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The capital will be dedicated to supporting Web3 startups in Asia. Vietnamese Web3 coalition Ninety Eight, creator of the Coin98 decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem , has launched a $25 million ecosystem fund dedicated to accelerating Web3 startups in Asia. According to the Nov. 7 announcement, the fund will provide financial and strategic support for selected startups. In addition, startups can use the firm's existing Viction layer-1 blockchain infrastructure for low-gas fee transactions and enhanced security.  Another key aspect of the Ninety Eight Ecosystem Fund is its native token, $C98, designed initially as a wallet token. The $C98 token allows users to store, send, receive, and manage crypto assets, as well as connect to decentralized applications on over 40 blockchains. Its namesake DeFi platform provides users access to cross-chain swaps, staking, and yield farming. "To ensure the efficient deployment of the Ecosystem Fund, we have entrusted Arche Fund, a ventu...

BC Technology says statements in Bloomberg’s article are ‘factually inaccurate and highly misleading.’ Hong Kong’s BC Technology Group Ltd. has denied recent reports saying that the company is exploring the sale of its licensed crypto platform OSL. In a recent Hong Kong stock exchange filing, the firm said that the “contents and statements” made in Bloomberg’s article are “factually inaccurate and highly misleading,” the South China Morning Post reports . In the article that surfaced on Oct. 16, Bloomberg said, referring to people familiar with the matter, that BC Technology Group had “gauged interest” in OSL from buyers at a HK$1 billion ($128 million) valuation. After the news broke, BC Technology’s shares dropped by over 34% to HK$2.8, according to data from Google Finance. You might also like: Russians and Ukrainians turn to Hong Kong to store money in crypto The news came amid reports that two ...

Binance fully exits Russia with sale of business to CommEX. Transition will last a year, the exchange said in an announcement on Wednesday, September 27. Binance has announced its exit from Russia, with its business sold to newly formed cryptocurrency exchange CommEX. An announcement on Wednesday stated that the exit comes after an agreement that sees it sell “the entirety of its Russia business” to the CommEX team. Binance fully exits Russian market While it did not disclose any financial details, Binance noted in the announcement that the off-boarding process will last one year.  According to Binance , its deal with CommEX is unlike others that international companies struck in the wake of Russia ’s invasion of Ukraine and the launch of sanctions by EU and the US. It’s a full exit. “ Unlike similar deals from international companies in Russia , Binance will have no ongoing revenue split from the sale, nor does it maint...

FTX's decision was undertaken as a proactive measure aimed at preventing the occurrence of any potential future incidents or additional harm following the recent hack. Following the recent Kroll cybersecurity breach , FTX Derivatives Exchange, a financially distressed cryptocurrency trading company, has opted to temporarily suspend accounts of impacted users accessing its claims portal. FTX's decision which was posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) was undertaken as a proactive measure aimed at preventing the occurrence of any potential future incidents or additional harm following the recent hack. The exchange is dedicated to offering more comprehensive information in the subsequent stages. In response to Kroll’s cybersecurity incident, FTX has taken the precautionary measure of temporarily freezing affected user accounts within the customer claims portal. We thank you for your patience, and will provide additional information regarding next steps in due course. — FTX (@F...

The platform was launched in beta version on Aug. 11 and allows users to tokenize their social network by buying and selling “shares” of their connections. Friend.tech, a recently released decentralized social (DeSo) network , has generated over $1 million in fees in 24 hours on Aug. 19, outperforming established players in the crypto ecosystem, including Uniswap and Bitcoin networks . The platform was launched in beta version on Aug. 11 and allows users to tokenize their social network by buying and selling “shares” of their connections. Enabling a person who purchases another's share to send private messages to each other. The protocol reportedly charges a 5% fee on transactions, with the spread from trades representing the owner's profit. Built on Coinbase's layer-2 Base, the platform has seen considerable activity. According to data from DefiLlama, Friend.tech generated $1.12 million in fees in 24 hours, and $2.8 million since its launch. At the time of writing, the ...

The politician and business magnate has his eyes set on Binance CEO CZ taking the reins of the future crypto industry. During a panel at Collision 2023 in Toronto, Anthony Scaramucci, founder of Skybridge Capital and former White House communications director, stated that disgraced crypto executive Sam Bankman-Fried “really hurt the industry in the United States from a regulatory perspective." Scaramucci continued: “He embarrassed the politicians; he gave a lot of money to them. They spent a lot of time with him, Gary Gensler spent a lot of time with him. And then they had this huge situation that happened. And that was very embarrassing. And so now the pendulum has swung too far to over-regulation in this ridiculous prosecutorial oversight." When asked for his opinion concerning the crypto regulatory environment in Canada compared to the U.S., Scaramucci stated that “Canada actually learned from the United States and set it up the way we used to do things in the United St...

A creditor of now-bankrupted crypto exchange FTX pledged a $31,307 claim as collateral for a DeFi loan. A creditor of now-bankrupted crypto exchange FTX pledged a claim as collateral for a loan in the decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Arcade. The transaction was the first on-chain loan backed by an FTX claim , according to the bankruptcy claim s platform Found. The $31,307 claim was tokenized, and its ownership was represented by a nonfungible token (NFT). On June 23, the NFT was used as collateral for a $7,500 loan to be repaid in five days. In the event of a payment default, the lender is entitled to the claim. Congrats wagmiclaims.eth for being the first onchain #RWA loan backed by a #FTX #bankruptcy claim WAGMI is happy to have some spending cash for the @Azuki Vegas party this weekend Special thanks to @Arcade_xyz for building a great platform pic.twitter.com/l8n8jGyKpp — Found (@foundxyz) June 23, 2023 The transaction is an example of real-world assets (RWA) tokenizati...

The bankruptcy plan explained that holders of allowed debtor-in-possession claims would receive full and final satisfaction of their claims. Bankrupt Bitcoin (BTC) miner Core Scientific filed its Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan. The plan was filed in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas Houston Division. The plan was negotiated with key stakeholders, and according to the filing, the firm is “seeking to build as much consensus as possible” about how a new Core Scientific would look after emerging from its bankruptcy proceedings. The company said it had seen a boost in liquidity since filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and is focused on revamping its business plan to make a successful comeback. The company attributed its improved financial performance to higher Bitcoin prices, increased network hash rate and reduced energy costs. A Chapter 11 bankruptcy allows a firm to continue operating until stakeholders agree on a restructuring plan, which could involve me...

Despite negative sentiment toward crypto adoption in the United States, Consensus 2023 attracted thousands of attendees to discuss the potential of blockchain technology and cryptocurrency. Consensus, the annual crypto and blockchain conference, attracted over 15,000 attendees, 220 sponsors and 410 speakers to its 2023 edition in Austin, Texas, despite recent regulatory struggles around cryptocurrency adoption in the United States.  The turnout at Consensus 2023 demonstrated that U.S.-based companies and international organizations are still very much interested in implementing Web3 Technology into their Business models. Caitlin Long, founder and CEO of Custodia Bank — a Wyoming-based digital asset bank — told Cointelegraph that the conference attracted serious ecosystem participants, saying, “We’ve seen during crypto winters before where Consensus gets overrun with high time preference people and companies (for example, multiple Lambo’s parked out front of the New York Hilton in 2018...

The pension fund had invested twice in the now-bankrupt crypto exchange, once during the peak of the bull run in 2021 and again in early 2022. The Onatario Teachers’ Pension Plan has decided to steer its investment away from cryptocurrencies.  The decision comes after the OTPP — which manages over $190 billion in assets  — lost the entirety of its $95 million investment in crypto exchange FTX after it went bust in November 2022. OTPP was one of the many backers of the now-bankrupt crypto exchange and had invested twice: Once during the bull market in 2021 and again during exchange’s Series C funding round in early 2022. OTPP chief executive Jo Taylor said in an interview with the Financial Times that it’d be unwise for the pension fund to rush into another crypto investment . Taylor said that they are still processing what happened with the exchange, and they would be much more cautious before invest ing in emerging assets like digital currencies. The pension fund is responsible f...

U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange Kraken received its virtual asset service provider authorization from the Central Bank of Ireland. Payward Europe Solutions, an Irish subsidiary of Kraken registered in Dublin, was awarded virtual asset service provider (VASP) authorization from the Central Bank of Ireland on April 18. We’re pleased to announce that Kraken has successfully registered with the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) as a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP), affirming our commitment to helping drive crypto adoption in Europe Learn more https://t.co/mowesdqEGj pic.twitter.com/C2ScvDhpa1 — Kraken Exchange (@krakenfx) April 18, 2023 The VASP authorization comes at a critical time for Kraken. The European Union is scheduled to conduct its final vote on the long-awaited Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation. The MiCA legislation is expected to pass after preliminary voting showed overwhelming nonpartisan support. If it does, the resulting changes will require any company...

Gala Music, a Web3 startup subsidiary, is launching 3,003 NFTs on April 14, with an unreleased version of David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” included. A previously un release d version of David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” has surfaced as part of a limited edition collection of nonfungible tokens (NFTs). Gala Music, a subsidiary of the Web3 startup Gala Games, has joined forces with music producer Larry Dvoskin and publisher Warner Chappell Music to unveil an unreleased version of David Bowie’s 1983 track “Let’s Dance” as part of a limited edition collection of NFTs. The announcement was made on Thursday, March 6. David Bowie created an impressive discography that included 27 studio albums, 11 live albums, four soundtracks and 128 singles during his lifetime. However, despite his passing in 2016, the singer-songwriter still has at least one unheard track. Gala Music plans to launch 3,003 NFTs that showcase Bowie-inspired artwork on April 14, four decades after the original release of “Let’s Dance.“...

A new Era has dawned with the launch of the first Ethereum Virtual Machine compatible ZK rollup, enabling projects like Uniswap and Sushi to easily port over for scaling. Some of the biggest names in decentralized finance, including Uniswap, Sushi, Maker and Curve, are set to launch March 24 on zero-knowledge proof roll-up zkSync Era. The Ethereum layer 2 scaling network has finally opened to users in alpha after four years in development, enabling faster and cheaper transactions. It is the first Ethereum Virtual Machine compatible zk-Rollup to launch on mainnet (competitor StarkWare uses a bespoke language called Cairo), allowing most Ethereum DApps to simply port over with very few changes. Between 32 to 50 projects are expected to go live on March 24 or over the weekend, including Balancer, Pyth Network, Mute, Redstone, Graph and Argent. Banxa, Yearn Finance, Celer, Chainlink, Aragon, Woo Network and Tracer DAO are also porting to the network. “Friday for us is the big one, it’s...

The former blockchain executive is wanted by Interpol for his role in the $40 billion collapse of the Terra Luna ecosystem during May 2022. According to an unconfirmed post from Filip Adzic, minister of the interior of Montenegro, an individual suspected of being Terra Luna co -founder Do Kwon has been arrested within the territory of the Balkan nation on Mar. 23. Since the announcement was first made, local news outlet Vijesti has confirmed that the Twitter account that made the announcement is from the minister of the interior of Montenegro and that the individual arrested was a South Korean national.  "Montenegrin police have detained a person suspected of being one of the most wanted fugitives, South Korean citizen Do Kwon, co-founder and CEO of Singapore-based Terraform Labs." As told by Adzic, an individual suspected of being the former "cryptocurrency king" was detained at the Podgorica airport with "falsified documents," and authorities are aw...

Block Inc. outperformed analyst expectations and saw its share price jump in after-hours trading, but its Bitcoin revenue dipped due to price declines. Jack Dorsey’s payment company Block Inc. reported $1.83 billion of Bitcoin (BTC) revenue from its Cash App business unit in the fourth quarter, representing a 7% fall from the same time last year. In its Q4 and full-year results announced on Feb. 23, Block attributed the fall in Bitcoin revenue to the decline in BTC price in the year. Bitcoin fell approximately 65% throughout 2022. This fall in revenue led to a 25% year-on-year drop in Bitcoin gross profit for Cash App, which fell to $35 million in the quarter. Cash App is a mobile phone payment processing app created by Block, which added support for transactions via the Bitcoin Lightning Network on Oct. 25. It generates Bitcoin revenue by selling Bitcoin to customers through the app. Cash App gross profit graph from Q4, 2021 to Q4, 2022 Source: Block Inc Q4 shareholder letter For th...

The automotive giant is exploring DAO tools and blockchain integration to improve company operations. Automotive giant Toyota is delving deeper into blockchain use cases through its involvement with a Web3 hackathon for decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) developers. On Feb. 1, multi-chain smart contract and decentralized application (dApp) network Astar announced its inaugural Web3 hackathon. The news of note, however, was that it's being supported by the Toyota Motor Corporation. Founder of the Astar Network, Sota Watanabe, commented on the significance of Toyota’s involvement in the initiative: “During the event, we aim to develop the first PoC (Proof of Concept) DAO tool for Toyota’s employees. If a good tool is produced, Toyota employees will interact daily with products on Astar Network.” It is Toyota’s first Web3 event as the multinational vehicle company looks to emerging technology to “support its vision of improving the company’s operations,” the announcement not...

The deadline for bidders to submit offers for the Bitcoin-machine-backed loans is set for Jan. 24. Bankrupt crypto lending firm BlockFi has plans to sell off $160 million in loans backed by around 68,000 Bitcoin mining machines as part of bankruptcy proceedings, according to reports. In a Bloomberg report on Jan. 24, two people “familiar with the matter” claim that BlockFi started the process of selling off the loans last year. The crypto lender filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Nov. 2022, citing its significant exposure to the now-defunct crypto exchange FTX for its downfall. However, some of these loans have already defaulted since then and could be undercollateralized given the decline in the price of Bitcoin mining equipment, according to the sources, adding the last day for bidders to submit offers for the loans is Jan. 24. In comments to Cointelegraph, crypto lawyer Harrison Dell, director at Australian Law firm Cadena Legal explained that if Bitcoin Mining equipment used as co...

The tournament, “0xMonaco: Battle of Titans,” is scheduled to kick off on Jan. 29 and will bring together developers from around the blockchain space. MatchBoxDAO — a collective of developer s, artists and designers building on-chain Gaming infrastructure with StarkNet — has announced the launch of MatchBox Arena, an esports experience specifically designed for developer participation. Dubbing it the “World Cup of the Web3 companies,” the team said the Gaming tournament is designed to find out which company has the best technical team.  We are finally launching: "Matchbox Arena" With the "Battle of Titans" as the first CTF competition released on the platform, we'll officially release "Matchbox Arena" tomorrow where the players will be able to upload their code.https://t.co/vGbEuyzus0 More info below — MatchboxDAO (@matchbox_dao) January 17, 2023 The tournament, titled “0xMonaco: Battle of Titans,” will bring together Web3 developers from c...

Public Bitcoin miners will actively work to minimize costs in 2023 by going private or merging with other firms, Hash Rate Index analysts predicted. After a shocking year for Bitcoin (BTC), public miners will focus on strengthening balance sheets and minimizing costs this year, according to industry analysts. Bitcoin mining cost minimization will likely lead public miners to either go private or merge with other companies in 2023, Hash Rate Index’s Bitcoin analysts Jaran Mellerud and Colin Harper predicted. In a blog post titled “10 Bitcoin mining predictions for 2023,” the analysts pointed out that public miners are burdened with strict reporting requirements, such as spending millions of dollars on annual reporting. After many Bitcoin mining stocks plummeted 90% in 2022, public miners could significantly reduce administrative costs by going private or merging with others to share the costs. Alongside predicting that 2023 will become the year of Bitcoin miners’ merge, Hash Rate In...

The Ethereum co-founder expects to reach a new milestone for rollups this year. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has shared some bullishness for the year ahead, including reaching a new milestone for rollup scaling as per the Ethereum roadmap. The Ethereum developer also confirmed the rollout of the Ethereum Improvement Protocol (EIP) 4884 sometime in 2023, which had been removed as part of the upcoming Shanghai upgrade package set for March. Responding to a Dec. 31 post from former chief Technology officer of Coinbase, Balaji Srinivasan, asking users what they were bullish for in 2023, Buterin said he was looking forward to reaching the “basic rollup scaling” milestone as outlined in the Ethereum roadmap. Reaching the "basic rollup scaling" milestone in my roadmap diagram. That means: * EIP-4844 rolled out * Rollups partially taking off training wheels, at least to "stage 1" as described here https://t.co/qNQonDQkzG pic.twitter.com/7HePctWw1l — vitalik.et...