February 7, 2019 @ 4:39 am By Cali Haan  |  

The head of Russia’s VTB bank, Andrei Kostin, has reportedly compared cryptocurrency mining with counterfeiting and believes crypto markets cannot currently be regulated, Russian national news agency TASS reports. Kostin made the comments while speaking at an educational event called “The I Am Professional” Olympiad…. Read More

February 7, 2019 @ 3:38 am By Cali Haan  |  

Veteran cryptographer Bruce Schneier has strongly attacked “trust automation” value claims by blockchain advocates in a piece published in Wired this week called, “There’s No Good Reason to Trust Blockchain Technology.” He also called cryptocurrencies “useless” to anyone but spectators and criminals: “Honestly, cryptocurrencies are useless…. Read More

February 6, 2019 @ 7:00 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Like elsewhere, Indian officials have been contemplating how to properly regulate cryptocurrencies for some time. Now a report from Quartz India says Indian regulators are currently “obsessed” with how cryptocurrencies might destabilize standard currencies, specifically the rupee. Inflation and counterfeiting have been issues in India,… Read More

February 6, 2019 @ 2:19 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Forbes’ “Fintech 50” list of the world’s top financial tech firms includes only 6 “blockchain” companies this year, down from 11 listed last year, Cointelegraph reports. The companies that fell from the list were reportedly replaced by established firms and by new entrants, 20 of… Read More

February 6, 2019 @ 10:58 am By Cali Haan  |  

Private shares for “global crypto finance company” Circle that sold in a Series E fundraise last May for $16.23 each are reportedly available for sale on SharesPost now for $3.80, The Block reports. The May raise put Circle’s valuation at $3.01 billion. Though The Block… Read More

February 6, 2019 @ 2:21 am By Cali Haan  |  

Three large banks in Japan, players in the country’s “crowded” payments market, have decided to abandon a cooperative pilot undertaken in 2017 to create a peer-to-peer remittance network, Nikkei Asian Review (NAR) reports. The three banks- Mizuho Financial Group, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group– will… Read More

February 6, 2019 @ 1:16 am By Cali Haan  |  

20-year-old Dawson Bakies of Ohio has been charged with multiple counts of felony Identity Theft, Grand Larceny, Computer Tampering, Scheme to Defraud and other related felony and misdemeanor counts relating to alleged SIM-swap hacks on more than 50 victims across the US. The indictment of Bakies for… Read More

February 5, 2019 @ 4:50 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Abu Dhabi’s state-owned investment fund, Mubadala Investment Co, has sold a large portion of its position in common equity shares at Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Reuters reports. Last week, AMD announced quarterly results that fell short on top line revenue. The company forecasted decent Q1 earnings… Read More

February 5, 2019 @ 12:05 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Claims by current operators of the Canadian cryptocurrency exchange QuadrigaCX that the company has “lost” cold wallets containing more than $150 million in crypto are being disputed by a researcher at the Zerononsense blog. QuadrigaCX filed for creditor protection last week, and according to Zerononsense,… Read More

February 5, 2019 @ 10:26 am By Cali Haan  |  

A young “crypto anarchist” going by the name of “John Galton” who claimed to be fleeing marijauna-related charges in the US has been shot dead in his home in Acapulco, NBC San Diego reports. The young man’s male friend , Jason Henza, 43, was reportedly… Read More

February 3, 2019 @ 2:16 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Coinpulse, a “community-based” cryptocurrency exchange launched at the end of June 2018, has published an “urgent notice” advising all users to withdraw their tokens by February 7th, 2019, when the exchange will be closed for “maintenance until further notice.” The January 31, 2019, notice states… Read More

February 3, 2019 @ 1:09 pm By Cali Haan  |  

An Italian court has ordered the owner of the BitGrail cryptocurrency exchange, Francesco Firano, to declare bankruptcy and forfeit assets so they can be used to reimburse investors harmed when Firano “lost” 17 million Nano tokens (worth $170 million), a post by affected investors claims…. Read More

February 3, 2019 @ 12:08 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Oakland, California resident Sandford Bemi Faison is being held on charges alleging he tried to buy a toxic chemical on the Dark Net in order to poison his estranged spouse, The Los Angeles Times reports. The intended victim is also the mother of the accused’s two… Read More

February 3, 2019 @ 10:53 am By Cali Haan  |  

Joel Ortiz, a 20-year-old California college student, has accepted a plea deal and has agreed to a sentence of 10 years for stealing $5 million in cryptocurrencies from victims he robbed via SIM-swap hack, Motherboard reports. Ortiz will be sentenced on March 14, and it… Read More

February 2, 2019 @ 12:28 pm By Cali Haan  |  

The board at beleaguered Canadian crypto exchange QuadrigaCX has issued a notice on the exchange’s website stating that the company has filed for credit protection and is struggling to “…locate and secure our very significant cryptocurrency reserves held in cold wallets…(which) are required to satisfy… Read More

February 2, 2019 @ 11:14 am By Cali Haan  |  

In its latest “Crypto Crime Report,” blockchain forensics firm Chainalysis says that two groups are responsible for 60% of hacks on cryptocurrency exchanges, the most lucrative types of crypto hacks by far: “Hacking dwarfs all other forms of crypto crime, and it is dominated by… Read More

February 2, 2019 @ 7:12 am By Cali Haan  |  

The State of Florida has been granted the right to appeal Judge Theresa May Pooler’s dismissal of a case of alleged unlicensed money transmission brought against a LocalBitcoins trader called Michell Espinosa. In 2013, Espinosa became the focus of a sting operation for “operating an… Read More

February 1, 2019 @ 1:38 pm By Cali Haan  |  

In an effort to better “manage its resources,” Canadian crypto exchange Coinsquare laid off 40% of its workforce yesterday, Canadian-startup news outlet BetaKit reports. The latest layoffs reportedly follow a 20% cutback on employees undertaken by Coinsquare last July. According to Coinsquare CEO Cole Diamond,… Read More

February 1, 2019 @ 3:52 am By Cali Haan  |  

Bitfury, one of the world’s largest cryptomining  and “blockchain-services” firms has announced it is partnering with the Korea-based company Commons Foundation, “to open and operate Bitcoin transaction processing centers in Paraguay as part of the foundation’s “Golden Goose” initiative to expand cryptocurrency and blockchain innovation… Read More

February 1, 2019 @ 1:29 am By Cali Haan  |  

The co-founder of IOTA, Dominik Schiener has told Reuters that a majority of the 10 million Euros ($11.4 million USD) in IOTA crypto tokens that police believe was stolen by a lone hacker from Oxford, England, has been located, The 36-year-old accused hacker was arrested last… Read More