September 24, 2019 @ 10:27 pm By Cali Haan  |  

The Commodity Futures and Trading Commission’s newly-appointed chief, Heath Tarbert, appears to be carrying forward the pro-crypto/pro-blockchain approach established at the CFTC by his predecessor, J. Christopher Giancarlo. Tarbert told reporters at CNBC in a recent interview that he has a favorable opinion of “blockchain”… Read More

September 24, 2019 @ 9:27 pm By Cali Haan  |  

The ball is back in embattled crypto exchange Bitfinex’s court after a different presiding judge has granted a stay of orders compelling financial records pending an appeal. Cryptocurrency companies Bitfinex and Tether and parent company iFinex have been fighting ex parte orders issued in April… Read More

September 24, 2019 @ 3:49 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Things took a strange turn last night after news broke that Kik, creator of a messaging app for teens also called Kik, has been executing layoffs in Israel and plans to shutdown the app. First, following news of the layoffs, Kik CEO Ted Livingston confirmed… Read More

September 24, 2019 @ 2:12 am By Cali Haan  |  

Lawyers for Ripple Labs have asked a judge to dismiss a class-action suit brought against the company in Northern California. The case seeks to establish that Ripple Labs conducted an unlawful sale of securities (XRP tokens) to fund the development of a fast payment network… Read More

September 24, 2019 @ 1:06 am By Cali Haan  |  

SIX Group, a company that provides infrastructure, processing and settlement for Switzerland’s financial sector, has announced it will be delaying the launch of a proposed DLT (distributed ledger technology) platform for the settlement of “digital assets” until Q4 2020. The platform, which would allow the company… Read More

September 23, 2019 @ 10:28 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Two men have been indicted in California for allegedly hacking “decentralized” (peer-to-peer) crypto trading platform EtherDelta. The indictment states that Anthony Nashatka (AKA “Psycho”), who resides in New York, and co-defendant Elliot Gunton (AKA “Planet”), who lives in the UK, have not yet been arrested. The… Read More

September 23, 2019 @ 10:06 pm By Cali Haan  |  

CME Group, also known as the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, has announced it is seeking regulatory approval to launch options on its Bitcoin futures contracts in Q1 2020. According to the relevant release: “CME Group, the world’s leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, today announced it… Read More

September 23, 2019 @ 8:12 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Two individuals who requested anonymity are claiming that Kik has begun disbanding the Isreali subsidiary responsible for running its messaging app, CalcalistTech reports. According to the outlet: “The company is moving all the app’s users to alternative platforms…The 70 employees of Kik’s Israeli cryptocurrency subsidiary… Read More

September 21, 2019 @ 12:01 pm By Cali Haan  |  

BBC Sounds has started airing a series of audio documentaries about the disappearance of Dr. Ruja Ignatova, the “CryptoQueen” co-founder of OneCoin, a multibillion-dollar global cryptocurrency scheme that may have defrauded up to 3 million people. In the series, journalist Jamie Bartlett documents his on the… Read More

September 20, 2019 @ 10:14 am By Cali Haan  |  

Financial services company Square Inc. (NASDAQ:SQ), co-founded in 2009 by Jim McKelvey and Twitter’s Jack Dorsey, has announced three new hires to the company’s Bitcoin-services development division. According to the company, Wallace is a former developer from Lightning Labs, the company behind the Lightning Network,… Read More

September 20, 2019 @ 9:07 am By Cali Haan  |  

A 35-year-old man from Toledo, Ohio, has been sentenced to one-year-and-a-day in prison and three years of supervised release for, “manufacturing fake IDs in a large-scale scheme funded in part with Bitcoin cryptocurrency,” Toledo Blade reports.  Aaron Kuns was sentenced on Wednesday, September 18th, after… Read More

September 20, 2019 @ 2:12 am By Cali Haan  |  

Dapper Labs, creator of CryptoKitties, has secured $11 million USD in funding from private partners to continue developing a new blockchain called Flow. Flow will be used mainly to circulate digital collectibles like CryptoKitties, a project that once clogged the Ethereum network due to a… Read More

September 20, 2019 @ 1:06 am By Cali Haan  |  

Lawyer, self-proclaimed Ethereum co-creator and “architect of the ICO,” Steven Nerayoff, has been charged with extortion for allegedly, “…threaten(ing) to destroy a startup cryptocurrency company if…not paid millions of dollars in the cryptocurrency Ether (ETH).” Nerayoff’s LinkedIn profile indicates he has been, “an advisor or investor in… Read More

September 19, 2019 @ 10:04 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Overstock’s (NASDAQ:OSTK) recently departed founder and CEO, Patrick Byrne, sold his entire 13% stake in the company for $90 million USD in the past three days, MarketWatch reports. Byrne left Overstock in August after disclosing in a company news release and in interviews that he’d… Read More

September 19, 2019 @ 9:25 pm By Cali Haan  |  

A user of the Internet forum site Reddit claims his bank’s reaction to a Bitcoin deal gone bad has, “ruin(ed)” him: “TLDR (summary) – sold small amount of BTC on local bitcoins, Barclays bank closed my account, accused me of fraud and now I can’t… Read More

September 19, 2019 @ 10:19 am By Cali Haan  |  

Australian police have “dismantled” a cybercrime syndicate that used cryptocurrencies to purchase “fraudulently-obtained identities” on Dark Net markets and then use these identities to open bank accounts and drain victims’ retirement savings. According to a release from the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC), “Investigations have… Read More

September 19, 2019 @ 7:11 am By Cali Haan  |  

Officials from the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) have suspended three cryptocurrency exchanges licensed to operate in designated zones only but found to be operating in Metro Manila. Golden Millennial Quickpay, Liannet Technology Ltd and Asia Premier are all under suspension, “…until they transfer to… Read More

September 19, 2019 @ 7:01 am By Cali Haan  |  

As part of a “blockchain strategy” passed Wednesday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet has forbidden the issuing of currencies by private companies, Reuters reports. The move is likely a direct response to the announcement of Facebook’s Libra, a proposed in-app “stablecoin” cryptocurrency the company plans… Read More

September 19, 2019 @ 2:06 am By Cali Haan  |  

Coinbase’s current VP and General Counsel for Business Lines and Markets, Dorothy Dewitt, is leaving the exchange to become Director of Market Oversight at the Commodity Futures and Trading Commission (CFTC). Dewitt’s LinkedIn profile indicates she’s been working at Coinbase for 11 months. The CFTC, “polices…derivatives… Read More

September 19, 2019 @ 12:33 am By Cali Haan  |  

Citing an inability to protect consumers in the event of wrongdoing or mishap, authorities in Burundi banned the trading and possession of cryptocurrencies earlier this month. Alfred Nyobewumusi, director of the Burundi central bank’s microfinance department told Bloomberg that the decision was made after citizens who… Read More