Day: February 25, 2020

Bitcoin Adoption in Lebanon Increases Amidst Worsening Economic Situation

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As the current financial crisis rocking Lebanon continues to intensify, Lebanese citizens are increasingly looking to bitcoin to escape the country’s crippling economic situation. Lebanon joins the list of countries whose citizens have turned to the top cryptocurrency to counter the financial crisis.  Bitcoin Gives ‘Financial Freedom’ Lebanon’s financial situation has continued to plummet, with the value of the Lebanese pound declining. But a report on Al Jazeera on Tuesday, February 25, 2020, reveals that citizens are not sitting around waiting and hoping for things to get better before taking…

Revolut Bank Valued at $5.5B in $500M Funding Round

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Revolut, the London-based bank that allows users to purchase cryptocurrencies on its app, has raised more than $500 million in a Series D funding round. Revolut announced Tuesday the round, led by Silicon Valley venture capital firm TCV, means the bank is now valued at over $5.5 billion. Although investors from previous rounds have also participated, the company has not disclosed any other names. Revolut looks to challenge existing traditional banks, for example by undercutting their prices on services. Tuesday’s news means the company has now raised a total of…

A Look Into Recent Binance Trading Performance Issues

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As Cointelegraph reported on Feb. 19, Binance temporarily suspended most of its crypto trading platform activities due to unscheduled system maintenance. For several hours the exchange’s users were unable to perform most basic functions including deposits, withdrawals, spot trading, margin trading, P2P trading, lending, redemption, as well as asset transfers from sub-accounts, margin accounts, futures accounts, and fiat wallets on the platform. During the outage, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao explained that the root cause of the trading halt was a technical issue with one of the market data pushers. In…

Finnish Customs Puzzled on what to do with 15M Euro Seized in Bitcoin

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While some governments are selling bitcoins (BTC) confiscated through law enforcement actions, Finland is yet to decide what to do with its seized BTC. Finnish Customs, operating under the Ministry of Finance, has reportedly been deliberating about what to do with 1,666 bitcoins seized from drug criminals years ago. As reported by Finland’s national public broadcasting firm on Feb. 25, the Finnish Customs service doesn’t want to auction the confiscated Bitcoin because the cryptocurrency could be returned to the hands of criminals. Seized bitcoins surge almost 2,000% since confiscation According…

Bitcoin May Be “Cooked” If It Closes Below This Key Level

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Bitcoin has seen some bear-favoring turbulence over the past week, with its recent break below $10,000 sparking a bout of capitulation that led it to lows of $9,200, from which point it has struggled to garner any sustainable upwards momentum. This intense selling pressure has cause BTC bulls to cave in, as they are currently struggling to defend the key support levels that the cryptocurrency previously formed. In the near-term, it does appear that the crypto is bound to see further downside, and one top analyst is noting that it…

US Commerce Dept. Wants to Survey Firms on Cross-Border Crypto Usage

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The U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) has proposed a rule change to a benchmark survey that would require all U.S. financial services companies to report if they conducted cross-border cryptocurrency transactions in fiscal year 2019. Alongside wider rule changes to the “BE-180 Benchmark Survey of Financial Services Transactions between U.S. Financial Services Providers and Foreign Persons” – a mandatory questionnaire BEA issues every five years – the crypto proposal would, if implemented, give Commerce Department statisticians a more precise look at the prevalence of foreign crypto activity.…

Ghost Recon Breakpoint Won’t Stop Sucking Anytime Soon

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The Ghost Recon Breakpoint immersive mode update was pushed back to sometime this spring. Ubisoft cited a desire to push out an “impactful update” as the reason behind the delay. The developer also apologized for the recent radio-silence, vowing to improve communication with the community. Ghost Recon Breakpoint, Ubisoft’s beleaguered tactical shooter, won’t be getting better anytime soon. Ubisoft formally delayed a substantial update initially penciled in for release this month. Game-Changing Immersive Mode Pushed Back to Later This Spring In a statement published on Ubisoft’s official Ghost Recon Breakpoint…

Tezos (XTZ) & Chainlink (LINK) Prices Slide 10% — More Pain or Buy the Dip?

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The most energetic performers from the past period, Tezos (XTZ) and Chainlink (LINK), are now showing a heavy retracement. Tezos corrected 32% since its local high at $3.96, while Chainlink also corrected 25% since reaching a top at $4.87.  Do the current pullbacks provide buy the dip opportunities, or will the altcoins slide further in the coming weeks? Let’s look at the charts.  Crypto market daily performance. Source: Coin360  Tezos tops out at $4 resistance The resistance at $4 was discussed in a previous analysis focused on Tezos and Chainlink…

KLM To Use Blockchain to Streamline Financial Processes Thanks to Amsterdam-based Unchain and R3

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Sharing is caring! After months of intense cooperation and development, Dutch software services provider unchain.io has successfully delivered a strategic finance application for KLM Royal Dutch Airlines utilising R3 Corda technology.  Unchain worked with the KLM Digital Studio – a 200-strong innovation lab meant to explore how new technologies like blockchain can enhance internal processes and potentially add new business models across KLM. As a result of this exploration, and the hard work of the team at Unchain – KLM Finance has set out to use blockchain to handle the…

This Is Why the Dow Jones Suddenly Plunged Back Into ‘Crash Mode’

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) looked set to rebound from yesterday’s devastating crash. But after rallying nearly 200 points, the index lurched back into decline. Here’s why the stock market suddenly plunged back into crash mode. After yesterday’s 1,000 point Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) rout, stock market bulls salivated over what they thought was the perfect time to buy the dip. But a half-hearted recovery quickly collapsed. And by midday, greedy investors had gone from licking their chops to licking their wounds as the stock market spiraled toward…