Cryptocurrencies

Australian serviced office firm Business Hub will accept cryptocurrency as payment for rent on serviced office space and other business services as of July 1.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will meet with El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele to finalize discussions around a pandemic relief loan to support the Central American nation. In a Thursday press briefing, IMF spokesman Garry Rice also implied that El Salvador’s decision to make Bitcoin a national currency will be a focus of the meeting for the IMF team.

Unique Network, an NFT chain for Polkadot, and NFT protocol RMRK announced today that they are partnering on expanding the functionalities of NFTs across blockchains.

El Salvador’s adoption of Bitcoin has the world buzzing. Can Singapore be next? China mining crackdown continues.

Jump Trading, a high-frequency trading firm, is joining Oxygen, a decentralized finance prime brokerage protocol, as a strategic partner and market-maker to provide liquidity on the Oxygen platform.

The BIS, together with the central banks of France and Switzerland, are collaborating on a wholesale central bank digital currency experiment for cross-border settlements.

Ninety-three percent of millennial current or former cryptocurrency holders in the U.S. would consider using their digital coins for everyday purchases, according to a recent survey.

In a new court filing, Ripple describes the damage the SEC lawsuit has already done to XRP and the payment company’s now-frozen US business.

Staking service provider Moonstake has partnered with UzNEX to provide blockchain consulting services in Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

In a talk this week, Vitalik Buterin explains Ethereum’s growing use in enterprise and the importance of building diverse, open-source communities.

A bill restricting the granting of crypto mining permits on environmental ground has passed the New York State Senate.

Hong Kong looks to explore CBDC feasibility as Australian millennials favor investing in crypto over traditional assets.

Top blockchain and crypto news: El Salvador bets on Bitcoin as national currency. ETH gains ground on BTC. Beijing dishes out digital yuan in latest trials.

Cardano is set to provide tools for developers, end users and businesses to execute smart contracts in financial agreements through a new suite of products.

Now that Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s Bitcoin-as-legal-tender bill is almost reality, what will it mean for BTC investors around the world?

Shijingshan, a site for the upcoming Winter Olympics, has started supporting payments made using the state digital money, known as e-CNY.

A Miami property has set a record for the highest price paid in cryptocurrency in a real estate transaction — US$22.5 million.

Bitcoin investors in China saw greater returns in 2020 than almost any other nation — second only to the US.

UNICEF Venture Fund is awarding up to $100,000 to blockchain startups, including India’s GovBlocks, in its latest funding round. Here are the other projects.

Hong Kong will be initiating a study on a digital Hong Kong dollar as part of its plans to “future proof” the city for central bank digital currencies.

Regulatory uncertainty pushes India’s crypto industry towards self regulation as a secret Ethereum miner gets busted in Seoul Arts Center.

Ripple is inviting feedback from its developer community on a plan to introduce federated sidechains on the XRP Ledger.

From Phillips auction house in Hong Kong to Art Fair Philippines, non-fungible tokens are redefining how Asia appreciates, buys and profits from art.

Crypto exchanges in India have partnered with the Internet and Mobile Association of India to form a self-regulatory body.

Millions of dollars worth of Bitcoin paid to ransomware hackers who shut down the main fuel pipeline on the U.S. East Coast last month has been recovered.

China has released guidelines aimed at boosting the country’s blockchain development.

As 50,000 Bitcoiners and crypto superstars whoop it up at Miami’s Bitcoin 2021 fest, a smaller group of BTC fans hold their own at the Fringe in Hong Kong.

Nearly 40% of Australians born between the early 1980s and mid-1990s would rather invest in cryptocurrencies than real estate, according to a nesurvey.

XRP last week saw inflows of US$7 million into investment products, the most since April, according to CoinShares.

Canaan, one of the largest crypto mining rig makers in the world, is opening its first-ever service center outside China—in Kazakhstan.

Chinese social media Weibo bans crypto accounts as employees of South Korean crypto exchanges can no longer trade on their own platforms.

CoinShares has announced that its Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin physically-backed exchange traded products have cross-listed on Germany’s Börse Xetra exchange.

El Salvador is proposing a bill to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender in the Central American nation. In a videotaped announcement shown at the Bitcoin 2021 Conference in Miami, President Nayib Bukele said he would submit the bill this week.

Users of cybersecurity product NortonLifeLock will soon be able to mine Ethereum on their home computers through a new feature named Norton Crypto.

Following a digital yuan giveaway announced for Beijing last week, Shanghai will distribute 350,000 red envelopes to people across the city during next week’s Dragon Boat Festival.

Crypto mining equipment manufacturer Goldshell has announced that it will launch a new line of mining rigs designed specifically for home use in Asian markets.

Australia’s first capital growth fund to offer institutional exposure to BTC has announced its received inquiries from some of the country’s largest companies.

Global crypto exchange Luno is in talks with conglomerate Lippo Group to launch operations in Indonesia in order to enter the Southeast Asian market.

Is Bitcoin’s carbon footprint a growing risk to Earth, or is it a red herring? On this year’s United Nations World Environment Day, crypto mining is a hot topic.

Hong Kong arranged a Bitcoin gathering ahead of Bitcoin 2021 Conference in Miami as Phillips auction house offers Banksy’s work for crypto.

After Tether’s legal settlement with New York, USDT’s growth is exploding—dispelling concerns over Tether’s reserves, says Bitfinex CTO Paolo Ardoino.

It is important to distinguish between developing a digital currency for currency digitalization and digitalization of assets or cryptocurrencies so that China can be more focused on preventing risks in the financial sector, said Fan Gang, a Peking University professor and a prominent advocate in China for economic reform. Fast Facts: In a keynote speech […]

Regulators Hainan province have issued a warning against illegal fundraising schemes using crypto or blockchain..

Many of Britain’s crypto firms are failing to meet required anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws, says the country’s watchdog.

BitFlyer announced today that it is launching a Bitcoin-to-Japanese yen pair for currency traders in the U.S.

Governments meet up with the crypto industry to discuss how to regulate the booming industry as BC Group’s OSL ties up with SC Ventures.

To defend themselves against SEC lawsuit, Ripple’s CEO and chairman ask court for help getting XRP info from a who’s who list of offshore crypto exchanges.

From digital bonds to real estate, blockchain-enabled security token offerings and tokenization are redefining corporate fundraising and investing.

Can Ethereum, also known as the ‘World Computer,’ function outside this world — in space? A SpaceX rocket launch today will put that to the test.

Standard Chartered and BC Group to launch digital asset trading platform for corporate and institutional clients in Europe and the UK.

Chinese Bitcoin mining hardware maker Canaan says overseas sales accounted for almost four-fifths of its revenue during the first quarter of 2021.

Green crypto mining operations should be spared China’s recent crackdown on the sector, according to the CEO of Canaan Inc.

Input Output Hong Kong and Nervos announced today that they will be launching a cross-chain bridge to connect the two networks.

Other top blockchain and crypto news: Thailand’s SEC tries to rein in DeFi via regulation. Will China’s future DCEP digital yuan offer smart contracts?

China is set to hand out 200,000 virtual red envelopes, each containing 200 yuan (US$31.30) of the country’s prototype digital currency, to Beijing residents.

Illegal gambling in Asia is on the rise, facilitated in part by sites accepting bets in cryptocurrency.

Dogecoin has gained an additional measure of credibility, with crypto exchange Coinbase announcing that it will add DOGE to its professional trading platform.

Ethereum has hit a market-share high of 27% of all digital asset investment fund products following recent price corrections.

Bitcoin’s proposed Taproot update for smart contracts and privacy has wide verbal support from miners, but will they put their crypto where their mouth is?

China-based trading apps Futu and Tiger Brokers have announced plans to move into crypto to compete outside China with apps such as Robinhood and eToro.

Bitcoin dropped by 37.5% in May after hitting a low of US$34,195 yesterday, the second-largest drop on record after it fell 40% in September 2011.

India’s central bank has said that banks and other finance sector businesses should not adhere to a prohibition it imposed on lenders dealing in cryptocurrencies.

Gold prices are rising again and at a three-month high. How does gold — a store of value for over 2,500 years —  compare to Bitcoin as a refuge from market turmoil?

Tax season is here and the ATO wants to make sure Aussies pay their taxes for crypto earnings. Also, Privacy coins have surged over the past weeks.

Privacy-centric coins like Monero, ZCash and Dash are seeing big price rises as the IRS and ATO issue warnings on taxable crypto transactions.

Former People’s Bank of China Director Yao Qian says that the country’s digital yuan is not a surveillance tool for the government.

Following the launch of Cardano’s first testnet for its smart contract platform, Alonzo, ADA’s price rebounded by 15% on Monday morning to reach US$1.65.

The latest Bitcoin mining difficulty adjustment, made at 1 a.m. UTC on May 30, saw the difficulty of Bitcoin mining drop 15.97%.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has failed in a bid to gain access to any legal communications Ripple Labs sought or received as to whether sales of XRP were subject to federal securities law.

Banks in India, including some of the country’s largest lenders, are notifying their customers not to engage in cryptocurrencies, adhering to a central bank rule from 2018 that bans them from dealing in cryptos — despite the fact the ban was overturned by the Supreme Court more than a year ago.

Crypto crime is surging in Asia while Bitcoin is being blamed for splitting up married couples in South Korea.

From mass liquidations to meme trading, the characteristics unique to the crypto market can now be seen in traditional markets, says FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried.