Search results: industry

While the government has yet to figure out the details, a crypto regulatory regime is expected to be released before February.

The maker of the catchy children’s song and dance video of Pinkfong Baby Shark is launching NFTs (non-fungible tokens) of its globally beloved characters with upgraded design and music. Fast facts SmartStudy, a South Korean educational entertainment company and the creator of the Pinkfong Baby Shark, announced a partnership with MakersPlace, a digital art marketplace. […]

As crypto projects are relocating from China to friendlier shores, it represents ‘huge opportunity’ for Taiwan.

Animoca Brands, a Hong Kong-based blockchain gaming unicorn, announced today that it has teamed up with Cube Entertainment, a major K-pop entertainment agency, to form a joint venture dedicated to building a music metaverse and issuing non-fungible tokens (NFTs), joining a slew of K-pop labels to make forays into the NFT and metaverse space. Fast […]

Developing regulations for decentralized finance is easier said than done. Attorneys Victor Ho, Andre Da Roza and Saranpaal Calais discuss the many legal and practical hurdles.

A former Chinese official has been expelled from the Communist Party of China for “serious violations of discipline and law” as he was found to introduce and support cryptocurrency mining activities, in what may be the first time for China’s anti-graft watchdog to expel an official over crypto mining. Fast facts The country’s anti-corruption watchdog […]

The Algorand Foundation, a Singapore-based blockchain organization supporting the development of the Algorand ecosystem, has partnered with the Blockchain Association Singapore to drive the development of blockchain technology in Singapore and the wider Southeast Asia region. Fast facts In a memorandum of understanding signed on Nov. 12, the ecosystem partnership will see the Algorand Foundation […]

In another sign of increasing adoption of blockchain technology in the gaming industry, Forte — a leading provider of blockchain solutions for game publishers — has secured US$725 million in a Series B fundraising round, the firm announced. Fast facts Led by Sea Capital and Kora Management, this follows from the US$185 million it raised […]

Russia to legalize crypto mining; Korean candidate goes all out crypto

Charities are just beginning to explore the potential of NFTs, writes Billy Sebell of XinFin Network. Here’s how NFTs can help raise big money beyond artwork auctions.

Covid laid bare the gaps in people’s access to banking services. Moeda Seeds is looking not just to fill the gaps but to change the banking paradigm.

The Russian government could be looking to legalize cryptocurrency mining, as parliamentarian Andrey Lugovoy proposed the creation of a working group to discuss the issue, according to a Thursday press statement from State Duma, the country’s lower house of the parliament. Fast facts Lugovoy, also a deputy chairman of a committee on security and anti-corruption, […]

Rounding out an impressive year for the world’s No. 5 blockchain, Solana held its first global offline conference in Lisbon this week. Here’s a look at some of the key moments.

After recent scams were uncovered involving Walmart and Kroger, and Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin, why did the stock prices fall while the crypto prices rallied?

In a 48-second, computer-generated 3D animation, ROK uses a decentralized format to offer an ironic take on China’s internet giants crowding to host the shopping holiday.

Crypto surges on US inflation rise meanwhile, Korean investors win damages

While Kazakhstan — a popular destination for Chinese crypto miners as they look for more regulation-friendly shores — continues to face power shortages, the country’s energy minister has said the authority will not restrict power consumption for legal crypto miners, according to a government statement. Fast facts Magzum Mirzagaliyev, Kazakhstan’s minister of energy, said at […]

Trying to move beyond XRP, Ripple hopes its customers will join RippleNet with a wallet that supports fiat and other cryptos like Bitcoin and Ether.

Bitcoin & Beyond

Panel explores sustainability issues surrounding the energy-intensive industry at Bitcoin & Beyond Virtual Summit.

Panel looks at best practices in news coverage from Decrypt Media, CoinDesk, South China Morning Post.

The Indian government is looking to introduce a cryptocurrency bill in the winter session of parliament in a bid to “fast track” regulation of a rapidly growing ecosystem, CNBC-TV18 reported. Fast facts India first drafted a bill to ban all cryptocurrencies in the budget session of 2021, but it was never tabled for discussions. Officials […]

From China’s crackdowns to El Salvador’s Bitcoin adoption, where is the world headed in how governments regard crypto? An expert panel explores the future of decentralized finance in the global economy.

The largest U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase, earned just US$406 million net income in Q3 this year — a 74.7% decline over the previous quarter — according to the company’s investor earnings report released yesterday. Fast facts That figure represents a 500% increase over Q3 last year, but is significantly less than the US$1.6 billion in […]

One of South Korea’s largest entertainment agencies, SM Entertainment, plans to create future content under its SM Culture Universe (SMCU) metaverse in NFTs — according to its founder Lee Soo-man at Solana’s Breakpoint 2021 conference. Fast facts Lee said SM’s own metaverse, the SMCU, needs to be a place for creation where K-pop prosumers can […]

After the SEC approved a Bitcoin futures ETF, the cost of crypto mining rigs jumped. Coincidence? Varit Bulakul of The Brooker Group explains.

What makes 2021’s roaring crypto market different from 2017’s are the banks and VCs piling in, writes Calvin Shen of Hex Trust. What’s behind their crypto adoption?

Speaking at the Singapore FinTech Festival, Ethereum’s creator discusses DeFi adoption and why he expects Ethereum’s ‘killer ecosystem’ to grow over the next few years.

Top blockchain and crypto news: Ethereum rises and rivals follow. Taxing times for US investors. New life for reborn crypto miner.

Amid the global energy crisis, nine companies from four countries — China, Japan, Australia and Saudi Arabia — announced they will jointly build a blockchain documentation platform to speed up customs clearance and cargo delivery to trade the commodities of energy, chemical products and metal. Fast facts Platform participants includes Sinochem Energy, Mitsui.Co, Macquarie CGM, Saudi […]

Speaking at the Singapore FinTech Festival, Singapore central bank chief Ravi Menon announces the launch of Project Orchid, a digital dollar project.

Affinidi, a Singapore-based technology company founded by state-owned investment firm Temasek, today announced the launch of a new business unit called Finnovate that aims to serve millions of underbanked individuals and small and medium enterprises across Southeast Asia by leveraging on Web 3.0 blockchain technologies. Fast facts Affinidi Finnovate is partnering with the financial services […]

Cryptocurrency exchange Huobi Global, which obtained a distributed ledger technology license from the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission in 2018, will be migrating its spot trading services to the regulated entity in Gibraltar (“Huobi Gibraltar”), the company announced today. Fast facts Huobi has received approval from the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission to migrate its cryptocurrency spot […]

The city’s disaffected post-protest youth and recent statistics suggest a brain drain in the city’s future.

Digital assets are disrupting financial services in ways not seen since the Middle Ages, writes Alex Tapscott of Ninepoint Partners. Here is the taxonomy for the future of finance.

The country will follow global crypto guidelines in excluding non-fungible tokens (NFTs) from its categorization of virtual assets — meaning income from NFTs may remain untaxed in Korea.

Ethereum reached a new all-time price high of US$4,766 earlier today, flying past its previous all-time high record of US$4,634 set five days ago, according to CoinGecko data. Fast facts The world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market value has been on a record run since late last month. On Oct. 28, Ethereum’s price climbed to US$4,416 for the first time. The […]

hashport, a public utility that facilitates the movement of digital assets between distributed ledger technology networks without the need for a native network token, today announced that it will launch on Nov. 9, according to a media statement. At launch, hashport will connect the Hedera public distributed ledger to the Ethereum and Polygon networks. Fast […]

The traditional financial industry is getting its feet wet in tokenization of assets, and there’s an influx of interest in the private asset space, as Mathew McDermott, managing director of Goldman Sachs, said today at a Hong Kong Fintech Week panel moderated by Angie Lau, editor-in-chief and founder of Forkast.News. Fast facts McDermott said Goldman […]

Blockdata co-founder Jonathan Knegtel thinks so. Almost a teenager, Bitcoin is reaching a level of maturity that’s defying the predictions of its critics.

22 private sector finance heavyweights together with the BIS and central banks of China, Hong Kong, Thailand, and UAE aim to achieve a production-ready international trade settlement platform using CBDCs.

Canaan is seeking $14 million in alleged losses from Shenzhen HighSharp Electronic Technology and Sichuan Yinbimei Technology.

The idea of the metaverse has gone from the realm of science fiction to the latest business model of major companies from Facebook to Nike. What do metaverses powered by blockchain look like, and why is there so much interest in Decentraland?

The bell has rung on the friendly, post-Election Day competition between leaders of two major American cities for who will be the crypto-friendliest mayor of all.

Solana prices keep cresting to new heights, making SOL a top-five cryptocurrency by size. What makes Solana and its ecosystem stand out? Forkast.News explains.

Lee Jae-myung, the ruling Democratic Party’s candidate for the upcoming presidential election in South Korea, may include in his election pledges setting up a government sector dedicated to supervising the virtual asset industry. Fast facts It is reported that Lee is considering including a plan in his presidential campaign to set up a unit similar […]

DeFi is here to stay, but regulations are still lacking. Jason Blick of EQIBank explores the challenges and how authorities can move forward.

e-CNY scam investigated meanwhile S Korea gets metaverse bug

BTS’ label dreams bigger than just dominating the K-pop world — they want to digitize the IP even more.

Information Technology (IT) firms in South Korea set up shop in the realm of the metaverse, with their first step being non-fungible token (NFT) platforms.

The price of Solana (SOL), the native cryptocurrency of the high-performance proof-of-stake Solana blockchain, hit a new all-time high US$245.69 this morning Asia time and briefly overtook Tether as the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market value, according to CoinGecko data. Fast facts Solana’s price surge comes ahead of the inaugural Breakpoint conference organized by the Solana Foundation, which will […]

As the U.S. economy shows signs of recovery from the pandemic-related recession, the Federal Reserve has announced it will begin tapering the US$120 billion a month it spends on bond purchases, hoping to address concerns of rising inflation. This has caused unease in the crypto industry as Bitcoin adoption over the past 18 months has […]

NYC Mayor-elect Eric Adams said he wanted to ‘look at what’s preventing the growth of Bitcoins and cryptocurrency in our city.’

Why archiving the internet is vital for the future, how a decentralized web can help, and why looking at history is a good way to predict the future

Pay-for-play on Web 3.0 will instigate seismic shifts from centralized social media to community-driven platforms, writes Solo Ceesay of Calaxy. How would it work?

One of Asia’s largest fintech events returns for its sixth year with a hybrid format of live and virtual sessions. Regulators, corporations and experts share what’s important now in crypto.

ETH and SOL hit all-time highs as well as CBA offers crypto services

Blockchain technology company Huobi Group is celebrating its 8th-year anniversary with a slew of events and giveaways — including a space trip “to the outer perimeters of Earth” — and a focus on expanding its global footprint, according to a company announcement. Fast facts Founded in 2013 in China, Huobi has made global expansion a priority […]

Top blockchain and crypto news: Stablecoins at regulatory crossroads. Squid Game crypto players suffer shocking fate. Are metaverses China’s new national insecurity?

Amid debate in Australia surrounding the banking sector’s relationship with cryptocurrency, the country’s largest bank, Commonwealth Bank, will soon be allowing customers to buy, sell and hold crypto assets directly through its app — making it the first bank in the country to do so. Fast facts Partnering with leading global crypto exchange and custodian […]

Thailand’s oldest bank, Siam Commercial Bank, has acquired a majority stake in the country’s largest crypto exchange Bitkub. Fast facts Siam Commercial Bank Securities, a subsidiary of SCB, has purchased 51% stake in Bitkub for approximately US$535.6 million, according to an announcement on Tuesday. The transaction is expected to be completed by the first quarter […]

The highly awaited report outlines recommendations for stablecoin regulation and asks regulatory bodies to combat risks until Congress introduces new laws.

Bitcoin miners saw another mining difficulty adjustment on Monday, with an increase of 7.85%, recovering to the level recorded in May, according to data from BTC.com. Fast facts The mining difficulty level is now at 21.66 trillion at block height 707,616, reflecting the most difficult level since a previous adjustment on May 13, the data show. The latest […]

The big-money world of NFTs is also attracting hackers, thieves and con artists. How do you know if that Ape NFT or digital Banksy is fake?

China’s tech cut ties to NFTs as Squid Game token leaves users questioning its legitimacy.

Ant Group and Tencent recently rebranded NFT projects as digital collectibles amid China state media criticism.

The darling of the play-to-earn gaming world had an explosive start but now struggles with deflation and lower player earnings. Is the play-to-earn model sustainable?

More local governments in China are taking actions to crack down on cryptocurrency mining and trading, with Ganzhou, a prefecture-level city in the eastern province of Jiangxi, having deployed checks and inspections on local businesses. Fast facts The economic development zone in Ganzhou announced that it is working with the central bank’s local branch, the […]

Warning issued over K-pop crypto meanwhile Dog fight hits crypto market

Bitcoin is awakening humanity to its own sovereign capacities, says Ben Caselin of AAX. Here’s why the world’s first cryptocurrency is still at the cutting edge of finance and culture.

China’s first national standard for blockchain could be released next year and a draft is now in the process of being submitted for approval, an official said earlier this week at an event in the western province of Sichuan, according to a report from local media Chuanguan, run by state-owned Sichuan Daily. Fast facts Li […]

Behind this year’s giddy markets, evil and tragedies abound. Just in time for Halloween, Forkast.News shakes out the skeletons in crypto’s closet.