Month: September 2017

In response to Jamie Dimon’s misguided comments about Bitcoin last week, one firm has filed a market abuse report against him. Blockswater, an algorithmic liquidity provider, raised issues of market manipulation, as well as accusing Dimon of deliberately distorting the public perception of cryptocurrency. According to London-based Blockswater, the JP Morgan CEO violated Article 12 of the European Union’s Market Abuse Regulation when he denounced the cryptocurrency as a “fraud” and said that any employee trading in digital assets would Read more …

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has filed a lawsuit against a New York-based man and his company for allegedly running a bitcoin-based Ponzi scheme. Nicholas Gelfman and his firm, Gelfman Blueprint Inc (GBI), are accused of procuring over $600,000 from 80 people between January 2014 and approximately January 2016. According to the CFTC, the funds were solicited from customers under the pretence of sponsoring a high-frequency bitcoin trading algorithm called “Jigsaw.” Legal documents state that GBI falsely claimed that, through Read more …

Vaultoro, a bitcoin-to-gold exchange, has secured funding from Finlab AG, a fintech company based in Frankfurt, Germany. Vaultoro co-founder Joshua Scigala stated that the funding from Finlab will allow them to reach their goals faster. The first upgrade the company plans to implement will be a real-time gold-backed debit card. The card will allow the customers of the firm to hold their allocated gold — stored in a high-security Swiss bullion vault — while they can easily spend the funds Read more …

Featured A new survey recently conducted by Lend Edu polled Americans about their interest in bitcoin. The survey asked basic questions about whether people have heard about bitcoin, whether it was legal, and if they would use it or invest in it. By and large, younger generations have increasingly heard of bitcoin, and they see it as an investment opportunity. Also read: South Africa’s Second Largest Supermarket Chain Pick n Pay Trials Bitcoin Payments General Bitcoin Trends Lend Edu commented on Read more …

The European session is about to draw to a close and, with it, our European efforts in the bitcoin price for the week. As we noted this morning, it has been a pretty wild week as far as volatility is concerned. Price served up plenty of entry opportunities, especially towards the end of the, and we were able to take advantage of a number of shifts in capitalization both during the European and US sessions. The next few hours will Read more …

The litecoin-U.S. dollar (LTC/USD) exchange rate is again trading below $50, just three weeks after setting a new all-time high just below $100. While the sell-off is in line with the broader market weakness, it is still alarming, given the recent losses and the lack of signals for a bullish reversal. As of writing, the cryptocurrency (known as “silver to bitcoin’s gold”) was trading at around $45. According to data from CoinMarketCap, litecoin has shed 11 percent in the last Read more …

If you thought ICO announcements were big news, just consider what was announced by Olivier Janssens, founder of Freedom Investments, and Roger Ver, of Bitcoin Foundation fame. The team, along with a trove of attorneys and other professionals, is seeking to establish its own independent nation, governed by libertarian values, and invites anyone who shares their political views or are just ‘free thinkers’ to join them. The country, reminiscent of Ayn Rand’s Galtian paradise, is intended to be a place where those who Read more …

Spending Bitcoin in its original form remain pretty difficult these days. Very few service providers and physical retailers accept BTC. In Nebraska, lawyers may soon start experimenting with cryptocurrency payments. The state legal ethics board approved the request from one lawyer to accept Bitcoin. It is expected several others will follow his example over the next few weeks and months. It is always interesting to explore new use cases for Bitcoin. Paying your lawyer with cryptocurrency may not make much Read more …

Mastercard may be looking to integrate blockchain into its payments infrastructure. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published a new application from the financial giant this week that outlines a solution for a “uniform settlement system” – one that would help ease some of the friction involved with business-to-business payments. Specific issues cited in the application include growing data storage demands and the overall volume of transactions. Notably, Mastercard suggests in the text that such a system could include a blockchain-based Read more …

Bitcoin’s latest critic from the world of high-finance is the founder of Bridgewater Associates, Ray Dalio. In an interview with CNBC on Tuesday, the brains behind the planet’s biggest hedge fund called the leading cryptocurrency, a “bubble”. His reasoning simply being that if people are buying something with the hope of selling it on for a higher price, it must be a bubble. It’s a shame. It could be a currency. It could work conceptually, but the amount of speculation Read more …

Uruguay is the latest country to see its central bank start experimenting with its own digital currency, according to statements. The Banco Central del Uruguay (BDC) announced Wednesday that a limited number of users would help testing a mobile-based app for the transfer of funds. Speaking at an event called “The Future of Money and the Financial System,” BCD President Mario Bergara said that the digital currency would function like cash, allowing for balances to be passed between individuals. According to Read more …

Jamie Dimon is at it again. Expanding on his recent criticism of bitcoin, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase bank is again out in the media warning “it will end badly” for the tech. In a fresh round of press interviews, Dimon told CNBC he is concerned about a flood of cryptocurrencies – thanks to bitcoin, ethereum and initial coin offerings (ICOs) – and believes governments will soon crackdown on the phenomenon. Predicting that the scenario will not be pretty, the CEO reportedly Read more …