The US Securities and Exchange Commission announced on Feb. 20 the formation of a new group to combat cyber misconduct, including fraud involving blockchain and crypto assets. According to a press release, the new group, called the “Cyber and Emerging Technologies Unit,” will focus on protecting retail investors from bad actors in the emerging technologies space. The…
Data from app analytics platform AppsFlyer shows that cryptocurrency applications saw a sharp increase in adoption in the United Arab Emirates in 2024. According to AppsFlyer, downloads of the top 49 crypto apps in the UAE reached 6.2 million in 2023. That jumped to 15 million in 2024, a 41% increase. Most of these downloads…
Decentralized finance and real-world asset tokenization platform Mantra Finance has received a virtual asset service provider (VASP) license from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), allowing it to expand operations in the United Arab Emirates and the broader Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. On Feb. 19, Mantra Finance announced that it secured a…
Tether co-founder Reeve Collins is launching a decentralized stablecoin that will compete with the original dollar-pegged token he helped create, upping the ante in a corner of the cryptocurrency market that has seen intense competition. According to a Feb. 18 Bloomberg report, Collins is now chairing Pi Protocol, a self-proclaimed decentralized project that will launch on…
The Texas Senate is set to hold a public hearing on Feb. 18 to discuss the establishment of a Bitcoin reserve, but market analysts say the move may be largely symbolic unless the state announces an immediate investment plan. The first public hearing for the establishment of a potential strategic Bitcoin reserve in Texas is scheduled…
New cryptocurrency issuance hit an all-time high in January, sparking concerns among analysts over the lack of investor liquidity in the market. Over 600,000 new cryptocurrencies were launched during January, a 12-fold increase compared to the same period in 2024, according to GeckoTerminal data shared by Bobby Ong, the co-founder and chief operating officer of CoinGecko. “Back…