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Laws to prevent another FTX blowup, crackdowns on crypto tax cheats, and a ruling on Ripple are likely imminent. A bull’s eye is also on DeFi, writes Gergo Varga of SEON.

Xiaohongshu, or “Little Red Book,” a popular social media application widely described as the Chinese equivalent of Instagram, has integrated layer-1 public blockchain Conflux Network, allowing users to showcase their non-fungible tokens on their profile pages, Conflux announced on Thursday.

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

Bitcoin and Ether rebounded in Thursday morning trading in Asia amid broad gains in the top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies.

Japan plans to introduce regulations by June this year that will allow domestic investors to trade certain stablecoins from overseas.

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.

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.

Creditors of Singapore-based crypto lending and borrowing platform Hodlnaut have rejected a proposed restructuring plan and wish to liquidate the company.

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.

Crypto.com will lay off 20% of its workforce, its co-founder and chief executive officer Kris Marszalek said Friday in a Twitter post.

Bitcoin and Ether rose in Thursday afternoon trading in Asia, along with all other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies, as investors anticipate signs of slower inflation in the upcoming Thursday release of the U.S. Consumer Price Index for December.

National Basketball Association (NBA) team Miami Heat’s home arena will soon be renamed after a Florida judge ended the naming rights agreement between the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange, FTX.com, and Miami-Dade County

Immunefi founder Mitchell Amador believes the future security risks of CBDCs will highlight the benefits of DeFi.

Top blockchain and crypto news: DCG under investigation. Lido DAO surges as Ethereum’s Shanghai upgrade looms. Hong Kong burnishes crypto credentials.

India’s Decimal Point Analytics (DPA), a research and data analytics firm, has received grant funding of up to US$750,000 from The Hashgraph Association, a Switzerland-headquartered non-profit organization, to develop an asset tokenization platform on Hedera’s distributed ledger technology (DLT) network. 

Bitcoin, Ethereum extended gains in afternoon trade in Asia on Monday along with the top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. Cardano rose the most in the last 24 hours, followed by Polygon, BNB and Dogecoin.

Crypto Council’s Sheila Warren hopes to see more of crypto’s real-world use cases emerging in the media next year.

Top blockchain and crypto news: Where is Alameda Research’s money going? US tax loophole may give crypto investors a break. China’s blockchain momentum builds.

Ripple Labs Inc. expects a court decision in the first six-months of this year in the case filed against the company by the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission. The SEC sued Ripple in December 2020 for allegedly selling US$1.3 billion in unregistered securities.

Australia had a total of 225 Bitcoin ATMs by the end of 2022 after installing around 150 machines in the final four months of the year, overtaking El Salvador and Poland to become home to the fourth-highest number of crypto ATMs in the world, according to data from CoinATMRadar.com.

Hong Kong’s financial services providers, including local brokers and fund managers, are seeking advice to prepare for new licensing requirements which will allow them to provide services to retail traders, according to a media report.

Cryptocurrencies had a turbulent 2022 to say the least. Blockchain technology made progress but that failed to offset the multiple bankruptcies and hacks that plagued the industry through the year.

Like an awkward teen, Bitcoin is facing a crisis of confidence, writes Eddie Hui of MetaComp. What lies in store for the original cryptocurrency in 2023?

As the FTX debacle invites more stringent regulations, Caroline Bowler of BTC Markets believes crypto can go mainstream in the next 18 months.

Top blockchain and crypto news: US senators push for crypto KYC. SBF faces the music in US courts. Alibaba Cloud to launch blockchain node.

Central bank digital currencies (CBDC) development and interest are growing rapidly worldwide but regulatory issues remain a challenge, especially for cross-border CBDC transactions.  But German technology company Giesecke+Devrient (G+D) – winner of Best Technology Award in the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s Global Fast Track CBDC 2022 competition during the city’s FinTech Week in November – […]

Putting property on-chain is a novel way of opening up opportunities for investors and landlords alike. The second article in Forkast’s three-part series on real estate tokenization explores what they stand to gain.

The Hong Kong SFC said that virtual asset investments offering high-interest returns on cryptocurrency deposits and those that guarantee additional assets at fixed rates are unregulated products that are not protected by law. 

By some estimates, job cuts in the cryptocurrency-specific industry are running at about 30-40%, which means tough times for employers and employees, and compensation packages are also taking a hit.

Stablecoins in USD are becoming the digital world’s default currency — which burdens ordinary crypto users and monetary policies in smaller nations, writes Wei Zhou of Coins.ph.

The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) is drafting regulatory requirements for the local licensed crypto exchanges, in light of the FTX debacle, according to a report on Monday by Hong Kong public broadcaster RTHK

Interpol fugitive Kwon Do-hyung flew to the Republic of Serbia last month, South Korean prosecutors told Forkast, confirming local media reports.

Top blockchain and crypto news: AAX teeters on the brink. SBF hints at Congressional hearing no-show. Chinese court boosts NFT legitimacy.

A federal judge overseeing the bankruptcy proceedings of Three Arrows Capital (3AC) has approved the delivery of subpoenas to 3AC’s cofounders, Su Zhu and Kyle Davies.

The push to regulate DeFi is stronger than ever, and the sector would be wise not to fight but participate in that inevitability, writes Michael Shing of XREX.

Innovation and regulation are mutually exclusive in the world of crypto – and in the aftermath of the FTX collapse, getting the balance right is key.

Seoul judge dismisses prosecutors’ request for arrest warrant for Terra’s Daniel Shin, derails their plan to investigate Shin in custody

Australian cryptocurrency exchange Swyftx cut 90 staff members — or 40% of its workforce — to prepare for a “worst-case scenario” in the market from the collapse of FTX.com.

Cryptocurrency exchange Bybit plans to cut 30% of its staff as part of a company reorganization, cofounder and chief executive officer Ben Zhou said in a statement shared with Forkast on Sunday.

Terra cofounder Daniel Shin attended a court hearing on Friday morning in South Korea that will decide on local prosecutors’ request to issue an arrest warrant.

Despite the myriad benefits of blockchain and cryptocurrency, institutional interest remains mixed in Asia Pacific. What lessons should the industry learn from 2022 to overcome the barriers to adoption?

Top blockchain and crypto news: Grayscale’s cryptic reserves. Binance rides to the rescue? China hit by protests and digital dissent.

A court in South Korea will review if prosecutors are allowed to arrest and bring Terraform cofounder Daniel Shin and seven others into custody, for charges including fraud.

India will launch its retail CBDC pilot on Thursday with plans to gradually expand trials, the RBI announced on Tuesday.

LINE’s cryptocurrency exchange based in the U.S., BITFRONT, has announced closure on Monday to shift its focus to developing LINE’s blockchain ecosystem.

Nigeria seeks to advance digital asset trading in the country but is drawing a distinction between digital assets and cryptocurrencies.

Crypto exchange Bybit has established a US$100 million fund to support its institutional clients

Calls for tougher rules on cryptocurrency have been echoing ever louder through the offices of global financial regulators since the collapse of the FTX exchange. But the firm did not invent dodgy business practices, so what can regulators and the industry do?

The Bank of Japan, the country’s central bank, will conduct experiments with three megabanks and regional banks on a digital yen, according to a report by Nikkei on Wednesday. 

While the crypto industry grapples with the definition of blockchain-based digital tokens, South Korea wants to nail down the terminology.

South Korea’s telecommunications giant SK Telecom (SKT) is launching its Ifland metaverse in 49 countries in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

Regulators should seek more disclosure from stablecoin issuers, as stablecoins could transmit risk from markets to traditional finance, according to researchers at the Hong Kong Monetary Authority

Proof-of-stake blockchain platform Cardano and blockchain payment platform Coti will launch an algorithmic stablecoin Djed in January 2023

Hong Kong residents spend the most time online – almost half of their lives – mainly watching videos on YouTube followed by scrolling through social media channels, according to a new survey by virtual private network provider NordVPN. 

Bitkub, one of the largest crypto exchanges in Thailand, is aiming to list in Hong Kong as early as 2024 when it goes public.

FTX Japan, a subsidiary of the now-bankrupt FTX.com, is preparing to resume withdrawals by the end of 2022 to Japanese customers, said an unnamed FTX Japan executive to local broadcaster NHK

Bitcoin and Ether extended their losses through late Asian trading on Monday, as did all the top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. Dogecoin was the biggest loser. 

S.Korean authorities are looking into self-issued cryptocurrencies that may exist within local exchanges following FTX.com’s FTT-led liquidity crisis.

Cryptocurrencies are getting in the way of the mass adoption of blockchain technology, especially by tech businesses, says Red Date Technology chief Yifan He.

FTX’’s failure to keep its sister company Alameda Research solvent was likely attributed to the liquidity crunch brought on by the Terra-LUNA collapse, according to Nansen.

Crypto exchange Bullish has said it does not have any exposure to now-bankrupt FTX and Alameda Research, and expects FTX’s bankruptcy to have no impact on Bullish’s operations. The exchange is operated by Bullish (GI) Limited and regulated by the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission. 

Alameda Research and its affiliates had about US$5.1 billion in liabilities as of Sept. 30, according to a bankruptcy court filing dated Nov. 17.

The country is one of the first to say it will act to set up regulations to prevent a collapse similar to FTX, which filed for bankruptcy protection and froze the assets of hundreds of thousands of investors.

John J. Ray III, a Chicago-based lawyer and the new CEO of now-bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, has criticized the lack of “appropriate corporate governance” across FTX Group companies under Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and former CEO of FTX. 

Bitcoin fell during Wednesday afternoon trading in Asia along with all other top 10 cryptocurrencies, excluding stablecoins, led by declines in Polygon’s Matic.

Top blockchain and crypto news: FTX fallout spooks sector. Crypto.com’s $400 million ‘accident.’ Hong Kong’s new digital asset drive.

Circle, the issuer of U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin USDC, has said that stronger competition in the stablecoin market is likely to pressure Circle stablecoins, thereby slowing its growth and weighing on the financial outlook of the company. 

A rise in Bitcoin prices is the most important factor for a significant increase in the number of new investors, instead of distrust in public institutions, dislike for traditional banks, or search for a store of value, according to a report by the Bank for International Settlements. 

Exchanges to the rescue? Cash is reportedly being made available to help blockchain and crypto projects caught in the fallout of the FTX exchange collapse.

The chief executive of Crypto.com, said the exchange’s exposure to FTX when it shut was under US$10 million.

The collapse of one of the world’s biggest crypto exchanges last week has investors worried about the finances of other trading platforms. Cold wallet time?

There are not many white knight investors that are large enough to bail out the embattled crypto exchange, industry insiders say.