Swiss investment firm Final Frontier and global blockchain technology company the Bitfury Group, which was recently valued at $1 billion, on Wednesday announced the launch of a regulated bitcoin mining fund.

Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings Ltd has invested in Argentine mobile banking service Uala, which also counts George Soros and Point72 Ventures LLC among its investors, the start-up's founder said.

Japan's financial regulator raided two cryptocurrency exchanges last week to investigate their internal oversight, including customer protection and anti-money laundering measures, two sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

After Western sanctions gutted Russia's financial system five years ago, a new bank card began appearing in the wallets of many Russians.

Major finance and tech firms are pouring money into startups building technology to develop the crypto market, even though they're steering clear of the volatile currencies themselves.

Japan's financial regulator will require cryptocurrency exchanges to strengthen internal oversight of the so-called "cold wallets" used to store digital money, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.

China's state planner wants to eliminate bitcoin mining in the country, according to a draft list of industrial activities the agency is seeking to stop in a sign of growing government pressure on the cryptocurrency sector.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday issued guidelines to help market participants determine whether a digital asset qualifies as a security under federal securities laws and needs to be registered with the regulator.

Bitcoin soared to its highest in almost five months on Tuesday, pulling smaller cryptocurrencies up with it, after a major order by an anonymous buyer set off a frenzy of computer-driven trading, analysts said.

TransferWise Ltd, the money transfer startup whose investors include entrepreneur Richard Branson and PayPal Holdings Inc founders Peter Thiel and Max Levchin, is seeking to sell a stake in itself in a new fundraising round, people familiar with the matter said on Friday.