November 7, 2018 @ 5:28 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Pilates, a private bank accused by murdered journalist Daphne Carauna Galizia of laundering money for Maltese politicians and foreign interests, has lost its license, Financial Times reports. The license was withdrawn last Friday by the European Central Bank (ECB), several months after Pilatus’ founder and ex-chairman Seyed… Read More

November 6, 2018 @ 10:53 pm By Cali Haan  |  

At least six banks in Pakistan have frozen their customers’ bank and credit cards and have suspended international remittances in the wake of news that, “almost all major Pakistani banks’ (customer data)” was hacked in recent security breaches, Geo News reports. According to Captain Mohammad… Read More

November 6, 2018 @ 10:15 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Members of the opposition in the Marshall Islands have called for a non-confidence vote to oust the nation’s first-and-only female president, Radio New Zealand reports. The vote to oust Hilda Heine, who has previously backed a contentious plan to create a sovereign national cryptocurrency for… Read More

November 6, 2018 @ 8:17 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Cybersecurity researchers in Japan say they have unearthed digital traces that could lead them to the hackers responsible for the September 14th theft of $60 million USD in cryptocurrencies from the licensed Japanese crypto exchange Zaif. The attack in question took place over two hours… Read More

November 6, 2018 @ 12:13 pm By Cali Haan  |  

A woman running small crypto mining operations in the southern Iceland district of Reykjanes is using the energy her machines consume to heat storage spaces she rents from local farmers, Wired reports. Krista Hannesdóttir, a math teacher by day, started crypto mining in a former… Read More

November 6, 2018 @ 9:22 am By Cali Haan  |  

The Ontario Securities Commission, regulator of capital markets in Canada’s most populous economic-powerhouse province, have created a colourful new website to educate investors about cryptocurrencies: GetSmarterAboutCrypto.ca According to a release announcing the initiative, 5% of adult Ontarians, or around 500 000 individuals, now own “crypto assets,”… Read More

November 5, 2018 @ 10:26 pm By Cali Haan  |  

The Chief Secretary and the Head of the State Agency for Bulgarians Abroad  (SABA) along with an accused Serbian co-conspirator, have been detained by Bulgarian police and charged with selling EU passports for Bitcoins, Nova and The Times report. According to the Times, SABA Head Petar Haralampiev has been arrested on… Read More

November 5, 2018 @ 6:48 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Police in Istanbul arrested 11 people last week in connection with the hacking theft of bitcoins from the cryptocurrency wallets of 14 victims, Hürriyet reports. Along with 11 suspects detained, police from the Cybercrimes Division also seized 18 mobile phones, 18 sim cards, 22 flash memory… Read More

November 5, 2018 @ 3:04 pm By Cali Haan  |  

As part of ongoing government efforts to quash initial coin offerings (ICOs) in China, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) has extended prohibitions to cover “airdrops” -the promotional distribution of free cryptographic tokens- which may possibly be being used now in China to circumvent the… Read More

November 5, 2018 @ 1:28 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Though Coinbase announced it raised $300 million “from high-quality investors” last week, the cryptocurrency exchange also laid off an estimated 15 people working remotely in support, compliance, and fraud departments, Yahoo Finance reports. Coinbase would not confirm how many employees were cut, it did admit… Read More

November 5, 2018 @ 8:11 am By Cali Haan  |  

Trading cryptocurrencies anonymously is no longer legal in Taiwan, Focus Taiwan reports. The change was made Friday, November 2nd as Taiwan prepares to be evaluated by the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG), which will take place between Nov. 5th and the 16th. Although Taiwan also… Read More

November 2, 2018 @ 6:20 pm By Cali Haan  |  

An extortionist has been contacting Amsterdam businesses by email threatening to shoot at or tie grenades to their storefronts if he or she is not paid a ransom of 50 000 Euros in bitcoins, NL Times reports. At least one nightclub and three coffee shops… Read More

November 2, 2018 @ 5:03 pm By Cali Haan  |  

The Financial and Consumer Affairs Authority (FCAA) in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan has issued a warning to investors cautioning them around investing or trading in cryptocurrencies. In its “Using Or Investing In Cryptocurrency? Know The Risks” release issued October 31st, the last day of Investor… Read More

November 2, 2018 @ 3:58 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Lawyers for the Winklevoss twins want to know where “Bitcoin’s first felon” Charlie Shrem’s money is coming from, and are suing him for 5000 bitcoins they say he owes their clients, the New York Times (NYT) reports. Shrem and a partner from England started Bitinstant in… Read More

November 1, 2018 @ 10:19 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Arthur Hayes, CEO of the Hong Kong-based Bitcoin-derivatives exchange BitMEX, has told an audience in London that the bear market for Bitcoin could last another 18 months, Yahoo Finance reports. “My view is the volatility environment that exists right now could persist for another 12 to… Read More

November 1, 2018 @ 1:07 pm By Cali Haan  |  

The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC), a provider of secondary and post-secondary training and education that also manages end of program testing, began piloting a program yesterday that will host the academic records of 24 000 participants on a blockchain system. The CXC hopes the system… Read More

November 1, 2018 @ 11:14 am By Cali Haan  |  

A judge at the Seoul Central District Court has ordered one of South Korea’s largest banks, Nonghyup, to restore services to the Coinis cryptocurrency exchange, 8BTC reports. The showdown reportedly began in September when Nonghyup announced it would no longer process deposits and withdrawals on behalf… Read More

October 31, 2018 @ 9:33 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Wences Casares, an early Bitcoin adopter and founder of the bitcoin wallet and vault company Xapo, has told reporters at Bloomberg that Bitcoin, “is a really interesting intellectual experiment…” that still has a “non-trivial chance of failing,” though he considers success more likely than failure…. Read More

October 31, 2018 @ 9:15 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Politicians and regulators attending a recent meeting of the Indian Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) were briefed  that a dedicated “High-level Committee” chaired by the country’s Secretary of Economic affairs is, “deliberat(ing)…to devise an appropriate legal framework to ban use of private cryptocurrencies in India…”… Read More

October 31, 2018 @ 12:29 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Coinbase has opted to raise funds from, “some very high quality investors….who have a very constructive thesis on crypto,” in a series round and won’t be doing an initial public offering (IPO) any time soon, Bloomberg reports. “There’s not going to be an IPO any… Read More