Month: January 2019

A human error led to the leak of millions of customers’ data at an Indian public sector bank, raising questions on the merit of Bitcoin over banks. State Bank of India, a government-owned corporation, forgot to secure essential server information that held customers’ messages, bank balances, transaction details, and other related details. It allowed anyone who knew where to look the data to access and steal it. A security researcher later detected the unprotected server and alerted TechCrunch with the Read more …

A highly anticipated upgrade to ethereum is gearing up for its first dry run, and the test network of choice will be an unfamiliar name to many. Launched today, the Görli blockchain will be the proving ground for Prysm, software created by Prysmatic Labs that will feature the first of three phases of deployment of the upgrade, often referred to as ethereum 2.0 or Serenity. As such, Görli represents a small step on the long road to solving ethereum’s well-known scaling challenges. Görli is Read more …

In the history of blockchain to be written in textbooks, 2018 will probably be known as the year of failing at scaling. An outcry for scalable blockchain systems in 2017 led to a number of companies making attempts at solving the problem of scaling and gradually realising that it’s not that simple. As the year has concluded, ModernToken’s Blockchain Science department presents an overview of known approaches to improving scalability. The great race to reliable scalability started with the outburst Read more …

A Florida appeals court has overturned a ruling that acquitted a Localbitcoins trader of money laundering and working as an unlicensed money transmitter. Bitcoin No Longer ‘Poker Chips’? As local news outlet Miami Herald reported January 30, Michell Espinoza, who sold bitcoin worth around $1350 to an undercover police detective in 2014, will now face a jury. Prosecutors argue Espinoza should have registered as a money transmitter before advertising services on P2P trading platform Localbitcoins. A settlement in 2016 threw Read more …

News In 2016, Judge Teresa Mary Pooler of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida made headlines for a ruling she made during the Michell Espinoza trial. Judge Pooler ruled Espinoza could not be charged with illegal money transmission offenses because bitcoin was not considered legal tender. However, a motion filed with the Florida appeals court has overturned the decision and Espinoza may face the state’s trial courts for an alleged crime back in 2014. Also read: A Look at Openbazaar’s Multi-Currency Read more …

Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by daily trading volume, enabled credit card payments on its platform to allow users to purchase Bitcoin and other major crypto assets using Visa and Mastercard. The integration of credit card payments into the Binance trading platform comes after Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) emphasized the importance of fiat on-ramps in increasing the mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies. Why Credit Card Payments are Crucial on Binance Earlier this month, in an interview with Boxmining at Read more …

The US stock market is taking an uneven path on Thursday morning, with the Dow suffering triple-digit declines while tech stocks rise. The cryptocurrency market is almost universally sour, however, as traders continue to wrestle with that is now the longest-ever bear market for the bitcoin price. Dow Risks Fall Back Below 25,000 The Dow Jones Industrial Average (blue), S&P 500 (red), and Nasdaq (orange) have all made strong gains this week. The Dow had stomped to a monster 435 Read more …

Blockchain investment firm Pantera Capital is leading a $4.5 million seed round in Staked, a startup that provides institutional investors with the technical infrastructure for non-custodial staking services. Other participants in the round include Coinbase Ventures, Global Brain, Digital Currency Group, Winklevoss Capital, Fabric Ventures and Blocktree Capital. “You’ve got $25 billion of stake-able crypto that’s coming online in the next 15 months,” Staked CEO and co-founder Tim Ogilvie told CoinDesk, describing what he sees as a large opportunity. The idea behind Staked Read more …

Just like common Joes and Jills, politicians, economists, and bigwigs in the upper echelons of society are subject to whims. This was only accentuated on Wednesday, as the world’s most powerful economic body revealed that it would be taking a step in a new direction, pushing gold and stocks much higher. Bitcoin remained unchanged, but many believe that this decision could be a positive catalyst for the crypto asset in the years to come. Fed Puts Rate Hike On The Read more …

Japanese online broker Monex Group — owner of previously hacked cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck — released its financial report on Q3 for the 2019 fiscal year on Jan. 31. The report shows that the trading platform halved its losses in Q3, as compared with the preceding quarter. The results of the report cover the third quarter ending March 31, 2019. They indicate that Monex’s crypto asset segment — comprised of Coincheck, which was acquired by Monex in April 2018 — reported Read more …

Nasdaq has unveiled its comprehensive onboarding process for Bitcoin exchanges looking to use its proprietary surveillance tools as part of efforts to combat wash trading and other forms of market manipulation. The stock exchange operator says that it has already on-boarded seven platforms. Rigorous Vetting Needed for Bitcoin Exchanges Nasdaq has a team of 20 people conducting due-diligence checks on Bitcoin exchanges that want to start using the company’s trading surveillance technology, reports Forbes. This team tries to examine if each Read more …

The world’s second-largest stock exchange Nasdaq has revealed that seven crypto exchanges are already using its market monitoring technology, Forbes reported Jan. 30. Just two of these seven collaborations have to date been publicized — the Winklevoss twins’ Gemini exchange, and Vctrade, run by Japanese financial services giant SBI Holdings. The stock market giant shared its rigorous vetting system for crypto industry players that seek to use its surveillance technology, known as the SMARTS Market Surveillance system. SMARTS is a Read more …