April 2019

Tether Hits Back at Claims Its Reserves Were Used to Cover $850 Million Loss at Bitfinex

April 26, 2019 boss

Stablecoin operator Tether has responded to allegations that its funds were used to cover an $850 million loss at the crypto exchange Bitfinex — using a statement on April 26 to claim court filings by the New York Attorney General’s office are “riddled with false assertions.” The state’s top prosecutor, Letitia James, has accused Tether, Bitfinex and associated entities of violating New York law through activities that may have defrauded crypto investors in the state. According to the court filings, the exchange took hundreds of millions of dollars from Tether’s reserves to conceal losses…

Saudi British Bank Launches Ripple-Powered Instant Cross-Border Transfer Service

April 26, 2019 boss

Saudi British Bank (SABB) has launched an instant cross-border transfer service powered by Ripple, according to a news release on April 25. The bank said the technology, unveiled at the Financial Sector Conference in Riyadh on April 24 and 25, formed part of its “strategic plan towards digital transformation and enriching customer experience.” According to SABB, it was one of the first banks in Saudi Arabia to join Ripple’s network in January 2018. The technology was then successfully activated through a pilot transaction in December 2018 using Indian rupees. Majed…

CEO of Japanese Finance Giant SBI Appointed as Ripple Labs Executive

April 26, 2019 boss

Disclaimer. This article has been updated to include comments from Yoshitaka Kitao during the financial results conference call. Yoshitaka Kitao, CEO and representative director of Japanese financial services giant SBI Holdings, has been appointed as an executive of Ripple Labs Inc., Cointelegraph Japan reports on April 26. As previously reported, SBI Holdings is an active partner of Ripple via their joint venture, “SBI Ripple Asia,” which was established to promote the use of XRP in Asian financial markets back in 2016. SBI’s official announcement states that Kitao’s appointment to his new…

Ohio State Legislature Introduces Bill to Allow Gov’t to Implement Blockchain Solutions

April 26, 2019 boss

A new bill introduced on April 24 in the American state of Ohio’s House of Representatives would, if passed, allow the state government and other government entities to implement blockchain solutions in the exercise of their authority. According to the official website of the Ohio state legislature, the bill, titled House Bill 220, has been sponsored by the Republican Party’s State Representative Rick Carfagna, who represents Ohio’s 68th District in the House. As Northeast Ohio media agency Cleveland.com reported on April 25, the bill would prospectively legalize government blockchain applications…

Bitcoin and Ether Market Update: April 26, 2019

April 26, 2019 boss

The total crypto market cap lost $13 billion of its value since April 24 and now stands at $171.5. The top ten currencies are all in red for the 24-hour period with Cardano (ADA) and Stellar (XLM) being the worst performers with four percent of losses each. At the time of writing, bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $5,412 on the Bitfinex daily chart, while ether (ETH) stands at $159 and Ripple’s XRP dropped further to $0.299. BTC/USD Bitcoin peaked at $5,688 during the trading session on April 24 reaching its…

Blockchain ‘Re-orgs’ – Are They Good or Bad for Bitcoin Security?

April 26, 2019 boss

Blockchain ‘Re-orgs’ – Are They Good or Bad for Bitcoin Security? April 26, 2019 by Jon Southurst The topic of blockchain “re-orgs” rose to prominence again this week for Bitcoin SV. Are they a particular problem for networks with larger transaction block sizes, as some in Bitcoin have suggested? Or a natural occurence that distributed networks can fix easily? Bitsonline looked at arguments on the issue and spoke to nChain lead developer Steve Shadders about how re-orgs should be handled… and perceived. Also read: Starting a Career in Traditional Finance ‘Is a…

Blockchain ‘Re-orgs’ – Are They Good or Bad for Bitcoin Security?

April 26, 2019 boss

Crypto Slaughter Bleeds $8 Billion Wipeout in Minutes; Bitcoin Recovers Swiftly

April 26, 2019 boss

By CCN.com: The valuation of the crypto market dropped by $8 billion in a matter of minutes after the office of New York Attorney General’s office filed a lawsuit against iFinex, alleging Bitfinex of mismanaging $850 million in Tether funds. Bitcoin fell by 7.5 percent at its day’s low point. Following the filing of the lawsuit by the Attorney General against iFinex, the bitcoin price dropped from $5,500 to $5,085 as many investors panic sold. Bitcoin is down about 5 percent in the past 24 hours (source: coinmarketcap.com) But, the…

Buterin Proposal Could Turn Ethereum Staking Into $160 Million Industry

April 26, 2019 boss

A new proposal by Vitalik Buterin, the creator of ethereum, suggests he is considering increasing rewards for validators who would secure the operation of the next version of the world’s second-largest blockchain. Ethereum 2.0 is by far the biggest upgrade on the horizon for the ethereum blockchain, today valued at $17.5 billion. Its broader goal is to erase ongoing bottlenecks to transaction throughput and significantly decrease costs on the network. Rather than relying on a proof-of-work consensus protocol whereby miners compete to bundle together blocks of transactions and add them…

Bitcoin (BTC) Price Tumbles: Is This Trend Change or Correction?

April 26, 2019 boss

Bitcoin price declined sharply after it broke the key $5,400 and $5,380 supports against the US Dollar. The price even broke the $5,000 support level and tested the $4,900 support area. There was a break below a major bullish trend line with support at $5,410 on the hourly chart of the BTC/USD pair (data feed from Kraken). The pair must climb back above $5,400 to avoid a fresh drop towards the $5,000 support area. Bitcoin price declined heavily below $5,400 and $5,250 against the US Dollar. BTC is currently correcting…