In the world of cryptocurrency, joining projects early may be beneficial. For example, investors who bought Bitcoin (BTC) in 2011 are now reaping the benefits of their investment. They discovered something new, saw its potential and stuck with it. With cryptocurrency’s growing worldwide adoption comes a new fundraising platform: the crypto launchpad. Launchpads allow crypto investors to discover and invest in early-stage crypto projects before they are listed publicly. As a result, they can buy tokens for cheap and profit more when their value increases. In recent years, crypto has enjoyed a significant rise in popularity despite market volatility which …

His Majesty’s Treasury published a long-anticipated consultation paper for the United Kingdom's upcoming crypto regulation. The extensive 80-page document covers a broad range of topics, from the troubles of algorithmic stablecoins to nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and initial coin offerings (ICOs). As stated by the HM Treasury, the proposals seek to place the U.K.’s financial services sector at the forefront of crypto and thus avoid the hardline control measures, which have gained momentum globally amid the crypto winter. The Treasury announced that there won’t be a separate regulatory regime for crypto as it would fall under the framework of the U.K.’s …

As one of the world’s pioneers in adopting its own central bank digital currency (CBDC), Nigeria declares its readiness to accept the existence of private stablecoins as well. The necessity to create a legal framework for stablecoins is marked in the latest central bank strategy paper. Published under the headline “Nigeria Payments System Vision 2025”, the 83-page report from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) considers the development of a regulatory framework for the potential implementation of a stablecoin. According to the document, there is a need to develop a framework, given that stablecoins are likely to become a successful …

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a complaint against Thor Technologies and its cofounder and CEO David Chin in U.S. District Court in San Francisco on Dec. 21. The SEC claimed that Thor’s 2018 initial coin offering (ICO) constituted an unregistered securities sale under the Securities Act of 1933. Thor Technologies raised $2.6 million from 1,600 investors between March and May 2018 through the sale of its Thor (THOR) coin. About 200 of the 1,600 investors lived in the United States. Not all of them were accredited investors. The SEC claimed in the suit that the sale …

In the midst of the 2018 crypto price slump, a young entrepreneur invested all her funds and personal money into a prototype that combined fintech and crypto services to offer virtual debit cards and crypto payment services for subscriptions. But because it was a bear market, no one wanted to invest the capital to put the solution on the market. In the latest episode of Cointelegraph’s “Crypto Stories” series, Josipa Majic explains how she and her partners built a crypto company during a bear market at a time when investors were fleeing the crypto space. “Everyone said no the moment …

The South Korean central bank has indicated that initial coin offerings (ICOs) will be allowed under the Digital Assets Framework Act, according to a local news report. That comprehensive legislation is expected to be introduced in 2023 and implemented the following year. The Bank of Korea (BOK) discussed ICOs in comments to a Korean translation released Monday of the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) legislation. The BOK stated that the MiCA regulatory package protected users and investors without hindering innovation. “A balanced approach is needed to foster a sound market through the introduction of a crypto asset regulatory system …

Are cryptocurrency games innocent fun? Or are they Ponzi schemes facing an imminent crackdown by regulators in the United States? Tokens related to cryptocurrency games — known colloquially as “GameFi” — were worth a cumulative total of nearly $10 billion as of mid-August, give or take a few billion. (The number may vary depending on whether you want to include partially finished projects, how you count the number of tokens that projects technically have in circulation, and so on.) In that sense, whether the games are legal is a $10 billion question that few investors have considered. And that’s an …

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, has filed a complaint related to a 2017 initial coin offering from a blockchain project originally developed by the Walt Disney Company. In a Tuesday notice, the SEC said it had charged Dragonchain, the Dragonchain Foundation, the Dragon Company, and their founder John Joseph Roets for raising $16.5 million in a presale and initial coin offering from 2017. According to the financial regulator, Roets, Dragonchain, and the Dragonchain Foundation allegedly conducted an unregistered offering of the blockchain’s DRGN tokens in an August 2017 presale and an October and November 2017 ICO, …

Ether (ETH) is down 25% in just a month and even the recent upgrade to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus on the Ropsten testnet failed to move the altcoin’s price. The merge is meant to address energy-use issues and open a path for higher transaction output, but the actual full transition for the Ethereum network is not expected until later in the year. Ethereum developer Parithosh Jayanthi also noted that some bugs on the PoS implementation emerged, but those should be fixed over the coming weeks. Luckily for Ethereum, two of its top competitors recently faced challenges of their own. The …

Cardano-based accelerator program Genius X has seen more than $105 million worth of ADA delegated to its initial stake pool offering (ISPO). This comes after the firm’s decentralized automated market maker and liquidity management protocol Genius Yield completed its ISPO on May 10, with over 14,500 delegators staking 270 million Cardano (ADA) across four official stake pools, making it one of the biggest ISPOs within the Cardano ecosystem. Genius Yield is a Cardano-based decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol that features a decentralized exchange with an order book. It integrates a liquidity provision model, which aims to mitigate market risk and eliminate …

The administration of the newly-elected President of South Korea, Yoon Suk-yeol, wastes no time in his drive to maintain the country’s stature as a center for innovation, as South Korea hopes to roll out comprehensive crypto legislation in 2023 and institutionalize the sector by 2024. On Wednesday, South Korean newspaper Kukmin, citing a leaked governmental document, reported that the administration is looking to introduce the Digital Asset Basic Act (DABA) in the next year and to follow it up with more legislation by 2024. The bill is part of the 110 policy aims that the new president introduced earlier this …

For years, cryptocurrency advocates have touted the world-changing capability of digital currency and blockchain technology. Yet with the passing of each market cycle, new projects come and go, and the promised utility of these “real-world use case” projects fails to satisfy. While a majority of tokens promise to solve real-world problems, only a few achieve this, and the others are mere speculative investments. Here’s a look at the three things cryptocurrency investors can actually “do” with their coins. Lending Perhaps the simplest use case offered to cryptocurrency holders is also one of the oldest monetary applications in finance: lending. Ever …