Travelport, a business and consumer travel services provider, announced it is using IBM’s Hyperledger Fabric to guarantee commissions paid to travel agencies. According to a statement released on August 20, the blockchain was designed with input from IBM, travel management company BCD Travel, and three unnamed hotel chains. The system aims to “put the lifecycle of...Read More
The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned three Chinese nationals and their cryptocurrency addresses, alleging they violated money laundering and drug smuggling laws. OFAC named Xiaobing Yan, Fujing Zheng and Guanghua Zheng as narcotics traffickers under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act, freezing any property they own within the U.S. and listing...Read More
Tether is planning to issue a stablecoin pegged to the Chinese renminbi, according to a trader with ties to the company. Zhao Dong, an over-the-counter (OTC) trader in China and a shareholder of crypto exchange Bitfinex – which shares managers and owners with Tether – revealed the move on WeChat on Wednesday, saying Tether plans call...Read More
Food delivery is about to get a little sweeter for the users of the bitcoin rewards platform Lolli. The startup announced Wednesday that is has partnered with delivery service Postmates, making the popular app the latest partner for Lolli’s rewards program. One of the most popular food services, Postmates mobile app saw 2,094,920 downloads in the last...Read More
Woori Financial Group, one of South Korea’s largest banking companies, has agreed to work with Ground X in developing blockchain financial services. Group Chairman Chairman Son Tae-seung made the announcement on the 21st at the company’s headquarters in central Seoul, some reports said. Further detail appeared in Shin-A Ilbo, CoinDesk Korea, and other publications. Under the agreement,...Read More
Privacy-focused Nym Technologies unveiled new code this week for its decentralized identity system. It’s slated for testnet launch this fall. On Tuesday at the Web3 Summit in Berlin, Nym CEO Harry Halpin said the technology represents “the next generation of privacy infrastructure” not just for blockchains but for the entire web. Indeed, one of the...Read More
Securitize, a provider of technology for issuing blockchain tokens, has registered as a transfer agent with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Administration (SEC), a move it says will boost adoption. Announced Wednesday, the registration means Securitize can now act as the official keeper of records about changes of ownership in securities. While that might sound...Read More
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CommBank) has co-developed a blockchain marketplace that it says could support sustainable development and reward landowners for protecting the environment. Created in partnership with BioDiversity Solutions Australia (BDS), the prototype platform uses digital tokens, dubbed BioTokens, to facilitate trading of biodiversity credits for the New South Wales Government’s Biodiversity Offsets Scheme. The scheme...Read More
The assigned liquidator for the collapsed New Zealand-based cryptocurrency exchange Cryptopia says it’s making progress in determining customer holdings, but that the management of user funds by the exchange has caused delays. Professional services firm Grant Thornton New Zealand was assigned to oversee the liquidation process in May, after the exchange had failed to recover from...Read More
A prolonged rainstorm in China’s Sichuan province has caused land- and mudslides, forcing some local hydropower plants and bitcoin miners to halt operations. Heavy rain has been drenching Sichuan’s mountainous Aba prefecture since Monday, with landslides now affecting 17 counties in the area, according to local government social media posts on Tuesday. Among them, the Wenchuan county appears...Read More
U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo has said he believes that cryptocurrencies should be regulated in the same way as financial institutions. In an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box on Tuesday, Pompeo was asked how best to regulate Facebook’s Libra or bitcoin. He responded: “My sense is this: We should use the same framework that we...Read More
Litecoin has seen a further 5% price decrease over the past 24 hours, which has brought the price of the cryptocurrency down to $70. This latest price drop is mostly a result of Bitcoin dropping back beneath the $10,000 region as things start to look bleak for the overall cryptocurrency market. Litecoin remains the fifth-largest...Read More
New findings have revealed that controversial stablecoin issuer, Tether, is seemingly working on a new stablecoin project dubbed “CNHT”. The new stable coin will be pegged to the offshore Chinese official fiat currency Renminbi (RMB/CNY). This was confirmed today by Zhao Dong, a shareholder at Bitfinex, a cryptocurrency exchange owned by iFinex Inc., which is...Read More
The supreme court hearing on Crypto vs RBI resumed on August 21 with RBI’s counsel, Shyam Divan, reading the IMC report pointing out the disadvantages of Crypto. During the course of arguments, the judge interrupts and asks how you are concerned with consumer protection, it is not your concern. It is Govt. concern and not...Read More
View Bitcoin quickly fell from $10,842 to $10,082 earlier today, confirming a rising wedge breakdown on the hourly chart. The bearish reversal pattern has opened the doors for a retest of $9,467 (Aug. 15 low). On the way lower, prices may find support at the 100-day moving average, currently at $9,882. The average served as...Read More
U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo has said he believes that cryptocurrencies should be regulated in the same way as financial institutions. In an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box on Tuesday, Pompeo was asked how best to regulate Facebook’s Libra or bitcoin. He responded: “My sense is this: We should use the same framework that we...Read More
Facebook is reportedly already under investigation by the EU over antitrust issues related to its Libra cryptocurrency project. A document seen by Bloomberg indicates that the European Commission is “currently investigating potential anti-competitive behavior” by the Libra Association. The report describes the document as a questionnaire suggesting the commission is concerned that Facebook’s planned digital payment system could unfairly...Read More
Cryptocurrency investor and Placeholder partner Chris Burniske has argued that Ether is enduring its first mainstream bear market, just as Bitcoin did back in 2014-15. Cryptocurrency investor and Placeholder partner Chris Burniske has argued that Ether (ETH) is enduring its first mainstream bear market, just as Bitcoin (BTC) did back in 2014-15. In a tweet...Read More
American investor and Morgan Creek Digital Assets co-founder Anthony Pompliano says that Bitcoin will end up in every institutional investor’s portfolio. American investor and Morgan Creek Digital Assets co-founder Anthony Pompliano says that Bitcoin will end up in every institutional investor’s portfolio. In an interview with CNBC on Aug. 20, Pompliano said that every single...Read More
Saudi Arabia’s Finance Ministry has warned against crypto tricksters using the kingdom’s official emblem to promote tokens that purport to be tied to government projects. Saudi Arabia’s Finance Ministry has warned against crypto tricksters using the kingdom’s official emblem to promote tokens that purport to be tied to government projects. Arab News reported on Aug....Read More
A partner at venture capital firm Blockchain Capital says Bitcoin is a safe haven in the long run but it might not withstand severe crises. Spencer Bogart, a general partner at venture capital firm Blockchain Capital, thinks that Bitcoin (BTC) will be a safe haven in the long term. However, he has a nuanced view...Read More
There is no bad publicity. Not long ago after Donald Trump had tweeted about Bitcoin, another mention of the most famous cryptocurrency is coming on behalf of Mike Pompeo, the United States Secretary of State. In his opinion, the first-ever cryptocurrency should be regulated like every other electronic financial service existing today. His main concern is...Read More
The short-term action continues going back and forth inside the marked horizontal triangle on the following 4-hour chart. After two days of consolidation below the triangle’s descending trend-line with zero success to break through, Bitcoin plunges $800 to set $10,082 as its current daily low. As mentioned here on our previous analysis, the $10,800 area...Read More
Singapore-based Huobi is expanding its presence in decentralized finance (DeFi). The crypto exchange announced support for two autonomous loan making vehicles, the infamous MakerDao and a similarly open-sourced Compound protocol, according to an August 19 statement. Both ethereum-based protocols serve as “market-makers” by allowing borrowers to take out liquid loans against a pool of assets....Read More
One of the largest mobile providers in Austria is planning to accept cryptocurrency for payment at certain store locations. A1, which services some 5.1 million mobile and 2.1 million fixed lines across Austria, is testing cryptocurrency payments at store locations across Austria. Dash, ethereum, litecoin, stellar and XRP will be available for payment, according to...Read More
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has fined Russia-based analytics firm ICORating for failure to disclose payments for positive reviews to various projects. Today the SEC announced a $268,998 settlement with ICORating for projects rated from December 2017 through July 2018. According to the SEC, projects rated by ICORating during that time raised funds...Read More
Nelson Minier, head of over-the-counter trading at cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, says its volume has increased twenty-fold since 2018. Nelson Minier, head of over-the-counter (OTC) trading at major cryptocurrency platform Kraken, has stated that the OTC desk’s trades per month have increased by a factor of 20 since the beginning of last year. Minier gave his...Read More
Major Austrian telecom operator A1 has started accepting six cryptos as payment in select shops in Austria. Major Austrian telecom operator A1 has started accepting cryptocurrencies as payment in seven selected shops in Austria. Six cryptos accepted Starting from Aug. 19, A1 customers can pay for network services in selected A1 branches using six major...Read More
Facebook-owned WhatsApp is in early talks with local firms to launch digital payments service in Indonesia. Facebook-owned messaging service, WhatsApp, is purportedly in preliminary talks with multiple digital payments firms as well as a state-owned bank to launch digital payment services in Indonesia. Reuters reported that they had learned of this development from anonymous sources...Read More
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has fined Russia-based analytics firm ICORating for failure to disclose payments for positive reviews to various projects. Today the SEC announced a $268,998 settlement with ICORating for projects rated from December 2017 through July 2018. According to the SEC, projects rated by ICORating during that time raised funds through...Read More
