India’s CBDC reaches 1 million daily transactions milestone

HTX experiences $258 million outflow post-hackHTX, the digital-asset trading platform associated with Chinese-born crypto mogul Justin Sun, has witnessed a substantial net outflow of $258 million since resuming operations after a significant security breach.According to Bloomberg, data from DefiLlama indicates that the outflow occurred between the exchange’s restart on Nov. 25 and Dec. 10, signaling unease among some clients following last month’s cyberattack. In November, HTX reported a loss of $30 million in crypto tokens due to the breach, prompting a temporary suspension of withdrawals and deposits.Towards the end of last month, the platform re-enabled withdrawal services for major cryptocurrencies, gradually bringing the exchange back to full service, supporting withdrawal of all digital assets.Photo by Amritanshu Sikdar on UnsplashMultiple hacksJustin Sun is also associated with the Poloniex exchange and the HECO Bridge, a network established by HTX for blockchain transfers. Both Poloniex and HECO fell victim to hacks in November, resulting in the theft of approximately $200 million in crypto. It’s worth noting that hackers had previously stolen $8 million from the HTX platform in September.HTX, which was formerly known as Huobi up until a business rebrand in September, boasts an average trading volume of $1.5 billion in the past 24 hours, securing its position as the fifteenth largest exchange when measured in terms of trading volume.Increased vigilanceIn the wake of several high-profile crypto platform failures in 2022, digital-asset investors are increasingly vigilant about monitoring flows and reserves at virtual currency exchanges. In particular, that trend gained momentum after the FTX platform’s collapse last year due to fraud.November turned out to be the most damaging month this year so far in terms of platform digital asset theft. Exit scams and exploits encountered during the month totaled a staggering $363 million in losses.In October, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) included HTX, alongside KuCoin, on a warning list, due to their promotion of services in the UK, without having obtained the required regulatory approvals.A third of reserves in BitcoinDefiLlama data reveals that Bitcoin constitutes the largest portion of HTX’s reserves, accounting for approximately 33%. Tron’s TRX token, launched by Sun in 2017, represents around 32% of the reserves. HTX’s native exchange coin, HT, makes up 14%, followed by a Sun-backed token named stUSDT at 12%.In August, Travis Kling, Founder of Ikigai Asset Management, had this warning relative to Sun and HTX:”Justin Sun is a criminal. There’s a hole in Huobi, a hole in TUSD and a hole in Tron DeFi. Act accordingly.”TRX, at the center of U.S. fraud allegations against Sun, prompted a March lawsuit by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), accusing him and his firms of market manipulation to inflate the token’s trading activity. Sun dismissed the suit on the X social media platform back in March, stating that it “lacks merit.” On Sunday, Sun claimed that the Tron blockchain network which he founded had reached a new milestone of 200 million users.Despite security firm BlockSec reporting the recovery of the $8 million stolen in September, hackers still appear to control the $30 million taken last month. The ongoing situation raises concerns about the security measures and resilience of HTX in the face of persistent cyber threats.

Animoca Brands, a company focused on Web3 and metaverse projects, has gotten together with the Hong Kong subsidiary of British banking giant Standard Chartered to establish Anchorpoint Financial Limited.In a press release published to its website on Aug. 8, Animoca Brands outlined that the joint venture company has been established with the objective of building a business model that will concern itself with the issuance and advancement of licensed stablecoins. The move follows Hong Kong’s Stablecoins Ordinance, which went live on Aug. 1.Photo by Andres Garcia on UnsplashHKT involvementThe partnership also involves Hong Kong Telecom (HKT), one of the largest telecommunications companies in Hong Kong. This collaboration is not something that has just been formed. The trio had been participants in a regulatory sandbox related to stablecoin issuance established by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) in 2024.  Back in February, it emerged that the three companies had entered into an agreement to establish a joint venture with a view towards applying to the HKMA for a license to cover the issuance of a Hong Kong dollar-pegged stablecoin. By June, the companies had formed that company. Applying for a licenseAnchor Financial has already informed the HKMA of its intention to apply for a stablecoin license. A recent Bloomberg report asserted that somewhere in the region of 50 companies have expressed an interest in obtaining stablecoin licensing in Hong Kong. However, the regulator is likely to issue no more than 10 licenses. Additionally, disclosure by the HKMA of strict customer identification rules related to the city’s new Stablecoins Ordinance has sparked concern among industry stakeholders. Know-your-customer (KYC) rules will put an onus on stablecoin issuers in Hong Kong to verify the identity of every stablecoin holder. Bo Tang, head and assistant director at the HKUST Institute for Financial Research, told Reuters that the rules were “a bit too strict and not good for acquiring users.” Ricky Xie, a crypto trader based in Hong Kong, pointed out that these KYC rules aren’t just for those who would hold accounts with the stablecoin issuer, but instead they will apply to every stablecoin holder. A number of Hong Kong stablecoin-concept stocks, that had been performing well in the market, fell by as much as 20% when these stringent rules were disclosed by the HKMA. Evan Auyang, group president of Animoca Brands, expressed contentment with Animoca’s partnership with HKT and Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong), while adding:”Stablecoins represent one of the most compelling use cases within Web3, and we believe we are still at the early frontier of widespread adoption across institutions and retail alike. As assets continue to move on-chain, the HKMA-regulated fiat-referenced stablecoin is important in reinforcing Hong Kong’s position as a leading international financial center.” The first stablecoin licenses are expected to be issued by the HKMA early next year.

Cake DeFi Co-Founder Launches Ordzaar Ordinals MarketplaceU-Zyn Chua, Singaporean Co-Founder and CTO of Singapore-based Cake DeFi, has launched Ordzaar, a Bitcoin Ordinals marketplace.In a social media post on Friday, the marketplace described itself as “a decentralized & trustless marketplace for #Bitcoin Ordinals, bridging the gap between trustlessness and true decentralization.” The Ordinals protocol has been enabled due to the SegWit and Taproot upgrades to the bitcoin protocol. It’s a system for numbering satoshis, the smallest denomination of the Bitcoin cryptocurrency. The protocol assigns each satoshi with a serial number, using that number to track them across transactions.By taking this approach, each individual satoshi becomes unique, allowing additional data to be attached to them in a process called inscription. The project has hit the ground running, with its website online and a step by step guide released, instructing new users in how to buy and sell Ordinals on the marketplace.Releasing a press release to publicize the launch, the project pointed out that “the lack of a fully decentralized Ordinals marketplace [poses] a major challenge”, given a backdrop in which Bitcoin Ordinal inscriptions have surged in popularity over the course of recent weeks. Elaborating on that point, the team stated: “There is a growing need for a reliable and secure platform that allows buyers and sellers to transact in a decentralized manner, giving them complete control over their assets, this is where Ordzaar comes in.”Asia Ordinals marketplace firstOrdzaar represents the first ever Bitcoin Ordinals marketplace based within the Asian region. Alongside U-Zyn Chua, the team behind the project implicates three other seasoned crypto-natives with a wealth of experience in crypto, bitcoin, and blockchain. Cake DeFi colleague Naqib Noor assumes the role of Co-Founder and Development Lead. As well as being Co-Founder, Chua is the project’s Lead Researcher.In an effort to showcase the brand new marketplace, the Ordzaar team sponsored and participated in the Bitcoin Ordinals 2023 conference in Miami late last week, with Chua appearing as a speaker at the event. The Co-Founder told Blockhead that:“Ordinals have proven that Bitcoin is more than just a peer-to-peer payment system and has demonstrated a new, high-value use case for the longest-running cryptocurrency. As the industry continues to build and innovate, Ordinals have the potential to unlock even more value on the Bitcoin blockchain, and will lift the entire crypto ecosystem as a whole.”NFTs took on a life all of their own with a market surge, tripling in value to $250 million in 2020. While that largely Ethereum-based market has cooled somewhat since then, it nonetheless continues to broaden and establish itself. Chua believes that Bitcoin-centric Ordinals can take a large slice of that development. “Along with the explosive adoption seen in the traditional ETH NFT market, we expect to see a similar trajectory in the Ordinals space,” he explained.In a tweet published on Saturday, Crypto journalist and investment team member at Seoul-based crypto venture capital firm #Hashed, Joseph Young, referred to changing dynamics within the NFT space, with relative newcomers Blur and Tensor taking on OpenSea and Magic Eden. Not short on confidence, the Ordinals team responded, stating: “And Ordzaar will be dominating decentralized Ordinals and BRC20 trading.” The overarching crypto space continues its progression at pace, and it will be intriguing to see how Ordinals, together with new marketplaces like Ordzaar, perform as the industry trundles forward.Photo by Dmitry Demidko on Unsplash