Month: August 2019

tZERO, Overstock’s Crypto Platform, Loses a Major Investor

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Overstock’s security token platform, tZERO, has lost a major investor following the departure of CEO Patrick Byrne last week. Another Blow for tZERO During interim CEO Jonathan Johnson’s very first investor call in his new role, he confirmed that Makara Capital “will be not investing in tZERO right now.” However, he did mention that Makara would continue to monitor the development of tZERO and possibly reconsider in the future. The news is another blow for Overstock’s security token platform, as in August 2018, Overstock announced that Makara would invest $404 million USD…

Beyond Meat’s KFC Tie-Up Is Terrible for Brand Image

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Beyond Meat, which IPO’d earlier this year, decided combine its fake meat – ahem plant-based chicken – with Colonel Sanders’ 11 herbs and spices. Unless the idea is to inherit the stigma and calories that are generally associated with fast-food joints, this pairing is a terrible idea. KFC is synonymous with comfort food, and patrons don’t visit a fast-food joint for fake meat. Beyond Meat, on the other hand, is a health play, for the most part, plant-based chemicals notwithstanding. By teaming up, both companies are sending mixed messages to…

Twitch Star Alinity Mocks Animal Abuse Scandal by Attacking GTA 5 Cat

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Twitch streamer Alinity has come under fire after being seen trying to attack a cat in Grand Theft Auto V (GTA 5)just a month after she was accused of abusing her cat in a livestream. The streamer, who has nearly one million followers on Twitch, threw the cat and tricked it into consuming alcohol. Two days ago, Alinity began to stream GTA 5’s story mode, and in one mission, she came across a cat. The streamer paused and said “oh god,” before trying to stamp on the cat as it…

Crypto in Court — Overview of the Biggest Lawsuits Worldwide

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Over the last 24 months, all major legal systems have been floundering to develop a regulatory framework that can be applied across the blockchain industry. This lack of a standard foundation has led to the world watching current court cases within the crypto industry with extreme scrutiny, as these will likely provide a precedence to build future regulatory decisions upon. Cointelegraph has covered many of these cases, with the most (in)famous one being the lawsuit against self-proclaimed Bitcoin creator Craig Wright. But what do all these cases suggest in regard…

Brazil Central Bank Adopts IMF Guidelines for Crypto Classification

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The Central Bank of Brazil has moved to classify bought or sold cryptocurrency assets per International Monetary Fund (IMF) guidelines. Brazil’s central bank announced its decision on Aug. 26. With the new classification under IMF standards, traded cryptocurrencies will be classified as non-financial products and as such, will be accounted as goods on the central bank’s balance sheet. A central bank balance sheet, just like a regular bank’s balance sheet, summarizes its financial position, and is made up of assets, equity and liabilities. Since purchasing and selling cryptocurrency involves the…

Bitcoin Beat Gold as Safe Haven in US-China Trade War Moments: Study

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While the U.S.-China trade war has been a cause of pain for stock market investors, it has been a boon for bitcoin, per a new study. According to trading platform eToro, the number of bitcoin positions opened at key moments of the Sino-U.S. trade tensions this year outpaced those of gold positions entered during the same period, as Business Insider initially reported. Between May 19 and Aug. 19, bitcoin trades surged by 282 percent compared to the period between March 22 and June 22 last year when the U.S.-China trade tensions…

Dow Bounces Back, But Trade War Plunges Yuan to 11-Year Low

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The Dow and broader U.S. stock market advanced on Monday, mere hours after the Chinese yuan’s offshore rate plunged to record lows, raising alarms about capital flight from East Asia. Dow Rallies; S&P 500, Nasdaq Follow All of Wall Street’s major indexes reported firm gains, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining as much as 312 points. The blue-chip index closed up 269.93 points, or 1.1%, at 25,898.83. Dow Jones Industrial Average begins the long road to recovery with 270-point gain. | Source: Yahoo Finance. The broad S&P 500 Index…

Price Analysis 26/08: BTC, ETH, XRP, BCH, LTC, BNB, EOS, BSV, XMR, XLM

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Bitcoin is in a no-man’s land. At what levels will it indicate a resumption of the uptrend? Let’s analyze the charts. Cryptocurrencies can benefit from wider adoption and many believe that with a user base of about two billion people, Facebook can speed up the process. Its Libra project has drawn sharp criticism from regulators, finance ministers and central banks around the world.  Previously, Bitcoin rallied along with risky assets, however, in the past few months, it has been acting similar to a safe haven, though it is not there…

Swiss Regulator Grants First-Ever Banking Licenses to 2 Blockchain Firms

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By CCN Markets: Blockchain projects around the world have been seeking approval, or for that matter, concrete guidance, from regulators such as FINMA for the last several years. FINMA, the Swiss financial regulatory watchdog, has approved two requests for banking licenses. The two licenses were issued to blockchain businesses. These regulatory strides are not likely to directly impact other jurisdictions but more so will impact how regulation is formed everywhere else. Only time will tell how these regulations impact innovation. What a great day for Switzerland as a #Blockchain and…

Bitcoin Rewards App Lolli Partners With Major US Pet Store Chain

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Lolli, an app that provides Bitcoin (BTC) rewards to users when they shop with partner stores, has teamed up with major American pet retailer Petco. The rewards deal with Petco Lolli announced the new partnership in an official blog post on Aug. 23. In the announcement, the company notes that there are two new veins of rewards that come with the partnership. One is that Lolli users can earn up to 3.5% satoshis (sats) of their purchases on Petco’s website, Petco.com.  Another is that Lolli users can earn a flat…