Day: October 10, 2019

South Korean Blockchain Startup Raises $8M for Identity Authentication

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Blockchain company Iconloop has secured 10 billion Korean won (KRW) (over $8 million) from seven investment companies participating in a Series A funding round. Per an Oct. 10 announcement, it was Iconloop’s first venture capital investment since its establishment in 2016, with the participation of companies such as Korea Technology Finance Corporation (KOTEC) and T.S. Investment, among others. Building blockchain-based identity authentication service Iconloop is planning to allocate the raised funds to launching its blockchain-based digital identity authentication service called “my-ID”. According to the company, my-ID can be used for…

Perth Mint, InfiGold Launch Gold-Backed Token on Public Blockchain

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Australia’s largest precious metal refinery, the Perth Mint, and InfiGold, a fintech startup focused on precious metals digitization, have jointly launched a gold-backed digital token. The new ERC-20 token is dubbed Perth Mint Gold Token (PMGT) and pegged 1:1 with GoldPass certificates issued by the Perth Mint, according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph on Oct. 11. GoldPass lets investors purchase, sell and transfer physical gold through digital certificates, where each certificate is 100% backed by Perth Mint gold stored in its network of central bank grade vaults. The…

Bitcoin Cash Acceptance Grows in Southeast Asia via Alchemy’s PoS System

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The payments and technology provider Alchemy recently announced the launch of the startup’s hybrid payment solution, a platform that aims to connect cryptocurrency with retailers worldwide. Alchemy’s crypto solution features integration with Qfpay, a well known third-party payment company that provides payment services for more than 1.2 million affiliated merchants. So far the starting point of Alchemy’s point-of-sale (PoS) solution has been implemented throughout Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Also read: Chinese Bitcoin Miners Migrate North After Wet Season Alchemy’s Hybrid PoS Solution Allows for Crypto Payments in Regions Throughout…

Bitcoin Cash Acceptance Grows in Southeast Asia via Alchemy’s PoS System

boss

The payments and technology provider Alchemy recently announced the launch of the startup’s hybrid payment solution, a platform that aims to connect cryptocurrency with retailers worldwide. Alchemy’s crypto solution features integration with Qfpay, a well known third-party payment company that provides payment services for more than 1.2 million affiliated merchants. So far the starting point of Alchemy’s point-of-sale (PoS) solution has been implemented throughout Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Also read: Chinese Bitcoin Miners Migrate North After Wet Season Alchemy’s Hybrid PoS Solution Allows for Crypto Payments in Regions Throughout…

Top-20 Coins Experience Downward Trend, BTC Stick Near $8,600

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Thursday, Oct. 10 — Following an impressive rally yesterday, major crypto markets have slowed to trade in the red over the past day. Bitcoin (BTC) has stuck to $8,600, while other major coins are experiencing a downward trend. Cryptocurrency market daily overview. Source: Coin360 After jumping from an intraday low of around $8,200 up to nearly $8,600 yesterday, Bitcoin has been hovering around that price mark over the past 24 hours, posting a daily high of $8,677 and low of $8,466. At press time, the leading coin is trading at…

Decentralized Communication Startup New Vector Raises $8.5M

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London-based decentralized communication startup New Vector has raised $8.5 million to drive adoption for Matrix, a major alternative messaging protocol. Slack rival Riot.IM The Matrix protocol, which enables secure communication via end-to-end encrypted messaging applications such as Riot.IM, an alternative to WhatsApp, Telegram or Slack, will continue scaling and growing its network with the newly raised funds, New Vector announced on Oct. 10. Investors of the New Vector’s Series A funding round included London-based European seed fund Firstminute Capital, cloud computing and Software as a service (SaaS)-focused Notion Capital and…

Can the Crypto Industry Adapt to the Travel Rule?

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Regulators are clamping down on cryptocurrency, and companies around the world are feeling the strain. In late June, one of the most authoritative regulatory organizations worldwide, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), issued new guidelines on how digital assets should be regulated.  While FATF recommendations are not legally binding, the G-20 stated that it uses them to regulate cryptocurrencies for Anti-Money Laundering (AML). For businesses that fail to make the grade, this could mean being shut out of lucrative international markets. No punitive measures have yet been imposed, but companies…

Cryptocurrency Exchange OKEx Delists XMR, DASH, ZEC, ZEN, SBTC

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Cryptocurrency exchange OKEx announced the end of Monero (XMR), DASH, Zcash (ZEC), Horizen (ZEN) and Super Bitcoin (SBTC) trading as of today, Oct. 10. Per the Oct. 2 announcement, the assets have been delisted today. A previous version of the announcement was published on Sept. 10. That being said, since then the support for privacy coins ZEC and DASH has been defined as temporarily suspended due to regulatory concerns. Regulatory concerns over privacy coins More precisely, OKEx reports having received a request to end the transaction support and review the…

5,200 Tobacco Shops in France Now Selling Bitcoin

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French crypto startup Keplerk has relaunched its service to accept Bitcoin (BTC) payments in over 5,200 tobacco shops in France starting from Oct. 10. Service first launched in January After suspending the service in less than two months after launch in January, Keplerk says that its customers will be able to buy Bitcoin from tobacconists in coupons of 50, 100 or 250 euros, France’s top news channel BFM TV reports Oct. 10. According to the report, Bitcoin payments in all 5,200 locations will be feasible through Keplerk’s partner Bimedia, which…

U.S. SEC Declines Bitwise Bitcoin ETF Filing Again 

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U.S. financial watchdog, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has rejected the Bitcoin Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) proposal of Bitwise, on the grounds that the filing does not meet the set standards regarding market manipulation and fraudulent activities, according to an October 9, 2019 announcement. No Bitcoin ETF for Now Yet again, the U.S SEC has turned down the request of  Bitwise to launch a Bitcoin ETF, stating categorically that the application does not meet the set standards against illicit activities and market manipulation in the cryptospace. Per a statement…