Month: December 2018

Binance announced Friday that it would be adding a few new USD Coin pairs and moving its two existing USDC pairs into the combined stablecoin market called USDⓈ. Both ripple (XRP) and stellar (XLM) will have USD Coin pairs, in addition to their existing stablecoin pairs. The move involves the cancelling of any trades that exist in the current two USDC markets: BTC/USDC and USDC/BNB at the time of the move, essentially wiping the slate and creating fresh markets for Read more …

Following its recent period of instability, Bitcoin has now plunged to new 2018 lows and has sent the altcoin markets spiraling downwards. Today’s drop has led the overall cryptocurrency market capitalization down to $102 billion, a level not seen since August of 2017. At the time of writing, Bitcoin (BTC) is trading down nearly 6% at its current price of $3,230, down from its 24-hour highs of $3,430. Bitcoin’s previous 2018 low was set on December 7th when it fell Read more …

Brazilian premier league soccer club Atletico Mineiro has launched a fan token dubbed “GaloCoin,” Cointelegraph Brazil reports Friday, Dec. 14. The GaloCoin is named after Atletico’s mascot, a rooster (“galo” in Portuguese). It is based on Footcoin — a platform that allows to launch utility tokens on the Ethereum blockchain. The GaloCoin is tied to the national fiat currency exchange rate and is equal to one Brazilian real. Atletico’s token will allow fans to purchase game tickets, official apparel, as Read more …

“We’ve been fucking up this mixnet idea for 39 years.” That’s how lead developer David Stainton introduced the mixing tech that powers Nym Technologies, a stealth anonymity startup that sports a roster of privacy activists and cryptography heavyweights from around the world. An open infrastructure based on a near-forgotten anonymity system named mix networks, Nym is now entering the proof-of-concept phase following a 10-week incubation program with Binance Labs. The goal of the project? According to Harry Halpin – an Read more …

Exchanges Cubits, a London-based digital asset trading platform, has been forced into administration after fraudsters reportedly stole €29 million (about $32.5 million) from the exchange in February. The company claimed “it fell victim” to an elaborate scam orchestrated in collusion with three of its clients.  Also read: Former Mt. Gox CEO Could Face 10 Years in Jail Over Embezzlement Exchange Enters Into Voluntary Administration The administration means that investors cannot deposit or withdraw funds until further notice. It’s not clear how Read more …

Around this time last year, many retail crypto investors subscribed to the economic theory that cryptocurrency hard forks — the ones that result in irreversible network splits and create new blockchains — were a net positive for their portfolios. “How could they not be?” they asked. “It’s free money!” Indeed, at that point, the two most prominent cryptocurrency hard forks — Ethereum Classic and Bitcoin Cash — had each proven to be a boon to investors who held on to the coins on both Read more …

Bahrain’s central bank has issued draft regulations on digital assets, Reuters reports Friday, Dec. 13. According to Reuters “the central bank said it had issued for consultation draft rules for crypto asset platform operators, providing regulations for the licensing and supervision of crypto asset services.” Bahrain’s central bank has reportedly stated that the proposed regulations include “measures to safeguard customer interests, technology standards, and cybersecurity risk management.” Bahrain first announced its positive stance toward blockchain over a year ago. At Read more …

Bitcoin was designed in the wake of the 2008 global economic crisis as a way to take control over money away from central authorities such as governments, banks, and other traditional systems. The decentralized design could also prevent communist countries like China from establishing control over their citizen’s money. However, the very technology powering crypto may be arming central authorities with even more control over the population and their money, which CoinShares Chief Strategy Officer Meltem Dimirors says may “slowly” Read more …

In what is becoming a disturbingly common occurrence, the bitcoin price on Friday set yet another fresh yearly low, slinking below the $3,200 mark for the first time in 2018. The flagship cryptocurrency’s move below $3,200 came shortly after 16:10 UTC, following an unsuccessful breakout attempt earlier in the week. As of the time of writing the bitcoin price was trading at $3,187 on Bitstamp after briefly dipping as far as $3,171. The total cryptocurrency market, meanwhile, had seen its Read more …

Ethereum browser startup Status.IM is cutting a quarter of its staff due to the ongoing downturn in cryptocurrency prices. Announcing the move to employees on Monday, co-founder Jarrad Hope said that the startup is much larger than can be sustained due to the fact that the company did not anticipate ethereum’s price dropping more than 80 percent. COO Nabil Naghdy confirmed the layoffs to CoinDesk on Friday. The company originally raised 182,000 ETH during a token sale last year, which was Read more …

Market Updates Digital asset prices have been dipping in value again after a few days of price consolidation. At the moment, the entire cryptocurrency economy is awfully close to dropping under the psychological $100 billion market valuation. Furthermore, since our last markets update cryptocurrency global trade volumes are weaker than usual, with only $11.5 billion worth of assets traded over the last 24 hours. Also read: Password Manager App Dashlane Mocks Cryptocurrency Owners More Price Dips and Lower Trade Volumes Crypto-market Read more …