With Bitcoin dropping below the $12,000 level and pulling back to $11,400 in the last few days, altcoins also seem to have lost their momentum, even after their impressive gains since the start of 2020. However, some believe that “alt season” is alive and well and that cryptocurrencies still have room to grow, even after tokens like Chainlink and others have grown by more than 100%. The rising price of the dollar may have been the major reason for the recent drop in Bitcoin’s (BTC) price, with safe-haven assets such…
Month: August 2020
Troubled Crypto AG successor reportedly dismisses 70 employees
Crypto International, a successor of controversial Swiss company Crypto AG, is reportedly dismissing dozens of employees following a major spying scandal. As many as 70 employees had to quit Crypto International after Crypto AG was found to be selling backdoored products to benefit agencies like the United States Central Intelligence Agency in February 2020. The firm reportedly confirmed the dismissals to Switzerland-centred publication Swissinfo.ch on Aug. 28. Representatives at Crypto International reportedly said that the dismissals were unavoidable because the government recently refused to resume the examination of export applications.…
Japanese financial giant SBI to launch CFDs for Bitcoin, Ether and XRP
Japanese financial giant SBI Holdings is preparing to launch contract-for-difference (CFD) trading for major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC). Starting Aug. 31, SBI Holdings will start CFD trading service for crypto assets like Bitcoin, Ether (ETH), and XRP, Cointelegraph Japan reports on Aug. 28. As officially announced, the new service will be offered through SBI’s foreign exchange-focused arm, SBI FX Trade. The platform is accepting new account registrations immediately, the announcement notes. The new trading offering will allow SBI clients to trade crypto CFD contracts against the Japanese yen and the…
Crypto leaders at odds over SEC’s ‘accredited investors’ move
Major players in the crypto community have responded to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently amending its definition of an “accredited investor”. While many gave positive feedback, some say the new rules don’t go far enough. On Aug. 26 the SEC announced that the accredited investors definition would now be based on “professional certifications, designations or credentials, or other credentials issued by an accredited educational institution.” Under the old definition, accredited investors needed to have either $1 million in net worth or a stable income of at least $200,000…
Framework Labs nabs $8m in funding round
Framework Labs, the sister company of Framework Ventures, has raised $8 million in a new seed round. Station 13, an investment firm focusing on blockchain ventures related to sports, media, and entertainment, led the $8 million fundraising round for Framework Labs. Framework will use the funds to grow its team of researchers, traders, and engineers. The company has already hired former CTO and co-founder of decentralized exchange IDEX Ray Pulver and former principal at Wavemaker Partners Roy Learner. According to an Aug. 27 report from Forbes, Framework Labs founders Michael…
Binance and Oasis Labs launch intelligence sharing platform for exchanges
The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, has teamed up with privacy-centric blockchain-powered cloud computing developers Oasis Labs to fight fraud in the crypto sector. Oasis was announced as the inaugural member and primary infrastructure provider for the Binance-led CryptoSafe Alliance on August 27. Oasis Labs’ “confidential smart contracts” will be utilized in building the decentralized CryptoSafe Platform which is designed to share threat intelligence data among crypto exchanges. The CryptoSafe Platform will be powered by the Oasis Network blockchain. The firms emphasize the need for the platform to enable collaborative…
This DEX is ignoring the ‘test in production’ attitude held by other DeFi companies
IDEX, a decentralized exchange, recently underwent a security audit by Quntstamp prior to the release of its 2.0 mainnet. The exchange’s CEO Alex Wearn emphasized the importance of security audits to Cointelegraph: Depositing funds into contracts that the authors themselves state are unaudited, and were rushed to market in a matter of weeks, is clearly a dangerous game. There have been quite a few hacks and instances of lost funds as evidence of these potential risks. Wearn was alluding to the fact that many popular DeFi projects have launch unaudited —…
Another inside job at Shapeshift cost the company nearly $1 million
Following the theft and repayment of $900,000 in Bitcoin (BTC), Shapeshift is now pursuing damages in court against its former senior software engineer, Azamat Mukhiddinov. “There was significant time lost and legal costs associated with the clean-up,” Shapeshift’s chief legal officer, Veronica McGregor, told Cointelegraph, noting that customer funds were safe throughout the ordeal. “ShapeShift is non-custodial, so no customer funds were ever at risk,” she said. Working in a high level position for Shapeshift, Mukhiddinov allegedly used his access to the exchange’s backend to steal roughly 90 BTC, worth nearly…
US authorities go after 280 crypto accounts allegedly tied to North Korea
“The Justice Department today filed a civil forfeiture complaint detailing two hacks of virtual currency exchanges by North Korean actors,” said an Aug. 27 statement from the U.S. Department of Justice, or DoJ. “These actors stole millions of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency and ultimately laundered the funds through Chinese over-the-counter (OTC) cryptocurrency traders.” The hackers allegedly utilized 280 different digital asset accounts, the statement detailed. The ordeal appears to be connected with previously reported thievery which occured earlier in 2020. This story is developing and will be updated. Original
African crypto exchange raises $1.5M from Andreessen Horowitz and others
Showing continued digital asset growth in Africa, Nigeria-based crypto exchange, Yellow Card, has secured over $1 million in investments from a number of players in the crypto industry, including venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. “Yellow Card has raised $1.5 million from investors to help further our expansion and solidify ourselves as the #1 place to buy and sell Bitcoin in Africa,” Chris Maurice, the exchange’s CEO, told Cointelegraph. Noting the seed round as finished, Maurice added: “We raised 1.5 million from Andreessen Horowitz, Polychain, Celo and others. The goal of the…