This week’s headlines from Japan included Taotao exchange revealing positive first year numbers, the Japan Crypto Trading Association unveiling crypto asset market rates, Coincheck announcing recent positive fiscal year totals, and Cointelegraph diving into the scene around several exchanges in Japan. Check out some of this week’s crypto and blockchain headlines, originally reported by Cointelegraph Japan. Taotao exchange sees soaring volume Taotao, a crypto exchanged backed by Yahoo Japan, saw rising customer figures during Q1 2020, seeing over 7,000 total users by the end of March 2020. Glossing performance from a fiscal…
Month: May 2020
Ripple’s XRP Ushers in Wallet Termination Capability
XRP users can now delete their wallets on the XRP network if they so desire — an update put in place after the community majority voted in favor of the change. “After maintaining an 80% consensus during the mandatory 15-day voting period, the XRPL Deletable Accounts Amendment became enabled on May 8, 2020 at 4:29:30 UTC, through the ledger 55,313,921,” former XRP Center manager, Arturo Portilla, said in a May 8 tweet. Users can delete accounts on the ledger Ripple’s XRP runs on a distributed ledger. “An account in the…
OKCoin Brings Two Industry Vets Onboard Amid Global Expansion
Global crypto exchange, OKCoin, has added two new members to its top bass — Haider Rafique, Blockchain.com’s former head of growth, and Megan Monroe-Coleman, Coinbase’s previous compliance executive. Megan Monroe-Coleman comes on board as the outfit’s global chief compliance officer, while Haider Rafique takes the role of global chief marketing officer, said a statement provided to Cointelegraph. OKCoin in the midst of expansion OKCoin has shown several expansion efforts so far in 2020. The exchange brought in former Goldman Sach’s staff, Hong Fang, as CEO in early March. At the same…
Former Google Analytics Advocate Bashes Crypto Space
In the midst of rising prices, Adam Singer showed his disapproval of the entire crypto space, describing it as cult-like. “Bitcoin went from a creative economic experiment to cult of over exposed, get rich quick neo goldbugs rooting for the end of the world,” Singer tweeted on May 7. Everyone is “watching the same chart 24/7 and taking online victory laps that would make Jordan Belfort blush every time their only holding has a >5% move,” Singer added, referring to the infamous “Wolf of Wall Street” scam artist. Bitcoin prices…
Novogratz Alludes Stimulus Causing Recent Bitcoin Uptrend
Multi-millionaire and former hedge fund manager, Mike Novogratz, recently posited government spending around coronavirus efforts may be the cause of recent mainstream and crypto market rallies. “Household Income in the USA could actually be up this year even though we could have 25% unemployment,” Novogratz said in a May 6 tweet, adding: “That is unprecedented.Thanks Uncle Sam and Chairman Powell. Helps with social unrest, might explain the retail bid to the stock market, and certainly helps make the BTC case.” It is unclear exactly what Novogratz meant in his tweet,…
Abra Garners $5 Million from Stellar Development Foundation
The Stellar Development Foundation, or SDF, has allocated $5 million to crypto investment app Abra. The company now looks to incorporate the Stellar blockchain into its platform, as well as develop Stellar-based products. “We believe Stellar’s platform is one of the most scalable and versatile cryptocurrency platforms available today,” Abra CEO and founder Bill Barhydt told Cointelegraph in an email, adding: “That combined with a similar shared mission of democratizing access to financial services means that our companies are strongly aligned in our services roadmap going forward.” Abra gives mainstream…
Bitcoin’s Halving Incentivizes Miners to Sell for Double, Decred Co-Founder Says
Decred co-founder and project lead Jake Yocom-Piatt predicts that the coming reduction in Bitcoin’s (BTC) mining payout will have miners upping prices. “Since the Bitcoin halving means that miners will receive half as many Bitcoins for the same amount of work, this doubles the unforgeable costliness of creating Bitcoin,” Yocom-Piatt told Cointelegraph in a May 1 email, adding: “Miners’ costs are effectively fixed, so to maintain the same profit margins, they are incentivized to double the price at which they sell their Bitcoin. I expect this supply shock will drive the Bitcoin price up by moving…
European Central Bank Calls for Proactive Stablecoin Regulation
In a recent in-depth report on global stablecoins, the European Central Bank, or ECB, pushed for clear regulatory parameters for stablecoins, citing risks as well as gaps in current regulations. “In order to reap the potential benefits of global stablecoins, a robust regulatory framework needs to be put in place in order to address these risks before such arrangements are allowed to operate,” the ECB wrote in its May 5 report. The deep dive sees potential, but not without risks The ECB’s report noted several benefits around international stablecoins, including…
Recap of Cointelegraph Talks: Bitcoin’s Block Reward Halving
As part of the most recent edition of Cointelegraph Talks on May 5, Bitfinex CTO Paolo Ardoino, TradeBlock director of institutional research John Todaro, and Poolin mining pool VP Alejandro De La Torre came on today’s panel, bringing a bevy of insights on Bitcoin’s (BTC) upcoming halving, the COVID-19 pandemic and more. The current pandemic causes uncertainty Although Bitcoin largely lies outside the mainstream financial ecosystem the asset has still reacted to COVID-19 and its related mayhem. “COVID-19 has definitely had an impact on the space,” Todaro, said of crypto on May 5,…
Stock-to-Flow Creator Says Bitcoin is ’Not a Toy Anymore’
Crypto analyst and Twitter personality, PlanB, recently said Bitcoin is serious business as he recapped the asset’s journey over the last decade. “This thing is not a toy anymore,” PlanB told Peter McCormack in a May 1 podcast episode. “It’s maybe not an asset anymore as well,” he said, adding, “It is going to be much bigger than that.” PlanB created a concept for Bitcoin’s growth compared with its supply PlanB is known around the crypto space for his stock-to-flow model. The model takes into account Bitcoin’s block reward, or…