South Koreas once-frenzied cryptocurrency market is losing steam, with fresh data showing a sharp contraction in trading activity and liquidity in the first half of 2025. The combined market capitalization of assets held by Korean crypto exchanges fell 14% from the end of last year to 95.1 trillion won ($68.7 billion), according to a joint survey released Tuesday by the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit and the Financial Supervisory Service. Won-denominated deposits, a key gauge of market liquidity, plunged 42% to 6.2 trillion won. The pullback marks a stark reversal from late 2024, when...

Seven years after founding Chiliz, Alex Dreyfus is back on the road evangelizing what he calls the future of digital fandom. At Token2049 in Singapore, in a booth buzzing with sports memorabilia and interactive displays, the French entrepreneur laid out his most ambitious vision yet: turning fan tokens from simple perks into genuine stakes in the global sports economy. Chiliz was very early in Korea back in 2018, Dreyfus said. Were not the fastest blockchain, were not the biggest. But we know how to work with sports propertiesand thats our edge. Korea as Launchpad Chiliz has worked with more...

Ethereum (ETH) has bounced back from recent lows and is now trading near the $4,500 level, signaling a strong recovery despite selling pressure from long-term holders (LTHs). While these influential investors continue to trim their positions, other market participants are stepping in with fresh capital inflows, helping ETH maintain upward momentum. On-chain data shows Ethereums Liveliness metric rising, an indicator that LTHs are actively selling. Historically, when this group reduces exposure, it increases market volatility and often sparks selling cascades. Their cautious stance suggests...

Binance Coin (BNB) has firmly reestablished itself among the top cryptocurrencies after surpassing Solana and reaching a market capitalization of $142.9 billion. This milestone not only secures BNBs place as a dominant digital asset but also highlights its resilience in a market that has been marked by uncertainty and cautious investor sentiment. By maintaining its gains above the $1,020 level, BNB now holds a commanding $28 billion lead over Solana, which sits at $119.4 billion in market value. The momentum becomes even more noteworthy as BNB narrows the gap with XRPs $176 billion market...

XRP surged to fresh highs as Japans SBI Holdings unveiled a new XRP institutional lending program, sparking renewed buying momentum and lifting trading volumes above 160 million tokens. The move fueled a 5.2% gain between October 1 at 03:00 and October 2 at 02:00, with XRP advancing from $2.84 to $2.97 and briefly testing $2.98 resistance. The initiative highlights Japans expanding role in digital asset adoption and underscores the growing institutional demand for XRP liquidity in cross-border payments. During the rally, XRP traded within a $0.16 range, marking 5.6% volatility. The breakout...

At the Token2049 conference in Singapore, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev described tokenization as a freight train rapidly heading toward traditional finance. He argued that the separation between crypto and traditional markets is temporary, predicting that in the near future, nearly all assets will exist on-chain in some form. Robinhood has already begun testing this future by launching tokenized stocks in Europe, giving global investors round-the-clock access to U.S. equities. Tenev compared tokenized stocks to stablecoins, which have become the default gateway to digital dollars. He believes...

At Token2049 in Singapore, one of the industrys largest annual gatherings, the focus turned to whether consumer-facing crypto products are finally ready to scale. Onstage at the panel Mainstream Moment: Consumer Crypto at Scale, speakers from Dapper Labs, Scale AI, and eva.world debated how far blockchain has penetrated everyday use cases. But it was Chiliz CEO Alexandre Dreyfus who drew the most attention, arguing that sports and entertainment already prove cryptos mass-market potential. Dreyfus said Chiliz now works with more than 80 professional sports teams and organizations worldwide,...

South Koreas cryptocurrency market is expanding in user numbers but remains dominated by small-scale investors, underscoring the retail-driven nature of the sector. The number of active accounts registered with licensed exchanges climbed to 24.44 million in the first half of 2025, up 6% from the end of last year, according to data released Oct. 1 by the Financial Intelligence Unit and the Financial Supervisory Service. Almost all of them24.08 millionwere tied to won-based trading, while coin-to-coin markets barely budged, with just 370,000 accounts. Active users who can actually trade reached...

Metaplanet Inc (TYO:3350) surged in Tokyo trading on Thursday after announcing a massive Bitcoin acquisition worth $620 million. The Japanese hotelier-turned-Bitcoin treasury revealed it had purchased 5,288 Bitcoin at an average price of $116,870 per coin, boosting its total holdings to 30,823 Bitcoin. With this move, Metaplanet has overtaken Riot Platforms (NASDAQ:RIOT), Bullish Inc (NYSE:BLSH), and Bitcoin Standard Treasury Co, cementing its position as the fourth-largest corporate holder of Bitcoin. The announcement triggered a strong rally in Metaplanets stock, which climbed as much as...

Civil fraud judges across the United States are increasingly stepping in to freeze and recover stolen cryptocurrency, as federal enforcement of crypto-related crimes wanes. With regulators like the DOJ and CFTC scaling back their investigations, retail traders desperate to reclaim hacked tokens are looking to judges for protection. According to a recent report, judges handling civil fraud cases are being asked to oversee more crypto recovery actions than ever. Attorneys often track suspicious blockchain transfers, but seizing and returning stolen digital assets remains a major challenge....