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Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, is reportedly now under investigation for possible insider trading and market manipulation by the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Fast facts According to a Bloomberg report that cited unnamed sources, investigators from the CFTC — the agency that regulates the U.S. derivatives markets — […]

Black Friday for Korean exchanges while E-CNY launch in final stretch

All but four platforms in South Korea obligated to announce the suspension of their services by today.

Most banks distance themselves from virtual asset platforms as the country’s central bank lobbies for a ban.

China’s Inner Mongolia region — once a thriving cryptocurrency mining hub that has enacted a series of measures to rein in the sector — is tightening its crackdown by hiring a contractor to monitor and ferret out mining operations. Fast facts The Inner Mongolia Development and Reform Commission announced on Wednesday a bidding result for […]

The U.S. Treasury is preparing a raft of recommendations for stricter oversight of Tether and other stablecoins, as unnamed insiders say the department has identified the greatest risks posed by the tokens, according to a recent Bloomberg report. Fast facts Making sure investors are able to transfer money in and out of tokens is a […]

Blockchain research firm sees explosive growth in smart contract-based products that can replace existing financial services.

As Cardano’s Alonzo upgrade goes live, founder Charles Hoskinson of IOHK calls DeFi a ‘bubble.’ How does he think the regulation that is sure to come will reshape DeFi in the future?

What is quadratic funding, and why is this mathematical method ideal for allocating capital for a community? Pranav Sharma of Woodstock Fund explains.

Canaan reports record revenues meanwhile Korea says no to crypto tax delay

Leading Chinese crypto mining hardware manufacturer attributes robust revenue to ‘substantial increase in total computing power sold.’

Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN) soft launch is the first attempt to roll out the state-backed ‘internet for blockchain’ outside of the Chinese mainland.

As the trading volume in non-fungible tokens begins to slow down from recent record heights, leading NFT marketplace OpenSea has been rocked by an insider trading scandal involving a senior team member. Fast facts The company, dubbed “the eBay of NFTs,” issued a statement yesterday acknowledging it became aware on Tuesday that an employee had […]

Blockchain and tokenization are transforming how real estate can be bought and sold. Here is how one fintech startup in Asia is using digital fractionalization to raise capital.

Solana validators complete restart also Laos ends crypto ban

Top blockchain and crypto news: Walmart dispels Litecoin hoax. Cardano’s real work begins. Beijing bears down on NFTs.

Despite widespread criticism of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that has emerged in Chinese state-owned media, the 2022 Asian Games has announced the sale of its first NFT collection. Fast facts Organizers of the games, set to take place in September 2022 in Hangzhou, the capital city of the eastern province of Zhejiang, announced in a social […]

SOL had been on a tear but is now losing ground. Is Solana a victim of its own success — or does the network have deeper problems?

Three banks — the Bank of China, Singapore’s DBS and HSBC — have partnered with the Global Shipping Business Network (GSBN), a Hong Kong-based non-profit consortium that recently launched a blockchain-based trade platform, to form a trade finance advisory group, according to a media release shared with Forkast.News today. Fast facts Trade finance — the […]

Amid the country’s ongoing Senate inquiry into crypto regulation, the Reserve Bank of Australia has posted a job advertisement for a position within its central bank digital currency research team. Fast facts A successful applicant would join a new cross-disciplinary team to research “whether there is a case for a CBDC in Australia, and if […]

Mid-sized crypto exchange Foblgate announced the closure of its Korean won (KRW) trading functions in advance of a government mandate banning digital asset platforms from operating cash-to-crypto services without a local bank partnership. Fast facts Foblgate announced it is temporarily suspending its KRW withdrawal, deposit and trading market between cryptocurrencies and the Korean won. Instead, […]

Software firm MicroStrategy, the world’s largest corporate Bitcoin holder, purchased an additional 5,050 Bitcoins for US$242.9 million at an average price of US$48,099 per Bitcoin.  Fast facts Bitcoin was trading 3% lower on Monday, the day of the purchase, at around US$44, 800. The purchase puts MicroStrategy’s total Bitcoin holdings at 114,042 Bitcoins acquired for around […]

FTX hit by hack rumor meanwhile Korea updates crypto death note

Financial authorities reveal an updated list of virtual asset platforms that have complied with new regulations.

China’s largest brokerage firm, CITIC Securities, said in a research report the metaverse will enter an exploration stage in the next three to five years and could become a way of life in 20 years. Fast facts The report said the development of the metaverse can be divided into three stages. The first stage will be completed […]

More provinces in China are putting new limits on the cryptocurrency mining sector, as the country works toward its carbon neutrality goals and concerns over cryptocurrency trading loom. Fast facts Authorities in North China’s Hebei province today issued a notice to crack down on cryptocurrency mining and trading activities, saying that crypto mining consumes huge […]

Florida-based non-fungible token (NFT) platform Recur announced it has received backing from Steve Cohen, owner of Major League Baseball’s New York Mets, in its US$50 million series A funding round. Fast facts The financing round, which valued Recur at a US$333 million post-money valuation, was led by Digital, a metaverse investment platform backed by Cohen’s […]

In the latest response to a growing interest in non-fungible tokens, Beijing Business Today faults an art marketplace.

Ernst & Young, one of the Big Four consulting multinationals, announced today it has integrated India-based Polygon, a Layer 2 Ethereum scaling solution, to allow its corporate clients to process blockchain-based transactions on the Ethereum mainnet. Fast facts EY has connected the public Polygon commit chain with EY’s blockchain services including EY OpsChain and EY […]

Institutional investors continued to buy into Solana investment products despite the market correction last week, according to a report by digital asset manager CoinShares. Fast facts Solana prices, which have soared by over 13,000% this year, reached an all-time high of US$213.47 on Sept. 9, according to CoinGecko data. Solana briefly overtook XRP to become […]

CrossTower became the second international crypto exchange to enter the Indian market last week after Binance made its entry by acquiring WazirX in 2019.

A sister paper of the People’s Daily, Securities Times, published an opinion piece to criticize non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as hype and suggested the digital assets should serve the real economy by tokenizing actual assets. Fast facts The article offers as an example Justin Sun’s NFT purchase of a digital avatar for US$10.5 million and the […]

E-CNY problems to be solved, also China sees warning over NFT hype

In this Forkast.News explainer, learn why blockchains with smart contract capability are surging in popularity and the new darlings of investors.

PBOC still working out regulatory rules, acceptance environments and payment systems.

The platform reports more users than WazirX and CoinDCX, and aims to make crypto trading as easy as ordering food online.

Crypto in 2021 is like the early days of the internet, writes Hisham Khan of Aldrin. Here’s why the quality of user experience will decide the industry’s future.

Why is Axie Infinity so popular, and what is the potential of play-to-earn gaming? Two venture capitalists share insights on Asia’s special place as GameFi’s hub.

Cardano smart contracts set for Sunday also CrossTower launches in India

Cardano’s Alonzo hard fork will bring smart contracts and NFT support to the world’s third-largest blockchain. What will it mean for the crypto market?

Two of Australia’s “Big Four” banks — National Australia Bank and Westpac — have hit back at criticism they are suppressing competition by refusing to do business with cryptocurrency providers in the country, according to a report. Fast facts While neither of the banks have formal policies excluding crypto businesses, NAB chief executive Ross McEwan […]

Football giant Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) today announced a multi-year partnership agreement with Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com that will see the exchange become the Parisian club’s official cryptocurrency platform partner. Fast facts PSG competes in Ligue 1, the top division of French football, and its star-studded team includes forwards Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé and Neymar. […]

Design studio that makes hand-crafted statues for global brands such as Marvel, DC Comics and Hasbro plans to expand into new product categories, markets and NFTs.

El Salvador’s Bitcoin embrace may be a domino for some emerging markets, but a fierce rival to the BTC is also coming to the fore.

Algorand’s ALGO cryptocurrency prices have surged by 90% over the past seven days, crossing the US$2 mark and hit a two-year high of US$2.44 today, according to CoinGecko data. ALGO, ranked the 17th largest cryptocurrency by market value, has not seen such price heights since its launch in 2019. Fast facts Algorand is an open-source, […]

Hong Kong-based Global Shipping Business Network (GSBN), a nonprofit consortium whose members handle one-third of all the shipping containers in the world, announced yesterday that its new blockchain platform for global trade has officially gone live. The platform, built in partnership with Oracle, Microsoft, AntChain and Alibaba Cloud, aims to accelerate digital transformation in the […]

At the risk of losing billions, crypto industry officials weigh options to oppose authorities.

China-based Bitmain, one of the world’s biggest producers of cryptocurrency mining rigs, has sealed a deal with its United States partners — ISW Holdings and Bit5ive — to expand its operation in America. Fast facts ISW Holdings, a Nevada-based portfolio company with extensive crypto mining operations, will host 56,000 Bitmain mining rigs and pair them […]

As most of the market saw a 10% to 15% dip in the past 48 hours, Solana (SOL) has defied that trend, crossing the US$200 mark for the first time and becoming the new sixth-largest coin by market cap a few hours ago, according to data from CoinMarketCap.com. Fast facts SOL was trading at US$205.27 […]

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

KILT Protocol, an open-source blockchain protocol for issuing self-sovereign, anonymous and verifiable credentials, has won the sixth Kusama parachain auction and has launched its mainnet, the project announced yesterday. Kusama is Polkadot’s canary network for blockchain developers to build and test out their code as well as products and services. Fast facts KILT Protocol had […]

As non-fungible tokens break into the mainstream, experts advise buyers to do research and watch for a correction.

A Chinese game company, Zhong Qing Bao, announced a metaverse game, and its stock rose considerably this week for two days in a row. Fast facts The game’s name is Brew Master, a game that lets players pretend to be winemakers and trade the wines that they make as NFTs. Two days after the game […]

What was internet censorship like in the early days, how has it changed, and what role does decentralization play.

Have DeFi exploits on BSC hindered the blockchain’s success? NFTs and gaming offer a boost.

Smaller virtual asset exchanges ask for mercy as a deadline looms to commit to Korea’s new standards.

Bitcoin price plunges however Metaverse actions heats up in China

Top blockchain and cryptocurrency news: El Salvador’s BTC experiment. EthereumMax and the power of celebrity. Hong Kong shores up regulatory oversight.

Despite significant losses across the board, industry experts are not too concerned, seeing the plunge as normal market behavior.

An official from Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission said on Tuesday that the regulator wants to increase oversight of virtual assets because scams related to them have emerged in the market, according to a report by local media etnet. Fast facts Julia Leung, deputy chief executive officer at SFC, said Tuesday at a webinar […]

What are the different kinds of blockchain, and how do they compare? Learn all about public, private and permissioned platforms in this Forkast.News explainer.

Solana hits all-time19 high as FTX’s NFT marketplace spammed

FTX is the latest crypto exchange to join the NFT bandwagon. “Make your own NFTs,” CEO Sam Bankman-Fried tweeted. 

Hyperithm, a crypto investment trust company in South Korea, acquired an Information Security Management System (ISMS) certification — a requirement Korean authorities say every virtual asset operating business must secure. Fast facts Hyperithm is the first virtual asset brokerage in South Korea to be certified for information security by a public institution. Hyperithm’s announcement shows […]

In China, over 20 publicly listed companies have disclosed they are bringing to market e-CNY-related services and products, such as hardware wallets, a digital yuan payment system for schools, and a mobile phone SIM card that can pay for bike rentals with digital yuan at the tap of a phone, according to a report by […]

Charles Randell, chairman of the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority and chair of the Payments Systems Regulator, singled out celebrity influencer Kim Kardashian in his latest speech for endorsing a relatively unknown and unregulated token. Fast facts In June, Kardashian endorsed EthereumMax, a project launched by unknown developers in May 2021. Kardashian, wife of rapper Kanye […]

The institutional investment tide has turned for Bitcoin, which saw US$59 million in inflows last week, according to CoinShares, Europe’s largest digital assets fund manager. It was Bitcoin’s first inflows in eight weeks — signaling improving investor sentiment toward the world’s most popular cryptocurrency. Fast facts Digital asset investment products saw inflows of US$98 million […]

Solana (SOL) is continuing to break new ground, gaining 22% in the past 24 hours to reach a new all-time high of US$177.95 at press time, according to data from CoinMarketCap.com. Fast facts It has been a historic run for the network, which rose 45% over the previous week to reach its previous all-time high […]

Only 21 out of 60 exchanges are expected to continue their services in Korea.

Korean exchanges offered lifeline while NFL bans crypto sponsorships

It’s hard to move forward on a CBDC when those in charge can’t agree. Is time running out for an American digital dollar?

The broader market recovery following the May crash continues with five of the top 10 coins by market cap showing double-digit growth over the past seven days, according to data from CoinMarketCap.com. Fast facts Continuing its historic run, Solana (SOL) showed the most movement, gaining over 45% this past week to hit a new all-time […]