This Cryptocurrency Plunges 14% With Rumors That Big Investors are Dumping

Blockchain startup Hedera Hashgraph (HBAR) are facing flak on Twitter. Some reports have claimed nodes have been dropped and there are accusations of bullying its community into not using the Hedera logo. This article has been updated based on a brief correspondence with Hedera’s SVP of Communication.  Hedera Says Its Nodes Aren’t Offline This morning it was reported by Twitter user @Scams_alarms that 4 out of 13 of Hedera’s council nodes went offline without any explanation. 4 out of 10 council nodes of @hashgraph went offline without any explanation Team…

Libra Has ‘Failed’ in Its Current Form Says Swiss Finance Minister

Libra, the much-scrutinized proposed cryptocurrency from Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), has “failed in its current form,” according to Swiss President and Finance Minister Ueli Maurer. Swiss President Critical of Libra Basket Maurer, who is in the final days of his year-long term as President of the Swiss Confederation, was speaking to the country’s national TV network SRF when he said, “I don’t think (Libra has a chance in its current form), because central banks will not accept the basket of currencies underpinning it,” adding that “the project, in this form, has thus…

Libra Has ‘Failed’ in Its Current Form Says Swiss Finance Minister

Libra, the much-scrutinized proposed cryptocurrency from Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), has “failed in its current form,” according to Swiss President and Finance Minister Ueli Maurer. Swiss President Critical of Libra Basket Maurer, who is in the final days of his year-long term as President of the Swiss Confederation, was speaking to the country’s national TV network SRF when he said, “I don’t think (Libra has a chance in its current form), because central banks will not accept the basket of currencies underpinning it,” adding that “the project, in this form, has thus…

Binance to Support Upgraded Ethereum Network Muir Glacier

When it comes to the crypto space, it should be noted that much of the progress that has been seen is primarily due to the existence of crypto exchanges, and perhaps the most influential among those is Binance. In a new development, the exchange has announced that Ethereum withdrawals and deposits are going to be suspended in order to complete an upgrade on the ETH network. Key Details The Ethereum network recently announced that there is going to be a Muir Glacier upgrade, and owing to that, Binance will update…

DLive Joins BitTorrent Ecosystem to Make Blockchain-Based Content Sharing Mainstream

Peer-to-peer filesharing giant BitTorrent announced on Dec. 30 that DLive, the blockchain-based live streaming platform, will be joining its ecosystem. Through this partnership, DLive will bring peer-to-peer content sharing and live streaming capabilities to BitTorrent’s 100 million monthly active users. BitTorrent CEO Justin Sun told Cointelegraph that following YouTube’s crypto-content ban, decentralized content platforms are the future. “It’s unfortunate to see content platforms such as YouTube taking down crypto-related content, this is the issue with centralized agencies. Decentralized content platforms such as TRON’s newest partner DLive are the platforms of…

The Biggest Crypto Winners and Losers of 2019

Even though the cryptocurrency industry is not new to ups and downs, 2019 has turned out to be the year with the most surprising reveals. The long-lasting bear market of 2018 moved market analysts to call it the year of regulatory reckoning, leaving many jurisdictions uncertain about how to treat cryptocurrencies. However, 2019 also turned out to be the year of the comeback, as big tech giants like Facebook moved from banning crypto to embracing it.  Escalating global events such as the trade war between the United States and China…

Poloniex Crypto Exchange Confirms Data Leak After Awkward Email

Cryptocurrency exchange Poloniex has forced a password reset for all customers due to a leaked list of email addresses and passwords on Twitter. On Dec. 30, the exchange emailed its customers to inform them that a list of leaked email addresses and passwords could potentially be used to log in to Poloniex accounts. The exchange forced a password reset on any email addresses that have an account with the exchange. The email reads: “While almost all of the [leaked] email addresses listed do not belong to Poloniex accounts, we are…

Chinese Bitcoin Miners Pressured to Scale Down Due to Electricity Shortages

Bitcoin (BTC) miners in the Chinese province of Sichuan are reportedly under pressurelocal authorities to scale down their operations due to electricity shortages. On Dec. 29, the Asia Times reported that during the dry season, which extends from October through April, the electricity supply drops drastically in Southwest China, which is why local authorities are tightening the screws on mining companies to scale down their operations. Bitcoin farms tolerated during wet seasons only Bitcoin mining companies are officially prohibited but are tolerated in the Sichuan province during the wet seasons…

COSO to Release Guidance on Blockchain for Businesses Aiming to Deploy Tech

The Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) is planning to release guidance on blockchain for companies looking to deploy the technology. As The Wall Street Journal reported on Dec. 27, COSO — an initiative to fight corporate fraud — is working on guidance on blockchain to give a better understanding of the tech for businesses that aim to integrate it into their internal processes. COSO expects to release the guidance in the first quarter of 2020. To improve supply chains Specifically, the guidance targets executives in financial…

IOTA Fixes Issue After Freezing Mainnet Transactions for 24 Hours

Users of IOTA, the 24th biggest cryptocurrency by market cap, were unable to confirm transactions for 24 hours due to a mainnet incident on Dec. 29. According to an official statement on the issue, the IOTA network experienced a mainnet incident that began at 2:50 AM UTC on Dec. 29, and was fully resolved by 2:50 AM UTC on Dec. 30. The incident was caused by an unusual set of transactions that may have been constructed as an attack As described in a Dec. 30 blog post by Iota Foundation,…