Investment

Amid rising retail and institutional investor interest in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, investments poured into crypto firms in Southeast Asia in the first nine months of 2021 surged by over 400% compared with full year 2020 to US$356 million, according to the FinTech in ASEAN 2021 report by UOB, PwC Singapore and the Singapore […]

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 […]

The traditional financial industry is getting its feet wet in tokenization of assets, and there’s an influx of interest in the private asset space, as Mathew McDermott, managing director of Goldman Sachs, said today at a Hong Kong Fintech Week panel moderated by Angie Lau, editor-in-chief and founder of Forkast.News. Fast facts McDermott said Goldman […]

Crypto investment products saw record inflows last week of US$1.47 billion, with Bitcoin accounting for 99% of the inflows, according to digital assets fund manager CoinShares. Total crypto assets under management also reached a new peak of US$79.2 billion. Fast facts Bitcoin investment products saw record inflows of US$1.45 billion last week. “The record inflows […]

Just three months after closing a record US$1 billion series B, the two-year-old cryptocurrency exchange is now valued at US$25 billion. Fast facts The US$420,690,000 Series B-1 funding round saw the participation of 69 investors, with prominent names the lineup, including Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, via its Teachers’ Innovation Platform, Singapore’s state-owned investment firm […]

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

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 […]

Cryptocurrency investment products saw inflows of US$95 million last week, with total inflows over the past six weeks of US$320 million, according to digital assets fund manager CoinShares. Fast facts “The continued inflows suggest the recent headwinds for digital assets, such as the widened China ban, were seen as buying opportunities for investors,” wrote CoinShares […]

Marquee investors like Softbank and Andreessen Horowitz are heaping love on Sorare and Dapper Labs. What does this mean for the future of the non-fungible tokens sector?

Cobo, a Singapore-based crypto custody and asset management platform, today announced the completion of its US$40 million Series B fundraise to accelerate the rollout of its decentralized finance (DeFi) as a service (DaaS) product. Fast facts In an interview, Cobo Chief Operating Officer Lily Zhuo told Forkast.News that Cobo’s DeFi as a service (DaaS) product, […]

Despite suffering a network outage due to a denial-of-service attack that took the Solana network offline for 17 hours on Sept. 14, Solana funds continued to see inflows of US$4.8 million last week, according to digital asset manager CoinShares. Fast facts “This suggests investors were happy to shrug-off the attack, seeing it as teething problems […]

Why is Axie Infinity so popular, and what is the potential of play-to-earn gaming? Two venture capitalists share insights on Asia’s special place as GameFi’s hub.

Hyperithm, a crypto investment trust company in South Korea, acquired an Information Security Management System (ISMS) certification — a requirement Korean authorities say every virtual asset operating business must secure. Fast facts Hyperithm is the first virtual asset brokerage in South Korea to be certified for information security by a public institution. Hyperithm’s announcement shows […]

As the blockchain industry shifts to ‘proof of stake,’ staking’s bonding period can lock up capital. What are the alternatives?

What does it mean to own an NFT? Furthermore, what does it mean to own a billionth of an NFT? For Doge lovers, it might be a good investment, or barking mad.

Singapore-based digital securities exchange ADDX today announced it had reached a US$200 million agreement that will give accredited investors in China access to digital securities covering various asset types, the company said. Fast facts According to a company statement, ADDX has reached an agreement with ICHAM, a Singapore-regulated wealth and fund management company, to be […]

John Paulson, the billionaire who famously shorted the U.S. subprime mortgage bubble in 2008, has called crypto a bubble that will “eventually prove to be worthless” in an interview with Bloomberg TV. Fast facts “I wouldn’t advise anyone to invest in cryptocurrencies,” said the 65-year-old, who has consistently backed gold as a store of value. […]

Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission on Monday warned that digital tokens and initial coin offerings (ICOs) could be involved in unauthorized collective investment schemes (CIS) and urged investors to exercise extreme caution. Fast facts The SFC’s warning comes as the regulator added two property-related CIS investment projects and the “LABS Security Token” to its […]

ADDX, a digital securities exchange headquartered in Singapore formerly known iSTOX, has partnered with Investcorp, a Bahrain-based alternative investment management firm to offer a tokenized real estate fund focused on residential properties in the United States, ADDX announced on Thursday. Fast facts Investcorp raised US$150 million for the fund that has invested in five multi-family […]

Non-fungible tokens are taking the art and collectibles world by storm. But more valuable uses for NFTs lie just around the corner, writes Ilja Laurs of Dappscape.

Digital asset investment products saw outflows of US$22 million last week — the sixth consecutive week of outflows, according to CoinShares, Europe’s largest digital assets fund manager. Fast facts Total outflows for the past six weeks amount to US$115 million and mark the longest run of consecutive outflows since January 2018, CoinShares reported. However, the […]

Asian nations are leading the world in retail crypto investment, according to a recent report by Finder.com, which found that of 27 countries surveyed, the top five were all in Asia. Fast facts Vietnam was by far the leader in crypto adoption, with 41% of respondents saying they owned at least one cryptocurrency. Indonesia and […]

While Delhi goes back and forth over a crypto ban, crypto’s huge growth potential in the world’s second most populous country is captivating American venture capital.

Gold and cryptocurrency have more in common than not, and savvy investors would do well to hold both, writes Sylvia Carrasco of Goldex.

Global investment in blockchain and cryptocurrencies leapt in the first half of 2021, with US$8.7 billion raised and 548 deals sealed, according to consulting firm KMPG’s latest Pulse of Fintech H1’21 report. Fast facts Global fintech investment in H1 2021 reached US$98 billion in 2,456 deals, compared to US$121.5 billion for the whole of 2020, […]

In a much-anticipated reply, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler has written to Sen. Elizabeth Warren saying “crypto investors are not adequately protected.” Fast facts “In my view, the legislative priority should center on crypto trading, lending, and [decentralized finance] platforms. Regulators would benefit from additional plenary authority to write rules for and […]

After hovering aroud the US$35,000 mark through most of June and July, Bitcoin’s price has started rising again this past month. In the past 24 hours, Bitcoin’s price broke US$45,000 for the first time since mid-May amid the market-wide crash from the historic highs in April, according to data from CoinMarketCap. Fast facts Conversely, gold […]

A revealing feature article on the hidden world of “hypecoins” was published by the New York Times yesterday, in which journalist David Segal recounted the process of creating and then selling his own hypecoin, which he called IdoitCoin. Fast facts Hypecoins, otherwise known as memecoins, are tokens with little or no intrinsic value, created only […]

Hong Kong-based Aspen Digital, a digital asset management platform for institutional investors, announced on Wednesday that it has secured US$8.8 million in pre-A funding to develop a one-stop shop for asset managers to invest in digital assets and manage their clients’ portfolios. Fast facts The funding round was led by RIT Capital Partners, the London-based […]

What is Robinhood really worth, now that it’s a public company? Perhaps its true value depends on who you are.

As Bitcoin’s carbon footprint continues to make ESG investors uneasy, a new clean-energy crypto mining ETF aims to allay their environmental concerns.

Institutional demand for cryptocurrency appears to be slowing, according to a report by analytics company Glassnode.

Institutional digital asset manager Grayscale announced today that it is exploring 13 more assets for its trusts, mainly related to decentralized finance.

Retirement investment platform ForUsAll is partnering with Coinbase to expand access to cryptocurrencies through the U.S. 401(k) pension scheme.

Fintech companies in Asia-Pacific pulled in US$2.35 billion in investment during the first three months of 2021, more than the total amount raised in the first half of the previous year.

New and innovative lenders are taking advantage of DeFi’s low costs to offer savings account interest rates that Main Street banks simply can’t match.

Amid declines in Bitcoin and Ethereum, Cardano and its native cryptocurrency ADA saw US$10 million inflows as institutional investors switch to proof-of-stake coins.

Hong Kong is poised to ban small investors from buying cryptocurrencies, while making exchanges get licences. Industry experts discuss how this might play out. 

American consumers have lost an estimated US$80 million in cryptocurrency investments since October 2020, according to new data from the Federal Trade Commission, which calculated that digital currency scams had jumped tenfold year on year.

Where is the NFT market headed, and has the bubble burst? Consider a world where any asset could be tokenized and sold fractionally to investors.

China gives the “alternative investment” label to crypto at this year’s Boao Forum for Asia, and hints at reserving a seat for digital assets in the country’s digital economy. Meanwhile, exchanges in Asia recover from crypto’s weekend price crash and see spikes in Bitcoin long orders. We’ll have more on that story — and other […]

Justin Chow of Cumberland DRW explains why Asia has lagged behind the US in institutional interest in crypto — and why that will likely change soon.

How do cryptocurrency investors know whom to trust, avoid scams and not buy coins with a shady history? Gunnar Jaerv of First Digital Trust explains.

HashKey Group’s Angelina Kwan, a former regulator who helped write laws relevant to the crypto industry, also explains why Hong Kong leads the world in fintech regulations.

New KPMG report outlines opportunities for investors as well as traditional banks with the rise of VASPs like cryptocurrency exchanges and custody services.

The race is on as crypto-native players and traditional banks ramp up cryptocurrency custody services for investors who can’t or don’t want to do it themselves

Despite bitcoin’s new highs, BTC remains a volatile and risky investment. Are tokenized hard assets like real estate a better alternative for investors?

In a 2021 report, the HashKey Group predicts that more than 50% of institutional and professional investors will have exposure to digital assets by the year’s end.

If you’re wondering how to get started in investing in bitcoin or other cryptocurrency, this Forkast.News guide is for you. But beware the risks and pitfalls.

About half of cryptocurrency users are hobbyists while 15% consider crypto their primary source of income, according to a survey of 61,000 crypto users.

In a special video interview, Binance CEO CZ also explains why — despite DeFi’s spectacular rise up to now — he thinks many current DeFi projects will fail.

As space becomes increasingly commercialized, blockchain has the potential to be the backbone of this new economic frontier, says Jeff Garzik of SpaceChain.

Other top blockchain and cryptocurrency news: Bank of International Settlements considers stablecoins. China sends PlusToken scam ringleaders to prison.

Beijing put a stop this week to Fusang’s China Construction Bank bond listing on the Ethereum blockchain. What was the Chinese government afraid of?

Being dodgy about office location and faking volume data are all part of Asian crypto exchanges’ Wild West ethos. What are the alternatives for investors?

Deals in mid-size firms that make up the engine of the economy were down as exits were put on pause — but fintech and broader tech sector still shine bright

From CryptoKitty pets to metaverses like Minecraft and Decentraland, blockchain video games are redefining what it means to own virtual property.

New perpetual contracts — a crypto derivatives product — can be ‘inversed’ and priced in BTC rather than tied to fiat. What does this mean for investors?

SCMP’s China Internet Report 2020 shows healthy fundraising and investment activity in tech sector despite ravages of Covid and US-China trade war.

Short-term speculators are unimpressed by BTC’s recent performance. But Covid and geopolitical disruptions have not yet played out. What does it mean for investors?

Other top news: TRON snags Covid aid. Free Telegram Open Network. China builds tech talent database. Bitmain’s civil war. Another win for Ripple.

AI and big data can crunch more information than ever before. Can technology crush humans in finance the way it already has in the games of chess and Go?

Asia’s first regulator-approved digital asset manager opens the door for wider cryptocurrency adoption.

Companies are holding off investing in emerging technology not only because of economic turmoil, but also structural biases against meaningful change.

Venture capital slowed as the coronavirus economy contracted. But out of the turmoil are still investment and fundraising opportunities.

Bitcoin’s tumbling prices during the coronavirus pandemic may be an opportunity to buy the dip.

Investment totals are down, but deals are still being inked and alternative fundraising methods are flourishing. What kind of investments will thrive? And which ones will likely flop?

Gold bars are unwieldy. Gold futures and ETFs carry risks. Can gold-backed crypto, or tokenized gold, be a safer hedge during the current market tumult?

Traders use commodity trading adviser funds to reduce risk of custody or money laundering, says Jan Brzezek, founder of Crypto Finance AG.