Cryptocurrency Exchanges

Bitcoin and Ether continued to fall in Tuesday afternoon trade in Asia, along with most other top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, after regulators in the U.S. pulled up Binance, the world’s biggest crypto exchange, for allegedly violating trading mandates.

Zipmex cryptocurrency exchange’s US$100 million venture capital buyout may be in danger, after buyer V Ventures missed the US$1.25 million payment due on March 23

Angelina Kwan, who helped shape early Hong Kong automated trading services and internet trading regulation, told Forkast the upcoming virtual asset licensing regime is almost identical to that for traditional financial institutions.

Seychelles-based cryptocurrency exchange Bitget said it has invested US$30 million in decentralized multi-chain wallet BitKeep to become its controlling shareholder. 

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) aims to publish cryptocurrency and stablecoin consultations feedback by the middle of this year, it said Monday.

Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com will soon be able to extend its services in Dubai, after it received a Minimal Viable Product (MVP) Preparatory License from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA). 

India’s crime fighting agencies have been investigating crypto exchanges and individuals on money laundering charges and have now put the onus on exchanges to report suspicious transactions.

The NY State Attorney General is suing crypto exchange Kucoin for not registering as a securities and commodities broker-dealer and calling itself an exchange.

The Thai Finance Ministry will waive corporate income tax and value-added tax for firms that conduct initial coin offerings (ICOs), according to a spokesperson.

DBS bank’s digital exchange, which serves institutional clients, said macroeconomic conditions last year were not suitable for security token offerings (STO), but it will explore opportunities for such listings in 2023 and plans to add more crypto tokens.

Teneo, the liquidator of the bankrupt crypto lender Three Arrows Capital plans to sell non-fungible tokens estimated to be worth millions of dollars.

Gate Group announced on Wednesday that it is applying for a new cryptocurrency license in Hong Kong, joining a growing list of Web3 firms entering the city.

Amid the rubble of FTX and other centralized exchanges, cross-chain technology and on-chain trading offer more trustworthy alternatives, writes Simon Harman of Chainflip.

Multi-billion dollar bankruptcies, fraud allegations, scandal, and plunging cryptocurrency prices in 2022 all characterized why investors came to distrust centralized exchanges. Yet, some commentators expect platforms to become ever more centralized … and regulated.

The SEC’s latest heavy-handed approach toward crypto will leave investors less protected while benefitting dodgy offshore companies, writes Danny Talwar of Koinly.

The recent spate of crypto exchanges freezing customer accounts should be a wake-up call to investors everywhere. What can you do to better protect yourself?

Binance has stopped providing wallet services to Indian crypto exchange WazirX, asking it to withdraw any remaining assets held in Binance wallets by Feb. 3.

Binance has returned to South Korea after a two-year break by acquiring a majority stake in the local cryptocurrency exchange GOPAX, Bloomberg reported Friday.

Cryptocurrency exchange PayBito announced its plans to integrate ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot developed by research firm OpenAI, on Friday.

Seattle-based cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex is laying off 83 employees, according to the U.S. Employment Security Department’s layoff alert.

India announces its full year budget on Feb. 1, the last before general elections in 2024, and the cryptocurrency and digital asset industry is lobbying the government for changes in tax rules, among others.

Coinbase Global Inc., the world’s second largest cryptocurrency exchange by trade volume, has asked customers in Japan to withdraw crypto and fiat holdings by Feb. 16, as it halts operations “to conduct a complete review” of its business in the country.

Some 90% of user assets at WazirX, India’s largest crypto exchange by volume, are held in wallets at Binance while the remaining 10% are stored in hot and warm wallets, revealed WazirX’s proof of reserves that the company released on Wednesday.

Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has written to cryptocurrency exchange Zipmex Thailand seeking clarification on whether it has been operating as a digital-asset fund manager without permission, according to a Bloomberg report. 

Indian cryptocurrency exchanges faced a flurry of taxes on trading last year that saw volumes across most platforms drop as much as 90%, slashing income from trading fees. What’s a crypto exchange to do? Maybe sell mutual funds?

Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the U.S., will be letting go of about 950 employees, or about 20% of its current workforce, as part of “a further restructuring plan,” which is expected to be “substantially complete” by the second quarter of 2023. 

Australian crypto exchange Swyftx is ending its crypto-interest earning product Earn on Tuesday due to a “constantly changing regulatory landscape” in the country, according to a company announcement.

Many crypto exchanges are implementing proof of reserves as trust and confidence are becoming two of the biggest watch words in the crypto space, but traditional institutions are also trying to bring the crypto sphere back to health.

WazirX VP Rajagopal Menon sits down with Forkast to provide some insight as survival becomes a huge concern for crypto exchanges in India.

India’s current cryptocurrency tax structure “may lead to a loss of approximately US$1.2 trillion of local exchange trade volume in the next four years,” according to research by Esya Centre, a technology policy think tank in India.

Binance declined to comment on reports in local media that it is in late stage talks to acquire South Korean digital asset exchange GOPAX.

In the post-FTX world, crypto exchanges must offer stronger protection for investors’ assets, writes Colin Brooks, chairman of the advisory board of Hex Trust.

Kraken announced on Wednesday that it will “cease its operations” in Japan and deregister from the Financial Services Agency.

As the FTX debacle invites more stringent regulations, Caroline Bowler of BTC Markets believes crypto can go mainstream in the next 18 months.

A lot of the troubles for India exchanges in 2022 will run into next year as they shed staff and run down reserves to stay afloat, and not all are expected to make it.

A year of scandals in the crypto industry has led to questions about the viability of regulation.

Top blockchain and crypto news: US senators push for crypto KYC. SBF faces the music in US courts. Alibaba Cloud to launch blockchain node.

Busan announced the steering committee for its flagship exchange, but it didn’t include global partners earlier linked to the project.

Cryptocurrency exchange CoinDCX, India’s first crypto unicorn, published its complete proof of reserves (PoR) on Monday detailing its USDT liabilities and reserves.

Mazars, the financial auditing firm behind Binance’s proof-of-reserves (PoR) audit, has suspended all work for crypto firms.

Ryan Salame, the former co-CEO of FTX’s Bahamian entity tipped off the Securities Commission of the Bahamas about FTX violating its internal procedures in transferring customer funds to Alameda Research.

Top blockchain and crypto news: SBF denied bail, US extradition likely next. The Block chief quits over secret FTX loans. Hong Kong readies digital asset rules.

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, announced at 12:54 a.m. on Wednesday in Hong Kong that USDC stablecoin withdrawals have resumed.

KuCoin, a Seychelles-based cryptocurrency exchange, on Monday released its proof of reserves report issued by third-party auditor Mazars, which concluded that the exchange’s reserves of Bitcoin, Ether, USDT and USDC are overcollateralized.

A federal judge overseeing the bankruptcy proceedings of Three Arrows Capital (3AC) has approved the delivery of subpoenas to 3AC’s cofounders, Su Zhu and Kyle Davies.

Australian cryptocurrency exchange Swyftx cut 90 staff members — or 40% of its workforce — to prepare for a “worst-case scenario” in the market from the collapse of FTX.com.

Cryptocurrency exchange Bybit plans to cut 30% of its staff as part of a company reorganization, cofounder and chief executive officer Ben Zhou said in a statement shared with Forkast on Sunday.

LINE’s cryptocurrency exchange based in the U.S., BITFRONT, has announced closure on Monday to shift its focus to developing LINE’s blockchain ecosystem.

Singapore-based crypto lender Matrixport is hoping to raise US$100 million at a valuation of US$1.5 billion, according to a Bloomberg report citing unnamed sources.  

The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance released its proof of reserves (PoR) on Friday to provide transparency on user funds.

Terra, 3AC and now FTX, it’s been a difficult year, but can crypto come back stronger?

Cryptocurrency exchange CoinDCX, India’s first crypto unicorn, published its proof of reserves on Thursday

U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Sheldon Whitehouse called for holding former FTX CEO “and any complicit FTX executives” to the fullest extent of the law.

Top blockchain and crypto news: Fear stalks crypto as Genesis wobbles. FTX cleanup begins. China’s NFT scene shrinks.

Indian crypto exchange CoinSwitch has launched CoinSwitch Pro, a multi-exchange trading platform that lets users trade crypto assets in Indian Rupees across multiple exchanges with a single login. 

CoinMarketCap has introduced a proof-of-reserve tracker for centralized crypto exchanges in a bid to improve transparency.

Cryptocurrency exchange Bitget plans to hire about 400 more staff, taking its total workforce to 1,200 by the first quarter of 2023, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

Bitkub, one of the largest crypto exchanges in Thailand, is aiming to list in Hong Kong as early as 2024 when it goes public.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said on Monday that it was not possible for the central bank to protect local users from FTX’s collapse as the crypto exchange operated offshore and was not licensed by MAS.

South Korea’s FSC is considering a requirement that crypto exchanges offset investor losses for the sudden suspension of withdrawal services.

Human greed and deception led to FTX’s fall. That’s why the antidote is not more regulations but could be found in blockchain’s original promises, writes Marieke Flament, CEO of NEAR Foundation.

Taiwan’s three largest cryptocurrency exchanges have said their operations were unaffected by the fallout of FTX and will work to release proof of assets as soon as possible.

Crypto exchange Bullish has said it does not have any exposure to now-bankrupt FTX and Alameda Research, and expects FTX’s bankruptcy to have no impact on Bullish’s operations. The exchange is operated by Bullish (GI) Limited and regulated by the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission. 

The Securities Commission of The Bahamas (Commission) on Nov. 12 ordered the transfer of all digital assets of FTX Digital Markets to a digital wallet controlled by the Commission, for “safekeeping,” in an announcement on Nov. 17.

S.Korean crypto exchange GOPAX halted withdrawal of principal and interest payments in its DeFi service which brokers products from Genesis.

John J. Ray III, a Chicago-based lawyer and the new CEO of now-bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, has criticized the lack of “appropriate corporate governance” across FTX Group companies under Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and former CEO of FTX. 

Indian crypto exchange CoinSwitch’s proof of reserves summary, that was shared on Thursday, stated that as of Nov. 4, the exchange’s overall holdings of crypto and fiat balances in Indian Rupees (INR) exceeded those held by the exchange on behalf of its users.

Yes, there is rivalry between the two global finance hubs. But their strengths are also complementary for Asia to become an even bigger crypto powerhouse, writes Lily Z. King.

The collapse of FTX may extend crypto winter to the end of 2023, according to a monthly outlook report by U.S.-based crypto exchange Coinbase dated Nov. 15.  

Bitcoin outflows from centralized crypto exchanges rose to a historic high this week, as investors turned to self-custody options following the collapse of FTX.

Korbit, one of South Korea’s five fully licensed crypto exchanges, announced Wednesday that it will reveal its full list of crypto reserves.

BlockFi Inc. is preparing for possible bankruptcy filings after it acknowledged “significant exposure” to bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX.com.