Search results: Forkast.News

Busan plans digital asset exchange meanwhile Tencent launches digital IOUs.

Blockchain technology is part of the important work being done toward a safer and healthier world. Lucas Schweiger of Blockdata summarizes this year’s strides forward.

The global Bitcoin hashrate is now on an uptrend as miners pushed out by China resettle on friendlier shores and resume investing big money in mining equipment.

Busan, the “blockchain city” of South Korea, is in the early stages of building its own platform for digital asset transactions. Fast facts According to Coindesk Korea, Busan city has started setting up detailed plans and strategies in establishing a digital asset exchange. Its plans include building an ecosystem for securities token-based digital asset transactions […]

Speaking to Parliament, India’s finance minister reveals that the government does not know how many crypto exchanges India has nor the number of crypto users.

FTX.US, the U.S. affiliate of Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange FTX, saw its average daily trading volumes soar 150-fold in June compared to the same month a year before, according to the company’s mid-year results. Fast facts The company reported that FTX.US had a daily volume that ranged between US$150 million and US$1 billion in the […]

The International Monetary Fund says it has a mandate to help countries around the world adopt and adapt to digital currencies, but only if the digital money is in the public interest — which Bitcoin is not, according to an IMF report published yesterday. Fast facts While the IMF recognizes the potential benefits of digital […]

Japan’s crypto-asset business association published a report yesterday that highlights issues in crypto investing for the country’s institutional investors.  Fast facts This report is an update of the latest use cases and projects from the “Discussion Paper Interim Report on Cryptocurrency Use Cases” published on May 7, 2021, and is a supplementary material to the […]

What is Robinhood really worth, now that it’s a public company? Perhaps its true value depends on who you are.

Robinhood’s hotly-anticipated market debut had an underwhelming start on Thursday, closing 8% down on its debut price of US$38, according to data from TradingView.com. Fast facts Trading under the ticker HOOD, Robinhood’s stock had an immediate rocky start, falling 10% before recovering slightly. But HOOD still ended the day at US$34.82. As Forkast reported recently, […]

Wire fraud, including cryptocurrency-related fraud, becomes fastest-growing crime as scams — some even involving China’s digital yuan project — proliferate.

The number of crypto users around the world grew to 221 million in June, double the number in January, according to a report released today by Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange, Crypto.com. Fast facts Bitcoin drove the growth in crypto use from January to April, with companies such as Microstrategy, PayPal, Tesla and Visa buying into […]

Tokenization is creating new ways to invest. 3 crypto firms are partnering to also offer crypto retirement portfolios and inheritance planning.

Number of new South Korean crypto investors have tanked in the month of June as crypto mining investments boom outside China.

Despite China’s crackdowns on Bitcoin mining and growing consternation about crypto mining’s carbon footprint, some miners are betting big on a rosy future.

New data provided by lawmaker Kim Hee-gon shows a significant decline in new users and the amount of transactions on the four largest cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea. Fast facts The data aggregated by the four largest crypto exchanges in Korea — Upbit, Bithumb, Korbit and CoinOne — shows that their total of new users […]

Iranian state electric company Tavanir has warned judicial officials about Chinese cryptocurrency miners coming to Iran, an influx that could worsen the country’s power outage problems, according to local media reports. Fast facts Tavanir CEO Mohammad Hussein Motevallizadeh said in a letter published by local news website Eghtesadnews that the Chinese government’s crackdown on crypto […]

Bitmain’s move comes amid China’s crypto mining crackdowns and AntPool’s shrinking hashrate. Is Bitmain gussying up for an IPO?

PayPal customers will soon have access to a greater range of crypto services through the global payment platform, CEO Dan Schulman said during PayPal’s Q2 2021 investor update call yesterday. Fast facts Describing the upgrade as “code complete,” Schulman said the wallet should be fully available for customers in the Unite States in the next […]

Sales of non-fungible tokens for “Stoner Cats,” the new adult cartoon featuring Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin alongside Hollywood A-listers, resulted in losses totaling 344.6 ETH (US$790,000) to fans yesterday due to the influx of buyers who overwhelmed the Ethereum network and failed transactions, according to data from Dune Analytics. Fast facts The show, which sold […]

Shifting to renewable energy is now a global goal. Using electric vehicles as an example, Author Joseph Jacobelli examines how digital technologies like blockchain will lead the way to a greener planet.

Flush with capital, blockchain and crypto firms are on a hiring spree. Here’s how the battle for crypto talent is playing out.

Hong Kong-based crypto financial services company Amber Group wants to bridge the gap between creators, collectors and platforms looking to get into NFTs and the crypto space.

Binance CEO CZ confirms that a new executive may lead the organization. Meanwhile, Bitmain spins off one of the world’s largest mining pool Antpool.

The fee-free trading platform’s initial public offering promises plenty of action for retail investors, but pitfalls may lie in wait amid trading volatility and wider adoption of business model.

Top blockchain and crypto news: Is Amazon taking up BTC? Robinhood’s share sale deserves scrutiny. Did Huobi jump or was it pushed?

South Korea’s Financial Services Commission revealed today that it had discovered 14 bank accounts used by virtual asset exchanges that had been registered in names that were not those of the exchanges themselves. Fast facts It is not legal for crypto exchange bank accounts held under other names to accept customers’ funds on behalf of […]

Thailand’s central bank yesterday published guidelines to regulate and promote the use of blockchain technology in the financial sector.  Fast facts Released by Siritida Panomwon Na Ayudhya, assistant governor of the payment systems policy and financial technology group at the Bank of Thailand, the guidelines provides principles for blockchain technology adoption by financial services providers.  […]

San Francisco-based payments technology company Ripple has partnered with SBI Remit, Japan’s largest money transfer provider, mobile payments service Coins.ph and digital asset exchange platform SBI VC Trade to use XRP for remittances between Japan and the Philippines, according to a company statement. Fast facts The partnership — Ripple’s first on-demand liquidity service implementation in […]

Binance also tightens withdrawal limits and unveils new tax reporting tool, to counter recent flurry of government investigations and bad publicity.

Fifteen of India’s largest banks have invested in a fintech firm that aims to use blockchain to speed up domestic letters of credit, a first in domestic trade finance, regulatory filings to the National Stock Exchange of India show. Fast facts Named the Indian Banks’ Blockchain Infrastructure Co., the firm uses blockchain technology to verify […]

In the latest effort of crypto cross-promotion, Burger King Brazil is now accepting the memecoin Dogecoin as payment for a “Dogpper” — a special edible doggie treat for customer’s pets and a play on words of the fast-food chain’s famous burger, the Whopper. Fast facts The doggie treat is not new to Latin America. Burger […]

In an effort to “expand and accelerate innovation around digital asset technology”, Mastercard is launching a new global program to support cryptocurrency startups by giving them access to Mastercard’s business network and technology. Fast facts Announced yesterday, Mastercard’s Start Path program already has signed up seven crypto-related startup companies: GK8, Mintable, Stacs, Supraoracles, Taurus, Uphold […]

Zero-fee trading app Robinhood is looking to introduce features to better protect users against the price volatility of crypto trading, according to a report by Bloomberg based on an analysis of the platform’s code by iOS developer Steve Moser. Fast facts According to a message in the code, a new feature called “price volatility protection” […]

Capital increase takes company’s valuation to US$2 billion as it looks to grow customer base, partnerships.

Huobi deregisters Beijing entity while K-drama takes crypto back in time

Ethereum’s future is top of mind for a group of fintech experts polled by Finders. Where do they think Ethereum prices are headed, and will Ethereum overtake Bitcoin?

Jasmine Telecom Systems, a publicly-listed unit of Thai telecoms operator Jasmine International, is set to ride the Bitcoin mining wave, with plans to install tens of thousands of mining machines over the next few years. Fast facts JTS is kicking off plans to deploy 500 mining machines in a data center in the third quarter […]

Electric carmaker Tesla on Monday reported that it held US$1.3 billion of Bitcoin, according to the company’s Q2 2021 financial results update. Fast facts There was no change to Tesla’s Bitcoin holdings from the previous quarter, but the company took a Bitcoin-related impairment hit of US$23 million due to the fall in Bitcoin prices, according […]

Closure of blockchain business may be related to regulatory concerns, but unlikely to hit crypto industry hard, observers say.

The Philippine Digital Asset Exchange, a cryptocurrency trading platform licensed by the central bank of the Philippines, now has more than 450,000 users, a 22.5-times increase from 2019, the bourse has told local media.  Fast facts PDAX Chief Executive Nichel Gaba said many Filipinos were crypto-curious, which explained why the number of traders on the […]

Following El Salvador’s making Bitcoin legal tender and ongoing speculation of further crypto adoption in Latin America, the International Monetary Fund has issued a thinly veiled warning to any country looking to follow suit. Fast facts While acknowledging the appeal to countries adopting cryptocurrencies as legal tender — especially for those with less stable economies […]

A cryptocurrency-themed TV drama series with a historical twist is currently in production in South Korea, depicting the make-believe arrival of a cryptocurrency in the country’s ancient Joseon Dynasty. Fast facts “The Age of Money,” as the show will be known, follows a fictional king trying to get to the bottom of an “invisible” brass […]

World’s largest stablecoin dismisses report suggesting possibility of U.S. investigation, despite claims of recent Justice Department interest and track record of legal woes.

As regulation permitting the establishment of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds remains stalled in the U.S., Goldman Sachs has officially applied for an ETF offering exposure to companies in decentralized finance and blockchain. Fast facts In a recent filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the bank said its fund — the Goldman Sachs Innovate DeFi […]

Amazon is quickly putting to rest rumors the online retail giant plans to offer crypto payment services for its customers, as reported by British newspaper CityAM, which claimed to have spoken to a company insider. Fast facts To shoot down the rumors and conjecture, an Amazon spokesperson told Coindesk.com on Monday: “Notwithstanding our interest in […]

Facebook’s Novi, a digital wallet designed for its digital currency, Diem, is in hiring mode in the Philippines. Fast facts Facebook’s careers page currently shows five openings in the country for positions dedicated to Novi, including help operations investigator, onboarding coordinator and learning business partner. It has only one other opening in the entire Asia-Pacific […]

For the third consecutive week, digital asset investment products last week saw outflows — this time, to the tune of US$28 million, according to CoinShares, Europe’s largest digital assets fund manager. Bitcoin saw the majority of outflows, but multi-asset investment products remained positive with inflows of US$3.1 million. Fast facts Bitcoin investment products saw US$24 […]

Singapore’s central bank is in the final stages of reviewing applications for licenses to provide crypto services, including payments and the operation of cryptocurrency exchanges, according to Tharman Shanmugaratnam, minister in charge of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), which regulates financial institutions in Singapore. Fast facts To date, Singapore has received over 480 crypto […]

Bit Mining pivots overseas as Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin joins animated crypto series ‘Stoned Cats’ cast.

Singapore-based crypto derivatives exchange Bybit today announced it had made a US$19.3 million contribution in Ethereum (ETH), Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC) to BitDAO, one of the world’s largest decentralized autonomous organizations, which it helped launch last month. Fast facts Many crypto projects, especially those in decentralized finance, have organized themselves as DAOs for […]

As non-fungible tokens make their way into TV with a new funding model and method of building community, who better to lead a project than the head of Ethereum himself?

Blockchain technology can make a big impact on the world we live in, according to authors Kosrow Dehnad and Joe Duncan. A prime example: Tesla’s driverless vehicles.

Three blockchain and crypto-related companies have donated hundreds of millions of yuan to China’s Henan Province, which has suffered deadly floods since last week. Fast facts Bitmain, a crypto mining firm was the first to announce a donation of 10 million yuan (US$1.54 million) on July 23 to a charity federation in Zhengzhou, the provincial […]

Binance, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, appears to be expanding its Singapore office. At the time of publishing, Linkedin showed that it had 261 job vacancies in Singapore — where its CEO, Changpeng Zhao, allegedly lives — among 964 vacancies globally.  Fast facts The talent Binance is seeking ranges from futures growth […]

Led by traders in Asia, Bitcoin saw its biggest one-day gain in over a month amid speculation that Amazon is getting into crypto.

Wolfram Blockchain Labs and Cardano are set to host a livestream event in which items from Wolfram’s computational universe will be “Liveminted” as NFTs on the Cardano network. Details of the event were shared on the website of Cardano’s parent company, Input Output Hong Kong recently, which said it would take place on July 28. […]

Chinese cryptocurrency mining rig maker Bitmain has partnered with Enegix, which runs one of the biggest crypto mining data centers in Kazakhstan, to host its Antminer machines in the Central Asian nation. Fast facts Bitmain said in a statement on Friday that it had joined hands with Enegix, a data center operator in Kazakhstan, to […]

BIT Mining — a New York Stock Exchange-listed company that only months ago became a big investor in Chinese cryptocurrency mining — has decided to exit its Chinese lottery-related business and focus more on mining outside the country. Fast facts BIT Mining, formerly known as 500.com, has operated online sports lottery services, but announced on […]

Cryptocurrencies are gaining traction in Singapore, especially among younger investors. A survey of 1,000 Singaporeans carried out by Toluna, a consumer insights provider, has shown that 43% of Singaporeans own crypto and that 74% of them have increased their wealth by using it as an investment.  Fast facts The survey is said to have been […]

Amid growing concerns surrounding ransomware attacks in the U.S., Senator Gary Peters has announced a bipartisan investigation of how cryptocurrencies could be facilitating such activity, Bitcoin.com reports. Fast facts In a statement, Sen. Peters, who is also the chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said: “The increased use of cryptocurrencies as the […]

FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried says it’s time to move on from high leverage in crypto trading. Binance also seeks new CEO with a stronger regulatory background.

Valkyrie is among a growing number of asset managers at the SEC’s door, seeking approval to offer a Bitcoin ETF. Will a Bitcoin ETF ever get the green light in the United States?

India updates its CBDC plans and Korea threatens to block exchanges

Speaking at an SCB 10X DeFi virtual summit, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao says an IPO is not out of the question, but that the exchange first needs to set up corporate structures as it navigates increased regulatory scrutiny.

The cryptocurrency community is watching Ethereum closely, with the EthCC event in Paris having wrapped up, Ether prices showing new strength and the London upgrade just around the corner.

Authorities in Sichuan — a southwestern Chinese province that was once a hotbed for crypto mining, thanks to its abundant hydropower resources — is tightening scrutiny of small hydropower stations, without giving any exact reasons behind the move. Fast facts The Sichuan Provincial Water Resources Department said that it had listed 5,131 small hydropower stations […]

US Securities and Exchange Commission staffers say their appointed leaders’ views do not reflect the agency’s stance on Ripple and XRP.

Case could be first fatality associated with mining, although hot-running equipment has history of starting fires.

Despite Ethereum being the blockchain of choice for smart-contract capabilities, there has been a recent push to bring decentralized finance to the Bitcoin network. Fast facts One such project looking to do so is layer-one protocol Stacks (STX), whose introduction of its programming language Clarity has allowed the development of smart contracts on the Bitcoin […]

Demonstrators have gathered outside El Salvador’s National Assembly to protest President Nayib Bukele’s controversial bill to establish Bitcoin as official legal tender in the Central American nation, Decrypt reports. Fast facts Activists gathered despite a three-month ban on protests in the country, which was ostensibly put in place as a Covid-19 preventative measure. Despite the […]

A digital yuan wallet app launched by China’s central bank will include an electricity bill payment feature designed by the country’s State Grid, according to Economic Information Daily, a local financial media outlet.  Fast facts Users will be able to pay their electricity bills through the digital yuan app directly and do not need to […]