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Axie Infinity, Meebits and Bored Ape Yacht Club are some of those keeping the market for non-fungible tokens alive.

India seeks crypto advice meanwhile K-drama joins NFT bandwagon

Input Output Hong Kong, one of the companies behind the Cardano blockchain, today announced the successful upgrade of its Alonzo testnet to the Alonzo White network. Fast facts The Cardano blockchain is in the midst of a multi-phase Alonzo upgrade that will bring smart-contract functionality to the blockchain. Each phase — named blue, white and purple […]

Tether stablecoins linked to funds funneled to banks in Singapore and elsewhere amid worldwide cryptocurrency crime increase.

Singapore-based crypto derivatives exchange Bybit today announced the launch of a new cryptocurrency spot trading platform. Fast facts The spot trading platform offered BTC/USDT, ETH/USDT, XRP/USDT and EOS/USDT trading pairs at its launch, and more will be introduced. Traders will be able to buy and sell crypto coins at current market prices once orders are […]

The Reserve Bank of Australia is researching the implementation of a central bank digital currency — despite not seeing a need for it.

The Delhi High Court has sent a notice to government agencies and crypto exchanges to seek guidelines on crypto-related advertising on national television. Fast facts The division bench of Justice D.N. Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh sought responses from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the Securities and Exchange Board of India and crypto exchanges […]

The European Central Bank has launched a two-year project to prepare for the potential issuance of a digital euro. The central bank digital currency would be supported by an underlying architecture with a negligible environmental impact compared to Bitcoin’s hugely energy-intensive blockchain. Fast facts The ECB has begun the investigation phase of a digital euro […]

Australians will soon be able to use Visa cards to spend their Bitcoin holdings for the first time as the global payment giant is partnering with local fintech app CryptoSpend, the Australian Financial Review reports. Fast facts CryptoSpend allows payments to be made in several cryptocurrencies to any account in the Australian banking system, crediting […]

Privacy-focused cloud computing project Phala Network’s “canary network” Khala this week won the fourth Kusama parachain slot auction with 132,280 Kusama (KSM) contributed by 2,759 addresses. A canary network is an experimental environment for blockchain developers to build and test out their code as well as products and services. Fast facts Phala Network is designed […]

Ever wanted to own a piece of game-worn NBA merchandise, but without that well-worn fragrance? Now you can. Brooklyn Nets star Spencer Dinwiddie is selling a pair of shoes he has worn in-game as a non-fungible token, Forkast.News has learned. Fast facts The shoes on auction are from Dinwiddie’s K8IROS clothing range, and all proceeds […]

Top blockchain and crypto news: Crypto markets await Bitcoin fund release. USDC issuer opts for the back door. In China, NFT copyrights and wrongs.

ICICI blocks crypto transfers as South Korean banks are to report crypto crime.

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 […]

C.R.E.A.M. Finance’s Iron Bank today announced that it has facilitated a US$3.5 million loan with cypto art collective PleasrDAO using high-value non-fungible tokens as collateral, according to an announcement shared with Forkast.News. Fast facts Taipei-based C.R.E.A.M. Finance, part of the Yearn finance ecosystem, is a decentralized lending protocol for individuals, institutions and protocols to access […]

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 […]

Singapore state-owned investment firm Temasek has announced record returns of S$381 billion (US$283 billion) for the financial year ending March 2021, up 24.5% from the year before. Fast facts According to its latest annual review, Temasek is “increasingly shaping” its portfolio in line with four trends: digitization, sustainable living, future of consumption, and longer lifespans. […]

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 […]

The Ontario Securities Commission in Canada and Bybit, a cryptocurrency derivatives exchange headquartered in Singapore, have come to an agreement on the schedule for Bybit’s upcoming enforcement proceeding, according to the OSC. Fast facts The first hearing between Bybit and the OSC — the agency that oversees securities legislation in Canada’s largest province by population […]

London police announced on Tuesday they have seized a record £294 million (US $408 million) in cryptocurrency in less than a month, as part of an ongoing investigation into money laundering. Fast facts According to London police, their recent £180-million (US＄248.8 million) seizure in cryptocurrency comes less than three weeks after a £114-million (US＄157.5 million) […]

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.

Oracle platform Band Protocol is aiming to enable data providers like Google Cloud and Bloomberg to work better with decentralized applications.

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

Science institute building given bio-fuel boost as users poo to accrue.

Non-fungible tokens have gained traction across Asia, but in Thailand, the phenomenon has taken on a distinctive local twist: amulets featuring a revered abbot of a Buddhist monastery that believers say ward off evil spirits. Fast facts Crypto Amulets is a company that develops NFT amulets on the Ethereum blockchain. Founded in March, it offers […]

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 […]

In the first of a four-part series, Forkast.News looks at how non-fungible tokens may be changing who calls the tune in the recording business.

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?

The United Arab Emirates plans to implement a central bank digital currency as early as 2023 Gulf News reports, as outlined in a road map for the Gulf State’s economic future. Fast facts This 2023-2026 roadmap includes seven objectives — including the CBDC rollout — with the aim of making the UAE one of the […]

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

South Korean lenders Kbank, Nonghyup Bank and Shinhan Bank have decided to extend their affiliations with cryptocurrency exchanges until a crypto exchange law compliance deadline of Sept. 24. Fast facts Kbank’s contract ended in June, and Nonghyup and Shinhan’s end in late July. Instead of renewing their contracts with the exchanges, the three banks have […]

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.

Ban on branded content covers range of financial services and ‘get-rich-quick’ schemes boosted by influencers with young followings.

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 […]

India-based cryptocurrency exchange CoinDCX has announced the launch of its new Liqueth (LQTH) token, which will enable users to stake Ether — the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum blockchain. Fast facts Users will be able to stake ETH on Ethereum 2.0 from a minimum 0.1 ETH. LQTH, an ERC-20 token, will be generated and transferred […]

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 […]

The price of Axie Infinity blockchain game’s native token has been on a tear. Why is Small Love Potion (SLP), a token on the AXS ecosystem, also rising?

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.

Closure of center comes despite — or perhaps because of — professional pedigree of crypto exchange founder board members.

Cardano leapfrogged Bitcoin as the most held cryptocurrency on social trading platform eToro in the second quarter of 2021, the platform reported this week. Fast facts Bitcoin, which led the cryptocurrency bull run at the start of the year, saw a 42% increase in demand, but slipped from first to second place behind Cardano. Cardano […]

In a new report, BIS says countries must work together and design CBDCs with interoperability in mind. Hong Kong and Singapore lead mCBDC efforts.

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.

El Salvador’s government may face challenges in making Bitcoin legal tender, as more than three-quarters of the country remains skeptical of the plan, according to a report by Reuters. Fast facts A survey of 1,233 people across El Salvador earlier this month found that 54% of people said Bitcoin adoption was “not at all correct.” […]

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

U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange Gemini is planning to expand its Asia-Pacific operations to cash in on the region’s growth, the bourse’s Asia-Pacific Managing Director, Jeremy Ng, wrote in a blog post this week. Fast facts The new expansion is to capture the growth of its Singapore office after it was first established last year, he wrote.  […]

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.

The Financial Action Task Force — the global anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing standards-setter — this week released its second 12-month review on virtual assets and virtual asset service providers, and called on countries to implement the revised FATF standards, including travel rule requirements “as soon as possible.” “The global nature of the underpinning technology […]

The Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Banque de France today announced the successful completion of a wholesale cross-border payment and settlement experiment using multiple central bank digital currencies (m-CBDCs). Fast facts The experiment between the two central banks, supported by J.P. Morgan’s Onyx, simulated cross-border transactions and cross-currency transactions involving a Singapore dollar CBDC […]

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

China’s blockchain-based digital invoicing systems are being increasingly put into large-scale use in major cities and provinces.  Fast facts Blockchain-based digital invoicing is being used in multiple sectors in Hainan Province, China’s only free-trade port. Digital invoicing systems are in use in 2,795 organizations, including courts, schools and banks, according to Securities Daily, a Chinese […]

The Bank of Jamaica’s much-anticipated central bank digital currency will launch next month, according to a report by the Jamaica Observer. Fast facts Previously due to launch in May, the CBDC will initially be implemented through the National Commercial Bank — the biggest financial institution in the country — before being expanded to other banks […]

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 — […]

In the first of a special two-part report, Lucas Schweiger of Blockdata explores what the future of capital markets could look like with blockchain-based infrastructure.

Top blockchain and crypto news: Ethereum upgrade, torque of the town. SEC in snafu over Bitcoin ETFs. Crypto miners flourish amid China fallout.

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 […]

Higher value of Ether investments softens blow to value of Bitcoin holdings.

The chief of South Korea’s main finance sector regulator has spoken out again against banks that have requested exemptions from anti-money laundering compliance rules in their contracts with cryptocurrency exchanges. Fast facts Eun Sung-soo, the chairman of the Financial Services Commission said yesterday: “Banks should use their own judgement to make decisions and apply for […]

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