BITCOIN

Farzam Ehsani, the founder and CEO of the South African crypto exchange Valr, has stated that institutional traders account for the bulk of the African continent’s crypto trading volumes. To support this point, Ehsani referred to Valr’s largest volumes which he said “are executed via our API by institutional traders deploying a host of programmatic trading strategies.” African Regulators Now Have a Better Grasp of Cryptocurrency While retail traders do account for some of Africa’s traded volumes, Ehsani said that believing the trading activity of large investors on the continent is insignificant is a myth that needs to be dispelled. Meanwhile, when asked about the state of crypto regulation on the continent, the CEO claimed that some of Africa’s financial sector regulators have indeed “made great strides in recent years to better understand the crypto industry.” Understanding how players in the space operate has in turn helped them “to put in place regulations to appropriately regu...

The Indian government has confirmed its commitment to supporting startups that are innovating in the Web3 sector in India. “Web3 represents the future of internet and the government is committed to ensuring that the innovators and innovation from India create the future of Web3 and internet,” said the country’s Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology. Indian Government’s Web3 Stance The Indian government answered some questions about Web3 in Lok Sabha, the lower house of India’s parliament, on Wednesday. The Minister of Electronics and Information Technology was asked by a parliament member “whether the government supports startups that are innovating in the Web3 sector in the form of any incubation or mentorship.” Noting that blockchain is “an important element of Web3,” Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar replied: Yes … Web3 represents the future of internet and the government is committed to ensuring that the i...

A U.S. senator says Congress needs to regulate the crypto industry “with a light touch that doesn’t kill innovation in the U.S.” Noting that crypto “has the potential to disrupt much of the traditional banking model,” he s tressed that crypto regulation needs to be appropriate to avoid driving companies offshore. ‘We Need to Regulate With a Light Touch’ Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), a member of the U.S. Senate Banking and Foreign Relations Committees and former U.S. Ambassador to Japan, addressed JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon’s controversial remarks about bitcoin and cryptocurrency during an interview with Bloomberg and in a post on social media platform X on Thursday. Commenting on Dimon’s statement made during a Senate hearing that he would close down crypto and bitcoin if he were the government, Hagerty wrote: I can understand why large banks are opposed to cryptocurrencies — the technology has the potential to disrupt much of the traditional banking model. This is not a fight for ...

Crypto exchange Binance has withdrawn its application for a license in Abu Dhabi. “When assessing our global licensing needs, we decided this application was not necessary,” a Binance spokesperson stated, adding that the company plans to continue to work with regulators “to provide world-class services and offerings in the Middle East and beyond.” Binance Says ‘This Application Was Not Necessary’ Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has reportedly withdrawn its application with Abu Dhabi’s financial regulator. A spokesperson for Binance said on Thursday: When assessing our global licensing needs, we decided this application was not necessary. According to Binance’s website, Abu Dhabi-based Binance (AD) Ltd. received conditional financial services permission from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) on Nov. 15 last year to provide crypto custody services. The regulator’s website details: “Binance (AD) Limited is not permitted to deal with retail clients, as defined in t...