DAVOS, Switzerland – Most Middle Eastern elites at the World Economic Forum are highly skeptical of bitcoin, but there are whispers about its potential for cross-border settlements in the energy sector. According to Egyptian businessman M. Shafik Gabr, chairman of the ARTOC Group for Investment & Development, some Middle Eastern nations are already exploring the possibility of settling oil contracts in bitcoin. But he declined to specify which, and most of the leaders gathered in Davos for the annual conference that wrapped up Friday are adamant they see bitcoin’s post-sovereign…
Month: January 2020
Notes From WEF: Oil-Producing Nations Want Dollar Alternatives, Just Not Bitcoin
DAVOS, Switzerland – Most Middle Eastern elites at the World Economic Forum are highly skeptical of bitcoin, but there are whispers about its potential for cross-border settlements in the energy sector. According to Egyptian businessman M. Shafik Gabr, chairman of the ARTOC Group for Investment & Development, some Middle Eastern nations are already exploring the possibility of settling oil contracts in bitcoin. But he declined to specify which, and most of the leaders gathered in Davos for the annual conference that wrapped up Friday are adamant they see bitcoin’s post-sovereign…
Ukraine to Block Crypto Wallets for Illicit Funds, Finance Minister Says
Ukrainian authorities will be able to “block crypto wallets” in order to seize illegally obtained assets, a notice on the country’s Ministry of Finance says. Oksana Markarova, Ukraine’s Finance Minister, reportedly said that the State Financial Monitoring Service of Ukraine (SFMS) will be the responsible authority for tracking the sources of origin of the funds on citizens’ crypto wallets. Authorities use an analytical product scanning for the crypto funds’ origins and uses As part of the regulatory policy, the SFMS will be able to not only find out the origin…
Travel Platform Travala Expands Payment Options With XEM
Travala, a service that lets its users pay for hotel stays with digital currency, has expanded its crypto payment options by adding support of NEM (XEM) tokens. The NEM Foundation and Travala.com announced the integration of XEM with the travel company’s platform, according to a blog post published by Travala on Jan. 22. As such, XEM joined over 20 other digital currencies supported by Travala’s platform, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Tron (TRX), stablecoin Tether (USDT), privacy-focused token Monero (XMR) and others. Boost in revenue The move comes in the…
Crypto News Roundup and Interviews for Jan. 24, 2020
In addition to our news roundup, for the next few episodes we’ll also be highlighting select interviews from the CoinDesk crew reporting inside the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Today, we’ll hear from former Monero head “Fluffypony” and more from cypherpunk Harry Halpin. Listen or subscribe with your preferred service: Disclosure Read More The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group,…
Less Chance that Bitcoin Will Crash Towards $6K, Top Analyst Explains Why
Bitcoin opened 2020 with a bang, rising by as much as 32 percent in January as investors’ appetite for safe-haven assets grew. However, the price rally is now looking to fizzle. The bitcoin-to-dollar exchange rate has dipped by circa 9 percent after registering a local top near $9,200. The pair on Friday tested $8,216 as intraday support, hinting risks of an extended downside move that could push the price into a medium-term bearish channel. The BTC/USD exchange rate eyes a crash towards $6,000 | Source: TradingView.com, Coinbase The Descending Channel,…
Crypto Exec’s $1.8M SIM-Swap Lawsuit Has ‘Critical Holes,’ Says AT&T
AT&T says a lawsuit over a $1.8 million crypto hack fails to show how the U.S. telecoms giant was responsible. The case, brought by VideoCoin head of strategy Seth Shapiro in October, alleges that, in 2018, AT&T employees were responsible for transferring control of his phone number to hackers, who used it as part of a SIM-swap scam that drained his exchange accounts of more than $1.8 million-worth of cryptocurrencies. In a Jan. 22 filing in support of its December motion to dismiss the case, AT&T says Shapiro’s allegation has…
Elon Musk Reveals His True Opinion on Bitcoin and Crypto
After a long and cryptic series of tweets on Bitcoin (BTC), SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk elaborated his stance on cryptocurrencies in a Jan. 20 podcast. Noting that he’s “neither here nor there on Bitcoin,” Musk focused on its use for illegal transactions. The billionaire has recently been in the spotlight for several short and cryptic tweets related to cryptocurrency. On Jan. 10 he published a tweet saying “Bitcoin is *not* my safe word.” This follows an equally cryptic tweet from April 2019, saying “Cryptocurrency is my safe word.” …
Your PGP Key? Make Sure It’s Up to Date
Identity thieves now have another tool at their disposal: bitcoin hashing power. That’s the conclusion from a new cryptanalysis paper published earlier this month on SHA-1 (pronounced “shaw”), a once-popular hash function created by the National Security Agency and disapproved in the mid-2000s after failing against theoretical hack attacks. SHA-1 continues to see use in certain circles, such as on source code program Git and other legacy products for sending secure transmissions on computers, according to Gaetan Leurent of France’s National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology and…
Japan: Suspected $700,000 Bitcoin Thieves Nabbed by Tokyo Police
Two suspects allegedly responsible for the theft of Bitcoin (BTC) worth $700,000 from a company’s account have been arrested by the Tokyo Police Department. Reports are claiming that one of the suspects intended to bankrupt the company as he had become dissatisfied with management policy. Suspects Arrested in Connection with Bitcoin Theft Case According to The Japan Times, two suspects – Yuto Onitsuka and Takama Sasaki, have been arrested by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s cybercrime unit in connection to a ¥78 Million ($700,000) BTC theft from 2018. The Tokyo…