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Soaring BTC and altcoin prices earlier this year drew in new investors, who now worry about the current slump. Will crypto prices rise again, or are modest valuations here to stay?

Cryptocurrency investment products saw a total outflow of US$4 million last week in the “quietest trading week since October 2020,” according to digital asset investment firm CoinShares’ weekly digital asset fund flows report. Fast facts Cryptocurrency markets remained soft, with Bitcoin seeing US$6.9 million of outflows. Trading volumes in investment products totaled just US$1.58bn for […]

Korean banks extend partnerships with crypto exchanges — for now. And also in Korea, how to earn crypto during bathroom breaks.

Cosmos’s DeFi capital pulling power is set to get stronger as Gravity DEX launches, with Gravity Bridge and the Emeris DeFi portal on the way.

Crypto industry gets the ‘overleveraged’ label and authorities are cracking down on derivatives providers. Alexander Höptner of 100x believes the pushback foreshadows the industry’s next big thing — derivatives.

Cryptocurrency miners blamed for blackouts as government eyes excess electricity for mooted state crypto mining operation.

NFTs offer haven as authors self-censor amid intensifying crackdown on free expression.

Huobi Eco Chain, an open-source, decentralized public blockchain, today announced 11 new partners, including Hong Kong-based blockchain gaming company Animoca Brands and crypto data website CoinMarketCap — which is owned by Huobi rival Binance — that will run validating nodes to improve the stability and decentralization of the network. Fast facts Other new validators include […]

IBC Group becomes the latest to seize Bitcoin and Ethereum mining operations in China as crypto gets the nod from Pavilions Hotels and Resorts.

A legislator from the ruling Democratic Party of Korea today announced a proposal to defer tax on virtual assets for one year, after which income derived from cryptocurrencies would be treated as financial investment income for tax purposes. Fast facts Noh Woong-rae proposed deferring the levying of tax on income from crypto transactions until January […]

Elon Musk has once again sent a coin’s price skyward with a simple tweet; this time more than doubling the price of the memecoin Baby Doge by inserting its name into the lyrics of popular children’s song, “Baby Shark”. Fast facts Replacing the title of the song with the name of the coin, the tweet […]

Crypto exchange Huobi yesterday issued an announcement in simplified Chinese saying that it would implement a “T+1” withdrawal freezing time for all over-the-counter trades, meaning that traders can transfer cryptocurrency out only 24 hours after depositing it. In some cases, the freeze will last up to 36 hours.  Fast facts At present, the announcement appears […]

Nasdaq-listed Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, announced today its plans to expand its business internationally as it seeks to improve its asset-listing process and build a crypto app store. Fast facts: “We’re seeing crypto quickly mature from its initial use case of trading bitcoin to the trading of thousands of new […]

Millennials and Gen Z Millennials have earned the reputation of disrupting or killing traditional industries, and the financial sector is no exception.  The disconnect between millennials and traditional investments is the result of various factors, such as their firsthand experience with the long-term effects of the 2008 global recession on assets and investments, as well […]

How value is created Our methodology for calculating the value of this market includes tokenized commodity, energy, currency (i.e., stablecoins), gold and real estate projects. Calculations include publicly listed projects found via Blockexplorers. It excludes cryptocurrency, as it’s a native digital asset, as well as DeFi projects because of their extreme volatility. All tokenized assets […]

Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission chief, Ashley Alder, kicked off a firestorm during Hong Kong FinTech Week 2020 by announcing a plan to regulate all cryptocurrency exchanges that operate in the city or target its citizens.  These new proposed rules would replace a voluntary framework introduced in 2019 that allowed exchanges to opt in […]

Agricultural Bank of China has set up a fintech innovation center in Xiong’an, a model for a so-called smart city.

Chinese cryptocurrency exchange Huobi has stopped providing crypto derivative trading services to users in China and Taiwan.

Nansen, a Singapore startup, is the latest darling of venture capitalists like Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) bullish on the growing field of crypto analytics.

Managing trading volume and geography The importance of having the right infrastructure to drive an exchange – any exchange, not just ones for digital assets – cannot be overstated. It provides the engine that lies behind every software platform.  Investors need to know they can execute trades without outages or other interruption. As well, they […]

Why are so few adopting FATF guidance for VASPs? Money laundering watchdog decries ‘continued misuse of virtual assets through jurisdictional arbitrage.’

Payment for listings raises questions over integrity of cryptocurrencies’ credit scores as compliance deadline nears.

Bitcoin was recovered by the FBI from the Colonial Pipeline ransomware cyber criminals DarkSide, sparking privacy concerns around cryptocurrencies.

A major Ethereum upgrade via London hard fork — which experts call a ‘seismic shift’ for the industry — is coming soon. Are ‘Ethereum killers’ doomed?

Swiss-based Digital Assets AG, a firm focused on the design of tokenized stock infrastructure, has launched over 50 tokenized stocks on the Solana public blockchain.

Law enforcement agencies in several countries have arrested suspected members of a crypto-linked cybercrime group believed to be responsible for laundering more than US$500 million from ransomware attacks.

Iron Finance, once a DeFi darling, went from billions to bust in a day. Should investors have seen the crash coming? How stable are algorithmic stablecoins?

China’s crypto clampdown reaches Sichuan. A sneak preview into how China’s digital yuan works.

Singapore-based decentralized exchange SynFutures has closed a $14 million series A round to bring crypto derivatives to new users around the world.

Former executives from online travel platforms have partnered with Binance-backed Travala.com to launch an Airbnb-like decentralized home-sharing platform.

China’s crypto mining crackdown continues while Indian finance authorities probe one of the nation’s largest exchange WazirX.

India’s central bank has clarified that cryptocurrencies are not illegal, but that does little to prevent lenders from refusing to provide crypto-related services.

With Kusama slot parachain auctions underway, the first starting next week, Plasm and Shiden networks prepare for a multi-chain future with Polkadot.

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).

While the world waits for Eth 2, blockchain developers like Enya.ai and OMG Network are trying to solve Ethereum’s scalability issues via layer 2.

Despite regulatory uncertainty over cryptocurrency trading in India, some of the world’s largest crypto exchanges are looking to enter the market.

El Salvador’s adoption of Bitcoin has the world buzzing. Can Singapore be next? China mining crackdown continues.

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

From Phillips auction house in Hong Kong to Art Fair Philippines, non-fungible tokens are redefining how Asia appreciates, buys and profits from art.

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.

In a special Q&A, Sarojini McKenna of Alien Worlds discusses play-to-earn gaming, digital assets like Trilium, and lives increasingly lived inside virtual worlds.

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

After Tether’s legal settlement with New York, USDT’s growth is exploding—dispelling concerns over Tether’s reserves, says Bitfinex CTO Paolo Ardoino.

Governments meet up with the crypto industry to discuss how to regulate the booming industry as BC Group’s OSL ties up with SC Ventures.

Other top blockchain and crypto news: Thailand’s SEC tries to rein in DeFi via regulation. Will China’s future DCEP digital yuan offer smart contracts?

WazirX launched the country’s first NFT marketplace on Tuesday, featuring artists from India and other South Asian nations.

Following the launch of Cardano’s first testnet for its smart contract platform, Alonzo, ADA’s price rebounded by 15% on Monday morning to reach US$1.65.

Blockchain technology has massive data requirements, but the data can be difficult and costly to access. What are some of the solutions?

Breaking into occasional Mandarin at a Hong Kong conference, Ethereum’s visionary creator tells all — including why Ethereum 2.0 is taking so long.

Other top blockchain and crypto news: Australia signals progressive approach to crypto as Hong Kong moves closer to banning retail crypto trading.

Chinese authorities’ latest regulatory offensive against the crypto industry may not be as bad for the sector as it appears.

Coinbase Pro adds Solana’s native token, opening the doors for US investors after SOL outperforms Bitcoin and most other cryptos amid market crash.

As mainstream finance embraces decentralized finance, neither it nor its younger challengers are likely to escape the evolutionary forces at work.

The Booker Group announced that it now holds approximately US$35 million in crypto and plans to invest US$3 million into DeFi in Q2.

Other top blockchain and cryptocurrency news: BlockFi’s accidental BTC millionaires. China’s Inner Mongolia asks citizens to report illegal crypto mining.

The world’s biggest cryptocurrency may have found a new trading range after being battered yesterday following an apparent Chinese clampdown on cryptos, partly reversing losses of around 30% seen when investors dumped their coins on Wednesday.

Former CFTC chairman Chris Giancarlo and Accenture’s David Treat are not in a CBDC race, but a ‘contest’ to develop money that reflects societal values.

Around US$1.5 billion of Bitcoin long positions were liquidated today across some of the world’s top crypto exchanges, including Binance and FTX, according to Bybt data.

The home video that has been viewed more than 880 million times is set to be sold as NFT to highest bidder — and then deleted forevermore from YouTube.

ADA price holds strong as investors shift to greener cryptocurrencies and Cardano smart contracts get set to launch blockchain into DeFi and NFTs.

What will happen to your Bitcoin keys and crypto wallets when you die? Southeast Asia’s largest bank will now take care of it all for the super wealthy.

Asia’s crypto industry reacts to Tesla backtracking Bitcoin payments, while Animoca Brands raises US$88,888,888 in a new funding round.

Elon Musk drops ‘fossil fuel’ Twitter bomb on Bitcoin, triggering a BTC price crash and dragging down Ethereum, Dogecoin and Shiba Inu.

FTX crypto derivatives exchange pioneered TRUMP crypto futures and now dwarfs Coinbase in trading volume. Is going public in FTX’s near future?

Global US dollar reserves touched a 25-year low in Q4 2020, according to a new IMF report. Will a digital euro and e-RMB muscle in?

Other top blockchain and cryptocurrency news: How Dogecoin copycat SHIB coin vaulted into crypto’s top 20. China unveils fingerprint ID for digital yuan.

Crypto veterans are appalled by the sudden popularity of $hitcoins like DOGE and SHIB. But others say memecoins are making investing more accessible.

Bangkok-headquartered financial consultancy and capital manager The Brooker Group is set to invest US$48 million in a portfolio of decentralized applications and decentralized finance tokens, a move that will see the company commit around half of its assets to the sector. The firm has identified what it describes in a press release as “huge” growth […]

XRP sales by Ripple accounted for 0.07% of global XRP volume. Ripple says its sales were to support on-demand liquidity customers.

Since its launch by Conflux Network, a Shanghai-endorsed public chain, the East-West alliance has added over 30 members. Open DeFi now forms a DAO.

Other top blockchain and cryptocurrency news: S&P Dow Jones launches Bitcoin and Ethereum indices. Will China crack down on more crypto miners?