As Japan signals its plans to become a leader in institutional blockchain adoption, Fireblocks opens a regional office in Tokyo to support the country’s expanding ecosystem.

Crypto custody and blockchain infrastructure provider Fireblocks has opened a new office in Tokyo as part of its strategy to expand in the Asia-Pacific region, the firm said in a blog post.

The move comes as Japan is seeing rapid growth in its crypto market, with projections indicating a 54% increase from 2024 to 2032, Fireblocks explained.

Fireblocks’ head of APAC, Amy Zhang, says the Tokyo office will help Fireblocks to hire more staff in 2025 to support Japanese businesses. The company is also planning to form partnerships with various web3 companies and financial institutions to strengthen its position in the region.

Commenting on the office launch, Fireblocks chief executive Michael Shaulov said the firm aims to meet the specific needs of the Japanese market and “ensure Japanese enterprises harness the full potential of blockchain technology in a secure and scalable way.”

Fireblocks’ expansion into Japan aligns with the Japanese government’s recent commitment to include cryptocurrency tax cuts in its upcoming economic stimulus package. The initiative, which is set to raise tax-free income thresholds and lower taxes on crypto assets, was proposed by the opposition party, the Democratic Party for the People.

As crypto.news reported earlier, these tax reforms aim to make Japan’s tax system more supportive of digital asset growth, with some proposals looking to reduce crypto taxation to match the 20% rate on stock profits.

Crypto payments provider Alchemy Pay has announced plans to launch its own layer-1 blockchain, which the company says will target large-scale business applications.

Alchemy Pay (ACH) notes that the layer-1 blockchain will be dubbed Alchemy Chain and built on the Solana (SOL) Virtual Machine architecture. Per an announcement on Dec. 11, the new L1 will offer a payment system allowing users to transact with fiat and crypto.

The platform will also offer a user-friendly ecosystem bridging on-chain and off-chain processes, chain abstraction, a stablecoin revenue mechanism, and yield generation. Additionally, the blockchain network will integrate a layer-2 solution, as outlined in the company’s blog post.

Alchemy Chain is set to launch with a meme launchpad and a meme Telegram bot, aiming to tap into the growing popularity of meme-based projects.

The company revealed initial plans for the L1 blockchain in late October 2024, news that saw the price of ACH jump double-digits.

Latest details on the previously disclosed objective has also seen ACH price record a significant spike, with the token up 14%. However, as well as the project related news, its price was trading higher as Bitcoin (BTC) spiked to $100k amid fresh recovery by bulls.

In recent months, several platforms have looked to launch own layer-1 and layer-2 chains.

Coinbase unveiled the mainnet of Base in August 2023, while Chiliz revealed its own blockchain in February. World, formerly Worldcoin, partnered with Alchemy Pay to launch World Chain. Recently, crypto exchange Kraken disclosed plans to debut its L1 blockchain in 2025.

Bad actors keep ramping up crypto scams, with impersonation accounts surging to over 300 a day, according to blockchain analysts.

Crypto scams on X are once again rising fast, with major accounts hijacked to promote fake tokens. Victims have already lost millions, and experts are warning users to stay alert.

Analysts at blockchain firm Scam Sniffer warned in an X post on Dec. 10 that starting this week, daily impersonation accounts surged by 87%, jumping to over 300 compared to the November average of 160. The spike increases the risk for users as scammers continue to exploit high-profile accounts to push fraudulent schemes.

The analysts note that in one recent case alone, two victims lost over $3 million worth of crypto by interacting with malicious links and signing transactions linked to fake accounts. As crypto.news reported earlier, the scams are particularly prevalent on Solana (SOL), where compromised accounts, including those of major entities like Yahoo News UK, Lenovo India, and Money Control, have been used to push a scam meme coin called HACKED.

Blockchain sleuth ZachXBT, who has been tracking these scams, recently issued a warning to the crypto community, advising users to be extra cautious. “So far, it seems the scammers may have lost money, as the market cap of the HACKED token is a modest $67K, and top traders have barely made $1K,” ZachXBT noted.

The compromised X accounts appear to have been connected to the same malicious site or application. As a precaution, ZachXBT recommends that users revoke any access permissions to unfamiliar sites or apps.

The latest incident follows a series of similar scams, including the recent use of Kylian Mbappé’s account to promote a fake MBAPPE meme coin. Earlier in September, hackers also targeted family members of U.S. president-elect Donald Trump in a scam involving the fake World Liberty Financial coin.