HashKey secures VASP license in Ireland under MiCA regulations  

Altcoins may see a resurgence in the second quarter of 2025 as regulations for digital assets continue to improve, according to Swiss bank Sygnum.In its Q2 2025 investment outlook, Sygnum said the space has seen “drastically improved” regulations for crypto use cases, creating the foundations for a strong alt-sector rally for the second quarter. However, it added that “none of the positive developments have been priced in.” In April, Bitcoin dominance reached a four-year high, signaling that crypto investors are rotating their funds into an asset perceived to be relatively safer. Still, Sygnum said regulatory developments in the US, such as President Donald Trump’s establishment of a Digital Asset Stockpile and advancing stablecoin regulations, may propel broader crypto adoption.“We expect protocols successful in gaining user traction to outperform and Bitcoin’s dominance to decline,” Sygnum wrote. Increased focus on economic value ignites competitionSygnum also said that competition would increase as the market focuses on economic value. Increased competition in a market often results in better products, ultimately benefiting consumers: “The market’s increased focus on economic value compels greater competition for user growth and revenues, with rising protocols such as Toncoin, Sui, Aptos, Sonic, or Berachain taking different approaches.”Sygnum added that while high-performance blockchains address limitations of the Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana blockchains, they find it challenging to achieve meaningful adoption and fee income. Sector breakdown by market capitalization. Source: SygnumThe report highlighted that some approaches have been more sustainable. These include Berachain’s approach of incentivizing validators to provide liquidity to decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, Sonic’s rewarding developers that attract and retain users, and Toncoin’s Telegram affiliation to access 1 billion users.Aside from layer-1 chains, Sygnum highlighted that layer-2 networks like Base also have potential. The report pointed out that while the memecoin frenzy on the blockchain pushed its users and revenue to new highs, it made an equally sharp decline after memecoins started losing steam. Despite this, Sygnum noted that Base remains the layer-2 leader in metrics like daily transactions, throughput and total value locked. Related: Italy finance minister warns US stablecoins pose bigger threat than tariffsMemecoins still a leading crypto narrative in Q1Despite recent price declines, memecoins remained a dominant crypto narrative in Q1 2025. A CoinGecko report recently highlighted that memecoins remained dominant as a crypto narrative in the first quarter of 2025. The crypto data company said memecoins had 27.1% of global investor interest, second only to artificial intelligence tokens, which had 35.7%.While retail investors are still busy with memecoins, institutions have a different approach. Asset manager Bitwise reported on April 14 that publicly traded firms are stacking Bitcoin. At least 12 public companies purchased Bitcoin for the first time in Q1 2025, pushing public firm holdings to $57 billion.Magazine: Uni students crypto ‘grooming’ scandal, 67K scammed by fake women: Asia Express

Hong Kong-based crypto investment firm HashKey Capital has announced the launch of an XRP fund, with plans to convert it into an exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the future.According to an April 18 announcement, the fund, officially titled the HashKey XRP Tracker Fund, is reportedly “the first investment fund in Asia designed to track the performance of XRP.”Furthermore, XRP developer Ripple will serve as the fund’s anchor investor, seeding the initial investment. In a separate X post, HashKey Capital said the fund aims to bring “more institutional capital into regulated XRP products and the broader digital asset ecosystem.”Close collaboration with RippleIn another X post, HashKey Capital explained that the fund marks the beginning of a closer collaboration with Ripple. The two firms “are exploring new investment products, cross-border DeFi solutions, and tokenization—including the possibility of launching a money market fund (MMF) on the XRP ledger.”Related: Ripple vs. XRP vs. XRP Ledger: What’s the difference?In the announcement, HashKey Capital partner Vivien Wong said the firm will share its connection with financial institutions, regulators and investors in Asia with Ripple: “Ripple offers us the opportunity to collaborate on more investment products and solutions across cross-border payment solutions, decentralized finance (DeFi), and enterprise blockchain adoption.”A Hong Kong XRP ETF in the works?The XRP (XRP) Tracker Fund is HashKey Capital’s third tracker fund and follows the firm’s Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) ETF products. The company noted that this product could also become an ETF in the future.Source: HashKey CapitalRelated: XRP: Why it’s outperforming altcoins — and what comes nextA boon for XRP’s institutional adoption in AsiaHank Huang, CEO of Cronos Research, a crypto investment firm based in Asia, told Cointelegraph that “the launch of the XRP Tracker Fund by HashKey Capital marks a pivotal moment for institutional adoption” in the region. He said regulated and transparent products like Hashkey’s fund are what institutional investors need to enter the market. “XRP’s proven use case in cross-border payments, combined with HashKey’s robust infrastructure, sets the stage for meaningful capital inflows and wider acceptance of crypto assets in global finance,“ Huang said.Magazine: XRP win leaves Ripple and industry with no crypto legal precedent set

Slovenia’s Finance Ministry is considering a possible 25% tax on crypto trading profits for residents in the country under a new draft law now open for public consultation. The bill proposes to tax traders when they sell their cryptocurrency for fiat or pay for goods and services, but crypto-to-crypto and transfers between wallets owned by the same user will be exempt, Slovenia’s Finance Ministry said in an April 17 statement.Under the proposed legislation, crypto tax will be aligned with existing tax laws. Slovenia taxpayers will be required to keep a record of all their transactions for annual tax returns. The tax base would be calculated on profits by subtracting the purchase price from the sale price. In a statement to the Slovenia Times, finance minister Klemen Boštjančič said it’s unreasonable that crypto trading for individuals isn’t currently taxed in the country. “The goal of taxation of crypto assets is not to generate tax revenue, but we find it illogical and unreasonable that one of the most speculative financial instruments is not taxed at all,” he said in a statement translated from Slovenian. New tax could stifle crypto in Slovenia, lawmaker says Jernej Vrtovec, a member of Slovenia’s national assembly and New Slovenia opposition party, slammed the proposal in an April 16 statement to X, arguing it could stifle crypto growth in the country. “Slovenia has the opportunity to become a crypto-friendly country, but with the government’s proposals, we will miss the train again,” he said in a post also translated from Slovenian. “With excessive taxation, we will once again see young people and capital fleeing abroad. Taxes should encourage, not stifle.” Source: Jernej VrtovecThe proposal is open to public consultation until May 5. If Slovenian lawmakers pass the bill, it will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2026. Slovenia introduced a 10% tax on crypto withdrawals and payments in 2023, but capital gains from occasional crypto trading are not taxed, according to the crypto tax platform Token Tax. Related: NFT trader faces prison for $13M tax fraud on CryptoPunk profitsCrypto activity can also currently be exempt from tax if it’s considered a hobby. Business activity, such as mining or staking, is subject to income tax. A previous bill proposed in April 2022 planned to levy a 5% tax on profits over 10,000 euros ($11,372), but it was never passed into law. Slovenia issued the first digital sovereign bond in the European Union on July 25 last year. It had a nominal size of 30 million euros ($32.5 million) with a 3.65% coupon and a maturity date of Nov. 25 that year. The number of crypto users in Slovenia is projected to reach roughly 98,000 in 2025, according to online data platform Statisa, with a penetration rate of 4.6% among its population of 2.12 million people. While the projected revenue for the country’s crypto market is slated to hit $2.8 million. Magazine: How crypto laws are changing across the world in 2025