Day: October 9, 2018

Middle East’s First Central Bank-Backed Crypto Exchange to Launch in 2019

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Two blockchain veterans are gearing up to launch what could be the first cryptocurrency exchange in the Persian Gulf to be licensed by a central bank. Revealed exclusively to CoinDesk, Rain Financial has opened its public waiting list after a year in the Central Bank of Bahrain’s fintech sandbox. Co-founded by Saudi blockchain consultant Abdullah Almoaiqel and Egyptian investor-turned-meetup organizer Yehia Badawy, along with their business partners Joseph Dallago and AJ Nelson, Rain aims to offer both a brokerage for retail crypto investors and an institutional platform along the lines…

Swiss Financial Watchdog Issues Country’s First Crypto Asset Management License

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The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) has issued the country’s first cryptocurrency asset management license to a crypto investment fund, Swiss-centered media outlet Swissinfo reports today, Oct. 9. The recipient is Crypto Fund, a subsidiary founded in 2017 by Zug-based Crypto Finance AG. The fund has reportedly until now only been able to distribute offshore-based cryptocurrency funds under FINMA rules. The new license, however, will permit the firm to legally offer a wide spectrum of collective investment products that track Bitcoin (BTC) and other crypto assets, including domestic funds.…

ICO fines firm £90,000 for nuisance emails about pre-paid funeral plans

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The Information Commissioner has fined London-based marketing company, Boost Finance Ltd (BFL), a company responsible for millions of nuisance emails about pre-paid funeral plans. Trading as findmeafuneralplan.com, BFL was behind 4,396,780 emails that were sent from January to September 2017.  The emails were sent to people who had subscribed to websites operated by BFL’s affiliates, but who had not given their consent to receive them. The ICO investigation found that in all but one of the websites, it was not made obvious who the emails were from – although they…

Cautiously Bullish: Bitcoin Price Clears Key Trendline to Pass $6.6K

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Bitcoin saw a low-volume bullish breakout Monday, but the long-awaited move is sending mixed signals to investors The leading cryptocurrency cleared the trendline sloping downwards from the July 25 high and Sept. 5 high around midday yesterday, adding credence to the argument put forward by many, including billionaire investor Novogratz, that the market has carved out a long-term bottom around $6,000. However, so far, the bullish trend change hasn’t significantly revved up investor interest. This is evident from the fact that the total trading volume rose by a meager 15…

IBM’s Food Supply Chain Platform Released

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IBM’s Food Supply Chain Platform Released October 9, 2018 by Ian Edwards IBM has officially rolled out its blockchain-based food supply chain platform, IBM Food Trust. French retail giant Carrefour will be one of the early adopters. Also see: Dubai Eyes POS Devices for State-Backed Crypto emCash Subscribe to the Bitsonline YouTube channel for great videos featuring industry insiders & experts Tracking Food From Farm to Table IBM Food Trust, announced October 8th, uses a shared private digital ledger to track food as it moves from producers to consumers. IBM claims it…

Dubai Government-Backed Digital Currency Will Get Its Own Payment System

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Consumers in Dubai will soon be able to use digital currency to pay for goods, services, and utilities following a new government partnership, a press release confirms Tuesday, Oct. 9. The deal between emcredit, a subsidiary of the Dubai Department of Economic Development, blockchain payment provider Pundi X, and its partner Ebooc Fintech & Loyalty Labs LLC will facilitate point of sale (PoS) payments in emcredit’s emcash currency. Ebooc will provide PoS terminals for in-store payments, while Pundi X plans to roll out 100,000 units globally over the next three…

Thailand Studies Blockchain for Applications in Intellectual Property, Trade Finance

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Two feasibility studies on blockchain technology have been launched by Thailand’s Ministry of Commerce. The studies, which will focus on exploring the use of blockchain technology in trade finance and the registration of intellectual property, are expected to be completed in February 2019, per the Bangkok Post. According to Pimchanok Vonkorpon, the director of Thailand’s Trade Policy and Strategy Office (TPSO) which falls under the commerce ministry, the project has received support from the British Embassy. Increasing Efficiency and Trust With regards to trade financing, Pimchanok pointed out that blockchain…

PwC Partners with Decentralized Lending Platform to Provide Expertise in Stablecoin Launch

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“Big four” audit giant PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has partnered with decentralized lending platform Cred to provide tech expertise in the launch of their USD-backed stablecoin, the company announced on Monday, October 8. In the announcement, the professional services firm claimed that the new partnership is designed in order to boost the current market of U.S. dollar-pegged cryptocurrencies by bringing more trust to investors. PwC is touting their service as a solution to major existing problems associated with the stablecoin market, such as transparency and “substantiation,” which keep a number of investors…

Bitcoin Price Watch: BTC/USD Could Grind Towards $6,800

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Key Points Bitcoin price traded higher recently and broke the $6,600 and $6,620 resistance levels against the US Dollar. There is a major bullish trend line in place with support at $6,550 on the hourly chart of the BTC/USD pair (data feed from Kraken). The pair is likely to climb higher towards the $6,650, $6,700 and $6,800 levels in the near term. Bitcoin price is positioned nicely above $6,600 against the US Dollar. BTC/USD could accelerate gains above $6,640 to test the next resistance at $6,800. Bitcoin Price Analysis Yesterday,…

Volume of Bitcoin Surges Nearly 30% as it Finally Breaks Out of $6,550

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Bitcoin, the most dominant cryptocurrency in the global market, has seen an abrupt increase in its volume from $2 billion to $2.53 billion on CoinCap.io. On Coinmarketcap, the volume of Bitcoin has risen from $3.2 billion to $3.8. The discrepancy between the volume of BTC listed on CoinCap.io and Coinmarketcap comes from CoinCap.io’s system that does not take daily trading volumes from exchanges suspected to have inflated numbers into account. Volume was the Biggest Issue Throughout the past seven days, CCN consistently reported that the low volume of Bitcoin had…