Author: Forkast

South Korean digital asset experts gathered at the National Assembly on Thursday to discuss president-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s crypto campaign promises, which included his plan to bring back initial coin offerings (ICOs). Fast facts The head of crypto exchange Upbit’s investor protection center Lee Hae-boong suggested the government provide white paper templates for ICOs to protect investors from scam tokens.Kim Kab-lae, research fellow at the Korea Capital Market Institute, insisted that white papers be written in Korean and cover sufficient information for investors to make informed decisions. Yoon pledged in his campaign to lift a standing 2017 ban on ICOs and…

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The Philippines is offering residency in one of its special economic zones known as ecozones with low tax rates for users staking the utility token of Oz Finance, TOTOZ. Fast facts The residency is offered at the Freeport Area of Bataan, one of over 400 operating ecozones in the Philippines, which is located across the bay from the capital Manila.Based on the amount staked, users get individual or business residency with immigration assistance from Oz Finance, ecosystem architect Vincent Choy told Forkast in an email. Ecozones in the Philippines are autonomous economic zones that have been marked to be developed by the community…

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BIT Mining, a Hong Kong-headquartered cryptocurrency miner, has terminated its data center construction in Kazakhstan due to an unstable local power supply, the company said in its quarterly report. Fast facts BIT Mining now abandons a US$9.3 million pledge to a Kazakh data center announced last May.The New York Stock Exchange-listed crypto miner said that its Bitcoin mining rigs deployed in third-party facilities in the Central Asian nation remain in operation.BIT Mining’s withdrawal adds to the decreasing presence of Bitcoin miners in the second-largest hashrate in the world, presenting an opportunity for third-place Russia to claim the spot to trail the U.S.In the…

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South Korea’s KB Asset Management launched a committee on Monday that will develop investment strategies for releasing digital asset products such as exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Fast facts The ‘Digital Asset Management Preparatory Committee’ aims to be the first to launch digital asset products in South Korea once the country eases regulations on crypto.KB says it will launch products such as a fund consisting of digital asset ETFs and a crypto-themed equity fund. KB Asset Management operates under KB Financial Group, which is currently the largest financial group in South Korea by net profit.South Korean banks are currently restricted by local regulations…

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Concern is growing in South Korea that minors are being exposed to sexual harassment and assault in metaverses, as these virtual reality worlds where participants play games or even simulate life through avatars become increasingly popular in the country. “Sexually harassing remarks or conversations are very common. You can easily spot them waiting in the [metaverse] game room,” said Jung Hee-jin, team manager at Tacteen Naeil, a sexual violence counseling center for young people. The national police disclosed in April 2021 that an adult allegedly induced a minor to send revealing photos in exchange for in-game items in another metaverse.…

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Investor relief at last week’s slight market rebound gave way to concerns over military tensions in Ukraine, sending crypto and traditional markets reeling. The crypto market’s poor run in 2022 continued this morning with Bitcoin leading a roughly 10% market downturn as concerns over military tensions between Russia and Ukraine rose once more. The world’s largest cryptocurrency lost almost 8% coming into business hours Friday Asia time to trade at US$40,643, while Ethereum fared even worse and was trading at US$2,889 at press time, according to CoinMarketCap. Decentralized finance (DeFi) darling Terra was among the biggest losers, trading down as…

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As Bitcoin’s price movement began to mirror that of traditional markets, some likened it to tech stocks. Its recent price action shows otherwise. Bitcoin’s 30-day performance has disproven suggestions that it is “just another tech stock,” outperforming the top 6 tech stocks by an average return on investment (ROI) of just under 16% at press time, according to data from Finbold. As institutional investors moved into the space, it appeared as though Bitcoin’s correlation to traditional markets was growing, especially as macro-economic factors were increasingly impacting both. This data from financial analysis firm Finbold shows that tech stocks might not provide…

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Crypto regulations are lagging the market’s needs, and the industry should help create order to gain greater public trust. In many nations, government regulations tend to lag the marketplace. This trend is very apparent in the financial markets. For this reason, the financial markets have always had strong, industry-led, regulatory bodies. In the cryptocurrency markets, industry self-regulation is just getting started. There are a number of reasons for this. However, it is vital for the crypto industry to create effective self-regulations, regardless of how slowly some governments are moving on blockchain regulations. The crypto markets need more oversight Uncertainties, price…

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Australian cryptocurrency exchange BTC Markets has partnered with the country’s No. 2 tennis star Ajla Tomljanovic ahead of the Australian Open to release limited edition non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Fast facts The NFTs will be in the form of Proof of Attendance Protocol, akin to a digital concert ticket stub proving attendance, that will allow owners to compete for a face-to-face meeting with Tomljanovic.According to BTC Markets, the exchange is attempting to “break fresh ground” in terms of appealing to more female investors.Female investors on BTC Markets increased by 172% over the past year, compared to growth of under 80% for men. The Australian…

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China’s top economic planning body has officially designated crypto mining as “obsolete,” reinforcing government efforts to stamp out the industry entirely. Fast facts The National Development and Reform Commission made the designation on Monday as an update to a 2019 policy document that spelled out how the country would shift its economy to a model that favored cleaner, less resource-intensive industries. According to business consultancy Dezan Shira & Associate, the obsolete label refers to technologies that would be banned from seeking investment and would need to be phased out in China within a certain time period.However, the commission did not provide a deadline for…

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