Author: Steven Sahiounie

Hong Kong is rapidly emerging as a crypto powerhouse, as its cryptocurrency-friendly policies continue to draw attention from global businesses in the industry. In recent news, Signum Digital’s security token offering (STO) and subscription platform received approval in principle from the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), highlighting Hong Kong’s potential to be a leading destination for crypto-related businesses. These developments are likely to have a positive impact on the price of Bitcoin, as more businesses flock to Hong Kong, the demand for the cryptocurrency is likely to increase. Additionally, the growing popularity of security tokens, which are built…

The broad-based US dollar failed to stop its previous declines and dropped further as investors worried about contagion and recession after Credit Suisse and First Republic Bank’s shares tumbled. It is worth noting that the fear of contagion caused US banks to seek a record $153 billion in emergency liquidity from the Federal Reserve. Unfortunately, the $54 billion loan for Credit Suisse and the $30 billion lifeline for First Republic did not stop their stock declines. As investors become more concerned about the stability of the existing financial system, they are turning to alternative safe-haven assets like Bitcoin. This underscores…

Credit Suisse Group AG is facing a critical weekend as authorities urge the failing Swiss lender to consider a merger with rival bank UBS AG. However, both banks have shown an unwillingness to merge, and the regulators do not have the power to force the merger. It’s worth noting that over the weekend, Credit Suisse CFO Dixit Joshi and his team will gather to discuss potential futures for the firm from a strategic perspective.  The global financial market has been influenced by this news, which has sparked concerns about the health of the banking industry worldwide, and in Switzerland in…

Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) have seen significant price surges in the last seven days, with Bitcoin soaring by more than 35% and Ethereum by more than 25%. This boost in the crypto market has sparked the interest of investors, who want to know how far these cryptocurrencies can go. The considerable increase in the value of Bitcoin can be attributed to actions aimed at improving the financial system. Moreover, increased investor optimism in the potential of the US decreasing interest rates later this year has also played a role in supporting Bitcoin’s gains. Ethereum, ranked as the second-biggest cryptocurrency in terms of…

UBS reportedly may acquire all or parts of the failing lender, with discussions to be held over the weekend Swiss financial regulators, the Swiss National Bank and the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), are organizing talks between the country’s two largest banks, UBS and Credit Suisse, to discuss a potential merger between the lenders, Bloomberg and Financial Times reported on Friday citing sources. According to the reports, UBS is exploring an acquisition of all or parts of Credit Suisse. The boards of the two banks are also expected to meet separately this weekend to evaluate the idea of a…

Salesforce partnership with the blockchain platform marks another major company’s investment into customer engagement initiatives using Web3 technologies. Customer relationship management (CRM) software company, Salesforce, has partnered with layer 2 blockchain platform Polygon for an NFT-based loyalty program, said Ryan Wyatt, president at Polygon Labs. “Salesforce will help their clients onboard to Polygon with its management platform to help its clients create token-based loyalty programs,” Wyatt Tweeted on Thursday.  The news comes after the enterprise software giant said on March 15 that it is expanding its client services to include management of non-fungible token (NFT) loyalty programs. “Monitor real-time blockchain data from collections…

The group of companies had debts of about $11.6 billion against $4.8 billion in assets, according to a presentation filed by its advisers. Sam Bankman Fried’s crypto empire had a $6.8 billion shortfall in its balance sheet when it filed for bankruptcy last November, according to a presentation filed to the bankruptcy court on Friday. That included a deficit of $10.6 billion in the main FTX.com enterprise and one of $87 million in FTX.US. Sister trading firm Alameda Research had net assets of $2.6 billion, while FTX Ventures had net assets of $1.3 billion. In total, the group of companies had debts of about…

The search comes as the U.S. accelerates actions against the crypto sector in the wake of FTX’s collapse and the shutdown of three crypto-friendly banks. U.S.-based crypto exchange Coinbase is considering setting up a crypto-trading platform overseas and is discussing the move with institutional clients, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the plans. A decision hasn’t been taken on the location for such a trading platform, which comes as U.S. regulators are cracking down on crypto, Bloomberg said. Regulatory action against the sector intensified after November’s collapse of crypto exchange FTX. The recent shutdown of Silvergate Bank, Signature Bank and Silicon Valley…

Omar Awadin, 16, was killed in cold blood by the Israeli occupation forces during a raid on Jenin in the occupied West Bank. The European Union yesterday demanded an immediate investigation into the murder of 16-year-old Palestinian child Omar Awadin by Israeli occupation troops in Jenin, north of the occupied West Bank, as reported by WAFA. In a tweet, the bloc urged for a prompt and open investigation into the child’s murder, underlining that children enjoy special protection under international law. Omar was killed alongside 3 Palestinian youths by the Israeli occupation forces during an Israeli raid on Jenin on March 16. Omar is…

Seoul wants a “complete normalization” of a 2016 military agreement with Tokyo that enables sharing military secrets. South Korea will fully implement a key military intelligence-sharing pact with Japan, a Defense Ministry official told AFP on Saturday, as the two countries move to thaw long-frozen relations. At a summit on Thursday, the neighbors agreed to turn the page on a bitter dispute over Japan’s use of war-time forced labor. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol had flown to Japan to meet with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, the first such summit in 12 years. According to reports, Yoon told Kishida that he wanted a…