U.S.-based Kraken announced its plans for expansion into the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region on Tuesday after acquiring one of Australia’s longest-running cryptocurrency exchanges, Bit Trade. Kraken is aiming to position itself as the premier cryptocurrency service within the region, identifying Australia as a key growth area for retail and institutional clients. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Its acquisition of Bit Trade, a platform that combines liquidity from several exchanges into one interface, signifies a major step into the APAC region by offering local customers access to Kraken’s…
Month: January 2020
Venezuela’s Maduro: Airlines Must Use Petros to Pay for Fuel
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has declared all flights out of the country must use the oil-backed petro cryptocurrency to pay for fuel. In his annual speech to the Venezuelan Constituent Assembly, Maduro announced the state-owned oil company, PDVSA, would only accept petro for fuel sold to airlines. “I decree the sale of all fuel sold by the PDVSA for planes operating international routes be made in petros from now on,” he said. It’s uncertain whether the new restrictions apply exclusively to the capital’s Simón Bolívar International Airport, or whether airlines…
Venezuela’s Maduro: Airlines Must Use Petros to Pay for Fuel
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has declared all flights out of the country must use the oil-backed petro cryptocurrency to pay for fuel. In his annual speech to the Venezuelan Constituent Assembly, Maduro announced the state-owned oil company, PDVSA, would only accept petro for fuel sold to airlines. “I decree the sale of all fuel sold by the PDVSA for planes operating international routes be made in petros from now on,” he said. It’s uncertain whether the new restrictions apply exclusively to the capital’s Simón Bolívar International Airport, or whether airlines…
Electric Coin Company SDK Paves Way for Shielded Zcash Payments on Mobile
The for-profit entity working on Zcash has published a software development kit (SDK) for both Android and iOS. According to a blog post Wednesday, the Electric Coin Company (ECC) has published an improved Android SDK and new iOS package to help developers support shielded payments on mobile devices. The new software tools come alongside a lightweight server for backend processing of mobile shielded payments, meaning addresses, transaction amounts and memos within transactions are obfuscated. While multiple zcash wallets already exist for laptop and desktop computers on the ZecWallet service, today’s…
Anchorage Acquires Merkle as Part of Trading Service Launch
Crypto custody company Anchorage now offers a crypto brokerage service, acquiring Merkle Data to further the service. Anchorage has introduced an institutional crypto trading service called Anchorage Trading, and has acquired institutional-grade risk management and analytics software company Merkle Data to enhance the endeavor, Anchorage co-founder and CEO Nathan McCauley said in a Jan. 15 post on Anchorage’s blog. Institutional crypto trading Anchorage’s new offering allows institutional players to trade crypto assets via traders Anchorage employs, the post said. This new offering also takes advantage of Anchorage’s crypto custody services.…
Malaysia Looks to Tie Token Offerings to Exchanges
Following the US SEC’s investor alert against Initial Exchange Offerings (IEO’s), Malaysia’s regulator has published a regulatory guide requiring token offerings in the country be attached to exchanges. A breakdown of Malaysia IEOs A report from Malaysia’s Securities Commission (SC) makes clear that digital tokens are to be used only for goods and services and within strict guidelines, which will take effect late 2020. Issuing digital tokens in the country without SC approval is illegal. The platforms themselves bear responsibility for vetting issuers and approving token features. The minimum paid-up…
Anchorage Moves Into Crypto Trading With New Brokerage Service
Crypto services startup Anchorage has launched a crypto platform for its institutional investors and acquired the data analysis firm Merkle Data. Announced Wednesday, the moves mark an expansion in offerings for a company originally focused on providing institutions custodial services, as it continues to bet that adding more features like trading will carry crypto further into mainstream. Merkle Data’s acquisition similarly expands Anchorage’s reach, according to the blog post. Framing the data team as a complement to its new trading service, Anchorage said Merkle Data will boost its quantitative analysis…
Bitwise Withdraws Bitcoin ETF Application with SEC
Bitwise Asset Management has withdrawn its longstanding Bitcoin ETF application with the SEC, after the proposal was rejected by the commission in October. Bitwise first filed an application with the US Securities and Exchanges Commission for what would be the first-ever Bitcoin ETF in January of last year, after several other companies had failed with similar proposals. Bitwise’s application was seen as the greatest hope for a Bitcoin ETF given key differentiations between its proposal and ones that had gone before it. The index was intended to take Bitcoin’s value…
The Open Index Protocol Aims to Decentralize Media
Amy James is a self-described storyteller. As co-founder of the Open Index Protocol, James entered the world of blockchain when she realized it was impossible to control or even find content. “I was a writer and director, and so I’m really familiar with the friction that content creators are experiencing,” she said at the Digital Money Forum at CES 2020. “Right now it’s really hard to make a living. It’s really hard to keep track of your stuff. And so I felt really unstable about building a media business that…
EEA Partners With Whiteblock to Offer New Testnet With Controlled Environment
Members of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) can now test their blockchain applications within a new testnet, which does not require a full-scale roll-out. In a press release shared with Cointelegraph on Jan. 15, EEA revealed its new partnership with blockchain testing and development firm Whiteblock, through which the EEA will leverage Whiteblock Genesis testing platform. The platform will allow users to manage and utilize the EEA TestNet, wherein EEA members will be able to collaborate around building and testing the next generation Ethereum (ETH) enterprise apps. No need to…