BitMex Drama, KuCoin Hack, Now This

Bitcoin price is currently back over $10,500, holding on after a brief crash to under $10,400 on the heels of several pieces of extremely negative news. The recent news normally would be enough to send the crypto market collapsing, highlighting just how resilient support at $10,000 has been so far. Bitcoin Price Holds Strong At $10,000, Showing Resiliency in Face Of BitMEX Case, KuCoin Hack Bitcoin price may have fallen 20% from 2020 highs, but the cryptocurrency remains firmly above the key support level of $10,000. This level acted as…

Trump, Crypto and Fairer Taxes

For Democrats, it was a moment of truth. For Republicans, it was “fake news.”  Among some members of the crypto commentariat, there was a very different reaction to The New York Times’ recent scoop on Donald Trump’s tax returns – a bombshell story to kick off a week of even bigger bombshells about the now COVID-afflicted U.S. President. Rather than challenge the story, they challenged the response to it.  The CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, Jesse Powell, said it was “fake outrage” and defended citizens’ rights to minimize the state’s…

Blockstack Teams Up With Chainlink to Use Algorand-supported Clarity Smart Contract Language – Blockchain News, Opinion, TV and Jobs

Chainlink and Blockstack have announced they are integrating Chainlink’s popular oracle technology with Blockstack’s Algorand-supported Clarity smart contract language. Blockstack developers will soon be able to write Clarity smart contracts with validated data from Chainlink. Muneeb Ali, Co-Founder of Blockstack, said: “Stacks 2.0 is a unique layer-1 blockchain that has a native bridge to Bitcoin. Clarity smart contracts give new powers to our developers. High-quality data feeds from Oracles are an important building block for Clarity contract developers. Given our familiarity with and knowledge of Chainlink’s impressive team and technology,…

Blockchain Bites: BitMEX Investigation, Trump’s Diagnosis, Babel’s Leaked Audio

BitMEX is in hot water with the CFTC and DOJ. Thursday, a dual agency operation levied charges against the derivatives exchange and several employees for facilitating unregistered trading and violating the Bank Secrecy Act.  Elsewhere, another European financial head has intimated the need for a “digital euro,” Atari’s cryptocurrency has a sale date and Venezuela built a national stock exchange on Ethereum.  Top shelf BitMEX’s big messThe U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and federal prosecutors are charging crypto trading platform BitMEX with facilitating unregistered trading and other crimes. Further, several executives and…

Why One Bitcoin Analyst Believes the Market is “Scared for All the Wrong Reasons”

Bitcoin’s price action as of late has been driven by a combination of recent news developments, jitters within the macro-economic environment, as well as technical weakness. That being said, these factors have not been enough to push the benchmark cryptocurrency below any crucial support levels, as it is still trading within the macro trading range that it has been caught within throughout the past few weeks. Until this range is firmly broken below, the cryptocurrency’s mid-term outlook remains strong, and its strength in the face of bear-favoring news is surprising.…

Bitcoin News Roundup for Oct. 2, 2020

With Pres. Trump testing positive and a systemically important exchange in deep trouble, CoinDesk’s Markets Daily is back for your latest crypto news roundup! The cryptocurrency and Asian stock markets dumped early Friday after U.S. Pres. Donald Trump announced he and his wife had tested positive to COVID-19. Developers will take a second whack at a final Ethereum 2.0 testnet after the first, Spadina, failed due to “critical peering issues.”  The Commodity Future Trading Commission has charged BitMEX, CEO Arthur Hayes and other affiliated entities with offering U.S. customers crypto…

Bitcoin (BTC) Rests on the 100-Day MA on Trump’s Positive COVID19 Test

Quick take: It’s a second consecutive tense day for Bitcoin in the crypto markets as President Trump tests positive for COVID19 The news comes less than 24 hours after the CFTC and DoJ charged Bitmex and its founders of illegally operating a derivatives exchange and violating the Bank Secrecy Act Bitcoin is currently resting on the 100-day moving average as the crypto-verse digests the news Bitcoin (BTC) has been bombarded by the second day of shocking news with President Trump testing positive for the Coronavirus. President Trump made public his…

Bitcoin Escrow Chief Pleads Guilty to $3.25M Crypto Fraud

The head of bitcoin escrow company Volantis pleaded guilty on Thursday to one count of commodities fraud for bilking an investor of over $3 million. Jon Barry Thompson, 49, admitted in Manhattan federal district court that his crypto companies – Volantis Market Making LCC and Volantis Escrow Platform LLC – never followed through with a promised $3.25 million bitcoin buy for one unnamed customer in the summer of 2018. Thompson also settled charges brought by the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission on Thursday. A newly filed consent order requires him…

BitMEX Fires Back After US Accuses Crypto Exchange of Failing to Prevent Money Fraud

The Seychelle-based crypto exchange, BitMEX, is refuting accusations that it violated the federal Bank Secrecy Act. US authorities filed charges against five BitMEX operating entities and its company owners, Arthur Hayes, Ben Delo and Samuel Reed on Thursday. The CFTC alleges that BitMEX operated unregistered in the US and failed to put in place anti-money laundering measures. The civil suit also asserts that the trading platform illegally offered up to 100x leveraged futures transactions. The popular Bitcoin trading platform, which has now seen over $11 billion in Bitcoin deposits and…

U.S. Authorities Accused of Stunning Hypocrisy Over BitMEX Charges

The U.S. Commodities and Futures Commission (CFTC), in conjunction with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), has charged BitMEX with failure to prevent money laundering, as well as running an illicit derivatives trading platform. Each of the two charges carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison for the accused. In connection with the charges, the United States Office of the Southern District of New York has indicted four individuals. Those being Arthur Hayes, Ben Delo, Samuel Reed, and Gregory Dwyer. Yesterday morning saw the arrest of BitMEX CTO,…