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Last weekend’s rally shows there is still life left in memecoins. Industry insiders weigh in on where they stand in the long run.

North Korea has been funding its nuclear and ballistic missile programs with profits from cyberattacks on crypto exchanges, Reuters reported, citing a confidential United Nations (U.N.) report. Fast facts “According to a member state, DPRK cyberactors stole more than US$50 million between 2020 and mid-2021 from at least three cryptocurrency exchanges in North America, Europe […]

Vitalik Buterin caused an uproar over his recent criticisms of blockchain bridges. Here is a rebuttal in support of this nascent technology.

In a first for the country, the Sovereign Yidindji Government in Australia has issued a CBDC with its first transaction occurring this week.

Crypto regulations are lagging the market’s needs, and the industry should help create order to gain greater public trust, writes Imgesu Cetin of Defy Trends.

The owner and operator of cryptocurrency exchange FTX.COM announced Monday it closed US$400 million in a Series C fundraise that now values the company at US$32 billion. Fast facts Investors participating in this round included Temasek, SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Tiger Global, among others. The company said all of the investors have participated in […]

The Sovereign Yidindji Government (SYG) in northeastern Australia has released a central bank digital currency (CBDC) and a digital ID system on blockchain wallet network MetaMUI. Fast facts The Aboriginal people of Yidindji have lived in the territory for over 60,000 years and in 2014 established the SYG. The SYG and the Australian government, including […]

OpenSea is the world’s largest open marketplace for NFTs. Find out what’s driving everyone there in this Forkast explainer.

CBDCs can increase financial inclusion and prevent crime, according to blockchain expert Tiana Laurence. What’s not to like about state-backed digital money?

Political chaos and power shortages are causing miners to flee a nation that only recently became the world’s second-largest Bitcoin producer.

Kazakhstan has cut off the power supply for crypto miners amid blackouts and a growing power crisis in a central Asian region that also includes Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, a local Bitcoin miner told Forkast. Fast facts The Bitcoin miner said Kazakhstan’s authorities are blocking all electricity for crypto mining through Jan. 31, confirming a Bloomberg […]

China’s state-backed blockchain network disclosed eight platform partners today in line with the soft launch of its non-fungible token (NFT) platform, the BSN-DDC network.  Fast facts The auction house Rong Bao Zhai, Hainan International Culture and Artworks Exchange Center — an essential part of China’s free trade port — and EY Blockchain are among the […]

Despite Singapore’s reputation as a crypto-friendly hub, the truth is more complicated. Is the city-state purposely keeping out small companies?

K-pop fans are waging online campaigns against their favorite artists over NFTs, denouncing the technology’s carbon footprint. How polluting are NFTs?

Global NFT sales are exploding in 2022, but experts predict this is only the beginning of a bigger surge in Asia.

Though the world’s most powerful central bank does not stake a position, its discussion paper is a big step toward supporting a future US digital currency.

Guangdong Province’s 2022 Government Report says its capital city Guangzhou will become a digital yuan testbed and a blockchain innovation application pilot center in 2022.  Fast facts Guangzhou applied to become a new digital yuan pilot city in September 2021.  Guangzhou is one of the major cities of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA). […]

A pro basketball player and an ex-banker are aiming for a slam-dunk with a ‘creator first’ content platform. Calaxy co-founder Solo Ceesay explains how.

The gaming industry suffers from a talent shortage, but blockchain technology and Gen Z’s obsession with self-expression are relieving cost pressures.

The digital yuan is undergoing its final preparations in the leadup to the Beijing Winter Olympics, despite the expected absence of a general audience due to Covid-19 concerns.  Fast facts The People’s Bank of China (PBOC), the central bank, said all payment channels for the 2022 Winter Olympics, including the digital yuan, are set to […]

Top blockchain and crypto news: Asian governments target crypto. Managing MATIC. China’s expanding metaverse.

Cryptocurrency ATM operators in Singapore halted operations on Tuesday to comply with new guidelines issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the country’s central bank, Bloomberg reported.  Fast facts Crypto ATM operators Daenerys & Co. and Deodi Pte shut their operations down as they await further clarification from MAS.  New central bank guidelines issued […]

The numbers are in: digital yuan’s historical transactions reached 87.565 billion yuan (US$11.238 billion) as of the end of 2021, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) announced on Tuesday.  Fast facts

Singapore-based exchange Crypto.com has struck a five-year AU$27 million (US$19.5) sponsorship with the Australian Football League’s (AFL) men’s and women’s (AFLW) competitions on Tuesday. Fast facts The deal is the first sponsorship from a crypto firm in Australia for a major sporting league, and the first major women’s sporting league sponsorship for Crypto.com. Australian rules football […]

Savvy cryptocurrency investors now know what the biggest players have long done, writes Michal Cymbalisty of Domination Finance — ‘buying the f* dip!’

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the country’s central bank, issued guidelines to restrict cryptocurrency service providers from marketing or promoting their services to the general public on Monday.  Fast facts MAS warned businesses to refrain from promoting cryptocurrencies and related services to Singaporeans in public areas, including websites and social media. However, firms are […]

A Chinese state-backed blockchain network plans to launch non-fungible token (NFT) infrastructure that has no link to cryptocurrency by the end of this month, one of its creators told Forkast. Fast facts He Yifan, CEO of Red Date Technology, a developer of the Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN), a project to spur mass adoption of blockchain […]

Online influencers may be improving crypto-financial literacy for millions of people. But regulators have growing concerns.

Traditional banks are not going away and decentralized finance is here to stay, writes Edan Yago of Sovryn. Here’s how an amalgam of the two can take shape.

Top blockchain and crypto news: Bandwidth bust in Kazakhstan. Binance chief CZ tops rich list. Digital yuan app adoption grows.

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) based on a wildly popular fantasy action digital comics series backed by South Korean internet giant Kakao have sold out soon after launch on Wednesday. Fast facts The NFTs, launched by Kakao Entertainment, are based on webtoon Solo Leveling, which has amassed a whopping 14.2 billion views globally since its launch in […]

The current technologies in use do little to deter crypto money laundering, writes Dr. Mark van Staalduinen. What can nations do about this?

The CFTC is asserting greater regulatory powers over the crypto industry than ever before. But does the agency have the statutory backing to do so?

Limited restoration of internet access in Kazakhstan is not enough to bring the world’s second-largest crypto mining hub back fully online, according to internet tracker NetBlocks.  Fast facts Last week, internet access in the central Asian nation was shut off after protests over fuel prices spread across the country, resulting in more than 100 deaths […]

How has layer-2 innovation saved Bitcoin from becoming a victim of its own success? Blockstream chief Adam Back explains.

In a special Q&A, a core contributor to the rapidly expanding Cosmos ecosystem discusses the ‘internet of blockchains’ and the new cross-chain economy.

The US tech giant will pour $40M via private placement in Ennoconn, as the iPhone supplier continues to dream big for metaverse.

Bitcoin hashrates tumble as miners unprepared for an outage, experts say.

Top blockchain and crypto news: CBDCs at the crossroads. A token gesture from Samsung. NFTs survive in China.

The crypto market leaders are trading sideways so far in the new year. But NFT trading volume has exploded, with strong Q1 performance expected.

Cryptocurrency is fueling crimes like malicious mining and ransomware attacks, writes Andrew Brandt of Sophos. What can a company do to protect itself?

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.

NFTs are finding novel uses across many sectors, from fashion to real estate. What industries stand to benefit most from this technology in the year ahead?

In South Korea, virtual asset investors with more than 500 million Korean won, or approximately US$418,935, worth of crypto assets in overseas accounts must report to their regional tax authorities beginning in 2023. Fast facts According to a new year guidebook by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, any resident or domestic corporation with overseas […]

The world’s largest crypto exchange continues struggling to stay compliant, but it has seen some luck in the Middle East.

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.

Aventus CEO Alan Vey also predicts the decentralized finance rally is just getting started. Which blockchains does he see growing massively in the new year?

Countries acted to encourage — or discourage — cryptocurrency and other blockchain-based assets, sending markets wildly up and down.

From China’s ban to FATF’s travel rule, crypto regulations have been top of mind this year. How might regulatory impulses and current trends play out?

As 2021 draws to a close, what are this year’s milestones and trends to watch in the year ahead? Forkast.News consults experts to find out.

Animoca Brands chairman Yat Siu sees a mass migration to the ‘open metaverse’ while the ‘closed’ ones will fail. What does this godfather of blockchain gaming mean by that?

Alex Tapscott of Ninepoint Partners also shares with Forkast.News his predictions for stablecoins and NFTs in 2022.

Global shifts are underway in crypto regulations, writes Huong Hauduc of Bequant. How might the political and market forces play out next year?

China tries to stamp out Bitcoin mining while increasing its influence over blockchain technology and preparing the digital yuan for launch. What lies in store for 2022?

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

Which blockchain sector will flourish, and what’s not yet ripe for mass adoption just yet? FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried offers his crystal ball in a special Forkast.News video.

Japan’s financial conglomerate SBI Holdings announced a joint investment in Singapore’s virtual asset exchange Coinhako with Switzerland-based Sygnum Bank. Fast facts The investment is made through a fund formed in Singapore named the SBI-Sygnum-Azimut Digital Asset Opportunity fund. SBI expressed certainty in supporting Coinhako’s international expansion and other startups that have growth potential in the […]

What are the responsibilities of blockchain companies when it comes to freedom of expression? A controversial cartoonist finds out the boundaries.

Crypto finance platform XLD Finance wants to enable users to spend GameFi tokens and stablecoins to pay for real-world goods and services. Fast facts The company has launched its first project, xSpend, which allows users from Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines to purchase mobile prepaid credits on the platform using GameFi tokens and stablecoins. Users may also pay Philippine-based […]

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?

Lotte Cinema, one of South Korea’s largest movie theater chains, is giving away NFTs (non-fungible tokens) of the movie “The Matrix Resurrections” to people who reserve tickets to the latest addition in the popular science fiction series that depicts life in a simulated reality. Fast facts In collaboration with Warner Bros. and NFT tech startup […]

Gas fee unpredictability is a highly problematic aspect of the Ethereum ecosystem, writes Matt Cutler of Blocknative. What are the solutions?

Metaverse platform Spatial assembled a Series B funding round worth about US$25 million, with new investments from Maven Growth Partners, Pine Venture Partners, South Korea’s KB Investment, Korea Investment Partners, Mirae Asset and others. Fast facts With the Series B, Spatial gathered an accumulated investment amount of over US$49.6 million. Investors from past funds included […]

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, today announced that it has set up a joint venture with the venture capital arm of Telkom Indonesia, the country’s largest telecommunication company, to develop a new digital asset exchange there. Fast facts Binance said in a statement that it has teamed up with MDI Ventures — a US$830 […]

Crypto 1 will consider acquisition targets worldwide but steer clear of digital assets companies in China and Hong Kong. Are the lights dimming on a major crypto hub?

Metizens can already attend concerts, visit art galleries and earn money in a metaverse, writes Joe Caselin of Hex Trust. What’s coming next?

Blockchain gaming studio Vulcan Forged was hacked on Tuesday and 4.5 million PYR, the platform’s native token, was stolen, the company announced on Twitter. Fast facts Vulcan Forged also runs a decentralized exchange and a non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace. The attacker gained the private keys to 96 wallets and proceeded to empty them, making off […]

The billion-dollar intersection of sports and crypto is a big win for all, writes Ben Armstrong, aka BitBoy Crypto. Here’s how to make sense of this seismic cultural shift.

Gamers and developers gather at the annual Digital Entertainment Leadership Forum to discuss how video games may evolve in the future.

Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, announced today that its Singapore entity Binance Asia Services has withdrawn its application to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) for a license to operate a regulated crypto exchange in the country, according to a company statement. Fast facts The exchange had operated in Singapore under an exemption that […]

Confusion surrounded the Solana blockchain community over the weekend as a sudden drop in transaction speeds was initially believed to be a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack, resulting in a lengthy debate as to the cause of the delay. Fast facts Solana-based non-fungible token (NFT) platform Blockasset was one of the first to highlight […]