Payments Firm Circle Pauses Circle Research in Most Recent Cutback

Crypto finance startup Circle announced that it is hitting the pause button on its Circle Research activities. Deciding on a future direction for the program On Sept. 24, the Circle team announced in a blog post that it had decided to pause its Circle Research branch, despite having made “significant progress” with its content offerings. The team of the Goldman Sachs-backed crypto startup Circle explained: “It’s time to evaluate our contribution and overall strategy. With that in mind, we’ve decided to pause Circle Research activity for the time being as we decide…

US Congress Asks Financial Crime Director to Study Blockchain Tech

The United States House of Representatives has passed a bill that calls for the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) to study blockchain technology in its fight against financial crime. On Sept. 19, the House passed the bill “Advancing Innovation to Assist Law Enforcement Act”, which requires the Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, Kenneth Blanco, to carry out a study on the use of emerging technologies, such as blockchain technology, within the FinCEN. The bill reads: “The Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) shall carry out a…

Bitcoin Cash-Accepting Mayoral Candidate ‘Nobody’ Hosts Keene’s 420 Rally

There’s an individual called ‘Nobody’ competing to be the next mayor of Keene, the libertarian enclave and crypto mecca located in New Hampshire. On September 21, the bitcoin cash-accepting mayoral candidate announced the 10th anniversary of the annual 420 Rally will be held this weekend on September 28. ‘Nobody’ and the event’s organizers are hoping to see some civil disobedience during the annual pot rally at Central Square. Also read: Market Update: Low Volumes and Uncertainty Shake Crypto Traders Nobody Plans for Civil Disobedience at the Keene Cannabis Rally On…

Bitcoin Cash-Accepting Mayoral Candidate ‘Nobody’ Hosts Keene’s 420 Rally

There’s an individual called ‘Nobody’ competing to be the next mayor of Keene, the libertarian enclave and crypto mecca located in New Hampshire. On September 21, the bitcoin cash-accepting mayoral candidate announced the 10th anniversary of the annual 420 Rally will be held this weekend on September 28. ‘Nobody’ and the event’s organizers are hoping to see some civil disobedience during the annual pot rally at Central Square. Also read: Market Update: Low Volumes and Uncertainty Shake Crypto Traders Nobody Plans for Civil Disobedience at the Keene Cannabis Rally On…

Tuesday Shows Bloodbath for Altcoins, Up to 34% Losses on Top-20 coins

Altcoins prices are bleeding heavily, with some of the top-20 coins showing losses of more than 34% on the day. Cryptocurrency market daily overview. Source: Coin360 The last few hours have been nothing but pain for the entire crypto market. Major coins are experiencing double-digit losses, with Bitcoin SV (BSV) taking the not-so-desirable lead with a massive hit of more than 34% on the day. The most popular altcoin Ether (ETH) has dropped over $50 in the last 24 hours to a price point of $156 per coin, recording a heavy…

Kik Messenger to Shut Down as Company Shifts Focus to Kin

Kik Interactive has announced that it is closing its messaging service due to a legal wrangle with the SEC over its cryptocurrency, Kin. The troubled messaging app, which still has millions of users worldwide, has been involved in a legal battle with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in recent months after the SEC announced it was suing Kik over the $100 million USD raised from an ICO in 2017. Bloomberg reported back in June that the SEC argues that the token used in the ICO, Kin, counts as…

OKEx and Blockchain Transparency Institute Spar Over Alleged Wash Trading

Accusations of wash trading from the Blockchain Transparency Institute (BTI) have prompted OKEx’s CEO to challenge BTI to a wager, which has opened up an entirely new can of worms. Wash trading, a form of market manipulation, is often used to create artificial marketplace activity to draw in more investors. Last week, a report from BTI alleged that 90% of OKEx exchange’s volume was falsified via wash trading. Today, OKEx CEO Jay Hao invited researchers to partake in a bet. Hao staked 100 BTC  (roughly $945,500) that he could prove…

Blockchain is the New and Improved ID Verification

Identity theft has been a serious issue in today’s digital world. Worldwide groups of hackers are breaching systems on a regular basis. Not just people’s individual identities are at stake, but as data are collected from these hacking attempts, they are also misused for further fraudulent acts. Blockchain has been around for quite some time now, but only recently it’s being used for identity verification by companies such as Jumio as it ensures that only an individual with the correct key (anonymous cryptographic code) can make transactions allowing for improved…

Bitcoin’s Price Flash Crashes $1,500 in 24 hours, Is $7,500 next?

Tuesday Sept. 24 – Bitcoin’s price is retracing rapidly from over $9,800 to $8,150 in less than a day and for the first time in months. Bitcoin 24 hour price chart. Source: Coin360 The Bitcoin price flash crashed hard, dropping close to $800 in just a few minutes to show double-digit losses, down 11.4% while currently trading at $8,150 as of press time.  According to data from Coin360, Bitcoin investors are experiencing a painful Tuesday, with BTC/USD hovering close to $8,100 at press time. Bitcoin’s rapid drop below $9,800 was the…

Bitrue Exchange to Launch Crypto-Backed Loan Platform

Singapore-based exchange Bitrue is launching a low-interest crypto lending platform, the company said. The service, which goes live on Sept. 30, loans BTC, ETH XRP and USDT at a 0.04% daily interest rate. Users pledge existing Bitrue-held crypto assets as collateral against their $100-minimum loans. Bitrue will fund its novel “power piggy” crypto-holding rewards program with users’ loan interest payments. The loan platform rollout is part of a larger shift for the XRP-focused exchange, CEO Curis Wang said in a statement, alluding to more financial instruments in the pipeline. “Bitrue’s…