Anchorage, a digital assets custodial service provider for institutional investors, has announced the acquisition of Merkle Data, and the launch of Anchorage Trading, a crypto brokerage platform that will allow its clients to buy and sell bitcoin (BTC) and altcoins straight from Anchorage’s vaults through expert traders, without needing to transfer the assets to an exchange, according to a blog post on January 15, 2020. Anchorage Expands Custodial Service Leading cryptocurrency custodian, Anchorage has achieved another significant feat in its history by acquiring Merkle Data, a software-based portfolio risk management…
Day: January 16, 2020
CabbageTech CEO Sentenced to 33 Months in Prison After Pleading Guilty in Fraud Case
Patrick McDonnell was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison Thursday after pleading guilty to charges of defrauding investors in his crypto trading firm CabbageTech, otherwise known as Coin Drop Markets. McDonnell was also ordered to pay back his victims $224,352, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. Thursday’s sentencing caps McDonnell’s back-to-back legal fights with the federal government, which saw the 47-year-old New York resident in civil and then criminal court on fraud charges. He pleaded guilty in June 2019, a press release stated.…
Currency ‘Cold War’ Takes Center Stage at Pre-Davos Crypto Confab
ST. MORITZ — The United States may be entering a second Cold War, according to some investors, who seem mildly curious but otherwise unconcerned about the prospect. “It’s a kind of Cold War, but not just for crypto,” said Multicoin Capital’s Beijing-based partner Mable Jiang. “Currency is the leverage.” Jiang said China’s goal is to leverage the rise of cryptocurrency, including both domestic bitcoin mining and a state-issued digital currency, to supplant the dollar and become the world’s leading economic power. Such rivalries feel lightyears away in the frosted Swiss…
Currency ‘Cold War’ Takes Center Stage at Pre-Davos Crypto Confab
ST. MORITZ — The United States may be entering a second Cold War, according to some investors, who seem mildly curious but otherwise unconcerned about the prospect. “It’s a kind of Cold War, but not just for crypto,” said Multicoin Capital’s Beijing-based partner Mable Jiang. “Currency is the leverage.” Jiang said China’s goal is to leverage the rise of cryptocurrency, including both domestic bitcoin mining and a state-issued digital currency, to supplant the dollar and become the world’s leading economic power. Such rivalries feel lightyears away in the frosted Swiss…
Grayscale Investments Reports Record-Breaking Year
Digital currency asset manager Grayscale Investments banked a stellar 2019 to surpass the $1 billion mark in total investments and now has over $2 billion in AUM. By the numbers In a comprehensive eighteen-page report, the firm touted a record Q4 in 2019. It raised $225.5 million into its investment products, lifting the year’s inflow to $607.7 million after back-to-back quarterlies over $225 million, possibly signaling a larger market trend. 71 percent of the year’s inflow sprung from institutional investors. Managing director Michael Sonnenshein told Cointelegraph: “We saw record-breaking investment…
VC Giant Grayscale Investments Reports Record-Breaking Year
Venture capital firm Grayscale Investments banked a stellar 2019 to surpass the $1 billion mark in total investments. By the numbers In a comprehensive eighteen-page report, the firm touted a record Q4 in 2019. It raised $225.5 million into its investment products, lifting the year’s inflow to $607.7 million after back-to-back quarterlies over $225 million, possibly signaling a larger market trend. 71 percent of the year’s inflow sprung from institutional investors. Managing director Michael Sonnenshein told Cointelegraph: “We saw record-breaking investment into Grayscale’s family of products, illustrating continued demand from…
US Lawmakers Try Again on Tax Relief for Small Crypto Payments
U.S. lawmakers have resurrected a bipartisan push to exempt gains from small cryptocurrency transactions from being taxed. On Thursday, Reps. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), David Schweikert (R-Ariz.), Darren Soto (D-Fla.) and Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) introduced “The Virtual Currency Tax Fairness Act of 2020,” an amendment to IRS tax code that would exempt realized gains under $200, otherwise known as a de minimis threshold. From a practical standpoint the bill could simplify the tax burdens of day-to-day crypto users who must report even marginal capital gains under current federal law. This is…
Telegram Token Sales Canceled By Liquid Exchange
Japan-based Liquid Exchange has canceled the sale of Telegram’s Gram tokens and returned funds to customers as the messaging app company remains embroiled in an SEC lawsuit. The exchange has said that it is acting in compliance with the investor agreement, which states that Telegram’s Open Network (TON) should have been launched by October 31, 2019; otherwise it must initiate the process of returning funds to investors. As a result of the longstanding lawsuit brought against the messaging app by the SEC, an injunction has been brought out to prevent…
Decred’s Akin Sawyerr Says Blockchain Is Part of Africa’s Political Future
Akin Sawyerr, founder of Feleman Limited, an Africa-focused impact investment and advisory firm based in the Washington, D.C., area, spoke to CoinDesk at the Digital Money Forum. His message? That decentralized finance and governance can rebuild economies all over the world. “I have geographical purview over Africa. So a lot of what I’ve been working on is identifying opportunities around Africa,” he said at the forum held at CES 2020 in Las Vegas. “One of the big challenges you see across Africa is governance. And wherever you have weak governance you have…
Decred’s Akin Sawyerr Says Blockchain Is Part of Africa’s Political Future
Akin Sawyerr, founder of Feleman Limited, an Africa-focused impact investment and advisory firm based in the Washington, D.C., area, spoke to CoinDesk at the Digital Money Forum. His message? That decentralized finance and governance can rebuild economies all over the world. “I have geographical purview over Africa. So a lot of what I’ve been working on is identifying opportunities around Africa,” he said at the forum held at CES 2020 in Las Vegas. “One of the big challenges you see across Africa is governance. And wherever you have weak governance you have…