Crypto Exchange Kraken Offers $100,000 Reward for QuadrigaCX’s Missing Funds

Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has posted a $100,000 reward for the discovery of the major Canadian crypto exchange QuadrigaCX’s missing funds. Kraken announced the offer in a blog post on Feb. 28. QuadrigaCX has faced financial difficulty following the sudden death of its founder Gerry Cotten in December last year. Since then, Quadriga has not been able to access its cold wallets where it kept most of the assets, because Cotten was apparently solely responsible for the wallets and corresponding keys. Quadriga purportedly only has CA$375,000 ($286,000) in cash, while it…

Swiss Fintech Market Grew by 62 Percent in 2018

The Swiss fintech market grew by 62 percent in 2018, according to a recent study by the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences published on Feb. 27. The Lucerne University of Applied Sciences undertook an in-depth review of Switzerland’s fintech market for the fourth time. The report dubbed “IFZ FinTech Study 2019” reveals that on a global scale the cities of Zurich and Geneva remain in second and third place for the best cities for fintech, respectively. The fintech sector inside the country grew 62 percent over the previous year. Per…

Kraken Exchange Offers $100K Reward for Missing QuadrigaCX Crypto

Crypto exchange Kraken is offering up to $100,000 to anyone who can help solve this year’s biggest blockchain mystery: what happened to QuadrigaCX’s coins? Kraken announced Thursday it would pay the reward to users who could help it locate the missing funds. Any tips sent to the platform will, in turn, be shared with law enforcement, the company said in a blog post. The reward is payable in fiat or cryptocurrency. To participate, Kraken is encouraging users to listen to a pair of podcasts that outline both what is already known…

Analyst: Further Bitcoin (BTC) Crash Isn’t Nonsensical, Crypto Remains Speculative

Bitcoin Has No Floor It isn’t a secret that Bitcoin (BTC) is an embryonic market. The cryptocurrency, launched ten years ago, has long been subject to the whims of speculators, creating a volatile and unpredictable market for all but the most skilled traders. Even still, analysts en-masse have sought to discern where cryptocurrencies will find a long-term floor. Leading researcher Alex Krüger‏, however, alleges that it would be illogical to claim there are bottoms in this nascent market. In a recent Twitter thread, the New York-based investor laid out the…

Ethereum’s Constantinople, St. Petersburg Upgrades Have Been Activated

The Constantinople and St. Petersburg network upgrades for the world’s second largest cryptocurrency, Ethereum’s (ETH), occurred today Feb. 28, according to ethstats.net. Specifically, the updates went live on the main network at block 7,280,000, in accordance with previously released schedule. Although the upgrade has two names of two originally separated updates, they have subsequently been combined into one. Per Ethernodes.org, not all Ethereum users have adopted the updates. Only 22.3 percent of Geth and Parity clients are reportedly already running the Constantinople-compliant version. Constantinople is set to bring multiple efficiency…

Bittrex Leads $1.5 Million Seed Round in South African Crypto Exchange VALR

Global crypto exchange Bittrex led a $1.5 million seed round in South African trading platform VALR. Bittrex CEO Bill Shihara told CoinDesk the South African market has “tremendous untapped potential.” Fellow VALR investor Michael Jordaan of Montegray Capital told CoinDesk that VALR’s support for 50 cryptocurrencies will offer the most diverse range of assets of any African exchange when it opens to the public on March 1. “The VALR team has the potential to change the cryptocurrency landscape in South Africa and globally,” Jordaan said. VALR co-founder and CEO Farzam Ehsani…

Facebook Coin Rumors Continue to Circulate

There have been Facebook coin rumors for months in the crypto community and today, the New York Times stirred them up again. According to the New York Times report, Facebook is currently working on its own digital currency to integrate into its messaging services. Facebook Coin Rumors A few months ago, Bloomberg released an article about Facebook developing its own stablecoin to be used on its WhatsApp messaging app. This was the start of the rumor mill, although many have discussed in the past the potential of the advertising giant adopting…

Crypto Exchange Coinbase Adds Support for XRP on Retail Platform and Mobile Apps

United States major cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has added support for Ripple (XRP) to its retail platform and mobile apps. The exchange announced the development in a blog post on Feb. 28. The announcement states that Coinbase’s users can now purchase, sell, convert, send, receive, and store XRP both on Coinbase.com and the Coinbase Android and iOS apps. As usual, the service will reportedly be available for most jurisdictions, however it will not initially be available for residents of the United Kingdom and the U.S. state of New York. On Feb.…

Swiss Crypto Bank Warns Customers About Company Masquerading as Partner

Switzerland-based cryptocurrency bank Dukascopy has warned customers that forex trading company GCG Asia is fraudulently claiming to be the bank’s authorized firm in an announcement published on Feb. 27. In the announcement, Dukascopy Bank —  purportedly the first regulated bank to launch its own initial coin offering (ICO) — cautions  that neither it nor any entities of Dukascopy Group have relations with GCG Asia, although the latter fraudulently claims the opposite. The warning reads: “GCG Asia is fraudulently using Dukascopy’s name and logo for attracting clients/investors, without Dukascopy Bank’s permission.…

Ethereum Upgrades as Hard Forks Activate on Blockchain

Two long-anticipated upgrades appear to have officially activated on the ethereum blockchain, the world’s second-largest by market value, without incident. At 19:57 (UTC), the sixth and seventh system-wide upgrades to the software, dubbed Constantinople and St. Petersburg, respectively, rolled out on the main network at block number 7,280,000. As seen on blockchain monitoring website Fork Monitor, there is so far no evidence of a chain split that would suggest a portion of ethereum users are still running an older ethereum software. Past hard forks of the ethereum blockchain have encountered such setbacks, most…