The founder of one of crypto’s most buzzed-about projects discusses the origins of Gitcoin, controversy and why open source funding needs to evolve. Ever since announcing its fourth round of grants, Gitcoin has been a major subject of conversation across the Twittersphere. In addition to all the excited buzz from both technical projects and media creators vying for grants matched based on E. Glen Weyl and Vitalik Buterin’s quadratic funding model, there has been controversy. Some of that controversy has been from outside the Ethereum community, pointing to Consensys and…
Day: January 21, 2020
Here’s Why Wall Street Veteran Thinks Bitcoin Isn’t a Viable Money, Yet
2019 was marked by some of the world’s most powerful people talking about Bitcoin in public settings. President Donald Trump said in a surprise Twitter thread that cryptocurrencies, from BTC to Libra, are no something he is a fan of, citing their potential to be used in crime. Tesla’s Elon Musk said in a podcast that he thinks Bitcoin’s structure is “brilliant” and other digital assets may have some merit. It seems that this trend of large investors and entrepreneurs talking cryptocurrency has continued to the new year. This time,…
Vodafone Is the Latest Big Company to Quit Facebook-Founded Libra Association
British telecom conglomerate Vodafone has become the eighth company to pull out of the Libra Association, the governing council for the Facebook-created global digital currency initiative, CoinDesk has learned. Vodafone and Libra both confirmed Tuesday that the company is no longer part of the consortium. Vodafone will dedicate resources previously intended for Libra to its well-established and successful digital payment service, M-Pesa, which the company plans to expand beyond the six African nations currently served. The parting appears to be amicable, with Vodafone leaving specifically to focus on its own…
Deribit Releases Specifics of New KYC Policy Following Move to Panama
Deribit, a crypto futures and options exchange that is moving from the Netherlands to Panama to avoid Europe’s new Anti-Money Laundering law has released its newly updated Know Your Customer (KYC) policy. In a Jan. 17 blog post, Deribit clearly said that its relocation to Panama has been mainly caused by the new Anti-Money Laundering Directive (5AMLD), a major European law that aims to tackle money laundering and terrorist financing by stricter regulation of crypto-related businesses. While 5AMLD was enforced on Jan. 10, 2010, 5AMLD has not been adopted in…
Finance Will Fall Behind Without Innovation, Experts at Davos WEF Say
If mainstream finance does not adopt new technologies, such as those seen in blockchain and crypto, they will fall behind, according to a few experts’ comments at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos Switzerland. Answering a question on comparing this year’s event to last year’s, Monero’s former lead maintainer Riccardo Spagni noted the same presence of “old school” bank and regulatory personalities. Spagni, also known as Fluffypony, told Cointelegraph in a Jan. 21 interview: “I think by a lot of events like this one and some of the other…
EGifter Will Be Among First BitPay Merchant To Accept XRP Cryptocurrency
BitPay, a leading provider of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency payment services, announced on Jan. 21 the launch of XRP payments and cross-border transfers. BitPay has also added support for XRP — the cryptocurrency used by Ripple’s payment network — to the BitPay Wallet app. Although rumors were circulating on Jan. 20 across Twitter and Reddit that BitPay had added support for XRP, the company officially confirmed its work with Ripple’s developer platform Xpring to complete the integration. According to BitPay’s CMO, Bill Zielke, BitPay merchants around the world are now able…
Huobi Debuts Crypto Brokerage as Its Institutional Arm Grows 400% Since Q3 2019
Major cryptocurrency exchange Huobi is launching its first licensed digital asset brokerage, Huobi Brokerage. Huobi, the fifth-largest crypto exchange by daily trading volume as of press time, will now provide brokerage service to its institutional clients, the firm said in a Jan. 21 press release to Cointelegraph. Huobi Brokerage provides simultaneous access to other exchanges and OTC desks via smart order routing Announcing the news at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, the exchange said that Huobi Brokerage is the first product launched under the Global Institutional Business (GIB),…
Huobi Opens Brokerage Platform for Institutional Investors
Huobi Group is opening its first digital asset brokerage platform, offering trading products and services to institutional clients and high net-worth customers. Announced Tuesday, the Gibraltar-based Huobi Brokerage is also the first product launched under the company’s Global Institutional Business (GIB) division, according to a company statement. Formed in November 2019, the new division was created as part of Huobi’s effort to better serve institutional investors in the global market. The statement said the platform will enable institutional investors to use crypto services such as liquidity pools, a regulated fiat…
Merchants Can Now Accept XRP Via Crypto Payment Processor BitPay
Cryptocurrency payment solution BitPay has added support for XRP to its wallet app on Tuesday, after first announcing its intent to do so in October 2019. Ecommerce domain eGifter and humanitarian organization CARE have already announced their adoption of XRP for commerce and donations following the addition, BitPay said. “BitPay continues to expand consumers’ ability to transact in the currency of their choice and give merchants new exposure to a large base of loyal XRP users intent on driving real-world adoption,” BitPay CMO Bill Zielke said in a statement. XRP…
Wildcards Purports to Save Endangered Species With Technical First For Ethereum
It’s the first successful live deployment on the Ethereum mainnet of something called a “scalable Harberger tax contract,” and it might just help save at-risk animals. Cointelegraph attended the CV Labs pitch session in Davos, Switzerland today, an event running alongside the 50th edition of the World Economic Forum. In the basement of the Pöstli Club, crypto entrepreneurs took to the stage to give brief presentations on their current projects. JonJon Clark gave the audience an engaging rundown on his project Wildcards — maybe it’s his charming South African accent,…