Bitcoin News Official TheBitTimes.com

The Hong Kong regulators have only approved a handful of crypto exchanges to date that are permitted to offer crypto retail trading services. OKX crypto currency exchange has entered the final stage before acquiring a virtual asset service provider license (VASP) in Hong Kong. The crypto exchange expects the final approval for a VASP by March next year. Li Zhikai, the global chief commercial officer of OKX, in an interview, said that they are actively engaged in a dialogue with the banks and are currently waiting for the group to be issued a license and start a business. The crypto exchange has started the preparatory work such as technology docking. Hong Kong became a pro-crypto nation in 2023 and announced a licensing regime for crypto exchanges to offer their services to retail customers. While more than 80 crypto firms initially showed interest in opening an office in the country, only a couple of crypto platforms such as HashKey and OSL gained the necessary license to ...

Dixon called for creditors to fight to get out of the bankruptcy proceedings before BTC and ETH prices hit the estimated number to avoid another rug pull by the crypto lender. Bankrupt crypto lender Celsius is battling a Chapter 11 bankruptcy with billions of dollars in claims made by various parties. A new estimate by the Bank of the Future (BF) suggests that the troubled crypto lender could likely repay the USD claims if the price of Bitcoin and Ether, the two assets that the firm holds, doubled from its current price . Simon Dixon, the founder of Bank of the Future, a crypto-centered investment firm tweeted the estimated price BTC and ETH would need to reach for Celsius to repay all their USD claims and keep all other assets. Based on the final deal with Fahrenheit group which won the bid to acquire the assets of Celsius in May, if the BTC price touches $54,879 and the ETH price reaches $3,750, Celsius could repay all the claims from the price appreciation of both the assets. ...

The AMF and ACPR have blacklisted only two crypto-related websites amid the bear market of 2022 versus 24 such websites last year. Financial regulators in France continue flagging illicit players on the foreign exchange (forex) and cryptocurrency markets, blacklisting a fresh batch of related websites. The French stock markets regulator, the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), and the Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority (ACPR), on Dec. 21, updated a blacklist of websites identified as unauthorized investments in forex and crypto assets. Out of the 15 newly-blacklisted websites, only two sites imply a direct connection with crypto in their name. These websites include 24cryptoforextrading.net and cryptoneyx.io. According to the announcement, the AMF and ACPR have flagged significantly fewer crypto -related websites year-over-year. In 2022, the authorities blacklist ed a total of two websites in the crypto Derivatives category, down 92% from 24 sites last year. In co...