Companies

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, is working to rebuild its operations in the U.K. after it was told to close down the business there back in June, the company’s CEO Changpeng Zhao, or CZ, told the newspaper the Sunday Telegraph. Fast facts CZ told the local press the company is making […]

Terry Gou, founder of Foxconn, which manufactures components for Apple’s iPhone, said Saturday at an event that mainstream monetary finance could not really be decentralized and only an underground economy would adopt cryptocurrency, as reported by Taiwanese local media Economic Daily News. Fast facts Gou later said in a Facebook post — to clarify comments […]

A cabinet note suggests the government intends to regulate cryptocurrencies as assets with the Securities and Exchange Board of India at the helm.

When Facebook and payments giant Square launched, they were trailblazers in the industry. Now, after Facebook, Square too has changed its name — to Block — in a bid to embrace the future of technology. Fast facts Square CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg have never gotten along. Dorsey has jibed at Zuckerberg […]

Will crypto exchange Binance withdraw its license application in Singapore and look elsewhere in its search for a new global home?

After greatly expanding its goals for the round, decentralized exchange aggregator 1inch Network has closed a US$175 million Series B funding round from institutional investors, led by Amber Group, according to a company blog post. Fast facts Joining Amber Group were about 50 other investors including VanEck, Alameda Research, Celsius and Gemini Frontier Fund who […]

Top blockchain and crypto news: Are India’s CBDC plans crowding out crypto? Jack Dorsey goes full Bitcoin bro. China’s digital yuan hopes claim another victim.

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) featuring famous traditional Chinese paintings by culture studio Rongbaozhai have been successfully transferred from China’s Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN) WenChang Chain to the OpenSea marketplace on the Ethereum blockchain, a milestone in the development of interchain NFT technology. Fast facts The transfer was made on Nov. 16 across four blockchains: WenChang Chain […]

Huobi Group, which operates Chinese cryptocurrency exchange Huobi Global, has decided to set up a regional hub in Singapore, a representative of company has told Forkast.News. Fast facts In November, Huobi Global pledged to stop offering services to Singapore-based users from March 31, 2022, to comply with local laws, according to a company statement. Huobi […]

Is CoinDCX — India’s first crypto company to achieve unicorn status, or US$1 billion in valuation — going public? CoinDCX co-founder Neeraj Khandelwal set off a frenzy of excitement when he told Bloomberg in a recent interview that CoinDCX may pursue an initial public offering as soon as legislation permits. But a CoinDCX spokesperson told […]

Korea crypto tax postponed, meanwhile CoinDCX looks to IPO

Hong Kong Stock Exchange-listed Huobi Technology Holdings today announced that it will be launching Huobi Lending, a cryptocurrency lending service for institutions and high net worth individuals (HNWI) through its new digital asset brokerage platform Huobi Brokerage, according to a company announcement. Fast facts Alongside growing institutional interest in digital assets, crypto lending services leveraging […]

The metaverse is a convergence of the physical and digital worlds, writes Gloria Wu of Ontology. How can the metaverse escape Web 2.0’s failings?

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has joined hands with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) to launch an innovation hub in New York— dubbed the New York Innovation Center (NYIC) — to explore and build financial technology products for the central bank community. Fast facts The NYIC will focus on five areas — […]

Twitter’s stock rose 10% on the news, and his other company, Square, also opened up 4%.

In the long run, the new rules may ‘lay the perfect foundation’ to improve risk management, says an ICBC expert.

Metaverse picks up momentum, on the other hand Binance tweet gets yellow card

SafeMoon, known for high fees and social media hype, is now 85% below its all-time high. What lies in SafeMoon’s future?

Andrés Iniesta, former FC Barcelona veteran and current midfielder for Japan’s Vissel Kobe, promoted crypto exchange Binance via Twitter, which prompted a securities market regulator to write a cautionary reply tweet against crypto. Fast facts Iniesta wrote on Twitter Wednesday, saying: “I’m learning how to get started with crypto with Binance,” also posting pictures of […]

Korea crypto tax debated meanwhile, Crypto.com is on a tear

Cardano ADA and Tron TRX will no longer be available to eToro’s US customers next year while CRO reflects Crypto.com ‘going from strength to strength.’

Hex Trust and Animoca Brands team up to tackle a key problem in gamefi.

Blockchain gaming company Animoca reacts to a US$1.1 million scam on a Discord server for its upcoming new game release.

Another day, another fight, on Twitter. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has supported Dogecoin, tagged Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) and tweeted Tuesday that “what’s going on with your Doge customers? Sounds shady,” after a technical glitch appeared to occur during a recent upgrade of the Dogecoin network. Fast facts A network upgrade of Dogecoin […]

Dunamu, the operator of South Korean crypto exchange Upbit, launched a beta service of “Upbit NFT,” an NFT (non-fungible token) trading platform, while another K-pop agency, FNC Entertainment, plans to launch its first NFT collection. Fast facts Upbit NFT consists of two sections, Drops and Marketplace. Drops is where NFTs will be put up for […]

The Pacific island nation of Palau has partnered with San Francisco-based blockchain payments company Ripple on a U.S. dollar-backed digital currency for the country — the world’s first government-based national stablecoin — using the XRP Ledger, according to a Ripple announcement. Fast facts Ripple will provide Palau with technical, business, design and policy support for […]

BloXmove will use the Ontology blockchain to allow people to have one decentralized, secure identifier to share across multiple transportation apps.

OliveX, a digital health and fitness company listed on the national stock exchange of Australia (NSX), today announced it will be raising AUD$8 million (US$5.8 million) via a share placement with investors including Hong Kong-based blockchain gaming company Animoca Brands, One Football, a digital media platform for football, and Bombora Investment, as it builds out a […]

Dunamu — the owner of Upbit, South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange — became a shareholder of Woori Bank, one of the largest banks in South Korea. Fast facts Dunamu purchased 1% of Woori Financial from Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation, which recently put 9.3% of its shares in Woori on auction. Another 4% went to Eugene […]

As the Indian government is due to introduce crypto legislation for discussion in the Parliament next week, Indian banks are cautioning customers against investing in crypto. Fast facts According to a report by the Economic Times, HDFC, Axis and ICICI banks have sent emails to customers warning them about the risks of investing in crypto […]

A week after the announcement that the famed Staples Center in Los Angeles will be renamed the Crypto.com Arena, the city plays host to another landmark crypto event, as a player for the NFL team the L.A. Rams has announced he will receive his US$4.25 million salary for the 2021-22 season in Bitcoin. Fast facts […]

Bitcoin continued its descent this morning Asia time and is currently trading around US$57,050 according to CoinGecko data. The largest cryptocurrency by market value saw a brief surge Monday, crossing the US$59,000 mark, but the rally was not sustained. Ethereum, too, is trading lower at US$4,169, down 15% from its Nov. 10 all-time high of […]

American lifestyle guru Martha Stewart auctions a storytelling NFT recounting her first, disastrous Thanksgiving dinner.

Chinese cryptocurrency mining rig maker Canaan doesn’t seem to shy away from running its own mining business in Kazakhstan despite a power shortage situation in the Central Asian nation, which has become a popular destination for Chinese miners amid China’s clampdown on the sector. Fast facts Canaan announced today it has started joint mining operations […]

South Korea’s Bithumb exchange has been officially registered under the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). This makes all four major exchanges of the country licensed to operate virtual assets including cash-to-crypto services. Fast facts The FIU announced on Nov. 19 it has registered Bithumb as an official virtual asset business. The country’s other three major exchanges […]

More than 85 members of the WEF Digital Currency Governance Consortium contributed eight white papers on CBDC and stablecoins.

Every morning at Upbit, the nation’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, a brief and odd surge in random altcoin prices takes place. Which crypto will it be tomorrow?

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 […]

Crypto mining rig manufacturer appears to be seeking chip-making capability in the midst of supply-chain shortages.

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 […]

Following news of a strategic alliance with Big Four accounting firm Deloitte, AVAX rose above US$106, up 90% for the month.

Ethereum blockchain software company ConsenSys today announced the completion of a US$200 million funding round, bringing the company’s valuation to US$3.2 billion as it seeks to spearhead the growth of Web 3.0. Fast facts ConsenSys’ announcement comes as the number of monthly active users of its MetaMask non-custodial wallet product exceeded 21 million — a 38-fold increase from […]

China may be banning crypto mining activities, but rig makers appear to be spared from the clampdown.

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 […]

First it was crypto derivatives FTX jumping into the game in Miami. Now Singapore-based Crypto.com has stepped it up a notch by dropping more than US$700 million to rename the iconic Staples Center in Los Angeles to Crypto.com Arena for 20 years, according to the Los Angeles Times. Fast facts This figure makes it one […]

The projects topped 300 rivals in their potential to improve the future digital Singapore dollar in payment services and financial inclusion. Who were the other winners?

In an eventful Monday, Bitcoin mining company Marathon Digital’s stock price fell on news it is being investigated by the SEC even as it raised millions in debt.

While the government has yet to figure out the details, a crypto regulatory regime is expected to be released before February.

LuLu Exchange, a financial services company in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Pakistan’s Bank Alfalah are partnering to bring faster and more cost-effective cross-border payments and remittances from the UAE to Pakistan using RippleNet. Fast facts Bank Alfalah’s integration with RippleNet — Ripple’s global payments network for financial institutions — and its launch with […]

Cryptocurrency prices dropped again this morning Asia time, with Bitcoin and Ethereum trading 7% and 8% lower respectively in 24-hour trading, according to CoinGecko data. In the meanwhile, a new CoinShares report on institutional investing in cryptocurrency found record inflows year-to-date, suggesting that big investors overall are still bullish on crypto. Fast facts Bitcoin — the […]

Animoca Brands, a Hong Kong-based blockchain gaming unicorn, announced today that it has teamed up with Cube Entertainment, a major K-pop entertainment agency, to form a joint venture dedicated to building a music metaverse and issuing non-fungible tokens (NFTs), joining a slew of K-pop labels to make forays into the NFT and metaverse space. Fast […]

The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has accepted Coinone’s compliance report with South Korea’s latest crypto regulations, while Bithumb is left as the only crypto trading platform out of the country’s four major exchanges to not be officially registered under the FIU. Fast facts Coinone became the third official cryptocurrency exchange of South Korea, following Upbit […]

More than 100,000 consumers used China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) to make some 240,000 purchases on China’s top e-commerce platform JD.com on the annual shopping festival Double 11 [11.11], according to the platform’s report. Yet that is likely only a fraction of total Nov. 11 digital sales. Fast facts Double11 refers to a Chinese […]

Pony Ma, chairman and CEO of Tencent — the Chinese payments and social media giant that is also the world’s biggest video games vendor — said in the company’s third-quarter performance call this week that the metaverse is “very exciting, but a little bit vague,” and “an opportunity that really adds growth to the existing […]

In a 48-second, computer-generated 3D animation, ROK uses a decentralized format to offer an ironic take on China’s internet giants crowding to host the shopping holiday.

Trying to move beyond XRP, Ripple hopes its customers will join RippleNet with a wallet that supports fiat and other cryptos like Bitcoin and Ether.

FTX founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried says building products that people want is what matters most, and the crypto industry and regulators will need to find compromises to resolve some of the industry’s pressing issues.

The Indian government is looking to introduce a cryptocurrency bill in the winter session of parliament in a bid to “fast track” regulation of a rapidly growing ecosystem, CNBC-TV18 reported. Fast facts India first drafted a bill to ban all cryptocurrencies in the budget session of 2021, but it was never tabled for discussions. Officials […]

While El Salvador carved out its place in history as the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender, there are others that may follow for an array of reasons.

From China’s crackdowns to El Salvador’s Bitcoin adoption, where is the world headed in how governments regard crypto? An expert panel explores the future of decentralized finance in the global economy.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has revealed that he owns cryptocurrency during a discussion yesterday at the New York Times’ Dealbook conference, responding to a question as to whether he owned either Bitcoin or Ethereum. Fast facts While he did not reveal which cryptocurrencies he held, the tech boss said in an interview with Andrew Ross […]

Cryptocurrency exchange Huobi Global will stop serving Singapore-based customers from March 31, 2022 to comply with Singapore laws, according to a company announcement on Nov. 9. Fast facts “To comply with the laws of Singapore, we will have to include Singapore as a restricted jurisdiction. Regrettably, this means Huobi Global can no longer offer services […]

The largest U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase, earned just US$406 million net income in Q3 this year — a 74.7% decline over the previous quarter — according to the company’s investor earnings report released yesterday. Fast facts That figure represents a 500% increase over Q3 last year, but is significantly less than the US$1.6 billion in […]

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

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 […]

New Jersey-based crypto banking services provider BlockFi and investment management firm Neuberger Berman jointly filed for a Bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday. Fast facts In September, the U.S. got its first Bitcoin-linked ETF with the launch of ProShares Bitcoin Strategy Fund. But ProShares’ ETF was backed […]

Signaling increased confidence in the future of digital assets, cryptocurrency investment products saw institutional investment inflows of US$174 million last week — the 12th consecutive week of inflows — bringing year-to-date inflows to a record US$8.9 billion, according to digital assets manager CoinShares. Fast facts Institutional investment into crypto products have surged this year with […]

Mastercard has partnered with three crypto companies in Asia Pacific — Hong Kong-based Amber Group, Bitkub in Thailand, and CoinJar in Australia — to launch crypto-funded payment cards, according to a Nov. 8 media statement. Fast facts The three companies are the first APAC-based cryptocurrency platforms to join Mastercard’s global Crypto Card Program, which enables […]

Cryptocurrency exchange Huobi Global, which obtained a distributed ledger technology license from the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission in 2018, will be migrating its spot trading services to the regulated entity in Gibraltar (“Huobi Gibraltar”), the company announced today. Fast facts Huobi has received approval from the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission to migrate its cryptocurrency spot […]

Ethereum reached a new all-time price high of US$4,766 earlier today, flying past its previous all-time high record of US$4,634 set five days ago, according to CoinGecko data. Fast facts The world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market value has been on a record run since late last month. On Oct. 28, Ethereum’s price climbed to US$4,416 for the first time. The […]

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 […]

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. […]