United States-based cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, founded by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, has announced plans to expand into the Asia-Pacific region.

In a June 19 blog post, Gemini said it planned to increase the number of staff at the firm’s Singapore office as well as establish an engineering division in India. The crypto exchange hinted at larger plans for expanding into the region in the next 12 months.

The expansion plans come amid Gemini facing a lawsuit filed in January by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over Gemini Earn. The exchange’s product — offered in partnership with Genesis — allowed users to lend crypto assets to Genesis, which the SEC alleges violated U.S. securities laws.

Gemini seemed to be exploring different markets amid the crackdown on many crypto firms in the United States. In April, the exchange took the first steps to become a restricted dealer registered with Canada’s Ontario Securities Commission, one of the country’s major financial regulators. In May, the Winklevoss twins announced they had chosen Ireland as a base to grow the firm’s services across Europe.

Aptos Foundation announced  that it had rewarded its early network participants with free APT tokens. 

The foundation shared that it had allocated an estimated 20 million APT tokens, representing 2% of its initial total supply of 1 billion APT, to about 110,235 eligible participants. The airdropped tokens had an estimated value of about $200–$260 million USD based on the token’s market price at the time the drop took place.

According to the blockchain company, eligibility for the airdropped tokens was based on two categories: Users who completed an application for an Aptos Incentivized Testnet and users who minted “an APTOS: ZERO testnet nonfungible token, or NFT.Only the original minters of these NFTs were eligible, not the current or secondary owners of the NFTs.

The company shared that Aptos tokens could only be claimed via the official Aptos Community page with additional information provided in the eligibility email sent out by the company. They cautioned users to exercise extreme caution and only trust official sources and channels to avoid being defrauded.

Aptos Foundation’s first airdrop to its community members comes at a time when the project has been under much scrutiny by members of the crypto community on Twitter.

Bitcoin’s attempt to form a bottom has attracted altcoins traders to focus on ETH, & MATIC. Bitcoin recovered from $18,910 last week, indicating that traders may be getting back into risky assets. However, opinions remain divided on the recovery in Bitcoin as some believe that the relief rally is a bull trap.

BTC

Bitcoin rose above the 20 day EMA of $20,894 on the 15th, but the bulls have not been able to build upon this advantage. The bears are likely to defend the resistance line of the symmetrical triangle. The 20-day EMA has flattened out and the RSI has risen close to the midpoint. This suggests a balance between supply and demand. The first sign of strength will be a break and close above the 50 day simple moving average of $23,445. That could clear the path for a possible rally to the pattern target at $28,171.

ETH

Ether completed an ascending triangle pattern when bulls pushed the price above $1,280 on the 16^th. The bears are currently trying to pull the price back below the breakout level and trap the aggressive bulls. The critical level to watch on the downside is $1,280. If the price rebounds off this level, it will suggest that bulls have flipped $1,280 into support. ETH could then rise to $1,700 where the bears may again pose a strong challenge.

MATIC

MATIC completed an ascending triangle pattern when the price broke above the overhead resistance at $0.63. This was the first indication of the start of a new uptrend. The moving averages have completed a bullish crossover, signifying that buyers have the upper hand. However, the price action of the past few days has pushed the RSI near the overbought zone, indicating that a minor pullback or a consolidation is likely in the near term.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of CryptoNews. Every investment and trading move involves risk and the reader should conduct their own research when making a decision.