In a Jan. 30 congressional hearing on mobile payments, U.S. Representative Tom Emmer fears criticism of digital payment innovation may stifle progress. Emmer laid out his concerns over regulation smothering innovation: “There’s a whole environment out there of brilliant, genius, young people who are coming up with new ways to transfer value every single day,” he said. “I worry that we’re going to crush that entrepreneurial spirit and that advancement.” Digital payments hearing In a meeting of the minds, the Fintech Task Force gathered for a hearing on Jan. 30,…
Day: January 30, 2020
Nomura Launching Benchmark for Japan’s Crypto Assets
Nomura Research Institute (NRI) will launch a benchmark rank and compare Japanese cryptocurrency assets on Friday. The Tokyo-based management consultancy and research firm said the “NRI/IU Crypto-Asset Index Family” – created in coordination with Intelligence Unit LLC (IU) – will be available through NRI’s financial information database, IDS, to domestic and overseas institutional investors, financial information vendors and crypto exchanges. The benchmark is intended to pull together information specific to the Japanese cryptocurrency market, including data on crypto-yen pairs and closing values, all in local time. A benchmark index is…
Nomura Launching Benchmark for Japan’s Crypto Assets
Nomura Research Institute (NRI) will launch a benchmark rank and compare Japanese cryptocurrency assets on Friday. The Tokyo-based management consultancy and research firm said the “NRI/IU Crypto-Asset Index Family” – created in coordination with Intelligence Unit LLC (IU) – will be available through NRI’s financial information database, IDS, to domestic and overseas institutional investors, financial information vendors and crypto exchanges. The benchmark is intended to pull together information specific to the Japanese cryptocurrency market, including data on crypto-yen pairs and closing values, all in local time. A benchmark index is…
Bitcoin Price Climbs to $9,500 After Third Higher High in One Week
For the second time this week, Bitcoin (BTC) bulls have protested against any attempts to push the digital asset below the $9K mark. Earlier today, the price dropped slightly below $9,200 but the pullback stopped right at the Jan. 19 high at $9,198 before reversing to surge higher on a high volume spike. Bitcoin daily price chart. Source: Coin360 The move to $9,530 set a daily higher high for the third time this week and traders will note that purchasing volume is also rising higher each day which are all…
Ethereum Dev Virgil Griffith Pleads Not Guilty to Violating North Korea Sanctions
Ethereum developer Virgil Griffith pleaded not guilty to a charge of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act on Thursday. Griffith was arrested in November on allegations he spoke at a cryptocurrency conference in North Korea last year, where he allegedly taught his audience how to use cryptos to evade sanctions. A complaint published by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York claimed Griffith detailed how crypto could be used to launder money, and may even have tried to facilitate a transaction between the…
The Unsolved Mystery of How to Fund Public Protocols
Gitcoin, BCash and Zcash all try different paths to fund public protocol development, plus the latest in CBDCs from Japan and Cambodia and Andrew Yang on crypto. The best way to fund open-source projects remains a question,and one that – in the context of crypto protocols – has never had higher stakes. Over the last few weeks, we’ve seen live action experiments in a number of different approaches. Gitcoin Grants used a quadratic funding program to match grants to technology builders and media creators in Ethereum. After months and months of…
Listia Raised $15M With Its XNK ICO. Now It’s Ditching the Token for Props
Listia is discontinuing work on the Ink protocol, a cryptocurrency built for marketplaces, CoinDesk has learned. The project was funded with a $15 million token sale for the XNK ERC-20 token, which announced results in January 2018. Listia, a used-goods marketplace, is now shifting entirely to the props network, created by Union Square Ventures–backed startup YouNow. “We are not shutting down anything like the team, operations or any of the new tech that we have built, but yes we have decided to move our apps and tech on top of…
Listia Raised $15M With Its XNK ICO. Now It’s Ditching the Token for Props
Listia is discontinuing work on the Ink protocol, a cryptocurrency built for marketplaces, CoinDesk has learned. The project was funded with a $15 million token sale for the XNK ERC-20 token, which announced results in January 2018. Listia, a used-goods marketplace, is now shifting entirely to the props network, created by Union Square Ventures–backed startup YouNow. “We are not shutting down anything like the team, operations or any of the new tech that we have built, but yes we have decided to move our apps and tech on top of…
Exchange Tokens: Neither a Great Investment Nor a Great Market Indicator
They’re definitely not equity, but could “exchange tokens” be bellwethers for one of crypto’s best use cases? (Spoiler: Probably not) Among thousands of venture-backed startups, tokens, coins, blockchains and open-source technology projects, exchange operators now stand out among the top revenue getters in the crypto asset category. Coinbase, not the largest by trading volume even among exchanges whose trade data is trusted, reported $173 million in 2018 non-U.S. revenue, leading Reuters to estimate Coinbase’s global revenue as north of $500 million. If crypto has proven itself in one use case,…
‘I think XRP is a scam’ Says Former UFC Star and BTC Bull Ben Askren
As regulatory concerns over XRP — the world’s third-biggest crypto asset — have intensified, some celebrities are stepping in to voice more FUD about the coin. Ben Askren, former UFC fighter and known Bitcoin (BTC) bull, has driven more scepticism toward XRP with a short tweet on Jan. 28: “I think XRP is a scam.” Askren loves Bitcoin and Litecoin, not XRP Askren’s latest cryptocurrency verdict builds on a background of previous endorsements of other cryptocurrencies. The famous former Olympic wrestler is not only bullish on Bitcoin, but also supports…