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Cryptocurrency assets are highly speculative and investors in them need more protections or they could lose trust in the markets, Gary Gensler, chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, said on Monday. Generally, people who buy cryptocurrencies do not get the disclosures they get when they make other asset purchases around things like whether the trading platform they are using is actually trading against them, or whether they actually own the assets they store in digital wallets, Gensler said. «We have this basic bargain: You the investing public can make your choices about the risk you take, but there is supposed to be full and fair disclosure, and people are not supposed to lie to you,» he said at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's annual conference in Washington.

Crypto assets bled nearly $800 billion in market value over the past month, touching a low of $1.4 trillion on Tuesday, according to data site CoinMarketCap, as the end of easy monetary policy diminishes appetite for risk assets.Bitcoin, which makes up for nearly 40% of the crypto market, hit a 10-month low earlier on Tuesday, before rebounding to $31,450, just six days after touching $40,000. It was more than 54% below its Nov. 10 all-time high of $69,000. Digital asset prices have slumped, mirroring a plunge in equities on fears of aggressive interest rate hikes across the globe to stave off decades-high inflation. The tech-heavy Nasdaq was down 28% from its November 2021 record high.

Recently, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that India will not rush into any decision on cryptos and will take a well-considered view. «It has to take its time to be sure that at least, with the given available information, we are making a discernible decision. It can't be rushed,» she said during an interaction with students and faculty at Stanford University in California. However, industry players believe that the delay is hurting India's prospects of becoming a major player in the crypto industry and leading to the exile of homegrown talent to crypto-friendly hubs.

The present predicament was triggered after a statement by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) that it was “not aware” of any crypto exchanges using the UPI system. It issued this statement following a Coinbase India launch event where the latter advertised that its users would be able to make deposits using UPI. Following the NPCI statement, Mobikwik, Kotak Mahindra and others stopped providing services to crypto exchanges in India. There is no official order, circular or statement by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) or NPCI prohibiting banks or other payment systems from providing services to crypto exchanges. Nevertheless, as reported by The Economic Times, a senior bank official confirmed to them that RBI supervisors have been asking banks to “exercise caution” on crypto until there was greater regulatory clarity.

crypto that feasts on risk is outshining a wider market paralyzed by war and inflation. Coins backed by gold are newer variants of "stablecoins", which are typically pegged to the dollar to tame volatility. The largest, Pax Gold or PAXG, has jumped 7.4% in 2022, while main rival Tether Gold has leapt 8.5%. By contrast, bitcoin has lost over 13% and ether is down 20%.

Pledge has launched 'PledgeCrypto' which allows non-profit entities to accept crypto donations in over 130 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Tether, and even convert them to fiat currencies. PledgeCrypto offers a free, fully-integrated fiat and crypto donation platform in the industry, where donations go directly to verified non-profit organizations. It doesn't require technical experience, crypto wallet or KYC. Popstar Ariana Grande, who has launched her ‘Protect and Defend Trans Youth Fund’ on the platform, has pledged to match up to $1.5 million of her own money in donations.

The 28-year-old from Bangkok was playing Axie Infinity, one of a new breed of blockchain-based online games, dubbed «play-to-earn», which blend entertainment with financial speculation. These games can make for lucrative businesses amid the hype around NFTs and virtual worlds, attracting millions of players plus billions of dollars from investors who see the games as a way to introduce more people to cryptocurrency.

NFT bubble isn't popping, but it may have sprung a leak. A year on from when a single non-fungible token sold for $69.3 million in crypto at Christie's auction house, with the buyer paying to be recorded on blockchain as the owner of a digital file that anyone can see online for free, this weird and wild market is showing some signs of slowing down. Sales on OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace, had reached nearly $5 billion in January, a giant leap from the $8 million a year before, but declined to around $2.5 billion last month.

cryptocurrency billionaire, is probably the first person to play a computer game while giving a talk. As the featured guest one morning in February, Bankman-Fried looks schlubby as usual, reclining on a gaming chair in blue shorts and a gray T-shirt advertising his cryptocurrency exchange, FTX, his mop of curly hair flattened by his headphones. He’s speaking by Zoom from his office in the Bahamas. Off camera, the detritus of someone who more or less lives at work litters his desk: crumpled bills from the U.S. and Hong Kong, nine tubes of lip balm, a stick of deodorant, a 1.5‑pound canister of sea salt labeled “SBF’s salt shaker,” and an open packet of chickpea korma that he had for lunch the day before. The beanbag where his assistant says he sleeps most weekdays is so close he could practically roll onto it.

By WazirX The new cryptocurrency tax policy is now active and has led to a significant drop in trading volumes on major Indian crypto exchanges. Given that the overall market is moving towards the upside, it is likely that the activity has moved towards the grey market to avoid taxation.Pressure on SEC increasesMichael Sonnenshein, the CEO of the world’s largest digital asset management firm Grayscale, mentioned in an interview that it might sue the SEC if its application to convert its Bitcoin trust into a Bitcoin ETF is rejected. This comment might stem out of frustration as Grayscale’s GBTC, which has over 30.6 billion dollars in AUM, has been trading at a discount of approximately 25 per cent from its NAV (net asset value).

After years of back-and-forth, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration announced a 30% tax on income from digital assets from April 1, making it costlier to trade and bringing such transactions at par with activities like horse racing and lotteries. It had earlier planned to come up with a legislation to make the government’s stand clear on the matter. A global uniform approach on cryptocurrencies is needed and steps by one nation will not be sufficient, Modi said in his address to the World Economic Forum in January.

crypto world was rocked by one of the largest hacks in Web3 history with about $625 million exploit from Ronin — the blockchain to the wildly popular Axie Infinity play-to-earn game. Axie developer Sky Mavis announced in a blog post that the exploit resulted in losses of over 173,600 Ether and 25.5 million USD Coins, a stablecoin pegged to the US Dollar, total worth more than $625 million by then. Recently, there has been a sharp spike in the digital thievery and hacks, parallel to the interest in the cryptocurrency. The new age technology is hosting a number of tech savvy thieves.

Giottus is among India’s top-rated crypto exchanges and is an all-in-one crypto investment platform that is changing the way Indian investors trade their virtual digital assets. Giottus investors on the platform will be able to make unlimited trades with Indian currency pairs in this four-day window without worrying about the fees. Fees of crypto-crypto trades will continue to be at the prevailing rates with all trades being zero fees on Bitcoin (BTC) and Tether (USDT) pairs for market markers.

Bank Leumi will become the first Israeli bank to enable cryptocurrency trading, its digital platform Pepper Invest said on Thursday after partnering with U.S. blockchain firm Paxos. It said the new service will allow Pepper Invest customers to buy, hold and sell cryptocurrencies — limited to Bitcoin and Ethereum, for now — in transactions worth at least 50 shekels ($15.49). The statement gave no launch date, saying regulatory approval is pending. Leumi is one of Israel's two largest banks.

digital assets from being used to pay for goods and services from April 1, the market regulator said on Wednesday. The move was in line with earlier discussions between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Bank of Thailand (BOT) on a need to regulate such activity by digital asset business operators as it could impact the country's financial stability and overall economy, the SEC said in a statement. Digital asset business operators that provide such services must comply with the new rules within 30 days from the effective date, it said.

El Salvador is seeking support from cryptocurrency exchange Binance for its implementation of bitcoin as legal tender and the issuance of bitcoin bonds, the Central American country's ambassador to the United States said on Wednesday. Binance Chief Executive Officer Changpeng Zhao is visiting El Salvador and plans to meet President Nayib Bukele on Thursday, ambassador Milena Mayorga told reporters. Mayorga said Zhao's visit was a vote of confidence in Bukele's decision to adopt bitcoin as legal tender last September, as well as its plan to issue bitcoin-backed bonds.

The Central American government had scheduled the launch of the $1 billion bond between 15-20 March, but the war between Russia and Ukraine and volatility of the cryptocurrency prompted authorities to change the date. The launch could be postponed until September as bitcoin has swooned since hitting a record high above $67,500 in early November. It lost almost half its value by Jan. 22, and traded at $42,609 on Tuesday, according to Refinitiv Eikon data.

By Analytics Team, Giottus Crypto ExchangeBitcoin (BTC) managed to reverse its losses mid-week and gained 7% last week as the interest rate hike by US Federal Reserve has had a minimal effect on the market. BTC is currently trading near $41,700 with Ethereum (ETH) inching towards $3,000 with a 14% weekly gain. The breakout story of the week belongs to ApeCoin (APE), the token that powers APE NFT ecosystem. The newly launched token is already amongst the top 40 cryptocurrencies by market cap after high volumes of trade in its first week.

Herat, Afghanistan: In the middle of a bazaar in western Afghanistan, Arezo Akrimi takes out her smartphone and, after a few taps of the screen, changes some cryptocurrency for a bundle of hard cash. Arezo, 19, is one of a hundred students in Herat receiving around $200 a month in cryptocurrency since September thanks to an American NGO Code To Inspire. This sum, which she converts at a bureau de change into Afghanis, is crucial for the rent and to help feed her family of six.

crypto exchange by trading volume, has confirmed in an undertaking to the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) that it would stop opening new accounts for users in the Canadian province, the regulator said on Thursday. The dispute between Binance and OSC started in June last year, when the exchange announced its decision to quit Ontario after a regulatory crackdown on crypto exchanges in the province for allegedly failing to meet securities laws. However, in December, Binance notified investors that it was allowed to continue its operations in Ontario while still being unregistered in the province, the OSC said.

Marwadi Financial Services has launched Crypto Connect, a dedicated research desk, designed to apprise Indians on virtual digital assets. Through its new product launch, the Mumbai-based brokerage will provide a platform where individuals will have easy access to information and research on cryptos. Keeping knowledge at the focus, the brokerage has clarified that it will not give any recommendations for buying or selling particular crypto and the concerned platform will focus on research and in-depth information only.