Major exchange OKEx suspended crypto withdrawals on Oct. 16. With little information coming from the firm or its CEO Jay Hao in the time since, users have begun demanding answers via Twitter. In an Oct. 20 tweet from Hao, the CEO stated that there had been “no on-chain out-flow” since the exchange announced it had “temporarily suspended” withdrawals on Friday. “Your assets are safe,” said Hao. “We'll do our best to resume withdrawals ASAP.” The exchange reported on Oct. 16 that it had suspended cryptocurrency withdrawals because one of its private key holders was “cooperating with a public security bureau” …

The founder of major global cryptocurrency exchange OKEx has been reportedly questioned by authorities previous to OKEx suspending cryptocurrency withdrawals. OKEx founder Mingxing Xu, also known as Star Xu, has reportedly been questioned by the police, Chinese news agency Caixin reported today. According to the report, the executive was investigated “at least a week ago” and has also been absent from work for some time. When approached for comment on Xu’s participation in a police inquiry, OKEx told Cointelegraph that the exchange is no longer affiliated with OK Group, where Xu is a senior executive, and therefore was not in …

Major crypto asset exchange OKEx has suspended cryptocurrency withdrawals, announcing that one of the holders of its private keys is “currently cooperating with a public security bureau” concerning ongoing “investigations.” The exchange noted that it has been “out of touch” with the key-holder, preventing the "associated authorization" from being completed. OKEx plans to resume digital asset withdrawals “immediately” once the key-holder “is able to authorize the transaction.” Citing its terms of service, OKEx said it had decided to suspend withdrawals but added that the security of its customers’ assets “will not be affected” by the events. Bitcoin (BTC) has fallen …

The Algorand Foundation, the governance and research organization behind major blockchain platform Algorand, is launching a new accelerator program in Europe. Known as “Algorand Europe Accelerator,” the new program intends to support European developers and entrepreneurs looking to build applications on the Algorand platform. Announcing the news on Oct. 15, the Algorand Foundation told Cointelegraph that the new program will launch in collaboration with established Algorand’s investors, Eterna Capital and Borderless Capital. As part of the program, Borderless Capital will distribute $15,000 in upfront seed funding to ten selected projects. Successful initiatives will be eligible for up to $500,000 in …

Major American cryptocurrency exchange Gemini is expanding the company’s business in the Asia-Pacific region with a new high-profile hire. Andy Meehan, a former executive at major American investment bank Morgan Stanley, has joined Gemini as chief compliance officer of the APAC region. Announcing the news on Oct. 7, Gemini executives noted that Meehan will work with regulators to promote smart regulations that drive adoption. Formerly head of legal for Morgan Stanley’s global financial crimes division in the APAC, Meehan will now shape strategy, product and operations of Gemini in the region. The new Gemini CCO will be based in Singapore …

Chainalysis, a major global cryptocurrency analytics firm, is expanding its presence worldwide to embrace more jurisdictions for its crypto investigations. Providing services to federal agencies like the Internal Revenue Service and the FBI, Chainalysis is launching new offices in Singapore and Tokyo to better service customers in the Asia-Pacific region, the company announced on Sept. 27. By establishing the two new offices, Chainalysis is doubling down on its commitment to fully support local crypto businesses, government agencies and financial institutions. The new offices will serve as hubs for sales, professional investigative services, and training, the company’s representative said. Ulisse Dell’Orto, …

Huobi’s decentralized finance consortium, dubbed the Global DeFi Alliance, has welcomed 10 new members — bringing its total membership to 15. The new members comprise DeFi heavyweights Curve Finance, Aave, Synthetix, Balancer, Loopring, Zapper, Zerion, Bitpie, Mykey and CoinGecko. They join founding members Maker Foundation, Compound, NEST Community, dYdX and Huobi DeFi Labs to explore “cross-border collaboration opportunities” and promote the development of the DeFi ecosystem. The Global DeFi Alliance launched one month ago, describing its mission as driving collaboration between decentralized finance projects from both the Western and Eastern hemispheres. “All of the members have greatly contributed to the …

From the Chinese government’s perspective, cryptocurrencies are not considered legal tender; instead, they are categorized under a type of “virtual commodity," but some industry players believe the Blockchain Service Network (BSN) infrastructure can stimulate the development of virtual currencies like a CBDC. During an interview with Cointelegraph, Eden Dhaliwal, Global Managing Director at Conflux Network, a layer-1 blockchain protocol and the only state-endorsed public blockchain project in China, stated that the government of China is highly motivated to launch a CBDC to “dominate the digital commerce landscape and make the economy future-ready.” The BSN is a major blockchain interoperability infrastructure …

The South Asian nation of Bangladesh will soon get its first blockchain remittance system that will allow Bangladeshi expats in Malaysia to instantly transfer wage remittances to their home country. According to a report from The Business Standard, the British national banking service firm Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) today announced the blockchain-based cross-border remittance service for Bangladesh. SCB developed the remittance service in collaboration with the Bangladesh-based mobile banking platform bKash and the Malaysian remittance provider Valyou. It utilizes the blockchain technology of Ant Group, the financial arm of the Chinese business conglomerate Alibaba Group. Ant Group, formerly known as …

Singapore Exchange (SGX), a major investment holding company in Singapore, has issued its first digital bond powered by blockchain technology. As officially announced on Sept. 1, SGX deployed its digital asset issuance platform to conduct a 400 million Singapore dollar ($294 million) 5.5-year public bond issuance for major local food and agri-business company, Olam International. Focused on Asia bond markets, the new digital bond was enabled by cooperation with SGX’s established blockchain partners like HSBC Singapore and investment firm Temasek. As part of the joint initiative, HSBC provided its on-chain payments solution allowing instant settlement in multiple currencies to handle …

New York-based blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis has published new research highlighting there have been up to 200,000 crypto transactions in the past year, worth more than $1 billion between Latin America and Asia. The study Latin America Mitigates Economic Turbulence with Cryptocurrency, analyzed crypto trends in Latin America between July 2019, and June 2020, and shows that banking access issues and the need for remittances are driving unique patterns of cryptocurrency usage, especially in crossborder commercial-related transactions. While North America and Western Europe are the biggest source of fiat remittances to Latin America, East Asia transactions lead the way in …

Eswar Prasad, a professor of Trade Policy at Cornell University and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, believes that even though China’s digital yuan will enhance the renminbi’s role as an international payment currency, it will “hardly put a dent” in the US dollar’s status as the dominant currency. In an opinion piece published in Project Syndicate, Prasad states that the Chinese government should keep reforming the country’s financial markets and remove restrictions on capital flow to put both China’s CBDC and national cross-border payments system in the global sphere to strengthen its adoption. According to the professor, the …