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Crypto exchange Binance in regulators’ crosshairs as scrutiny mounts

As countries step up their implementation of the Financial Action Task Force’s standards, the list of regulators that have Binance in their crosshairs just keeps growing longer. Fast facts Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission today filed a criminal complaint against Binance — the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume — for operating a digital asset […]

Will court let Ripple force ex-SEC director to testify about XRP?

Ripple says William Hinman holds important insights into SEC’s stance on Bitcoin, Ether and XRP. How is Hinman’s 2018 speech on crypto relevant to the lawsuit?

Musk sells memecoin fans another pup with Baby Doge

Elon Musk has once again sent a coin’s price skyward with a simple tweet; this time more than doubling the price of the memecoin Baby Doge by inserting its name into the lyrics of popular children’s song, “Baby Shark”. Fast facts Replacing the title of the song with the name of the coin, the tweet […]

Coinbase’s high-interest savings account rollout raises questions over returns

Deposit account bears closer comparison to distressed debt fund than to mainstream bank account, expert says.

South Korean finance watchdog warns banks over crypto AML compliance

The chief of South Korea’s main finance sector regulator has said that no banks will be exempted from anti-money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism compliance when they sign contracts with virtual asset trading platforms. Fast facts According to South Korea’s crypto exchange regulations, crypto trading platforms must acquire contracts with local banks to provide their […]

Huobi to impose tighter OTC trading restrictions

Crypto exchange Huobi yesterday issued an announcement in simplified Chinese saying that it would implement a “T+1” withdrawal freezing time for all over-the-counter trades, meaning that traders can transfer cryptocurrency out only 24 hours after depositing it. In some cases, the freeze will last up to 36 hours.  Fast facts At present, the announcement appears […]

A letter from the Editor-in-Chief

Dear Reader,  Welcome to the next phase of Forkast.News!   Our newly redesigned website is live, and we hope that it is faster, better to navigate, and easier for you to read, watch, and consume all things blockchain.  When we founded Forkast in late 2018 in the height of crypto winter, we envisioned this day was […]

Trading platform Robinhood fined US$70M over outages, false information

Trading platform Robinhood has been fined some US$70 million in a case involving system outages and allegedly misleading information.

Bye-bye, Binance. Elon Musk spawns Floki Shiba Inu craze. Tickets for tokens in China.

Top blockchain and cryptocurrency news: Binance bounced out of Britain. Musk moves Shiba Inu prices again. China’s digital currency gets ready to roll.

How to assess the maturity of a network and DeFi ecosystem

What does a fully functioning network with DeFi applications look like, and why is it important to assess? Garrette Furo of Cosmos explains.

FTX signs deal with Tom Brady; blockchain startup Nansen raises US$12M | The Daily Forkast

Demand for blockchain analytics is on the rise as FTX partners up with NFL superstar quarterback Tom Brady and supermodel Gisele Bündchen.

Chinese cities roll out digital yuan to public transport networks

Adoption of e-CNY for urban transport networks marks first step in wider introduction of state-backed digital money.

Wealth managers need to create digital asset offerings, Capgemini says

Wealth management firms need to develop new offerings around emerging trends such as the rise of digital assets and sustainable investing, according to Capgemini’s World Wealth Report 2021.

Exchange Crypto.com revs up sports sponsorships as Formula 1 partner

Formula 1 has announced that Hong Kong-based Crypto.com will be an inaugural global partner for the new F1 Sprint series in 2021.

Taiwan to introduce new AML rules for crypto exchanges on July 1

Taiwan is set to enact new anti-money laundering rules that take effect July 1 to further boost AML requirements for crypto exchanges.

Mining rig maker Bitmain inks purchase deal with TeraWulf

Bitmain has signed a deal to sell 30,000 of its Antminer machines to TeraWulf, a U.S. crypto miner that claims to use mostly clean energy.

Institutional investors appear to cool on Bitcoin, data suggest

Institutional demand for cryptocurrency appears to be slowing, according to a report by analytics company Glassnode.

South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb dismisses ‘listing fee’ claims

Bithumb — South Korea’s second-largest crypto exchange — has rubbished claims that it is charging token issuers fees to list their coins on its platform.

Crypto exchange Coinbase to launch crypto app store in international strategy

Nasdaq-listed Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, announced today its plans to expand its business internationally as it seeks to improve its asset-listing process and build a crypto app store. Fast facts: “We’re seeing crypto quickly mature from its initial use case of trading bitcoin to the trading of thousands of new […]

What is Theta blockchain, and how might it revolutionize online streaming?

With Theta’s new mainnet 3.0, the network aims to be the go-to blockchain-powered content delivery platform for online streaming. Will Theta succeed?

Special Series, Part 3: Digital dragons and digital dollars

In the last installment of a 3-part series on blockchain in Asia, Forkast.News examines: Everyone knows money has value. But does it also have ‘values’?
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A portfolio balanced by digital assets

Do cryptocurrencies follow broader market trends? Cryptocurrency has long been perceived as a hedge against the fluctuations of the broader equities market. The idea of cryptocurrency as an alternative investment has taken off during the Covid-19 pandemic as equity prices rose to stratospheric highs despite the fundamentals of the economy significantly weakening.  An example that […]

Evangelizing to different investor profiles

Millennials and Gen Z Millennials have earned the reputation of disrupting or killing traditional industries, and the financial sector is no exception.  The disconnect between millennials and traditional investments is the result of various factors, such as their firsthand experience with the long-term effects of the 2008 global recession on assets and investments, as well […]

Tokenized asset market sizing and analysis

How value is created Our methodology for calculating the value of this market includes tokenized commodity, energy, currency (i.e., stablecoins), gold and real estate projects. Calculations include publicly listed projects found via Blockexplorers. It excludes cryptocurrency, as it’s a native digital asset, as well as DeFi projects because of their extreme volatility. All tokenized assets […]

NFL star Tom Brady, supermodel Gisele Bündchen take stakes in FTX crypto exchange

Cryptocurrency exchange FTX today announced that American football star Tom Brady and his wife, Gisele Bündchen, are taking equity stakes in it, in a multi-year partnership.

Building liquidity

Although institutional interest in Bitcoin is rising, there is still the volatility conundrum to consider. Bitcoin’s market fluctuations, however, make it a poor store of value. But, at the same time, there is an advantage to keeping capital stored in crypto: cashing out crypto into fiat is almost always a taxable event and not ideal […]

Family offices are turning to digital assets

Interview with Trent Barnes, Principal at Zerocap Tokenization brings new models for raising capital, as well as institutional-grade opportunities Forkast.News: How does a digital asset become “institutional-grade”? What sort of criteria are institutional-level traders looking for? TB: The criteria would include clear guidelines and regulatory frameworks as to how digital assets are treated, deepening pools […]

Metaverse hot in South Korea; Decentralized theme park hits HK | The Daily Forkast

South Korea’s top asset managers are racing to get into the metaverse game while Forkast.News visits a decentralized theme park in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission’s new crypto rules will hinder opportunity

Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission chief, Ashley Alder, kicked off a firestorm during Hong Kong FinTech Week 2020 by announcing a plan to regulate all cryptocurrency exchanges that operate in the city or target its citizens.  These new proposed rules would replace a voluntary framework introduced in 2019 that allowed exchanges to opt in […]

Trends and opportunities

Top three digital asset market trends shaping the future Three key trends in the digital asset market are: Tokenization of widely traded traditional assets, such as stocks and bonds; Tokenization of previously untraded or under-traded assets, such as real estate and fine art; Institutional adoption and trading of digital tokens. During the past year the […]

Singapore crypto exchange Coinhako sees trade soar 500%, eyes IPO

Singapore cryptocurrency exchange Coinhako today announced a 500% increase in trading volume during the first five months of 2021 compared to the whole of 2020.

Huobi bans users in China, Taiwan from crypto derivatives trades

Chinese cryptocurrency exchange Huobi has stopped providing crypto derivative trading services to users in China and Taiwan.

Why big investors are pouring money into blockchain data analytics for crypto

Nansen, a Singapore startup, is the latest darling of venture capitalists like Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) bullish on the growing field of crypto analytics.

Ethereum’s institutional outflows hit record US$50M, CoinShares data says

Ethereum is bearing the brunt of negative sentiment on crypto, with net outflows from institutional products related to the token hitting a record of US$50 million last week.

Samsung Asset Management launches metaverse fund

Samsung Asset Management, South Korea’s biggest asset manager, has launched a fund tied to a virtual world known as the metaverse.

Bitcoin hashrate falls to lowest in 22 months amid China mining clampdown

Bitcoin’s hashrate fell to 58.7971 exa hashes per second on Sunday — the lowest point since August 2019.

Growth of digital assets markets and exchanges

Interview with Thor Chan, CEO of AAX Forkast.News: The value of digital assets has exploded during the last year, and we are now at levels well above previous forecasts. What are you seeing in the market right now? Thor Chan: We think that the global crypto market is growing. More money is flowing in, and […]

Digital asset exchange infrastructure geared for high-volume trading

Managing trading volume and geography The importance of having the right infrastructure to drive an exchange – any exchange, not just ones for digital assets – cannot be overstated. It provides the engine that lies behind every software platform.  Investors need to know they can execute trades without outages or other interruption. As well, they […]

Decentralized theme parks promise kids virtual prizes to earn as they learn

Prototype launches in Hong Kong, with children able to collect digital currency and NFTs instead of arcade coupons.

Implementing global standards in digital exchange infrastructure

Interview with Lorne Chambers, Global Head of Sales and Marketing, LSE Forkast.News: How does LSEG Technology’s matching engine ensure orders are closed with as little latency as possible? How does this prevent the phenomenon of negative convexity, where the market moves away from the position staked out by the trader? Lorne Chambers: The architecture of LSEG Technology’s […]

Foreword

This report is about the development of digital assets, cryptocurrencies and tokenization and how that all-important confidence is established. Thank you for your interest in digital assets and the role of digital asset exchanges, custodians and the value digital assets offer to investors looking to diversify.  For any currency, digital or otherwise, confidence in the […]

Special Series, Part 2: China lays digital groundwork for a new Silk Road

How China’s deployment of the digital yuan intertwines economics with geopolitics and concrete with virtual infrastructure, from Cambodia to the Caribbean.
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Introduction

Executive Summary The crypto market of 2020 is not the crypto market of 2013. What was once a cryptocurrency market is now a digital asset market. Blockchain’s strengths in efficiently and transparently tracking assets have given birth to an industry of assets represented by tokens, allowing both a new class of investors to have exposure […]

The Unstoppable Rise of Digital Assets

Table of contents Foreword For any currency, confidence is essential. This report is about the development of digital assets, cryptocurrencies and tokenization and how that all-important confidence is established. by Angie Lau, Forkast Editor-in-Chief Executive summary and introduction The crypto market of 2020 is not the crypto market of 2013. What was once a cryptocurrency […]

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General Terms Subscription Terms Linking Terms and Conditions Inquiries Regarding this Site’s Content Law enforcement data request statement Intellectual Property Issues PLEASE READ ALL OF THE FOLLOWING TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF SERVICE FOR THIS WEB SITE (“Terms of Service”) BEFORE USING THIS SITE. By continuing to access, link to, or use this site, or any […]

Forkast.Studio

forkast.studioIt’s time for a new kind of conversation We are at a crossroads: societally, politically, economically, technologically, publicly, and personally. All roads are leading to this moment. And so we meet.  The brave new world of disruption has landed. How we “speak” to each other now must reflect this new reality –– from face-to-face human […]

China’s crypto miners eye Kazakhstan in exodus; e-HKD study on track | The Daily Forkast

Kazakhstan is quickly becoming a mining hotspot as China’s mining exodus settles down. In Hong Kong, and update on the e-HKD.

Britain bans Binance UK, but users continue business on crypto exchange

FCA says Binance is not permitted to offer regulated activities in the UK, but users of the world’s largest crypto exchange remain unaffected — for now.

FATF: Most countries have yet to implement anti-terrorism crypto ‘travel rule’

Why are so few adopting FATF guidance for VASPs? Money laundering watchdog decries ‘continued misuse of virtual assets through jurisdictional arbitrage.’

South Korean crypto exchange fee revelations deal blow to sector’s credibility

Payment for listings raises questions over integrity of cryptocurrencies’ credit scores as compliance deadline nears.

How enterprises are fueling blockchain adoption among SMEs

What is blockchain and how can it help smaller companies? A special panel sponsored by Blockchain-based Service Network explores the use cases.

Kazakhstan’s Bitcoin gold rush gathers pace as Chinese miners keep piling in

As China shuts down crypto mining over environmental concerns, miners are moving next door to Kazakhstan, one of the most coal-rich countries in the world.

Special series, Part 1: China bets on the blockchain

Long before most governments, the Asian superpower saw the potential in Bitcoin’s technology to spawn the next internet and a new form of money.
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Bitcoin not ideal for cyber crime, says Filecoin Foundation chair

Bitcoin was recovered by the FBI from the Colonial Pipeline ransomware cyber criminals DarkSide, sparking privacy concerns around cryptocurrencies.

China Blockchain Report

Blockchain Is Not China’s Future — It Is The Present Blockchain technology is a national priority for China, and it’s being integrated in both enterprise and government. Nowhere else in the world has a country approached the development of a technology with such a sense of urgency. Forkast.Insights sat down with top China-based insiders, academics, protocols, […]

Building construction meets blockchain, Binance launches NFT platform | The Daily Forkast

Construction meets blockchain in Australian and Binance’s NFT marketplace is open for business.

SEC seeks to stop Ripple from calling ex-SEC director for XRP testimony

SEC does not want its former head of Corporation Finance to testify or answer question about XRP. Who is William Hinman — and what might he tell Ripple?

What will Ethereum’s London hard fork do as an upgrade?

A major Ethereum upgrade via London hard fork — which experts call a ‘seismic shift’ for the industry — is coming soon. Are ‘Ethereum killers’ doomed?
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China sets out stall with digital yuan. Here comes the sales pitch

Urged on by the authorities, banks have wasted little time in putting e-CNY infrastructure in place, but now comes the hard part — getting people to use it.

Mining rig maker Bitmain halts sales amid flood of second-hand machines

Chinese crypto mining rig maker Bitmain has decided to suspend global spot sales of its Antminer machines, as some of its clients are reselling their rigs.

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About us

Stories of emerging technology at the intersection of business, economy, and politics. From Asia, to the world. Technology is by its very nature, disruptive. But understanding it also helps us navigate this age of disruption better. Forkast was started in 2018 with a simple premise: Technology should be understood by the people it will impact […]

Blockchain data cruncher Chainalysis raises $100M to expand in Asia Pacific

Chainalysis, the blockchain and cryptocurrency data analytics firm, announced today that it has raised US$100 million in a Series E funding round with a US$4.2 billion valuation. Fast facts: Headquartered in New York, Chainalysis provides blockchain-based software that enables governments and businesses to detect and prevent cryptocurrency crime and money laundering. Chainalysis’ series E round […]

Tesla, Facebook and Netflix stock tokens launch on Solana blockchain

Swiss-based Digital Assets AG, a firm focused on the design of tokenized stock infrastructure, has launched over 50 tokenized stocks on the Solana public blockchain.

Blue House responds to petition; Bitmain offers relocation assistance | The Daily Forkast

South Korea’s Blue House responds to a national petition calling for the financial watchdog head’s resignation.

How blockchain traceability can help our world prevent a resource spiral

Blockchain technology promotes a circular economy of reuse that is vital to our planet’s future. Leanne Kemp, CEO of Everledger, explains how it works.

Paraguay university to accept crypto for tuition fees

A university in Paraguay has announced that it will begin accepting cryptocurrency as payment for tuition starting from August.

Bitcoin ETFs start trading on Brazil, Dubai stock exchanges

QR Capital’s Bitcoin exchange-traded fund — the first Bitcoin ETF in Latin America — has been listed on Brazil’s stock exchange.

Following forced closure, Hong Kong’s Apple Daily preserved on blockchain

A tech-savvy activist is using blockchain technology to preserve content from Hong Kong’s Apple Daily, which was yesterday forced by the government to shut down.

China’s Ant Group launches blockchain-boosting transmission network

Ant Chain, Ant Group’s technology brand, has launched a new blockchain communication technology at Ant Chain’s first developer conference.

South Korea points to crypto regulation efforts after calls for watchdog to quit

South Korea’s presidential office has reacted defensively to a petition calling for the chief of the country’s main finance sector regulator to step down over comments he made about cryptocurrencies.

Rig maker Bitmain offers help to Chinese miners looking to relocate abroad

Chinese mining rig maker Bitmain is offering assistance to clients that want to relocate their cryptocurrency mining operations from China to other countries.