Cryptocurrency

The Ethereum community appears to have taken a bullish view of Coinbase’s newly announced layer-2 network, Base, which has been described as a “massive confidence vote” and a “watershed moment” for the blockchain network.  Secured on Ethereum and powered by layer-2 network Optimism, Base aims to eventually become a network for building decentralized applications (DApps)

The price action of Optimism (OP) and Fantom (FTM) tokens have been quite identical since the last quarter of 2022. The difference is that volatility is slightly higher for OP, which surged 240% year-to-date, compared to the 180% gains seen in FTM. The Fantom Foundation has made several improvements since Q4 2022, which have catalyzed

Our weekly roundup of news from East Asia curates the industry’s most important developments. Hong Kong moves bullish On Feb. 20, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) of Hong Kong launched a consultation on its proposed regulatory requirements for digital asset trading platforms. The SFC requires the licensing by June of all cryptocurrency exchanges operating

The decentralized autonomous organization-operated golf startup, LinksDAO, may soon put in an offer to purchase the newly marketed Spey Bay Golf Club in Scotland worth about $900,000.  LinksDAO — self-described as a “global group of golf enthusiasts” that is on a mission to build the “world’s greatest golf community” — officially opened the proposal vote

The price of Ether (ETH) rallied 18% between Feb. 13 and Feb. 16 but has since been range trading near the $1,700 level. Despite the recent price improvement, Ether derivatives metrics remain neutral-to-bullish ponder the investors the tighter regulatory environment and the potential impact of Ethereum’s Shanghai upgrade. Investors’ biggest concern right now is regulation, especially

The public blockchain sector grew from less than a few million dollars in the last decade to a $1 trillion industry. However, one thing that the space has yet to achieve is a decentralized, secure interoperable solution. Let’s take going from Ethereum to Bitcoin, the largest blockchain network, as an example. Historically, centralized exchanges have been one

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell for the third consecutive week but Bitcoin (BTC) price decoupled and is on track to close the week near the strong overhead resistance at $25,211. This suggests that the wider crypto market recovery is on a strong footing. After Bitcoin’s sharp rally from the lows, analysts remain divided in

Top Stories This Week Paxos ‘categorically disagrees’ with the SEC that BUSD is a security The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has defined the stablecoin Binance USD (BUSD) as a security in a Wells Notice sent to its issuer, Paxos Trust Company. The SEC alleges the organization failed to register BUSD under federal

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) lawsuit against Terraform Labs and its co-founder Do Kwon could be seen as an SEC “roadmap” to taking down other stablecoins, according to a lawyer. Gabriel Shapiro, general counsel at investment firm Delphi Labs, explained to his 33,800 Twitter followers on Feb. 16 that the SEC’s arguments

The total crypto market capitalization rejected at $1.13 trillion on Feb. 16, but there was no change in the month-long ascending channel structure. More importantly, this level represents a 43% gain in 2023, which is far from the $3 trillion level achieved in November 2021. Still, the current recovery is notable.  As shown above, the

The Bitcoin (BTC) price rose to a new six-month high of $24,800 on February 16, registering a double-digit surge of 15%.  The prolific single-day Bitcoin price surge took many by surprise, given February has been historically bearish for the top cryptocurrency. BTC price rose by $1,820 in a single day, making it the biggest green

Matter Labs, the firm managing Polygon, announced that the beta version of its zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine (zkEVM) would launch on March 27, 2023. It’s possible that Polygon will enjoy a first-mover advantage in this space by launching a public mainnet before zkSync and Scroll. Zk-based roll-up technology is accepted as the gold standard for scaling. The

The crypto industry will “probably” start using euro, yen, or Singapore dollar based stablecoins in the future, reducing its reliance on US dollar based stablecoins, according to a Feb. 14 statement on Twitter Spaces by Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, also known as “CZ.” CZ gave the statement in answer to a question about the crypto

Crypto financial services Matrixport’s head of research believes the recent scrutiny of Paxos and its Binance USD (BUSD) token is not a direct attack on stablecoins themselves.  In a Feb. 14 analysis, Matrixport’s Markus Thielen suggested that BUSD issuer Paxos Trust Company may not have been stringent enough with its oversight of the token. He added that

A major Brazilian bank is offering a new and convenient option for taxpayers to settle their dues using cryptocurrencies. According to a statement published by Brazilian bank Banco do Brasil on Feb. 11, it is now “possible” for Brazilian taxpayers to pay their tax bill with crypto in a joint initiative with Brazilian-based crypto firm Bitfy.

Will 2023 finally see an explosion of crypto gaming? The signs are mixed, with former play-to-earn darling Axie Infinity falling out of favor and hemorrhaging players, while mainstream gamers report that Web3 games still have playability issues. The bright spot is that AAA games are finally starting to emerge in Web3, with projects like Illuvium

Top Stories This Week Kraken reaches $30M settlement with SEC over staking as IRS seeks user information Kraken has agreed to stop offering staking services or programs to United States clients after reaching an agreement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Along with ceasing operations, the crypto exchange will pay $30 million in

Paxos Trust Company — the New York-based stablecoin issuer behind Binance USD (BUSD) and Paxos Dollar (USDP) — is reportedly being investigated by the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS). A “person familiar with the matter” told Bloomberg in a Feb. 10 report that the exact motive behind the probe is currently unclear. An NYDFS

According to data from DefiLlama, Ethereum staking service Rocket Pool reached $1 billion in total value locked (TVL) on Feb. 9. The move comes less than two years after the decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol launched its mainnet on Nov. 9, 2021. Dubbed a liquid staking solution for Ethereum, Rocket Pool allows users to join an

The United States Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said on Feb. 7 that the “disinflationary process, the process of getting inflation down,” has started but it is still in its very early stages. He cautioned that strong data would be met with more rate hikes. Though the comments are mixed, they triggered buying in the