Tagged: digital currencies

March 2, 2021 @ 7:43 am By Omar Faridi  |  

On January 27, 2021, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) revealed that there had been a significant disruption of the NetWalker ransomware strain. FBI agents assigned to the case had taken down a website NetWalker attackers had allegedly used to communicate with the unsuspecting victims…. Read More

February 26, 2021 @ 4:42 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The research team at McGill is reportedly collaborating on the potential design for the new Bank of Canada digital currency. Professors Katrin Tinn and Christophe Dubach have jointly proposed a new design for a “cash-like” central bank digital currency or CBDC which will aim to… Read More

February 17, 2021 @ 1:53 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

San Francisco-based crypto exchange Coinbase says it’s focused on helping its customers during tax season (in the United States) Lawrence Zlatkin, Vice President, Tax, Coinbase, notes that for the second consecutive year, taxpayers will be asked on their tax return forms questions regarding digital currencies…. Read More

February 12, 2021 @ 5:56 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

A Nigerian crypto trader is claiming that they sold off all their coins (crypto-assets) following the government’s directives regarding cryptocurrencies. The trader also noted that they’ve now withdrawn all their proceeds, but they haven’t “seen a dime” in their bank account and it’s been more… Read More

February 10, 2021 @ 11:13 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

A new United Nations inquiry into the reported theft of $281 million in crypto-assets from  KuCoin, a major digital currency exchange, in September 2020 “strongly suggests” links to North Korea. Industry participants claim that Seychelles-headquartered KuCoin could be the victim of one of the largest… Read More

February 3, 2021 @ 7:53 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Existing virtual currencies are unlikely to last, according to Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey. Decentralized cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) or Bitcoin Cash (BCH) don’t have the appropriate structure to work as a viable long-term payments method, according to Bank of England (BoE) governor Andrew… Read More

January 31, 2021 @ 2:22 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Alchemy Pay has introduced a $500,000 Payment Ecosystem Incentive Fund in order to accelerate development in the blockchain-focused payments sector. Alchemy Pay, which claims to be a pioneer of the world’s first hybrid fiat and crypto payment system, notes that the digital currency space has… Read More

January 30, 2021 @ 8:07 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Banking Circle, a financial infrastructure developer, notes that only a month into the new year, and partnerships are already beginning to emerge as “a strong theme underpinning the future of the industry.” Banking Circle also confirmed that they’ve teamed up with global provider of local… Read More

January 29, 2021 @ 9:05 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Monetary Board of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has reportedly reviewed and approved the applicable guidelines for virtual asset service providers (VASP) and other entities that facilitate financial services by using VASPs (also referred to as cryptocurrencies). The new guidelines have updated the… Read More

January 27, 2021 @ 8:19 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Institutional investors have been gaining more exposure to alternative assets such as Bitcoin — particularly large hedge funds. These clients are now willing to aggressively promote or defend Bitcoin’s (BTC) unpredictable and wild price fluctuations. Large publicly listed firms such as MicroStrategy believe or claim… Read More

January 26, 2021 @ 9:02 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Blockchain security firm CipherTrace notes that during her confirmation hearing on January 19, Dr. Janet Yellen, US President Joe Biden’s pick for Secretary of the Treasury, had said that “many” virtual currencies remain “a particular concern” when it comes to terrorism and criminal financing (and… Read More

January 25, 2021 @ 11:21 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Hong Kong might lead China’s financial integration efforts with other countries and could also help promote the adoption of the digital yuan, according to government officials. But regardless of what Hong Kong actually does to fulfill its role, the special administrative region of the People’s… Read More

January 22, 2021 @ 3:43 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Tal Elyashiv, Founder and Managing Partner at SPiCE VC, which claims to be the first fully compliant (regulation wise) tokenized venture capital fund, notes that today, we’re at the beginning of what might be the greatest transformational period in modern history. Elyashiv writes in an… Read More

January 20, 2021 @ 6:34 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis notes that 2020 was an “incredible” year for Bitcoin (BTC) and the larger cryptocurrency market. Despite the devastation and socioeconomic problems resulting from the global Covid-19 pandemic, Bitcoin, the flagship digital currency, managed to shatter its previous all-time highs. The Bitcoin… Read More

January 17, 2021 @ 6:48 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

There have reportedly been massive blackouts and smog that have hit several cities in Iran. It’s being described as quite a toxic mix as the nation, which is facing serious economic challenges and crippling US-led sanctions, is now also having to deal with the region’s… Read More

January 9, 2021 @ 12:23 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Blockchain security firm CipherTrace recently explained and discussed the differences between virtual asset service providers (VASPs), money service businesses (MSB), money transmitters, digital asset customers, and how they impact crypto-related compliance measures. CipherTrace noted that cryptocurrency, digital assets, convertible virtual currency, and other terms seem… Read More

January 7, 2021 @ 10:15 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Payments company Square‘s (NYSE:SQ) Jack Dorsey has expressed concerns regarding recently proposed Bitcoin (BTC) related regulations. The bitcoin regulations proposed by FinCEN give few useful powers to regulators, greatly roll back economic freedoms while pointlessly surveilling law-abiding people, and create databases of info about who… Read More

January 4, 2021 @ 7:51 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Digital currency exchange Bittrex has announced that Monero (XMR), Zcash (ZEC), and Dash (DASH) cryptocurrency markets will be “removed on Friday, January 15th at 23:00 UTC.” The Bittrex team confirmed that the following markets will be removed on January 15, 2021: BTC-XMR, ETH-XMR, USDT-XMR BTC-ZEC,… Read More

January 3, 2021 @ 2:13 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Robin Mahler Weisman, Senior Policy Counsel at Coin Center, a leading non-profit entity focused on the latest policy issues facing digital currencies, notes that the US Congress had warned the Treasury regarding its “unusually short” timeline for feedback regarding its new cryptocurrency rulemaking proposal. Weisman… Read More

January 1, 2021 @ 11:10 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Pete Kim, who has helped build the USDC stablecoin version 2.0 and the Coinbase Wallet, has published an update on upgrading one of the world’s largest digital assets, USDC, which is an (Ethereum) ERC-20 compliant token. Kim explains that USD Coin (USDC) is a stablecoin… Read More