Cryptocurrency news in May
The headlines here provide a collection of May 2021’s crypto news headlines, covering cryptocurrency and digital currency technologies.
The May 2021 crypto news summary brings together items on subjects including PayPal’s reported steps towards a stablecoin, China’s ban on crypto services, Vietnam’s crypto-involved gaming startups, EBay’s moves towards NFT sales, and many more.
The headline listing provides a bullet-point overview of developments in the crypto world, focusing on Asia where applicable and also covering wider digital currency-related news, aiming to provide a larger context around crypto, CBDC, and digital currency technology.
Cryptocurrency news headlines are also part of Startup News Asia’s daily tech updates, sent via mobile app and social media
- MoneyGram transfer giant to allow customers to buy and sell bitcoin for cash at 12K US retail locations in partnership with Coinme
- Mastercard investing in smart contract tech to pair with central bank digital currencies, aiming to help governments evaluate the utility of CBDCs beyond payments
- Download: Digital Dollar Project – Exploring a United States Central Bank Digital Currency – Proposed Pilot Programs (pdf)
- The Digital Dollar Project – Exploring a US Central Bank Digital Currency, from Accenture and The Digital Dollar Foundation (pdf)
- CBDCs: “It is not obvious that new forms of private money that reference fiat currency, like stablecoins, can carry the same level of protection as bank deposits or fiat currency”
- A video-based round-up of 16 recent cryptocurrency and digital currency news headlines, QR coded to link you to the online articles behind each headline
- Download: Crypto Theses For 2021 – Key trends, people, companies and projects across Crypto, Bitcoin and Ethereum (pdf)
- Super Crypto Conference 2021, inaugural virtual event from Super Crypto News, set for June 17th, covering all things blockchain and cryptocurrency-related
- Download: Asia’s Crypto Landscape, the key exchanges, funds and market makers that define crypto in China, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and SE Asia (pdf)
- Jay-Z and Andreessen Horowitz back $19M investment in Bitski, platform simplifying creation, purchase and sale of non-fungible tokens
- PayPal reportedly exploring developing its own partnership-driven stablecoin, meeting with protocol developers and blockchain firms
- WeWork office-sharing major to accept payments in cryptocurrencies, partnering with Coinbase and Bitpay payment app
- 3rd Global Cryptoasset Benchmarking Study results, from the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (pdf)
- Facebook-backed Diem, digital currency project formerly known as Libra, to now operate from the US, withdrawing application for Swiss payment licence
- Available to download now: The Chainalysis 2021 Crypto Crime Report
- Russian artists join to sell NFTs to support Meduza, independent media outlet spuriously designated a ‘foreign agent’
- PayPal payments giant to allow users to withdraw cryptocurrency to off-platform third-party wallets
- Central Bank of Bahrain to pilot digital currency settlement project, partnering with JP Morgan and local Bank ABC, focusing on instant cross-border payments
- MoneyGram transfer giant to allow customers to buy and sell bitcoin for cash at 12K US retail locations in partnership with Coinme
- China’s share of Bitcoin hash rate reportedly diminishing, likely in part due to expected increase in crypto and mining-related regulations and gov’t scrutiny
- China: Gov’t bans financial institutions and payment companies from providing services around cryptocurrency transactions, warning investors against speculative trading
- China: “If you have bitcoin or ethereum, and I want to buy some, I can just send money to you through banks. Just don’t write down anything like bitcoin or ethereum”
- A brief look at the opportunities, and challenges, presented to financial institutions by cryptocurrency and decentralized finance
- IndiaTech, industry association representing startup ecosystem founders and investors, lays out proposed 5-point policy framework aimed at cryptocurrency regulation
- South Korea: Bank association advises members to audit altcoins to gauge trading capacity of exchanges, aiming to identify and manage trading risk presented by minor cryptocurrencies
- South Korea: Gameper launches Bitro P2P cryptocurrency trading app, with payment methods including bank transfer, mobile gift cards, e-cards and mobile points
- “NFTs are a very real opportunity for brands and retailers…from authenticating tangible goods to reducing friction in e-commerce to generating new revenue through virtual sales.”
- Singapore’s Alpha Impact cryptocurrency platform gains $3.1M via private token sale, with trading-copy platform allowing users to mimic more experienced traders
- Singapore’s DBS bank now offers offers clients tokenization, trading and custody services for Bitcoin, Ether, Bitcoin Cash and XRP
- Thailand: Opening new cryptocurrency accounts may require in-person machine verification of identity once new Anti-Money Laundering Office regulation kicks in
- Vietnam: A brief overview of the country’s startups looking at combining gaming with cryptocurrencies
- ICYMI: Switzerland’s software giant Temenos giving more than 3K client banks ability to offer crypto features to customers via Taurus crypto/blockchain firm partnership
- China: Beijing launches check on data centres involved in cryptocurrency mining to measure energy consumption, seeking amount and share of power consumed by mining
- India: Bitex cryptocurrency exchange launches Bitex Coin, its own utility token, to facilitate trading, addressing high deposit/withdrawal fees, custody of fiat and fiat withdrawal
- ICYMI: Ebay enables sale of non-fungible tokens for digital collectibles like trading cards, images or video clips, becoming the first e-commerce company to tap into NFTs
- ICYMI: Instagram to host invite-only panel for NFT creators as part of first ‘Creator Week’
- China: Industrial and Commercial Bank, one of world’s largest banks by assets, enables public users to activate CBDC wallet in its mobile app, widening ‘digital yuan’ adoption
- India: PhonePe payments company to acquire IndusOS app store for $60M, potentially aiming to integrate with its own in-app platform, PhonePe Switch
- Download: State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money 2021, from GSMA (pdf)
- Philippines: Bayad bills payment firm gains central bank Electronic Money Issuer license, allowing users to soon be able to pay over 1000 different bills by app
- An interview intro to OMO, gateway for SE Asia’s first-time retail crypto investors, and OMO Finance, for more experienced crypto investors, built on Taiwan’s Dapp Pocket tech
- Australia: An intro to Zed Run, digital horse racing platform featuring horses in NFT form, allowing users to own, race, even breed them as in the physical world
- South Korea: Samsung expands support for blockchain-based trading of virtual assets on Galaxy handsets, adding connectivity for select cold hardware wallets
- South Korea’s Bloom Technology to partner IDCM Asia cryptocurrency trading platform to establish blockchain-based bank in Dubai
- ICYMI: Mastercard New Payments Index infographic, drawn from survey results gained from over 15K consumers across 18 markets globally
- Philippines: Community in rural Nueva Ecija comes together to earn an income in NFTs by playing Sky Mavis’ Axie Infinity, generating blockchain-based crypto rewards
Asia’s tech news daily
The Startup News Asia mobile app gives you Asia’s tech news today, delivering technology headlines from across South & SE Asia and Oceania, direct to your mobile phone – you can get it on Google Play:
ASIA’S TECHnology NEWS, DAILY via SOCIAL MEDIA
Startup News Asia’s tech news is also pushed out, all day, every day, on the major social media platforms:
• Startup News Asia’s tech news daily on Twitter
• Startup News Asia’s tech news daily on Facebook
• Startup News Asia’s tech news daily on LinkedIn
And don’t forget to connect with Startup News Asia’s founder on LinkedIn: