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Multi-billion dollar bankruptcies, fraud allegations, scandal, and plunging cryptocurrency prices in 2022 all characterized why investors came to distrust centralized exchanges. Yet, some commentators expect platforms to become ever more centralized … and regulated.

Polygon Labs is firing 20% of its workforce, or about 100 positions, as part of its business consolidation.

What makes Web3 compelling to many is its promise to shift power from centralized players to individual users, but China is doing the opposite, writes Lily King.

The Philippines’ Bataan province wants to streamline systems and procedures of government services through blockchain technology and tokenization, Bataan Governor Joet Garcia told Forkast.

Bitcoin, the world’s first cryptocurrency, gained 15% in the past week to trade at US$24,885 and 7 p.m. in Hong Kong, surpassing payments giant Visa in market capitalization for the third time in history. See related article: Industry reacts: US cracks down on crypto, India calls for regulatory collaboration Fast facts See related article: Bitcoin […]

Nishad Singh, a former executive at bankrupt Bahamas-based cryptocurrency exchange FTX.com, may be leaning towards pleading guilty to fraud charges for his involvement in the company’s last November

Bitcoin briefly climbed above US$25,000 for the first time since August 2021, before declining to US$23,764 after its first weekly “death cross.” Investors liquidated over US$70 million worth of Bitcoin short positions in the past 24 hours, according to data aggregator GlassNode, contributing to BTC’s rally.

The U.S. SEC charged Singapore-based Terraform Labs and its chief Kwon Do-hyung for defrauding investors.

Many gamers still oppose NFTs and blockchain gaming, overlooking the myriad benefits of the latest technology, writes Ramona Ciocea of Protokol.

Academics from Stanford Law School and Stanford University are the previously two unknown individuals who signed bonds that allowed the release of FTX crypto exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried from prison on bail, according to court filings released Wednesday. 

Sam Bankman-Fried, the co-founder of the now-bankrupt FTX exchange, has been banned from using virtual private networks (VPNs) while out on bail, as the judge cited similar concerns to the co-founder’s use of encrypted messaging apps, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. See related article: Bankrupt FTX threatens legal action to claw back donations to politicians, charities […]

The cryptocurrency industry faced criticism during a Senate committee meeting on Tuesday entitled “Crypto Crash: Why Financial System Safeguards are Needed for Digital Assets.”

The Blockchain Association Chief Policy Officer Jake Chervinsky said the U.S. Congress will ultimately set the laws in the country to govern the cryptocurrency industry and not the Securities and Exchange Commission

Last year was memorable in the emerging world of digital assets for the sheer number of corporate failures. The industry itself has been asking for clearer legal guidelines to help development. Is that what’s happening now?

Self-custody is cumbersome and carries risks of seed phrases getting lost, but how can we ensure if a third-party custodian can be trusted?

As India moves forward with its one-year presidency of the Group of 20 (G20), it is discussing cryptocurrency and regulation with the group’s members, India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said. 

Mastermind of the EminiFX fraud has pleaded guilty to soliciting investments worth more than US$248 million from tens of thousands of investors, says US DOJ.

Tokenization, stablecoins and DeFi will be growth areas, but regulatory uncertainty is still holding back adoption, writes John Avery of FIS.

Digital Currency Group (DCG), the parent firm of failed crypto broker Genesis Global Capital, plans to transfer equity in another unit, Genesis Global Trading, to Genesis Global Holdco and eventually sell both companies to raise capital to pay back creditors.

After the strongest January price increase since 2013, Bitcoin gave up some of its gains this week to dip below the US$22,000 support line on Friday. The crypto market was buffeted by bearish comments on interest rates by U.S. Federal Reserve officials this week, along with concerns about a regulatory crackdown. Is this the start of a downtrend, a healthy correction, or the beginning of a so-called “crab” market moving sideways?

Hester Peirce said using enforcement action to dictate law in an emerging industry is the act of a “lazy” regulator, after the SEC fined the U.S.-based Kraken crypto exchange for failing to register staking programs.

Luxury fashion house Hermès International won its lawsuit against NFT artist Mason Rothschild on Wednesday for violating its Hermès’ Birkin trademark.

Robinhood Markets Inc., the U.S.-based financial services company, aims to purchase the 55 million of its shares that FTX-linked Emergent Fidelity Technologies bought in May 2022, according to its earnings report released Wednesday.

Wallets linked to Alameda Research became active over the past week, transferring millions worth of FTX’s native token, FTT, according to Arkham Intelligence. 

China’s Beijing Guoan Football Club has launched its first NFT collection, while building a virtual replica of its stadium.

Digital Currency Group has started to sell shares of its cryptocurrency funds at a significant discount, according to a Tuesday report from the Financial Times.

Nearly three out of four institutional traders surveyed “have no plans to trade crypto,” while most see Artificial Intelligence as the next big disrupter.

Yuga Labs, the company behind the leading non-fungible token (NFT) project, Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), won a settlement on Monday in a trademark infringement lawsuit against Thomas Lehman, a collaborator in the controversial RR/BAYC project headed by artist Ryder Ripps.

Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com has partnered with Korean drama distributor Studio Dragon to issue NFTs inspired by popular Korean drama series, including the hit Crash Landing on You, the exchange said on Monday.

Crypto layoffs last month matching 41% of the total industry job cuts in 2022, a new study finds.

The move marks a shift in tone from December when recipients of FTX donations were requested to “voluntarily” return the funds.

CeDeFi offers the benefits of CeFi and DeFi without their shortcomings, writes Alexander Tkachenko of VNX. Here’s how it works.

NFTs and DAOs can help support Japan’s national strategy dubbed ‘Cool Japan’ to attract investment and expand the economy.

DeFi is still a Wild West, and many would-be users are wary of its lawlessness and anonymity. Could decentralized IDs foster greater trust and growth in the sector?

The future global financial system will be reliant on the cloud, especially when it comes to CBDCs and stablecoins, writes Michael Greenwald and Logan Weber.

Bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX.com had around US$1.4 billion in cash reserves at the end of 2022, according to a financial update released Tuesday.

Celsius Network may have misled its investors and spent customer funds, an independent examiner said in a Tuesday court filing.

Alameda Research has sued bankrupt digital assets lender Voyager Digital to reclaim US$445.8 million worth in loan payments before FTX filed for its own bankruptcy.

Digital asset investment products reached US$117 million in the week ending Jan. 27 — the highest since July 2022 — with nearly all of that going into Bitcoin.

A U.S. federal judge has granted motions to reveal the identities of the two unnamed co-signers of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s US$250 million bail bond.

Tighter regulations are necessary but not enough. The industry also needs to address its issues with custody and transparency, writes Chen Zhuling of RockX.

Four senior officials in U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration called for Congress to “step up its efforts” in regulating the cryptocurrency market.

Sam Bankman-Fried’s mother and brother are not cooperating with the FTX legal team’s investigations into the Bahamans-based exchange’s bankruptcy and misappropriation of customer funds

BlockFi said it needed bonus payments to keep employees from fleeing the company. But creditors argue the plan is excessive when compared to other crypto bankruptcies.

Decentralized autonomous organizations suffer from faulty code and lax governance, which the unscrupulous can easily exploit, writes Michael Lewellen of OpenZepplin.

Bitcoin and Ether gave up some of their January gains in Friday morning trading in Asia, though both are still higher for the week.

Lawyers for the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange, FTX.com, filed a document with a list of its institutional creditors on Thursday, which included major technology firms, publications and government bodies.  

FTX’s implosion is spurring a regulatory scramble to rein in the crypto sector. But one influential US lawmaker may do more harm than good, writes Kadan Stadelmann, CTO of Komodo.

Cryptocurrency exchange Luno, the London-based trading platform owned by venture capital firm Digital Currency Group (DCG), will let go of 35% of its global workforce

Top blockchain and crypto news: Genesis bankruptcy begins. FTX chief ponders a reboot. China’s CBDC gets a smart-contract upgrade.

Regulators should not legitimize “purely speculative” activity in crypto markets following the collapse of FTX, said Monetary Authority of Singapore Chairmen.

India announces its full year budget on Feb. 1, the last before general elections in 2024, and the cryptocurrency and digital asset industry is lobbying the government for changes in tax rules, among others.

EU’s new Digital Operational Resilience Act aims to help firms withstand cyberattacks. Monica Oravcova of Naoris Protocol explains why it doesn’t go far enough.

Bitcoin traded little changed Monday morning in Asia, holding above a four-month high of US$22,000 amid a broader rally over the weekend, helped by comments from a U.S. Federal Reserve official backing a smaller interest rate increase at the central bank’s meeting at the end of this month.

Despite 2022’s turbulent impact on the crypto industry, Immunefi CEO Mitchell Amador believes this year could encourage better Web3 security.

Bitcoin’s price has had its best weekly run up since February 2021 in the seven days through Jan. 18, but is that the start of a bull run or setting up the optimists for a sucker punch? Experts share their predictions with Forkast.

FTX is exploring options to revive its bankrupt international cryptocurrency exchange, FTX.com, CEO John Ray told the Wall Street Journal.

Founder and former chief executive of FTX U.S., Sam Bankman-Fried, has rejected claims by the company’s current leadership made in a presentation on Tuesday that the team has only recovered US$181 million worth of funds from the exchange.

Singapore-based digital asset manager Amber Group has cut its Hong Kong staff by half to 40 to weather a slump in cryptocurrency prices and a cascade of bankruptcies in the industry.

One of the most lauded benefits of bricks-and-mortar tokenization is less intermediary involvement in transactions. Tokenization can certainly make real estate investment cheaper and more efficient, but it’s also a potential win for property professionals.

Top blockchain and crypto news: SEC frowns on Genesis, Gemini. Solana soars. Will China tighten its embrace of WeChat Pay and Alipay to push its CBDC?

U.S.-based cryptocurrency bank Silvergate Capital Corp., which saw clients withdraw more than US$8 billion late last year, on Tuesday reported a US$1 billion loss for the fourth quarter of 2022, a slump it attributed to a “crisis of confidence” in the sector resulting from several large bankruptcies.

Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX told creditors that it lost around US$415 million worth of cryptocurrencies to hacks since it filed for bankruptcy.

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand issued new rules for cryptocurrency custody services on Tuesday.

Being on the watch, your tracker knows where you live, when you sleep and how healthy (or not) you are. What happens if your data is sold — or hacked?

NFTs, tokenization and blockchain-based cross-border payments will see big paradigm shifts, but their success will depend on regulation, investment and adoption, writes Stephen Richardson of Fireblocks.

Bitcoin and Ether gained in Monday afternoon trading in Asia, along with all other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies.

Lee Byung-gul, the CEO of V Global, will serve 25 years in prison after his conviction was upheld by the Supreme Court of Korea on Friday.

The U.S. House of Representatives has created a new congressional subcommittee focused on digital assets, as one of its first moves under the control of the Republican Party.

Bitcoin rallied above the US$18,000 mark for the first time in nearly a month. Is this the start of a bull run or just another relief rally on the back of easing inflation pressure?

South Korea’s attempts to extradite the founder of the collapsed Terra-Luna stablecoin will remain hamstrung while the courts in Seoul dispute the charges against him.

Coinbase, the world’s second largest cryptocurrency exchange by trade volume, is cutting jobs and closing down most of its operations in Japan.