Day: February 15, 2019

What QuadrigaCX Says About Institutional Crypto Investment

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Noelle Acheson is a veteran of company analysis and member of CoinDesk’s product team. The following article originally appeared in Institutional Crypto by CoinDesk, a newsletter for the institutional market, with news and views on crypto infrastructure delivered every Tuesday. Sign up here. _______ Open pretty much any mainstream financial media source and it’s hard to feel cheerful. Economic growth is slowing. The yield curve is flattening. Trade tensions are tensing. There’s plenty for an institutional investor to fret about. Yet none of those worries are top-of-mind for institutional investors these days when…

Brazilian Bank Bradesco Closes Accounts of Local Crypto Exchange and Owners

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One of the largest Brazilian banks, Bradesco, has notified crypto exchange Bitblue that its banking accounts will be closed late February, local crypto outlet Portal do Bitcoin reported on Feb. 13. As the outlet has learned from unnamed industry insiders, Bitblue will face the closure of its accounts in Bradesco on Feb. 26. Moreover, the decision extends to the private accounts of Bitblue owners. Edisio Pereira, CEO of Bitblue, told Portal do Bitcoin that the company has previously had accounts in four other financial institutions; therefore, Bitblue will not appeal…

Detected Cryptojacking Prompts Microsoft to Remove Eight Free Apps from Microsoft Store

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United States-based software corporation Microsoft has removed eight Windows 10 applications from its official app store after cybersecurity firm Symantec identified the presence of surreptitious Monero (XMR) coin mining code. The news was reported by Symantec on Feb. 15. Stealth crypto mining — also know as cryptojacking – works by installing malware that uses a computer’s processing power to mine for cryptocurrencies without the owner’s consent or knowledge. According to Symantec, the firm first detected malicious XMR mining code within eight apps — issued by three developers — on Jan.…

Coinbase Users Can Now Withdraw, But not Trade, their Bitcoin SV (BSV)

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Right after the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) hard fork of last November, Coinbase announced that it will not support trading of Bitcoin SV (BSV). The exchange announced that it will however grant customers access to the forked coins at a future date. It is with this background that the team at the exchange has announced that BSV coins can now be withdrawn from the exchange. The tweet making the announcement can be found below. We have now begun emailing customers that held Bitcoin Cash (BCH) at the time of the hard…

Majority of Voters Support ASIC-Resistant ETH Algorithm Implementation, Online Vote Shows

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An online vote over the implementation of ProgPoW in the Ethereum (ETH) proof-of-work (PoW) algorithm shows a majority in favor of the change, according to the results updated today, Feb. 15, on the dedicated voting portal. ProgPoW is an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC)-resistant PoW algorithm meant to replace ETHhash, Ethereum’s current PoW algorithm. By defining the algorithm as ASIC-resistant, ETH developers mean that the algorithm would decrease — but not eliminate — the efficiency advantage of mining using ASICs over using generic hardware such as graphics processing units (GPUs). At…

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse Says JPMorgan Coin ‘Misses the Point’ of Crypto

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Ripple (XRP) CEO Brad Garlinghouse says the newly-announced digital asset from United States banking giant JPMorgan Chase “misses the point” of cryptocurrency, according to a tweet published on Feb. 14. As reported, JPMorgan Chase revealed its blockchain-powered JPM Coin yesterday, saying the asset will initially be used to increase settlement efficiency in select operations. Directly following the announcement, Garlinghouse responded on Twitter: “As predicted, banks are changing their tune on crypto. But this JPM project misses the point — introducing a closed network today is like launching AOL after Netscape’s…

High Cost, Lack of Human Feel Slows Down Bitcoin ATM Growth in Africa

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There are more than 4,000 bitcoin automated teller machines (ATMs) in the world, but only just about 10 (or 0.2 percent) of these are in Africa. In a continent widely touted as the next big growth region for cryptocurrency, could it be that the story of Africa’s growth isn’t as real as many “Africa rising” headlines have suggested? Also read: Nasdaq Stock Exchange to Start Offering BTC and ETH Indices Bitcoin ATM Penetration and Use Weak in Africa It is little surprise that the bulk of bitcoin teller machines in Africa…

Liechtenstein’s Postal Service to Offer Crypto Exchange Services at Physical Locations

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Liechtensteinische Post AG, the country’s official postal service, plans to offer cryptocurrency exchange services at their physical locations, according to an official announcement published on Feb. 14. The postal service will allow customers to exchange their fiat to Bitcoin (BTC) in one of its offices in Vaduz, the country’s capital, starting on Feb. 15. After purchasing BTC, the customers will get a physical wallet generating public and private keys. Later, the service will likely be extended to other post offices all over the country, the announcement notes. Moreover, the postal…

Major Canadian Exchange Coinsquare Acquires Zero-Fee Payment Network StellarX

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Major Canadian crypto exchange Coinsquare has acquired StellarX, a Stellar (XLM)-based zero-fee decentralized payment network, according to a press release published on Feb. 14. According to the announcement, Bermuda-based StellarX will be a fully owned subsidiary of Coinsquare and will seek regulatory approval to operate and expand its service under Coinsquare’s compliance. The new acquisition has followed Coinsquare’s recent purchase of private Stellar wallet BlockEQ in December 2018, the press release notes. The firm is reportedly set to be rebranded to become the anchor wallet for the StellarX platform. Megha…

Bitcoin’s Sideways Drift Has Shifted Price Recovery Target to $3.7K

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View Bitcoin’s six-day-long consolidation near $3,600 has neutralized the bullish view put forward by a falling wedge breakout confirmed on Feb. 8. The follow-through to that bullish breakout has been extremely weak with prices unable to challenge the highs above $3,700 hit last Friday. A move above $3,711 (Feb. 8 high) would validate the bullish outside reversal candle seen in the 3-day chart and open the doors to the psychological hurdle of $4,000. That looks likely as BTC has witnessed another falling wedge breakout on the 4-hour chart. Bitcoin risks…