum Digital, the first company to win a preliminary license to handle securitized tokens in the city.

Filing taxes on crypto assets is a ‘massive pain in the proverbial butt,’ writes Don Gossen of Nevermined. As IRS deadlines loom large, how can responsible investors avoid underreporting or overpaying?

If there was a lesson from the crypto implosions of 2022, it is the demonstration of the superiority of open code and decentralization over central intermediaries, argues Voorhees at DC Blockchain Summit.

Top blockchain and crypto news: Banking woes boost Bitcoin. Arbitrum counts down to launch. Chinese billionaire faces US crypto scam charges.

The fall of Silvergate, SVB and Signature has left crypto firms scrambling for new banks. Will crypto banking head offshore for the long term?

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

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 […]

Unique in the world, Singapore is a big investor and player in digital assets while advancing regulations that favor institutions over individual crypto users, writes Danny Chong of Tranchess.

Top blockchain and crypto news: Blur wash trading explodes. Coinbase extends developer foray with Base test. Hong Kong crypto embrace gets Beijing’s nod.

The blockchain sector’s gender divide is narrowing. Its newness and founding ideals also allow for more flexible workplaces, writes Anastasia Kor of Choise.com.

Bitcoin fell in a mixed morning for the top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies, with XRP posting the biggest gains in the list and Solana leading losses.

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.

Hong Kong is allocating HK$50 million (US$6.37 million) to develop its Web3 sector, the Financial Secretary Paul Chan announced Wednesday.

ANKR surged by more than 60% after the blockchain infrastructure startup announced a partnership on Tuesday with Microsoft.

Investors may view Web3 through the lens of financial opportunities and revenue, but that misses the point of trying to build a fairer and more transparent infrastructure, with content creators at the forefront, says Mysten Labs co-founder Evan Cheng

Blockchain protocol Conflux Network and China’s second-largest wireless carrier China Telecom have partnered to build a “blockchain-enabled SIM card” (BSIM).

Singapore’s DBS Group plans to apply for a license to offer crypto to Hong Kong customers as the city pushes to become a hub for digital assets.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

Top blockchain and crypto news: DCG under investigation. Lido DAO surges as Ethereum’s Shanghai upgrade looms. Hong Kong burnishes crypto credentials.

Indian cryptocurrency exchanges faced a flurry of taxes on trading last year that saw volumes across most platforms drop as much as 90%, slashing income from trading fees. What’s a crypto exchange to do? Maybe sell mutual funds?

Bitcoin and Ether gained in Tuesday trading in Asia along with most other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies, helped by signs inflation pressure is easing in the U.S.

Bitcoin, Ethereum extended gains in afternoon trade in Asia on Monday along with the top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. Cardano rose the most in the last 24 hours, followed by Polygon, BNB and Dogecoin.

FTX’s collapse triggered a stablecoin sell-off, but we will need them to survive the Crypto Winter, writes Vladimir Gorbunov of Choise.com.

Dennis Jarvis of Bitcoin.com believes the incoming regulatory crackdown on CeFi may tip the scales in DeFi’s favor next year.

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

Illia Polosukhin of Near Protocol believes that VC capital will flow back into early-stage startups next year, as more companies will adopt crypto and Web3.

From Terra and FTX crises to Ethereum’s triumphant Merge and China’s inventive NFT industry, Forkast reviews a rollercoaster year and its consequences.

India loves religious festivals, but are its citizens ready to attend such celebrations in virtual reality? An Indian startup reckons they are and launched its first effort this year, saying 20,000 avatars showed up.

As crypto investors move towards self-custody following FTX’s collapse, Brian Paik wonders whether it could teach people the true value of Bitcoin, beyond hype and price speculation.

Gary Liu of Artifact Labs believes that NFTs will gain more utility and become the building blocks of Web3

Several venture funds tell Forkast they have become conservative and are only investing in ‘true believers’ of Web 3.0

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