Day: June 14, 2019

Amazon & Alibaba Trade Blows in War for China’s E-commerce Throne

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Trade war or not, Amazon intends to challenge Alibaba’s dominance in China’s e-commerce industry. The Jeff Bezos-led company is on a hiring spree in China. Not to be outdone, Alibaba plans to raise up to $20 billion through a listing in Hong Kong. By CCN Markets: The war for China’s e-commerce marketplace is heating up, and it may result in a clash between two titans of industry: US powerhouse Amazon and homegrown champion Alibaba. Both Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) have had new developments emerge this week which…

Amazon & Alibaba Trade Blows in War for China’s E-commerce Throne

boss

Trade war or not, Amazon intends to challenge Alibaba’s dominance in China’s e-commerce industry. The Jeff Bezos-led company is on a hiring spree in China. Not to be outdone, Alibaba plans to raise up to $20 billion through a listing in Hong Kong. By CCN Markets: The war for China’s e-commerce marketplace is heating up, and it may result in a clash between two titans of industry: US powerhouse Amazon and homegrown champion Alibaba. Both Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) have had new developments emerge this week which…

Spanish Law Enforcement Arrests 35 Suspects for Bank Fraud, BTC Money Laundering

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Spanish law enforcement arrested 35 people for allegedly counterfeiting banking cards and laundering the proceeds through bitcoin (BTC), local media La Verdad reports on June 14. Per the report, the organization obtained over €600,000 ($674,000) and laundered over €1 million ($1.2 million) using bitcoin. Furthermore, the Command of Alicante reportedly solved a total of 1,020 connected cybercrimes during the operation. The alleged actions of the suspects — who are from Equatorial Guinea, Spain, Nigeria, Cameroon and Morocco — had a total of 219 victims in Spain, with 20 more in…

Brazil Authorities to Adapt Cross-Sector Regulations to React to Digital Transformation

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Major government and financial authorities in Brazil have teamed up to develop a regulatory sandbox model targeting new technologies such as blockchain, Cointelegraph Brazil reports on June 13. The new regulatory initiative brings together the Central Bank of Brazil, the Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM), the Superintendence of Private Insurance (SUSEP), and the Ministry of Economy’s Special Secretariat for Finance in order to adapt to the digital transformation affecting the financial, capital and insurance sectors in Brazil. Revealed by the CVM, the project implies that emerging technologies such as blockchain,…

Dow Cowers as Trump Blames Iran for Gulf Tanker Attacks: ‘It Was Them’

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By CCN Markets: The Dow inched toward a cautious session on Friday following President Donald Trump’s blunt assertion that Iran owns the blame for attacks on two tankers in the Gulf of Oman. Dow Edges Lower; Nasdaq Suffers Steep Drop All of Wall Street’s major indices prepared to suffer opening bell declines. As of 9:07 am ET, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures had dropped 43 points or 0.16% to 26,078; that set the DJIA up for a 50.77 point decline. Dow Jones futures ticked down, albeit slightly, in the minutes…

One Protocol’s Plan to Give Users a Seat at the Governance Table

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A “next-generation” mobile payment protocol has unveiled new features — including “incentives” for users who own and run the nodes that perform vital roles on its network, including the verification of transactions. Crypto.com says the new program is a result of a partnership with Allnodes, which is offering its hosting services for the platform. Users who want to participate can either get involved through the Crypto.com Wallet app, or via Allnodes. The Hong Kong-headquartered company, which was founded in 2016, says the native blockchain powering its Crypto.com Pay service delivers “instant,…

Crypto Unicorn Circle Shutters Payment App to Focus on Stablecoins

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By CCN Markets: Crypto unicorn Circle is shutting down its Circle Pay app in July to focus on stablecoins and developing new wallet services. The parent company of crypto exchange Poloniex made the surprise announcement on its website on June 13. Circle says now is the appropriate time to retire Circle Pay because fiat tokens and stablecoins such as USD Coin (USDC) enable people to seamlessly transfer fiat value over blockchains without the risk of cryptocurrency volatility. “Next month, we’re starting the process of sunsetting support for Circle Pay but…

Bitcoin Tax Evaders Will Be Criminally Prosecuted, Warns IRS Agent

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By CCN Markets: The IRS will soon hunt down bitcoin users who don’t pay taxes by criminally prosecuting them en masse. That’s the prediction of IRS tax investigator Gary Alford, who says the agency is ready to clamp down on crypto tax evaders. Alford says the IRS has usually been lax about pursuing new tax cases due to the rapidly-evolving tech industry. In other words, the law has often not kept up with technological advances. But Alford says this time, the IRS is “ahead of the curve.” The Internal Revenue…

Bitcoin Gained 47% in US-China Trade War Drawdown

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Bitcoin (BTC) vastly outperformed traditional wealth preservation assets during the United States–China trade war, American digital asset manager Grayscale confirmed in research published on June 11. Updating “Hedging Global Liquidity Risk with Bitcoin” — a report originally from 2016 — Grayscale noted that bitcoin gained 47% in the period from May 5-31. The next best-performing asset, the Japanese yen, gained 2.1%. In addition, many assets saw a drawdown due to the trade dispute, which is ongoing; the Nasdaq Composite index shed 8.7%, making it the worst performer out of global…

Facebook Recruits Bank Lobbyist for Regulatory Assist with Crypto GlobalCoin

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By CCN Markets: Facebook has just hired a senior UK bank lobbyist ahead of GlobalCoin launch to help the company cope with European regulations. According to the Financial Times, Facebook will employ Standard Chartered European Head of Corporate and Public Affairs Ed Bowles from September as its London-based director of public policy. Bowles leaves Standard Chartered after 12 years to join Facebook, the company that is expected to release the whitepaper of its upcoming centralized cryptocurrency, GlobalCoin, in four days. Regulatory Compliance in the Spotlight As Facebook had been facing…