Ukrainian activists and volunteer groups are crowdsourcing significant money through crypto donations to fund the defense against a possible Russian invasion. Fast facts Ukrainian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and volunteer groups have collectively received over US$570,000 in crypto, with the majority of funding coming in last year, data from blockchain analysis firm Elliptic shows. Come Back…
Decentralized finance has not yet done much real-world good, writes Ben Sheppard. But putting it to work on small infrastructure projects can do just that.
The Hong Kong government intends to propose a licensing system for crypto exchanges, according to a discussion paper published on Monday. Fast facts The proposed amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing bill will designate any crypto exchange as a “regulated virtual asset activity” and any person who seeks to engage in this work…
Japan’s largest bank, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust (MUFJ), plans to issue a yen-pegged stablecoin in 2023 for instant settlement of securities transactions, according to Nikkei Asia. Fast facts By accelerating the settlement process, Mitsubishi UFJ hopes to cut costs arising from settling securities transactions by fiat, which usually takes a few days to process. Japan’s Financial…
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…
A prominent Russian lawmaker has proposed a personal income tax rate of at least 15% for crypto miners, according to local media reports, as the country continues to debate regulations for the industry. Fast facts Vladimir Gutenev, who chairs an industry committee at the Duma, parliament’s lower house, said at a Friday briefing that mining…
Unique non-fungible token (NFT) buyers hit an all-time high (ATH) in January with more than 895,000 shoppers, according to data tracker CryptoSlam. Fast facts The new ATH recorded an almost 3,000% year-over-year increase and a 6.5% month-over-month growth. The number of unique sellers grew by almost 14% from December to January with 741,865 vendors, just…
Over 54,000 crypto investors have signed a petition urging the Indian government to reconsider a planned 30% tax rate announced earlier this week. Fast facts Blockchain and crypto education provider Crypto India co-founder Aditya Singh started the petition on Thursday to stop the government from comparing crypto to “social evils like betting and gambling.” The…
While sales volumes on NFT marketplaces thrive, new data show much of this comes from manipulating sales — painting the whole industry in a different light.
Jump Crypto announced that it replaced 120,000 ETH Friday morning Asia time to its cross-chain bridge Wormhole after a US$325 million exploit left wrapped Ether (wETH) in the Solana ecosystem unbacked. Fast facts The hacker was able to exploit Solana’s verification system to mint 120,000 wETH, and use it to funnel at least 93,750 ETH…