Month: December 2018

Bakkt, a cryptocurrency exchange and liquidity provider created by the New York Stock Exchange’s parent company ICE has raised $182.5 million from a group of high profile investors and venture capital firms. On December 31, on New Year’s Eve, Bakkt CEO Kelly Loeffler announced that Boston Consulting Group, CMT Digital, Eagle Seven, Galaxy Digital, Goldfinch Partners, Alan Howard, Horizons Ventures, Intercontinental Exchange, Microsoft’s venture capital arm, M12, Pantera Capital, PayU, the fintech arm of Naspers, and Protocol Ventures invested in Read more …

The much-anticipated Bakkt platform being launched by the Intercontinental Exchange has rounded off 2018 by announcing the completion of its first round of funding. The total amount raised from the 12 partners and investors is $182.5 million. The list of those contributing capital to the project includes Boston Consulting Group, CMT Digital, Eagle Seven, Goldfinch Partners, Alan Howard, Horizons Ventures, the ICE itself, Microsoft’s venture wing, M12, Pantera Capital, PayU, and Galaxy Digital. Bakkt was also keen to acknowledge that Read more …

Pascal Thellman is CMO at Bounty0x, a simple service for earning crypto, and an advisor at PolyGrowth, a crypto PR firm. The following is an exclusive contribution to CoinDesk’s 2018 Year in Review.  2012 and 2016: What do they both have in common? Bitcoin underwent what is referred to as the “halving,” where the yearly bitcoin inflation was algorithmically reduced by 50 percent. This is part of bitcoin’s deflationary monetary policy and why Austrian economists refer to bitcoin as “hard money.” Read more …

Regulation Tehran has once again targeted the users of the popular messaging application Telegram. A law enforcement official warned Iranian citizens against providing any support for the launch of the instant messaging app’s native token, the Gram. Also read: Bill to Curb Iranian National Crypto Filed in US Congress ‘Disruption to the National Economy’ Authorities in Iran would interpret any cooperation with Telegram on the issuing of their crypto as “an action against the national security” of the Islamic Republic. Read more …

A blockchain-based platform says it is the first that puts all users and ecosystem participants on an equal level, and has set out its vision for how its platform will develop in the coming months and years. Transcendence describes its blockchain as open source and decentralized, and says it offers full compatibility with existing systems such as AmiCloud, an internet-based file storage and file sharing facility, and the indieGO app store. The company says it wants its platform to offer Read more …

Huobi Pool will launch a dedicated EOS exchange early in 2019 allowing users to trade EOS against “a number” of yet to be revealed cryptocurrencies. The cryptocurrency mining arm of Huobi Group, Huobi Pool, is already an EOS supernode and works closely with EOS. Other collaborative projects include the Crypto Kylin Testnet, an EOS test chain for developing EOS projects. Huobi Pool has also developed a voting platform for EOS owners and manages an EOS community to raise awareness of Read more …

Latest Ripple News Coin creators ought to have a thick skin and always ready to answer any question touching on their creations. While Ripple is an independent and a for-profit company that advocates three main solutions in xRapid, xCurrent, and xVia, it’s a well-documented that the community is not so sure on whether XRP is a security or a utility. Brad Garlinghouse insists that Ripple Lab’s XRP is a utility and a former SEC commissioner did reinforce his position. In Read more …

The United Kingdom’s finance watchdog the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has revealed that it is investigating 18 companies over cryptocurrency use, local daily news outlet the Telegraph reported Dec. 29. Responding to a Freedom of Information Act (FOI) request from the publication, the FCA said it had closed the vast majority of its investigations into cryptocurrency-related businesses since May of this year. Out of a total of 67 such inquiries, it revealed, 49 had come to an end, either by Read more …

Latest Bitcoin News As a year comes to a close, BTC prices are stable and bullish. Still, investors are edgy, and unless otherwise, prices surge past key liquidation levels then we shall retain a neutral stand. At the moment though, our attention shifts to a new report by Blockchain Transparency Institute (BTI). According to BTI, up-to 80 percent of mainstream exchanges where traders get to exchange main coins for altcoins are Wash Trading. Wash trading is where an exchange creates Read more …

Optimism that the United States and China are making significant progress toward bringing an end to the trade war that has roiled the economy in recent months has the Dow Jones Industrial Average and other major stock indices pointing north ahead of the year’s last trading session. Dow Preps Gains amid ‘New Reality’ of Volatility The Dow Jones Industrial Average is pointing north ahead of Monday’s limited trading session. As of the time of writing, Dow futures signaled a more Read more …

Monday, Dec. 31 — on the cusp of the new year, all but one of the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market cap are in the red, as data from Coin360 shows. Losses among the larger cryptos are tempered, with most losing 2-3 percent, and losses capped at 6 percent. Market visualization by Coin360 Bitcoin (BTC) has seen a mild loss of around 2 percent over the 24 hours to press time, currently trading at $3,816. The closing week of 2018 Read more …