Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, plans to go public by the end of the year through a SPAC with special purpose acquisition company Concord Acquisition Corp. The deal values the crypto financial services firm at $4.5 billion. The deal announced on Thursday values Circle at $4.5 billion following just a few weeks after…

Israel said Thursday it is starting to seize cryptocurrency accounts used by the Palestinian Hamas group to raise funds for its armed wing using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Benny Gantz, Israeli Defense Minister, ordered security forces to seize the accounts after a joint operation “uncovered a web of electronic wallets” used by Hamas to raise…

As local news reported, the Vietnamese Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính has ordered the State Bank of Vietnam to study the feasibility and test the operationality of a pilot for a digital currency (CBDC). Unlike other countries, Vietnam is looking to test a digital currency built on blockchain technology, not a centralized protocol. According to…

Iran’s leadership now seems to have again decided to use cryptocurrencies to stabilize the country’s financial system. The first attempt was made in early 2019, but was unsuccessful. The Iranian parliamentary committee on economics has developed legislation titled “Supporting Cryptocurrency Mining and Regulation of Domestic Cryptocurrency Trade”. When it is adopted, the Central Bank of…