Day: January 5, 2019

Coinbase Reportedly Bans Personal Account of Social Media Platform Gab Founder

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The personal Coinbase merchant account of Andrew Torba, social media platform Gab’s founder, has been terminated, the official Gab.com account tweeted on Jan. 4. As blockchain blog Breaker reported earlier, Gab’s business account on Coinbase was allegedly closed in December. The news source put forward that a possible reason why it is hard for Gab to obtain a payment processor is its reputation for being the social network for people banned from mainstream platforms for hate speech. In October, the New York Times mentioned Gab as a social network used…

Crypto Markets See Green as Bitcoin Nears $3,900 and Ethereum Touches $160

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Saturday, Jan. 5 — the crypto markets are mainly in the green today, as Bitcoin (BTC) moves closer to the $3,900 mark, data from Coin360 shows. Market visualization by Coin360 Bitcoin has shown slight growth today, up by around 3 percent and trading at about $3,899 at press time. Over the month, Bitcoin is up almost 1 percent and almost 7 percent over the week. Bitcoin 7-day price chart. Source: Cointelegraph’s Bitcoin Price Index. Ethereum (ETH) is currently trading at around $159, up more than 6 percent on the day…

Proof of Keys Event May Highlight Centralization of Crypto, but Some of Its Claims Are Unfounded

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Bitcoin celebrated its 10th birthday on Jan. 3, and in commemoration of this milestone, the very first Proof of Keys event was held. Organized by crypto investor and podcast host Trace Mayer, it urged cryptocurrency traders to withdraw their holdings from crypto exchanges, in order to promote the decentralization and monetary independence on which Satoshi Nakamoto‘s vision for Bitcoin was founded. However, as ostensibly positive as its message was, it was claimed on social media in the days leading up to the event that several exchanges — most notably HitBTC —…

Blockchain Travel Service to Offer Hotels 20 Percent Cheaper Than on Booking.com or AirBnb

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The Europe-based company LockTrip wants to put the accommodation industry on the blockchain by creating “the first functional blockchain-based travel service.” The team says it already offers 100,000 hotels and more than 1,500 vacation rentals all over the world, with an average discount of almost 20 percent when compared to other booking sites — and with plans to add an additional 300,000 hotels and 900 airlines to its marketplace by end of January 2019. Smart contract travel booking Accommodations with zero commission can be booked directly through the existing LockTrip’s…

Major Consulting Firm McKinsey Finds Little Evidence of Practical Blockchain Use Cases

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Major financial consulting company McKinsey & Company believes that there is little evidence of practical use for blockchain, according to an official post published on Jan. 4. McKinsey was founded in 1926 and has a reported revenue for 2018 over over $10 billion, with over 27,000 employees globally. The article, written by three McKinsey partners, notes that the “evidence for a practical scalable use for blockchain is thin on the ground,” explaining: “Blockchain has yet to become the game-changer some expected […] given the amount of money and time spent,…

Five More Exchanges Join Japan’s Self-Regulatory Crypto Exchange Association

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Five more cryptocurrency exchanges have joined the Japan Virtual Currency Exchange Association (JVCEA), according to an official announcement on Jan. 4 from the JVCEA. The JVCEA is a self-regulatory body formed in April by 16 registered crypto exchanges that aims to create industry-wide investor safety standards. In October, Japan’s financial regulator formally granted self-regulatory status to the JVCEA to oversee the crypto sector. The body, made in part as a response to the January 2018 $534 million hack of crypto exchange Coincheck, had released a set of regulatory guidelines in…

Crypto Tidbits: Bitcoin Turns Ten, Ethereum Berated, Buy Fortnite Merch With Monero

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Crypto’s 2019 arguably started with a bang, which was in stark contrast to the holiday season’s lull. The Bitcoin Network, for one, turned ten years old, just as a number of bullish development blessed crypto startups. Many hope that this positive momentum will continue to influence this industry in the months to come. Crypto Tidbits: Paypal Bans The Hacker News: Last week, The Hacker News (THN), a well-respected cybersecurity news portal, took to Twitter to express its distaste towards Paypal. According to THN’s company statement on the matter, Paypal permanently banned its accounts…

Founder of Romanian Crypto Exchange Coinflux to Be Extradited to US on Multiple Allegations

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Nistor Vlad Călin, the founder of Romanian crypto exchange Coinflux, will be extradited to the United States, local media company Mediafax reports Jan. 4. As Cointelegraph reported in December, Călin was arrested earlier on a warrant from the U.S. for organized crime, money laundering and fraud allegedly conducted through his cryptocurrency exchange. Călin has been reportedly arrested by the U.S. authorities after a note from a secret service agent accused him of knowingly helping to launder proceedings of criminal activity committed on the territory of the United States. According to…

Investors remain positive about Bitcoin as it marks its 10th year anniversary

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The cryptocurrency has come a long way since the bitcoin blockchain was created on January 3, 2009. At one point, it was considered so worthless that, in May 2010, Florida-based programmer Laszlo Hanyecz bought two pizzas for 10,000 Bitcoin, valued at the time at $30. Had he kept the currency, it would have been worth more than $38 million. However, over the past year, Bitcoin has lost around 80 per cent in value. Clem Chambers, an author on Trading Cryptocurrencies, said that he invested between $1,000 and $2,500 on most of his…

Binance Continues Expanding With New Token Sales on ‘Launchpad’

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Crypto exchange Binance has shown no sign of slowing down during the year-long bear market as it continues to innovate and nurture projects to foster the embryonic industry. Its latest offering is called Launchpad which has been described as a token launch platform which helps blockchain projects raise funds and increase their reach in the crypto ecosystem. The initiative will be surmising one new token launch each month during 2019 according to the official blog post. Projects that meet the criteria will be introduced to Binance’s huge user base which…