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A series of decentralized finance and NFT-related altcoins have posted double-digit gains over the past week as capital begins to flow from larger assets like bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) to more speculative bets like blur (BLUR) and arbitrum (ARB).

The funds will go towards building out Fableborne, the studio’s flagship Web3 game.

Crypto and equities brokerage firm Robinhood has laid off about 7% of its staff, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. 

Citing an internal memo penned by chief financial officer Jason Warnick, the WSJ reported that the firm cut about 150 employees to adjust to a market under pressure from declining trading activity and a less ravenous userbase compared to the heady days of the meme stock frenzy. 

As per the memo, layoffs were made to “adjust to volumes and to better align team structures.”

Robinhood has cut more than 1,000 employees in two layoffs last year. 

As for crypto, the firm reported in May a year-on-year decline in crypto trading revenue of 30%. In the wake of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s lawsuit against Coinbase and Binance, the firm ended support for a number of cryptocurrencies, including Solana and Cardano — a move that could put further pressure on its crypto trading volumes. 

To be sure, Robinhood isn’t alone. A relatively somnolent crypto market has resulted in lower trading volumes across the board, which in turns means less profit for companies facilitating trading. The seven day moving average for crypto exchange volumes is hovering below $20 billion — sharply down from an all-time high of over $150 billion. Still, BlackRock’s filing for a spot bitcoin ETF has kicked off a rally that’s helped to elevate volumes slightly. 

© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Circle is joining the growing list of crypto firms setting their sights on Asia. 

The company, which is best known for launching the stablecoin USDC, is paying close attention to regulatory developments in Hong Kong, chief executive officer Jeremey Allaire said during an interview with Bloomberg Television at the World Economic Forum in Tianjin, China. 

Hong Kong, which saw new rules related to crypto exchanges go into effect on June 1, was historically an epicenter for crypto firms with BitMEX and Bitfinex historically having a big presence in the region. The ongoing U.S. crackdown on crypto firms appears to be providing a fresh appeal for the jurisdiction. 

“Hong Kong is clearly looking to establish itself as a very significant center for digital assets markets and stablecoins and we are paying very close attention to that,” Allaire told Bloomberg, adding that Asia is a “huge area of focus.”

“We see enormous demand for digital dollars in emerging markets and Asia is really center of that,” Allaire said.

The remarks come after Circle snagged a digital token license in Singapore. Elsewhere, Gemini has said it plans to hire more than 100 employees in Asia as part of its own expansion in the region. Crypto firm FalconX also plans to expand into Asia, having also applied for Singapore’s digital token license, Bloomberg reported. 

© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

‘Nairobi’ is the blockchain’s fourteenth upgrade.

Sound macroeconomic policies like raising interest rates and bringing down the country’s deficit could dampen Zimbabwe’s currency instability, economists said.

Cryptocurrency custody technology provider Fireblocks has started offering support for cloud service providers Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform, Alibaba Cloud, Thales and Securosus, the company announced Tuesday.

Lawmakers have previously favored ‘prohibitive’ capital requirements to keep unbacked crypto assets out of the banking system

Allaire spoke with Bloomberg at the World Economic Forum in Tianjin, China.

Basis traders attempt to earn returns by trading the difference in an asset’s price on two separate markets.