China’s upcoming digital currency is reportedly going to be very similar to Libra in terms of network design, but it will take a more holistic approach to find harmony between money-laundering prevention and anonymous payments. EJ Insight reports that the country initially set up a research team to launch a digital currency back in 2014,...Read More
For cryptocurrency to become sound money, it needs to integrate a degree of privacy on a transactional level, just as paper currency does. Bitcoin and Ethereum, both, lack strong privacy measures, but this is being addressed. As shown by Chain Link’s research paper, mixing services powered by decentralized oracles can overcome this barrier, September 4,...Read More
Brexit has served as a prime example of how ordinary citizens can protect their assets from political turmoil using Bitcoin. According to Forbes, the negative effects of a potential no-deal Brexit are leaking into the economy and affecting crypto startups in the region, September 4, 2019. If the U.K. leaves the European Union without a deal,...Read More
In the midst of an unfavorable political climate in Hong Kong, Telegram, which has been used to organize protests in the region, will launch more privacy-enhancing features on its platform, as reported by South China Morning Post, September 4, 2019. Even though Carrie Lam has announced the withdrawal of the extradition bill, this was only...Read More
Huobi cryptocurrency exchange has announced its entry into the blockchain-based smartphone ecosystem with the Acute Angle mobile phone which is built by Whole Network, a distributed ledger technology (DLT) project partly funded by the exchange. Acute Angle will be officially unveiled on September 11, 2019, and Huobi Token (HT) holders will be able to purchase...Read More
Dr. Scott Stornetta is the blockchain co-inventor quoted in the Bitcoin whitepaper written by Satoshi Nakamoto, who created the first cryptocurrency in 2009. The globally renowned scientist considers himself as the person who “has spent longer thinking about blockchain than anyone else on the planet. I have a really long-term perspective of this technology.” His...Read More
The Netherlands’ central bank, De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), a member of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB), has announced plans to start regulating bitcoin-linked businesses from January 10, 2020, according to a Reuters report on September 3, 2019. Dutch Authorities to Regulate Cryptos Per sources close to the matter, the central bank of the...Read More
According to news published on Bloomberg on Septemeber 2, Yves Mersch, an executive board member at the European Central Bank (ECB), stated that Facebook’s proposed Libra currency could undermine the European Central Bank’s ability to set monetary policy. You Can’t be a Central Bank During the European Central Bank conference in Frankfurt, Yves Mersch, an...Read More
The blockchain industry in South Korea is reportedly facing a difficult period reports local media platform The Block Post. While the struggles of cryptocurrency exchanges in the country isn’t exactly news, it appears that other crypto-businesses are also experiencing similar problems sparking fears of a slowdown in South Korea’s digital economy advancement. ICO Projects Going...Read More
In a bid to set international governance standards and safety nets in the cryptospace, MERJ Exchange, Seychelles’ first national stock exchange to list tokenized securities, has partnered with Globacap, the U.K.’s first regulated platform to issue equity tokens. In their alliance, the duo will offer tokenized assets to the U.K. and European customers in an...Read More
Despite the severe economic and political issues on top of strict crypto regulations in South Africa, Riccardo Spagni, a member of the Monero Core Team and co-founder of decentralized platform Tari Labs says the country is still an excellent breeding ground for motivated entrepreneurs, reports Mybroadband on August 30, 2019. Local Businesses can Benefit Per...Read More
Pantera Capital, a distributed ledger technology (DLT) focused investment firm and hedge fund has adopted four blockchain projects aimed at solving the age-long scalability problems of the cryptoverse. The projects include Polkadot, BloXroute, Origin, and Filecoin, reports Forex Crunch on August 29, 2019. Pantera Capital Focused on Eliminating Scalability Issues Of a truth, blockchain technology...Read More
PNC Financial Services Group, Inc, a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based bank holding corporation has successfully processed its first cross-border payments for clients’ using Ripple’s blockchain solution, RippleNet, according to a Fintech Futures report on August 29, 2019. PNC Joins DLT Bandwagon Per sources close to the development, PNC Treasury Management has become the first U.S. bank to...Read More
Sygnum, a cryptocurrency company that claims to develop an integrated solution that enables its clients to securely issue, store, trade and manage blockchain-based cryptoassets, is seeking for a banking license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), to enable it to offer brokerage, tokenization and other crypto-related services to qualified investors in the region, reports...Read More
According to a report published by U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase on August 28, 2019, students are becoming more and more interested in digital currencies and the number of courses offered in University on blockchain technology and bitcoin (BTC) is increasing. Crypto Education In August 2018, Coinbase, the most popular crypto exchange, did a study on...Read More
BitTorrent, the first Binance Launchpad IEO, was issued to power the BitTorrent Speed network with a variety of use cases for the token listed in the whitepaper and subsequent analyses. But as pointed out by eminent crypto VC, Barry Dilbert, most utility tokens act as friction tokens that slow down efficiency and offer no real utility....Read More
Telegram has hinted that the first batches of its Gram cryptocurrency will be available to a select group of investors by October 2019 and the Pavel Durov-led firm also plans to make the Gram wallet available to the nearly 300 million users of Telegram shortly, reports The New York Times on August 27, 2019. Telegram...Read More
FINMA, the financial market regulator in Switzerland, has released a guide in line with FATF rules in order to target KYC/AML compliance for blockchain payments companies and cryptocurrencies. Any party that transacts in cryptocurrencies or transmits money over the blockchain is liable to comply with existing money laundering regulation in Switzerland, August 26, 2019. Blockchains...Read More
According to a report published by Yahoo Finance on August 24, 2019, U.S.-based internet retailer Overstock is doubling down on its investment in the cryptocurrency and blockchain space. Interestingly, this development comes just a few days after the Midvale-headquartered firm’s pro-crypto CEO, Patrick Byrne resigned from his position under controversial circumstances. Unphased by the Recent...Read More
The total crypto market cap lost $3.3 billion of its value during the last seven days and now stands at $269.1 billion. The top 10 currencies are all in red for the same time frame with Binance Coin (BNB) and Ripple (XRP) being the worst performers with 6.4 and 3.5 percent of loses respectively. By the time...Read More
Thai financial watchdog, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), recently warned the public about a new form of investing scam, in which a bogus entity, masquerading as a regulated legal digital currency trading firm solicits traders into investing with it. This, according to a report by the Bangkok Post, August 25, 2019. Crypto Criminals As...Read More
John Bollinger, the creator of the widely used Bollinger Bands, has revealed that he has been in the crypto market for over three years. In an interview with Forbes, August 22, 2019, Bollinger revealed he entered cryptocurrency because he saw that it operated with less noise than the stock market. Bitcoin in 2016 was reminiscent of...Read More
According to a press release dated August 21, 2019, the U.S. Treasury Department has blacklisted three Chinese citizens and one Chinese Entity for allegedly leading an online-based drug trafficking organization that was smuggling opioids inside the US. Criminals have been blacklisted and personal data have been disclosed including several bitcoin addresses and one litecoin address....Read More
Facebook the highly controversial social media giant developing the Libra global stablecoin, is in talks with Indonesian digital payment platforms and fintech firms to enable it to launch a WhatsApp-based mobile payments service in the region, reports Reuters on August 20, 2019. Facebook Interested in Indonesia In a bid to take advantage of Indonesia’s rapidly...Read More
In a bid to make it easier for startups to understand the workings of distributed ledger technology (DLT) and how its numerous use cases can be implemented, Deloitte, one of the “big four” accounting firms and the largest professional services network in the world, has launched Blockchain In a Box (BIAB). BIAB is a mobile...Read More
Huobi Group is continuing its foray into decentralized finance (DeFi) with support for MakerDAO and Compound Protocol, as per a press release, August 19, 2019. MakerDAO at one point had over half a billion dollars worth of value locked in the system, making it one of the most successful use cases of Ethereum and blockchain...Read More
The Association of Cryptocurrency Enterprises and Start-ups, Singapore (ACCESS) together with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) developed a new ‘Code of Practice’ to set standards of good practice regarding Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and countering the financing of terrorism measures for crypto-related businesses. This according to news published by The Global Legal Post, August 19,...Read More
Binance, the largest Bitcoin (BTC) and altcoin trading venue in the world by reported trading volume, has announced plans to launch an open distributed ledger technology (DLT) network called Venus, to make it easier for entities to create localized fiat-backed stablecoins, according to a blog post on August 19, 2019. Venus Open Blockchain As stated...Read More
A report published by ING shows that the percentage of the population that believes in Bitcoin is slowly decreasing, indicating skepticism for cryptocurrencies in general. With the exception of Turkey, Poland, and Romania, most of Europe does not believe that cryptocurrencies will be an integral part of the financial system in the coming years, August...Read More
As part of its preparation for the upcoming Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) meeting, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), a federal law enforcement agency, intends to trial distributed ledger technology (DLT) in intellectual property rights (IPR) enforcement by the end of August 2019, reports Yahoo Finance on August 16, 2019. CBP Taps...Read More
