Day: March 13, 2020

Illinois Can Claim ‘Abandoned’ Cryptocurrency Under New Bill

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A new bill draft proposed by the Illinois State legislature adds “virtual currencies” to a list of assets that can be considered abandoned. The bill was first introduced on Feb. 20, and was sent to the House Revenue & Finance Committee on March 12. The draft amends some aspects of Illinois’ Revised Uniform Unclaimed Property Act, specifically adding two provisions related to virtual currencies — a legal term for cryptocurrencies and other assets with similar features. The act regulates all manners of assets that are deemed to be abandoned by…

Bitcoin Insurance Funds Take a Beating as Markets Rout

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Amid global market mayhem, several major Bitcoin (BTC) and crypto insurance funds are showing signs of severe strain.  As of March 13, Bitcoin derivatives exchange Deribit recorded a shocking slide in the balance of its Bitcoin insurance fund, down from 391 BTC to 183 BTC (-53%) within a span of three days. Deribit Bitcoin insurance fund balance. Source: deribit.com Binance’s insurance fund balance halves overnight Earlier today, the Binance Insurance Fund issued an update on Twitter, revealing it had used over $6,000,000 in the past 24 hours to reduce auto-deleveraging…

2 Months Ago, Andreas Antonopoulos Explained Why Bitcoin Would Crash

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Bitcoin (BTC) falling as a result of financial turmoil was obvious to one of the space’s leading speakers and educators — he predicted it just two months ago. Speaking on the What Bitcoin Did podcast on Jan. 3, the impact of a recession or similar event was obvious to Andreas Antonopoulos. Antonopoulos: BTC investors “don’t realize” crash potential “What most people don’t realize I think is that, in the beginning at least, crypto will crash hard,” he explained.  “And the reason it will crash hard is because a lot of…

Standard Chartered Joins IBM and Maersk’s Blockchain Shipping Platform

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Standard Chartered has become the first bank to join TradeLens, the global blockchain shipping platform created by IBM and Danish logistics giant Maersk. The London-headquartered bank announced its decision on March 10, with global head of trade, Michael Spiegel, stating that digital ecosystems like TradeLens have the potential to promote the sustainability agenda of many stakeholders in international trade. Millions of supply chain events each week TradeLens is a global supply chain solution with a focus on containerized freight and logistics, which was first launched by IBM and Maersk back…

Mike Novogratz Says That Investors Have Lost Confidence in Bitcoin

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As after any major Bitcoin (BTC) crash, analysts are now arguing over what could potentially have been the cause.  But this time, the answer is simple, at least according to noted Bitcoin bull and Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz. In a tweet on March 13, Novogratz said: “[Bitcoin] was always a confidence game. All crypto is. And it appears global confidence in just about anything has evaporated.” Pandemic panic The coronavirus pandemic has shaken global markets to their core, and disputes between oil-producing nations have only added to the misery.…

New York Regulators Require Crypto Firms to Submit Coronavirus Plans

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New York City’s mayor Bill de Blasio declared a state of emergency in response to the coronavirus outbreak yesterday. “The only analogy is war,” he said — and the consequences for the crypto industry, as for all others, are sobering. Even ahead of de Blasio’s action, the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) sent a letter to all regulated institutions engaged in crypto-related activities on March 10, asking them to submit detailed “preparedness plans” to address the historic risk: “COVID-19 has already had adverse economic effects domestically and globally.…

Edward Snowden ‘Feels Like Buying Bitcoin’ Amid Price Crash

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Following Bitcoin’s (BTC) flash crash, the world-famous whistleblower, Edward Snowden, is considering buying the dip. In a tweet posted on March 13, Snowden — famous for disclosing top-secret documents that revealed the extent of American and British global surveillance operations — wrote: “This is the first time in a while I’ve felt like buying bitcoin. That drop was too much panic and too little reason.” Panicked investors Snowden’s comments come after what is thought to be Bitcoin’s sharpest ever intra-day plummet yesterday when it briefly dropped to a new yearly…

Some Indian Banks Are Still ‘Arbitrarily’ Refusing to Process Crypto Transactions

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Earlier this month, India’s Supreme Court delivered its verdict in a landmark case that promised to usher in a bullish era for cryptocurrency in the country.  The Court ruled to overturn a circular from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) — issued back in April 2018 —  which had banned banks’ services to all crypto-related firms.  Not all banks, however, appear to be complying with the ruling.  On March 12, fintech lawyer Mohammed Danish filed a representation with the central bank against the “arbitrary denial” of certain domestic banks to…

BitMEX Denies it Made Bitcoin Price Drop to $3.7K After Going Offline

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Trading giant BitMEX is at the center of attention after unexpected downtime sparked rumors of foul play as Bitcoin (BTC) fell as low as $3,700. According to a tweet from the company, problems arose during frenzied trading activity on the evening of March 12. BitMEX “hardware issue” sparks delays As a result, BitMEX was offline for around 25 minutes, managing to address the issue by 3 am UTC. The tweet stated: “Between 02:16 and 02:40 UTC 13 March 2020 we became aware of a hardware issue with our cloud service…

MakerDAO Community to Vote on Upgrades, Conduct Debt Auction

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MakerDAO, a leading firm in the burgeoning sector of decentralized finance (DeFI) built on the Ethereum (ETH) network, has hastily called for a community vote on March 13 ahead of the project’s first-ever Debt Auction.  According to Maker (MKR), the vote will decide on needed modifications that were identified during the fallout from the recent crypto market bloodbath — which saw the price of ETH plummet roughly 30% in 24 hours. Ether crash triggers Maker loan failures MakerDAO is the DeFi protocol that creates the stablecoin Dai (DAI). Dai are…