Category: Exchanges

Identity thieves now have another tool at their disposal: bitcoin hashing power.  That’s the conclusion from a new cryptanalysis paper published earlier this month on SHA-1 (pronounced “shaw”), a once-popular hash function created by the National Security Agency and disapproved in the mid-2000s after failing against theoretical hack attacks. SHA-1 continues to see use in certain circles, such as on source code program Git and other legacy products for sending secure transmissions on computers, according to Gaetan Leurent of France’s National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology and…

A county cricket club in the U.K. is to use blockchain-based ticketing for all domestic and international fixtures played at its home ground in 2020. According to a report Friday from industry magazine, TheTicketingBusiness, Lancashire Cricket Club developed the new solution in partnership with the blockchain ticketing provider TIXnGO. The new blockchain tickets are said to be entirely traceable, unique to the purchaser and nearly impossible to counterfeit. The system also includes a new facility that simplifies the process of transferring or reselling tickets. Following 18-months of development, the new…

DAVOS, Switzerland – Consensus is building on one issue at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland: Cash is dead. “Physical money is out,” said B.S. Kohli, an economic advisor to the head of the Indian state of Punjab. Mothanna Gharaibeh, Jordan’s minister of digital economy and entrepreneurship, agreed. As of this year, Gharaibeh said, Jordanians can no longer pay for government services, from taxes to hospital bills, with cash. They must use electronic payment systems like bank transfers or mobile wallets.  “It’s going to be a tough transformation,” he said,…

DAVOS, Switzerland – Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said an initial public offering (IPO) is seen as the “natural evolution for the company,” perhaps even this year. “I think over the next 12 months you’re definitely going to see IPOs in the crypto, blockchain space. I’m not sure we want to be first but we certainly don’t want to be last either, so I expect we’ll be on the leading side of that, not the lagging side,” Garlinghouse said. He also said his cross-border payments company has been in communication with the…

In this video from the WEF 2020, Nym Technologies CEO Harry Halpin speaks to CoinDesk’s Leigh Cuen in Davos, Switzerland, about the World Economic Forum, privacy and the future of blockchain. Halpin pulled no punches when it came to describing the scene at Davos. “I do think there are lots of well-meaning people here that want to save the world with charity or deal with unemployment, but the fact of the matter is the people here aren’t actually in charge in any meaningful sense,” he said. “It’s just kind of…

Ripple’s XRP sales fell dramatically in the last quarter of 2019 – at least partly due to change in how the company sells its store of the third-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, the company said Wednesday. XRP sales in Q4 dropped 75 percent from the $66.24 million sold in Q3 to just over $13 million, according to Ripple’s XRP Markets Report. The drop is at least partly attributable to a total suspension in programmatic sales, which accounted for $16.1 million the previous quarter. Over-the-counter (OTC) trades also dropped 74 percent…

BlockFi, one of the first lending startups in the cryptocurrency markets, recently announced Thursday it would make changes to the interest paid based on the yield it generates from lending bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH). The changes begin Feb. 1. Rates for litecoin (LTC) and Gemini dollar (GUSD) will remain unchanged, according to BlockFi. In an email to CoinDesk, CEO of Blockfi, Zac Prince said the crypto market is starting to “position more bullish”, which brings yields for lending bitcoin (and ether) down. “As market conditions change, particularly price sentiment,…

Hawaiian lawmakers have submitted a bill that allows banks to provide custody for digital assets. SB2594, introduced on Jan. 18 with bipartisan backing, would make it legal for Hawaiian banks to hold “digital securities,” “virtual currencies,” “digital consumer assets” and other “open blockchain tokens” for their customers. It would further authorize Hawaiian courts to hear digital asset claims if passed. State Senators Gil Riviere (D-23), Sharon Moriwaki (D-12), Stanley Chang (D-9), Les Ihara (D-10) and Kurt Fevella (R-19) sponsored the bill.   In effect, the bill could clear the way for…

There is an ongoing debate in the crypto community about where mainstream adoption. One point of view is that it will be the slow steady acceptance of digital assets. On that front, Bakkt president Adam White said in Davos yesterday that the company is on track to launch their app this year.  Another perspective is that the main use case of crypto is to enable otherwise censored transactions. Lending credence to this perspective is the case of Pornhub, which saw payouts to its more than 100,000 performers blocked unexpectedly by…

Riccardo Spagni, better known as “Fluffypony,” discusses privacy and whether or not central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are just a fleeting thing. The Monero community leader speaks with CoinDesk’s Leigh Cuen in Davos, Switzerland. “There’s less hype, but more talk,” said Spagni. “It’s kind of like one of those things where people say they are building a fintech product that has AI and blockchain.” Spagni sees blockchain as moving into an offensive role now that privacy is gaining a more important role in computing. “Companies like Apple are mainstreaming privacy,”…