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The promise of financial democratization forms the bedrock of DeFi’s appeal. But who’s in charge — and who to hold responsible when things go south?

Joining the slew of cryptocurrency exchanges that have completed investment rounds in recent months, New York-based cryptocurrency exchange Gemini this week announced the close of a US$400 million funding round led by Morgan Creek Digital, bringing the company’s valuation to US$7.1 billion. Fast facts Investors in the funding round — which was Gemini’s first-ever outside […]

Algorand (ALGO) — the native cryptocurrency of the Algorand blockchain — soared 50% from just under US$1.70 noon Asia time today to a new two-year high of US$2.66, according to CoinGecko data. But the surge was short-lived, with ALGO currently trading just under US$2 as of publishing time. Fast facts Algorand’s surge amidst the wider […]

Top blockchain and crypto news: Spot ETFs stymied as SEC stands firm. Is Bitcoin’s Taproot upgrade worth the wait? China’s crypto mining goes underground.

In a speech, Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin notes the rise in cities experimenting with crypto, DAO and NFTs. What are the possibilities of blockchain cities?

Scams like the Squid Game Token rug pull are every investor’s nightmare. How to avoid hoaxes and not feel like a fool? Forkast.News explains.

Ethereum Layer 2 solutions — protocols built on top of the Ethereum blockchain that handle transactions off the Ethereum mainnet — have been on the rise as developers work on improving Ethereum’s scalability as its number of users and applications continue to grow. Polygon, a Layer 2 Ethereum scaling platform, today announced the launch of […]

The creator of the Mirror protocol and its CEO Do Kwon have little recourse but to comply with the SEC subpoena to produce documents and testify.

The Algorand Foundation, a Singapore-based blockchain organization supporting the development of the Algorand ecosystem, has partnered with the Blockchain Association Singapore to drive the development of blockchain technology in Singapore and the wider Southeast Asia region. Fast facts In a memorandum of understanding signed on Nov. 12, the ecosystem partnership will see the Algorand Foundation […]

Charities are just beginning to explore the potential of NFTs, writes Billy Sebell of XinFin Network. Here’s how NFTs can help raise big money beyond artwork auctions.

Covid laid bare the gaps in people’s access to banking services. Moeda Seeds is looking not just to fill the gaps but to change the banking paradigm.

Ethereum’s sprawling Web 3.0 ecosystem — which includes the majority of the decentralized finance (DeFi), stablecoins, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and blockchain gaming worlds — continues to expand and draw users, with 3.4 million Ethereum addresses interacting with DeFi protocols, according to ConsenSys’ Web 3 Q3 2021 report published this week. Led by Ethereum co-founder Joseph […]

What makes 2021’s roaring crypto market different from 2017’s are the banks and VCs piling in, writes Calvin Shen of Hex Trust. What’s behind their crypto adoption?

Speaking at the Singapore FinTech Festival, Ethereum’s creator discusses DeFi adoption and why he expects Ethereum’s ‘killer ecosystem’ to grow over the next few years.

Speaking at the Singapore FinTech Festival, Singapore central bank chief Ravi Menon announces the launch of Project Orchid, a digital dollar project.

Digital assets are disrupting financial services in ways not seen since the Middle Ages, writes Alex Tapscott of Ninepoint Partners. Here is the taxonomy for the future of finance.

The country will follow global crypto guidelines in excluding non-fungible tokens (NFTs) from its categorization of virtual assets — meaning income from NFTs may remain untaxed in Korea.

The familiarity of centralized systems may feel comforting, but decentralized technologies like blockchain are the wave of the future, writes Corey Petty of Status.

Solana Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners and cryptocurrency exchange FTX today announced that they are partnering to invest US$100 million on gaming studios and projects building on the Solana blockchain. Fast facts “Gaming has a massive opportunity to bring the next billion users to Web3,” said Amy Wu, partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, in a statement. […]

Blockdata co-founder Jonathan Knegtel thinks so. Almost a teenager, Bitcoin is reaching a level of maturity that’s defying the predictions of its critics.

Solana prices keep cresting to new heights, making SOL a top-five cryptocurrency by size. What makes Solana and its ecosystem stand out? Forkast.News explains.

Project Serum, a decentralized exchange on the Solana blockchain, has seen its total value locked (TVL) more than double over the past month to US$2.468 billion, according to data from a new Serum Markets Analytics dashboard launched today. Fast facts Solana — a high performance blockchain and alternative to Ethereum — has been gaining ground […]

DeFi is here to stay, but regulations are still lacking. Jason Blick of EQIBank explores the challenges and how authorities can move forward.

The price of Solana (SOL), the native cryptocurrency of the high-performance proof-of-stake Solana blockchain, hit a new all-time high US$245.69 this morning Asia time and briefly overtook Tether as the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market value, according to CoinGecko data. Fast facts Solana’s price surge comes ahead of the inaugural Breakpoint conference organized by the Solana Foundation, which will […]

One of Asia’s largest fintech events returns for its sixth year with a hybrid format of live and virtual sessions. Regulators, corporations and experts share what’s important now in crypto.

Ethereum crosses the $4,600 mark for the first time and Solana overtakes Cardano as the fifth-largest cryptocurrency by market value.

The hacked DeFi platform called China’s cyber police first thing as most users appear to be in China.

CMCC Global, a venture capital firm based in Hong Kong, is targeting US$300 million worth of assets in its latest crypto fund, according to Bloomberg. Fast facts Since being launched in April, CMCC’s fourth digital asset fund has gathered assets close to an estimated value of US$90 million with a goal to reach the US$300 […]

This follows an attack on Cream Finance that also resulted in a $130M hack.

The global AML watchdog provides clarifications on how crypto is to be regulated — and why DeFi could see more scrutiny.

Bitcoin is awakening humanity to its own sovereign capacities, says Ben Caselin of AAX. Here’s why the world’s first cryptocurrency is still at the cutting edge of finance and culture.

Even the most reliable media can report wildly different crypto numbers. Forkast.News dives into DeFi math and crypto exchange economics to find out who’s right.

‌‌As‌ ‌Asia‌ ‌warms‌ ‌to‌ ‌crypto,‌ ‌cyber attacks‌ ‌are‌ ‌growing‌ ‌in‌ ‌sophistication,‌ ‌writes‌ ‌Shahnawaz‌ ‌Backer‌ ‌of‌ ‌F5.‌ ‌What can be done to thwart bad actors?

This appears to be the third hack for the protocol this year — yet the biggest one so far.

Ethereum’s creator explains why rollups can help scale Ethereum while preserving decentralization.

Ethereum prices surged to new heights ahead of next week’s Altair Beacon Chain upgrade but then pulled back. How do crypto experts make sense of it?

In a special Q&A, CEO Louis Liu describes the hoops FOMO Pay jumped through to win Singapore’s first crypto license and calls its regulator a ‘collaborator.’

Money, culture and community are now converging in NFTs and the token economy, writes Lily Z. King. Welcome to a new world where ‘money Lego’ meets ‘culture Lego.’

After iron-fisted regulations closed down many exchanges, remaining trading platforms look for alternatives to transaction fees.

Singapore is a major crypto hub. But for whom? In this primer, Malcolm Tan explains the island-state’s regulatory evolution and which groups are no longer in its favor.

Traditional finance evolved over centuries while DeFi is coming into its own in a few years, writes Adi Ben-Ari of Applied Blockchain. Are its risks inevitable?

As luxury brands eye the virtual realm, Zilliqa co-founder Max Kantelia looks forward to a convergence of desirable objects and digital opportunities.

Ripple, a San Francisco-based blockchain payments company, has joined the Digital Pound Foundation, a non-profit organization supporting the implementation of a digital pound in the United Kingdom, according to a Ripple blog post. Fast facts As a foundation member, Ripple will be represented on the board by Susan Friedman, Ripple’s head of policy. Other foundation […]

Top blockchain and crypto news: Big money heads for Bitcoin. How fishy are Squid Game NFTs? China mothballs mining.

As non-crypto players like Twitter and PayPal take up digital assets, Coinbase, Binance and others look for ways to expand offerings.

Decentralized finance may look like it’s consuming TradFi, writes Will Hamilton of TCM Capital. But here’s why one won’t survive without the other.

Singers and musicians are embracing non-fungible tokens, but will their non-crypto active fans buy it?

As South Korea’s ongoing efforts at regulating cryptocurrency continues, a top financial services official said DeFi (decentralized finance) businesses need legal review before they are officially recognized as providers of financial services such as loan-for-consumption. Fast facts At the National Assembly’s annual review, lawmaker Oh Gi-hyoung, member of the National Policy Committee, asked Jeong Eun-bo, Korea’s Financial […]

Officials are concerned that many investors may not be aware crypto trading is taxed in a similar way to share trading.

Kazakhstan blames its newly settled crypto miners for power shortages as South Korea’s largest exchange is accused of listing faulty tokens for profits.

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

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

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

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

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.

Decentralized wallet imToken is restricting access to some of the services it offers for users in China, in the wake of the latest ban imposed by top Chinese authorities last Friday. Fast facts The company has restricted users in China from accessing and using third-party financial applications, including those from decentralized crypto exchanges, stake mining […]

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?

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.

Singapore-based blockchain protocol eXchange inFinite (XinFin) and trade finance distribution platform Tradeteq today announced their partnership to tokenize trade finance assets into non-fungible tokens (NFTs), according to a company statement shared with Forkast.News. Fast facts Atul Khekade, co-founder of XinFin, told Forkast.News in an interview that traditional trade finance assets that are typically paper-based such […]

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.

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.

China’s hardline stance against crypto is already rippling beyond its borders. A mainland crypto insider explains the global shakeup yet to come.

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.

GIGXPAD, a decentralized finance (DeFi) project based in Africa, is partnering with public blockchain network Conflux to tokenize real-world assets, according to a company statement shared with Forkast.News. Fast facts The collaboration, which marks the Chinese blockchain Conflux’s first use case in Africa, will see GIGXPAD deploying a decentralized crowdfunding platform on Conflux. According to […]

Around 35 virtual asset exchanges will vanish as of midnight Friday, as the country imposes new rules designed to protect consumers.

Decentralized finance platform Vee Finance, which is based on the Avalanche blockchain, has suffered from a hack that saw the loss of Ether and Bitcoin tokens worth US$35 million, the lending platform announced on Tuesday. Fast facts Vee Finance suspended the platform’s contracts as well as its deposit and borrow function to protect user assets […]

Blockchain and parametric insurance offer a bigger safety net for the world’s most vulnerable, writes Jan Stockhausen of Etherisc. Here’s how it works.

Upbit passes Korea crypto race post meanwhile P2P transactions surge in India

ETH 2.0 is expected to address transaction speeds and gas fees on the world’s number two blockchain, but a growing number of layer-2 protocols are looking to solve those issues today.

As most of the crypto market stagnates, Cosmos has been on a tear over the weekend, gaining 35% since Saturday morning Asia time to reach an all-time high of US$44.54 this morning, according to CoinMarketCap.com. Fast facts Though it dropped slightly to US$41.72 just before press time, this jump marks the first time the ATOM […]

AVAX — the native token of the Avalanche blockchain — today surged to a new all-time high of US$68.34, according to CoinGecko data, boosted by news of a US$230 million investment into the Avalanche ecosystem. AVAX has increased by 60% over the past seven days. Fast facts Launched in September 2020, Avalanche is an open, […]

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