Day: February 5, 2020

Binance Now Lets Users Borrow Against Crypto Holdings to Fund Futures Trades

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Malta-based Binance, one of the world’s top cryptocurrency exchanges by trading volume, now allows users put up their crypto holdings as collateral to fund futures trading. Launched soon before press time, the new “Cross Collateral” feature means users can trade futures contracts using assets stored in their Binance exchange wallet as collateral, without the need to use their coins to directly fund orders. Traders using the service can currently borrow tether (USDT) at zero percent interest against holdings of Binance USD (BUSD) – the exchange’s own stablecoin issued in partnership…

Telegram Reveals Catchain, a BFT Consensus Algorithm

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A Feb. 3 paper authored by Nikolai Durov, a Telegram co-founder, lays out the details of Telegram Open Network’s consensus mechanism, named Catchain. The proposed solution is a Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) Proof of Stake (PoS) algorithm, similar to that used by NEO or Cosmos. BFT algorithms are attempted solutions to solve the Byzantine Generals problem, where actors of a particular network need to maintain its functionality even if some nodes are unreliable or malicious. How Catchain works Catchain will work for as long as one third of nodes are…

Binance Adds Support for Instant Crypto Purchases With Russian Ruble

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Binance, the second-largest crypto exchange by daily trading volume, has enabled instant purchases of four major digital currencies with the Russian ruble. The development allows Binance users to link their Visa banking card and purchase Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Binance Coin (BNB) and XRP with the ruble, according to a Feb. 5 announcement. The exchange claims that users can complete a purchase in less than a minute and do not have to make deposits prior to a purchase. In the near future, Binance is planning to launch Mastercard support, as…

Bitcoin Sees Bull Revival as Price Bounces Above $9.4K

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Bitcoin has bounced strongly in the last 24 hours, reviving the immediate bullish view. The top cryptocurrency by market cap started picking up bids at lows below $9,100 late on Tuesday and rose sharply above $9,400 soon before press time, according to CoinDesk’s Bitcoin Price Index.  Bitcoin was facing selling pressure yesterday and had looked likely to slide to the 200-day average at $8,867. After all, bitcoin had dropped below the former resistance-turned-support of $9,188, validating the bull fatigue, signaling by Monday’s doji candle. The decline, however, was cut short…

Ripple Partners with Nasdaq-Listed Firm to Bolster US–Mexico Payments

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Ripple, the firm behind the third largest cryptocurrency XRP, has made a new partnership to bolster cross-border payments between the United States and Mexico.  The company has partnered with International Money Express, a money remittance services firm focused on the Latin and Caribbean corridor, Ripple announced on Feb. 5. Also known as Intermex, the new financial partner of Ripple is listed on the Nasdaq stock market with the stock quote IMXI. Specifically, the new partnership will enable Intermex to implement Ripple’s On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) product through RippleNet, the company’s global…

North Korean Hackers Created Realistic Trading Bot to Steal Money

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The North Korean hacking team Lazarus Group targeted several crypto exchanges last year, Chainalysis reports. One of the attacks involved the creation of a fake, but realistic trading bot website that was offered to employees of DragonEx exchange. In March 2019 the hackers stole approximately $7 million in various cryptocurrencies from Singapore-based DragonEx exchange. Though a relatively small sum, the hackers went to great lengths to obtain it. The group used a sophisticated phishing attack where they created a realistic website and social media presence for a fake company named…

Pantera, Square Join $14m Series-A Round for Real-Time Payments Startup Transparent

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Transparent Financial Systems, a Seattle-based startup developing a real-time “cryptographic settlement” network, has closed a Series-A funding round that raised over $14 million.  Led by Pantera Capital and with participation from Jack Dorsey’s Square, FuturePerfect Ventures, DCG and more, the funding round is in addition to the $8 million in seed financing Transparent received from Vulcan Capital in July 2018. Concluding its beta program with a number of major financial services and fintechs in the U.S., the firm says it will use its latest funding to accelerate product development and…

Intermex Partners With Ripple for XRP-Based Remittance Corridor

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Ripple’s technology will form the basis of a new XRP-based remittance service from International Money Express (Intermex). Ripple announced Tuesday that it had partnered with Intermex, which will leverage RippleNet – a network of institutional payment providers using Ripple’s several payments solutions – to develop “faster, transparent cross-border remittance services” between the U.S. and Mexico. The new partnership is expected to reduce settlement time and cut some of the costs. It will also give Intermex access to Ripple’s On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) service, which uses XRP as a real-time bridge between…

Blockchain Tech Could Help Tackle Coronavirus, Says Expert

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An academic at the University of Hong Kong claims that blockchain and AI-driven strategies should be implemented to better tackle responses to the coronavirus epidemic.  Syren Johnstone —  executive director of the master in laws (compliance and regulation) program at the University of Hong Kong — published a post for the Oxford University Faculty of Law Department blog on Feb. 5 arguing that the coronavirus outbreak should be seen as a “call to arms for the tech industry.” Blockchain, AI and the market Johnstone’s argument opens with the claim that…

Make Bitcoin Truly Anonymous With Bitmix.biz

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Bitcoin privacy and fungibility are constantly threatened by blockchain analytics tools that allow governments and exchanges to monitor the origin and provenance of bitcoin transactions. These practices can be fought by taking advantage of some bitcoin mixing services such as the one offered by BitMix.biz. Financial Privacy Matters In the financial industry, privacy is a very important element. To date, the only form of payment that guarantees the highest level of privacy is cash, but, it is disappearing faster and faster. In the last 50 years, the use of electronic…