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Good Morning, Asia. Here's what's making news in the markets:Welcome to Asia Morning Briefing, a daily summary of top stories during U.S. hours and an overview of market moves and analysis. For a detailed overview of U.S. markets, see CoinDesk's Crypto Daybook Americas.In 2021, China’s central bank warned that global stablecoins could bring risks and challenges to the "international monetary system, payment and clearing system, monetary policies, cross-border capital flow management." That quote, from the People’s Bank of China’s white paper on its e-CNY project, reflected the PBOC's deep skepticism toward private-sector digital currencies, particularly Facebook's Libra.As it turns out, Libra never launched. But stablecoins like Tether's USDT and Circle's USDC are now deep inside the financial plumbing around...

Tesla’s (TSLA) bitcoin (BTC) stash is now worth around $1.2 billion after the cryptocurrency's price climbed 30% in the second quarter of this year, according to its earnings report. The gain reflects a recent change in how U.S. accounting rules treat digital assets — one that works in Tesla’s favor.Tesla currently holds 11,509 BTC, according to BitcoinTreasuries.Net, making it the tenth largest publicly traded company to hold the crypto asset on its balance sheet. Bitcoin is currently trading at around $118,000, up from $83,000 on April 1. A rule approved by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) allows companies to start reporting the fair market value of their crypto holdings each quarter. This shift was required beginning in Q1 2025.Before...

Joe McCann is winding down Asymmetric’s Liquid Alpha Fund after the fund was accused of losing massive value this year and drew sharp criticism online.In a social media post, the crypto investor said that the strategy behind the Liquid Alpha Fund “clearly is no longer serving our LPs.” He said the fund had been built for volatile markets and had once delivered results, but added that Asymmetric would now be "shifting away from liquid trading strategies" and toward longer-term investments in blockchain infrastructure.The decision comes after unconfirmed social media chatter that the liquid fund was down 78% this year. However, McCann said in a separate post that the Assymetric fund "is not down 78%" and is waiting for Hyperliquid's second...

Welcome to The Protocol, CoinDesk's weekly wrap-up of the most important stories in cryptocurrency tech development. I'm Margaux Nijkerk, CoinDesk’s Tech & Protocols reporter.In this issue:Ethereum Validator Exit Queue Tops $2B as Stakers Rush to Quit After 160% RallyJito Launches BAM to Reshape Solana’s Blockspace EconomyEthereum Validators Signal Intention of Upping Gas Limit to 45MDogecoin Could Soon Verify ZK Proofs Natively, Thanks to DogeOS PushUnknown block type "divider", specify a component for it in the `components.types` optionNetwork newsVALIDATOR EXIT QUEUE ON ETHEREUM BACKS UP: Ethereum’s validator exit queue posted its longest wait time on record, a possible signal stakers are looking to pull funds after a major price rally in ether (ETH). As of Wednesday 09:00 UTC, nearly 625,000 ETH...

Central to Draper’s worldview is the notion that bitcoin is simply better technology than any government-issued currency.Roughly 20% of the global adult population is unbanked, according to the World Bank; Bitcoin enables such people to make online payments, and manage their savings. It’s also incredibly efficient in terms of sending money abroad. A wire transfer will usually take three to five business days (if not more) to arrive, whereas a Bitcoin transaction will generally be sorted within 10 minutes to an hour (or a couple of seconds if you’re using the Lightning Network).This is an excerpt from The Node newsletter, a daily roundup of the most pivotal crypto news on CoinDesk and beyond. You can subscribe to get the full newsletter...