Asia-Pacific reshapes the crypto world as Singapore claims top adoption rank

  • Vietnam and Hong Kong enter the global top 10.
  • Six Asia-Pacific markets appear in the top 20.
  • Tokenisation rises 63% to more than 25.7 billion dollars.

Singapore’s rise to the top of global crypto adoption signals a broader shift in how digital assets are becoming embedded across the Asia-Pacific.

A new index published on Tuesday by Bybit and DL Research shows the region gaining influence as regulatory clarity, retail participation and new blockchain use cases reshape where innovation is happening.

The findings also reveal that real-world asset tokenisation, local stablecoins and crypto payrolls are now spreading through markets that have traditionally relied on conventional financial systems, placing Asia-Pacific at the centre of the industry’s next phase.

Regional leadership intensifies

The World Crypto Rankings assessed 79 countries using 28 metrics and 92 data points that examined regulation, institutional readiness and levels of user engagement.

Singapore secured the top position, overtaking the US, which has fallen in the latest edition.

Lithuania, Switzerland and the UAE completed the upper tier of the list, marking a shift from the Western-heavy rankings seen in earlier years.

Asia-Pacific delivered one of the strongest performances, with six of its markets ranked within the global top 20.

Vietnam reached ninth place, while Hong Kong secured tenth as its regulatory reset took effect.

Australia followed closely in eleventh, and the Philippines and South Korea came in seventeenth and twentieth, respectively.

The distribution indicates that adoption patterns are broadening as regional economies align regulation with user demand and market development.

New drivers behind adoption

The report outlines how each market is advancing for different reasons.

Singapore’s top ranking reflects a clear regulatory framework, a structured licensing regime and high levels of participation.

Vietnam stands out for a different type of growth. Nearly 20% of its population owns digital assets largely for remittances, savings and inflation protection.

The index shows that Vietnam ranks first globally for transactional use and for the adoption of decentralised physical infrastructure devices.

This suggests that the country’s progress is being powered from the ground up, with retail users driving the majority of activity.

Hong Kong’s tenth-place ranking reflects its attempt to rebuild confidence following regulatory changes and the introduction of a new licensing system. Its user penetration level places it eighth globally.

The report notes that the city is positioning itself as a blend of Western and Asian financial structures, with stablecoins and tokenisation acting as key catalysts for recovery.

Emerging trends gain global traction

Beyond rankings, the findings point to three trends shaping global behaviour.

Real-world asset tokenisation has expanded by 63% to more than 25.7 billion dollars since January.

This indicates rising interest in converting traditional assets into blockchain-based formats for trading and settlement.

Local currency-pegged stablecoins are also gaining ground. These tokens are emerging in markets that want to reduce reliance on the dollar while supporting domestic and cross-border transactions.

Their growth suggests increasing comfort with digital settlement mechanisms across both institutional and retail users.

This reflects a shift toward integrating digital assets into everyday financial activity rather than treating them solely as investment instruments.

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Cardano price: why 11% spike puts ADA on breakout lane

  • Cardano price rose more than 11% as bulls touched the highest level in over three weeks.
  • Gains came as Bitcoin rebounded to $92,000 and as Cardano cheered two key developments.
  • The uptick to $0.47 could allow bulls to target the crucial $0.50 mark and higher in coming weeks.

Cardano topped the list of 24-hour gainers on Wednesday, with the token’s price jumping more than 11% as bulls looked to build on gains seen on December 9, 2025.

Those gains saw ADA touch its highest level since November 19 and came amid a broader crypto market rebound.

As Bitcoin flirted with resistance above $92,000, ADA price jumped to a high of $0.48.

Bulls are currently hovering at this level, with momentum helped by Cardano’s Midnight launch and ADA’s inclusion in the Bitwise crypto 10 ETF index.

These developments have fueled optimism among investors, positioning Cardano for a potential breakout as it seeks to reclaim critical price levels.

Cardano gains 11% as bulls touch $0.48

The Cardano token led op gainers across the top 100 coins by market cap.

ADA’s uptick in the previous session extended to early trading on December 10 as an 11% push over 24 hours helped prices climb to $0.48.

Bitcoin’s resilience has helped bulls. However, pivotal drivers of this upward momentum included the recent launch of Midnight.

The privacy-focused sidechain integrated with Cardano has its token trading on multiple exchanges as privacy coins show upward potential.

Midnight, which debuted on December 8, 2025, leverages zero-knowledge proofs and the Hydra scaling solution.

Its launch has sparked enthusiasm, including from Charles Hoskinson, founder of Cardano.

Hoskinson celebrated the milestone on X, stating, “Congratulations Midnight.”

The positive sentiment surrounding Midnight, combined with the market’s bullish turn, provided tailwinds for ADA.

Further boosting the price surge earlier in the week is Cardano’s inclusion in the Bitwise 10 Crypto Index ETF (BITW), launched on December 9, 2025.

BITW trades on the New York Stock Exchange and saw its assets under management (AUM) hit $1.25 billion on December 9, and allocates 0.65% of its holdings to ADA.

Cardano price outlook: breakout above $0.50 next?

ADA’s recent gains mean bulls could target the $0.50 mark, a level below which bears accelerated the downward pressure in mid-November.

The breach saw prices hit lows of $0.37 before staging a robust recovery that initially faded to around $0.45.

Amid the broader crypto market’s upward trajectory, buyers have pierced the supply wall, and technical indicators suggest a potential pump to the $0.50 threshold.

Cardano Price Chart
Cardano price chart by TradingView

Technical analysis highlights a positive Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) indicator.

MACD on the daily chart shows a bullish crossover, while the Relative Strength Index (RSI) has crossed above the critical 50 level.

In the event of a breakout, the key level to watch might be the 50-day exponential moving average (EMA) currently at $0.83.

As Cardano capitalizes on its technological advancements and institutional backing, the next target in a rallying market will be $1.00.

The cryptocurrency last reached this level in March 2025, when ADA exploded over 70% in a day to jump from around $0.65 to near $1.20.

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Silk Road crypto activity resurfaces as dormant Bitcoin wallets move again

  • Silk Road-tagged wallets sent $3.14 million in Bitcoin across 176 transfers this week.
  • The transactions are the most significant Silk Road-linked activity in five years.
  • The wallets sent funds to a new address beginning with bc1qn.

Silk Road-linked cryptocurrency activity has resurfaced, drawing attention to long-quiet Bitcoin wallets connected to the darknet marketplace.

The movement comes less than a year after US President Donald Trump granted a full pardon to Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht.

While the pardon focused global attention on Ulbricht’s legal case, blockchain analysts are now tracking renewed activity that marks the highest level of transfers in years.

The latest movement, recorded on Tuesday, is raising fresh questions about dormant coin reserves linked to the marketplace and how much Bitcoin remains undiscovered or untouched across older blockchain addresses.

Silk Road wallets show renewed Bitcoin flows

Silk Road-tagged wallets transferred about $3.14 million worth of Bitcoin BTC $92,626, according to Arkham. The activity involved 176 transactions, making it the most significant movement from these addresses in five years.

Earlier this year, the same wallets carried out only three small test transactions, suggesting that substantial activity had been paused.

The transfers this week were sent to an unknown cryptocurrency wallet with the address prefix bc1qn.

The primary Silk Road-associated wallets still hold about $38.4 million in Bitcoin.

The newly created address holds only the transferred $3.14 million.

Pardon puts focus back on historic Silk Road funds

Interest in the wallets has intensified since January, when Trump issued a full pardon to Ulbricht.

Before the pardon, Ulbricht had been serving a double life sentence without parole for creating and operating Silk Road, which allowed anonymous trading of illicit goods using Bitcoin.

The pardon also sparked new activity around the Free Ross campaign.

Supporters have contributed about $270,000 in Bitcoin donations since the announcement, based on on-chain data.

Unseized Bitcoin linked to Ulbricht gains attention

Alongside the renewed transfers, discussions have shifted to older cryptocurrency holdings believed to be connected to Ulbricht but never seized by authorities.

The US government previously confiscated at least $3.36 billion in Bitcoin from Silk Road, marking one of the largest recoveries in the history of digital asset enforcement.

Yet blockchain analysts tracking historical movements have identified additional reserves that remain untouched.

Coinbase exchange director Conor Grogan highlighted that 430 BTC, worth about $47 million, has not moved for more than 13 years.

These tokens are held in wallets thought to be linked to Ulbricht.

Dormant Bitcoin wallets remain a focal point

Another Silk Road-tagged wallet likely controlled by Ulbricht contains about $8.3 million in Bitcoin.

This wallet has seen only three small test transactions over the past 10 months and has otherwise remained inactive for 14 years, according to Arkham.

The transfers observed this week have therefore shifted attention back to dormant Bitcoin reserves that could hold substantial amounts.

Experts monitoring historical blockchain activity note that movements involving older darknet-linked wallets often prompt speculation about ownership, recovery efforts, or changes in operational control.

The recent activity does not clarify why these wallets began moving again or who controls the receiving address.

However, the timing, extended periods of inactivity, and historical significance of the addresses have made the transfers notable within the crypto community.

As blockchain analysis tools improve and more historical data becomes searchable, renewed activity from legacy darknet sources continues to shape conversations about unseized assets and the long-term movement patterns of early Bitcoin holdings.

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