Month: February 2018

“The manufacturing industry is focused on big players… this prevents independent buyers, startups and small to medium-sized businesses from participating. We are solving this problem.”  — SyncFab’s CEO Jeremy Goodwin. SyncFab has been in business since 2013 and since then partnered with the cities of San Francisco, San Leandro, and Oakland as part of their civic innovation Startup program, which is recognized by the Department of Energy and Commerce at the White House. SyncFab has introduced a blockchain based smart Read more …

Global financial services company JPMorgan Chase has become the most recent bank to label the rise of cryptocurrencies as a threat to its business. In its annual 10-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the bank noted the potential impact that cryptocurrencies could have on payment processing under its “risk factors” section, saying the institution could be disrupted by the still nascent technology. The bank wrote: “Furthermore, both financial institutions and their non-banking competitors face the risk that Read more …

Get Trading Recommendations and Read Analysis on Hacked.com for just $39 per month. The Marshall Islands is set to release its own cryptocurrency called the Sovereign after the Parliament voted to approve an official cryptocurrency as legal tender, a move that could end its reliance on the US Dollar as its official currency. The Republic of Marshall Islands (RMI), a chain of 1,156 volcanic islands and islets in the Pacific with a population of over 70,000, could see a cryptocurrency Read more …

Crypto exchange and wallet service Coinbase reported today at 1:53 a.m. PST, about five hours ago to press time, that Bitcoin (BTC) buys and sells are “intermittently available”. The notice on Coinbase’s status site states: “A recurring issue with one of our processes is causing Bitcoin buys and sells to become temporarily unavailable. Our team is investigating and working to restore full service as soon as possible. Coinbase customers may experience intermittent outages of BTC buys and sells over the Read more …

Cryptocurrency exchanges in Malaysia must now fully identify traders after new central bank anti-money laundering legislation came into effect Tuesday, Feb. 27. A copy of the legislation and official press release from the Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) states that any exchanges offering crypto-to-fiat, fiat-to-crypto and even crypto-to-crypto trading must “identify the customer and verify that customer’s identity.” As Cointelegraph reported in November 2017, forecasting the regulations, BNM Governor Tan Sri Muhammad bin Ibrahim placed emphasis on the need to control Read more …

Rakuten’s CEO Hiroshi Mikitani has announced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that the Japanese e-commerce giant will launch its own krypo currencies. The Japanese Amazon rival wants to convert its current loyalty program into a blockchain-based system. A start date has not yet been announced. As Techcrunch reports, the cryptocurrency will be called “Rakuten Coin” and replace the current “Super Points” in the Loyalty Program. Currently, the Super Points can be earned on every online purchase or collected Read more …

Finance This week the ‘bitcoin-friendly’ financial institution Silvergate Bank sold 9.5 million shares that raised a sum of $114Mn USD during the common stock sale. Some of the capital injection was provided by the venture capital firm Digital Currency Group who welcomed Silvergate Bank into the company’s growing list of partners and subsidiaries. Also read: Indians Look to Buy Bitcoin Overseas as Regulations Tighten ‘Bitcoin-Friendly’ Bank Raises $114 Million in Private Placement Silvergate Bank is a financial institution Read more …

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has given its employees the green light to invest in cryptocurrencies, according to a report. Bloomberg reports today that the CFTC’s general counsel, Daniel Davis, gave the go-ahead in a memo earlier this month, apparently in response to “numerous inquiries” from employees about whether they could do so. While members of the agency can now invest in cryptocurrencies, they are still prohibited from crypto futures or margin trading, and from using insider information Read more …

Get Trading Recommendations and Read Analysis on Hacked.com for just $39 per month. As a result of the latest Bitcoin Core 0.16 update, the usage levels of Bitcoin SegWit have been taking off. This significant uptick in usage levels can also be attributed to a number of major exchanges and wallet providers such as Coinbase and Bittrex finally implementing this technology into their platforms. This uptick means that there could be a significant decrease in global bitcoin transaction fees and times. Read more …

Cryptocurrency mining is a very difficult yet potentially profitable business model. Without meeting certain conditions, it is almost possible to break even, let alone make a profit. It seems Canada is slowly becoming a major hub for cryptocurrency mining operations as of right now. The cold climate and cheap electricity make it a very attractive venue. Canada Matters to Cryptocurrency Miners Two of the main conditions to run a profitable Bitcoin mining business is cheap electricity and a preferably cold Read more …