blockchain

The Beijing Securities Regulatory Bureau released a list of a first batch of 16 fintech pilot projects. Among the listed projects, four are based on blockchain and one uses e-CNY, the central bank digital currency. The projects are for exploring regulatory frameworks and tools for fintech. Fast facts The e-CNY-based fintech project will allow users […]

The US Infrastructure Act has provisions that should make crypto advocates shudder, writes Alex Shipp of Offshift. Who will stand up for crypto’s core values?

How blockchain technology can usher in the next stage of the internet and social media, through decentralized hosting and integration with cryptocurrency.

Out of nowhere, a leaderless ‘flash mob’ of crypto investors pops up to buy a rare copy of the US Constitution. What are DAOs and how do they work? Forkast.News explains.

Blockchain-powered iVote.ph lets users ‘vote’ on NFTs depicting presidential candidates in the Philippines. Can the underlying technology be trusted?

Billions have been stolen through hacks from decentralized finance protocols, with Ethereum seeing the bulk of losses, according to a report by Elliptic.

Indian investors will now get exposure to global companies in the blockchain ecosystem as the Securities and Exchange Board of India greenlighted the Invesco CoinShares Global Blockchain ETF Fund of Fund (FoF). Fast facts The feeder fund will invest in the Invesco CoinShares Global Blockchain UCITS exchange-traded fund (ETF), formerly known as Invesco Elwood Global […]

The MOBIX marketplace, built on the Fetch.ai blockchain, will enable e-scooter and bicycle users to earn MOBIX reward miles that can be converted to MOBIX tokens.

Global Blockchain Business Council (GBBC), an industry association, has released its Global Standards Mapping Initiative 2.0 to provide a holistic view of the industry’s global activity. Fast facts The initiative maps out the global digital asset landscape in terms of legislation, technical standards, industry standards and recommendations, university sources, as well as industry consortia. Specifically, […]

After shooting to prominence earlier in the year and bringing huge profits to early adopters, earnings for players of blockchain-based game Axie Infinity have dropped below the minimum wage line for most players in the Philippines, according to a recent report by research firm Naavik. Fast facts Using data sourced from the official website of […]

In another sign of increasing adoption of blockchain technology in the gaming industry, Forte — a leading provider of blockchain solutions for game publishers — has secured US$725 million in a Series B fundraising round, the firm announced. Fast facts Led by Sea Capital and Kora Management, this follows from the US$185 million it raised […]

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.

Rounding out an impressive year for the world’s No. 5 blockchain, Solana held its first global offline conference in Lisbon this week. Here’s a look at some of the key moments.

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 […]

The greatest number does not mean the greatest significance, analytics firm PatSnap says.

Inspired by Miami’s launch of a city token — MiamiCoin — Mark Wheeler, the city of Philadelphia’s chief innovation officer, announced an initiative to bring blockchain and Web 3.0 technology to city governance. Fast facts Wheeler is currently conducting a discovery process to hold conversations with blockchain and Web 3.0 technology developers to understand the […]

World leaders at the COP26 climate summit this month promised to end deforestation by 2030. But significant challenges to achieving the goal remain to be overcome. The Cambridge Centre for Carbon Credits, based at the University of Cambridge, this week launched with the goal to build a decentralized marketplace of verifiable carbon credits to support […]

Trust, data privacy and job elimination are some of the challenges that society will face as blockchain ushers in Web3.0, according to Don Tapscott.

The highly competitive cryptocurrency exchange industry appears to be consolidating, according to blockchain analytics provider Chainalysis as part of its Competitive Landscape Report that will be released next week. Fast facts The number of active cryptocurrency exchanges peaked at 845 in August 2020 and stood at 672 as at August 2021, Chainalysis reported. The exchanges […]

Crypto market cap breaks US$3 trillion, also APAC crypto cards to launch

Amid the global energy crisis, nine companies from four countries — China, Japan, Australia and Saudi Arabia — announced they will jointly build a blockchain documentation platform to speed up customs clearance and cargo delivery to trade the commodities of energy, chemical products and metal. Fast facts Platform participants includes Sinochem Energy, Mitsui.Co, Macquarie CGM, Saudi […]

Affinidi, a Singapore-based technology company founded by state-owned investment firm Temasek, today announced the launch of a new business unit called Finnovate that aims to serve millions of underbanked individuals and small and medium enterprises across Southeast Asia by leveraging on Web 3.0 blockchain technologies. Fast facts Affinidi Finnovate is partnering with the financial services […]

hashport, a public utility that facilitates the movement of digital assets between distributed ledger technology networks without the need for a native network token, today announced that it will launch on Nov. 9, according to a media statement. At launch, hashport will connect the Hedera public distributed ledger to the Ethereum and Polygon networks. Fast […]

Why archiving the internet is vital for the future, how a decentralized web can help, and why looking at history is a good way to predict the future

In a city where memories disappear every day, people are turning to blockchain to preserve news archives — so the first drafts of history will survive.

Sebastien Borget, COO and co-founder of The Sandbox tells Forkast.News how NFTs and an open and decentralized metaverse is transforming the way we live, work and play.

Blockchain has achieved platform status, writes Don Tapscott of Blockchain Research Institute. Get ready for the ‘trivergence’ that will shake up the world.

A department director of the Shanghai Environment Energy Exchange (SEEE) said that blockchain will play an important role in the Chinese carbon cap-and-trade system for confirming, trading, and circulating carbon emission data. The statement comes at a time when China is intensively issuing top-down documents on reducing carbon emission heading into the 26th United Nations […]

Central Retail Corp., one of Thailand’s biggest department store chains, has developed a blockchain-based digital currency called C-Coin and is now testing it among employees, Bloomberg reported yesterday. Fast facts The company is currently distributing C-Coin to its 80,000 employees as bonus to their usual salary. Employees can use the crypto coin to shop at […]

China’s first national standard for blockchain could be released next year and a draft is now in the process of being submitted for approval, an official said earlier this week at an event in the western province of Sichuan, according to a report from local media Chuanguan, run by state-owned Sichuan Daily. Fast facts Li […]

Bitcoin is growing up in ways not imagined in Satoshi Nakamoto’s 2008 writings that gave birth to it. How will Bitcoin’s future unfold?

Philippines trials blockchain voting meanwhile Byron Bay to host crypto mining

A new data report shows there were about 55,000 blockchain-relate patents applications filed by 7,800 companies from 47 countries and regions during the period between the beginning of 2015 to June 2021, and China has seen the largest share of these applications, as the country has been boosting the development of blockchain technology over the […]

The nation’s elections commission wants to upgrade its voting technology to improve voter turnout and public trust. Does blockchain check the boxes?

The Australian government sees blockchain’s enormous benefits and is now actively developing the technology, writes Chami Akmeemana. What can other countries learn from this?

How the crypto economy is engaging with legislators, what policy makers need to know about Web 3.0 and what role the U.S. infrastructure bill has played in kickstarting better cryptocurrency education.

Conglomerates including Samsung continue to invest in blockchain and crypto startups despite a government crackdown on the industry.

Authorities encourage new ways to apply blockchain across various industries, although there’s no room for crypto

Two of the largest PC video game stores, Steam and Epic Games, have adopted different approaches to blockchain and non-fungible token (NFT)-based games — Steam has shunned them while Epic is open to it. Fast facts As NFT games like Axie Infinity are soaring in popularity, Valve, which operates Steam, has added games “built on […]

East Asia’s share of global cryptocurrency transactions plunged to 14% in June 2021 from 31% in April 2019 when it was by far the world’s largest crypto economy, according to blockchain data provider Chainalysis’ 2021 Eastern Asia Report published today. Fast facts China’s crypto crackdown in May saw East Asia — with China the biggest […]

Nervos, a public blockchain backed by China Merchants Bank International and Sequoia China, today announced the mainnet launch of its cross-chain “Force Bridge,” according to a company statement shared with Forkast.News. Fast facts The Force Bridge enables cross-chain transactions between Nervos and Ethereum, with support for ETH and whitelisted ERC-20 tokens, including Dai (DAI), Tether […]

Blockchain analytics company Elliptic has raised US$60 million in its Series C funding round led by Evolution Equity Partners and Japanese investment giant SoftBank, the company has announced. Fast facts Elliptic counts a number of marquee investors among its existing backers who participated in the current financing round, including Digital Currency Group, Wells Fargo Strategic […]

While most of the market was down around 5% coming into the Asia trading day this morning, altcoin Stacks was up over 70% in 24 hours on Sunday night, according to data from CoinMarketCap, hitting a high of US$2.45 — the highest point the token had reached since the market-wide crash in May. The price has fallen […]

Sri Lanka has formed a panel to recommend a regulatory framework covering the growth of digital banking, blockchain and cryptocurrency mining, the government has announced. Fast facts Developing an integrated system of digital banking, blockchain and cryptocurrency mining is crucial for Sri Lanka to keep up with its regional neighbors while expanding international trade, the […]

A South Korean tech company is partnering with the largest organization of professional journalists in the country to develop digital tools and techniques to tackle problems in the journalism industry. Fast facts Media technology developer PUBLISH recently announced signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Journalists Association of Korea (JAK), which represents over 11,000 […]

China’s Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN) — a public-private nationwide infrastructure project to spur mass adoption of blockchain technology — is setting up more portals overseas, as it moves a step closer to more international exposure. Fast facts Red Date Technology, the company China tapped to manage its BSN, announced today that it is working to […]

The companies have a longstanding working relationship on virtual currency investigations with government agencies.

As blockchain nodes multiply around the world, the need for interconnectivity has never been greater. John DeVadoss of InterWork Alliance explains why.

Global healthcare data sharing suffers from lack of security, clear ownership, interoperability and accessibility. Can blockchain provide solutions?

Singapore’s United Overseas Bank (UOB) and digital securities exchange ADDX today announced the digitization of a S$50 million (US$37 million) sustainability-linked bond using blockchain and smart contract technology. Fast facts The bond allocation was part of a S$675 million (US$496 million) sustainability-linked bond issued on Sept. 29 by Singapore-based energy provider Sembcorp Industries, through its […]

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

Technical woes continue to beset decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Compound this week as a hack resulted in 202,472 COMP, or US$68 million at the time, being transferred from its reservoir to its Comptroller where the funds remain vulnerable to being drained by subsequent transactions. Fast facts Yearn.Finance developer Banteg tweeted about the hack late Sunday […]

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

Fetch.ai, an artificial intelligence lab based in the British city of Cambridge, today announced its partnership with Algbra, a London-based fintech platform, to bring artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to decentralized finance (DeFi) and the banking sector to provide minority communities with greater access to financial services. Fast facts According to a statement shared […]

At the Cardano Summit over the weekend, IOHK founder Charles Hoskinson revealed a slew of partnerships and other developments for the Cardano blockchain

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 […]

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

Umbrella Network, a decentralized oracle, has acquired Lucidity, a blockchain-based advertising and analytics platform, to bring more data transparency to advertisers, according to a company statement. Fast facts The acquisition was completed in August 2021 for an undisclosed amount, according to the company statement. Lucidity will be integrated with Umbrella Network as part of the […]

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

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

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 Cardano’s Alonzo upgrade goes live, founder Charles Hoskinson of IOHK calls DeFi a ‘bubble.’ How does he think the regulation that is sure to come will reshape DeFi in the future?

What is quadratic funding, and why is this mathematical method ideal for allocating capital for a community? Pranav Sharma of Woodstock Fund explains.

With the ease of counterfeiting products like premium tea, keeping a tamper-proof digital paper trail can record each step along the way.

As the trading volume in non-fungible tokens begins to slow down from recent record heights, leading NFT marketplace OpenSea has been rocked by an insider trading scandal involving a senior team member. Fast facts The company, dubbed “the eBay of NFTs,” issued a statement yesterday acknowledging it became aware on Tuesday that an employee had […]

Blockchain and tokenization are transforming how real estate can be bought and sold. Here is how one fintech startup in Asia is using digital fractionalization to raise capital.

SOL had been on a tear but is now losing ground. Is Solana a victim of its own success — or does the network have deeper problems?

Three banks — the Bank of China, Singapore’s DBS and HSBC — have partnered with the Global Shipping Business Network (GSBN), a Hong Kong-based non-profit consortium that recently launched a blockchain-based trade platform, to form a trade finance advisory group, according to a media release shared with Forkast.News today. Fast facts Trade finance — the […]

Scams and fake news have long dogged the crypto world. This week saw two major blockchain companies and a global retailer get swept up by hack rumors or hoaxes.

Ernst & Young, one of the Big Four consulting multinationals, announced today it has integrated India-based Polygon, a Layer 2 Ethereum scaling solution, to allow its corporate clients to process blockchain-based transactions on the Ethereum mainnet. Fast facts EY has connected the public Polygon commit chain with EY’s blockchain services including EY OpsChain and EY […]

A few altcoins managed to stand out coming into the working week as Solana’s tear comes to an end.

In this Forkast.News explainer, learn why blockchains with smart contract capability are surging in popularity and the new darlings of investors.