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Demand for crypto in Hong Kong is mainly driven by institutional investors rather than retail customers, Zodia CEO said. Zodia, the institutional cryptocurrency custody platform co-owned by British banking giant Standard Chartered, Japanese SBI Holdings and the financial firm Northern Trust, is expanding its services to Hong Kong. Zodia Custody is launching services in Hong Kong in response to growing demand for crypto from institutions, Zodia CEO Julian Sawyer said, according to a CNBC report on Oct. 29. According to Sawyer, the crypto demand in Hong Kong is mainly driven by institutional investors rather than retail customers, ideally matching Zodia’s crypto custody offering. He also mentioned that Hong Kong’s stance on crypto aligns with Zodia’s ambitions as the local government “sees digital assets as the future and also wants Hong Kong to be a hub.” Zodia’s launch in Hong Kong comes as the firm aggressively scales operations in Asia, opening services in Japan, Singapore and Austr...

Both the United Nations (UN) Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights recognize ‘privacy’ as a fundamental human right. In the cryptocurrency market, some projects are focused on providing the best privacy experience for its holders and users. Interestingly, privacy is often considered a tabu when talking about money, despite being a well-accepted fundamental human right for other topics. The growing development of high-surveillance financial tools often creates controversy and conflict of interest against privacy cryptocurrencies. Nevertheless, as a fundamental human right, investors can turn to privacy-focused coins in order to hedge against the increased surveillance state, often used by authoritarian regimes that explicitly violate recognized human rights. With that in mind, Finbold asked ChatGPT to pick three privacy cryptocurrencies: Cryptocurrency We asked ChatGPT 4 if spot Bitcoin ETFs are already priced in ...

Michael Lewis's book 'Going Infinite' reveals that CZ and SBF had different goals when the first collaborative business opportunity arose in 2019. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao reportedly declined to pay $40 million to former FTX CEO Sam Bankman Fried for a futures crypto exchange in March 2019, according to an excerpt from Michael Lewis’ book “Going Infinite.” According to the book, SBF proposed a futures exchange with “zero risk” for the exchange in case of bad trades with high leverage. Traditionally, a futures exchange allows traders to leverage funds against a small collateral, and the exchange often asks traders to increase collateral in case the trade starts to go bad. However, in crypto, the price swings could be fast and significant which could leave exchanges with bad debts due to lack of collateral. However, FTX wanted to create a futures exchange that would monitor the trader’s activity and, as soon as the trade surmounted the collateral, would liquidate the us...

Paradigm pointed out that the SEC is attempting to use the concerning accusations in its complaint as a means to alter the law, all without adhering to the established rulemaking process. Paradigm, a crypto venture capital firm, has criticized the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for bypassing the standard rulemaking procedures in their current legal action against the cryptocurrency exchange Binance. In a statement released on Friday, Sept. 29, Paradigm pointed out that the SEC is attempting to use the concerning accusations in its complaint as a means to alter the law, all without adhering to the established rulemaking process. Paradigm firmly believes that the SEC is exceeding its regulatory boundaries, and we strongly oppose this tactic, they further stated. Back in June, the SEC initiated a legal action against Binance, accusing them of multiple violations of securities laws, such as operating without the necessary registration as an exchange, broker-dealer...

In just a year, Hong Kong has moved from being a cryptocurrency-unfriendly region to claiming the top spot among the most cryptocurrency-ready countries and territories. What is the reason for such dramatic changes? According to Forex Suggest research, Hong Kong is best suited for widespread crypto currency adoption. A country that is ready to implement crypto currency has certain indicators, including the number of businesses accepting crypto currencies, a favorable regulatory environment, a thriving startup culture, and fair tax policies. Source: Forex Suggest A brief history of Hong Kong crypto regulation In October 2022, Hong Kong authorities officially announced that they intend to develop the cryptocurrency market in the region by creating appropriate regulatory standards. It was reported that the government, together with local financial regulators, will create “favorable conditions” for the development of the local cryptocurrency industry. Local authorities also announ...

The Optimism Network has revealed that it will sell 116 million OP tokens in a series of planned sales. Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution Optimism (OP) has disclosed plans to sell 116 million OP token s to seven private buyers for treasury management purposes At current prices, the sale will see $159 million worth of OP tokens change hands. Starting today, there will be several transactions totaling approximately 116M OP token s. We’re sharing as a heads up to our community that these are planned transactions. — Optimism (_) (@optimismFND) September 20, 2023 While some observers feared the sale would bring about depressed prices from Optimism “dumping” its tokens on the market, it seems unlikely that the sale of the tokens will have any material impact on the price of OP, due to the sale being private. Additionally, the tokens are being sourced from the unallocated portion of the OP token treasury — meaning that they are not part of the circulating supply. Optimism (OP) token...

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are likely to witness a pick up in volatility following the Fed’s rate decision on Sep. 20. Bitcoin’s (BTC) recovery is facing selling above $27,000, indicating near-term nervousness due to the Federal Reserve’s meeting on Sep. 20. However, long-term investors are unfazed and they have continued to accumulate. Glassnode data shows that Bitcoin’s inactive supply has been at all-time highs since July. This bullish temperament is not reflected in institutional activity, however. Investors have cut down on their cryptocurrency exposure and are sitting on the sidelines awaiting more clarity on the regulatory and macroeconomic front. Asset manager CoinShares reported that outflows from exchange-traded products hit $455 million over the past nine weeks. Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360 Meanwhile, analysts remain divided about Bitcoin’s near-term price action. Bollinger Bands creator John Bollinger speculated in a X (formerly Twitter)...

Bitcoin looks ready to start a relief rally and this could trigger interest in MKR, AAVE, RUNE and RNDR. After forming successive Doji candlestick patterns on the weekly chart for the past three weeks, Bitcoin (BTC) is on target to end the week on a positive note. This is an early sign that the uncertainty between the bulls and the bears is resolving to the upside. Although the recovery is still in its early stages, the Federal Open Market Committee meeting on Sep. 20 could boost volatility. The majority of the market participants expect the Federal Reserve to maintain a status quo on rates but surprises could arise during Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s press conference following the rate decision. Crypto market data daily view. Source: Coin360 Bitcoin’s recovery from the strong support near $24,800 has ignited buying interest in select altcoins, which are providing trading opportunities. For these altcoins to continue their upward trajectory, Bitcoin needs to maintain above $26,500. Coul...

The recovery in Bitcoin and altcoins is facing selling at higher levels, indicating that the overall sentiment remains negative. Bitcoin (BTC) has been stuck inside a large range since April, indicating indecision about the next directional move. Efforts by the bears to sink the price below the support of the range were thwarted by the bulls on Sep. 11. However, Bitcoin is not out of the woods yet.  Jamie Coutts, a chartered market technician and crypto market analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, while speaking to Cointelegraph said that if the tightening cycle extends, followed by “an uptick in unemployment and more stress in the banking sector, then there could be a bit more pain for risk assets like Bitcoin.” Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360 Cryptocurrency traders have also remained cautious. A Bitfinex report shows that the cryptocurrency industry witnessed capital outflows of $55 billion in August. The drop in liquidity has caused isolated events to “have a ...

BTC price peers over the cliff at $25,000. Should investors look for shelter or perceive an opportunity? Bitcoin stands at the edge of a bearish breakdown, with a small possibility that the $25,000 support level could hold. On Sept. 11, Bitcoin (BTC) broke from its parallel range between $25,500 and $26,500, falling to an intraday low at $24,950. A daily close below $24,750 threatens a drop to the sub-$20,000 range, but there's a slight chance that the bullish momentum could revive. According to pseudonymous trader Horse, Bitcoin at $25,000 presents a short-term buying opportunity as it's the “best area to trap sellers” and “arguably the best place for long contextual” risk to reward ratio. I feel like the chances that the market smokes this level after the first major test is slim. Seems like the best area to trap sellers, and arguably the best place for long contextual R:R I'll catch a falling knife. pic.twitter.com/eFNMzBCPJW — HORSE (@TheFlowHorse) September 11, 2023 ...

Meitu was one among many public companies that purchased Bitcoin to hold as a treasury reserve during the peak of the bull run last year and now joins the list of companies that have suffered heavily due to the bear market. Hong Kong tech giant Meitu made headlines in April last year after it reported nearly $100 million in crypto holdings. However, with the advent of the bear market, the tech firm has lost nearly half of the valuation of its crypto holdings. According to a local media report, Meitu reported an impairment loss of over 300 million yuan, approximately $43.4 million, on their crypto holdings. An impairment loss is a loss in value of an asset when it falls below the carrying value of the investment. The financial filing revealed that the impairment loss has more than doubled from the last quarter, something the firm had anticipated earlier. The tech giant has said that its crypto holdings could impact the net loss of the company by the end of the first half of the year...

The prototype infrastructure for Norway’s central bank digital currency is based on Ethereum, the Norges Bank officially stated. The Central Bank of Norway has hit a major milestone in digital currency efforts, releasing the open source code for the country’s Central Bank digital currency (CBDC) sandbox. Available on GitHub, the sandbox is designed to offer an interface for interacting with the test network, enabling functions like minting, burning and transferring ERC-20 tokens, the Norges Bank’s official CBDC partner Nahmii said in a blog post. Nahmii stressed that the current version of the code does not support the major Ethereum wallet MetaMask by design and is only privately accessible by users with appropriate credentials. In addition to deploying the appropriate Smart Contracts and access controls, the Norges Bank sandbox includes a custom frontend and network monitoring tools like BlockScout and Grafana. The front end also shows a filterable summary of transactions on the ne...

Worldcoin project has remained controversial right from its announcement and currently facing regulatory trouble in multiple jurisdictions that it has launched. The iris scanning crypto project Worldcoin has now made it possible for even unverified customers to reserve their Worldcoin tokens (WLD). In an announcement on Aug. 11, the Worldcoi n project noted that the World app now offers a reservation s feature to make it easier for everyone to reserve their WLD tokens before verifying their World ID. The reservation will be valid for 12 months and users can redeem their reserved world tokens by visiting the iris scanning device called Orb. World App with reservation feature. Source: Worldcoin The Worldcoin project consists of three key elements: the Worldcoin ID, the Worldcoin App and the Worldcoin token (WLD). Users who are willing to scan their iris to create a biometric data-based ID system are rewarded with native WLD tokens. The iris scanning device is called Orb. The global d...

MKR looks primed to continue the rally given its recent buyback mechanism and two other key metrics that impact Maker’s price. Maker has gained 53.5% over the past month, and the cryptocurrency witnessed a remarkable 28.1% surge between July 15 and July 22, achieving its highest daily close in nearly a year. While the gains are impressive, the real question is: Can the cryptocurrency sustain its current trajectory, or were short-term factors behind the price pump? Average Maker (MKR) price at Coinbase, Binance and Bybit. Source: TradingView MakerDAO, the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) responsible for the Dai (DAI) stablecoin and the governance token Maker (MKR), unveiled a five-phase roadmap in mid-May. Dubbed “Endgame," the upgrade plan includes a new blockchain, a rebrand and the introduction of two tokens featuring updated functionalities. Rune Christensen, co-founder of MarkerDAO, revealed that the primary component of “Endgame” entails developing incentive prog...