Popular crypto futures trading platform Bybit is currently hosting thousands of participants for its World Series of Trading, or WSOT, competition. With roughly 12 days left before the competition concludes, 12,368 participants currently pursue 200 Bitcoin (BTC) in prize money, valued around $2.4 million, data from the exchange’s WSOT page shows. Bybit unveiled its WSOT at the end of July, noting the event will occur twice per year going forward. On Aug. 10. traders threw their hats in the ring, seeking to secure the best profit/loss ratio, or P&L, prior to…
Month: August 2020
How Ethereum has transformed the blockchain world
In 2013, Vitalik Buterin released the Ethereum Whitepaper, describing a “Next-Generation Smart Contract and Decentralized Application Platform” that was also termed a “world computer.” A year later, US$18.4 million was raised by Buterin in an ICO, and by January 2018 the market cap of Ethereum climbed to a staggering $100 billion. This meteoric rise has as much to do with philosophy as it does with technology. Ethereum has captured the imagination of an emerging class of crypto-natives, looking to redistribute power away from centralized organizations. The platform became the driving…
Hong Kong Authorities Apprehend Bitcoin ATM Thieves Who Stole $30,000
Authorities recently took three men into custody following their alleged swindling of $226,000 in Hong Kong dollars from Bitcoin (BTC) ATMs in the territory. The apprehended male trio, ranging from age 26 to age 55, allegedly exploited six different Bitcoin ATM machines, manipulating them to cough up the Hong Kong dollar equivalent of roughly $30,000 U.S. dollars, an article from the South China Morning Post detailed on Aug. 15. The alleged robbers took the cash out across 11 transactions. Authorities think the three males in question reportedly make up part…
Novogratz Says Biden and Harris Good for Country, Bad for Markets
Galaxy Digital CEO and known Bitcoin (BTC) proponent, Mike Novogratz, said he sees upcoming financial market difficulties if Democrats take the U.S. presidential bid in November. “Electing Biden and Harris, as much as it’s going to be great for the country, it’s not going to be great for the market,” Novogratz told Bloomberg in an Aug. 14 interview. Following his comments on Biden’s vice president, Kamala Harris, being “fair” to Wall Street if elected, Novogratz mentioned heightened taxes from a Democratic presidential win. “The Democrats are going to be tougher…
US Postal Service Files Blockchain Voting Patent Following Trump Cuts
A new patent has been filed by the U.S. Postal Service, or USPS, which appears to use Blockchain technology to make mail-in voting a safe alternative to physical polling stations amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This news follows recent comments from President Donald Trump concerning the mail service’s funding as part of his fight against mail-in voting. “This developement releates to a voting system that also incorporates the use of cryptographic elements, such as blockchains, as are used with cryptographic currencies, to track and secure the vote by mail system,” said…
People Love Bitcoin And Tesla
All eyes are on Bitcoin (BTC), crypto’s largest coin by market cap, and Tesla, a future-centric car company run by eccentric billionaire Elon Musk, thanks to a standout year for both assets. Tradable equity in Tesla, under the ticker TSLA, has captured more of the American public’s attention than any other investable asset, according to July figures from financial charting platform TradingView, posted on Aug. 13. Bitcoin held the spotlight as the second most popular asset charted on the platform. TradingView also pointed out that Bitcoin interest is on the…
SEC Charges ICO Operator for Misrepresenting His Platform’s Technology
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, publicized legal action against another 2017 Initial Coin Offering, or ICO. Boon.Tech and Rajesh Pavithran, the project’s CEO, face fraud accusations from the commission, as well charges associated with securities registration, an Aug. 13 statement from the SEC detailed. The statement added: “According to the SEC’s order, from November 2017 to January 2018, Boon.Tech and Pavithran raised approximately $5 million by selling Boon Coins to more than 1,500 investors in the U.S. and worldwide to raise funding to develop and market a platform…
Barstool’s Dave Portnoy Hosts Winklevoss Twins For BTC Talk
Barstool Sports founder, Dave Portnoy, posted a video of his meeting with Gemini exchange founders, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, on Twitter. Portnoy, also known as Davey Day Trader on Twitter for his stock trading antics, recently invited the Winklevoss twins over to his house to teach him about Bitcoin, via an Aug. 4 tweet. After briefing Portnoy on the basics, the twins guided the Twitter trader through a few purchases on Gemini, using the $250,000 he statedly sent to the exchange before their arrival. The trio even discussed Chainlink (LINK)…
Yam Suffers Technical Outage Following Scam Accusations
Yam finance (YAM), the latest fad in the crypto space, recently warned the public of a technical bug affecting the ecosystem. “We have found a bug in the rebasing contract,” the project said in an Aug. 12 tweet. “All funds in staking contract are safe, as this is an unrelated part of the protocol,” the project added, also noting participants’ Yam token holdings remain unaltered. As the decentralized finance, or DeFi, crypto boom continues, something called yield farming has come into the spotlight. Yield farming is essentially the latest passive income…
Google Ads is Failing to Protect People From Crypto Scams
Users of the Uniswap decentralized exchange could be at risk thanks to a new Google ad. “URGENT WARNING FOR ANYONE USING UNISWAP,” crypto influencer and YouTuber, BitBoy, said in an Aug. 11 tweet. Tagging Google’s Twitter accounts, he added: “Google you should be ashamed. Whoever runs GoogleAds is FAILING MISERABLY. On YouTube where scammers get ads through and now on your own platform.” According to BitBoy, entering a Google search for “UniSwap” returns an advertisement link as one of the first results at times. “When you click that ad, it…