This week’s headlines from Japan included Coincheck updating the public on a recent data leak, a blockchain tech outfit unveiling plans for a digital local currency, BitBank facing a breach similar to Coincheck, the Japan STO Association gaining its first full-time trust bank member, and Japan achieving the second highest 24-hour Bitcoin trading volume numbers for May. Check out some of this week’s crypto and blockchain headlines, originally reported by Cointelegraph Japan. Coincheck updates public on user data leak Tokyo-based crypto exchange Coincheck faced a hack between May 30 and June 1,…
Month: June 2020
US Regulators Have Double Standards When It Comes to Bitcoin
Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, have faced unfair pushback from U.S. regulators, according to VanEck director and digital asset specialist Gabor Gurbacs. “There’s a persistent double standard against Bitcoin and digital assets, which I think is wrong,” Gurbacs told host Max Keiser on a recent episode of the Keiser Report. Bitcoin ETF denials by the bushel In its simplest form, a Bitcoin ETF is a financial product traded officially on mainstream stock markets, with shares representing exposure to Bitcoin’s price. A Bitcoin ETF might be cash-backed or BTC-backed, depending…
Revolut Confirms Firing 62 Employees in the Wake of Coronavirus
Revolut fired a number of employees since the coronavirus outbreak began, according to a story from Wired. The European fintech company responded with a statement on the numbers and rationale. “As in many companies, COVID-19 necessitated cost cutting across our business and, in the last resort, we made 62 redundancies globally, representing less than 3% of our staff,” a Revolut spokesperson told Cointelegraph on June 5. Revolut allegedly asked staff to quit Job redundancy refers to a certain title or position that companies determine as obsolete or no longer necessary,…
Reddit’s Biggest Blockchain Advocate Just Resigned To Fight Racism
Alexis Ohanian, a millionaire tech entreprenuer and co-founder of online social platform Reddit, recently publicized plans for his personal fight against racism. These include his desire to see a member of the black community replace him at his current board position. “I’ve resigned as a member of the reddit board, I have urged them to fill my seat with a black candidate,” Ohanian said in a June 5 tweet. The United States shows unrest Over the past week and a half, cities across the U.S. have seen protests, with some cities…
Hey Blockchain Devs, Waves Doesn’t Want to Hear Your Excuses
As part of a blog post detailing a different approach to blockchain transaction scaling, Waves Smart Contracts head of development, Ilya Smagin, noted the blockchain space often makes excuses for its shortcomings. “One of the things blockchain people are good at is explaining why user restrictions and inconveniences are insignificant and are actually the solutions rather than the problems,” Smagin said in a June 4 post. Blockchain is still a young industry Although some of the underpinnings and inspiration for blockchain tech came into play in years prior, the technology…
Revolut Reportedly Fires Dozens of Employees for Coronavirus Cost-Saving Reasons
In an effort to trim expenses, European fintech outfit Revolut has allegedly urged employees to leave, according to staff interviewed by Wired. “Some of the employees allegedly pressured to leave have been left stranded in a foreign country without a job or health insurance in the middle of a pandemic,” describes author Emiliano Mellino, collecting stories from multiple Revolut employees. The company reportedly staffed a great number of employees at multiple locations around the world — Krakow, Poland in particular. The Wired report also notes: “While the Polish government has…
Fed Chair Teases Use of Ethereum-Based Interest Reference Rates
In a May 28 letter to Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR), Jerome Powell, Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, described an interest reference rate based on the Ethereum blockchain, called Ameribor, as effective for some, but not all. Ameribor is a tool from American Financial Exchange (AFX) that uses the Ethereum blockchain to track interbank lending by minting ERC-721 tokens for each repayment. The Fed Chair responds on overall interest reference rates After a Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing in February, U.S. Senator Cotton sent questions over to Chairman Powell.…
Pomp Explains Why Mainstream Markets Are Up Amid Chaos
Even in light of recent riots, protests, and uncertainties, mainstream U.S. financial markets show upward prices due to overarching forces, according to Morgan Creek Digital co-founder, Anthony Pompliano. “Yes there are protests, there are all these things, but the bigger force is the fact that now all these businesses are opening up,” Pompliano said in a June 2 episode of “Lunch Money” on his YouTube channel. “There’s going to be more economic activity and there should be a recovery in that data.” Economy returning to function After weeks of shelter-in-place…
How Gemini Works in Sync With Samsung’s Wallet
Crypto exchange Gemini announced compatibility with the Samsung Blockchain Wallet last week, allowing users to interact with the exchange through the wallet. U.S. and Canadian “Samsung Blockchain Wallet users can buy, sell and store crypto on their phones through the Gemini exchange,” Gemini’s managing director of operations, Jeanine Hightower-Selitto, told Cointelegraph via email correspondence. Two platforms interact The Samsung Blockchain Wallet app shows funds held on the Gemini exchange, letting customers interact with the platform, Hightower-Selitto said. Essentially, users now have more of a one-stop-shop experience through a single point of entry. Hightower-Selitto…
Massive Bitcoin Plunge Nothing More Than Traders Being Traders, OKCoin Exec Says
Bitcoin (BTC) dove more than $1,000 on some exchanges on June 2, although the event seems to be the result of simple trading activity, according to OKCoin’s head of market development Matthew Ficke. “Price movement like we saw yesterday typically attracts short-term traders trying to position for a larger break higher,” Ficke said of the day prior, when Bitcoin surged notably past $10,000. Bitcoin pumped and then dumped Bitcoin’s price surged up past $10,400 from $9,450 on June 1, only to fall back down to $9,275 on the following day.…