Day: August 4, 2020

‘Robinhood Influencer’ Wants the Winklevoss Twins to Explain Bitcoin to Him

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Popular Twitter personality Dave Portnoy, famous for his motto “stocks only go up,” now wants to learn about Bitcoin (BTC) from Gemini co-founders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss. In a Twitter clip extracted from his latest daily show on August 4, Portnoy tells the Winklevoss twins he’d like them to “explain Bitcoin in a way that I would understand,” he said. Portnoy stressed that he wants them to come in “their little rowing outfits,” in a reference to the movie The Social Network, where they were shown competing in Harvard’s rowing…

Russia’s Biggest Bank Considers Launching its Own Stablecoin

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Sberbank, a state-owned company and the largest bank in Russia, is considering the possibility of issuing its own token, according to its key executives. Sergey Popov, Director of the transaction business at Sberbank, says that Russia’s banking giant is thinking of issuing its own stablecoin that could be pegged 1:1 to the Russian ruble, local news agency Kommersant reports on Aug. 4. Sberbank’s stablecoin would be compliant with recently passed crypto law According to the report, the potential stablecoin could be used for settlements involving other digital financial assets. Popov…

Dash Launches Latin America’s First Ever Crypto Debit Card

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Dash has partnered with Mexican cryptocurrency exchange, Taurus.io, to release the first crypto Visa debit card in Latin America. The offer will initially only be available to Taurus’ customers in Mexico. The card will work at millions of stores in Mexico by converting crypto funds to pesos using the Tauros mobile app. It will also be capable of conducting online transactions. Speaking with Cointelegraph, Ernesto Contreras, Head of Business Development at Dash Core Group, provided more details about the new product, which is the first of its kind in the…

Twitter Hack Shows That Crypto Is Easier to Investigate Than Fiat, Say Industry Law Experts

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During an Aug. 4 panel on legal compliance within the cryptocurrency industry, major figures noted recent shifts in public perception of the industry, pointing to arrests within weeks of the Twitter hack as an example of how effective blockchain analytics can be for solving crime. The panel is part of an ongoing series from the Association of Certified Financial Crime Specialists.  Twitter and law enforcement Lana Schwartzmann, chief compliance officer for Paxful, said regarding the Twitter hack “It’s quite amazing how different this is from what we’d see in the…

Chainlink Zeroes in On Smart Contract Adoption With New Grant Program

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Chainlink (LINK) introduced a new community grant program focused on making smart contracts “the dominant form of digital agreement”. Chainlink’s positive feedback loops. Source: Chainlink. Dominating digital agreements The grants will be awarded to projects that are “accelerating two positive feedback loops.” Such loops include the increased availability of on-chain data and increased security guarantees for users. The eventual goal is to make smart contracts a dominant form of digital agreements. Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov elaborated on these points in a statement to Cointelegraph: “We are accelerating the adoption of…

Bitcoin ATM Locations Reaching 9,000 Worldwide

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The number of bitcoin ATM locations has been rising steadily. Almost 9,000 bitcoin ATMs have been installed worldwide. The U.S. leads as the country with the largest number of bitcoin ATMs, followed by Canada and the United Kingdom. Nearly 9,000 Bitcoin ATMs There are currently 8,947 cryptocurrency ATMs and 211,239 non-ATM locations you can buy or sell cryptocurrencies at across 71 countries, according to cryptocurrency ATM tracking website Coinatmradar. In July, the number of crypto ATMs rose from 8,490 to 8,919, the site revealed Monday. While there were 544 new…

Technicals Suggest VeChain (VET)’s Momentum Isn’t Slowing Despite Recent Rally

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VeChain has enjoyed an impressive bull rally thus far this year, despite the chaos caused by the ongoing pandemic. The VeChainThor technology continues to expand to a wide range of industries, providing solutions to real-world problems. For this reason, investors are seemingly giving VET their vote of confidence. This market behavior has been reflected in the price of this altcoin, which is up 1,100% since March’s Black Thursday. Now, a particular chart pattern suggests that the blockchain-based supply chain management token is poised to advance further. VeChain Aims For Higher…

Why Klaytn and Link Will Catalyze Blockchain Adoption in Asia

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In the last two years, popular messaging giants in Asia and Europe have announced plans to launch a blockchain-powered cryptocurrency. In Asia, Kakao’s Klaytn and Line’s Link platform have launched and are quickly gaining momentum, but Facebook and Telegram’s cryptocurrencies have not fared so well. Messaging Giants Pushing Blockchain Adoption As it stands, Kakao is by far the most dominant mobile platform in Korea with a market share of 97% in the country. Kakao subsidiary Ground X began development of Klaytn back in 2019, after raising $90 million in both…

U.S. $600 Unemployment Aid Comes to Its End, Americans React

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Republicans have kicked against an extension of the US $600 unemployment boost. They referred to it as “disincentive to work.” Republicans have unified against the U.S. $600 boost to weekly unemployment checks to U.S. citizens. The $600 weekly payment, initiated as a part of the federal relief package amid the coronavirus pandemic, ended last Friday. Despite Democrats’ desire to extend the payments, Republican lawmakers stood against it and referred to the payments as “disincentive to work.” In March, the U.S. President Donald Trump signed a $2 trillion coronavirus relief bill.…

Blockchain Bites: XRP Sales, INX IPO and Bitcoin Mining Woes

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China’s bitcoin miners are in a rut, Ripple shows signs of sales growth and INX scaled down its IPO vision. You’re reading Blockchain Bites, the daily roundup of the most pivotal stories in blockchain and crypto news, and why they’re significant. You can subscribe to this and all of CoinDesk’s newsletters here.  Top shelf Flooded MarketChina’s severe flooding, the worst in decades, hasn’t overwhelmingly impacted the bitcoin mining industry – but it’s still a difficult rainy season. Johnson Xu, chief analyst at Beijing-based research startup TokenInsight, said most mining facilities have chosen spots…