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Rachel Mayers sees corporate and institutional interest in crypto and blockchain create an explosion in use cases and a whole new way of demonstrating consumer loyalty.

Today’s consumers are looking for more equitable financial services, writes Sean Rach of hi. Here’s how blockchain can offer a nonprofit banking alternative.

2021 was a big year for crypto. As we enter a new year, Forkast.News asks market watchers what might be in store for the next 12 months.

Bitcoin adoption soared in 2021 with El Salvador’s currency experiment with the help of the layer-2 scalers. Will Lightning strike twice in 2022? 

Curious to use Bitcoin but don’t know where to start? Forkast.News explains how.

Of the Big Four central banks, including those of the EU, UK and Japan, only the Federal Reserve has not progressed beyond research mode in central bank digital currencies.

Bitcoin’s current price is not indicative of the crypto’s future prospects, says Mark Yusko, who looks forward to the tokenization of everything.

Games like Axie Infinity are now the darlings of big investors. Does it matter that revenue is falling and many players earn less than the minimum wage?

Macroeconomic factors and a spate of bad news override bullish outlook in crypto market as the year lurches toward its end.

Decentralized autonomous organizations are ripe for robot takeovers, says SingularityDAO’s Marcello Mari. After all, why do decentralized entities need leaders?

$30 million worth of SHIB stolen in BitMart hack sparks hunt for the dognapper, as ecosystem developments fail to return Shiba Inu coin to its former glory.

South Korean game shares fell sharply, just a few weeks after announcements of new NFT metaverse ventures sent the shares up.

For the second weekend in a row, markets were hit with a massive shock due to external factors. Market watchers weigh in on price movements and what to expect.

NFTZ opened for trading on the NYSE in the midst of turmoil and fears of inflation and Omicron.

The SEC’s second rejection of a spot Bitcoin ETF again cited concerns about fraud and manipulation.

Shiba Inu and Luna on a tear, also K-pop bets on digital assets

As the market recovers from a weekend sell-off, Terra and Shiba Inu tokens shine bright while Ethereum eyes new price heights. What’s behind their rally?

The impact was relatively short-lived, and many major tokens had already retraced most of their positions from Friday coming in Asia business hours.

Korea crypto tax debated meanwhile, Crypto.com is on a tear

One of Australia’s leading superannuation funds, Rest Super, indicated it is looking at investing in cryptocurrency — calling it a hedge against rising inflation — before stressing it is still only in the research phase of investing, according to a report in the Australian Financial Review. Fast facts Speaking at the fund’s annual general meeting […]

Top blockchain and crypto news: Fed nominations suggest no sudden moves. El Salvador’s Bitcoin lava affair. Dodgy dealings in China’s digital yuan.

The digital print of the U.S. Constitution grew an estimated 35% in value by the time Ken Griffin made the winning bid, surely ushering in more NFT interest.

17,437 virtual strangers chipped in over $40 million to jointly buy a rare copy of the US Constitution. They lost their bid but now has everyone asking: What is a DAO?

Amid rising retail and institutional investor interest in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, investments poured into crypto firms in Southeast Asia in the first nine months of 2021 surged by over 400% compared with full year 2020 to US$356 million, according to the FinTech in ASEAN 2021 report by UOB, PwC Singapore and the Singapore […]

The U.S. Securities and Exchange commission halted the token registration of American CryptoFED, the first legally recognized decentralized autonomous organization in the U.S. Fast facts Wyoming-based American CryptoFED became the first DAO in the U.S. to achieve legal status in July after Wyoming passed a law that recognized DAOs as limited liability companies. A DAO […]

As speculation continues over the fate of the Chinese property development giant, crypto markets were not spared the downturn over fears of its potential collapse.

While El Salvador carved out its place in history as the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender, there are others that may follow for an array of reasons.

What makes 2021’s roaring crypto market different from 2017’s are the banks and VCs piling in, writes Calvin Shen of Hex Trust. What’s behind their crypto adoption?

The Central American nation is the first to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. As many countries face similar issues of large unbanked population and high remittance fees, will others follow suit?

Blockdata co-founder Jonathan Knegtel thinks so. Almost a teenager, Bitcoin is reaching a level of maturity that’s defying the predictions of its critics.

As the U.S. economy shows signs of recovery from the pandemic-related recession, the Federal Reserve has announced it will begin tapering the US$120 billion a month it spends on bond purchases, hoping to address concerns of rising inflation. This has caused unease in the crypto industry as Bitcoin adoption over the past 18 months has […]

The success of the first U.S. Bitcoin futures ETF presents a challenge to investors when futures trade too far ahead of actual prices.

Top blockchain and crypto news: Is Tesla’s turbocharge a boost for Bitcoin? Mastercard’s Bakkt with a new crypto deal. Chinese NFTs on knife-edge.

New virtual worlds are full of opportunities, writes Sandra Helou of Zilliqa. But what if real-world problems get magnified in the metaverse?

Bitcoin hits all-time high, also Lotte World opens in metaverse

When the world’s largest cryptocurrency last reached a price high, China had yet to crack down on crypto mining, and there was no U.S. Bitcoin futures ETF. What do changing market conditions mean for the growth of Bitcoin and the crypto industry?

Audius is enjoying outsized buzz. Should Spotify be scared? In this Forkast.News explainer, learn how this blockchain startup could threaten music industry money — and power.

African countries collectively received US$105.6 billion worth of cryptocurrency between July 2020 and June 2021, a year-on-year increase by more than 12 times, blockchain data platform Chainalysis said in a report. Fast facts The adoption rate of cryptocurrency in Africa at the grassroots level is the highest in the world. And retail transactions in Africa […]

Following crypto’s adoption in one struggling economy, nations in Latin America and elsewhere are now weighing the pros and cons of digital currency

Too small to fight as individuals, Binance users are now banding together to take on the world’s largest crypto exchange in arbitration. David Kay of Liti Capital explains how it’s done.

Top blockchain and crypto news: Does TBD stand for Twitter Boss Decision? NFTs’ ballooning interest. How billions in e-yuan are coursing through China.

John Paulson, the billionaire who famously shorted the U.S. subprime mortgage bubble in 2008, has called crypto a bubble that will “eventually prove to be worthless” in an interview with Bloomberg TV. Fast facts “I wouldn’t advise anyone to invest in cryptocurrencies,” said the 65-year-old, who has consistently backed gold as a store of value. […]

The largest cryptocurrency exchange in the U.S. has partnered with one of Japan’s largest banks to gain market entry. What does the move say about the Japanese market as the industry is rocked by yet another crypto exchange hack?

Asia is now tops in the world in cryptocurrency adoption. Vietnam, India and Pakistan are now the top three countries in the world in crypto use — and other Asian countries aren’t far behind, according to Chainalysis’ 2021 Global Crypto Adoption Index published today. Fast facts Thailand, China and the Philippines also ranked in the […]

Gold and cryptocurrency have more in common than not, and savvy investors would do well to hold both, writes Sylvia Carrasco of Goldex.

Argentinian President Alberto Fernandez has indicated he is open to adopting Bitcoin as legal tender and a central bank digital currency, according to a media report yesterday, just two days after the head of the country’s central bank, Miguel Pesce, described cryptocurrencies as a threat to economic stability. Fast facts During an interview with media outlet Caja […]

With Ethereum 2.0 still in development, rival blockchains like Cardano, Binance Smart Chain, Solana and Polkadot are hot on Eth’s tail. Who might prevail, and why?

ETH rose in a historic run in anticipation of ‘Ethereum halving’ — but dipped on the eve of the London hard fork. Forkast.News asks top cryptocurrency analysts to find out why.

The next half decade will see mass adoption of decentralized technology, writes Max Kordek of Lisk. Here are the leading uses.

Two of Japan’s largest crypto firms, Monex and SBI Groups, have seen strong performances in the second quarter of the year, according to the groups’ respective Q2 reports. Fast facts SBI operates two domestic exchanges, SBI VC Trade and the TaoTao platform, as well as the mining arm SBI Crypto and U.K.-based liquidity provider B2C2. […]

Celsius Network CEO says crypto lenders are using Wall Street’s ‘safest’ business tactic to provide high interest rates to customers. What are the risks?

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?

In a special Q&A, Yale-NUS College professor Andrew Bailey says the world’s oldest cryptocurrency has untapped potential to promote liberty, equality and justice around the world.

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 […]

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.

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 — […]

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 […]

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.

El Salvador recently became the first country to recognize Bitcoin as legal tender, and it seems unlikely to be the last. Samson Mow, chief strategy officer of Bitcoin technology company Blockstream, looks forward to a future in which Bitcoin edges out fiat currency.

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

With Theta’s new mainnet 3.0, the network aims to be the go-to blockchain-powered content delivery platform for online streaming. Will Theta succeed?

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 […]

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

After a spate of bad news, Bitcoin’s price tumbled to its lowest level this year before climbing back up to $34,000. Where are BTC prices likely to go next?

Ethereum is much more than a cryptocurrency, and it has already attracted huge interest among investors. What’s all the fuss about? Forkast.News explains.

Top blockchain and crypto news: Bitcoin finds fresh favor in Global South. Why would hackers demand a Bitcoin ransom? Chinese miners eye Yunnan probe.

Top blockchain and crypto news: El Salvador bets on Bitcoin as national currency. ETH gains ground on BTC. Beijing dishes out digital yuan in latest trials.

Now that Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s Bitcoin-as-legal-tender bill is almost reality, what will it mean for BTC investors around the world?

As 50,000 Bitcoiners and crypto superstars whoop it up at Miami’s Bitcoin 2021 fest, a smaller group of BTC fans hold their own at the Fringe in Hong Kong.

Gold prices are rising again and at a three-month high. How does gold — a store of value for over 2,500 years —  compare to Bitcoin as a refuge from market turmoil?

Turkish regulators have tightened their grip on cryptocurrencies, but small traders and investors appear to have barely noticed.