Blockchain

The total cryptocurrency market capitalization reached its highest level in over two months on Jan. 13 after breaking above the $900 billion mark on Jan. 12. While the 15.5% year-to-date gain sounds promising, the level is still 50% below the $1.88 trillion crypto market cap seen before the Terra-Luna ecosystem collapsed in April 2022. Crypto

Our weekly roundup of news from East Asia curates the industry’s most important developments. Huobi’s disgruntled employees According to local media reports, cryptocurrency exchange Huobi Global has terminated all year-end employee bonuses and benefits, as well as axed its entire core development staff located in mainland China. The laid-off staff will be instead switched to

Miami-Dade County will soon start to remove FTX’s advertising brand from the NBA’s Miami Heat arena, after granting the right from a United States bankruptcy judge in Delaware on Jan. 11, the Associated Press reports.   County officials negotiated in 2021 a $135 million deal with the crypto exchange for renaming rights to the Miami Heat’s

Web3 accelerator Beacon has wrapped up its first cohort with 13 graduating companies and has provided a venue for project founders to demo their blockchain-based startups.  Beacon’s first 12-week cohort, dubbed Cohort 0, kicked off in October with 15 companies across various cryptocurrency subsectors, including decentralized finance (DeFi), gaming and infrastructure. Beacon held a demo

The United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed suit against self-described digital artist Avraham Eisenberg on Jan. 9, charging him with two counts of market manipulation in connection with an exploit of decentralized finance platform Mango Markets. Eisenberg was arrested on related charges on Dec. 27 and is currently in custody. The CFTC claimed

Mexico’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) development is still in an initial phase, and it is unlikely to be ready for launch by 2024.  According to local media reports, Mexico’s central bank, known as Banxico, is currently working on legal, administrative, and technological requirements for the peso’s digital version. The first of three stages for

Top Stories This Week Sam Bankman-Fried enters not guilty plea for all counts in federal court Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (has pleaded not guilty to all charges related to the collapse of the crypto exchange, including wire fraud and securities fraud. He faces eight criminal counts, which could result in 115 years in prison

Undoubtedly, 2022 was one of the worst years for Bitcoin (BTC) buyers, primarily because the asset’s price dropped by 65%. While there were some explicit reasons for the drop, such as the LUNA-UST crash in May and the FTX implosion in November, the most important reason was the U.S. Federal Reserve policy of tapering and

European Central Bank (ECB) executive board member Fabio Panetta has been a vocal supporter of central bank digital currency (CBDC) and cryptocurrency sceptic, and he presented his latest argument for CBDC on Jan. 5. Writing on the official ECB blog, he said that, by developing CBDCs, central banks “will safeguard the trust on which private

Digital assets funds saw inflows totaling $433 million during 2022, the lowest level since 2018, when inflows in the crypto industry reached $233 million, according to the cryptocurrency investment firm Coinshares.  Investors’ appetite for digital assets seems not to have been fully affected by the crypto winter, but otherwise encouraged investments in crypto assets in

According to a recent report by Hash Rate Index, publicly-listed Bitcoin (BTC) miners took on more than $4 billion worth of debt during the run-up to the crypto bull market. Mesmerized by rising prices, industry rushed hand over fist to purchase Bitcoin application-specific integrated circuits miners on easy credit.  However, in today’s context of Bitcoin

On Dec. 29, 2022, days before the year’s end, Italy’s Senate approved its budget for 2023, which included an increase in taxation for crypto investors — a 26% tax on capital gains on crypto-asset trading over 2,000 euros (approximately $2,13 at time of publication). The approved legislation defines crypto assets as “a digital representation of value

Jared Grey, CEO of the decentralized exchange Sushiswap, has plans to redesign the tokenomics of the SUSHI token, according to a proposal introduced on Dec. 30 in the Sushi’s forum. As part of the new proposed tokenomics model, time-lock tiers will be introduced for emission-based rewards, as well as a token burning mechanism and a

Bitcoin (BTC) kept traders guessing to the last minute into the 2022 yearly close as volatility remained absent from the market. BTC/USD 1-day candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView BTC price: Where’s the volatility? Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD clinging to a familiar area around $16,500. The pair continued to disappoint players

Bitcoin (BTC) gains helped Noodle, a London-based Bitcoiner, to afford in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments for his family. Noodle’s story (not his real name) comes to life in a Cointelegraph crypto story. In vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments can be expensive, with success rates ranging from 4% to 38%, depending on various factors. Fortunately, profits from

Recognized as one of the most turbulent years for the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry, 2022 has still been vigorous for the metaverse. With over $120 billion invested in the first half of the year alone — according to a McKinsey report — the industry is anything but broken. Some of the most significant partnerships to

Bitcoin (BTC) circled $16,750 after the Dec. 28 Wall Street open after stocks dragged markets lower. BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView Bitcoin analysts stick to downside fears Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView tracked BTC/USD as it recovered from local lows of $16,559 on Bitstamp. After days of barely any movement up

According to a letter posted on Chinese blockchain news publisher Odaily.com on Dec. 27, Kevin Como, the anonymous CEO of BitKeep, warned that users’ private keys are still at risk after a security incident on Dec. 26 led to over $13 million in losses at the time of publication. BitKeep is one of the more