Archives

Top blockchain and crypto news: US leads charge in ramping up cybersecurity. Crypto fans crow as Facebook flops. China bears down on metaverses.

Brazil’s legislators are expected to discuss in the next few days a bill that seeks to establish a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies, which may be a major step toward making Bitcoin a legal “payment currency” in the country if approved by the congress. Fast facts Bill 2.303/15, proposed by Federal Deputy Aureo Ribeiro, aims to […]

Bitcoin miners saw another mining difficulty adjustment on Tuesday, with an increase of 4.71%, according to data from BTC.com. Fast facts The mining difficulty level is now at 19.89 trillion at block height 703,584, reflecting the most difficult level since a previous adjustment on June 14, the data show. The latest increase follows five increases after four […]

A lawmaker claims Upbit earned hundreds of millions by listing sketchy cryptocurrencies, while the exchange rebuts that it follows fair and strict standards.

Sky Mavis, the company behind leading non-fungible token game Axie Infinity, has raised US$152 million in a Series B funding round with a valuation of nearly US$3 billion, according to news outlet The Information. Fast facts Led by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, Sky Mavis said it will use the funds to improve its blockchain […]

This is the second time the world’s largest cryptocurrency has hit the mark in recent months. Does that mean this price point is here to stay?

U.S. Bank, the country’s fifth-largest retail bank, will now offer custody services for cryptocurrencies, starting with Bitcoin, the bank announced on Tuesday. New York Digital Investment Group, a fintech firm dedicated to Bitcoin, is the first crypto sub-custodian in the bank’s network of providers, the statement said. Fast facts The services are geared toward institutional […]

What does it mean to provide ‘institutional’ crypto services, and what role does blockchain technology play? Robert Cooper of Digivault explains.

Korea crypto tax pause called for meanwhile Tiktok jumps into NFTs

Crypto investors say virtual asset gains will be taxed on uneven grounds compared to stock capital gains.

As China intensifies its crypto crackdown, regulatory clarity is a beacon for safer shores in Southeast Asia.

Hong Kong, a hotbed for crypto startups and exchanges, is at a crossroads, writes Jeremy Ng of Gemini. Here’s how the industry can better secure its future.

Much of the growth in the region is driven by strong grassroots adoption rates led by Vietnam, India and Pakistan, new data from Chainalysis shows

Bitcoin investment products saw inflows of US$69 million last week amid improving investor sentiment, according to digital assets fund manager CoinShares. Fast facts “We believe this decisive turnaround in sentiment is due to growing confidence in the asset class amongst investors and more accommodative statements from the U.S. Securities [and] Exchange Commission and the Federal […]

China’s telecom giants to bring digital yuan transactions to mobile chatting boxes.

In a special Q&A, a Canadian law advisor who works with Chinese clients breaks down the ban’s potential legal boundaries and concerns held by overseas Chinese.

Stablecoins combine the portability of crypto with the price stability of fiat currencies. But are they all that stable?

Mainland China’s recent clampdowns on crypto are reverberating beyond its borders. In a special Q&A, former regulator and crypto industry leader Angelina Kwan discusses what this means for Hong Kong.

This week, FTX announced it is moving its headquarters from Hong Kong to the Bahamas, as the larger Caribbean region takes on a bigger role as host to virtual currency exchanges.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) today granted licenses to DBS Vickers (DBSV), the brokerage arm of DBS Bank, and Independent Reserve, an Australian cryptocurrency exchange, to provide digital payment token services under the Payment Services Act (PS Act). Fast facts Formal approval from MAS, which follows its earlier “in-principal approval” granted to both companies […]

Markets on Tuesday in the U.S. were unsettled by the prospect that energy crises in Europe and China could lift inflation to new highs, compelling central banks to reverse accommodations sooner than expected. US Treasuries reacted with a fierce rise in yields and that spilled over to the equity markets.  Although the markets drove down […]

Mobile game company Gamevil buys a large share of crypto platform Coinone, planning to develop blockchain-based gaming.

DeFi benefits from China ban while Gamevil increases Coinone stake

Although scarcely the size of a human palm, Mr. Goxx is earning big returns in the virtual currency market, raking in a 16% return as of Tuesday.

Chinese social media has been abuzz since authorities lowered the boom on crypto. Forkast.News has been following the chatter. Here’s what they’re saying on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter.

dYdX, the governance token for the dYdX exchange protocol, surged to a new all-time high of US$27.86 today, according to CoinGecko data. Fast facts dYdX is a decentralized exchange (DEX) built on Ethereum that currently supports perpetual contracts, margin trading and spot cryptocurrency trading, as well as lending and borrowing. It is a non-custodial exchange […]

DeFi tokens like dYdX soared after China’s latest move to throttle crypto. Is this a short-term spurt or decentralized finance shifting into high gear?

As Chinese authorities take aim at crypto violations outside mainland borders, Forkast.News asks lawyers in the know: Who is in China’s line of fire?

Against the global tide of digital asset adoption, China’s harshest crypto ban yet heralds golden opportunities, writes Richard Byworth of EQONEX. Other governments should take note.

China crackdown legal concerns as Korea also discusses virtual asset law

NH Nonghyup is the third bank in South Korea to invest in a virtual asset custody service while they are prohibited from running their own.

Top blockchain and cryptocurrency news: Beijing’s crypto crusade comes to a head. Chinese mining caves in. Mr. Goxx reaps robust returns.

Malaysian property developer Hatten Land has signed an agreement, through a subsidiary, with Singapore-based digital asset management company Frontier to share proceeds from jointly operating at least 1,000 cryptocurrency mining rigs within Hatten Land properties in Malaysia, according to a company statement released today. Fast facts Hatten Land has previously announced that it would repurpose […]

China’s stepped-up cryptocurrency ban continues to send shockwaves through the industry, as more crypto service providers are shutting their doors to users in China. BeePool and Tiger Brokers are among the latest to announce service suspensions. Fast facts China-based BeePool, the fourth-largest Ethereum mining pool in hashrate, said Tuesday that it has stopped registering new […]

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has slapped a US$1.25 million fine on Kraken, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the U.S., for Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) violations, the CFTC announced yesterday. Fast facts The CFTC, in its settlement with Payward Ventures Inc., the San Francisco-based company doing business under the name Kraken, said […]

China fallout hits mining meanwhile Korea digital custody competition heats up

China’s crypto ban is part of a global battle over freedom and ideology, writes Michael B. Greenwald. How can the US lead the world in a different path?

China’s earlier efforts to eradicate mining may not have been as effective as the government had hoped, but Friday’s announcement is having an impact.

China assaulted crypto with a new ferocity just as Bitcoin options expired and Evergrande escaped death. Coincidence? Ben Caselin of AAX lays out the clues.

Cryptocurrency investment products saw inflows of US$95 million last week, with total inflows over the past six weeks of US$320 million, according to digital assets fund manager CoinShares. Fast facts “The continued inflows suggest the recent headwinds for digital assets, such as the widened China ban, were seen as buying opportunities for investors,” wrote CoinShares […]

Amid growing regulatory heat, Binance — the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume — will restrict users in Singapore from buying cryptocurrencies using fiat, spot trading and liquid swaps on its main Binance.com platform starting Oct. 26, according to a company announcement. Fast facts Binance is advising Binance.com users in Singapore to cease all […]

South Korea’s virtual asset industry is expected to withstand major regulatory reconstruction

China’s crypto crackdown and what it means

Amid China’s new clampdown, why is DeFi surging and the RMB-to-crypto market important? Sam Bankman-Fried analyzes what it all means and why FTX is leaving Hong Kong for a new home.

Huobi’s diversified businesses outside of China reached nearly 70% in terms of trading volumes, and have been on the rise, its co-founder tells Forkast.News.

China’s intensified crackdown on cryptocurrency leaves service providers looking to stay compliant with Friday’s abrupt announcement.

India’s crypto industry will grow over 200% to reach $241M by 2030, a new study says.

How is China’s latest clampdown on crypto different from its previous bans — and how do authorities plan to catch the scofflaws? Henri Arslanian of PwC breaks it down.

Is China’s influence over Bitcoin and the global crypto market waning? Chinese exchanges get a thrashing as decentralized exchanges get happy on clampdown news.

A profound shift is underway in online culture, writes Anndy Lian of BigOne Exchange. Here’s how decentralized finance might one day power the NFT and metaverse economy.

The9 Ltd., a Chinese gaming company that pivoted earlier this year to cryptocurrency mining — along with Polygon and Protocol Labs — are forming an ecosystem collaboration on The9’s non-fungible token (NFT) platform NFTSTAR and GameFi play-to-earn projects. Fast facts The company said in a statement released on Thursday that NFTSTAR and The9’s GameFi projects will […]

Bitcoin and Ethereum prices fall after Beijing intensifies crackdown on crypto trading, mining.

D-day for Korean crypto exchanges meanwhile e-CNY project speeds up

The cryptocurrency mining industry is attracting more investment money. Hong Kong-headquartered crypto miner BIT Mining said it had entered into an agreement to jointly invest in a crypto mining data center in the U.S. state of Ohio, with access to power capacity of up to 85 megawatts. Fast facts The development of the Ohio mining […]

Until recently, most Southeast Asians had no internet. Now the region is abloom with blockchain innovation. How did they do it?

Survey shows growing consensus on adoption, investment and use cases. ‘Blockchain is here to stay.’

Amber Group, a Hong Kong-based crypto financial services company, is eyeing a direct listing in the U.S. within the next two years, Amber Group co-founder and CEO Michael Wu told the South China Morning Post in an interview. Fast facts Founded in 2017, Amber Group propelled to unicorn status this year following its US$100 million Series […]

The country’s crypto industry has been turned upside down with stricter operating rules that take effect tomorrow.

VC names jump in on NFTs meanwhile crypto investors brush off Evergrande

The property market is increasingly expensive and out of reach for today’s younger generation. Digital land sales may hit home with some buyers.

The Indian ministry of finance has formed a panel to examine how income from crypto investments can be taxed, according to a report by Inc42. Fast facts The panel will evaluate whether crypto income can be taxed as capital gains or if it requires the formation of a new category. The committee is required to […]

Ripple’s win in Bhutan comes as it suffers a setback in a US court as judge rebuffs Ripple’s request for SEC’s internal trading decisions over XRP.

The cryptocurrency market has rebounded in the past 24 hours as news broke that China Evergrande Group, the second largest property developer in the world’s most populous nation, has taken a step back from falling off a potential debt cliff today. Fast facts While the overall cryptocurrency market is still down for the week, all […]

Cobo, a Singapore-based crypto custody and asset management platform, today announced the completion of its US$40 million Series B fundraise to accelerate the rollout of its decentralized finance (DeFi) as a service (DaaS) product. Fast facts In an interview, Cobo Chief Operating Officer Lily Zhuo told Forkast.News that Cobo’s DeFi as a service (DaaS) product, […]

Top blockchain and crypto news: Evergrande end-game roils crypto markets. SEC takes aim at stablecoins. How close is China’s digital yuan to the finish line?

Audius is enjoying outsized buzz. Should Spotify be scared? In this Forkast.News explainer, learn how this blockchain startup could threaten music industry money — and power.

In an interview by the Washington Post on Tuesday, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler questioned the future of cryptocurrency, saying, “I don’t think there’s a long-term viability for five- or six thousand private forms of money. History tells us otherwise.” He added that “in the meantime, it’s worthwhile to have an investor […]

Evergrande debt woes hit crypto meanwhile Mooncakes are in the metaverse

As total hashrate recovers, adjustment would follow four increases after as many declines since China intensified crypto mining clampdown.

From crypto-embossed mooncakes to mooncake NFTs to gatherings in the metaverse, how Asia’s crypto fans are celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival.

As major banks distance themselves from crypto business, alternative trading methods like peer-to-peer transfers are gaining popularity among investors

Blockchain communities are instrumental to shaping how projects develop and operate, writes Humpty Calderon of Ontology. What are the signs of a thriving ecosystem?