Day: March 10, 2020

How the Steem Saga Exposes the Dangers of Staking Pools

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Over the last few days, the centralization versus decentralization row has erupted in earnest. In case you missed it, the activities of Tron founder Justin Sun following his takeover of blogging site Steemit have been pivotal to the controversies. Let’s briefly recap. Earlier in February, it emerged that Sun was further expanding his crypto-empire with the acquisition of Steemit, which runs on the Steem blockchain. Steem was developed by Daniel Larimer, who also introduced the delegated proof-of-stake governance model, or dPoS, to the blockchain sphere. Larimer later went on to…

Brave’s BAT Rewards Can Now be Redeemed at Amazon, Apple and Netflix

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Earlier today, March 10th, 2020, Brave announced a partnership with TAP Network which will allow its users to redeem their Basic Attention Tokens for “for real-world rewards” offered by 250,000 brands that are a part of the network. Access to rewards is limited to US users The announcement seems to suggest that the benefits of this partnership will benefit Brave’s U.S. users only: “Through this partnership with TAP, Brave users in the United States through this partnership with TAP, Brave users in the United States can redeem these earned tokens…

Bithumb Taps Chainalysis for FATF-Grade Crypto Investigation Tool

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Cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb is clamping down on suspicious transactions less than a week after South Korea, its home country, moved to enact tough new laws for the virtual asset space. Bithumb announced Tuesday it had deployed Chainalysis’ “Reactor” investigations tool to get ahead of illicit activity. Reactor, used in many cryptocurrency law enforcement actions, will help the exchange’s compliance officers police their network, according to a press release. The announcement follows the South Korean National Assembly’s early March vote to amend the Special Financial Transactions Information Act, which, once signed…

Ethereum Drops to $200 Levels as Crypto and Global Markets Crash

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Ethereum (ETH) price has continued to fall after a dreadful weekend, which saw the price drop to around $198, wiping out last week’s gains. The cryptocurrency is currently trading slightly above the $200 support level and faces a nervy week in which it could drop as low as $170. Ethereum Drops to $200 as Crypto Markets Crash The coin has had a stellar year to date, having started the year at $130. It reached $280 in mid-February, outperforming even Bitcoin (BTC) in its percentage climb. However, there has been a…

Bitcoin Options Volume Sets Record as BTC Miners Hit Breakeven Cost

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Bitcoin (BTC) derivatives traders were anything but bearish during Monday’s crash, data reveals — options volumes set a giant $200 million all-time high. According to figures collated by monitoring resource Skew Markets, volatility which saw BTC/USD descend to two-month lows of $7,625 sparked a surge in options trading. BTC options near $200M daily Aggregate volume from CME Group and exchanges such as Deribit and OKEx totaled $198 million as the week began. The figure easily eclipses the previous record of around $175 million seen in February. Bitcoin options volume. Source:…

This Is What a Productive Congressional Blockchain Hearing Looks Like

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For once, U.S. lawmakers had an informative conversation about blockchain technology without posturing.  It was a sharp contrast from past Capitol Hill proceedings, when lawmakers took their entire allotted time to compare Libra to terrorist attacks or ask pointed questions about how Silicon Valley is biased toward one partisan slant or another. Rather, the small-business hearing saw only detailed questions about the legal or practical implications of blockchain and distributed ledger technology. The specific question at hand was how small businesses might be able to use blockchain technology for data…

Eastern Caribbean Stock Exchange to Trial Tokenized Security Offerings

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The Eastern Caribbean Securities Exchange (ESCE) plans to partner with Canadian-based digital asset marketplace provider Blockstation to pilot security token offerings (STOs), according to a Letter-of-Intent published on March 10. Blockstation is slated to provide a platform for listing, trading, clearing, settlement and the compliant tokenization of digital assets. The ECSE was the first regional securities market and stock exchange in the western hemisphere and was established by the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB). The ECCB administers the eight members of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States — Anguilla, Antigua…

Blockchain.​Com Now Offers Crypto Lending Service to All Users

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Amid the ongoing growth of the cryptocurrency lending industry, major crypto wallet service Blockchain.com launches a new lending product for all users, not just institutions. After first launching an institutional crypto lending desk in August 2019, Blockchain.com is now rolling out its crypto lending service to all users across more than 180 countries, the United Kingdom-based firm announced to Cointelegraph on March 10. Borrow allows users to borrow Paxos Standard against Bitcoin at the launch The new lending product from Blockchain.com, dubbed Borrow, allows to users borrow Paxos Standard stablecoin…

Genesis Mining Rejects $3.1 Million Suit From Former Contractor

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Two firms in the cryptocurrency space are at legal loggerheads regarding millions of dollars in purportedly unpaid invoices. On September 30, 2019, the London-based payments company Digital Capital sued Genesis Mining over allegedly failing to pay 2.4 million pounds (roughly $3.1 million) in unpaid invoices for its development and maintenance of its credit card software. Now, Genesis Mining Iceland has argued in a court hearing that Digital Capital failed to deliver software with capabilities beyond “peripheral functionality,” Law360 reports on March 9. The legal proceedings relate to a now-dissolved partnership…

Circle Rolls Out Stablecoin Business Accounts, Preps SeedInvest for Sale

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Circle’s full-tilt pivot into stablecoins is nearly complete.  The payments startup intends to sell SeedInvest, the crowdfunding platform it bought a year ago, and focus its remaining assets on developing stablecoin products, said Jeremy Allaire, one of Circle’s co-founders and its remaining CEO (fellow co-founder and one-time co-CEO Sean Neville stepped down last year). As part of this process, on Tuesday the company will roll out new APIs and Circle Business Accounts, which corporate clients can use to conduct business in USDC, a token on the ethereum blockchain designed to…