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The9 and BIT Mining — non-crypto firms that pivoted to crypto mining during Bitcoin’s boom — now seek to ‘expand’ overseas.

Proliferation of copycat non-fungible tokens based on media image sparks fresh concerns over authenticity, creators’ rights.

Turkey’s tax authorities have told companies with cryptocurrency-related business to report information on their ultimate controllers as a part of their tax filings. Fast facts An official document states that the requirement is part of meeting Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development guidelines on tax transparency. Crypto companies must submit their first filings by Aug. 31 […]

ICICI bank, one of India’s largest lenders, has warned its customers against using its international remittance services for transferring any form of cryptocurrency, the Bharat Express reports. Fast facts The Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India recently made an amendment to an international remittance form compelling customers to declare: “The above remittance is NOT […]

Financial index provider S&P Dow Jones has launched five new cryptocurrency indices, according to a company statement, bringing its total number of crypto indices to eight. Fast facts The most significant of these new indices is the Cryptocurrency Broad Digital Market (BDM) Index, which includes more than 240 coins and can be used for a […]

As issuer Circle prepares to list and China sounds the alarm over speculation, the mood among regulators is mixed, despite stablecoins’ clear appeal to investors.

In the second installment of a 2-part report, Lucas Schweiger of Blockdata examines the most notable current trends in blockchain and capital markets.

South Korean financial watchdog says the nation’s crypto laws will apply to foreign exchanges.

Police in Aichi Prefecture in central Japan have arrested four men on suspicion of crypto investment fraud, according to a report by Kyodo News.  Fast facts According to a person familiar with the matter, it was suspected that a total of at least 6 billion yen (US$54 million) was collected from more than 20,000 people […]

A Shanghai procuratorate has held a seminar gathering judges, police, procurators and scholars to discuss how crimes related to cryptocurrency fit into China’s current legal framework. Fast facts The procuratorate said in a post on Monday that there had been confusion as to how to categorize cryptocurrencies. Some consider them data, while others regard them […]

Grayscale Investments — the world’s largest digital asset manager — has registered its Digital Large Cap Fund with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission following the filing of a registration statement Form 10 last year. Fast facts The company has also announced it is filing three additional registration statements via the same form for the […]

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

A 101.38-carat diamond sold at auction in Hong Kong has become the most physical object ever to have been purchased using cryptocurrency, Bloomberg reports. Fast facts The HK$95.1 million (US$12.3 million) sale price nevertheless fell short of the expected US$15 million price, auctioneer Sotheby’s said. A spokesperson for Sotheby’s told Forkast.News it was unable to […]

Despite opposition from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Ripple is pushing ahead with plans to question former SEC director William Hinman, the former head of the regulator’s Division of Corporation Finance, telling the judge overseeing discovery in the SEC v. Ripple Labs lawsuit that Hinman’s deposition has been rescheduled to July 19, according to a […]

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.

Market dominance suggests that investors are flocking towards Bitcoin as Covid delta variant concerns hit markets. In Thailand, authorities remind the industry of their stance on cryptocurrency payments.

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

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren has written to Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler enquiring about the SEC’s authority to regulate cryptocurrencies and asking what future congressional regulatory action is needed, according to a Reuters report. Fast facts Requesting a reply by July 28, Warren, who heads the Senate Banking Committee’s Subcommittee on Economic Policy, […]

The price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency continue to slide as global failure to contain the Covid Delta variant lead to worries of another economic downturn.

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

Though Dogecoin and NFTs dominate headlines, their underlying technology — blockchain — is transforming our world in more meaningful ways, according to authors Kosrow Dehnad and Joe Duncan.

Is William Hinman a former ‘high-ranking’ SEC official exempt from disclosing his prior communications on XRP, or must he provide testimony to Ripple?

Solidifying its stance against cryptocurrency like Bitcoin, the Bank of Thailand declared yesterday that it does not support the use of cryptocurrency as a means of payment, likening crypto transactions to “barter trade” as the bank does not consider crypto legal tender. Fast facts Siritida Panomwon Na Ayudhya, assistant governor of payment systems policy for […]

Korea issues penalties for kimchi premium arbitrage as China holds its 15th digital yuan pilot trials.

Customs officers use foreign exchange law to shut down cycle of foreign remittances and arbitrage.

Warning comes as Beijing ramps up efforts to internationalize China’s currency through launch of digital yuan.

Israel’s National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing has issued a seizure order against 84 cryptocurrency addresses associated with Palestinian resistance group Hamas as it looks to confiscate holdings of Bitcoin, Tether, Dogecoin and other cryptos. Fast facts “This action comes after a sizable uptick in cryptocurrency donations to Hamas in May following increased fighting between […]

More than US$1 billion was spent on crypto-linked Visa cards in the first six months of 2021, according to a Visa blog post this week. Fast facts Apart from enabling customers to buy cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin using its cards, Visa has partnered with 50 crypto platforms on card programs — such as Coinbase, the largest […]

An Argentine lawmaker presented a bill this week to allow employees and those exporting services abroad to be paid in cryptocurrency, Yahoo News reports. Fast facts Congressman José Luis Ramón said that he presented this bill to allow Argentina’s people — whose local currency, the peso, currently suffers from roughly 50% inflation a year — […]

Chinese tech giant forecasts a US$17.3 million loss in its BTC investment as more musicians in Asia lean towards NFTs.

Iran has continued a suspension of cryptocurrency mining, with Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri urging all licensed miners to stop operating as the country continues to suffer power outages, according to a report by U.Today that cited a Farsi-language tweet by the Tasnim News Agency. Fast facts Jahangiri said the ongoing electricity supply problems could last […]

China’s central bank has reiterated its ban on cryptocurrency trading and yesterday said it had ordered a company in Beijing suspected of offering software services for crypto trading to shut down as part of an ongoing nationwide crackdown on the crypto industry. Fast facts A Beijing office of the People’s Bank of China and a […]

Facing an onslaught of regulatory scrutiny, Binance CEO calls crypto regulations ‘positive sign’ of a maturing industry and announces new hires in compliance.

Eddie Yue, CEO of Hong Kong Monetary Authority lays out the future of the territory’s digital currency at a Hong Kong Academy of Finance event.

The standards-setter for banks around the world wants to subject crypto like Bitcoin to higher capital requirements. What do industry players think?

Ethereum’s long-awaited London hard fork — which earlier was expected to go live this month — is now going to launch on August 4 between 13:00 UTC and 17:00 UTC with block 12,965,000, Ethereum developer Tim Beiko said in a recent blog post. Fast facts Following the successful release of its three testnets, Ropsten, Goerli and […]

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

CoinShares, Europe’s largest digital asset investment firm, today announced that is acquiring Elwood Technologies’ Exchange Traded Fund Index Business and its equity research unit in a US$17 million equity swap. Fast facts The deal will see CoinShares adding over US$1 billion in assets under management through the Invesco Elwood Global Blockchain Equity UCITS ETF, which […]

Global resort group Pavilions Hotels & Resorts will allow its customers to use crypto to book stays as of tomorrow, its managing director for Asia has told Forkast.News. Fast facts Scot Toon said Pavilions had partnered with British payment service Coindirect to allow guests paying in more than 40 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Ethereum, to […]

In the wake of crackdowns on crypto mining in China, investment firm IBC Group has announced it plans to shut all BTC and Ethereum mining operations in the country and relocate elsewhere.

Aussies may be leaning towards crypto for retirement funds while Vietnamese Prime Minister greenlights pilot crypto program.

The price of Ether has jumped to a fortnight high as Ethereum’s London EIP-1559 upgrade draws close and investors look to get back into alt-coins.

Three of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea have tightened restrictions on virtual currency trading by their employees in a move designed to comply with the nation’s crypto regulations. Fast facts Bithumb announced that starting this month, it had banned its employees from trading cryptocurrencies using Bithumb accounts. The exchange has made employees sign […]

Being a ‘crypto native’ involves much more than using Bitcoin and DeFi, writes Alvin Lee of DeGate DAO. It’s sharing core values like freedom and inclusion.

Crypto exchanges WazirX and Binance look to implement stronger compliance measures. Forkast News speaks with FTX founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried about crypto regulatory measures in Asia. Chinese district rewards residents with e-Yuan for counting footsteps. We’ll have more on these stories and other news shaping the cryptocurrency and blockchain world in this episode of […]

As countries step up their implementation of the Financial Action Task Force’s standards, the list of regulators that have Binance in their crosshairs just keeps growing longer. Fast facts Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission today filed a criminal complaint against Binance — the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume — for operating a digital asset […]

Ripple says William Hinman holds important insights into SEC’s stance on Bitcoin, Ether and XRP. How is Hinman’s 2018 speech on crypto relevant to the lawsuit?

Japanese conglomerate SoftBank’s Latin America fund has plowed US$200 million into Brazilian crypto exchange Mercardo Bitcoin, according to a Reuters report. Fast facts The investment is SoftBank’s largest in Latin America to date, and brings the valuation of Mercardo’s parent company, 2TM Group, to US$2.1 billion, making it the eighth-most valuable fintech firm in the […]

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 […]

Top blockchain and cryptocurrency news: Binance bounced out of Britain. Musk moves Shiba Inu prices again. China’s digital currency gets ready to roll.

What does a fully functioning network with DeFi applications look like, and why is it important to assess? Garrette Furo of Cosmos explains.

Demand for blockchain analytics is on the rise as FTX partners up with NFL superstar quarterback Tom Brady and supermodel Gisele Bündchen.

Bitmain has signed a deal to sell 30,000 of its Antminer machines to TeraWulf, a U.S. crypto miner that claims to use mostly clean energy.

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 […]

In the last installment of a 3-part series on blockchain in Asia, Forkast.News examines: Everyone knows money has value. But does it also have ‘values’?

Do cryptocurrencies follow broader market trends? Cryptocurrency has long been perceived as a hedge against the fluctuations of the broader equities market. The idea of cryptocurrency as an alternative investment has taken off during the Covid-19 pandemic as equity prices rose to stratospheric highs despite the fundamentals of the economy significantly weakening.  An example that […]

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 […]

Although institutional interest in Bitcoin is rising, there is still the volatility conundrum to consider. Bitcoin’s market fluctuations, however, make it a poor store of value. But, at the same time, there is an advantage to keeping capital stored in crypto: cashing out crypto into fiat is almost always a taxable event and not ideal […]

Interview with Trent Barnes, Principal at Zerocap Tokenization brings new models for raising capital, as well as institutional-grade opportunities Forkast.News: How does a digital asset become “institutional-grade”? What sort of criteria are institutional-level traders looking for? TB: The criteria would include clear guidelines and regulatory frameworks as to how digital assets are treated, deepening pools […]

South Korea’s top asset managers are racing to get into the metaverse game while Forkast.News visits a decentralized theme park in Hong Kong.

Through tomorrow, a Senate committee is taking public comments on how best to make Australia into a global crypto leader and fintech hub.

Top three digital asset market trends shaping the future Three key trends in the digital asset market are: Tokenization of widely traded traditional assets, such as stocks and bonds; Tokenization of previously untraded or under-traded assets, such as real estate and fine art; Institutional adoption and trading of digital tokens. During the past year the […]

Singapore cryptocurrency exchange Coinhako today announced a 500% increase in trading volume during the first five months of 2021 compared to the whole of 2020.

Interview with Phil Mochan, founder of UK-based custody provider Koine Forkast.News: What is a custody solution? What’s the difference between simple cold storage and custody? Phil Mochan: Custody is about a lot more than simply managing safes (or cold stores). The trade settlement process is an integral part of the function of the custodian. At […]

Ethereum is bearing the brunt of negative sentiment on crypto, with net outflows from institutional products related to the token hitting a record of US$50 million last week.

The need for custody Who holds the keys? Who looks after the digital assets? The person with control has custody. For an exchange, that custodian should be a third party for better risk management, more robust security and improved accountability. There is no shortage of examples of the inherent problems that can arise when exchange […]

Interview with Thor Chan, CEO of AAX Forkast.News: The value of digital assets has exploded during the last year, and we are now at levels well above previous forecasts. What are you seeing in the market right now? Thor Chan: We think that the global crypto market is growing. More money is flowing in, and […]

How China’s deployment of the digital yuan intertwines economics with geopolitics and concrete with virtual infrastructure, from Cambodia to the Caribbean.

Executive Summary The crypto market of 2020 is not the crypto market of 2013. What was once a cryptocurrency market is now a digital asset market. Blockchain’s strengths in efficiently and transparently tracking assets have given birth to an industry of assets represented by tokens, allowing both a new class of investors to have exposure […]

Table of contents Foreword For any currency, confidence is essential. This report is about the development of digital assets, cryptocurrencies and tokenization and how that all-important confidence is established. by Angie Lau, Forkast Editor-in-Chief Executive summary and introduction The crypto market of 2020 is not the crypto market of 2013. What was once a cryptocurrency […]

Kazakhstan is quickly becoming a mining hotspot as China’s mining exodus settles down. In Hong Kong, and update on the e-HKD.

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