Day: February 13, 2020

US DOJ Calls Bitcoin Mixing ‘a Crime’ in Arrest of Software Developer

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Larry Harmon was arrested earlier this week for allegedly participating in a money-laundering conspiracy worth more than $300 million in cryptocurrency involving darknet marketplace AlphaBay. However, the family of the Coin Ninja CEO claims he was never involved with AlphaBay. Harmon’s case raises pressing questions about developer liability in the crypto industry. In addition to the crypto media site Coin Ninja, Harmon created the bitcoin mixer Helix, which sends transactions out in mixed batches so individual payments are harder to trace. In its indictment, Department of Justice prosecutors refer to…

IOTA Foundation Suspends Network, Probes Fund Theft in Trinity Wallet

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IOTA Foundation, the nonprofit behind the IOTA distributed network, recommended users close their Trinity wallets Thursday after multiple reports of fund theft.  IOTA said it started receiving the reports Wednesday and decided to shut off the Coordinator node in the network for further investigation.  The foundation is evaluating an exploit on an earlier version of its wallet. It is also trying to analyze the hackers’ attack pattern and complete a manual verification, according to the foundation’s latest statement.  “First (but not all) exchanges have responded, reporting that no monitored funds…

Novogratz’s Crypto Investment Firm Galaxy Digital Shrinks Workforce 15%

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Galaxy Digital, the cryptocurrency merchant bank founded by Wall Street veteran Michael Novogratz, has laid off 13 people, roughly 15 percent of its workforce, people familiar with the situation said. The layoffs occurred across the board in early January, and all of the New York-based firm’s business divisions – asset management, trading, principal investments, and advisory services – were left intact. In other words, no business line was singled out or discontinued. Nearly 80 people remain on staff. The company is hiring for several open positions, one source close to…

Millions of Online Retailers Can Now Accept DAI on Coinbase Commerce

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Coinbase Commerce, a platform that supports cryptocurrency payments for internet retailers, has added MakerDAO’s DAI stablecoin as a supported payment method this week.  This integration will let merchants around the world accept the USD-pegged stablecoin as payment for goods and services without Coinbase Commerce taking any extra fees. Merchants can add a “pay with crypto” button to their checkout process, or choose to accept DAI only. Shop owners can also currently earn a DAI savings rate of 7.5%. This could open doors to over 800,000 stores and 3 million web…

$10K Bitcoin Prompts Influencers to Call a Bull Market

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Cryptocurrencies have gained significant value over the last few weeks and it’s causing exuberance among digital currency proponents. Now a number of traders and influencers believe bitcoin and other coins are in bullish territory. Despite the surge to $13K last July and the deep pullback that followed, BTC investors and influencers have no issue believing that crypto is on the threshold of another bull market. Also read: XRP Still Third Largest Crypto by Market Cap After Founder Dumps 1 Billion Coins ‘Calling the Bull’ Is a Bold Move, But a…

South Korea Commits $16M to Training Future Digital Finance Experts

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The Korean financial services commission and the Seoul metropolitan government have announced plans to invest $16 million in training digital finance experts for four years on Feb. 12. The application period to win the grant is March 4-6. Details of the new program The FSC explained that the demand for specialists in financial technology is increasing. The program aims to ensure educational opportunities for the next generation of fintech professionals.  The program is going to start the second half of 2020 and will run until 2023 in the financial center…

This ‘Earth Destroyer’ Asteroid Could Kill You First

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As if the coronavirus plague isn’t terrifying enough, the Earth will cross paths with a planet-destroying asteroid this Saturday. It’s larger than the tallest building on Earth, and big enough to trigger a major impact event, nuclear winter, and mass extinctions. NASA has officially classified the planet killer as a “Potentially Hazardous Asteroid” (PHA). It will miss by just 0.038 astronomical units. In a recent poll, a majority of New Hampshire Democrats said they’d rather a meteor extinguish all human life on Earth than Donald Trump win reelection. Just 36%…

CME Sees Second-Best Month for Bitcoin Futures Trading

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January was the second-best month for CME’s Bitcoin futures trading since its 2017 launch, averaging 10,800 contracts, 69% greater than the average daily volume in 2019. Last month also saw new options on Bitcoin futures picking up pace. Since launch, 466 options contracts, or 2,300 equivalent Bitcoin, have traded—nearly 40% as blocks, showing signs of institutional interest, CME said. It also registered a record monthly average of 56 large open interest holders (entities that hold 25+ contracts). The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) launched its Bitcoin futures options last month, with…

Iran Concerns May Be Driving Trump Administration’s Talk of New Crypto Rules

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Tensions with Iran may be behind U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s cryptocurrency compliance comments on Wednesday. The New York Times reported the Trump administration “has expressed growing concern” that this technology is being used to “evade American sanctions on countries like Iran.” Earlier this week, the Parliament of Iran Research Center published a report suggesting cryptocurrency mining licenses issued in January could generate new tax revenue and bureaucratic fees. A related proposal by the same government-run center suggested this could bring the government upwards of $1 billion in annual revenue…

Poloniex Platform Masters Russian Language After Leaving US Market

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Russia is apparently becoming a more attractive market for cryptocurrency firms as another major crypto platform is adding Russian language support. Poloniex, a popular crypto exchange originally based in the United States, has begun adding the Russian language on its platform just three months after leaving the U.S. market. Announcing the news in a Feb. 13 blog post, Poloniex said that it had started introducing a “partially localized” version of Poloniex for Russian speaking users. The exchange noted that the currently presented Poloniex interface in Russian is just a starting…