Day: January 9, 2020

Dutch Derivatives Exchange Deribit to Move to Crypto-Friendly Panama

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Deribit is moving to warmer waters, citing regulatory concerns. Announced Thursday, the Amsterdam-based crypto derivatives exchange will operate out of Panama as DRB Panama Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of current platform Deribit B.V., beginning Feb. 10.  The company claimed the Netherlands’ presumed adoption of “very strict” anti-money laundering (AML) regulations applied to cryptocurrency firms spurred the trans-Atlantic voyage. “If Deribit falls under these new regulations, this would mean that we have to demand an extensive amount of information from our current and future customers,” the exchange wrote in a…

Narrative Watch: Why 2020 Will Be the Year of the DAO

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The aftershock of the 2016 hack of The DAO meant decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) weren’t nearly as hyped as ICOs and, later, some other aspects of the Web3 movement. In 2019, however, DAOs came roaring back and start 2020 with the wind in their sails.  In this episode, we look at the tale of the tape for DAOs in 2019 – what people thought would happen and what actually did happen, including the launch of MolochDAO, MetaCartel, ethereum’s MarketingDAO and more than 1,000 DAOs on Aragon. We also hear from…

Illinois Legalizes Blockchain Contracts – CoinDesk

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With the new year Illinois became the latest state to recognize smart contracts and other blockchain-based records as legal instruments. The state’s “Blockchain Technology Act,” sponsored by Rep. Keith Wheeler (R), took effect Jan. 1, opening a slew of potential new legal scenarios for blockchain-based contracts. These contracts are now admissible as evidence in court, recognized as a viable alternative to paper-based records and statutorily exempt from local taxation.  “A smart contract, record or signature may not be denied legal effect or enforceability solely because a blockchain was used to…

Illinois Legalizes Blockchain Contracts – CoinDesk

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With the new year Illinois became the latest state to recognize smart contracts and other blockchain-based records as legal instruments. The state’s “Blockchain Technology Act,” sponsored by Rep. Keith Wheeler (R), took effect Jan. 1, opening a slew of potential new legal scenarios for blockchain-based contracts. These contracts are now admissible as evidence in court, recognized as a viable alternative to paper-based records and statutorily exempt from local taxation.  “A smart contract, record or signature may not be denied legal effect or enforceability solely because a blockchain was used to…

ETF Giant Leads $17.7M Series A for Blockchain Compliance Startup

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One of the world’s largest exchange-traded fund (ETF) providers is leading a $17.65 million investment in blockchain compliance startup Securrency. WisdomTree was the lead investor in the $17.65 million Series A funding round announced Tuesday. Other investors include the state-backed Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO), Japanese financial services giant Monex Group and venture capital firms RRE Ventures, Strawberry Creek Ventures and Panthera Capital Investments. As the lead investor, WisdomTree put some $8 million into the round, WisdomTree founder and CEO Jonathan Steinberg told CoinDesk in a phone interview. WisdomTree recently…

Bithumb May Pour Over $8M Into South Korea’s Regulation-Free Zone

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Bithumb, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, could invest more than $8 million into South Korea’s regulatory sandbox.  Via its daughter company GCX Alliance, Bithumb has shown intent to put 10 billion won ($8 million) into South Korea’s “regulatory free zone” in Busan, according to reporting from Seoul on Jan. 9.  Regulation-free zone South Korea’s second-largest city, Busan, has been the subject of prior headlines for its status as a deregulated outpost and for its desire to create a digital currency based on blockchain technology, as Cointelegraph reported in…

BlockFi Includes Litecoin and USDC in Lending Portfolio

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Cryptocurrency has gone through a lot of new developments over the past few months and today, cryptocurrency lending company BlockFi made a major new announcement. The company, which operates its own platform, announced today that it has added support for two more digital assets. Major Expansion The company announced that from now on, loans can be disbursed in the form of Litecoin as well as in the stablecoin USDC. USDC is backed by the United States Dollar. This is a significant development for Litecoin and USDC, as both those cryptocurrencies…

SEC Charges Man Behind Alleged Crypto Mining Scam

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The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed suit against Donald G. Blakstad for scamming investors partly through an allegedly fraudulent crypto mining operation. In a filing Jan 8, the SEC alleged Blackstad, 60, bilked over $3.5 million from investors of three separate firms: an oil and gas company; a vehicle parts holding company; and “Energy Sources International” (ESI), a purported cryptocurrency mining company whose Las Vegas datacenter has only one employee: Blakstad. The crypto mining operation specifically took in some $550,000 from five separate investors, all of whom were…

As Ethereum Use in DeFi Continues to Skyrocket, Will Price Follow?

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Binance released its report on decentralized finance applications (a trend most often affiliated with Ethereum) yesterday, highlighting the continued growth of the DeFi ecosystem; according to a Tweet by @CryptoWolf, as Ethereum locked in DeFi continues to rise, the price of the coin will rise in conjunction. Defi Built on Ethereum Malta-based crypto-exchange Binance published its third report on decentralized finance (DeFi) applications yesterday, focusing particularly on developments in the DeFi space relating to Ethereum. The report stated that Ethereum’s spectrum of applications is more extensive than other blockchains, and that…

Bugs Found in Compiler for Readable Ethereum Smart Contracts, Team Downplays Concerns

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A Jan. 8 post published by the Ethereum Foundation (EF) revealed that developers are working on a new implementation of the Vyper compiler, due to “multiple serious bugs” in the existing version. The Vyperlang team responded by noting that existing Vyper smart contracts were not affected by these bugs. Vyper is an alternative programming language for Ethereum originally conceived by Vitalik Buterin. It focuses on being as human-readable as possible, even at the cost of missing some of the more advanced features found in Solidity, the primary language.  While initially…