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Over 5.2 billion stablecoins left crypto exchanges on Wednesday, the most in five months, on-chain data showed.

The FTX.com unraveling has prompted crypto industry leaders to demand clearer rules of the road for trading digital assets.

The following is a running compilation of views and comments on Binance’s announcement that it will not go ahead with the acquisition of FTX.com.

Top blockchain and crypto news: FTX concedes defeat in long battle with Binance. Crypto eyes Congress races. Hong Kong U-turns on digital assets.

Japan needs to further relax rules for its crypto industry, said lawmaker of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party Masaaki Taira.

Hong Kong’s latest FinTech policies indicate it wants to reclaim its position as a hub for cryptocurrencies and digital assets, but that means finding the right people for the job.

Bitcoin and Ether fell in Monday morning trading in Asia as the crypto market gave up some gains made on the weekend on the back of U.S. job numbers on Friday.

By excising cryptocurrencies from the ecosystem, crypto-hostile China could steal a march in enterprise blockchain, says Red Date Technology chief Yifan He.

Singapore blockchain-based carbon credits exchange Metaverse Green Exchange (MVGX) will partner crypto data provider Chainlink to explore tokenized carbon trading.

The South Korean founder of the collapsed Terra stablecoin faces multiple allegations of wrongdoing, the latest being price manipulation.

U.S. computer scientist Stuart Haber, recognized with Scott Stornetta as the co-inventor of blockchain, says he is excited to see the evolution of the technology, not only in the financial sector, but also in entertainment, business, and technology industries.

London-headquartered banking giant Standard Chartered announced on Thursday that it had invested in the blockchain-based interbank settlement platform Partior, a joint venture of JP Morgan, DBS bank and Temasek.

‘Bad actor’ or a ‘sliding market’? Blockchain industry leaders at Hong Kong FinTech Week offer insights into the Terra-LUNA crash.

The world’s largest crypto exchange seeks to become a bridge between traditional finance and cryptocurrencies.

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has launched a new project with the central banks of Singapore, France and Switzerland to study the possibility of integrating some decentralized finance (DeFi) features with central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). See related article: mBridge participants to end domestic payments of foreign CBDCs Fast facts The BIS announced on […]

Top blockchain and crypto news: Hong Kong rethinks digital assets. CBDC to debut in India. China’s e-yuan privacy problem.

While October saw the emergence of two very popular NFT collections, sales failed to break US$500 million in the lowest figures since July 2021.

The bank is in the center of developments shepherded by the Monetary Authority of Singapore to explore digital financial technologies emerging around blockchain.

Hong Kong will increase funding for startups, including fintech companies, Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Algernon Yau said on Tuesday.

A hybrid middle ground between Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 is necessary before full Web 3.0 integration, argued Jehan Chu, co-founder and managing partner of blockchain venture capital firm Kenetic Capital, adding that “it’s not the fully decentralized future we were promised, but it’s the one we’re going to get first.”

Hong Kong reveals digital asset policies to distinguish itself from China, where cryptocurrency trading was banned in September last year.

The founder of crypto exchange FTX, which moved out of Hong Kong in 2021, said that the city could emerge as a Web3, blockchain and cryptocurrency hub.

Trading volume on cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com has slumped about 90% in the 12 months since the company’s “fortune favors the brave” ad.

New York-based technology consulting firm, Activate Consulting, has projected that 2023 will see “the end of NFTs hype cycle” with the token class expected to undergo major changes in how they are used and regarded.

When China banned cryptocurrency trading and mining in September 2021, it was feared that policy would make its way into Hong Kong. Seems that concern is getting a rethink.

Hong Kong-based crypto investment firm Q9 Capital has received a provisional virtual asset approval from Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA), the company said on Wednesday in a statement shared with Forkast.

Bitcoin traded flat on Tuesday afternoon in Asia hours, while Ether edged higher in a mixed day for prices among the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, excluding stablecoins. XRP led the losers for the second consecutive day. Polygon’s Matic token held onto recent gains and Dogecoin also moved higher.

Family offices and high net worth individuals (HNWI) will drive the adoption of digital assets across Asia, according to a joint report by professional services firm KPMG China and Hong Kong-based crypto asset management platform Aspen Digital. See related article: Hong Kong, BIS explore CBDC-backed stablecoins in retail prototype Fast facts The report, largely based […]

Institutional adoption of Web3 in finance means getting traditional banks involved, which will in turn reshape the way banks work, says SC Ventures’ Alex Manson.

The international police organization Interpol has launched its own metaverse to assist law enforcement in protecting communities in virtual realms. The development comes after wanted Terraform Labs cofounder Do Kwon quietly slipped from Singapore to Dubai and possibly elsewhere. See related article: India police launch blockchain-based complaint portal on Polygon  Fast facts Interpol claims theirs […]

Kwon has been issued with an Interpol “red notice” requesting his extradition on charges brought by South Korea related to the implosion of the Terra Luna cryptocurrency project he founded

German crypto bank Nuri (formerly known as Bitwala) has asked customers to withdraw their funds by Dec. 18 so that the “business can be terminated and liquidated.”

An unidentified hacker stole over US$1 million in Binance Coin (BNB) tokens from decentralized multi-chain wallet BitKeep’s token swap service on Monday, according to a Tuesday statement by the company. See related article: Crypto hackers on track for bonanza year as theft surges, Chainalysis says Fast facts “Our development team managed to contain the emergency […]

“No finders keepers’ law”: Coinbase considers legal action against some 1,000 users in east Europe’s Georgia who took advantage of a pricing glitch on the platform.

Hong Kong seems set to put out a new welcome mat for the blockchain and crypto industries, but will it work after concern about regulatory restrictions convinced many cryptocurrency operators to leave?

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission of the U.S. are investigating whether bankrupt crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC) misled investors about its balance sheet and failed to register with the two agencies, according to a Bloomberg report which cites two people familiar with the matter. See related article: […]

Bitcoin inched up slightly Monday, with the majority of the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization remaining stable, the only considerable price change coming from XRP’s 3% drop.  See related article: South Korea seeks software to track US$7.2B in illegal crypto Fast facts Bitcoin rose 0.83% in the past 24 hours to trade at US$19,296 […]

Decentralized finance sites are the preferred choice of hackers as crypto heists look to be on course to hit a record high this year.

Crypto.com said on Wednesday that the exchange will invest €150 million (US$145.5 million) in France to set up a European headquarters in Paris and expand operations in the region. See related article: Crypto.com enters South Korea market with two local startup acquisitions Fast facts The Singapore-based exchange said it will focus on compliance, business development […]

Singapore-based Coinhako cryptocurrency exchange, one of a handful to have a full license to operate in the city-state, has launched “Coinhako Treasures” to offer more products that suit the needs of institutional clients, like corporates and family offices, as it seeks to grow its institutional user base.   See related article: How a market slump may […]

The former CEO of Huobi Global has jumped into the GameFi space.

The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) said it had a breakthrough in enabling assets on distributed ledger technology networks, such as central bank digital currencies (CBDC) and tokens on the blockchain, to interact and flow with the existing financial infrastructure. See related article: SWIFT, Chainlink announce cross-chain interoperability partnership Fast facts In one […]

Top blockchain and crypto news: Celsius founder in hot water. European bank woes cast crypto shadow. Will BSN’s Chinese roots thwart its global ambitions?

China spent billions on its ‘belt and road’ infrastructure network to expand trade so what are its plans for a domestic and international digital infrastructure built on blockchain?

The crypto market has been down for months, but the industry’s long-term future is brighter than ever, writes Guilhem Chaumont of Flowdesk. Here’s why.

As the crypto slump drives job cuts and worse, some exchanges are seeing opportunity for expansion in the downturn, call it the fortune-favors-the-brave mantra.

The second Forkast report on Asia Crypto Week’s anchor event explores what bets TradFi players are making, how Asian investment patterns differ from those elsewhere, and what cooperation between crypto companies and regulators should look like

In the first of a two-part report on this year’s cryptocurrency gathering in Singapore, defiance outshone defeatism despite industry’s struggles.

Terraform Labs Pte. Ltd., the firm behind the collapse of the Terra-LUNA stablecoin project said South Korean prosecutors’ measures in pursuing its chief executive officer Do Kwon violate his basic rights under Korean law.

Who will regulate the regulators is a time-honored question and one Bitcoin enthusiasts raise when talking about the benefits of the token’s fixed supply versus the tendency of central banks to switch the money spigots off and on.

The man behind Terra-LUNA contradicts the basis of the new action South Korean authorities took to corner and locate him.

Crypto tycoon Jihan Wu’s crypto mining firm Bitdeer Technology Holdings is leading a US$250 million fund to acquire mining rigs from distressed miners amid the cryptocurrency bear market, according to Bloomberg. See related article: China mining rig maker Canaan expands despite crypto winter  Fast facts See related article: Bitmain cuts mining rig price amid crypto […]

South Korea is pursuing different options to get custody of Do Kwon as the Terraform Labs CEO faces charges for his alleged involvement in the multibillion collapse of the Terra-LUNA stablecoin project.

Bitcoin continued trading above US$19,000 in Friday afternoon trading in Asia. Ether rose along with most of the top 10 coins by market capitalization following the completion of the first phase of Cardano’s Vasil hard fork. XRP led gains with its price soaring over 20% in the past 24 hours. See related article: Markets: Cryptocurrencies […]

Sam Bankman-Fried‘s FTX is in talks with potential investors about a funding round that would keep the company’s valuation in line with prior financing at the start of the year, CNBC reported Wednesday.  See related article: Binance and FTX lead bidding for bankrupt Voyager Fast facts FTX Trading Ltd.’s latest funding round in January raised […]

Top blockchain and crypto news: Where is Do Kwon hiding out? Ethereum Merge mood fading fast. China’s digital yuan draws scrutiny Down Under.

The U.S. Department of Treasury is seeking public opinion on the “responsible development of digital assets” and has requested comments from the general public on national security and illicit financing risks posed by digital assets.  See related article: Singapore’s central bank says cryptocurrencies have ‘no fundamental value’ Fast facts Comments can be submitted until Nov. […]

South Korean prosecutors are in the process of requesting Interpol to issue a red notice for Terraform Labs Pte. Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Kwon Do-hyung, also known as Do Kwon, according to media reports.  See related article: Terra CEO Do Kwon faces ‘illegal alien’ status in Singapore as Seoul cancels passport Fast facts An Interpol […]

The Fed will continue its CBDC research as Republicans pressure the central bank to clarify its stance on digital dollar issuance.

A member of the prosecuting team tells Forkast additional charges are likely to be leveled against Terraform Labs Chief Executive Officer Do Kwon following this week’s issuance of an arrest warrant for violating the country’s Capital Markets Act.

The Sandbox, a subsidiary of Animoca Brands Corp. Ltd., the Hong Kong-based game software and venture capital company, will be taking its Hong Kong metaverse strategy to a new market in Dubai, launching a “Dubaiverse,” the company said at the 62nd edition of the True Global Ventures Conference on Thursday.  Animoca Brand’s Dubai-themed metaverse will […]

Amid its bankruptcy proceedings, crypto lender Celsius Network LLC has sought court approval to sell and/or exchange its stablecoin holdings for U.S. dollars in order to generate liquidity and help fund its operations.  See related article: Goldman Sachs said to raise US$2B for Celsius assets: report Fast facts “Celsius currently owns eleven different forms of […]

The Thailand Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has prohibited cryptocurrency companies from offering digital assets lending and staking products, or depository services.  See related article: Thailand’s SCBX scraps plan to buy 51% stake in crypto exchange Bitkub Fast facts The regulator said in a press release on Thursday that the decision was made to protect […]

London-based Ownera has raised US$20 million in a Series A funding round from investors including banking giant JPMorgan and private asset management firm LRC Group. See related article: Tokenized assets may make up 10% of global GDP by 2030: report Fast facts The funds will be used to deploy a global interoperability network to unlock […]

Tencent Cloud, the cloud computing services arm of the Chinese tech giant, on Tuesday, announced it signed a memorandum of understanding with Web 3.0 firm Strange Universe Technology to create and host virtual reality (VR) spaces for businesses. See related article: Tencent Cloud continues blockchain expansion with two new platforms  Fast facts See related article: […]

South Korean prosecutors investigating the collapse of Terra-LUNA have issued an arrest warrant for Terraform Labs cofounder and chief executive officer Kwon Do-hyung, also known as Do Kwon, the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office told Forkast. See related article: Securities or not? South Korea to evaluate Terra’s LUNA token Fast facts “Violation of the capital […]

Bitcoin and Solana continued their rallies in Tuesday afternoon trading in Asia, both up over 10% in the past week. However, Ether continued to slip as the market awaited the upcoming Etherium “Merge.”  See related article: Markets: Bitcoin, Solana lead gains in crypto top ten, Ether slips ahead of Merge Fast facts Bitcoin was up […]

Tokenized assets are expected to expand into a US$16 trillion business opportunity by 2030 — making up 10% of global GDP by the end of the decade — from US$310 billion in 2022. This is according to a new report by global consulting firm BCG and the digital exchange for private markets ADDX. See related […]

Crypto exchange Huobi has ceased topping-up service for seven kinds of privacy-focused tokens on its exchange as it prepares to delist the tokens on Sept. 19, citing regulatory concerns. See related article: Privacy protocol Monero completes upgrade to make transactions more private Fast facts See related article: Huobi-incubated Chinese NFT platform iBox ends international operations

The most critical upgrade in Ethereum’s history is just around the corner, so what will it mean for prices of cryptocurrency?

Cryptocurrency-related insurance is a vast untapped market, with less than 1% of crypto investments covered amid hacks and losses in the industry running into the billions of dollars, Cointelegraph reported, citing an executive from decentralized insurance protocol InsurAce. See related article: DeFi insurance: Why buy coverage for your digital assets? Fast facts Dan Thomson, the […]

Singapore-based crypto trader Alphalab Capital put together charts to show investors how different exchanges plan to handle Ether after the Merge. Note, some exchanges declined to comment.