Day: September 20, 2018

Coinbase Issues Statement Clarifying It Doesn’t Engage in Proprietary Trading

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Major U.S. crypto wallet provider and exchange service Coinbase has refuted “inaccurate” media reports that the platform engages in proprietary trading, in an official statement published Thursday, September 20. According to Coinbase, media coverage has “inaccurately characterized” the results of the New York Virtual Markets Integrity Report, to which Coinbase had voluntarily contributed information about its practices by participating in a Virtual Markets Integrity Initiative Questionnaire. Coinbase yesterday cited the report, with the view to “correct the record”: “The report states: ‘Coinbase disclosed that almost twenty percent of executed volume…

Poland’s Top Bank to Launch Blockchain Platform for Document Management Within ‘Days’

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Poland’s largest bank will launch a blockchain solution for its customer documents via a partnership with UK-based Coinform “in the coming days,” the parties confirmed in a press release Thursday, September 20. Part of a drive to enhance security of customer data, PKO Bank Polski will use Coinform’s Trudatum to provide blockchain-issued paperwork to its some five million account holders. “Blockchain offers huge potential to increase competitiveness of the Polish banking sector,” am Marciniak, vice president of the bank’s management board commented. “This is a relatively new technology for which…

Japan: Zaif cryptocurrency exchange hit by $60 million in recent hack

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Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Zaif announced today that it lost $60 million worth of company and user funds during a security incident that took place last week. The company said it discovered the hack on Monday, September 17, and confirmed it a day later, when it reached out to authorities and reported the incident. The Zaif team suspended user deposits and withdrawals earlier today, while its staff is making sure the hacker(s) is out of their network for good. Investigators are still gathering details, but Zaif said the hack took place…

Bitcoin Price Sees High-Volume Recovery From Five-Week Lows

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Bitcoin’s (BTC) high volume recovery from five-week lows may have left the bears disappointed, although a bullish reversal is still not confirmed, technical studies indicate. The leading cryptocurrency fell to $6,100 on Bitfinex at 18:00 UTC yesterday – the lowest level since Aug. 14 – signaling a downside break of the trendline connecting the June low and Aug. 11 low (lower end of the pennant). However, the moment of triumph for the bears was short-lived, as the cryptocurrency picked up a strong bid the very next hour and jumped to…

UK Lawmakers Call For Greater Oversight of Crypto Industry

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A group of U.K. lawmakers has called for more oversight and regulation of the cryptocurrency industry in a new report published Wednesday. Arguing that “crypto-assets have no inherent value,” are “especially risky” for retail investors and are “particularly vulnerable to manipulation,” the report states that “the introduction of regulation [to the cryptocurrency space] should be treated as a matter of urgency.” The report comes roughly seven months after the U.K. Treasury Committee first announced it would look into the benefits and risks of cryptocurrencies. The group wants to give the…

Swiss Crypto Startup Eidoo Announces Token Tied to the Price of Gold

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Eidoo has become the latest cryptocurrency startup to seek to create a more stable token by tying it to the price of gold. The Switzerland-based startup says the ERC-20-compatible token, dubbed the ekon, will sit alongside its multicurrency wallet and decentralized exchange. But perhaps more notably, each token will be redeemable for one gram of 99.9 percent fine gold, which the startup says will be stored in its vaults and audited every 90 days. “People will be able to see the gold stored in the security vaults through a video…

Don’t Blame Bitcoin Futures for Bear Market, CME Exec Says

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Tim McCourt, managing director and global head of equity products and alternative investments of CME Group, has said that bitcoin futures are not to be blamed for the price slump in the crypto market this year. Talking during a panel on crypto derivatives trading at CoinDesk’s Consensus Singapore 2018 event, McCourt told the audience that he does not think the introduction of bitcoin futures products resulted in the recent market downturn. “We are just a small part of the market,” he added. On the contrary, McCourt said bitcoin futures market has…

Texas Securities Watchdog Takes Action Against 3 Alleged Crypto Frauds

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The Texas State Securities Board has taken emergency action against three crypto investment schemes it alleges are attempting to defraud local investors. According to a news release published Tuesday, the board’s commissioner, Travis J. Iles, entered a first emergency cease-and-desist order against Coins Miner Investment Ltd., a Russia-based cryptocurrency investment promoter that has been soliciting funds from Texas residents by pretending to represent U.S. crypto exchange Coinbase. According to the cease-and-desist, the alleged hoax firm has been sending out email promotions that are designed to appear as if they were issued by…

US Banking Giant PNC Becomes Latest to Adopt Ripple’s xCurrent

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American banking giant PNC has joined the growing number of financial institutions using payments products from blockchain startup Ripple. The bank’s Treasury Management division will begin accepting cross-border transactions using the firm’s xCurrent product, Ripple’s senior vice president, Asheesh Birla, told CoinDesk Wednesday. One of the top-10 largest banks by assets held in the U.S., PNC has already successfully concluded a pilot phase and proof-of-concept for the payment rail, and will immediately begin using xCurrent in a production environment. For now, Treasury Management will only be accepting inbound transactions using…

Europol Warns of Crypto Hacks and Mining Malware in Latest Report

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Europol has warned against the rising threats of cryptocurrency hacks, extortion and mining malware in a new report. According to the EU-focused law-enforcement organization’s “Internet Organised Crime Threat Assessment 2018” (IOCTA) report, published on Wednesday, the holdings of those using cryptocurrencies, as well as exchanges, are increasingly at risk as “criminal abuse” of the financial technology grows. Previous Europol reports have indicated that online criminals are increasingly turning to cryptocurrencies to fund their illicit activities. As CoinDesk has reported, bitcoin has lost market share to tokens with greater privacy protections, such…