Africa recorded the highest median stablecoin-to-fiat conversion spreads among tracked regions in January, according to data observed by payments infrastructure company Borderless.xyz, covering 66 currency corridors and nearly 94,000 rate observations. The regional median spread was 299 basis points, or about 3%, compared with about 1.3% in Latin America and 0.07% in Asia. In Africa,
Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), the country’s central bank, said on Wednesday that its Digital Asset Innovation Hub (DAIH) is piloting three regulatory sandbox programs to research and develop stablecoins and tokenized bank deposits. BNM’s initiatives center around using ringgit stablecoins, the fiat currency of Malaysia, for cross-border settlement and developing tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), according
Hong Kong — Tokenization is gaining traction, but its success depends less on market hype and more on real-world utility, say executives from Ondo Finance and Securitize. “There’s no shortage of firms, of issuers, of companies that are interested in tokenizing,” said Graham Ferguson, head of ecosystem at Securitize, during a panel discussion at Consensus
The mood among top venture capitalists at Consensus Hong Kong was not retreat, but recalibration, as the crypto market experienced a prolonged downturn. Hasseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly, described today’s venture market as a “barbell:” On one side, proven verticals compounding at scale; on the other, a narrow set of high-risk, next-generation bets. “There’s
After crashing throughout the week, bitcoin BTC$65,997.99 bottomed late last Thursday at $60,000 before a mammoth Friday rally took the price nearly 20% higher to just shy of $72,000. That bounce, however, is looking more and more like the “dead cat” type. In mid-morning U.S. trade, bitcoin is down sharply yet again, trading just below
Network News ROBINHOOD UNVEILS BLOCKCHAIN: Robinhood debuted the public testnet for its Ethereum layer-2 blockchain with plans for broader introduction later this year as the brokerage app aims to move more trading activity onchain. The new network, called Robinhood Chain, is built on Arbitrum and is designed to support tokenized real-world assets, including equities and
The intersection of crypto and artificial intelligence (AI) has entered a quieter, more selective phase, according to two prominent venture capitalists. Anand Iyer of Canonical Crypto and Kelvin Koh of Spartan Group described the current climate as a post-hype moment for decentralized AI protocols, with capital and talent shifting toward more focused, utility-driven applications during
CoinDesk Indices presents its daily market update, highlighting the performance of leaders and laggards in the CoinDesk 20 Index. The CoinDesk 20 is currently trading at 1909.89, down 2.5% (-49.09) since 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday. None of the 20 assets are trading higher. Leaders: BCH (-0.5%) and UNI (-1.2%). Laggards: APT (-4.1%) and BNB
Goldman Sachs warns a hotter CPI could push the Fed back to a hawkish stance, jolting rate‑cut bets and pressuring Bitcoin and major altcoins. Summary Goldman Sachs’ Kay Haigh says resilient growth will push the Fed’s focus back toward inflation risks, not just jobs data. A stronger‑than‑expected CPI on Friday could cut the odds of
South Korea is among the beneficiaries of the growing demand for semiconductors as AI continues to take shape globally. The country has set new records, with exports surging by more than 40% in early February. South Korea’s exports soared to new heights in early February following the unprecedented surge in semiconductor demand worldwide. Data from