Coindesk

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.Manufacturers of bitcoin (BTC) mining equipment won't be feeling the pinch of a new round of tariffs the White House has imposed on the semiconductor industry, as the largest chip manufacturers like TSMC and Samsung have an exemption from the new rules due to their investments in the U.S.Officials in Taiwan confirmed to local press that TSMC would have an exemption from the 100% tariffs because of its facilities in Phoenix, which opened in 2023. South Korean officials...

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's 2020 lawsuit against Ripple Labs is officially over, after the two parties informed the Second Circuit Court of Appeals that they were voluntarily dismissing their respective appeals of a 2023 ruling in the case.The SEC and Ripple will each bear their own costs, the filing said on Thursday. The joint stipulation ends the legal battle between the SEC and Ripple which began in 2020 after the SEC sued Ripple in 2020 under former Chair Jay Clayton (who now runs the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York) alleging it violated securities laws through the sale of XRP, the token closely associated with the company. XRP jumped 5% after Thursday's filing, trading...

U.S. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to allow crypto investments in 401(k) retirement plans, opening the gates for millions of dollars to flow into the asset class.The order, which also allows for private equity investments, is poised to dramatically widen the scope of what retirement plan providers can direct funds to. This in turn could help crypto prices while further integrating digital assets with the broader financial system."Alternative assets, such as private equity, real estate, and digital assets, offer competitive returns and diversification benefits," a fact sheet published Thursday said.While it was never technically prohibited to add crypto to a retirement plan, the Department of Labor previously put out guidance for fiduciaries to “exercise extreme care before...

Having tumbled to below $112,000 at one point a few days ago, bitcoin (BTC) has returned above $117,000 in late after U.S. trading Thursday, for now retaking the range it had been in for most of July.First giving a boost the crypto market overnight was news about President Trump's intention to sign an executive order allowing crypto (among other assets) in 401(k) retirement plans.The push above $117,000 occurred late in the U.S. trading session Thursday on news of the nomination of Stephen Miran to replace the departing Andrea Kluger on the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors.Currently the chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, Miran is presumably an ally of the president and for now probably likely to...

Two Seas Capital, the third largest shareholder in Core Scientific (CORZ) with a 6.3% stake, has come out against the bitcoin miner’s proposed all-stock acquisition by AI cloud provider CoreWeave (CRWV).In a letter published Thursday, Two Seas said it intends to vote against the deal, which was announced July 7, and plans to rally other shareholders to do the same unless significant changes are made.The opposition centers on the all-stock, uncollared nature of the transaction, which Two Seas argues unfairly favors CoreWeave and fails to reflect Core Scientific’s strategic position in high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure."The proposed sale materially undervalues the company and unnecessarily exposes its shareholders to substantial economic risk," said Sina Toussi, founder of Two Seas.CORZ is up modestly...