COINBASE CUSTODY BOUGHT XAPO FOR $55M

Coinbase, one of the largest crypto trading platforms worldwide, purchased Xapo. Coinbase Custody announced the news this Friday without specifying the financial side of the deal. Yet, a business news outlet, Fortune reported that the payment was USD 55 million.

The crypto exchange was in a battle for Xapo with Fidelity for some time now. After the announcement, Coinbase is one step closer to worldwide recognition.

The company currently has custody over crypto coins worth over USD 7 billion. Xapo is among the first custodial businesses for Bitcoin around the world. In 2018, Xapo gained licenses from the Financial Services department of New York for a crypto trading platform.

The vast majority of the company’s users consented to move their funds to Coinbase Custody. This will bring the company over 500 thousand new Bitcoins. Yet, a number of large holders still have not transferred their funds, which would totally be worth around USD 3.5 billion. The company currently has over 120 users of this service from fourteen countries globally.

According to the CEO of Coinbase, custody is very important in the process of institutionalizing the crypto market. In his words, it is going to start small and then gain momentum quickly bringing money to the crypto firms.

The post COINBASE CUSTODY BOUGHT XAPO FOR $55M appeared first on Bitcoin News.

from Bitcoin News https://www.cryptocynews.com/coinbase-custody-bought-xapo-55m/
via Bitcoin News
via Bitcoin News Today

SIX EXCHANGE CEO LEAVES HIS POSITION

Martin Halblaub, the Cheif Executive Officer of SIX, a crypto trading platform in Switzerland, is reportedly leaving the country. The news was announced by SwissInfo, a local news platform.

Halblaub is leaving his position because of certain disagreements about the company’s future. He is also planning to launch a company of his own.

Halblaub stated that he completely supports the exchange along with its plans and would be pleased to operate in the company. However, he made the decision to not work for the platform with regard to their different outlook’s on the firm’s future.

He will be temporary replaced by Tomas Kindler that will start working in September. The Chief Executive Officer of SIX Group, Jos Dijsselhof, thanked Martin Halblaub for his work in the company.

SIX is among the first stock exchanges that provides cryptocurrency trading pairs. In November of last year, the platform released a product allowing to monitor the top five crypo coins, for instance, Bitcoin.

Earlier this year it was also reported that the company is planning to launch a crypto coin in the context of the blockchain-based trading platform. The company also plans to become the first one to provide full trading, custody and settlement services of crypto coins. SIX is also considering to release a Security Token Offering.

 

The post SIX EXCHANGE CEO LEAVES HIS POSITION appeared first on Bitcoin News.

from Bitcoin News https://www.cryptocynews.com/six-exchange-ceo-leaves-position/
via Bitcoin News
via Bitcoin News Today

BLOCKCHAIN PROJECTS SPENDING RISE

The funds spent on blockchain projects around the world is presumed to reach USD 2.7 billion increasing by more than 80 percent in 2019.

On the other hand, according a research firm, blockchain investments will skyrocket to USD 15.9 in 4 years. It also added that the spending from 2018 to 2023 will increase by over 60 percent.

The financial sphere will take up half of the spending using blockchain for international transactions. The second biggest sector for blockchain will be manufacturing. This industry is expected to take up over 20 percent of spending. The production of goods is also predicted to be the industry with the fastest growth rate of about 68.8 percent.

Other sectors such as retail, utilities as well as services will experience a growth of blockchain in the next couple of years.

The research director of the International Data Corporation‘s blockchain department, James Wester, stated that this innovative technology has been a topic for numerous discussions, however, companies are already starting to accept the blockchain system and finding effective applications for it. They are now seeing the value of the blockchain technology.

In the United States, the spending on blockchain is expected to surpass USD 1 billion in 2019 as the country becomes the biggest market for blockchain projects. In China as well as the Western parts of Europe spending will respectively reach USD 300 million and USD 660 million.

 

 

The post BLOCKCHAIN PROJECTS SPENDING RISE appeared first on Bitcoin News.

from Bitcoin News https://www.cryptocynews.com/blockchain-projects-spending-rise/
via Bitcoin News
via Bitcoin News Today

XRP MANIPULATIONS ON NEW PLATFORM

Because of its small size and short history the cryptocurrency market is among the most easily manipulated ones. Recently, there have been multiple instances of market manipulation in the sphere and the latest one happens to be involved with one of the top three crypto coins, XRP.

The fraud took place on a newly launched crypto trading platform, Beaxy Exchange. However, the exchange recently halted its work due to becoming a target for market manipulators. Right after the platform released, it experienced an XRP price decrease as multiple users sold the coin simultaneously.

The Beaxy Exchange, trying to handle the situation with Ripple’s coin, had to shut the platform down for a couple of days. The platforms began operating in June 2019 and so far it had a difficult time. In the past month the exchange has faced technical problems and fraud. The unstable foundation of the exchange is not making anything easy for them.

Yet, because the anomalies were easy to spot, the trading platform dealed with the issues quickly. The prices shifted fastly and currently user wallets are frozen and the fraudster will not be able to take their money from the exchange. This will stop new issues from arising.

Since Beaxy already has established a KYC network, the criminals will be found soon.

The post XRP MANIPULATIONS ON NEW PLATFORM appeared first on Bitcoin News.

from Bitcoin News https://www.cryptocynews.com/xrp-manipulations-new-platform/
via Bitcoin News
via Bitcoin News Today

VERITASEUM SUED BY THE SEC

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission is once again going after cryptocurrencies. Only hours ago it was reported that the regulatory body is suing Veritaseum, along with Reginald Middleton, the company’s CEO.

Veritaseum is a company established with the goal to create a revolution in the field of finance by utilizing blockchain and smart contracts.

This situation was brought to light by a crypto news outlet, the Block. The news platform stated that the Securities and Exchange Commission is attempting to halt Veritaseum’s use of funds raised from an Initial Coin Offering crowdfunding conducted in 2017. This event raised the company around USD 8 million. The SEC stated that Veritaseum made false claims to investors about their capacity as well as their coin, VERI, during the crowdfunding campaign.

True to the agency’s claims many investors have doubted Veritaseum’s ability of tokenizing knowledge, supporting P2P businesses as well as assisting self-governing projects.

The Securities and Exchange Commission also stated that the company violated their regulations by claiming that its coin was just software. After the news broke out, in a day the VERI coin lost 60 percent in value.

This year, it is the second time that the agency is filing a large lawsuit. The first one was against a large Canadian company named Kik for violating US laws.

 

The post VERITASEUM SUED BY THE SEC appeared first on Bitcoin News.

from Bitcoin News https://www.cryptocynews.com/veritaseum-sued-sec/
via Bitcoin News
via Bitcoin News Today

BITFURY IS OPENING AN AI DIVISION

According to a business news outlet, Reuters, the Bitfury Group, the largest blockchain service firm globally, is developing an artificial intelligence division. This new unit is going to work with the company’s other units.

The Bitfury Group is among the short list of crypto firms that are worth over USD 1 billion. Other companies that are valued more than a billion are crypto trading platform, Coinbase, as well as Bitmain, the biggest crypto mining company worldwide.

The co-founder of the blockchain service company, Valery Vavilov, stated that they began looking into the use of artificial intelligence as the data that should be processed grew.

Valvilov claimed that information is the new old and the company managed to gather a lot of data. Yet, they were able to analyze only 2 percent. Artificial intelligence will help Valvilov and his company effectively examine the large amount of information.

On the other hand, blockchain made the data trustable. This technology became very popular in various industries during the last years.

Artificial Intelligence, frequently referred to as AI, is among the most quickly growing industries. In Q2 of 2019, Artificial Intelligence businesses received over USD 7.4 billion from investors. The Bitfury Group’s artificial intelligence division still hasn’t been completely established and the firm will provide AI services only by the end of next year.

The post BITFURY IS OPENING AN AI DIVISION appeared first on Bitcoin News.

from Bitcoin News https://www.cryptocynews.com/bitfury-opening-ai-division/
via Bitcoin News
via Bitcoin News Today

CRYPTO THEFTS IN 2019 REACH $4.3 BILLION

A newly released report suggests that in 2019 financial damage related to crypto thefts and fraud may rise above USD  4.3 billion.

CipherTrace, a crypto security company founded in 2015, stated the because of criminal activity crypto coins worth over USD 1.2 billion were stolen in Q1. Exchanges had USD 356 million stolen and, at the same time, in exit scams almost USD 200 million were ripped off from cryptocurrency users.

The office of the NY Attorney General also stated that a scam involving Bitfinex had resulted in losses of around USD 850 million. Cyber attacks are becoming more sophisticated by the day as criminals create new ways to take money from individual crypto users or crypto trading platforms.

However, these are only the numbers that we know and there are certainly many more thefts than that. The real number of stolen crypto coins is much higher.

Hackers are not setting new account passwords and using a phone’s SIM card to steal crypto coins. Studies that were done recently indicate that there are also many issues with cryptocurrency regulations in most countries.

For instance, international crypto transactions from the United States to offshore trading platforms are increasing yearly. This is a major problem since over 11 percent of wealth is hidden there.

 

The post CRYPTO THEFTS IN 2019 REACH $4.3 BILLION appeared first on Bitcoin News.

from Bitcoin News https://www.cryptocynews.com/crypto-thefts-reach-4-billion/
via Bitcoin News
via Bitcoin News Today

BITCOIN DRUG DEALERS IN THE UK

In the United Kingdom, 3 men were sent to jail for dealing drugs in exchange for bitcoin.

According to Thames Valley Police, thirty nine year old Colin McCabe, along with thirty six year old Toby Woods and Robert Price, earned more than USD 1.2 million by dealing drugs on the dark web.

The system of drug dealers was detected by the Federal Bureau of Investigation that later came into contact with the police of the United Kingdom. The individuals were captured after the police identified them by DNA.

After Colin McCabe was arrested, the police found further evidence for his involvement with drug dealing including packages as well as client addresses. Canabis resin worth almost USD 16,000. Later, during the search of Price’s home Ecstasy worth USD 12,000.

The Judge that dealed with the case, Francis Sheridan, stated that he had never seen such an elaborate drug dealing business. The payments were made in Bitcoin to make the unlawful activities less traceable.

After the three criminals were founds and the charges were filed, Colin McCabe received a prison sentence of 12 years for selling cannabis, ketamine and cocaine. Robert Price was convicted to 9 years of prison to supplying drugs. Last but not least, Toby Woods will face a sentence on fourteen months for being involved with drugs.

 

The post BITCOIN DRUG DEALERS IN THE UK appeared first on Bitcoin News.

from Bitcoin News https://www.cryptocynews.com/bitcoin-drug-dealers-uk/
via Bitcoin News
via Bitcoin News Today

ZCASH DELISTED FROM COINBASE UK

Coinbase announced that the crypto trading platform’s UK-based customers will not be able to use Zcash from August 26. The users stated that they received letters from the company notifying them about the future changes.

The message advised users to convert Zcash coins to other cryptocurrencies or move them to another wallet. A certain reason was not given for the platform’s decision. Zcash will be converted to GBP by the time the platform stops supporting Zcash.

The Electric Coin Company, the creators of Zcash, wrote in a tweet that the issue concerns the users of Coinbase only from the United Kingdom and other crypto trading platform will not be influenced. Zcash complies with all the cryptocurrency regulations in the United Kingdom.

The Financial Conduct Authority recently published a statement that specified which crypto coins will fall under its power.

The tax collection authority in the United Kingdom requested access to transaction information from crypto trading platforms like Coinbase and eToro. Zcash transactions can be disclosed, however, there is an option to participate in hidden, private transactions on the Zcash network.

Coinbase announced listing Zcash in fall last year. The company stated that it will accept not only transparent but also shielded transactions on the exchange.

The post ZCASH DELISTED FROM COINBASE UK appeared first on Bitcoin News.

from Bitcoin News https://www.cryptocynews.com/zcash-delisted-coinbase-uk/
via Bitcoin News
via Bitcoin News Today

FATF: NEW CRYPTO REGULATIONS NETWORK

Countries around the globe are modifying their crypto regulations in order to comply with guidelines by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The international organization was created in 1989 to set guidelines for financial regulations. Reportedly, fifteen countries are developing a network for gathering as well as sharing individual information on those that take part in crypto transfers.

Members of the Great Seven countries are going to be the ones to create the new network. It will be structured by the Financial Action Task Force by next year and it will start operating in a couple of years. This network is going to be monitored by the private sector.

The Financial Action Task Force released its cryptocurrency guidelines in June 2019 and these were debated during the Great Twenty summit by the financial ministers. The new standards require cryptocurrency service providers to follow the anti money-laundering and counter-financing of terrorism guidelines fully.

The nations will be required to measure the risks connected with crypto coins as well as license cryptocurrency companies in order to oversee the industry in the country. Many countries are already doing this. One of the most prominent examples is Japan, where crypto trading platforms should get licensed by the Financial Services Agency.

 

The post FATF: NEW CRYPTO REGULATIONS NETWORK appeared first on Bitcoin News.

from Bitcoin News https://www.cryptocynews.com/fatf-crypto-regulations-network/
via Bitcoin News
via Bitcoin News Today

CHINA LAUNCHING A CRYPTOCURRENCY

According to CoinTelegraph, following 5 years of vigorous research, the Central Bank of China announced the release of its cryptocurrency. Mu Changchun, the Deputy Director of the People’s Bank of China, stated that the new cryptocurrency is ready to be launched. The prototype of the blockchain-based currency has already been established. Yet, the launch date still hasn’t been announced.

The statement was made during the China Finance Forty Forum. Mu Changchun also claimed that along with blockchain the new currency will have unique operating systems for the intricate economy of the country and the large number of citizens. According to the Deputy Director of the bank, the systems will assist the growth of the coin’s adoption rate as well as its encouragement.

Changchun claimed that the currency targets small retailers. It is not like other crypto coins because of its unique and difficult architecture.

The bank also stated that the release of Facebook’s new stablecoin will most likely accelerate the launch. The People’s Bank of China is concerned that as Libra gains acclaim it will have a greater influence on the global economy. That is why the bank is very invested in the matter. The financial institution still has a lot of work to do before releasing the coin to the public.

The post CHINA LAUNCHING A CRYPTOCURRENCY appeared first on Bitcoin News.

from Bitcoin News https://www.cryptocynews.com/china-launching-cryptocurrency/
via Bitcoin News
via Bitcoin News Today

COINBASE ATTEMPTED CYBER ATTACK

Coinbase, a crypto exchange established in 2012, disclosed that the trading platform has recently been objected to an intricate cyber attack with an intention of entering their system as well as obtaining their funds.

On August 8, Coinbase announced the news in a blog post describing the whole incident in detail stating that the criminal used several techniques to access the platform’s vital parts.

The issues began by the end of May, as the company started to receive emails that were supposedly sent from an employees of the Cambridge University. These were sent directly from Cambridge and did not look suspicious. After that, Coinbase received numerous similar messages.

The criminals were in contact with Coinbase employees and did not send anything that raised concerns until mid-June. A link was sent to the platform’s email that contained a virus. Luckily, the security detected the threat in only a couple of hours.

Coinbase stated that they are not aware when the attacker accessed the Cambridge account. The people that the hackers claimed to be, are not active online. The exchange also reached out to the university to resolve the problem.

The company’s representatives announced that crypto trading platforms should be ready to face these kinds of attacks.

The post COINBASE ATTEMPTED CYBER ATTACK appeared first on Bitcoin News.

from Bitcoin News https://www.cryptocynews.com/coinbase-attempted-cyber-attack/
via Bitcoin News
via Bitcoin News Today

ISRAEL BANKS DENIED CRYPTO USERS

Crypto traders had issues storing their funds in banks in Israel. A domestic news outlet, Haaretz, stated that cryptocurrency users had around USD 86 million in unpaid taxes because banks in the countries refused to approve deposits.

According to Haaretz, the concern of banks is that crypto users are utilizing the digital assets for unlawful activities. As a result, cryptocurrency investors do not have any ways to transfer their crypto funds to Israel in traditional currencies.

The Israel Tax Authority was informed about the situation, yet they also stated that the main issue was bank policy. The authority believes crypto coins to be assets. Hence, the individual owner should pay 25 percent and a corporation should pay 47 percent.

The Financial regulatory body of the country stated that banks will not get involved with crypto assets five years ago. They also alerted the banks as well as the public about the fact that illegal activities like money-laundering and terrorist funding in cryptocurrencies are growing.

A crypto trader that spoke to Haaretz stated after dealing with several issues with Israel Discount Bank, he filed a lawsuit against the bank. The trader’s request was refused and he was not able to transfer his funds to another account.

The Israel Discount Bank has a policy that does not allow any activity correlated to cryptocurrency.

The post ISRAEL BANKS DENIED CRYPTO USERS appeared first on Bitcoin News.

from Bitcoin News https://www.cryptocynews.com/10002-2/
via Bitcoin News
via Bitcoin News Today

COINZOOM VISA CARD COMING SOON

CoinZoom, a cryptocurrency trading platform, is releasing a new CoinZoom Visa Card that converts crypto coins into traditional currencies instantly. The new debit card can be used everywhere that accepts Visa Pin, contactless and chip payments. The CoinZoom Visa Card will be launching by the end of 2019.

Before using the card to do shopping, the customer should choose the currency that they are using. The founder and Chief Executive Officer of CoinZoom, Todd Crosland, stated that the the popularity of Visa as a payment network is very beneficial to CoinZoom. Yet, the exchange is not the first cryptocurrency-related company that collabored with Visa to create a crypto debit card.

The Visa debit card by Wirex is considered widely used in the European Union, which supports numerous crypto coins and offers a Bitcoin cashback of 0.5 percent. The Visa card of Bitpay can be utilized to make purchases worldwide in the United States.

The CoinZoom card is going to have some features that will set it apart from the other ones. CoinZoom is also releading a crypto trading application for smartphones that will be available iOS and Android that will have a virtual version of the exchange’s debit card. The application will also be used to monitor and control your crypto funds.

The post COINZOOM VISA CARD COMING SOON appeared first on Bitcoin News.

from Bitcoin News https://www.cryptocynews.com/coinzoom-visa-card-coming-soon/
via Bitcoin News
via Bitcoin News Today

INDIA CRYPTO BAN WILL COST $13 BILLION

Over 2018 and 2019, the use of crypto coins in India has been becoming increasingly difficult.

According to the Chief Executive Officer of crypto company Crebaco Global, Sidharth Sogani, the cost of refusing the use of crypto coins for India is around USD 13 billion. He claims that this number comes from the revenue that crypto firms in India create if the currencies were to be legal.

Sidharth Sogani also reported to a crypto news outlet that almost USD 5 billion can be ascribed to crypto whitepapers as well as other blockchain-related business drafts. Another USD 4.5 billion would be related to jobs such as lawyers and managers. Over USD 2 million would be the contribution of programmers and the rest will be linked to content creation.

Even though cryptocurrencies are going to be banned in India, the government of the country is very positive about blockchain. They are working towards developing regulations to stimulate blockchain adoption. The Central Bank of India is creating a banking platform founded on the blockchain technology.

Nevertheless, the government is still very negative towards crypto coins. In July, they purposed a bill that would put cryptocurrency users into prison in 10 years. However, the last proposal lacked jail-time. Despite the fact that the ban has not been placed yet, the industry is already seeing the negative consequences.

The post INDIA CRYPTO BAN WILL COST $13 BILLION appeared first on Bitcoin News.

from Bitcoin News https://www.cryptocynews.com/india-crypto-ban-cost-13-billion/
via Bitcoin News
via Bitcoin News Today

ONFIDO AND CIVIC CREATING A NEW WALLET

Onfido is working with Civic to create the new version of cryptocurrency wallets in fall 2019.

Onfido is a company that is trying to set a new standard for identity on the web. Onfido’s technology utilizes Artificial Intelligence to confirm the identity of an individual by accessing government data. The company was established in 2012 by three university students with GPB 200,000 from Oxford University. Later, they raised over USD 45 million during a fundraising in 2015. In 4 years, Onfido had already done more than 10 million background checks.

In 2019, the company had already received more than USD 100 million from investors and will have a personal identification market worth over USD 20 billion in three years.

On the other hand, Civic is working to make identity secure and convenient. The company has created an identity identification marketplace after a crypto fundraising conducted in 2017. The company has offices in the US, Brazil, Germany and South Africa.

The new wallet will employ Onfido’s identity verification method to confirm the wallet’s user is who they claim to be. On the other hand, the person’s face and documents will be compared as the second layer of security.

Civic will safely maintain the data with their blockchain-based platform and can enable third parties to have access to the individual information with the user’s confirmation in case any issues arise.

The post ONFIDO AND CIVIC CREATING A NEW WALLET appeared first on Bitcoin News.

from Bitcoin News https://www.cryptocynews.com/onfido-civic-creating-new-wallet/
via Bitcoin News
via Bitcoin News Today

BINANCE HACKER CONTACTS COINDESK

Recently, a hacker working under the pseudonym Bnatov Platon offered a crypto news outlet, CoinDesk, extensive information about their efforts to receive large sums of money from Binance in return for not publishing any data about the exchange’s users.

Today, the hacker started releasing information and images of the platform’s customers following a month of contact with the alleged hacker.

Binance is currently the largest cryptocurrency exchange globally and the fact that private information was not secure on the platform caught the interest of the whole crypto community.

The ordeal began in May 2019, when Binance experienced a cyber attack during which 7,000 BTCs were stolen from customers. The exchange announced a security breach that led to a hack. However, it failed to say anything about leaked customer information.

Although Bnatov Plation was not behind the Binance hack, he hacked someone involved with it.

The trading platform claims that the information was gathered from another company that they had worked with last year. The leaked information of 2 users has already been confirmed.

Binance stated that an individual contacted them offering 10,000 images of users in exchange for 300 Bitcoins. The case is currently under the exchange’s investigation.

The hacker claims to have over 60,000 accounts and has shared over 600 with CoinDesk.

The post BINANCE HACKER CONTACTS COINDESK appeared first on Bitcoin News.

from Bitcoin News https://www.cryptocynews.com/binance-hacker-contacts-coindesk/
via Bitcoin News
via Bitcoin News Today

CRYPTO EXCHANGES AND TAXING IN UK

Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, the department of the United Kingdom Government responsible for tax collection, requested three major crypto exchanges to provide them with financial documents. The three exchanges are eToro, CEX.IO as well as Coinbase.

The HM Revenue and Customs is looking into investors that have made large sums of money by trading crypto coins during the price increases of 2017.

Crypto experts stated that if the authority only goes after those investors that profited greatly in the last two to three years, the ones that entered the market six to seven years ago will be left alone. This means that the early investors that profited the most crypto coin will not be influenced. Yet, the ones that joined the crypto wave during its peak will.

The taxing authority has every right to request the information, as crypto trading is also taxed in the United Kingdom.

Crypto exchanges have the ability to keep the data on customers and their transfers that had been completes. However, it may possibly cause taxa charges and the HM Revenue and Customs will be able to demand the exchanges to disclose customer data.

This came right after the UK issued its first tax regulations of crypto users. Recently, cryptocurrency taxation has been a large issue and was even brought up during the G20 summit.

The post CRYPTO EXCHANGES AND TAXING IN UK appeared first on Bitcoin News.

from Bitcoin News https://www.cryptocynews.com/crypto-exchanges-taxing-uk/
via Bitcoin News
via Bitcoin News Today

COINBASE SUED BY BCH PURCHASERS

Coinbase, a California-based cryptocurrency exchange, is getting sued by users that bought Bitcoin Cash after a mishandled listing that occurred at the time of the crazy crypto price swings of 2017. The news was announced by Coindesk on August 7.

Vince Chhabria, the United States\ Judge of the Northern District of California, rejected the crypto company’s request for settlement. According to Coindesk, Judge Chhabria stated that it was reasonable that the platform violated its responsibilities to sustain stability in the marketplace.

The judge claimed that Coinbase stopping trading 3 minutes after Bitcoin Cash has released is a sign of poor operation.

The lawsuit was started by Jeffree Berk, a resident of Arizona that had used Coindesk, back in 2017. After the platform announced listing Bitcoin Cash, the coin’s value immediately increased. Jeffree Berk filed the lawsuit in the interest of other crypto traders, yet, before this one, two other cases were dismissed.

Although two firms hired 2018 didn’t find any evidence about the company doing anything wrong, Judge Chhabria is not convinced. He stated that the company still has to prove that it took all possible measures to avoid issues.

The Judge also mention that the exchange encouraged users to invest in Bitcoin Cash and was trusted by them.

The post COINBASE SUED BY BCH PURCHASERS appeared first on Bitcoin News.

from Bitcoin News https://www.cryptocynews.com/coinbase-sued-bch-purchasers/
via Bitcoin News
via Bitcoin News Today

CHINA INVESTIGATION ON CRYPTO SCAM

The police of the People’s Republic of China are allegedly prosecuting a centralized cryptocurrency trading platform, EtherDelta. The company is rumored to have links to exit scams.

On August 7, the founder of the blockchain-based company Primitive Ventures, Dovey Wan, announced the news. Wan stated that the fraud engaged with the platform’s native crypto coin, EtherDelta Token(EDT) and that the issue was brought up by a number of Chinese investors.

The founder of the trading platform, Zack Coburn, sold the exchange to Chinese investors, that after issuing the EtherDelta Token, ended up being a fraud. The angry investors reported to the Chinese police and they have recently started an investigation on this exit scam.

EtherDelta is a trading platform that focuses on Tokens issued on the Ethereum blockchain (ERC-20). It offers customers trading services for crypto assets with the use of order books.

EtherDelta has had issues with the Securities and Exchange Commission of the US last year. The founder of the company was charged because the exchange was not registered by the SEC.

Zack Coburn did not accept or refuse the accusations,  however, he did agree to collaborate and pay the fine of USD 300,000. On the other hand, Coburn also agreed to settle a USD 75,000 penalty and a USD 13,000 interest.

The post CHINA INVESTIGATION ON CRYPTO SCAM appeared first on Bitcoin News.

from Bitcoin News https://www.cryptocynews.com/china-investigation-crypto-scam/
via Bitcoin News
via Bitcoin News Today

TETHER FUELING THE BITCOIN BULL RUN?

According to Twitter user Andrew Rennhack, Bitcoin’s bull run of 2019 was inflamed by no none other than Tether (USDT). Rennhack claimed that the major price increase of the first cryptocurrency was provoked by Tether printing an excessive amount of coins.

He added that the crypto market is not a strong one and fully relies on Tether that has the largest daily trading volume among cryptocurrencies. The tweet also read that the amount of coins that Tether created would make the Federal Reserve blush. Rennhack believes that the price gains of the Bitcoin do not have any real explanations and are strictly correlated to Tether.

However, this Twitter user is not the first one to express this opinion. The founder of Ethfinex, Will Harborne, stated that the large number of new USDT coins in related to new wealthy clients for the company. USDT also assists big players in liquid exchanges that do not have crypto to fiat trading pairs.

Yet, many disagreed with the following claims. One Twitter user in response to Rennhack wrote that the claim that Bitcoin’s price movements were based on Tether was not factually based.

JP Morgan also came out with a study supporting Rennhack and many crypto users now believe that Tether is using market manipulation to influence Bitcoin.

The post TETHER FUELING THE BITCOIN BULL RUN? appeared first on Bitcoin News.

from Bitcoin News https://www.cryptocynews.com/tether-fueling-bitcoin-bull-run/
via Bitcoin News
via Bitcoin News Today

COINBASE EFFECT IS VISIBLE ONCE AGAIN

After Coinbase, a top US-based cryptocurrency exchange, announced coins that could potentially get listed on the platform, one of these cryptocurrencies gained more than 60 percent in a day.

The previously mentioned crypto coin, Matic Network (MATIC), jumped from 1 United States Cent to almost USD 0.017. The daily volume of the coin currently is above USD 133 million. This price rise was a rather big deal and it could be seen as a great opportunity to sell the coin.

Matic Network is a scaling solution that employs sidechains for scaling as well as utilizes the Plasma network for security. The system is decentralized and uses the proof of stake algorithm. It is also a platform for decentralized applications (dApps) and, at time of writing, sports two dApps.

Other coins that gained the attention of Coinbase are Dash, Algorand and Decret. None of these cryptocurrency have experienced major gains after the announcement. In fact, both Algorand and Dash have lost in value.

The sudden price gain of Matic is an example of what is called the Coinbase effect. Last year, after the platform announced that they were adding XRP, the price rose to almost 50 cents only to decrease rapidly.

Even though it is not clear when Coinbase has effect of the crypto price, many users and analysts claim that it usually happens when it is the first large exchange to accept that certain coin.

The post COINBASE EFFECT IS VISIBLE ONCE AGAIN appeared first on Bitcoin News.

from Bitcoin News https://www.cryptocynews.com/coinbase-effect-visible/
via Bitcoin News
via Bitcoin News Today

MASTERCARD LAUNCHES BLOCKCHAIN SOLUTION

After Mastercard announced their participation in the release of Facebook’s new stablecoin, Libra, the company is slowly but surely experimenting with the benefits of the blockchain network and cryptocurrency. According to a recent press release, Mastercard, in partnership with Fred Segal Sunset collection as well as MADE, is launching a blockchain network for luxury designer clothes in order to prevent purchases of fakes.

A blockchain-based solution, the Provenance Solution, was developed to enable customers to have a trustless and secure shopping experience.

From August 14, the fashion collection by Laura and Kate Mulleavy, Rodarte, will have the option of monitoring their clothing sales through the innovative technology.

In a study released last year, in 2020 the fake goods market will be worth USD 1.8 trillion. Right now, the number is USD 1.2 trillion and online shopping constitutes for 30 percent of the money. On the other hand, luxury items constitute for USD 98 billion.

If luxury clothing sales are recorded on the blockchain, the number of fake goods sales is likely to reduce.

The Executive Vice President of MasterCard, Sherri Haymond, stated that the collaboration of art and technology is important and that by using technologies like blockchain, we enable artists to tell the tails of their art to customers.

Mastercard is trying to enhance its role in the sphere of cryptocurrency by developing numerous partnerships with blockchain/crypto businesses.

The post MASTERCARD LAUNCHES BLOCKCHAIN SOLUTION appeared first on Bitcoin News.

from Bitcoin News https://www.cryptocynews.com/mastercard-blockchain-solution/
via Bitcoin News
via Bitcoin News Today

NEW TRON ANNOUNCEMENTS BY JUSTIN SUN

Last Sunday, The Chief Executive Officer and founder of the Tron Foundation announced on Twitter the developments of the Tron system. On the other hand, he asked his followers for name ideas of the new privacy solution for Tron.

This tweet was just a tactic to attract attention as the next day Sun revealed news about the Sun network. He announced the launch of Version 1.0 of the Sun Network. The network will be released on Saturday, August 10. The Tweets by the young CEO suggested that the new version of the Sun Network will be a scalability solution for the Tron system and 1.0 will be employed by creators of Decentralized Applications.

Tron once again showed that it is a leader in the creation of Decentralized Applications surpassing both Ethereum and EOS. Despite its popularity and success, the company is still improving its products. The Sun Network is only a part of the Tron system and it is meant to improve transfers as well as scalability.

The testnet of the Sun Network has already been released in June of 2019. Justin Sun also talked about building an adaptive chain to facilitate the main Tron Network and positively influence the platform’s smart contracts.

Due to this great news, Tronix price may see positive shifts in the following hours. Currently, it has increased in value by 2.96 percent in 24 hours.

The post NEW TRON ANNOUNCEMENTS BY JUSTIN SUN appeared first on Bitcoin News.

from Bitcoin News https://www.cryptocynews.com/new-tron-announcements-justin-sun/
via Bitcoin News
via Bitcoin News Today

NEWCASTLE UNITED PARTNERS WITH CRYPTO COMPANY

The new official sponsor of Newcastle United, a Premiere League Football Club from the United Kingdom, is StormGain.

Stormgain is a cryptocurrency exchange established this year by Alex Althausen. The company is backed by Libertex and has a customer base in over 40 countries. The platform has zero fees and is very convenient with numerous interesting features.

Due to this, you will have the ability to win tickets to Newcastle United games on the exchange’s platform. In 2019-2020 Storm Gain will also exist on the club’s shirts. Because of this, Newcastle United fans from all over the world will become acquainted with StormGain and the advantages that the company presents.

On the other hand, by winning the ticket from StormGain you will also have the chance to attend the training of the team as well as play with your favorite players and obtain signed T-shirts.

The Chief Executive Officer of the crypto exchange stated that the company is thrilled to cooperative and such a great football club like Newcastle United. In the company’s mind, the partnership between crypto businesses and sports teams is unavoidable.

The head of commercial of Newcastle United also added that they are always trying to improve the club by looking for interesting commercial possibilities.

The post NEWCASTLE UNITED PARTNERS WITH CRYPTO COMPANY appeared first on Bitcoin News.

from Bitcoin News https://www.cryptocynews.com/newcastle-united-crypto-company/
via Bitcoin News
via Bitcoin News Today

SHINHAN FINANCIAL INVESTMENT USING BLOCKCHAIN

A brokerage company based in South Korea, Shinhan Financial Investment, is looking forward to creating a peer-to-peer platform using the blockchain technology for stock lending.

As reported by Econews, a South Korean news outlet, Shinhan Financial Investment is cooperating with a financial firm Directional to create this new platform that is going to remove the middleman from stock lending.

Directional is among the companies that work under the Financial Service Commission’s guidelines and offers stock lending as well as borrowing. Due to this, Directional has the ability to operate with new technologies not caring about the current regulations. The company was established in 2003 and has nearly 50 employees.

On the other hand, the Shinhan Financial Investment is a part of Shinhan Bank, South Korea’s oldest bank. It is also the second largest bank which greatly invests in cryptocurrency and blockchain.

This year, the Shinhan Bank released a blockchain network that assists in processing loans making the activity much more effective. it also uses blockchain in the system to reduce human errors. Reportedly, the bank was more blockchain-based projects coming soon.

South Korea has been a prominent figure in the regulation and implementation of crypto coins and blockchain. It is among the biggest markets in the sphere and crypto businesses are rapidly entering the country.

The post SHINHAN FINANCIAL INVESTMENT USING BLOCKCHAIN appeared first on Bitcoin News.

from Bitcoin News https://www.cryptocynews.com/shinhan-financial-investment/
via Bitcoin News
via Bitcoin News Today

BITWALA RAISES $14M DURING CROWDFUNDING

Bitwala, a crypto company based in Berlin, made over USD 14 million in the first crowdfunding series.

Sony Financial Ventures and NKB group were behind the crowdfunding campaign. Companies like Coparian and Earlybird also engaged and these submitted 50 percent of the raised money.

The funds will be used in order to improve the number of clients as well as employees. Bitwala is also planning to create Bitcoin accounts for the companies that are going to utilize the gathered money.

The co-founder and current CTO of the company, Ben Jones stated that Bitwala provides a connection with the blockchain network to both experienced and beginner users.

Jones also added that even though the system is still growing and improving, it was an amazing experience for the company to contribute to its growth in the last years.

Bitwala offers an account containing a cryptocurrency wallet for free along with a debit card. In addition, the firm supports the transactions to Bitcoins worth over USD 12 million.

Bitwala serves users from 31 countries and was around 40 workers.

The co-founder and CCO of Bitcoin, Jan Golicki also added that the company was started to create something that was thought to be impossible: a system that links Bitcoin and the traditional financial network while complying with necessary regulations.

The post BITWALA RAISES $14M DURING CROWDFUNDING appeared first on Bitcoin News.

from Bitcoin News https://www.cryptocynews.com/bitwala-raises-14m-crowdfunding/
via Bitcoin News
via Bitcoin News Today

NEW BLOCKCHAIN ART AUCTION

Previously, we have seen art auctions using the blockchain technology as a means to record sales of artwork. Yet, what we have not seen is a charity auction that utilizes the network to choose winners.

The project was started by ChangeAngel, CryptoBantam, along with a cryptoartist named Trevor Jones.

The auction is centered around the previously mentioned artist’s work, which was heavily inspired by the first crypto coin, Bitcoin, and named “The Ecstasy”. The piece of art shows a character that looks obviously disturbed, while another one with golden wings reaches for them. A large golden Bitcoin could be seen in the background of the building.

To participate in the auction, customers must purchase tickets. After the competition closes this month, numbers will be assigned to each ticket and these will be released online.

After the list is conducted, a deciding block will be announced. The chosen block will be mined on the 4th of August right after the ticket sales stop. The winner’s ticket number’s digits should be the same as the last two of the hash.

Figuring out the hash was complex, almost impossible. Cheating this new system would be difficult, to say the least.

The beginning of the lottery was in July of this year.

The post NEW BLOCKCHAIN ART AUCTION appeared first on Bitcoin News.

from Bitcoin News https://www.cryptocynews.com/new-blockchain-based-art-auction/
via Bitcoin News
via Bitcoin News Today

WALMART IS LAUCNHING A CRYPTO COIN

Walmart, an American multinational retailer, is reportedly working on a cryptocurrency backed by a traditional asset. Being a stablecoin would make it very similar to Facebook’s notorious crypto coin, Libra.

A new patent filing was released by the United States Patent and Trademark Office this week, explaining the way to create a cryptocurrency and peg it another cryptocurrency or traditional currency.

It was stated in the paper that the retail giant’s new coin may be a stablecoin tied to the United States Dollar. Yet, the coin will be used only in certain stores and with partners. It also has the potential to assist low income households that can not afford banking services because of their high cost.

It is not hard to notice that the new stablecoins of both Walmart and Facebook seem to have the same goals. Libra is intended to help out the 2.5 billion people all over the world that do not have access to banks. Yet, despite the good intentions, the company faced scrutiny from regulators around the world. Facebook also recently declared that the coin may never launch because of the massive backlash.

The patent filing by Walmart also shows that the new coin has a specific storage area. The currency could also be used for food payments.

The post WALMART IS LAUCNHING A CRYPTO COIN appeared first on Bitcoin News.

from Bitcoin News https://www.cryptocynews.com/walmart-laucnhing-crypto-coin/
via Bitcoin News
via Bitcoin News Today

SEC WARNS THE PUBLIC ABOUT A CRYPTO

The public was warned about potential risks when investing in a new crypto coin called ONYXCOIN by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). According to the CEO of SEC, Philip Chitalu, they obtained information about KWAKOO, an African company, that was persuading the public to invest in that coin.

The company is encouraging people to purchase ONYXCOIN packages. The Security and Exchange Commission believes that KWAKOO assured that the coin would grow in price from 100 to 1,000 percent in the next two years.

Philip Chitalu also added that in Zambia in order to be qualified to provide advice on security investing, particularly with regard to advice on buying, selling or holding the security, one has to have special licenses.

The promotion of investing in this new crypto coin by KWAKOO is considered as investment advice under the law’s definition. The CEO of SEC cautioned that the company does not have the needed licenses given by the SEC to offer investment advice in Zambia.

Philip Chitalu also emphasized the Securities and Exchanges Commission’s role in licensing dealers as well as investment advisers. The SEC guarantees the security of investors with their strict supervision of the market.

In addition, the director of the SEC mentioned that the legality of ICOs was questionable and was considered on an individual basis.

The post SEC WARNS THE PUBLIC ABOUT A CRYPTO appeared first on Bitcoin News.

from Bitcoin News https://www.cryptocynews.com/sec-warns-public-crypto/
via Bitcoin News
via Bitcoin News Today

PAXFUL AND BITCOIN IN AFRICA

In the last years, cryptocurrencies are experiencing a significant growth in Africa, so Paxful is aiming to develop an entry to the crypto world especially Bitcoin (BTC) for Africa’s youth. They will realize this through educational programs.

Paxful’s African consultant, Benjamin Onuoha, mentioned that among their users Africa’s youth has been the most creative and the smartest so far, they think about the crypto-economy as their future, and Benjamin thinks that they can teach the world a lot.

In the following list are the real Bitcoin use cases in Benjamin’s opinion. Charges, transfers, grey markets, money maintenance, social good and speculation.

He also mentioned that the young in Africa, believe that there is opportunities to develop entrepreneurship projects with Bitcoin and many users have already started their businesses.

Paxful is sure that cryptocurrency economy will have a good influence on the society and in Rwanda they have finished the construction of the second school to support education. Their team is planning to open one hundred schools around the country.

During the last year, Paxful, which has more than 2,5 million consumers globally, revealed that 200%+ growth in users have been noticed in Africa, as the most rapidly developing district in 2018.

The company observed that Africa’s new generation has started to use peer to peer finance for a better involvement in the global financial system.

Being passionate to help the African people to have a better understanding of the use cases of cryptocurrencies and the opportunities that cryuptocurrecy economy offers, Paxful has built their first university.

At universities of South Africa and Kenya, Paxful seminars have taken place which provide each attendant with curcial knowledge and with free bitcoin to let them begin their journey. Already 1000 young Africans or more have participated in the events around Kenya and SA.

The post PAXFUL AND BITCOIN IN AFRICA appeared first on Bitcoin News.

from Bitcoin News https://www.cryptocynews.com/paxful-bitcoin-africa/
via Bitcoin News
via Bitcoin News Today

NASSCOM SUGGESTS SOLUTION TO CRYPTO BAN

Recently, there has been a lot of talk about the legal status of crypto coins in India. This year the central authorities of the country suggested to entirely ban crypto transactions. The National Association of Software and Services Company (NASSCOM) took a stand against the cryptocurrency ban in India, stating that that’s not a comprehensive solution.

The statement by the National Association of Software and Services Company read that the trade association thinks that the suggestion by the Inter-ministerial Committee to ban crypto transfers, with the exception of government-backed coins, is not a reasonable way to deal with crypto coins. On the contrary, the Indian authorities should try to create a regulatory framework based on risks and manage crypto transfers in the country.

The proposal that has not become law yet is going to turn any activity regarding crypto coins illegal. The exception to the rule will be crypto coins monitored by the government of the country.

Besides the trade assciation, many people involved with cryptocurrency and blockchain opposed this idea of the ban saying that the use of crypto coins will not be halted because of this. Because of the unique architecture of the blockchain, it can not be tracked where the transactions were made from.

Despite the backlash, the proposal still has many proponents in the government and among citizens.

The post NASSCOM SUGGESTS SOLUTION TO CRYPTO BAN appeared first on Bitcoin News.

from Bitcoin News https://www.cryptocynews.com/nasscom-solution-crypto-ban/
via Bitcoin News
via Bitcoin News Today

LITECOIN MINING: WHAT HAPPENS AFTER?

Only in a couple of days, Litecoin (LTC) will go through another halving. Halving is the operation that certain crypto coins go through during which mining rewards decrease in half in order to sustain the purchasing power of the digital currency.

Litecoin reward halving, just like Bitcoin, takes place once every four years. Right now, the mining reward for Litecoin is 25 coins, which will be lowered to 12.5 coins in four days.

Cryptocurrency halving can be compared to the measures that Central Banks take to combat sudden price shifts of traditional currencies.

This year the cryptocurrency experienced interesting price shifts as the price rose sharply in the first three months of the year. Soon, Litecoin price increased by 100 percent and reached a yearly high of USD 145 by the beginning of summer. However, in the following month it fell to USD 80.

The same pattern could be seen in 2015 during the coin’s halving. The price increased quickly only to drop before reward halving. Yet after that, Litecoin experienced stable growth. For many Litecoin investors, it seems like history is repeating itself.

However, as the profitability of Litecoin mining drops 5 percent it is expected that many miners will leave the network for others. During the last reward halving, the system went back to its normal pace in a matter of only two weeks.

The post LITECOIN MINING: WHAT HAPPENS AFTER? appeared first on Bitcoin News.

from Bitcoin News https://www.cryptocynews.com/litecoin-mining-what-happens/
via Bitcoin News
via Bitcoin News Today

S7 AIRLINES BLOCKCHAIN SELLS $1M TICKETS

S7 Airlines, the biggest domestic airline in Russia, disclosed that the blockchain network that they created in collaboration with Alfa-Bank, sold tickets worth USD 1 million last month.

The sales director of the S7 Group, Ekaterina Dmitruk, stated during a press release, that due to the blockchain network, operating directly with the airline became much more convenient for agents. This enabled the airline to expand its sales network. By the end of 2019, the company will have its first online agents on the platform.

The network of the airline was launched 2 years earlier and has improved the speed of payment processing and decreased the paperwork.

There are more and more transactions each month. Since the beginning of the year, the amount of payments on the company’s network grew 10 times. On the other hand, other processes on the blockchain are also increasing in number. The blockchain network offers stable performance, security and privacy.

The cooperation with Alfa-Bank and its amazing results display that this new technology brings much value into markets, especially the B2B one. The transfer costs have decreased and transfers can be made day and night.

Last year, the company also became the first airline in the country to refuel a plane with smart contracts.

The post S7 AIRLINES BLOCKCHAIN SELLS $1M TICKETS appeared first on Bitcoin News.

from Bitcoin News https://www.cryptocynews.com/s7-airlines-blockchain-sells-1m/
via Bitcoin News
via Bitcoin News Today

UK UPDATED CRYPTO GUIDELINES RELEASED

Guidelines for the crypto market in the UK were recently published by the Financial Conduct Authority.

According to a crypto news outlet, The Block, after the draft of the guidelines was released, a more complete explanation was expected. The draft read that if a token was neither a security token nor e-Money than it was unregulated. This simply means that trading cryptocurrency like Bitcoin or Ethereum have to follow only Know Your Customer guidelines and will not be regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

On the other hand, in most cases, utility tokens also will not be regulated by this body. The classification of e-Money will be done on an individual basis. Yet, it was stated that crypto coins backed by traditional currencies, stablecoins, will be classified as e-Money in most cases based on their architecture. Hence, stablecoins will most likely fall under the Financial Conduct Authority’s domain.

The new guidelines got much support form the citizens of the country.

According to cryptoUK, the new guidelines offer clarity on the many issues considering cryptocurrency regulations.

the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Archax, Matthew Pollard, stated this document demonstrates that great improvements are being made in the area of digital currencies.

The post UK UPDATED CRYPTO GUIDELINES RELEASED appeared first on Bitcoin News.

from Bitcoin News https://www.cryptocynews.com/uk-updated-crypto-guidelines/
via Bitcoin News
via Bitcoin News Today