Day: October 23, 2018

Bitfinex Is Publishing Data for a Tether Market That Doesn’t Exist

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Pop over to CoinMarketCap and check Bitfinex’s page. You’ll see that the trading pair with the second-highest volume on the exchange over the past 24 hours – nearly $48 million at the time of writing – is USDT/USD: the tether stablecoin, which aims for parity with the U.S. dollar, and the U.S. dollar itself. From this data point, you could be forgiven for concluding that Bitfinex’s customers trade huge quantities of tethers for dollars, and vice-versa – more than they trade ether, XRP and EOS combined for dollars. But you’d…

Bitfinex Is Publishing Data for a Tether Market That Doesn’t Exist

boss

Pop over to CoinMarketCap and check Bitfinex’s page. You’ll see that the trading pair with the second-highest volume on the exchange over the past 24 hours – nearly $48 million at the time of writing – is USDT/USD: the tether stablecoin, which aims for parity with the U.S. dollar, and the U.S. dollar itself. From this data point, you could be forgiven for concluding that Bitfinex’s customers trade huge quantities of tethers for dollars, and vice-versa – more than they trade ether, XRP and EOS combined for dollars. But you’d…

Op Ed: In Defense of Bitcoin: A Response to Nouriel Roubini

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Rhetorical style should never distract from the content of someone’s arguments. So when I heard that Nouriel Roubini testified to the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs on the cryptocurrency and blockchain ecosystem, I decided to peruse his testimony and reflect on it. His testimony makes an extensive number of critical points on the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency ecosystem. In this article, I want to set out a defense of Bitcoin against them. Importantly, I have not attempted to critically assess each and every single point he makes.…

Fidelity’s Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Technology SVP Joins BLOQ as COO

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Blockchain startup Bloq has announced the appointment of former Fidelity Investments executive Hadley Stern as its first chief operating officer — the latest in a string of hires poached from a legacy financial firm by blockchain startups. Launched in 2016 by Bitcoin core developer and former software engineer at Red Hat Jeff Garzik and venture capitalist Matthew Roszak, Bloq helps corporations build blockchain platforms. It delivers enterprise-class, blockchain solutions while supporting innovation in the blockchain and open-source ecosystem. Roszak, co-founder and chairman of Bloq, called Stern a “fearless innovator.” “As…

HTC’s New Blockchain Phone Can Only Be Bought with Crypto

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HTC, a Taiwan-based smartphone creator has just announced that its new smartphone, Exodus 1, is available for purchase. At the moment, the phone can only be pre-ordered, and the shipping will not start before December. However, the biggest twist regarding the first blockchain-enabled smartphone is that it can only be bought via Bitcoin or Ethereum. Exodus 1 was originally announced back in May 2018, at the CoinDesk Consensus conference. Since then, HTC has worked continuously in order to expand the blockchain ecosystem through the creation of the world’s first smartphone that…

SEC Commissioner: Bitcoin ETF Applicants Should Focus on Liquidity, Custody, Market Surveillance

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Even amid bearish market conditions, the regulatory status of crypto assets remains a hot-button topic, as global governments attempt to discern how to best approach this emerging market. Leading the charge for fair regulation is arguably the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which has done its best to protect investors from unwarranted financial risk, while still treating this industry with respect. SEC Commissioner Stein Talks Crypto American attorney Kara Stein, who currently serves as an SEC Commissioner, recently sat down with Bloomberg to discuss the regulatory climate surrounding cryptocurrencies. SEC…

Decred Jumps 34 Percent after Politeia Announcement, Binance Listing

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A couple of strong fundamentals has pushed Decred value up by 34 percent. DCR/USD BINANCE 15M CHART | SOURCE: TRADINGVIEW.COM The DCR/USD rate on Tuesday touched new weekly highs at 50.97-fiat on Binance. The pair underwent a sharp bull run – more like a pump – as traders went on a buying-the-highs spree. It is now developing a range level between 47.27-fiat and 50.15-fiat to consolidate sideways before deciding on its further action. Politeia ANN The Decred team on October 15 announced that they are beginning to develop Politeia, a…

UK Information Commissioner elected chair of the International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners

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Elizabeth Denham, the UK’s Information Commissioner, has today been elected Chair of the International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners (ICDPPC). Now in its fortieth year, the ICDPPC is the leading global forum of data protection and privacy authorities, encompassing more than 120 members across all continents. The ICDPPC works throughout the year on global data protection policy issues, adopts resolutions and statements addressed to governments and policymakers, and arranges a highly successful annual conference. On accepting her post, Elizabeth Denham said: “In the age of borderless data…

Japan’s SBI Group Is Building a New Crypto Exchange Wallet

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Japanese financial services giant SBI Group has partnered with a blockchain security startup to develop a digital wallet for its recently launched cryptorrency exchange. The Denmark-based startup, Sepior, announced in a press release Monday that SBI has licensed its proprietary “threshold signature” wallet technology for integration with its VCTRADE exchange to secure “on-line contents and transactions.” VCTRADE was launched in June by SBI Holdings’ subsidiary SBI Virtual Currencies to become Japan’s first bank-backed, government-licensed cryptocurrency exchange. Sepior said its threshold technology uses signatures based on multiparty computation – a cryptographic method that…

Electronics Giant HTC Announces Presale of Its Blockchain Smartphone Exodus in BTC, ETH

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Taiwanese electronics company HTC has announced the presale of its widely-discussed blockchain smartphone, Exodus 1, the product’s official Twitter account reveals Oct. 23. The Exodus 1 presale was officially announced today during the Web3 summit, taking place Oct. 22-24 in Berlin. According to the HTC Exodus website, “early access” to the phone can currently only be purchased via Bitcoin (BTC) or Ethereum (ETH), and is available to 34 regions, including the U.S., U.K. and Hong Kong. At press time, pre-orders for the Exodus 1 are listed at around $960 (0.15…