Month: July 2019

Kyoto University and the University of Tokyo have joined Ripple’s University Blockchain Research Initiative (UBRI) per CoinDesk Japan. The 2018 program now boasts 33 participants including Princeton University, Carnegie Mellon, and the National University of Singapore, among others. Ripple committed $50 million toward the project to develop blockchain, cryptocurrency, and digital network programs. Funds sent to the Japanese universities will fuel undergraduate, graduate, and PhD studies. The University of Tokyo will also issue scholarships with the funds. “University partners will Read more …

Because of its pseudo-anonymous, censorship-resistant nature, cryptocurrency has become a popular payment method in the adult entertainment industry. Pornsites, webcam sites and online sex shops have been using crypto to reduce their dependence on traditional payment services, which often impose restrictions and high transaction fees on these kinds of businesses — which are considered to be high risk.  Sex performers, who often struggle to set up regular bank accounts, can receive crypto payments directly from their clients, counting on the Read more …

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) outed a Bitcoin scam scheme which used fake claims by the former prime minister in order to attract investments. The central bank and financial watchdog of Singapore issued released an official warning on July 31, stating that they have discovered a website which tried to tempt users into investing in Bitcoin by using a fake article. The scam website posted fake claims which were attributed to Goh Chok Tong, a Singaporean politician that activated Read more …

Troy Baker, the actor who portrays Joel in The Last of Us, revealed at Manchester Comic-Con that the upcoming sequel, The Last of Us Part II, would be Naughty Dog’s “most ambitious game” ever. But that ambition will inevitably be overshadowed by the fact that this is unquestionably Naughty Dog’s most controversial game as well. The Last of Us 2: The Controversial Sequel to an Absolute Masterpiece The Last of Us was the definitive masterpiece of the seventh generation of consoles because Read more …

United States Bitcoin (BTC) derivatives provider LedgerX has officially launched physical Bitcoin futures trading, becoming the first to do so on the domestic market. In an announcement on social media July 31, LedgerX said its physical futures offering was live on its Omni trading platform.  “It’s official: we’re live with retail trading on Omni!” officials confirmed.  Physical Bitcoin futures differ from those offered by some of the first operators in 2017. Rather than merely gaining exposure to Bitcoin, investors take Read more …

A rule embedded within litecoin’s (LTC) code is set to soon reduce rewards for the miners who today ensure transaction processing on the world’s fourth-largest blockchain by total value. In approximately five days, litecoin will undergo a scheduled reward halving – a process aimed at preserving cryptocurrency’s purchasing power. The mining reward is currently set at 25 litecoins ($2,500) per block and will drop to 12.5 litecoins ($1,200) per block on Aug. 5. With that transition, the protocol will be adding significantly fewer litecoins Read more …

This article was originally published by 8btc and written by Lylian Teng. Canaan Creative, one of the world’s largest bitcoin mining machine manufacturers, has filed an application for an initial public offering (IPO) with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), people with knowledge of the matter disclosed. According to the source, the AvalonMiner manufacturer has secretly filed its application with the SEC and reportedly aims to raise $200 million. It makes Canaan the first of China’s “big three” mining Read more …

The US Federal Reserve is expected to cut the target interest rate on Wednesday for the first time since the global financial crisis a decade ago. This policy shift is gasoline for bitcoin. To cut rates, the Fed will increase the supply of US dollars, thus cannibalizing its value.  It’s a stark reminder that fiat money can be manipulated at will by central banks. Bitcoin cannot. Bitcoin’s total supply is hard-capped and will never increase. While the Fed prepares to Read more …

The UK’s financial watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), has published its final guidance on crypto assets. The 55-page document is based on feedback the regulator received to consultation paper CP19, which was released for public comments in January. “The aim of our consultation was to provide clarity on the FCA’s regulatory perimeter for market participants carrying on activities in this area. The cryptoasset market and its underlying distributed ledger technology (DLT) is developing quickly, so participants need to be Read more …

The regulated spot and futures crypto exchange Kraken announced a wire service through Etana Custody that will allow users to transact in U.S. dollars, euros, Canadian dollars, British pounds, and Japanese yen from anywhere in the world. Though the new feature is available immediately to Kraken’s Intermediate and Pro clients, across nearly 180 countries, it requires users to create an Etana Custody Wallet. Additionally, users’ bank accounts will be linked to this wallet, which will be topped off through wires that Read more …

The Litecoin supply for mining rewards will undergo a halving on August 5th. Here are some details regarding the much-anticipated halving. The Litecoin blockchain will reach block 1,680,000 on August 5, and that is when the mining reward will be divided from 25 coins to 12.5 per block. Two blocks will still be produced once every 5 minutes By reducing the supply, the rate of inflation of the network will also be reduced, and a lower supply means a higher Read more …

Wednesday, July 31 — After falling below the $10K barrier on July 27 and splashing around in the mid-$9,000s for the intervening days, Bitcoin (BTC) is back in the five figures as of 3:15 PM UTC. Infographic courtesy of CoinMarketCap After starting the day around the $9,500 price point, BTC has seen steady increases on the day so that the token is up 3.88% on the day, which has seen general green across cryptocurrencies. Charts Courtesy of CoinMarketCap With a Read more …