📌 TOPINDIATOURS Breaking crypto: HashKey Shares Drop 3% in Disappointing Hong Kong

HashKey Holdings saw its shares slip 3% on Wednesday during its Hong Kong trading debut, closing at HK$6.51 after pricing near the top of its marketed range at HK$6.68, according to CNBC.

The crypto exchange raised $206 million in its initial public offering, marking the first public listing by a digital asset company in the city, even as bitcoin tumbled 36% from its October all-time high above $126,000.

The underwhelming performance came despite robust investor demand, with the institutional tranche drawing subscriptions 5.5 times the available stock and retail investors oversubscribing by nearly 394 times.

Cornerstone investors, including Fidelity, UBS, CDH Investments, and Cithara Fund, participated in the offering, while JPMorgan and Guotai Haitong served as joint bookrunners.

Hong Kong’s Crypto Hub Ambitions Face Market Headwinds

Founded in 2018, HashKey operates the city’s largest licensed virtual asset trading platform and secured one of the earliest approvals under Hong Kong’s 2022 digital asset regime.

The company holds more than 75% of Hong Kong’s onshore digital asset trading volume, providing exchange services alongside over-the-counter trading, staking, tokenization, and asset management solutions for institutional and retail clients.

Speaking with Reuters, CEO Xiao Feng emphasized his long-term confidence despite near-term volatility.

“My confidence is only growing stronger and I am more optimistic than 10 years ago because there’s more regulation and compliance guidelines for us to follow which will allow the industry to grow further,” he said at the listing ceremony.

The exchange facilitated HK$1.7 trillion in trading volume through September 2025, though first-half revenue fell 26% year over year to HK$284 million.

HashKey posted a HK$506.7 million loss during that period, narrowing from HK$772.6 million the previous year as the company invested heavily in compliance infrastructure and market expansion.

Mainland Ban Contrasts With Hong Kong’s Digital Asset Push

Hong Kong’s embrace of cryptocurrencies stands in sharp contrast to mainland China, which banned crypto trading in 2021 and recently renewed warnings about virtual assets.

The city launched a stablecoin licensing system this year and is considering allowing exchanges to connect local platforms with global operations, positioning itself as a testing ground for regulated digital asset adoption.

Xiao distinguished Hong Kong’s approach from Beijing’s crackdown, noting mainland measures targeted pyramid schemes and stablecoin fraud.

“Hong Kong continues to promote policies regarding digital assets and we have benefited from that,” he said. “We should firmly adhere to ‘one country’, but wisely take advantage of ‘two systems.’“

CFO Eric Zhu expressed confidence that the Asian market would catch up with U.S. crypto penetration rates.

“We are confident that the penetration rate in Hong Kong, in the Asian market, is going to catch up with what happens in the U.S,” he told CNBC.

The company plans to deploy IPO proceeds toward technology infrastructure upgrades, market expansion partnerships, and enhanced risk management systems.

HashKey will prioritize cash flow over profitability in the near term while continuing investments as the sector develops, according to Xiao.

The listing arrived during a challenging period for global crypto equities.

As reported earlier by Cryptonews, stablecoin provider Circle lost 70% of its value since peaking in June, while exchanges Bullish and Gemini declined over 30% and 60% respectively, since their summer debuts.

Bitcoin has fallen roughly 30% from October highs amid concerns about geopolitical tensions and broader market jitters.

Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan attended the listing ceremony, which shows the city’s official support for its digital asset initiatives.

The debut contributed to Hong Kong’s strongest IPO year since 2021, with over $34 billion raised from new listings through December, according to data obtained by Reuters, reclaiming the top global ranking from U.S. exchanges for the first time since 2019.

The post HashKey Shares Drop 3% in Disappointing Hong Kong Debut Despite $200M Raise appeared first on Cryptonews.

🔗 Sumber: cryptonews.com

📌 TOPINDIATOURS Hot crypto: Tether’s New Move Could Make Cloud Passwords Obsolete

Welcome to the US Crypto News Morning Briefing—your essential rundown of the most important developments in crypto for the day ahead.

Grab a coffee as USDT stablecoin issuer, Tether, pushes to change the way we protect our digital lives. A new approach promises to put control back in your hands, bypassing the cloud and leaving traditional password methods looking increasingly outdated.

Crypto News of the Day: Tether Just Unleashed A Secret Weapon Against Cloud Breaches

Tether has taken a bold step into cybersecurity with the launch of PearPass, a first-of-its-kind peer-to-peer password manager designed to eliminate reliance on cloud storage. The app:

• Keeps all credentials on users’ devices
• Removes centralized servers and intermediaries from the equation
• Gives users full control over their digital security.

The launch comes at a time when billions of login credentials have been leaked in high-profile breaches, exposing users to identity theft, financial loss, and other cyber risks.

Traditional cloud-based password managers, while convenient, have become attractive targets for hackers due to their centralized storage models.

PearPass addresses these vulnerabilities by storing all data locally on users’ devices and enabling encrypted, peer-to-peer synchronization across devices chosen by the user.

“Every major breach proves the same point: if your secrets live in the cloud, they’re not really yours…PearPass removes the single point of failure. No servers, no intermediaries, no back doors. Recovery and synchronization across devices happen peer-to-peer, under your control. This is security that can’t be switched off, seized, or compromised, because it was never in someone else’s hands to begin with,” read an excerpt in Tether’s announcement, citing CEO Paolo Ardoino.

PearPass combines ease of use with advanced security features. It includes a built-in password generator, end-to-end encryption powered by open-source cryptography, and a peer-to-peer architecture that ensures credentials are never exposed to third parties.

Recovery is entirely user-controlled through private keys, eliminating dependency on external systems.

PearPass Sets a New Standard for Decentralized, Open-Source Security

Additionally, PearPass is fully open-source and community-audited, enabling security experts and users to inspect, verify, and contribute to the software.

The platform has also reportedly undergone an independent security audit by Secfault Security, a firm specializing in offensive security and cryptographic analysis. This reinforces its resilience against real-world cyber threats.

This release reflects Tether’s broader strategy to develop technologies resilient against the pressures of centralization. As governments, corporations, and intermediaries increasingly seek access to private data, PearPass offers a model for systems that remain private, independent, and functional, even under high-threat scenarios.

However, while peer-to-peer avoids cloud risks:

• It can be less convenient for users who frequently switch devices.

Recovery relies entirely on users managing their own keys, which could be risky for non-technical users.

• Experts may question whether the average consumer will adopt a decentralized password manager.

This is at a time when mainstream cloud-based options are more user-friendly and integrated into browsers and mobile platforms.

• Users still need strong device-level security.

While PearPass helps prevent cloud breaches, it cannot protect against local device hacking, malware, or physical theft.

Encrypted peer-to-peer synchronization is promising, but peer networks can introduce latency, synchronization errors, or potential attack vectors if not properly secured.

In as much as PearPass relies on open-source audits and Secfault Security, no system is entirely risk-free. Skeptics may point out that first-of-its-kind peer-to-peer solutions carry unknown risks until widely tested in real-world environments.

Byte-Sized Alpha

Here’s a summary of more US crypto news to follow today:

• Bitcoin trades at the ‘price of belief’: Why $81,500 matters now.
• Solana begins quantum-resistant upgrade as blockchain industry accelerates safety measures.
• Cantor Fitzgerald’s $200 billion Hyperliquid call just reframed the HYPE trade.
• Six weeks of spot ETF inflows couldn’t lift XRP price — On-chain data explains.
• Top 3 price prediction Bitcoin, gold, silver: Could the metals rally signal stress? 
• Binance puts $5 million bounty on fake listing agents as scrutiny intensifies.
• How the U…

  Konten dipersingkat otomatis.

  🔗 Sumber: www.beincrypto.com

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