Japan’s Financial Regulator Wants Crypto Industry to ‘Grow Under Appropriate Regulation’
The commissioner of Japan’s financial regulator the Financial Services Agency (FSA) said that the agency wants the cryptocurrency industry to “grow under appropriate regulation,” in an interview with Reuters August 22. Toshihide Endo, commissioner of Japan’s FSA, told Reuters he sees the agency’s goal for developing the crypto industry as finding a “balance” between consumer […]
Crypto Mining for Mobile Phones
The recent times have seen the cryptocurrency space expand by leaps and bounds and the most recent watershed moment that the industry has seen is the introduction of mining cryptocurrency using mobile phones. Leaving the era of using hefty supercomputers to mine them behind, we are now entering into a phase where modern users can […]
Crypto Self-Regulatory Organization, 100 BTC Whistleblower Reward
In today’s edition of Bitcoin in Brief we cover a couple of stories that show how the cryptocurrency industry is trying to police itself. One group of companies has begun working on the formation of a self-regulatory organization and another has created a 100 BTC whistleblower reward pool. A number of companies have jointly formed […]
Bitcoin’s Price May Be Charting a Previous Bull Pattern
History often has a way of repeating itself. The current price pattern in the bitcoin market is eerily similar to the one observed in the run-up to a major rally that occurred on April 12. To start with, bitcoin charted a long-tailed candle on Aug. 14, similar to the one seen on Apr. 1, signaling […]
Bitcoin Cash Use in Commerce Sees Significant Decrease
A review of payments received by the world’s 17 largest crypto exchanges has shown that Bitcoin Cash (BCH) use in commerce has decreased, according to blockchain analytics firm Chainanalysis, Bloomberg reported August 20. A group of analysts from Chainanalysis found that BCH payments dropped to $3.7 million in May from $10.5 million in March, while […]
Trump vs Erdogan: Bitcoin Is the Answer to Turkey’s Financial Chaos
Latest reporting out of Washington appear to signal no deal struck between the Trump administration and the government of Turkey under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, potentially deepening an already fragile financial situation. Turkey’s lira has crashed double digits in recent months, and further as tensions between the two countries, over an American pastor’s jailing, continue […]
Alarm Over Bitcoin Mining
The amount of electricity consumed by bitcoin mining is not the global environmental crisis it is often portrayed to be. This is the professional assessment of Dr. Katrina Kelly-Pitou, a research associate in electrical and computer engineering at the University of Pittsburgh. ‘New Technologies Are Energy Intensive’ Writing in an article penned for non-profit academic media outlet […]
Bitcoin Remains Below $6,500
August 17 saw the first major attempt to reverse fortunes, but these gains have not been widely consolidated. At press time, Bitcoin (BTC) is trading below the $6,500 price point and Ethereum (ETH) has dipped below $300. Bitcoin (BTC) is currently seeing almost no change over the past 24 hours at press time, trading at […]
US Border Officials to Test Blockchain
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) plans to trial blockchain technology to verify North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) certificates. CBP Division of Business Transformation and Innovation head Vincent Annunziato said the agency was beginning a “live fire testing” of a blockchain platform to certify that imported products […]
Binance LCX Launches Fiat-to-Crypto Exchange
Binance LCX, a joint venture between Binance and Liechtenstein Cryptoassets Exchange (LCX), has announced the launch of a fiat-to-crypto exchange, according to a press release published August 16. The new trading platform will be located in Liechtenstein and offer trading between Swiss Francs (CHF) and euros (EUR) against major digital currencies pairs, subsequently adding more […]
Ripple Considering Chinese Market to Speed Up Payment Solutions
Ripple is considering breaking into the Chinese market to apply its distributed ledger technology (DLT) to cross-border payments, a Ripple executive told CNBC August 15. Jeremy Light, vice president of European Union strategic accounts at Ripple, said in a phone interview that the company is looking to enter the Chinese market to speed up international […]
Coinbase is Registering 50,000 New Users per Day
Brian Armstrong, CEO of the cryptocurrency platform giant Coinbase, claimed in an interview with Bloomberg that around 50,000 new users continue to register for its services every day — despite recent year-to-date lows. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong sat down with Bloomberg yesterday to discuss the future of cryptocurrency at the Bloomberg Players Technology Summit held […]
Salary Systems to Petro Cryptocurrency
Venezuela is set to begin using its “petro” cryptocurrency as an official accounting unit, according to the country’s president. ABC International reported the development on Tuesday, citing a televised announcement by President Nicolas Maduro, who first unveiled the petro back in December. As part of the change, the state oil and gas company Petróleos de […]
South Korea Budgets a Trillion Won for Blockchain Tech in 2019
South Korea’s government has earmarked a 5 trillion won ($4.4 billion) budget toward its ‘Growth through Innovation’ investment program in eight critical sectors with a particular focus on blockchain and AI. In a meeting in Seoul on Monday, South Korea’s finance minister Kim Dong-yeon confirmed plans of a 5 trillion won investment toward its innovation […]
Cryptocurrency Scammers Stole $2.3 Million in Q2
Cybercriminals earned more than $2.3 million from cryptocurrency scams during the second quarter of 2018, according to a new report from Kaspersky Lab. In its Spam and Phishing in Q2 2018 report, the company reported that it had prevented almost 60,000 attempts by users from visiting fraudulent web pages featuring popular cryptocurrency wallets and exchanges […]
Despite its 70% Price Drop, Bitcoin Surpassed Gold in Settlement Volume
Nic Carter, a well respected cryptocurrency researcher, has said that Bitcoin has surpassed the OTC gold market in settlement volumes, even amidst a 70 percent drop in its price. According to the clearing statistics of the London bullion market (LBMA), five major clearing members of the LPMCL including HSBC, ICBC Standard Bank, JP Morgan, Scotiabank […]
Square Cash Opens Bitcoin Buying and Selling in All 50 States
Less than two weeks after sharing Square’s cryptocurrency profits had doubled in the second quarter, the payments company made the long-awaited announcement on Twitter: users can now use Cash App to buy bitcoin in all fifty states. The move is yet another in a string of moves and statements by Square CEO Jack Dorsey, who […]
Thailand Police Seek More Arrests in $24 Million Bitcoin Fraud
Thailand’s Crime Suppression Division (CSD) has sought arrest warrants of six more people in an ongoing $24 million Bitcoin scam case. The law enforcement agency has confirmed that among the six wanted individuals, two are siblings of the famous Thai actor Jiratpisit Jaravijit. One of them is the elder brother of Jaravijit, Prinya Jaravijit, while […]
