Category: cryptocurrency

The Dubai Land Department (DLD) is exploring real estate tokenisation to simplify property-related transactions. The government-backed agency has launched the pilot phase of its “Real Estate Tokenisation Project”, that aims for collaboration between global Web3 firms and Dubai’s real estate community. DLD estimates that by 2033, the valuation of tokenised properties could touch AED 60 billion (roughly Rs. 1,40,981 crore), making for seven percent of Dubai’s total real estate transactions. Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) and the Dubai Future Foundation (DFF) are onboard with DLD to implement this pilot project.

Asset tokenisation refers to the process of converting the ownership of physical properties into blockchain-based digital tokens. Tokenising physical assets enables fractional ownership, increases liquidity, and eases trading without having to alter elements and offerings of the physical property.

Through the pilot, Dubai authorities will check how Web3 technologies can improve real estate products and market. As per government figures, real estate transactions churned AED 761 billion (roughly Rs. 17,89,345 crore) last year and are expected to keep growing.

The pilot will be overseen by Marwan Ahmed Bin Ghalita, Director General of the DLD.

Commenting on the development, he said, “This pioneering project is part of the recently launched ‘REES’ Real Estate Innovation Initiative, designed to attract diverse technology firms. It aligns with our strategy enhance property sector innovation, promote transparency and governance, and enable a wider pool of investors to participate in large-scale real estate projects in Dubai.”

Market analytics firm Mordor Intelligence estimates, the market size of tokenised assets is set to touch 2.08 trillion in 2025 and reach over $13.5 trillion in valuation by 2030. Statista projects that the real estate market will become the largest beneficiary of the tokenised assets market by 2030, grabbing nearly one third of the overall sector.

In the coming days, the DLD will be organising a workshop to educate real estate players on asset tokenisation. Top industry players from both the public and private sectors will be invited to attend the workshop and open dialogue. Details about the date and venue for the workshop haven’t been shared yet.

The topic of asset tokenisation was discussed extensively during Binance Blockchain Week held in October last year. At the time, HE Khalfan Belhoul, the CEO of the Dubai Future Foundation, had expressed optimism around exploring financial and technological advancements that come with Web3.

Some of Dubai’s most prominent property developers have also taken steps to explore Web3. In January this year, the Damac Group partnered with blockchain firm Mantra to tokenise assets in the Middle East worth at least $1 billion (roughly Rs. 8,589 crore). In 2023, Mantra had also worked with MAG Property Development to tokenise real estate assets worth $500 million (roughly Rs. 4,295 crore), starting from a residential project in Dubai.

While there are upsides to exploring asset tokenisation, there are certain challenges as well. A report by the Financial Stability Board claims that tokenisation of assets can be a threat to financial stability. Most challenges relate to liquidity risks, maturity mismatch, leverage, asset quality, and operational fragilities, which need to be addressed globally to ensure the market for tokenised assets is safe for large-scale engagement.

Ripple Labs is reportedly looking to expand its custody services with a digital wallet offering. In February, the XRP issuer filed a trademark application titled “Ripple Custody,” seeking approval for “downloadable software” for crypto custody—potentially hinting at a wallet service. The application also indicates Ripple’s intent to store and manage both cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies as part of its financial services

In 2024, Ripple introduced a crypto custody service for banks and fintech firms but has yet to offer a wallet service. Instead, its ecosystem members rely on third-party wallets like Ledger and Trust Wallet for token storage and transactions. This has led to reports speculating that Ripple’s recent trademark filing aims to prioritise a wallet service.

For now, Ripple has neither confirmed nor denied plans for a crypto wallet.

Cryptocurrency wallets, whether hardware-based or app-based, enable users to create accounts and store their digital assets. Access to these wallets is secured through private keys, which can be stored either within the wallet platform or by the users themselves. As per a report by Research and Markets, the crypto wallet market grew from $7.52 billion (roughly Rs. 65,098 crore) in 2023 to $9.25 billion (roughly Rs. 80,068 crore) in 2024. It is estimated to reach $32.75 billion (roughly Rs. 2,83,486 crore) by 2030, with a CAGR of 23.39 percent.

With a surge of wallet apps flooding the crypto market, Ripple has been working to educate its community on trusted options. In December, the company published a blog outlining various types of crypto wallets and listing those supporting its stablecoin, RLUSD. Through this blog, Ripple emphasised four key factors users should consider when choosing a wallet service — private key ownership, security, privacy, and user experience.

If Ripple launches a crypto wallet, it could provide greater support to its community while generating transaction fee revenue for the company, a CoinTelegraph report noted.

Ripple’s crypto custody service for banks and fintech firms, also called Ripple Custody, was launched last October, offering bank-grade custody solutions to fintech and crypto businesses. For now, it appears that a potential wallet service could be introduced under the Ripple Custody brand. However, an official confirmation from Ripple is still awaited.

Meanwhile, the San Francisco-based company continues expanding its global footprint. This month, it secured a licence to provide crypto services to businesses and financial institutions in the UAE.

US President Donald Trump met with several crypto founders and leaders during the recent Crypto Summit held at the White House. The event brought US lawmakers under one roof with the crypto industry for the first time. At the summit, President Trump asked the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Crypto Task Force to put the country’s crypto and stablecoins regulations “on his desk” by the end of August this year. This gives the task force approximately five months to complete the research and proposal work for crypto rules.

Chris Dixon, a managing partner at Web3-focussed investment firm a16z crypto, said Trump’s timeline for a crypto regulatory framework was the most important announcement during the summit.

Lauding Trump’s proactive regulatory approach, Dixon said, “With accelerating progress in crypto, AI, and other frontier domains, this is the time to craft thoughtful, comprehensive policies that acknowledge both the promise and risks of these technologies.”

White House crypto czar David Sacks and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent co-chaired the summit alongside Trump. Addressing the invitees, Bessent said the US intended to keep the dollar as the dominant reserve currency in the world, for which it intends to put stablecoins to use.

In another noteworthy development, US’ banking regulator said that banks were allowed to engage in selected crypto-related services, overturning years of restrictions. US’ Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has reportedly allowed banks to explore crypto-asset custody, blockchain participation, as well as exploring stablecoins use cases.

Sergey Nazarov, the co-founder of Chainlink, was among attendees of the event in Washington DC. “Having the most senior members of the cabinet that cover these topics, says a lot about the US’s newfound commitment to cryptocurrencies, blockchains and its own evolution as a financial system,” he said in a post on X. Nazarov added that the Trump administration had vouched cooperation with the industry.

Owing to the awaited regulatory development, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said he was set to open a thousand job opportunities in Web3 this year. Following the summit, Armstrong posted a video on X saying that Coinbase planned to hire about 1,000 employees in the US in 2025 as a result of the “renewed growth”.

Prior to the Crypto Summit, Trump ordered the creation of a strategic Bitcoin reserve as well as a crypto stockpile in the US. His executive order said Bitcoin and altcoins seized by federal agencies during investigations will be put into these reserves as long-term holdings.

Despite the success of Trump’s crypto summit, the market continued to bleed on Monday. While Bitcoin was trading at $82,680 (roughly Rs. 72 lakh) on international exchanges, the crypto sector valuation receded to $2.7 trillion (roughly Rs. 2,35,48,050 crore) over the last 24 hours.

Market analysts believe that in the coming days, with more regulatory development, the digital assets sector will gradually touch new highs. Meanwhile, the market remains extremely volatile, and investors have been instructed to exercise caution in their decisions.

The rise of “pig butchering” scams and the increasing use of generative artificial intelligence likely lifted revenues from crypto scams to a record high in 2024, according to blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis.

Revenue from pig butchering scams, where perpetrators cultivate relationships with individuals and convince them to participate in fraudulent schemes, increased nearly 40 percent in 2024 from the previous year, the firm estimated in a report published on Thursday.

Revenue in 2024 from crypto scams was at least $9.9 billion (roughly Rs. 85,996 crore), although the figure could rise to a record high of $12.4 billion (roughly Rs. 1,07,711 crore) once more data becomes available, it said.

“Crypto fraud and scams have continued to increase in sophistication,” Chainalysis researchers said.

The company pointed to marketplaces that support pig butchering operations and the use of GenAI as factors making it easier and cheaper for scammers to expand operations.

Indeed, GenAI technology could potentially “exponentially scale crypto scams”, Chainalysis said.

The company, which tracks publicly available transaction data on the blockchain to identify scam revenue, said crypto fraud activity grew 24 percent each year on average since 2020.

Cryptocurrencies, most notably Bitcoin, have soared in price and popularity over the past few years as investors chased banner returns and interest in blockchain technology soared.

The sector has jumped significantly since US President Donald Trump’s victory in the November election on hopes of an easier regulatory environment.

Other particularly lucrative scams included crypto drainers, where scammers pose as blockchain projects and take control of victims’ crypto wallets, and high-yield investment scams that promised outsized returns, according to Chainalysis.

In January 2024, a crypto drainer posed as the US Securities and Exchange Commission after the regulator’s X account was compromised.

Cryptocurrency ATMs have also been key hotspots for scams, according to Chainalysis, with perpetrators often impersonating government officials or customer support agents to convince victims to deposit cash into the machines.

© Thomson Reuters 2025

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Saudi Arabia has launched a Web3 alliance group as part of its Saudi Vision 2030 program that aims to diversify the country’s economy. The newly construed Web3 Alliance of Saudi Arabia (WASA) will bring together players from the international Web3 industry. The group will work to create awareness around Web3 and help Saudi Arabia develop regulatory standards to oversee and govern the sector, according to press release shared Thursday.

Members of the WASA include The Sandbox, Animoca Brands and Outlier Ventures. The group will work as a non-profit organisation with a focus on collaborating with the country’s regulators to safely integrate blockchain technologies into existing financial and industrial systems.

“The alliance’s governance structure includes a General Assembly and an Executive Committee, ensuring transparent and effective leadership. A comprehensive digital infrastructure and marketing strategy will support the alliance’s mission to connect and empower the Web3 community throughout Saudi Arabia,” the announcement said.

Web3 can be explained as the next iteration of the Internet we know and use today. The blockchain technology, that offers an alternative to traditional Web2 servers, makes for the foundation for Web3. Cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and the metaverse are all part of the Web3 ecosystem that bring financial autonomy, virtual ecosystems, and digital collectibles to the table. By 2030, the country aims to revamp its economy and bring more transparency and effectiveness to its existing governance and industrial structure. The blockchain technology could contribute to this vision, the release noted.

While Web3 technologies are emerging and showing growth in several parts of the world, they remain largely unregulated. Cryptocurrencies, for instance, are volatile in nature and can pose risks to the trader and investor community.

As part of its pro Web3 efforts, the WASA will be initiating Web3 educational programmes, seminars, and workshops in the country to drive awareness and ensure safer exploration of the technologies.

Alongside other nations like India, the UAE, and the US, the newly formed group will conduct research and development work to chalk out the pros and cons of Web3 integration with existing systems.

Members of this group will work to bring Web3-related networking and collaboration opportunities to grow the market in Saudi Arabia.

“Web3 enthusiasts, corporations, and industry leaders are invited to join the alliance and have a say in shaping the future of the Web3 ecosystem in Saudi Arabia,” the launch announcement noted.

In recent years, Saudi Arabia has garnered the attention of Web3 players.

In 2023, Animoca Brands entered into a strategic partnership with Saudi Arabian NEOM Investment Fund with plans to build enterprise-level Web3 services. The same year, The Sandbox, a decentralised gaming ecosystem, also teamed up with Riyadh-based game developer, Sandsoft, to grow the Web3 gaming arena in the country.

A report by the IMARC Group claimed recently that the crypto market in Saudi Arabia touched the valuation of over $23 billion (roughly Rs. 1,99,402 crore) in 2024. As per Statista, the crypto market in Saudi Arabia is also poised to see growth in 2025. The laws in the country allow trading and holding of crypto assets, but financial institutions are not permitted to engage with volatile digital assets.

Despite Saudi’s positive projections and estimates around crypto, the investment firm of Saudi Arabian Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal recently said it would not be investing in cryptocurrency in the near future. The CEO of the firm, Talal Ibrahim al-Maiman, explained the decision, saying cryptocurrencies could be used to buy goods.

The government is set to present the Union Budget for the next financial year on February 1. With only a couple of days until the next budget is revealed, members of India’s Web3 sector have revealed some of the changes to policy and taxation that they are hoping to see during the coming year. In addition to calling for revised crypto tax rates, crypto firms have urged the government to prioritise measures that ensure India remains competitive with other countries, particularly in the realm of emerging technologies.

Introduction of Crypto Regulation

Neither India nor the US have formulated rules or regulations to govern the burgeoning crypto sector. Leaders of crypto firms claim that India has a unique opportunity to launch itself as a business-for-blockchain hub with one of the largest pools of developers in the world.

“The US will take aggressive strides in crypto regulation. India, in the coming budget, should talk about prioritising investments to improve our digital infrastructure, expand blockchain research, and introduce clear policies to regulate the sectors of emerging technologies like blockchain, crypto, and Artificial Intelligence (AI),” Unocoin Co-Founder Sathvik Vishwanath told Gadgets 360.

Vishwanath also said that if the government aligns its approach on Web3 with global trends and focusses on digital asset innovation, the country will be competitive with other nations that are also working on the same technologies.

In the US, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has set up a special Task Force to accelerate work on crypto-related legislation. The UK plans to finalise its crypto rules by 2026.  India, meanwhile, does not have any specific timeline by which it is likely to get its comprehensive crypto rules.

Tax Reforms

Cryptocurrency earnings are taxed at 30 percent in India, and a one percent tax deducted at source (TDS) is levied on each transaction. The government introduced these taxes on April 1, 2022. The crypto sector has repeatedly urged the authorities to revise and reduce these tax rates to help the sector grow.

“Currently, high taxes and TDS law in India have pushed investments pouring into the Web3 sector to other countries like the UAE. This has led to domestic innovation being hindered. Budget 2025 must come with tax rate revisions and permission for loss offsets,” said Sonu Jain, Chief Risk and Compliance Officer at 9Point Capital.

Last year, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the abolishment of angel tax for all classes of investors. This rule levied taxes on investments from wealthy individuals who pour their own capital into startup businesses. It is worth noting that last year’s budget speech did not include any mentions of crypto or blockchain.

“If the Finance Minister focuses on smart taxes rules and blockchain development, it could have a big impact on India’s global position in the crypto sector, which is presently valued at over $3 trillion,” said Thangapandi Durai, CEO of Madurai, Tamil Nadu-based Koinpark crypto exchange.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has raised concerns about the rising number of crypto tokens flooding the market. In a post on X Sunday, Armstrong claimed one million crypto tokens were being created on a weekly basis. With the massive influx of new tokens, he said, evaluating each token was no longer feasible. As per CoinMarketCap, over 10.19 million crypto tokens are currently in circulation.

Armstrong, who co-founded Coinbase in 2012, said the flooding of crypto tokens into the market had become a problem. He also noted that regulators needed to put in place a blocking system for tokens that have not applied for regulatory approvals.

“Regulators need to understand that applying for approval for each one is totally infeasible at this point as well (they can’t do 1m a week). It needs to move from an allow list to a block list, and utilise customer reviews/automated scans of on-chain data etc to help customers sift through,” the 42-year-old crypto mogul said.

Coinbase said last week it represented over $3 trillion (roughly Rs. 2,59,10,248 crore) in market cap. According to its website, the exchange does its due diligence before listing tokens on its platform. It takes votes on which assets get to be listed from its internal Digital Asset Support Group (DASG) while also assessing tokens based on their legal, compliance, and security standards.

The Coinbase chief was recently at Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum. Summarizing his key takeaways from the event, he said corporate leaders, banks, asset managers, and payment service firms had made it clear they were increasing investments in crypto. Armstong has thus highlighted the need for smarter rules that can make the crypto sector safer on a priority basis.

He has also noted that the return of Donald Trump as the President of the US has forced ‘everyone to up their game’.

“There are going to be more players and competition than ever in crypto and we welcome it all. We need crypto to update the entire global financial system to bring these benefits to everyone,” Armstrong said.

Given the projected growth margin for the crypto sector, regulators in several parts of the world are putting safety measures for the stakeholders in place. The crypto sector is still impacted by micro or macro developments around international politics and financial developments, among other factors.

In India, for instance, the government is yet to release a comprehensive set of regulations to oversee crypto. Meanwhile, industry bodies are taking up the task of deploying certain parameters to ensure that the sector is protected against scams like rug pulls and exploitation.

In April last year, the Bharat Web3 Association laid down some rules for crypto exchanges to follow while considering the listing of new tokens on their platforms. Based on the ‘Plan, Execute, Check’ (PEC) framework, these guidelines direct all crypto exchanges to become primary screeners for new tokens looking to get listed and establish minimum standards to review tokens that are in the pipeline to be listed for public engagement.

Malaysia could soon join other nations that are working on policies that govern the integration of cryptocurrencies and blockchain-related technologies into their financial systems. Earlier this week, Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim met with UAE officials and Binance representatives to discuss the formulation of a supportive policy framework for cryptocurrencies. The Malaysian PM was attending the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW 2025), where he said that he wishes to ensure that the investor interest in Malaysia is protected, which can be achieved with appropriate regulations.

During the event in Abu Dhabi, the Malaysian PM also met with Changpeng Zhao, the co-founder and former CEO of Binance. The two reportedly spoke about the steps that Malaysia could incorporate to become more acquainted with Web3 technologies.

The Malaysian Securities Commission (SC) has acknowledged the Prime Minister’s vision for crypto that sees Malaysia becoming a key name in the evolving digital finance ecosystem, according to a report.

Datuk Mohammad Faiz Azmi, the chairperson of the commission said that all relevant financial bodies in Malaysia must come together to accelerate the development of Web3-related policies. Azmi also reportedly noted that the SC has been working to give shape to its Web3 sector since 2019.

Crypto in Malaysia

Data by Worldometer shows that the current population of Malaysia is over 35 million. Citing a survey data by Oppotus, Statista estimates that 30 percent of Malaysian respondents held a digital asset or cryptocurrency in the fourth quarter of 2023.

With the crypto industry seemingly witnessing a global expansion, Malaysian authorities have been monitoring the use of cryptocurrencies in the country.

In June 2024, the Malaysian federal agency Inland Revenue Board (IRB) reportedly conducted raids at multiple locations, having identified firms that were not reporting their crypto-related engagements.

Malaysian law enforcement authorities have also conducted crackdowns on illegal crypto mining hubs. Between 2020 and 2022, Malaysian authorities said it arrested 627 people since for stealing electricity to power their crypto mining operations. Crypto mining equipment worth MYR 69.8 million (roughly Rs. 125 crore) were also confiscated by the Malaysian police during the same period.

Crypto exchanges looking to operate in Malaysia need an official approval from the SC. The regulatory body maintains a list or registered market operators to make sure that investors are safeguarded against financial risks.

Malicious crypto scammers have been found to be fishing for their victims posing as job recruiters online. Popular cyber investigator Taylor Monahan, who goes by the username @tayvano_, has posted an update to his 85,000 followers on X. As per the update, scammers are using recruiting platforms like LinkedIn to reach out to job seekers, asking them to fix issues with video-call software and subsequently injecting malicious malware to get access to the victims’ computers. Monahan works in the security division of crypto wallet MetaMask.

The post, part of a thread on the threat, published by Monahan shared screenshots of the job listing circulated by the scammers. The post shows the fraudulent job opening of “Business Development Lead” at an entity named ‘Halliday’. To entice people to apply for this senior level position, the post boasts an annual salary bracket of $300,000 (roughly Rs. 2.56 lakh) to $350,000 (roughly Rs. 2.99 lakh)

Once job seekers end up answering questions, the scammers ask them to record a video answering the last question. On clicking the ‘Request Camera Access’ button, another prompt pops up asking the people to fix an issue with the camera or the microphone.

“Once you do it, Chrome will prompt you to update/restart to ‘fix the issue’. It’s not fixing the issue. There are SO many malicious actors who spend all day trying to trick you into copy/pasting/run code like this. It will always destroy you,” the Web3 investigator noted.

The screenshot posted by Monahan showed that the malicious ‘fix the issue’ message pops up with the title “Access to your camera or microphone is currently blocked”. The investigator also warned that the scammers could give varying instructions to potential victims for fixing the bug, depending on the system they use – Mac, Windows, or Linux.

This malware lets the scammers access the victims’ systems through backdoor entries, which can subsequently let them get into crypto wallets and drain funds.

The FBI, in its recent report, claimed that crypto scammers had become more sophisticated in terms of identifying and attacking their victims. In July, the Securities division of the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions (DFI) also said that scammers had spiked up activities posing as professors or academicians on platforms including Facebook, WhatsApp and Telegram to find and communicate with potential victims.

Insiders from the crypto sector like Monahan have asked people to be vigilant and up to date with community alerts and warnings to prevent risking their funds. Earlier this year, Yi He, the co-founder of Binance, had flagged an impersonation scam that was circulating on X where scammers were misusing her identity to promote a fake crypto token on X.

ENS Labs, the firm that launched the Ethereum Name Service (ENS) in 2017, are gearing up for their next major project. By late 2025, they plan to launch a layer-2 blockchain network called Namechain, built on the Ethereum blockchain. Namechain will leverage zero-knowledge rollup technology to improve transaction efficiency, reducing both costs and processing times. In the ENS domain ecosystem, simpler names like “xyz.eth” typically hold more value than complex ones like “asd1as.eth.”

As per a report, the launch of Namechain is aimed at streamlining blockchain identities, making them more straightforward and user-friendly. Not only will this layer 2 blockchain simplify the process for ENS registrations but the network is also expected to make the service more accessible for users.

This week, ENS Labs made an official announcement about Namechain. In a post on X from their handle @ensdomains, ENS stated, “By dramatically reducing costs, improving performance, and providing a familiar Ethereum developer experience, our hope is to unlock new opportunities for ENS and Ethereum.”

ENS Labs has allocated an initial budget of $4 million (roughly Rs. 33 crore) in USDC stablecoin to support Namechain’s development, with funding provided by the ENS DAO, which oversees the ENS protocol. The full budget required for testing and deploying this Layer-2 network, however, has not yet been disclosed.

ENS Labs’ latest initiative follows the rising popularity of its Ethereum Name Service (ENS). ENS is a decentralised domain name protocol that simplifies complex Ethereum wallet addresses, transforming them into easy-to-read names like “ABC.eth,” making crypto transactions more accessible and user-friendly.

In July 2022, ENS tracker Dune Analytics reported that daily ENS registrations had spiked significantly, reaching over 50,000 new addresses that month. The same year, Nike’s Web3 arm called ‘RTFKT’ obtained ten ENS domains.

Notably, registrations of ENS domains recorded a drop of 22.9 percent in September this year, as per a report by CoinMarketCap. The report also notes that ENS is a crucial component of the Web3 ecosystem, with the total number of active domains now standing at over 1.9 million.

In October, Google completed the integration of ENS on its Search engine. This development is aimed at making it easier for people to search for any name based on the ENS domain, signified by ‘.eth’.