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Singapore-based Coinhako cryptocurrency exchange, one of a handful to have a full license to operate in the city-state, has launched “Coinhako Treasures” to offer more products that suit the needs of institutional clients, like corporates and family offices, as it seeks to grow its institutional user base.   See related article: How a market slump may […]

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global Inc. received a digital assets license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the firm announced Tuesday. See related article: Coinbase blames India’s central bank for exit Fast facts They were granted “in-principle approval” under the Payment Services Act to provide “regulated Digital Payment Token products and services” in Singapore, including “our […]

Companies in Shenzhen in mainland China made up one-third of the transaction volume in a cross-border central bank digital currency (CBDC) bridge pilot project, according to a report by Chinese media outlet 21Caijing, citing Shenzhen’s local financial authority. See related article: Australia Senator proposes regulating Chinese banks in country using e-CNY  Fast facts See related […]

The founder of blockchain network Tron, Justin Sun, and crypto exchange FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried each denied for a second time that they have participated in purchasing a majority stake in Huobi Global, after crypto media outlet Wu Blockchain said on Monday that Sun was actually the Chinese crypto exchange’s behind-the-scenes purchaser, with Bankman-Fried was […]

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) can be used to preserve and spread fine art and cultural heritage, tapping into new generations of audiences and patrons, said stakeholders.

Bitcoin mining difficulty climbed to a record high on Monday, a large part of which is attributed to Ethereum’s “Merge” upgrade freeing up more room for Bitcoin miners, according to Bloomberg. See related article: Brazil police bust crypto group led by ‘Bitcoin Sheikh’ Fast facts Bitcoin mining difficulty, a measure of the amount of work […]

What’s wrong with ‘fat protocols’ like Ethereum and Solana, and why should there be alternatives for the little guys? Yaoqi Jia of AltLayer explains.

Bitcoin and Ether fell along with all other top ten cryptocurrencies by market capitalization in Tuesday morning trading in Asia, with the world’s largest cryptocurrency barely holding at the support line of US$19,000, a mark it has fluctuated around for much of the past month. See related article: Markets: Bitcoin rises but remains below US$20,000; […]

The Monetary Authority of Singapore is exploring blockchain-based payments solution to solve the challenges in cross-border transactions.  See related article: Singapore warms up to crypto industry — on its own terms Fast facts The current state of cross-border payments “is slow, costly, opaque, and inefficient, relying on an archaic network of correspondent banks,” Ravi Menon, […]

The cryptocurrency market in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is expected to grow 10 times, according to a new report from MENA blockchain ecosystem, Crypto Oasis, released Monday at a blockchain conference organized by the Dubai World Trade Centre.  See related article: New hire in Saudi Central Bank to work on crypto regulations: report Fast […]

Despite India’s repeated warnings against cryptocurrencies, crypto exchange giants WazirX remain hopeful of a digital rupee.

Cryptocurrency exchange WazirX will look to integrate India’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) “if all goes well,” vice president Rajagopal Menon told Forkast in a video interview on Monday.  See related article: RBI to begin CBDC pilots, outlines wholesale, retail concepts Fast facts “We would love to onboard the e-rupee and you can buy your […]

The top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization saw little change on the day, with XRP leading gains with a 1.65% rise. See related articles: Markets: Bitcoin rises but remains below US$20,000; Ether gains, XRP leads crypto top 10 Fast facts Bitcoin slipped 0.02% in the past 24 hours to trade at US$19,416 at 4 p.m. […]

Regulators also targeted 23 crypto media websites and 440 bloggers.

When times are tough, a DAO must trim fat and focus on providing a better product or service to its community, writes Redmption of Harvest Finance.

Crypto exchange Huobi Global announced the formation of a five-member global advisory board after Hong Kong-based asset management firm About Capital Management purchased a majority stake of the exchange. See related article: Huobi looks to sell stake that values exchange at US$3 bln, Bloomberg reports  Fast facts See related article: Huobi is third global exchange […]

Gold bars, cash, jewelry, cars and luxury watches bought with defrauded funds are seized.

Bitcoin has gained slightly but was still trading below US$20,000 on Monday morning in Asia, having fallen below that support line late last week after fluctuating around that level for most of the past month. Ether and the rest of the crypto top 10 by market capitalization also rose slightly, with XRP seeing by far […]

Web3 communities need to join forces with policymakers to draft rules for the next iteration of the online world, says Haun Ventures’ Tomicah Tillemann

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will soon begin to pilot the digital rupee for specific use cases, it said in a concept note on its central bank digital currency (CBDC). See related article: Sweden’s central bank to test use of retail CBDC for instant payments Fast facts India’s central bank said in the concept […]

MY E.G. Services Berhad (MYEG) and Mimos Technology Solutions Sdn Bhd (MTSSB) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Thursday to co-develop and operate Malaysia’s national blockchain infrastructure to onboard the nation’s private and public sectors to Web 3.0.  See related article: Huobi Global talking to Malaysian regulator about being put on investor alert list […]

The former CEO of Huobi Global has jumped into the GameFi space.

The National Assembly wanted to get to the bottom of the Terra-LUNA collapse on Thursday. At the end of a long and speech-filled day, lawmakers left empty-handed.

Bitcoin fell in Friday evening trading in Asia to dip below the US$20,000 support line as the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization lost ground, led by Dogecoin and BNB. See related articles: Markets: Bitcoin dips; BNB drops on chain glitch; Ether, XRP little changed Fast facts: Bitcoin lost 1.39% in the past 24 hours […]

Binance’s BNB Chain has come back online after being suspended earlier in the morning when an exploit was identified, the blockchain announced on Twitter on Friday afternoon in Asia. See related article: Binance suspends BNB blockchain on potential exploit; Peckshield reports US$572 mln hack Fast facts Changpeng Zhao, cofounder and chief executive officer of Binance, […]

Ethereum liquid staking protocol Lido has announced the expansion of its staking token stETH to Ethereum layer 2 networks Arbitrum Bridge and Optimism, according to a Friday tweet. See related article: Vitalik Buterin: Layer 2 the future of Ethereum scaling Fast facts This expansion comes with the launch of a token called wstETH — a […]

The apparel and luxury goods industry is leading in tradable non-fungible token (NFT) adoption, with major brands launching their own NFT collections, according to a new research study by CoinGecko. See related article: Apes still rule among the bears: NFT market falls for fifth straight month Fast facts The independent cryptocurrency aggregator found the apparel […]

Yoo (full name was not revealed), the head of general affairs at Terraform Labs Pte. Ltd. and close associate of unlocated chief executive officer (CEO) Kwon Do-hyung, or Do Kwon, has been released from custody since being arrested Thursday as part of an ongoing investigation into Terra-LUNA. Yoo is not contending his alleged association with […]

Emerging markets dominated the 2022 Global Crypto Adoption Index, with Latin America second in transaction volume growth.

The BNB Chain — the blockchain operated by the world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance Global Inc. — has suspended operation as developers have identified a potential exploit on the network, according to an official Binance Twitter account. See related article: Chainalysis says $2 bln stolen in cross-chain bridge hacks this year, more expected Fast facts […]

Bitcoin dipped under the US$20,000 support line in Friday morning trading in Asia, a price it has repeatedly fluctuated around for several weeks. Ether, the second largest token by market capitalization, was little changed and up about 2% on the week. Most other coins in CoinMarketCap’s top 10 by market capitalization were flat to lower. […]

Binance in India – potential or problem?

The European Council on Wednesday approved a proposal for cryptocurrency regulation known as the Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA), in the first move towards establishing a licensing mechanism for crypto exchanges and assets in Europe.  See related article:  Bitcoin, proof-of-work ban removed from European Union’s MiCA Fast facts Lawmakers at the European Parliament are […]

Binance has obtained a “permanent license” to operate a digital asset platform and provide custody services at Kazakhstan’s Astana International Financial Center, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange announced in a blog post on Thursday. See related article: Binance targets expansion in Philippines, Turkey, executive says Fast facts The license gives Binance the status of a […]

The world’s largest crypto exchange’s regional head of Asia says the Philippines’ GameFi community and rampant inflation in Turkey present opportunities for Binance.

Widespread damage from the Terra-LUNA collapse can be attributed to a poor local regulatory framework, said Lee Sir-goo, CEO of South Korea’s blockchain and fintech company Dunamu Inc. at a special session of the National Assembly. See related article: S.Korea gov’t failed, special prosecutor needed on Terra-LUNA, lawmaker says Fast facts Lee appeared before lawmakers […]

Ripple Labs has spoken against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s opposition to motions from two firms that had requested to file amicus briefs in support of Ripple, in the lawsuit that the SEC filed in 2020 against Ripple. See related article: SEC opposes motions from two firms seeking to back Ripple in XRP lawsuit […]

Bitcoin gained in Thursday evening trading in Asia and remained above US$20,000. Ether values fluctuated in the day but eventually rallied. Of the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, XRP led gains while stablecoins Tether and Binance USD declined on the day. See related articles: Markets: Bitcoin dips but holds above US$20,000, Ether falls, XRP […]

Software company Spexi has raised US$5.5 million in seed funding to create Spexigon, the world’s first crypto-powered fly-to-earn drone imagery platform based on the Flow blockchain, according to a press release on Tuesday. See related article: X-to-Earn: Eat, sleep, do almost anything for pay in crypto  Fast facts See related article: Run-to-earn protocol Stepn announces […]

Validators of Terra blockchain had no knowledge of the US$60 billion collapse of Terra-LUNA prior to the crash, said South Korean blockchain infrastructure provider DSRV Labs chief Kim Ji-yun. in response to the National Assembly’s parliamentary audit on the Financial Services Commission on Thursday. See related article: Terra CEO Do Kwon to lose his passport […]

A hacker in the Transit Swap recent hack will consider returning more funds after Transit Swap completes the first phase of user returns, according to a message transmitted on blockchain from one of the hacker’s addresses on Thursday. See related article: Hacker returned 70% of stolen US$23M in funds: Transit Swap Fast facts See related […]

Original artworks are being set on fire and destroyed to be digitally reborn on the blockchain as non-fungible tokens. But, how far is too far in this recent incendiary trend?

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said illegal crypto-related businesses are operating in the city state and it is working with the police to identify and prosecute them. See related article: Singapore’s MAS says needs to do better job explaining crypto policy Fast facts In a reply to a Parliamentary question, Tharman Shanmugaratnam, senior minister […]

A woman in Melbourne, Australia pleaded guilty on Wednesday to her role in stealing millions of dollars from superannuation (retirement) funds and stock portfolios before laundering the proceeds via Hong Kong through the purchase of cryptocurrency and diamonds, as reported by The Age newspaper. See related article: Australian superannuation and institutions await clarity to invest […]

South Korean prosecutors have arrested a Terraform Labs employee, in their first arrest under the investigation of the Terra-LUNA collapse. A bench warrant, which allows law enforcement to take suspects into custody, was issued on Wednesday for the arrested employee. See related article: Terra CEO Do Kwon to lose his passport within a month  Fast […]

South Korean ruling party lawmaker Yoon Sang-hyun asserted that the country needs to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the Terra-LUNA collapse, which affected over 280,000 people locally, in comments at the National Assembly’s parliamentary audit on the Financial Services Commission (FSC), South Korea’s top financial regulator. See related article: South Korea’s investigation of Do […]

Ripple Labs Inc., the firm whose payment network is powered by the self-described carbon-neutral cryptocurrency token XRP, has partnered with Web3 climate startup Thallo and various other companies to build a carbon credit market on the blockchain.  See related article: SEC opposes motions from two firms seeking to back Ripple in XRP lawsuit Fast facts […]

Kim Joo-hyun, the chairman of South Korea’s top financial regulator, the Financial Services Commission (FSC), said on Thursday the agency will promote blockchain technology and user protections in the crypto market. See related article: South Korea’s all-encompassing crypto law is coming — what we know so far Fast facts “In cooperation with the National Assembly, […]

The tradition-bound wine world is not always open to change, writes Sebastian Schier of vinID. But new technology can solve the age-old problem of wine fraud.

Cool Cats Group LLC, the Web3 company behind the cartoon feline-based NFT collection Cool Cats, announced Thursday that it had received a strategic investment and partnership from Animoca Brands, owner of the metaverse platform The Sandbox.  See related article: Asus launches NFT platform to plug into Web 3.0 Fast facts In a tweet, Cool Cats’ […]

South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted a notice on its website on Wednesday saying the passport belonging to Terraform Labs Pte. Ltd. chief Kwon Do-Hyung, also known as Do Kwon, will be nullified in four weeks if Kwon does not return his passport. See related article: South Korea’s investigation of Do Kwon ‘unfair’: Terraform […]

Bitcoin fell in Thursday morning trading in Asia but held above the US$20,000 support line. Ether also lost ground. XRP was the only token in the cryptocurrency top 10 by market capitalization to gain. See related article: Is crypto money? A South Korean court says no Fast facts Bitcoin fell 0.9% in the past 24 […]

The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) said it had a breakthrough in enabling assets on distributed ledger technology networks, such as central bank digital currencies (CBDC) and tokens on the blockchain, to interact and flow with the existing financial infrastructure. See related article: SWIFT, Chainlink announce cross-chain interoperability partnership Fast facts In one […]

Forkast Editor in Chief Angie Law spoke with some of the industry experts to talk about the implications of the Tornado Cash sanctions.

Top blockchain and crypto news: Celsius founder in hot water. European bank woes cast crypto shadow. Will BSN’s Chinese roots thwart its global ambitions?

Bitcoin and Ether prices rose in Wednesday evening trading in Hong Kong amid widespread gains among the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, with Cardano being the sole loser. In equity markets, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rebounded from Monday’s record lows to jump 5.81%. See related articles: Markets: Bitcoin rises above US$20,000, gaining with […]

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has objected to motions from two firms that had requested to file amicus briefs in support of Ripple Labs Inc., in the lawsuit that the SEC filed in 2020 against Ripple. See related article: Two firms seek to weigh in on XRP lawsuit between SEC, Ripple Fast facts […]

Terraform Labs Pte. Ltd. cofounder Daniel Shin, or Shin Hyun-sung, has submitted a statement to South Korea’s National Assembly with reasons not to appear before lawmakers on Thursday as a witness in the Terra-LUNA meltdown, according to local news agency News1. See related article: Terraform cofounder Daniel Shin to testify in South Korean parliament Fast […]

Members of European Parliament (MEPs) voted in favor of a resolution that called for the use of blockchain technology to fight tax evasion and urged member states to coordinate more on the taxing of crypto assets, according to a Tuesday statement.  See related article: How will the crypto tax debate play out in the UK? […]

Taiwanese laptop maker Asus has launched a non-fungible token (NFT) platform, marking its first attempt to venture into the burgeoning Web 3.0 industry, the company announced on Tuesday.  See related article: Apple iPhone maker’s founder distances himself from crypto fraudsters using his image Fast facts Asus launched Art Black hole on Tuesday, a platform for […]

Panelists at Forkast’s live-streamed event ‘Crypto Rising: The Role of Law: An International Debate post Tornado Cash’ co-hosted by the Crypto Council for Innovation (CCI) said attempting to regulate DAOs highlights the shortcomings of international enforcement.

Criminals have used decentralized exchanges (DEX), cross-chain bridges and coin swap services to launder more than US$4 billion worth of illicit crypto gains, according to a research report by blockchain analytics firm Elliptic. See related article: SWIFT, Chainlink announce cross-chain interoperability pact  Fast facts See related article: Chainalysis says $2 bln stolen in cross-chain bridge […]

The country’s judiciary says Bitcoin loans not affected by interest limitation act, as crypto is not ‘money’

Panelists at Forkast’s live-streamed event ‘Crypto Rising: The Role of Law: An International Debate post Tornado Cash’ co-hosted by Crypto Council for Innovation (CCI) said the significance of the sanctions could not be understated.

Bankrupt crypto lender Celsius’ cofounder and chief strategy officer S. Daniel Leon has resigned, a week after the company’s CEO Alex Mashinsky stepped down, according to an internal company memo viewed by CNBC. See related article: Alex Mashinsky steps down as Celsius CEO  Fast facts The company’s previous global tax director, Lior Koren, is taking […]

Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced plans to expand investments in non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and the metaverse in a policy speech on Monday. See related article: Japan plans new crypto transfer rules to combat money laundering Fast facts Kishida says the country will further its investment in digital transformation and expand the use of Web3 […]

Financial services company Mastercard Inc. has launched Crypto Secure, a technology solution designed to help banks identify fraud-prone crypto exchanges, the company announced in a press release. See related article: Binance partners Mastercard to launch card in Argentina for bill payment, everyday purchases Fast facts The service uses artificial intelligence algorithms and blockchain data to […]

Bitcoin was trading above US$20,000 in Wednesday morning trading in Asia after struggling to break that resistance level for much of the past three weeks. The world’s largest cryptocurrency rose along with Ether and the rest of the crypto top 10 by market capitalization, with Dogecoin posting the most significant gains. See related article: Markets: […]

Non-fungible token (NFT) sales on Solana surged in September despite a sharp decline in the overall trading volume of NFTs in the third quarter.  See related article: Instagram, Facebook users in 100 countries can crosspost NFTs: Meta Fast facts Solana NFT sellers pocketed more than US$126 million in September, a 77% month-over-month increase, according to […]

Bitcoin continued trading above US$19,000 in Tuesday afternoon trading in Asia, rising above US$20,000 before declining. Ether and most of the other top 10 coins by market capitalization gained. See related article: Markets: Bitcoin price rises above US$19,000, Ether and rest of crypto top 10 gain Fast facts Bitcoin rose 3.85% in the past 24 […]

Tether Holdings Limited, the issuer behind the world’s largest stablecoin USDT, reduced its holdings of commercial paper to less than US$50 million as of Sept. 30, according to a tweet by Tether Chief Technology Officer Paulo Ardoino. See related article: SEC fines Tether’s former auditor US$1 mln over accounting malpractice Fast facts In the tweet, Ardoino also […]

China spent billions on its ‘belt and road’ infrastructure network to expand trade so what are its plans for a domestic and international digital infrastructure built on blockchain?