Author: NBTC

Welcome to the Asia Pacific Morning Brief—your essential digest of overnight crypto developments shaping regional markets and global sentiment. Grab a green tea and watch this space. Vietnam launches an international financial center with a crypto exchange pilot program by year-end. Bakkt enters Japan with bitcoin.jp rebrand. Chainlink launches US equities data. Nomura’s Dubai derivatives license secured. Vietnam to Pilot Crypto-Asset Exchange at International Financial Center Vietnam advances crypto regulation as Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh announced the International Financial Center will be operational by year-end 2025, featuring digital asset trading platforms. Deputy Governor Pham Tien Dung revealed Vietnam has…

Former Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, who lost his US Senate seat in 2024 to Republican Bernie Moreno amid more than $40 million in spending backed by the crypto industry, has launched an election bid for 2026. In a Saturday notice, Brown said he will run for Republican Senator Jon Husted’s seat in the 2026 US midterm elections — Moreno, who defeated Brown in 2024, won’t be up for reelection until 2030. The former senator, who was one of the more outspoken voices on crypto in the previous session of Congress, lost to Moreno with more than 46% of the vote…

The Government of India is taking blockchain technology into some of the country’s most critical systems, including land records, supply chains, and digital commerce. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has positioned blockchain not as a side project but as part of the core digital infrastructure, supported by the National Blockchain Framework and the Vishvasya-Blockchain Technology Stack. Few countries have attempted this level of adoption, and India’s approach signals long-term intent. National Blockchain Framework and Vishvasya Tech Stack On the blockchain front, the National Blockchain Framework, launched last year, is now supported by the Vishvasya-Blockchain Technology Stack, essentially a…

Ethereum (ETH) briefly tested the $5,000 level today, continuing its strong uptrend in recent days. At the time of writing, ETH is trading at $4,470.96, up 4.12% intraday, bringing its market capitalization to $539.92 billion. This level is just 8.05% away from its all-time high of $4,891.70 recorded in November 2021. Chart showing the rise in ETH price. According to market data, 24-hour trading volume increased by 7.59% to $161.06 billion, while open interest in futures increased by 5.38% to $61.34 billion. A total of $420.31 million in positions were liquidated in the crypto market over the past 24 hours.…

A month after halting the second phase of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot, South Korea’s central bank is shifting its focus to stablecoins and other digital asset developments. In the latest development, it has launched a new committee to monitor the market and repurposed its CBDC team to explore the wider digital currency sector. The team was previously called the “Digital Currency Research Lab” and operated under the Financial Settlement Bureau (FSB), which oversees payment and settlement systems within the Bank of Korea (BOK). It will now be known as the Digital Currency Team, dropping “Research” to indicate…

While the SEC’s extended review of Truth Social’s Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF is procedural, it can be seen as a high-stakes balancing act for an agency caught between crypto innovation and politics. With Trump’s financial interests in the mix, the agency faces unprecedented scrutiny over its next move. Summary SEC delays ruling on Truth Social’s Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF to October 8. Routine extension gains weight due to Trump Media’s involvement and political context. Watchdog group urges rejection, citing conflicts of interest and TMTG’s weak financials. On August 18, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission pushed its deadline to rule…

Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has announced the official listing of the MOCA token. MOCA Token Officially Available for Trading on Kraken MOCA, the utility and governance token of Moca Network, was developed to provide privacy-preserving authentication solutions and blockchain-based interoperability across different industries. Part of the Animoca Brands ecosystem, Moca Network currently serves over 700 million users and over 570 corporate partners. Beyond being a mere token, MOCA aims to provide digital identity security and data sharing reliability for both individuals and businesses. With the listing on Kraken, investors will now have access to MOCA and participate in the governance mechanisms…

Ethereum’s momentous surge continued Tuesday afternoon, with the price of the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap topping $4,500 for the first time since 2021. ETH has surged by 26% over the last week alone, pushing its 30-day gain to over 50%. Compare that to Bitcoin, which is up about 6% on the week and roughly flat over the last month. Traders betting against Ethereum are feeling the pain Tuesday, with over $104 million worth of liquidations on ETH short positions over the past 24 hours, per data from CoinGlass. Ethereum leads all crypto liquidations with about $154 million worth during…

Key Takeaways GameStop isn’t the meme it used to be, according to billionaire Bill Gross. The company recently purchased 4,710 BTC, and its stock price has begun to mirror Bitcoin’s price movements. Legendary investor Bill Gross said GameStop (GME) is shedding its meme stock roots and now “mimics Bitcoin.” The “Bond King” recently told Business Insider that GameStop is “much less volatile” and no longer behaves like a meme stock, though he still considers it “a good candidate for option selling.” According to Gross, GameStop has moved in a pattern similar to Bitcoin. The stock rose in late 2024, dipped…

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker took a swipe at US President Donald Trump for allowing “crypto bros” to guide policy as he signed two new bills to regulate crypto in the state on Monday. “While the Trump Administration is letting crypto bros write federal policy, Illinois is implementing common-sense protections for investors and consumers,” said Governor Pritzker on Monday while approving the legislation. Crypto policy has become divisive on a state level since the Republicans won in a landslide election in November, with some states such as Texas and Arizona fully embracing the industry while others, such as Democrat stronghold Illinois,…