January 2, 2019 @ 8:20 pm By Cali Haan  |  

“Deteriorating profitability” resulting from stiff global competition from other miners and sharply falling cryptocurrency prices have prompted the Japanese e-commerce and Internet firm DMM to abandon its efforts in the crypto-mining sector, Toyo Kazei reports. DMM now joins Japanese Internet firm GMO, which also recently… Read More

January 2, 2019 @ 4:00 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Ross Ulbricht, the jailed founder one of the Dark Net’s first black marketplaces, Silk Road, has written to longtime Bitcoiner and Bitcoin Cash founder Roger Ver to appeal for his help in getting a presidential pardon. Ulbricht, 34, was sentenced in 2015 to two life… Read More

January 2, 2019 @ 12:15 pm By Cali Haan  |  

A Happy New Year, indeed. Paragon Coin (PRG), the crypto token of a “cannabis on blockchain” project sanctioned in November by the SEC, pumped 6800% overnight on New Year’s Eve on the Russian crypto exchange Yobit. When PRG holders woke up in the new year,… Read More

January 2, 2019 @ 7:30 am By Cali Haan  |  

Dr. Philip Frost, a biotech billionaire accused of “fleecing investors…(in) lucrative market manipulation schemes” has agreed to pay $5.5 million in penalties to the American Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), CNBC reports. Frost is a business associate of Barry Honig, the accused ringleader int he alleged… Read More

January 2, 2019 @ 7:18 am By Cali Haan  |  

A freedom-of-information request filed by The Sunday Telegraph shows that four-fifths of 49 companies investigated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) resulted in warnings about those companies being issued to the public. A total of 67 investigations into crypto operations have been launched by the FCA. 18 investigations are… Read More

December 31, 2018 @ 7:00 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Iran’s Secretary of the Criminal Content Definition Task Force, Javad Javidnia, has warned Iranian’s to stay away from the Telegram messaging app’s new crypto token, “Gram,” Tehran Times (TT) reports. According to a TT paraphrase, Javidnia has told the public that: “…any cooperation with Telegram messaging app(‘s)…launch (of)… Read More

December 31, 2018 @ 11:28 am By Cali Haan  |  

Russia is one of the most crypto (currency)-enthused regions in the world, and mining cryptocurrencies not just a big city, male phenomenon there, BBC reports. In the Siberian city of Irkutsk, even “grandmothers” are getting in on the action. “I want some money that I’ve… Read More

December 31, 2018 @ 9:55 am By Cali Haan  |  

Reporters at The Wall Street Journal have identified 513 cryptocurrency projects using plagiarized language, listing false “team members” and promising outsize returns to lure investors. Reporters used automated key-word search tools and human scrutiny to to trawl 3300 crypto white papers for evidence of misconduct. All… Read More

December 31, 2018 @ 9:13 am By Cali Haan  |  

Rumours of widespread layoffs at Bitmain, the world’s largest manufacturer of cryptocurrency mining equipment and largest operator of crypto-mining pools, are now being followed by stories the company’s two famous founders -Micree Zhan and Jihan Wu- will be leaving their posts as Bitmain co-directors, Weixin… Read More

December 30, 2018 @ 10:51 am By Cali Haan  |  

Owners of a peer-to-peer Bitcoin trading app called Paxful says Africans are conducting 17 000 bitcoin trades per day using the service, and that the majority of the trades involve exchanging bitcoins for gift cards from Amazon and iTunes, according to a recent blog post… Read More

December 30, 2018 @ 9:45 am By Cali Haan  |  

A Taiwanese businessperson named Yang has been accused of stealing NT$ 100 million (about $3 million USD) in electricity from landlords at 17 locations where he was running surreptitious cryptocurrency mines across the country’s capital city of Taipei, Yahoo Taiwan reports. The man, who may… Read More

December 29, 2018 @ 7:37 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Square, providers of distinctive white-plastic and user-friendly mobile payments hardware as well as North America’s most popular (Bitcoin-friendly) peer-to-peer payment app, Cash App, have crowned a banner year by being declared Yahoo Finance’s 2018 Company of the Year, Yahoo reports. First, there was the stock’s… Read More

December 29, 2018 @ 6:37 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Florida law firm Silver Miller is making quite a name for itself as it files yet another class action lawsuit against a crypto Ponzi scheme called “Coin Signals” allegedly pervaded by Jeremy Spence of New York, Jaime Cruz-Herrera of New Jersey and associates. According to a… Read More

December 29, 2018 @ 6:21 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Researchers from “Wallet.fail” made a splash when they demonstrated successful hacks on the three most reputable cryptocurrency hardware wallets at the 35C3 Refreshing Memories Conference December 27th. Safe or “cold” storage of cryptocurrency has proven a stubborn problem in the sector, and digital currencies are… Read More

December 29, 2018 @ 9:05 am By Cali Haan  |  

Craig Wright, an Australian businessperson and Bitcoin enthusiast who claims to be the elusive inventor of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, has lost a bid to have a lawsuit filed against him in Florida courts dismissed. The suit claims that Wright absconded with between 300 000 and… Read More

December 29, 2018 @ 8:01 am By Cali Haan  |  

Hackers have stolen more than $750 000 USD in Bitcoins from users of the Electrum Bitcoin hot wallet since December 21st, CCN reports. Another outlet places the amount stolen closer to $1 million. A “hot wallet” is a device for storing the “private keys” needed… Read More

December 27, 2018 @ 8:02 pm By Cali Haan  |  

An investigation by the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges of 23 of 80 listed companies publicly claiming to have incorporated blockchain tech has revealed that 13 of them, or about 57%,  “have not achieved..results (in) blockchain,” Sina reports. Half of the companies that failed to deliver… Read More

December 27, 2018 @ 6:44 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Mark Carpeles, the disgraced former CEO of the now-defunct early Bitcoin exchange Mt Gox, has told a Japanese court that he did not embezzle 340 million yen (~$3 million USD) from the exchange in 2013, NHK reports. Mt Gox fell apart in the early months… Read More

December 27, 2018 @ 5:02 pm By Cali Haan  |  

The importance of storing one’s cryptocurrency safely was highlighted in South Korea this week when a court there decided that Korean crypto exchange Bithumb is not liable for customer funds hacked from an account there, Han Kyung reports. According to the outlet, an investor with… Read More

December 27, 2018 @ 4:51 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Bitmain, the world’s largest manufacturer of cryptocurrency mining hardware and largest operator of crypto mining pools, and Huobi, the world’s third-largest cryptocurrency exchange, have both confirmed rumours they will be laying off employees, South China Morning Post (SCMP) reports. The value of global crypto markets has declined by… Read More