December 22, 2019 @ 12:49 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Australia’s anti-money laundering agency has revoked the licences of four cryptocurrency exchanges linked to crime in the country, IT News reports. AUSTRAC revoked licenses at AUSCOIN ATM and MK Buy & Sell in September. Both projects were run by “Lamborghini-driving Bitcoin trader Sam Karagiozis” and associates…. Read More

December 21, 2019 @ 10:26 pm By Cali Haan  |  

A prolific teenaged SIM-swap hacker has been indicted in New York for stealing the identities of at least 75 people across the United States and more than $1 million USD in cryptocurrencies from them via SIM-swap attacks on victims’ cell phones. Yousef Selassie, 19, is… Read More

December 20, 2019 @ 10:29 am By Cali Haan  |  

A former employee for the Kraken cryptocurrency exchange (Payward Inc.) is suing the company in California for discrimination, harassment, wrongful dismissal and retaliation for whistleblowing. The story was broken by Attack of the 50-Foot Blockchain author, David Gerard. Plaintiff Nathan Peter Runyon, “a decorated Marine… Read More

December 20, 2019 @ 8:00 am By Cali Haan  |  

Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck, which sustained a $534 million USD hack last January, has decided to stop offering leveraged trades of cryptocurrencies on its platform. According to a company blog post: “Coincheck has decided to end the “leverage transaction” service on Friday, March 13, 2020…If… Read More

December 19, 2019 @ 7:58 pm By Cali Haan  |  

As she welcomed Benoît Coeuré to his new position as Head of the Bank for International Settlements’ (BIS’) Innovation Hub, U.S. Federal Reserve governor Lael Brainard told regulators in Frankfurt Wednesday that private (crypto) currency networks pose risks that must be addressed. She also said… Read More

December 19, 2019 @ 6:42 pm By Cali Haan  |  

“The Muslim world should be designing measures to save themselves from the domination of the United States dollar and the American financial regime,” Iranian president Hassan Rouhani told leaders from the Muslim world gathered at the Kuala Lumpur Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Thursday, Dec. 19…. Read More

December 19, 2019 @ 3:29 am By Cali Haan  |  

Cryptoforensics firm Chainalysis says massive OTC cryptocurrency cash-outs by “PlusToken” scammers may be driving down the price of bitcoins. According to the firm: “Based in China, PlusToken presented itself as a cryptocurrency wallet that would reward users with high rates of return if they purchased… Read More

December 18, 2019 @ 10:35 pm By Cali Haan  |  

UK cryptocurrency exchange Coinfloor has announced it is delisting Ethereum, “to focus on providing Bitcoin only services from the 3rd of January 2020,” Bitcoin’s 11th anniversary. “The decision will allow Coinfloor to provide a richer set of services for the world’s leading cryptocurrency while maintaining focus on… Read More

December 18, 2019 @ 7:50 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Ricardo Spagni, aka “fluffypony,” the South African “lead maintainer” of the privacy cryptocurrency Monero, is stepping down. He will be staying on in a support position, however. The news was announced at GetMonero.org: “fluffypony is stepping down as the lead maintainer of Monero. Snipa will… Read More

December 18, 2019 @ 7:42 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Senior Executives from the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) have provided reflections on what we might expect regarding financial market infrastructures in 2020. The DTCC is a market infrastructure provider that automates, centralizes and standardizes the processing of financial transactions. It’s responsibilities include, “settling trading… Read More

December 18, 2019 @ 1:08 am By Cali Haan  |  

On December 13th, Bottle Pay, a company variously described as a “custodial Bitcoin wallet provider,” a “payments startup” and a “social media Bitcoin tipping service,” announced it is closing December 31st because it does not want to impose extraordinary anti-money laundering (AML) measures on users. On… Read More

December 17, 2019 @ 10:20 pm By Cali Haan  |  

The OTC division of San Francisco’s Kraken cryptocurrency exchange has announced it is acquiring prominent crypto start up Circle’s “Circle Trade” OTC division. “Today, we’re excited to announce that Kraken is acquiring one of the most recognized OTC desks in crypto, Circle Trade,” Kraken states… Read More

December 17, 2019 @ 9:32 pm By Cali Haan  |  

The first ATM ever to dispense cryptocurrency materialized like a clunky Venus in her shell at a Waves cafe in downtown Vancouver in October 2013. The machine was reportedly installed by Bitcoiniacs in cooperation with a Nevada firm called Robocoin, a company Spectrum says once sourced Bitcoins… Read More

December 17, 2019 @ 9:18 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Two young brothers from Surrey, British Columbia, have plead guilty to defrauding a 63-year-old Oregon woman out of bitcoins worth $140 000 USD at the time and ~$162 ooo at current prices. The Oregonian reports that Jagroop Singh Khatkar, 24, and Karanjit Singh Khatkhar, 23, plead guilty before… Read More

December 17, 2019 @ 4:47 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Macau businessperson Frederico dos Santos Rosário and his Hong Kong business partner, Dennis Lau, are being prosecuted in Macau for promoting OneCoin, a fraudulent $4 billion USD cryptocurrency scheme started by Bulgarians Ruja and Konstantin Ignatov and pervaded across the world. According to Journal Tribune… Read More

December 17, 2019 @ 1:22 am By Cali Haan  |  

Chinese authorities have arrested Yang Zuoxing, an electronics engineer who reputedly designed several of Bitmain’s most popular “Antmine” cryptomining rigs in 2016 before he left and started a rival firm called MicroBT. Since then, Coindesk reports, MicroBT, based in Shenzhen, has reportedly captured about 40% market… Read More

December 16, 2019 @ 10:42 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey, announced on Twitter December 11th that the company, “is funding a small independent team of up to five open source architects, engineers, and designers to develop an open and decentralized standard for social media…We’re calling this team @bluesky.” “The goal,” said Dorsey,… Read More

December 16, 2019 @ 10:21 pm By Cali Haan  |  

In a press release introducing new software that helps banks detect cryptocurrency risk threats, cryptoforensics firm CipherTrace claims, “every one of the top 10 U.S. retail banks currently have unregistered cryptocurrency MSBs—including crypto exchanges—transmitting funds on their payment networks.” The claim is remarkable because banks are known… Read More

December 16, 2019 @ 12:34 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Bottle Pay, a UK company, “on a mission…to introduce Bitcoin to 1 billion people in the next 5 years,” has announced it will shut down December 31st because it does not want to impose enhanced anti-money laundering procedures on users. According to a company blog post:… Read More

December 16, 2019 @ 11:46 am By Cali Haan  |  

Representatives from Grant Thornton have published their Liquidator’s Second Report regarding collapsed New Zealand cryptocurrency exchange Cryptopia. Just prior to its dissolution in May, Cryptopia had over 2.2 million registered users worldwide and 37 employees, Grant Thornton (GT) claims. Hackers are believed to have stolen… Read More