Seven Cryptocurrency Exchanges Could Receive FSA-Issued Licenses in Two Months

According to new insight into the Japanese financial agency’s review process of companies applying for a cryptocurrency exchange license, seven applications will be either approved or rejected within two months. Cointelegraph Japan reported on this development on Jan. 12. The new information in regard to the review process offered by the Financial Services Agency (FSA) revealed that it involves a lengthy procedure that takes almost six months from the time of application — which includes the submission of answers to over 400 questions — to official decline or approval. According…

Mining Giant Bitmain Reportedly Suspends Mining Operations in Texas

China-based leading mining and mining ASIC hardware producer Bitmain has reportedly suspended its mining operations in Rockdale, public radio station Texas Public Radio reports on Jan. 10. Rockdale is located in Milam County, east of Austin, in the United States state of Texas. Steve Young, a Milam County Judge, issued a statement reporting that all Bitmain employees but two engineers and the director of human relations had been laid off, and all operations had been suspended. According to the article, Young said later that the company told him Bitmain will…

Newspaper Ad Seeks Donations for Bitcoin Baby’s College Fund

News Despite being just one week old, Izabella Bowles carries great expectations upon her tiny shoulders. The baby, born on Jan. 6, will go to college when she’s older, if parents Wioletta and Peter can help it. What’s more, her future tuition fees will be paid for using what many believe to be the future of money – bitcoin. Also read: Thai Startup Atomicpay Launches Non-Custodial Crypto Payment Platform Wanted: Donors to Support Bitcoin Baby’s College Fund The listing in The Times looks a little different from those adjacent to it…

Cornered by Bear Market, Bitmain Is Facing an Unclear Future

On Jan. 10, news emerged that Chinese Bitcoin mining giant Bitmain’s co-founders, Jihan Wu and Micree Zhan Ketuan, will step down as co-CEOs of the company. The move follows a streak of reports suggesting that Bitmain has been facing mass layoffs, class action lawsuits and difficulties related to its initial public offering (IPO) during the last quarter of 2018. So what exactly is happening with one of the world’s most influential crypto outfits? Brief introduction to Bitmain, the world’s most powerful crypto mining giant Bitmain was founded in 2013 by Jihan…

Google Reportedly Blacklists ‘Ethereum’ as a Google Ad Keyword, Startup Claims

Google (Alphabet Inc.) has reportedly blacklisted keywords mentioning Ethereum (ETH) on its advertising platform Google Ads, smart contract auditing startup Decenter tweeted on Jan. 10. The official Google Ads account replied to the tweet stating that cryptocurrency exchanges targeting the United States and Japan can be advertised on the platform, and that targeting other countries could be the reason for the ad rejection. When Decenter explained that they are a group of developers doing smart contract security audits and that they were seeing the error message when trying to use…

Mongolia Continues to Attract Bitcoin (BTC) and Crypto Miners

Bitcoin (BTC) and crypto mining needs the perfect balance of energy costs and revenue to be a viable investment venture. In the case of energy, cheap rates are preferred. There is also the aspect of cooling the mining machines that is usually taken care of by air conditioning in traditional data centers. But why use extra energy when you can use naturally occurring cool air found in specific regions and/or countries across the globe? With the price of all cryptocurrencies decreasing in the current bear market, reducing operational costs of…

Bitmain Suspends Work on Bitcoin Mine in Texas

Bitmain, the largest manufacturer of cryptocurrency mining rigs in the world, has suspended all of its operations in Texas, where the company was supposed to build the largest mining operation in the country, Texas Public Radio reported on January 11, 2019. The Future of Bitmain’s Texas Site Uncertain The Alcoa power plant, site of Bitmain’s mining operation in Texas(Source: Texas Public Radio) Chinese manufacturing giant Bitmain has reportedly halted all of its operations in Texas, where it was building a cryptocurrency mine. The mine, located in the Alcoa power plant…

Ethereum Classic 51% Attackers Allegedly Returned $100,000 to Crypto Exchange

The Ethereum Classic 51 percent attacker has reportedly returned $100,000 to cryptocurrency exchange Gate.io, a post on the official exchange’s blog reports on Jan. 12. The company further noted that they tried contacting the attacker but didn’t get any reply until now, and that they do not know the reason why the funds have been returned. The exchange declared: “If the attacker didn’t run it for profit, he might be a white hacker who wanted to remind people the risks in blockchain consensus and hashing power security.” A white hat…

Why Bitcoin Fundamentals Thrived Amid 2018 Downturn

It goes without saying that bears weren’t kind to the crypto industry in 2018. The aggregate value of all cryptocurrencies fell like a “falling knife,” as retail investors pulled out of this market en-masse and hype dissipated. Yet, even amid this devastating downturn, which beat this market to hell and back, Bitcoin (BTC) quickly became shelter from the storm. Bitcoin Became A Shelter In 2018’s Storm Not only did BTC outperform its counterparts on the lower rungs of crypto’s lengthy ladder, but the fundamental performance of the asset’s underlying network were…

Crypto Goes Narcos as Escobar Estate Launches New Stablecoin ICO

The late Pablo Escobar is infamous for a number of reasons but crypto has not been among them, until now. An ICO for a dollar pegged stablecoin has been launched by the brother of the drug lord and Colombian cult hero in an effort to impeach US president Donald Trump. Anti-Trump ESCOBAR ICO Gathers Momentum Roberto Escobar, former co-founder of the Medellín cartel alongside his brother Pablo, has targeted Trump directly in this crowd finding campaign which aims to raise $50 million. According to Hard Fork the move is to…