Month: December 2018

Blockchain and crypto projects that raised millions of dollars via tokenized crowdfunding means are now lining up to return their capital to their original investors. Because apparently, they were not allowed to raise funds in the first place. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has gone after these startups for reportedly violating existing securities laws. The US regulator found irregularities in the way companies raised funds, mainly by approaching average Joes instead of sophisticated, accredited investors to raise capital. As a Read more …

Prestige car-maker Porsche has arranged a loan to back its proposed strategic acquisitions using Spanish-bank BBVA’s ever-developing distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform. The loan, valued at €150 million (the equivalent of nearly $170 million USD) is, says a press release from BBVA: “The first acquisition term loan ever arranged through blockchain technology.” Acquisition term loans are provided for a specific purpose and period. In this case, Porsche Holding Salzburg, a subsidiary of Volkswagen AG, is seeking to expand its retail Read more …

CULedger, a credit union service organization (CUSO)-owned blockchain consortium, has joined enterprise software firm R3’s global blockchain ecosystem. The partnership was officially revealed in a press release published Dec. 13. Based in Denver, Colorado, CULedger reportedly delivers blockchain applications to credit unions and their members, using the technology to mitigate cybersecurity and fraud risks, as well as streamline administrative and operational processes to save time and costs. The firm also provides a specific blockchain-based identification solution for credit union members. Read more …

The European Parliament (EP) has called for measures to boost blockchain adoption in trade and business across the region. The legislative body adopted a resolution on Thursday, dubbed “Blockchain: a forward-looking trade policy,” setting out how the nascent technology could improve EU trade policies, including free trade and mutual recognition agreements. Blockchain could improve supply chain transparency, streamline trade processes, reduce costs and corruption, detect tax evasion and improve the security of data, the EP said. Cybersecurity, it added, remains Read more …

Featured Explaining Bitcoin to someone who knows nothing about Bitcoin isn’t easy. In fact it’s fiendishly tricky. Describing concepts such as blockchain, decentralized networks, and permissionless ledgers to beginners is as tough as describing the color orange to a blind person or the taste of an orange to someone who’s never peeled one. Two new Bitcoin analogies surfaced this week, however, that should make that task easier. Also read: Password Manager App Dashlane Mocks Cryptocurrency Owners How to Explain Bitcoin to Read more …

Spain’s second largest bank, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA), has closed a €150 million loan using blockchain technology with Porsche Holding, the largest car distributor in Europe. The news was reported by financial news site Finextra Dec. 14. The transaction is reportedly BBVA’s first blockchain-based loans deal with a non-Spanish borrower. The bank has to date arranged several blockchain-based loans with Spanish corporate customers, including a syndicated loan of $150 million for partly state-owned Spanish national electrical grid operator Red Read more …

Many venture capital firms have broken deals with companies in the crypto sector over the past several months. Barry Silbert, the founder and CEO of Digital Currency Group, a major cryptocurrency-focused venture capital firm that has invested in large-scale cryptocurrency businesses in the likes of Coinbase, bitFlyer, and Blockchain, has said that amidst falling crypto asset prices, deals between crypto startups and venture capital firms have started to fall out. Despite the troubling trend, Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Read more …

Revolut, provider of a mobile finance app that offers crypto trading, has been granted a banking license from the European Central Bank. The firm announced Thursday that the new license will ultimately allow it to offer users an account to manage all their finances from a single place through its upcoming venture Revolut Bank. That vision is a little way off, however. The firm said it must first build and test the features to be offered, as well as work with Read more …

XYO Network, a blockchain-based geographic information system (GIS) with an Ethereum token and its own blockchain network, announced today a partnership with Esri, one of the world’s oldest and largest GIS systems and mapmakers, a company founded in 1969. The partnership came about when XYO hired a former Esri employee and the partnership became an obvious move. Esri wants to be able to access the data that the XYO Network is creating for its clients, and XYO network wants to Read more …

Friday, Dec. 14 — Bitcoin Cash (BCH) led fresh losses across cryptocurrency markets as investors in the top twenty assets by market cap shouldered new lows. Market visualization from Coin360 Data from Cointelegraph’s own price index, Coin360 and Coinmarketcap painted a gloomy picture at press time Friday, with Bitcoin (BTC) dropping about 3.5 percent in 24 hours. Having staved off a move below last week’s current “bottom” around $3220, BTC/USD has failed to find support much higher, now circling $3300 Read more …

VanEck CEO Gabor Gurbacs has reacted furiously to a pronouncement by Allianz CEO Andreas Utermann calling for cryptocurrency to be outlawed. In a now deleted thread on his Twitter account, Gurbacs called out insurance giant Allianz for its treatment of his mother when she needed to make a claim following a serious car accident. Inferring that Allianz and other insurance companies are in no position to adopt a position of moral superiority over crypto investors and businesses, Gurbacs admonished the company Read more …