Market speculates on Qatari investment driving bitcoin price surge

Incheon City to Host Blockchain Conference Showcasing its VisionIncheon City will host a blockchain conference, Incheon Metanomics 2023, to showcase its vision at the Songdo Convensia Convention Center on May 9.The event will present the city’s goal of building a blockchain ecosystem and fostering digital economy growth. About 150 blockchain experts from around the world are expected to attend, according to Block Media.Insightful talksProminent industry figures, including Leon Sing Foong, the head of Asia-Pacific operations at cryptocurrency exchange Binance; Steve Park, Asia-Pacific head of public policy at online game platform Roblox; and Justin Kim, a solutions architect at semiconductor company AMD, will speak at the event. Foong will talk about the collaboration between crypto exchanges and governments, Park will provide insights into the future of the metaverse, and Kim will address upcoming trends in decentralized storage systems.Registration for the conference is free and open until May 4 through Event Us, with a live stream of the event available on YouTube.Incheon and DubaiIncheon has been working towards establishing a special digital economy zone within the city by utilizing blockchain technology. In March, Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok met with Ahmed Bin Sulayem, the executive chairman of the UAE’s Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), to discuss cooperation in the blockchain industry and digital economy.The DMCC, a free trade zone in Dubai, hosts over 65,000 workers from more than 21,000 companies across 180 countries. Notably, the DMCC crypto center is home to a community of over 500 crypto firms, fostering the Web3 and blockchain economy.Similarly, Incheon operates a free trade zone that connects 147 cities with populations exceeding 1 million within a three-hour flight radius. The Incheon Free Economic Zone is appealing to global blockchain companies as it offers flexible business operations for foreign entrepreneurs.© Pexels/joon young, Park

Several leading Chinese technology firms have reportedly shelved their plans to launch stablecoins in Hong Kong, following regulatory pushback from the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) and the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC). According to the Financial Times, the authorities have expressed growing concerns over the risks posed by privately issued digital currencies, prompting companies to delay their initiatives.Photo by Jacky Yu on UnsplashBeijing’s focus on control and digital yuanThe companies’ hesitation underscores Beijing’s broader push to preserve control over its monetary system while advancing the rollout of its central bank digital currency (CBDC), the e-CNY. Earlier this month, the PBOC unveiled a new Shanghai-based center to oversee the e-CNY’s international operations, signaling China’s ambition to extend the digital yuan’s reach beyond its domestic market. Over the summer, companies including Ant Group, backed by Alibaba, and e-commerce platform JD.com signaled interest in Hong Kong’s pilot stablecoin initiative or in issuing crypto products such as tokenized deposits. Those plans are now on hold as firms assess policy signals from Beijing and weigh the implications for their businesses. Research efforts reflect China’s cautious approachChina’s cautious stance is also reflected in its research priorities. The National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), a vice-ministerial body under the Ministry of Science and Technology, has begun inviting grant applications for projects focused on stablecoins and cross-border regulatory frameworks. In announcing the initiative, the NSFC cautioned that the unchecked circulation of privately issued stablecoins could erode the effectiveness of the country’s capital controls. Globally, approaches to fiat-pegged digital assets diverge. In the United States, President Donald Trump in July signed the GENIUS Act, the country’s first stablecoin legislation, into law. A White House fact sheet argued that stablecoins could strengthen demand for U.S. Treasuries and reinforce the dollar’s standing as the world’s dominant reserve currency. In Europe, however, regulators remain wary. In a blog post that same month, European Central Bank (ECB) adviser Jürgen Schaaf warned that the widespread use of U.S. dollar-denominated stablecoins in the euro area could pose financial risks, noting that dollar-based tokens already account for the vast majority of global stablecoin market capitalization. Geopolitics adds to market volatilityThe recalibration by Chinese firms comes against a turbulent geopolitical backdrop. Cointelegraph, citing President Donald Trump’s interview with Fox News, reported that Trump is expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, scheduled for Oct. 31 to Nov. 1. The anticipated meeting follows a string of shifting statements from Trump throughout October—ranging from skepticism about meeting Xi, to announcing new 100% tariffs on Chinese imports, and later adopting a more conciliatory tone. The back-and-forth has coincided with heightened volatility across crypto markets. Market turbulence deepened as a wave of liquidations swept through crypto derivatives, erasing nearly $20 billion in positions on Oct. 10, the largest such event on record. Bitcoin plunged to as low as $104,749 on Oct. 17 and has since rebounded to around $114,000 as of Oct. 28. The pullback by Chinese tech groups underscores the fine line regulators and firms must navigate: advancing digital finance innovation while safeguarding monetary stability and control. How that balance is managed across China, the U.S., and Europe will shape the future of stablecoins and define their place in the evolving global financial order. 

Mixin Network Suspends Services Amid $200 Million HackOn Monday, Mixin Network, a decentralized peer-to-peer network whose project team is based in Hong Kong, officially confirmed a substantial security breach that resulted in the loss of approximately $200 million in crypto assets from its mainnet.Photo by GuerrillaBuzz on UnsplashSeptember 23 hackThis incident, disclosed via an X (formerly Twitter) post, prompted the immediate suspension of all deposit and withdrawal services on Mixin Network until further notice.The project team outlined that the hack occurred on September 23, exposing vulnerabilities that allowed malicious actors to compromise the database of a third-party cloud service provider. Mixin Network has taken action to address the situation, enlisting the expertise of Singapore-headquartered blockchain security investigator SlowMist and the support of Google to conduct a thorough investigation and formulate a recovery plan.At the time of the breach, Mixin Network’s holdings included $94.48 million in Ether, $23.55 million in Dai, and $23.3 million in Bitcoin, as reported in an independent investigation by PeckShield. The total value of assets affected amounted to $141.32 million.Cyvers, an Israeli Web3 security firm, has also been looking into the matter on Monday. In a social media post, the firm stated:”Our internal investigation has uncovered suspicious funding transactions involving @MixinKernel hacker addresses. Two of hacker addresses received 51 $ETH from 0x1795F0eBDa5A836aE63F28CE546E72de069A8bd2 who was interacted with @HuobiGlobal and @binance.”The firm goes on to call on Binance and its CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) and Huobi to help identify the wallet address in question.Halting withdrawalsIn response to the security breach, Mixin Network has temporarily halted all deposits and withdrawals on its platform. These services will only resume once the vulnerabilities have been identified and fully resolved. On X, the project stated:”Deposit and withdrawal services on Mixin Network have been temporarily suspended. After discussion and consensus among all nodes, these services will be reopened once the vulnerabilities are confirmed and fixed. During this period, transfers are not affected.”Details regarding the plans to recover the lost assets for affected users have yet to be announced.Despite initial promises that Mixin Network’s Founder, Feng Xiaodong, would address the incident in a public Mandarin live stream on September 25, links to the live stream were not provided on the official social media channels or the website mixin.network.The incident has garnered criticism on the basis of a lack of decentralization. One commentator stated:”Some of those blockchain protocols are so decentralized that when their cloud database is hacked, coins are also gone.”Ongoing hacksThis security breach on Mixin Network is the latest in a series of high-profile crypto-related incidents. Ethereum Co-Founder Vitalik Buterin recently fell victim to a SIM swap attack, which resulted in the compromise of his X (formerly Twitter) account.In a statement, Buterin revealed that the hackers had successfully executed a SIM swap, a type of attack that targets the victim’s mobile phone number to gain unauthorized access to various online accounts, including social media, banking, and cryptocurrency platforms.The repercussions of the Mixin Network hack underscore the ongoing challenges faced by the crypto industry in ensuring the security and protection of digital assets. As investigations continue, affected users await further developments and the eventual resumption of deposit and withdrawal services.