There is a growing TON-based economy, using Telegram as a hub, and activity tends to increase when new gamification features are added.

OKX added support for the Toncoin (TON) network associated with the Telegram messaging app to OKX Wallet, marking the 100th protocol as it builds on its “on-chain, any chain” philosophy.

The wallet, a standalone Web3 product that operates separately from the centralized exchange (CEX), integrates into OKX’s decentralized exchange (DEX).

While OKX tries to provide access to a wide variety of tokens and protocols for its wallet, it also wants to provide a curated experience and not every token meets its standards, Chief Marketing Officer Haider Rafique said in an interview.

“Our listing process typically revolves around a couple of things. First, we want to see some terminal velocity before considering a listing,” Rafique said. “We aim for the right timing when there’s already a built-up community and significant demand. If we launch something without sufficient demand, it doesn’t fit well with our role.”

Market data from CoinMarketCap shows that TON has been a breakout hit with OKX. It is the sixth most-traded coin on the centralized exchange, just behind the BTC-USDT trading pair and the SOL-USDT pair. Trading for TON tends to increase whenever new gamification features are introduced, Rafique said, observing that these features drive user interest and engagement.

“The utility most people are excited about is the ease of participating in-network incentives and programs. This gamification aspect is the most popular, based on various signals we track,” he said. “Of course, there are speculators who just want to hold the token, hoping it appreciates because it’s backed by Telegram.”

As CoinDesk has reported, this growing TON-based economy, using Telegram as a hub, has driven the token’s recent outperformance of the broader crypto market.

Before supporting TON, OKX Wallet expanded its capabilities by adding support for the NEAR, Blast, and zkLink Nova chains, according to a release.

OKX Wallet also recently integrated Uniswap Labs’ trading APIs and launched a platform for Web3 game developers.

The post OKX Wallet Hits 100 Protocol Support as It Adds TON Compatibility appeared first on Crypto Insider.

OkCoin CEO Hong Fang tweeted that customer deposits are safe and USD withdrawals are not affected.

OKCoin has temporarily lost the ability to allow customers to deposit USD because of Signature bank’s collapse, according to a tweet by its CEO.

“Our team are working very hard on alternative channels and solutions in real-time,” OKCoin CEO Hong Fang tweeted. “We’ve been through much worse times since our inception. If this weekend has told us anything, it’s the significance of the future that we are building.”

OKCoin is believed to be the first exchange to lose its ability – albeit temporarily – to process USD deposits because of the current banking crisis.

Across the industry, there have been growing concerns about the liquidity vacuum that the disappearance of the Silvergate Exchange Network (SEN) and Signature’s competitor, Signet, means for crypto-fiat liquidity.

OKCoin, available in the U.S., is the sister exchange to OKX, which is not available onshore.

OKX’s native token, OKB, appears to be unaffected by this news and is up 6.6% in the last 24 hours, according to CoinGecko.

The post OKX-Affiliated OKCoin Pauses USD On-Ramp Due to Signature Bank’s Collapse appeared first on Crypto Insider.

Users can now view and download the old and new reserve ratios and self-assess the exchange’s health and safety of their assets, OKX said in a press release.

Cryptocurrency exchange OKX published a second proof of reserves (PoR) report, adding features that allow users to verify that the second-largest platform by trading volume has sufficient assets to handle customer withdrawals.

The report, released Thursday, shows that as of Tuesday, 12:00 UTC, OKX’s wallets held 113,754 bitcoin ($1.87 billion) against a user balance of 112,192 bitcoin (BTC). That’s a bitcoin reserve ratio of 101%, a slight decline from 102% disclosed in the first report released on Nov. 22.

The reserve ratio for leading stablecoin tether (USDT) held steady at 101%, while ether’s (ETH) reserve ratio ticked higher to 103% from 102%. The exchange addresses tracked by analytics firm Nansen show BTC, ETH and USDT make up over 90% of holdings.

Proof of reserves is an audit method adopted by cryptocurrency exchanges in the aftermath of FTX’s collapse to prove that the custodian, in this case, OKX, isn’t lending out customer funds, as FTX did, and has the assets it claims to hold on behalf of its users.

They have, nevertheless, been criticized for not providing information about liabilities and internal quality controls, a focal point in the crypto community. For instance, Binance’s recent proof of reserves report from French audit firm Mazars was criticized for lack of details about the way exchange liquidates assets to cover margin loans.

OKX said in a press release shared with CoinDesk that it would release proof of funds on the 22nd day of each month to win customer trust and allow users to audit its 23,000 addresses, which the exchange plans to continue using in the future.

Users can now view and download the old and new reserve ratios and assess the exchange’s health and the safety of their assets.

“Publishing PoR results on a monthly basis strengthens our commitment to lead the industry when it comes to transparency and trust,” Chief Marketing Officer Haider Rafique said in the release. “At OKX, we believe that PoR should be verifiable via open source tools so that users can self-verify the balances and ownership of our reserve addresses.”

The post OKX Unveils 2nd Proof-of-Reserves Report, Promises Monthly Publication appeared first on Crypto Insider.

The tokens surged and sank as new features in the Bored Ape Yacht Club ecosystem went live.

Futures tracking ApeCoin’s APE tokens lost about $36 million in liquidations during a volatile 24 hours, data show.

Liquidations in the crypto market occur when a trader has insufficient funds to fund a margin call, which is when an exchange asks for extra collateral to keep the trading position funded.

APE prices jumped to more than $27.50 on Thursday evening from $19 on Wednesday, before profit-taking saw the tokens decline to as low as $20.48 in Asian morning hours on Friday. Such movement occurred in an otherwise little-changed crypto market, with bitcoin and ether moving just 2% in the past 24 hours.

APE has more than doubled from mid-April’s levels around $11, with the volatility leading to an increase in trading volume on the token’s futures. Liquidations have increased in parallel: APE futures have racked up millions of dollars in losses – higher than usual – for their traders several times in the past weeks.

Thursday’s volatility came as virtual pockets of land went on sale on the popular Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) ecosystem, confirming rumors from last week. The land was sold exclusively for APE through a Dutch auction, which probably drove APE prices up.

Most of the liquidations on APE in the past hours arose from short traders, or those betting against higher prices. Some $24.88 million worth of shorts were liquidated, data show, compared with $11 million in longs.

Crypto exchange OKX saw $10 million in liquidations, the most among all exchanges, followed by Binance at $9 million and Bybit at $7.98 million.

The higher-than-usual liquidation activity on APE was comparable to $37 million on ether futures, making them one of the most traded crypto futures in the past 24 hours. Bitcoin futures, however, continued to lead with in excess of $66.29 million.

The post ApeCoin Futures See $36M in Liquidations After Volatile Trading appeared first on Crypto Insider.