Day: January 19, 2019

Thanks to BitWage, Companies Can Now Pay Their Workers and Taxes in Bitcoin

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On January 16, 2019, BitWage announced their partnership with Simply Efficient HR, a Texas-based payroll and human resources company to enable the payment of W2 employee and payroll taxes in bitcoin or ether. This service will be available in all U.S. states as well as Puerto Rico. This comes only weeks after Ohio became the first U.S. state to accept taxes in bitcoin. Closing the Loop that Fiat Finished In their statement, BitWage spoke about closing the financial loop in the bitcoin lifecycle, which involves three stages. The first is…

Taiwan Indicts Seven Allegedly Fraudulent Bitcoin Investment Managers

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Seven people who allegedly managed a fraudulent crypto investment scheme have been indicted in Taiwan, according to a report by English-language local media FocusTaiwan on Jan. 18. According to the report, citing local prosecutors, the defendants were charged with the violation of Taiwan’s Banking and Multi-Level Marketing Supervision acts. The group was reportedly arrested on June 13 last year for allegedly operating a fraudulent Bitcoin (BTC) investment scheme. According to FocusTaiwan, the scheme promised investors yearly returns of up to 355 percent. Because of this promise — which reportedly has…

Total Value of Bitcoin Sent to Darknet Markets Increased by 70% in 2018: Report

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During last year the value of Bitcoin (BTC) sent to darknet markets increased by 70 percent, according to a Chainalysis report published on Jan. 18. The Chainalysis report points out that darknet activity is relatively not influenced by Bitcoin’s price action and does not necessarily drop when the price drops. According to the data contained in the report, in 2018 the relationship between the value of darknet market transactions and Bitcoin’s market performance was inverse. Over the course of 2018, the total value sent to darknet markets saw a notable…

Coinstar parteners with Coinme to sell Bitcoins through ATM’s

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Coinstar, the company behind change-counting kiosks, has partnered with Coinme, a startup that operates cryptocurrency-dispensing ATMs in the US, to sell Bitcoin at places such as grocery stores. Coinstar operates a huge network that could be enabled to dispense the digital currency. A consumer will be able to easily purchase Bitcoin with cash, TechCrunch reported. This is how the system will work. Once you insert your paper money into one of these Bitcoin-dispensing kiosks, it will dispense a voucher for a Bitcoin redemption code that will point you to Coinme. There is a limit of USD 2500 and one needs to link a phone number…

CBOE CEO: Crypto Space Need Bitcoin ETNs To Boom

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Lack Of Bitcoin ETNs Curbing Adoption, Says CBOE Chief In a recent media luncheon, Edward Tilly, the chief executive at the financial powerhouse that is the Chicago Board Options Exchange, the largest American options exchange, made a surprising mention of Bitcoin and the broader cryptocurrency market. Speaking to reporters, including those from Business Insider, Tilly, who formerly worked as a market maker for the heavyweight he now heads, noted that Bitcoin volume via CBOE’s vehicles hasn’t seen substantial growth due to a lack of a certain instrument. This financial instrument…

Coinbase Resumes Spending Spree With Blockspring Acquisition

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Coinbase Resumes Spending Spree With Blockspring Acquisition January 19, 2019 by Paul de Havilland Coinbase has made its first acquisition for the year. In a deal announced on January 17th (albeit not by Coinbase itself), the exchange giant acquired Blockspring, a data collection startup based in California. Also read: The Unique Consensus Mechanism of Decred–Is This True Decentralization? Subscribe to the Bitsonline YouTube channel for great videos featuring industry insiders & experts Coinbase Seeking Blockspring Talent, Likely to Let Them Be The San Francisco-based startup will remain operating as an independent company. Under…

Professors from MIT, Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, Team up to Create a Crypto to Rival Bitcoin (BTC)

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Professors from seven U.S universities are teaming up to create a cryptocurrency that will be faster than Bitcoin (BTC) and remain true to the decentralization concept. The cryptocurrency will be known as Unit-e and is the first project of Distributed Technology Research (DTR): a non-profit foundation formed by the same academics and backed by Pantera Capital Management LP. The academics are from the following prominent American Universities: University of California, Berkeley Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) University of Southern California Carnegie Mellon University University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign University of Washington…

Bitcoin (BTC) Darknet Transactions Doubled In 2018: Why This Is Bullish

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Crypto Darknet Transactions Boomed In 2018 Since Bitcoin (BTC) burst onto the global stage in 2009, the cryptocurrency, known for its decentralized, immutable, censorship-resistant, pseudonymous, and borderless nature, has become a medium for transactions of all shapes and size. And just like U.S. dollars and other government-issued currencies, BTC has found use cases in illicit transactions. Whether it be purchasing questionable goods or otherwise, the flagship cryptocurrency has found a place. Per a recent report by the way of Reuters, which cited data gathered by Chainalysis, a leading blockchain data analytics…

Former Governor of French Central Bank Joins Board of Directors of Blockchain Firm Setl

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British blockchain technology group Setl has hired former governor of the French central bank Christian Noyer as a member of its board of directors. The new appointment was confirmed in a blog post published on Jan. 17. Founded in 2015, Setl is a financial company with a focus on blockchain technology. Setl  has built a blockchain-based infrastructure for institutional payments and settlements, with a reported capacity of over 1 billion transactions per day. According to the most recent announcement, Noyer has joined the board of directors of Setl, bringing a…

Report: Bitcoin Use on Darknet Markets Doubled in 2018

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News Bitcoin use on darknet markets (DNMs) doubled in 2018, a study has shown, rising to an average of $2 million per day. Bitcoin has long been used to buy goods on the darknet due to its relative anonymity, and looks set to remain a favorite on DNMs, despite the existence of more privacy-focused cryptocurrencies. Also read: Dropgangs and Dead Drops: Report Highlights Evolving Darknet Market Opsec DNM Activity Rose Through 2018 A study released by data firm Chainalysis has revealed that bitcoin transactions on the darknet rose throughout 2018 to around…