Places Asia

Ocean Protocol, a Singapore-based blockchain-powered data sharing platform, announced an initial exchange offering (IEO) with Bittrex. The exchange said the offering will begin on Apr. 30, with only verified Bittrex International users able to participate. However, on Twitter, the news was mostly met with skepticism. Bittrex Gets Another IEO in Line, This Time With Ocean […]

China’s central planning agency announced plans to ban Bitcoin mining and is currently soliciting comments before it makes its final determination. Mining and cryptocurrency experts have mixed opinions on how the move will impact the security and price of BTC. China Dominates Cryptocurrency Mining China is the world’s largest manufacturer of Bitcoin ASICs and specialized […]

TRON has signaled its intention to collaborate with Japan’s regulators as it attempts to expand into the world’s third-largest economy. The TRON Foundation has suggested that gambling DApps—one of the platform’s largest use-cases—which violate Japanese laws may face consequences. In a March 30th statement, the TRON Foundation revealed that part of its strategy to promote international […]

Bitmain announced its next-generation of mining ASICs for Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and other SHA256 coins. The growing difficulty in manufacturing these computer chips raise concerns around network decentralization for these cryptocurrencies. Bitmain is China’s second-largest fabless chipmaker and the world’s largest cryptocurrency mining hardware manufacturer. The company also boasts a huge mining operation, commanding anywhere […]

Japanese authorities in the city of Utsunomiya have charged an 18-year-old for stealing crypto from Monappy, a digital wallet service for MonaCoin. The unnamed teenager was reportedly referred to prosecutors in what is the country’s first case of charges being brought against a cryptocurrency hacker. Even though Japan has been at the forefront of crypto […]

Mark Karpeles, the founder of the now-defunct bitcoin exchange Mt.Gox, was found guilty of tampering with records and given a suspended prison sentence of two years and six months. The High Court ruling comes five years after a massive security breach in 2014 at Mt.Gox that led to millions of dollars in losses for both local […]

Bittrex International, a US-based cryptocurrency exchange headquartered in Seattle, announced that it will be hosting the first Initial Exchange Offering (IEO) for RAID’s XRD token later this month. According to the company’s official blog post, the hard cap for the IEO is 17 billion XRD, with the company aiming to raise around $6 million. Bittrex […]

Samsung, the largest smartphone manufacturer in the world by market share, announced that its new Galaxy S10 smartphone will include a feature for securely storing cryptocurrency private keys through its “blockchain-enabled” mobile services. Built-In Storage for Private Keys The latest flagship smartphone to come out of Samsung has caused quite the stir in the crypto […]

Thirty people in Bangkok filed complaints with Thailand’s Technology Crime Suppression Division after they were allegedly scammed by cryptocurrency cloud mining company CryptoMining.Farm, the Bangkok Post reported. A total of 140 victims were allegedly scammed out of more than $1.3 million. The allegations state that the investors were swindled out of 42 million Baht—about $1.34 million. […]

Bitmain, the largest mining hardware manufacturer in the world, has launched a new 7nm ASIC mining chip which achieves new levels of performance, chip size, and energy efficiency for mining Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). New Chips For Mining Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash Chinese mining giant Bitmain has launched a new generation of ASIC […]

The Philippines has become the latest nation to issue a cryptocurrency regulatory framework through the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA), with the Asia Blockchain and Crypto Association (ABACA) becoming the self-regulatory organization to enforce the new regulations. The principal aim for this framework is investor protection, as well as general cryptocurrency regulation with the rules […]

Eleven Indian banks have joined an initiative that may change the way small businesses obtain loans, via blockchain. The blockchain-linked loan system will focus on small and medium enterprises and aims to remove communication barriers between India’s largest banking providers. Blockchain-Linked Funding Aimed for SMEs A consortium of India’s eleven largest banks launched the first […]

ICON recently announced its major decentralization initiative. The plan will elect twenty-two node operators that will produce blocks, verify transactions, and participate in consensus. History of ICON ICON aims to design an “interconnecting blockchain network.” ICON (ICX) is engineering a solution to connect independent blockchains without the use of third-party intermediaries. This is done by […]

The Financial Stability Board, a global inter-governmental body with over 20 member countries, has ruled that virtual currencies are not a threat to the world economy. The assessment could have an impact on India, whose central bank is part of the board. FSB Says Cryptocurrencies Won’t Affect Global Financial Stability While the crypto winter shows […]

The Reserve Bank of India has shelved its plan to launch a state-backed cryptocurrency amidst increased government pressure and concerns around money laundering. Indian Government Still Cautious About Cryptocurrencies It seems that regulatory clarity has evaded the crypto community in India, yet again. The country’s central bank announced it was looking at issuing its own […]

India’s government has continued its “undecided” stance on regulation around the cryptocurrency ecosystem. No timeline was promised by Pon Radhakrishnan, the Minister of State Finance, for enacting legislation, even in the December 28, 2018 meeting. December Passed: Still In a Limbo The Indian Government and the domestic cryptocurrency exchanges had always been at odds with […]

Mizuho Bank, Japan’s second largest financial institution, is readying the infrastructure for a stablecoin launch in March 2019, as reported by Asia Nikkei Review. The coin is aimed at increasing low-cost cross-border transfers and remittances. Moving towards Crypto-Finance Mizuho plans to promote cashless payments in Japan by deploying its offering across retail stores for feeless-transactions, […]

GMO Internet, a major Japanese-based technology company, has shuttered its division responsible for designing and manufacturing mining chips. Mounting losses from a weak cryptocurrency market resulted in the sudden decision. In a statement released on Dec. 25, GMO explained to investors that the “increasingly competitive” mining business has resulted in the company cutting its losses. […]