Laser Digital Expands Global Presence with New Tokyo Office

OKX is set to compensate users after its native exchange token, OKB, experienced a rapid 48% flash crash on Tuesday. OKB price fluctuationThe crash occurred within a brief three-minute window, triggered by a series of liquidations resulting from an abnormal price fluctuation. During the event, OKB's diluted market capitalization plummeted by $6.5 billion. At around 9 a.m. GMT on Tuesday, the price of OKB dropped from $46.80 to $25.10, representing a 48% decrease within 15 minutes. However, the token has since recovered, currently trading at $47.63 at the time of writing. The crash led to the triggering of liquidations for large leverage positions, causing a cascading effect on pledged loans, leverage transactions and cross-currency transactions.Photo by Nicholas Cappello on UnsplashCompensation planOKX responded promptly, pledging to fully compensate users for any additional losses incurred due to abnormal liquidation. The exchange aims to launch a specific compensation plan within the next three days, taking into account users who engaged in on-chain trades. In a statement on Tuesday, the platform suggested that it is committed to enhancing "margin position tier rules, risk management controls and liquidation mechanism" to prevent similar issues in the future. The flash crash coincided with a day of notable price swings across cryptocurrency markets, partly driven by the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust's (GBTC) sale of bitcoin to meet investor redemption demands on its exchange-traded fund (ETF). Additionally, the bankrupt crypto exchange FTX has been selling nearly $1 billion worth of GBTC ETF shares recently, further contributing to market volatility. Focusing on complianceOKX has been actively focusing on regulatory compliance in recent times. On Dec. 29, the exchange announced the delisting of several privacy coins, including Monero (XMR), Zcash (ZEC), Dash (DASH) and Horizen (ZEN). Subsequently, on Jan. 2, the platform introduced additional requirements for United Kingdom users to comply with the new Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulations, including the mandatory completion of risk assessment questionnaires before engaging in trading activities. Flash crashes are a common occurrence in cryptocurrency markets, often attributed to thin liquidity distributed across multiple venues. The 2% market depth for OKB indicates that a sell order exceeding $224,000 could potentially trigger another price cascade. Notwithstanding that, oftentimes it can be difficult to pinpoint the precise reason for a flash crash. In 2021 global crypto exchange Kraken experienced a flash crash that saw token prices drop by in excess of 50% over the course of one hour before recovery was achieved. While some suggested it was caused by a technical glitch, Kraken founder Jesse Powell dismissed that notion, pointing instead to the possibility of a large-scale sell-off by a service user. Despite this recent challenge, OKB remains a significant player in the cryptocurrency space, boasting a market cap of $2.8 billion, making it the fourth-largest exchange token in circulation, according to CoinGecko. 

Dunamu, the operator of South Korea’s leading crypto exchange Upbit, announced today that it launched a new crypto price tracking service, Bitcoin-Ethereum Duo Index (Duo Index). The news was reported by the local media outlet Etoday.  The service tracks the two most prominent tokens, Bitcoin and Ethereum, each being the top performer and the runner-up in terms of market capitalization in the crypto asset market. It is a strategy index that equally weights Bitcoin and Ethereum, with their holding ratio updated to 1:1 every month. The weightings of the two cryptocurrencies in the index are subject to an adjustment factor, which is based on their prices. The BTC-ETC Duo Index is currently available on the Upbit Cryptocurrency Index (UBCI) website. Photo by Markus Winkler on UnsplashThe Federal Reserve’s approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs in January has drawn significant attention from many investors, driving up the prices not only of Bitcoin but also Ethereum. Dunamu explained that this heightened interest surrounding Bitcoin and Ethereum is the reason behind its launch of the Duo Index. New tool to boost crypto portfolio’s performance Referencing the Duo Index can help investors estimate their own crypto assets portfolios and boost their performances based on the indicators it offers, including the winning rate of the two coins combined.   The current winning rate of the Duo Index stands at over 58%, which is three percentage points higher than that of the Upbit Market Index (UBMI), which tracks not only Bitcoin and Ethereum but also other altcoins. The high winning rate of the Duo Index demonstrates the bullish sentiment surrounding the two top coins. A Dunamu official stated that the company will continue to keep up with the crypto market trend and further release other strategy indices that would serve the emerging needs of the investors.  

The European Council has banned all transactions within the European Union (EU) involving the Russian Ruble-backed stablecoin A7A5, according to a press release published Oct. 23. The prohibition targets the stablecoin itself, its developer, its Kyrgyzstan-based issuer, and the operator of a platform that facilitates major A7A5 trades. The package also takes aim at Russian crypto exchanges.Photo by Christian Lue on UnsplashAdditional banking restrictionsThis measure is part of a broader set of economic sanctions against sectors the EU stated assist the Russian invasion of Ukraine, including energy, finance, and defense industries. As part of this financial clampdown, the EU will also impose a ban on five additional Russian lenders starting Nov. 12. One of those lenders, Alfa-Bank, recently began offering Bitcoin buying and selling services, according to an X post by journalist Pete Rizzo. The European body said the new crypto measures address Russia’s increasing use of digital assets to circumvent existing sanctions. Russian banks were cut off from the SWIFT international payment system in early 2022, following the onset of the Russo-Ukrainian war. Reports of Russia using cryptocurrency to finance malign activities have surfaced previously. Earlier this month, Sławomir Cenckiewicz, the head of the Polish National Security Bureau (BBN), told the Financial Times that Russia has employed crypto to finance attacks on EU countries. Cenckiewicz said that a network of agents recruited by Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency and uncovered in Poland in 2023 had been substantially funded with cryptocurrency. Reflecting this concern, lawmakers in Poland’s lower house approved a bill in September to strengthen national crypto oversight, a move also expected to help curb Russian funding channels. Cenckiewicz noted that Polish intelligence agencies are closely monitoring the legislation to prevent loopholes that allow foreign actors to support agents using digital assets. Russia’s evolving crypto policyThe EU’s action comes as Russia itself is attempting to refine its own cryptocurrency rules. According to the Moscow Times, Russia's central bank wants to limit cryptocurrency use strictly to cross-border payments within an experimental legal regime (ELR). The institution continues to reject recognition of cryptocurrency as a legal means of payment and has advocated banning its use for domestic payments and retail investment, while permitting trading only for high-net-worth individuals through licensed platforms. Russia’s finance ministry has expressed a more flexible view, pointing to the scale of crypto adoption among the public. Earlier this year, the central bank estimated that domestic crypto transactions exceeded 1 trillion rubles (about $12.4 billion) per month, and that as of March, wallets linked to Russian users held roughly 827 billion rubles (about $10.2 billion). The finance ministry and the central bank have agreed to tighten supervision of the crypto market, with officials expecting to finalize the new framework before the end of the year.