Coinbase Competition Grows as Veteran CEX.io Launches US Office

Users of long-time Coinbase competitor CEX.io will have gotten an e-mail today informing them of the exchange’s decision to open a U.S. entity. It’s official!https://t.co/OPoleqNuJO has received a Money Transmitter License in 9 more states: Iowa, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, West Virginia, Maryland, Alaska, and New Hampshire.Welcome to secure and regulated #crypto trading! pic.twitter.com/xqxe0vq3mP — CEX.IO (@cex_io) July 5, 2019 Easy On-Ramps Everywhere You Look As one of the few exchanges to accept credit cards for several years now, CEX has finally decided to launch a U.S. wing.…

Fortress Offers to Buy Mt. Gox Bitcoin Claims at $900 a Piece

Fortress Investment Group is buying bitcoin (BTC) claims from Mt. Gox creditors, according to a report by CoinDesk on July 8. The Japan-based cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox filed for bankruptcy in 2014 after losing $473 million worth of bitcoin at the time due to an apparent hack. Bitcoin reportedly experienced a subsequent decline in value, dropping by 36% over the month when this took place. As per the report, Fortress executive Michael Hourigan has sent out a letter to creditors detailing the buyback offer. According an apparent copy of such…

Grayscale Investments Resumes Private Placement of Bitcoin Trust Shares

Grayscale Investments has resumed private placement of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) shares, according to a press release on July 8. According to the announcement, the private placement of GBTC shares is offered periodically to accredited investors — as defined in Rule 501(a) of Regulation D under the Securities Act — for daily subscription.  As per the report, the GBTC shares are designed to let investors put money into bitcoin (BTC) via a traditional investment structure. The shares are intended to correlate closely in value to BTC, but they are shares…

Blockchain Supply Chain Market to Reach Over $9B by 2025

The global blockchain supply chain market is expected to reach over $9 billion by 2025, according to a study published by market research and consulting firm Allied Market Research (AMR) on July 8. AMR estimates that the global blockchain supply chain market will amount to $9.85 billion by 2025, showing an 80.2% surge of the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2018 to 2025. Among the key driving factors, AMR named the sector’s demand for transparency, and improved security of supply chain transactions blockchain could purportedly ensure. By industry vertical,…

Iran Central Bank Deputy Chief Tells Citizens Trading Bitcoin Is Illegal

The deputy governor of the Iranian central bank told media outlets that trading bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies within the country is illegal. Iranian residents took to the pioneer cryptocurrency as a means of securing their wealth as the Iranian Rial depreciated over the past three years, as reported by Tasnim News Agency on July 8, 2019. Iran Joins Anti Trading Brigade Being on the wrong side of the United States has historically been disastrous for most nations, especially those in the Middle East. The U.S. recently pulled out of the nuclear…

US SEC and FINRA Issue Statement on Crypto Custody Issues

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) outlined regulatory compliance issues for cryptocurrency custodians in an announcement on July 8. According to the joint statement, the organizations have yet to discover a set of circumstances in which a crypto custodian could comply with the SEC’s Customer Protection Rule, which is described as follows: “Put simply, the Customer Protection Rule requires broker-dealers to safeguard customer assets and to keep customer assets separate from the firm’s assets, thus increasing the likelihood that customers’ securities…

ShapeShift Stays Nimble in Changing Crypto World, Launches Asset Portal

It’s one thing to preach “not your keys, not your coin.” It’s another thing to help fix the problem. ShapeShift has spent the last year, according to a blog post from them, building a product that does exactly that without making it difficult for the user. Or so they say. Five years ago the original ShapeShift launched to the world… today the new ShapeShift emerges into open beta. “Building a Bridge to Financial Sovereignty by Erik Voorhees” https://t.co/VaIQKCtDpW #bitcoin #ethereum #blockchain #crypto #finance @ShapeShift_io — Erik Voorhees (@ErikVoorhees) July 8, 2019…

Bitfinex to Use 27% of Tokinex Revenue to Burn LEO Tokens

Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange announced that it will spend 27% of past and future Tokinex revenue on burning LEO tokens, according to an official blog post on July 8. Bitfinex unveiled LEO in May as the native utility token for its initial exchange offering (IEO) platform Tokinex. Parent company iFinex committed to burning LEO tokens, until commercial circulation runs dry, in the LEO token whitepaper: “On a monthly basis, iFinex and its affiliates will buy back LEO from the market equal to a minimum of 27% of the consolidated gross revenues…

Brazil Requires New Diplomats to Know About Blockchain and Crypto

The Brazilian diplomatic academy, the Rio Branco Institute, will now require that candidates have knowledge of cryptocurrencies and blockchain, Cointelegraph Brazil reported on July 8. The Rio Branco Institute — established in 1945 and offering two advancement courses for diplomats — has published the 2019 edict for the selection of new diplomats in Brazil where it included the requirement that candidates know about blockchain and digital currencies. As the publication highlights, the subject is mandatory for the test that is initially delivered in two phases, wherein knowledge about blockchain and…

Indian Authorities Express Concerns Over Facebook’s Libra

India’s authorities have expressed concern over Facebook’s forthcoming stablecoin Libra, Bloomberg reported on July 8. Subhash Garg, Economic Affairs Secretary at India’s Ministry of Finance, told Bloomberg that the “design of the Facebook currency has not been fully explained. But whatever it is, it would be a private cryptocurrency and that’s not something we have been comfortable with.” Facebook’s Libra is set to be a stablecoin pegged to a reserve of assets which would purportedly preclude the coin from volatility. In late June, Dovey Wan of Primitive Ventures argued that…