Month: January 2026

South Korea Tightens Crypto Licensing, Expands Shareholder Checks

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South Korea’s National Assembly has approved an overhaul of the country’s crypto licensing regime, tightening entry requirements for virtual asset service providers (VASPs) and expanding scrutiny to include controlling shareholders. On Thursday, lawmakers passed an amendment to the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information, a cornerstone of Korea’s Anti-Money Laundering (AML) framework for digital assets. The committee substitute bill was approved at a plenary session and is expected to take effect six months after the law is enacted. The new rules widen background checks for crypto firms…

Bybit Launches Retail Bank Accounts With Personal IBANs

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Bybit, one of the world’s biggest crypto exchanges by trading volume, plans to launch retail banking services on its platform starting in February, the company said Thursday. Bybit unveiled the product, “My Bank powered by Bybit,” during a live online keynote on Thursday. Bybit CEO Ben Zhou said the service will offer users a personal IBAN (international bank account number), allowing them to send and receive funds across banks in multiple currencies, with US dollar transfers supported at launch. The move marks Bybit’s latest effort to expand beyond crypto trading,…

Hang Seng Taps Ethereum for Planned Tokenized Gold Fund Units

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Hang Seng Investment Management has rolled out a new physically backed gold exchange-traded fund (ETF) in Hong Kong, with an option for future tokenized access to the asset. The Hang Seng Gold ETF, which began trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Thursday under stock code 3170, is designed to track the LBMA Gold Price AM, the widely used morning benchmark set in London. The fund is structured as a passive ETF and holds physical gold bars that meet London Bullion Market Association good delivery standards, according to product…

How Low Can ETH Price Go in February?

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ETH price charts confirmed a triangle breakdown, shifting the near-term bias lower and putting $2,250 in focus if sellers stay in control. Ether (ETH) is now more than 14% below its local peak near $3,400, underscoring the sellers’ tenacity above $3,000. A bearish technical setup suggests the pressure may extend into February. Key takeaways: ETH fell back below $3,000, confirming a triangle breakdown that targets $2,250. The bearish scenario can be avoided if ETH breaks above a multimonth moving average resistance. ETH/USD daily chart. Source: TradingView Ether in textbook symmetrical…

Bitcoin Rangebound As Traders Manage Risk Via Options

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High Bitcoin options volumes indicate there is still significant interest and capital present in crypto derivatives markets, according to derivatives exchange Deribit, but risk is now being carefully managed, which could explain Bitcoin’s recent price movements. Bitcoin trading near $90,000 right now “looks a lot clearer when you view it through positioning rather than just price,” the Coinbase-owned derivatives exchange said on Wednesday. Bitcoin (BTC) appears to be stuck due to concentrated options open interest (OI) around current strike prices for the large Jan. 30 expiry, it added. This means…

UAE’s First Central Bank‑Registered US Dollar Stablecoin Launches

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Abu Dhabi-based Universal Digital has launched USDU, the first US dollar‑backed stablecoin to be registered by the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE) as a Foreign Payment Token under the Payment Token Services Regulation (PTSR), the company said. According to a release shared with Cointelegraph, the registration makes Universal the UAE’s first Foreign Payment Token Issuer and creates a clear, regulated US dollar‑denominated settlement option for digital assets in the UAE. Juha Viitala, a senior executive officer of Universal, told Cointelegraph that the PTSR had allowed a transition…

AI-Enabled Crypto Scams Surge 500% as Fraud Goes Industrial

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The use of large language models in scams increased fivefold in 2025, according to TRM Labs, as fraudsters leveraged the technology to boost outreach, make scams more convincing, and launch them at scale.  It comes as $35 billion in cryptocurrency was sent to scammer addresses globally last year, a slight decrease from $38 billion in the previous year, TRM Labs said in its 2026 crypto crime report on Wednesday.   “Large language models (LLMs) enable scams to cross language and cultural contexts with less friction, while AI-generated images, voice cloning, and…

Sygnum Posts 8.9% Returns In Market-Neutral Bitcoin Fund, Raises 750 BTC

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Cryptocurrency banking group Sygnum said its market-neutral Bitcoin fund posted an annualized return of 8.9% in the fourth quarter of 2025, highlighting growing institutional demand for yield-focused crypto strategies amid volatile prices. Sygnum on Wednesday also announced seed-phase completion of its Starboard Sygnum BTC Alpha Fund, which attracted more than 750 Bitcoin (BTC) from professional and institutional investors in just four months following its October 2025 launch. Sygnum said the fund reflects a broader shift among institutional investors toward structured Bitcoin products that aim to produce steady returns while maintaining…

Ethereum Exchange Balances Fall as Staking Activity Accelerates

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Ether held on crypto exchanges has declined over the last six months as the price of Ether has held steady, while holders are continuing to participate in staking, according to Santiment. In an X post on Tuesday, Santiment shared data from Sanbase showing that after July saw the highest amount of Ether (ETH) on exchanges with 12.31 million tokens, the amount has steadily declined to 8.15 million. Santiment analysts predict that the amount of Ether on exchanges could continue to decline as price movements remain muted and more ETH is…

XRP ‘Millionaire’ Wallets Ramp Up In An ‘Encouraging Sign’

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The number of XRP wallets holding more than 1 million tokens has been gradually increasing since the start of the year and could bode well for the asset’s long-term prospects, according to crypto analytics platform Santiment. “XRP’s price is down a modest -4% since the start of 2026, but its amount of ‘millionaire’ wallets are rising for the first time since September,” Santiment said in a post on Wednesday. Crypto traders often track large-holder accumulation, using it as a signal for where the asset’s price could head in the future. …