UAE initiates landmark cross-border digital dirham payment

HKX management has advised Hong Kong resident users of the platform to withdraw assets following the company’s decision to halt operations in Hong Kong.  The company publicized its decision on July 18, making the following statement on its website: “We would like to inform you that our management team has, after careful consideration, decided to withdraw our application for the Type 1 and Type 7 licenses under the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap. 571) and the virtual asset service provider license under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance (Cap. 615).”Photo by Zhe ZHANG on UnsplashCompliance strugglesHKX’s exit from Hong Kong is the latest in a series of crypto exchange withdrawals from the Chinese autonomous territory. Other exchanges such as OKX, KuCoin, Gate.io and Binance had all bowed out back in May.  HKX initially applied for a Hong Kong license in February. However, like many others, the exchange failed to comply with Hong Kong’s regulatory requirements. While Hong Kong has been making a concerted effort to establish a regulatory framework and licensing system in order to create the conditions for it to become a crypto hub, it has also been grappling with making regulations strict enough to stamp out fraud in the wake of the JPEX exchange scandal. With that, it appears that many exchanges are finding the regulatory requirements difficult to live with. Originally, 24 exchanges had applied for a virtual asset trading platform (VATP) license. As it stands today, 12 of those original applicants have dropped out, with one more having its application returned with no clarity emerging as to the reason why. HKX has suspended new user registrations. The company’s management has not suggested that they will reapply for a license and reboot the service at a later stage. The company had flagged its intentions back in May, suspending trading and deposit services on May 29. OKX announced on May 24 that it was withdrawing from the Hong Kong market, citing a review of its business strategy. Around the same timeframe, Gate.io withdrew from the market in Hong Kong having failed to achieve compliance in accordance with the new licensing requirements.  Notwithstanding that outcome, the firm suggested that it planned to revamp its platform in line with the Chinese autonomous territory’s licensing requirements, and return to the market once that had been achieved. In a notice posted to its website on May 22, it stated: “Gate.HK is actively working on the aforementioned overhaul. We plan to resume our business in Hong Kong in the future and contribute to the virtual asset ecosystem after obtaining the relevant licenses.” That overhaul has yet to be completed as right now, the platform only allows the withdrawal of funds by its previous Hong Kong-based customers. Back in May 2023, Eddie Yue, the CEO of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, suggested that there would be no light touch regulation in Hong Kong. HashKey Exchange, alongside OSL, was the first business to secure licensing under the new framework. In April, HasKey CEO Livio Weng told the Financial Times that these regulations block access to overseas investors while the local market in Hong Kong isn’t very big. It emerged in recent weeks that Hong Kong regulators are reviewing whether crypto regulation is “excessively stringent.” 

Upbit Launches “Experimental Lab” for Users to View Investment PerformanceDunamu, the fintech company operating South Korea’s leading crypto exchange Upbit, announced on Wednesday that Upbit has added a new feature called the Experimental Lab, which allows users to try out new functions before their official release.“Through the Experimental Lab, we will progressively introduce various features and actively gather user feedback to enhance our service experience,” the exchange said.Photo by Gilles Lambert on UnsplashEmpowering insightful investmentThe first feature unveiled through the Experimental Lab allows users to view the statistics of their investment performance — in other words, their profits and losses — for any given timeframe, all in one place. This includes cumulative return rates, the average amount of money they invested, and more. This is one of the most frequently requested updates, according to the exchange.The feature also provides information on three types of returns: simple return rate, time-weighted return rate, and money-weighted return rate.Simple return rate calculates the actual gains and losses relative to a user’s initial investment amount. Time-weighted return rate calculates an account’s performance over a specific period while ignoring the effects of external cash flows, such as timing and size. On the other hand, money-weighted return rate calculates investment performance while factoring in changes in external cash flows.Users interested in trying out Experimental Lab can find it in the “More” tab on the Upbit mobile app or the “My” tab on the PC site located at the bottom right corner of the page.Customer-centered philosophyThis move aligns with Upbit’s commitment to providing a better service experience by incorporating user feedback into their feature development and updating processes.

Antpool overtakes Foundry as largest bitcoin mining poolAntpool, a Singapore-headquartered open access mining pool that supports ten cryptocurrencies, has recently surpassed Foundry USA to become the foremost bitcoin mining pool in terms of monthly blocks mined.That’s according to a report published by TheMinerMag, a bitcoin mining industry publication run by New York public relations firm BlocksBridge Consulting.This development indicates a shift in bitcoin mining pool dynamics since January 2022. According to Bitcoin network data, Antpool mined 1,219 blocks in November, slightly edging out Foundry USA’s 1,216 blocks. The total rewards for Antpool’s miner clients reached 8,672 BTC, excluding the 83.6 BTC designated for refunds.Photo by Norman Wozny on UnsplashBitmain affiliateAntPool is an affiliate company of leading crypto mining equipment manufacturer, Bitmain. This surge in Antpool’s hashrate aligns with Bitmain’s substantial importation of over 4,800 metric tons of Antminer S19XP and S19XP Hydro to its U.S. subsidiary in Georgia between June and November. These imports have contributed to an estimated total hashrate exceeding 37 EH/s. The exact activation status of Bitmain’s imported hashrate and whether it is utilized for its own purposes, remains unclear.Foundry USA had previously held the leading position in mining pools since early 2022, benefiting from the rise of North American mining operations following China’s crackdown in 2021. While Antpool consistently secured the second position, its hashrate began closing the gap on Foundry USA around June this year.China vs. U.S. competitive dynamicThe two companies dominate bitcoin mining. With one having a parent company headquartered in China and the other being U.S.-centric, their positioning in terms of overall blocks mined is being seen by some as a reflection of competition between entities in China and the United States in terms of bitcoin mining dominance. Addressing that dynamic in response to CoinDesk recently, CryptoQuant Web3 Analyst Bradley Park wrote:“China is aggressively mining ahead of the approval of a Bitcoin ETF. As the Bitcoin halving nears, I anticipate a competitive surge between China and the US in mining machine productivity. This is because the unit cost of mining Bitcoin is likely to escalate due to increasing power expenses and rising mining difficulty.”The bitcoin hashrate has been climbing continuously throughout 2023, reaching new all-time highs along the way.It’s worth noting that despite Antpool’s dominance in blocks mined, data from BTC.com reveals that the company’s self-reported real-time hashrate consistently lags behind Foundry USA’s over the past three months. The cause of this discrepancy remains uncertain, raising questions about variance or reporting errors affecting Antpool’s real-time hashrate.Bitmain established Antpool in 2014, and it was later spun out of Bitmain to become an independent entity in 2021. Meanwhile, Foundry is a wholly owned subsidiary of Digital Currency Group (DCG). Both Bitmain and DCG have been facing financial challenges over the course of the past year.In a separate development, Foundry took to social media platform X on Thursday to confirm that it is discontinuing support for The Graph protocol, Axelar Network, Polkadot and Flow. The firm said that the changes were decided upon in order to better align the business with its strategic business goals.