March 22, 2019 @ 4:49 am By Cali Haan  |  

Jared Rice Sr, creator of “AriseBank” and the associated cryptocurrency/token “AriseCoin,” has pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud in Texas, Dallas News reports. The plea reportedly involved Rice admitting that he lied to investors when he raised money for his project. These lies… Read More

March 22, 2019 @ 3:43 am By Cali Haan  |  

One of the world’s largest cryptomining companies, Bitmain, has announced the release of a new crypto mining machine it claims is three times faster than its previous model. The new “Antminer Z11” is designed for the dedicated mining of cryptocurrencies that use the Equihash algorithm… Read More

March 22, 2019 @ 2:20 am By Cali Haan  |  

Switzerland’s Federal Council has voted 99-83 (with 10 abstentions) that existing “procedural instruments of the judicial and administrative authorities” should be adopted forthwith, “so that they can also be applied to cryptocurrencies.” The motion was introduced by Giovanni Merlini (FDP / TI), a Swiss Free… Read More

March 21, 2019 @ 1:27 pm By Cali Haan  |  

JP Morgan’s Global Head of eCommerce Solutions, Ron Karpovich, has told CNBC that there is, “more partnership instead of competition,” in payments and that, “Ultimately behind the scenes, (payments disruptors) are going to have to use a bank to move funds.” He also seemed to dismiss… Read More

March 21, 2019 @ 6:34 am By Cali Haan  |  

Norwegian aluminum producer Norsk Hydro says a ransomware attack that started late Monday night interrupted production at company facilities in North America and Europe, Bloomberg reports. Unknown attackers reportedly switched “potlines” to manual mode during the attack. Potlines are used to keep metal molten and… Read More

March 20, 2019 @ 6:10 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Quebec’s Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) and Financial Markets Tribunal (TMF) would like to hear from anyone who invested in “Blockchain Lab Inc.” Affected investors are asked to contact M me  Sarah Abi-Khalil at 1 877 525-0337 , extension 2644, before 1 st April 2019. The company and its proprietors, Jonathan Forte, Benjamin… Read More

March 20, 2019 @ 3:29 pm By Cali Haan  |  

The man accused of killing 50 people at a New Zealand mosque and hospitalizing dozens more, including a 2-year-old child, claims in his lengthy “manifesto” that he made money from Bitconnect, a now-collapsed cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme that ripped off participants for billions of dollars. In… Read More

March 20, 2019 @ 3:19 pm By Cali Haan  |  

The Japanese government has approved proposed amendments to laws governing cryptocurrency trading that will, among other things, cap leveraged trades permitted in Japan at 2-4X, Nikkei Asian Review reports. Presently, “Certain exchanges voluntarily cap leverage at 25 times the deposit, as with the rule for… Read More

March 20, 2019 @ 6:38 am By Cali Haan  |  

A young hacker from Holland who used Mirai IoT malware to command botnet attacks against Yahoo, the BBC, e-commerce firm Zalando, crypto-trading platforms and gambling sites has been spared additional jail time for his crimes, ZDNet reports. Prosecutors alleged that, in some cases, the hacker… Read More

March 19, 2019 @ 10:37 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Town councilors in Missoula, Montana, have voted to draw up interim zoning rules to govern cryptocurrency mining in the region as well as limit the environmental impact of the sector, The Missoula Current reports. The rules could come into place as soon as April 4th… Read More

March 19, 2019 @ 9:36 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Officials in Jackson County, Georgia, have relented and paid a $400 000 ransom in bitcoins to restore county IT systems disabled by Ryuk ransomware since March 1st, Bank Info Security reports. The FBI and local law enforcement are now investigating the attack. Jackson County now… Read More

March 19, 2019 @ 6:45 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Disclosure filings show that the number of lobbyists promoting “blockchain technology” on K Street, Washington DC’s “lobbying row,” tripled in 2018, Politico reports. As well, Business Standard has reported that one lobbying firm, the Klein/Johnson group, is being partly paid in Ripple crypto coins. According… Read More

March 19, 2019 @ 9:02 am By Cali Haan  |  

Citibank’s new innovation lab chief, Gulru Atak,  has told Coindesk this week that the bank will no longer be working to develop a cryptocurrency for cross-border payments. Citibank’s investigation into the possible creation of a “Citicoin” cryptocurrency reportedly began at the company’s Dublin innovation lab… Read More

March 18, 2019 @ 11:13 pm By Cali Haan  |  

A judge presiding over a district court in Tel Aviv has ruled that a branch of Union Bank in the Herzliya industrial district acted unreasonably when it closed accounts belonging to IsraMiner, a division of the Ukrainian cryptomining company Yashraminer, Calcalist reports. Judge Limor Bibi,… Read More

March 18, 2019 @ 10:32 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Thirteen (13) cryptocurrency companies have been issued 43 code vulnerability reports from “vulnerability disclosure platform” Hacker One, all in the past 30 days, Hard Fork reports. The bugs were found by white hat hackers pursuing rewards from “bug bounty hunter” programs. All told, the hackers… Read More

March 18, 2019 @ 5:43 pm By Cali Haan  |  

The Chicago Board of Options Exchange (Cboe) has announced that it will not be adding new Bitcoin futures contracts this month or next. According to a release from the Chicago Futures Exchange (CFE), a division of the Cboe: “CFE is assessing its approach with respect… Read More

March 18, 2019 @ 2:00 pm By Cali Haan  |  

A veteran cybersecurity investigator has buttressed claims made in the Christopher Steele dossier that Internet infrastructure owned by Russian entrepreneur Aleksej Gubarev was used by Russian intelligence to subvert Hilary Clinton’s 2016 presidential bid, Buzzfeed reports. Gubarev’s infrastructure was also allegedly used to disperse the… Read More

March 17, 2019 @ 2:25 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Alex de Vries, Digiconomist.net founder and a blockchain specialist at PwC’s Experience Centre since 2015, has produced an important report on the Bitcoin network’s extreme energy consumption and waste production, which far exceed that generated by regular banking. De Vries conclusion that Bitcoin should “follow… Read More

March 16, 2019 @ 11:25 am By Cali Haan  |  

Citing a “growing interest” amongst the public in “blockchain-based digital assets,” the Malaysia Securities Commission has issued a proposed regulatory framework for the issuance of ICO’s (initial coin offerings) and is asking for the public’s feedback. The proposal actually contains many cogent suggestions that improve… Read More

March 16, 2019 @ 9:31 am By Cali Haan  |  

An 18-year-old young man in Japan has been turned over to prosecutors to face allegations he hacked 15 million yen ($134 ooo USD) worth of Mona cryptocurrency from a “digital currency storage website,” Japan Today reports. Police claim this is the first time charges have… Read More