India’s 30% crypto tax came into law on March 31 and was effective April 1, despite warnings from several stakeholders about its possible ill impact on the budding crypto industry. As predicted, within just a couple of weeks of the new crypto tax law coming into effect, trading volume across major crypto exchanges dropped as much as 90%. The decline in trading activity was attributed to traders either moving their funds away from centralized crypto exchanges or adopting a holding strategy over trading. Many crypto exchanges were hoping that a crypto tax would at least offer some form of recognition …

Crypto exchange and block explorer Blockchain.com has begun talking with United States banks to explore how it may hold an initial public offering (IPO) as soon as this year. Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that sources familiar with the situation said that the talks were merely preliminary conversations and that the tech startup’s plans could change at any time. If it succeeds in going public with an IPO, it would be only the second crypto exchange in the U.S. to pull off the feat. Coinbase was the first to go public in 2021 at an opening price of $381 per share …

WonderFi Technologies, a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform, plans to continue its expansion in Canada by purchasing the Coinberry crypto exchange for $38 million. The platform will be the second regulated crypto exchange under WonderFi once the acquisition is finalized. The firm recently closed its acquisition of Bitbuy's parent company First Ledger Corp. for $162 million. In an interview, Kevin O’Leary mentioned that there will be “several more and even bigger” acquisitions that are on the way. O'Leary also highlighted that the company is competing on the global stage while making sure that it's on "a regulated basis." The billionaire mentioned …

It has long been believed that investors possessing inside knowledge help drive cryptocurrencies’ price volatility, and a number of academic papers have been published on this topic. This is why Coinbase’s intention to regularly publish in advance a catalog of tokens being assessed for listing on its prominent trading platform is noteworthy. Coinbase’s plans, announced in an April 11 blog along with 50 crypto projects “under consideration” for Q2 2022, could help tamp down the pervasive speculation that surrounds small-cap tokens. Meanwhile, this can help alleviate industry concerns about “information asymmetry,” which typically occurs when one party to a transaction …

The top centralized cryptocurrency exchanges have reached all-time highs for market share this year as trading volume in crypto consolidates onto the platforms of only a few trusted companies. So named “top-tier” crypto exchanges have increased their market share from 89% in August 2021 to 96% in February 2022 according to data collected by UK analytics company CryptoCompare published on Monday, April 11. The firm analyzed over 150 active centralized exchanges, ranking them on security, number of assets available, regulatory compliance, KYC checks, and more, grading them from a top score of AA to a low of F with “top …

Two new carbon-neutral cryptocurrency exchange-traded products (ETPs) have been launched on the Six Swiss Exchange, bringing the total number of crypto ETPs to 155. The SIX Swiss Exchange just announced on Monday that Helveteq is introducing two new crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs), Bitcoin (Bitcoin Zero / BTCO2) and Ethereum (Ether Zero / ETH2O), becoming the third crypto ETP issuer to join SIX in 2022. An ETP is a derivative financial instrument that trades based on assets such as commodities, currencies, share prices, or interest rates. The BTCO2 and ETH2O ETPs seek to expose investors to the world's two most valuable …

Exchanges have long been more than just trading platforms: they’ve been used for fundraising, marketing promotion, brand exposure and more. Cointelegraph talked to Katherine Deng, VP of MEXC and founder of MEXC Pioneer, about the true role crypto exchanges are playing in the current crypto market and what else they can be doing. When and how MEXC was launched? MEXC Global was founded in 2018. Every member of our founding team has world-class tech or investment background. We choose to operate in Asia because it is a promising market, and we value its potential. Reports show that Ethereum (ETH) has …

Italian professional soccer club AC Milan will be releasing its first-ever nonfungible token (NFT) project in collaboration with the BitMEX crypto exchange, with proceeds going to Fondazione Milan, the clubs' charity arm. The limited-edition collection will feature 75,817 NFTs, a number representative of the capacity of the club's home ground San Siro stadium, and will depict a 3D image of a jersey found in South Sudan by Danish war photographer Jan Grarup who was in the country documenting widespread flooding last December. BitMEX partnered with AC Milan to contribute to the project by providing trading discounts and “other benefits” to …

Kakao Piccoma, a Japanese digital comics' subscription service and subsidiary of the Korean internet company Kakao, has purchased a 50% controlling stake in the Japanese cryptocurrency exchange, Sakura Exchange Bitcoin (SEBC). That makes Kakao its largest shareholder and the deal is also expected to help Kakao offer cryptocurrency services on its Piccoma webtoon platform, and expand aggresively into Web3, according to local media reports. Piccoma is the largest webtoon platform in Japan, and in 2021 its app marked $1 billion in consumer spend after six years in the Japanese market. The amount Kakao paid for its stake in the exchange …

Cryptocurrencies were designed to lead a new era of global financial inclusion, providing people access to financial services that they would otherwise be unable to have. Through a simplified financial structure, individuals and businesses around the world are finally having their needs met, and this transformation is believed to reduce poverty, improve prosperity and transform how the world transacts on a large scale. Although freedom of money is the objective, the technology is still in its early stages of adoption. Therefore, it is the exchanges and infrastructure providers that now hold a pivotal role in providing an initial touchpoint for …

On March 29, centralized cryptocurrency exchange Binance announced the rollout of Binance Bridge 2.0. The feature enables users to bridge assets from any blockchain, including from tokens not listed on the Binance app, to the BNB Chain. Bridged tokens listed on Binance will be stored in the Funding or Spot Wallet, while unlisted bridged tokens will be transferred to the Funding Wallet only. Users can bridge-in or bridge-out tokens between their native blockchains and BNB Chain via regular deposit and withdrawal functions. In the future, Binance also plans to create a better version of its mobile app to allow users …

Iconic former English Premier League footballer, David Beckham, has become a global brand ambassador for the DigitalBits blockchain, launching his own range of NFTs in the process. Beckham will release a series of NFTs and “other Blockchain-based digital assets” according to the brand ambassador announcement, with minting taking place on the DigitalBits blockchain. Excited to announce #DavidBeckham has become a Global Ambassador for #DigitalBits! Get ready to explore the world of #Blockchain, #NFTs and #Metaverse with Beckham. More details https://t.co/yafO7W2OuL Thread pic.twitter.com/n54BMeDsnE — DigitalBits (XDB) (@DigitalBitsOrg) March 24, 2022 Beckham said the NFT collections were an “opportunity to create new …