The United States-based cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex is reportedly facing potential action from the U.S. securities regulator despite preparing to shut down local operations. The enforcement division of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is inclined to recommend the agency sue Bittrex over alleged violations related to investor protection, The Wall Street Journal reported on April

Hong Kong’s push to become a crypto hub has opened an opportunity for not just crypto companies but many state-affiliated banks in China. The Chinese banks have shown interest in building partnerships and onboarding regulated crypto companies in Hong Kong, despite a blanket bank on crypto-related activities in mainland China. The Hong Kong arm of the major

The Kingdom of Bhutan’s sovereign investment arm, estimated to manage around $2.9 billion in assets, has placed millions of dollars in cryptocurrencies and was a customer of bankrupt crypto firms BlockFi and Celsius. Druk Holding and Investments (DHI), a commercial arm of the royal government of Bhutan, has grown a crypto portfolio without disclosing it

Derivatives marketplace Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) is adding to its cryptocurrency offerings with daily expirations soon to be available on bitcoin and either futures options contracts, the company said in a recent press release.Effective from May 22, bitcoin and ether futures options will have expirations Monday through Friday, as will contracts based on micro-sized bitcoin

A proposal seeking the return of 700 million ARB governance tokens to Arbitrum’s DAO treasury has been rejected by the community after receiving only 14.5% of the total votes. The proposal, called AIP-1.05, was introduced after the Arbitrum Foundation transferred funds without community approval in March. The proposal asked the foundation to return the tokens

A new draft bill published in the United States aims to provide a regulatory framework for stablecoins. The bill proposes that the Federal Reserve oversee non-bank stablecoin issuers such as Tether and Circle, which respectively issue USDT and USDC. Insured depository institutions seeking to issue stablecoins would fall under federal banking agency supervision. The bill

MetaMask, the popular Ethereum wallet, recently experienced a cybersecurity incident that exposed the email addresses of some of its users who submitted a customer support ticket between August 1, 2021, and February 10, 2023. Parent company ConsenSys released a blog post recently which disclosed the details of the incident. According to the post, unauthorized actors

Celsius Network, a crypto lending platform, has been considering legal action against Tiffany Fong, a crypto blogger and Celsius creditor, for sharing leaked internal information regarding the company’s bankruptcy case. Fong, who has roughly $119,000 worth of crypto assets locked on Celsius, has been reporting on the bankruptcy case via YouTube and other social media

Blockchain security tech firm BlockSec has released a new toolkit for collaborative testing on private chains, called Phalcon Fork. This developer and security researcher-focused toolkit allows users to fork arbitrary transaction positions and block numbers on the Ethereum mainnet, providing greater control over testing, analysis, and debugging on testnets. Phalcon Fork offers several advantages over

In the rapidly evolving world of technology, artificial intelligence (AI) has become a focal point for many companies. Twitter and Alibaba have reportedly joined the global AI race by integrating the technology into their businesses. Twitter plans to use AI to “detect & highlight manipulation of public opinion,” while Alibaba is developing its own chatbot

The DeFi space had a busy week with several significant developments. The highly anticipated Shapella upgrade on Ethereum’s mainnet was successfully completed, allowing validators to withdraw their staked Ether after three years. However, only 253 validators have signed up to fully exit their staked Ether position, with analytics firm Glassnode predicting that less than 1%

The U.S. House Financial Services Committee published a draft version of a potential landmark stablecoin bill, with proposals including a moratorium on stablecoins backed by other cryptocurrencies and a request to study a central bank digital currency (CBDC). The bill, available on the committee’s hearing page, represents the first major piece of crypto legislation to

Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk is reportedly developing plans to create an artificial intelligence (AI) startup to compete with ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, one of the most popular generative AI companies he co-founded in 2015. The revelation came after information surfaced that Musk is assembling a team of AI researchers and engineers, according to the Financial Times (FT). While Musk left the

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York has announced the sentencing of an individual who pleaded guilty to wire fraud charges connected to “unlawfully obtained” Bitcoin from the Silk Road marketplace in 2012. In an April 14 announcement, the U.S. Justice Department said James Zhong was sentenced to one year and

Fintech firm Ripple has announced the launch of its latest product, the Ripple liquidity hub, a solution for businesses to bridge the gap between crypto and fiat currencies. The service operates as a stand-alone solution in addition to Ripple’s popular cross-border payments service, on-demand liquidity (ODL). This makes it a global liquidity network offering its

Blockchain infrastructure provider Paxos has published a report aimed at helping the cryptocurrency community navigate the current market conditions during the crypto winter. The Paxos Crypto Winter Report 2023 identifies several key opportunities for crypto projects, including seeking solutions and partnerships. According to the report, those who view the crypto winter as a “season for

The EOS Network Foundation (ENF) has announced the beta launch of the EOS EVM mainnet, a significant milestone towards bridging the gap between two major blockchain ecosystems, Ethereum and EOS. The EOS EVM mainnet emulates Ethereum’s Virtual Machine (EVM) and enables developers to deploy decentralized applications (DApps) written in Solidity, the programming language used by

Nigerian crypto and Web3 company Lazerpay announced on April 13 that it is shutting down its operations. According to a statement released on Twitter by Lazerpay founder and CEO Emmanuel Njoku, the decision to shut down the startup was necessary after the company could not raise funds in a funding round. In the statement, Njoku said,

Bitrue cryptocurrency exchange has suffered a hot wallet exploit, allowing attackers to withdraw various crypto assets worth nearly $23 million. Announcing the news on April 14, Bitrue said that it had to temporarily suspend all withdrawals due to a “brief exploit” of its hot wallet. The firm expects to reopen withdrawals on April 18, 2023, after

Paxos has become the latest digital asset firm to announce its exit from the Canadian market as regulators become increasingly tough on the sector. In an announcement on its website, the company called on its customers to withdraw their funds “at your earliest convenience.” Paxos will shut down unfunded accounts by May 9 and disable all trading

Twitter is set to expand its offerings by launching a new feature that will allow users to trade cryptocurrencies and stocks, according to a report by CNBC. The social media giant has partnered with fintech firm eToro to bring the new financial features to its platform. This is the first notable deal for Twitter since

The tokenized gold market surpassed $1 billion in value last month as the tokenization of real-world assets gathers pace, Bank of America (BAC) said in a research report. Tokenization is the process of putting ownership of tangible assets, such as precious metals, on the blockchain, and offers the convenience of buying and selling these assets

A recent hack in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space allowed an attacker to mint over 1 quadrillion Yearn Tether (yUSDT) from a mere $10,000. The attacker then exchanged the yUSDT for other stablecoins, taking hold of $11.6 million in the process. The stablecoins included 61,000 Pax Dollar (USDP), 1.5 million TrueUSD (TUSD), 1.79 million Binance

Crypto launchpads bring together the ethos of decentralized ecosystems and the ability of that community to make trustless investments.The cryptocurrency industry and Web3 have been a hotbed of innovation that has put the community at the forefront. It thrives on the proliferation of decentralized ecosystems, breaking away from central hegemony by various incumbent bodies. The

Zambia plans on finishing tests that mimic real-life crypto usage by June, the country’s Science and Technology Minister Felix Mutati announced in a recent news release . The results from the simulations will assist policymakers in formulating regulations for the sector, according to the minister.  “Our main goal in the area of cryptocurrency is to

OpenAI, the artificial intelligence (AI) company behind ChatGPT, has announced the launch of a bug bounty program to combat privacy and cybersecurity concerns. The program rewards security researchers and ethical hackers for identifying and addressing vulnerabilities in OpenAI’s technology and company, with cash rewards ranging from $200 for low-severity findings to $20,000 for exceptional discoveries.

On April 12, the price of ApeCoin (APE), which is an ERC-20 token that was produced by Yuga Labs, had a large spike, reaching $90.00 per token on the cryptocurrency exchange that is known as Upbit and which is based in South Korea. The price surge was just a brief phenomenon, however, and was followed

The National Commission of Value (CNV), the securities regulator of Argentina, has approved the country’s first regulated Bitcoin futures index to debut on the Matba Rofex exchange. The Bitcoin (BTC) futures contract will begin trading in May, making it the first regulated Bitcoin futures index in Latin America. The approval of the Bitcoin futures index

In a recent case in the federal court in Brooklyn, New York, a former investment banker and registered broker named Rashawn Russell has been charged with defrauding numerous investors. According to court documents, Russell misled investors by promising profits on fake cryptocurrency investments and then used the funds he received to finance his personal lifestyle.