CRYPTO WORLD NETWORK NEWS

Exit scams swindled $3.1 billion from crypto investors in 2019

August 13, 2019August 13, 2019 CRYPTO WORLD

Cryptocurrency crime made good money last quarter, although less than in the first quarter of 2019. According to an initial release of CipherTrace’s Q2 2019 Cryptocurrency Anti-Money Laundering Report to CoinDesk, aggregate crypto losses reached $4.3 billion this year. Hacking thefts amounted to $125 million, adding to a 2019 total of $227 million. Excluding the QuadrigaCX hacking of $195 million, hackers stole $161 million in Q1. Given that CipherTrace’s price estimations are set at the time of initial reporting, current valuations would be much higher. CipherTrace further claims 2019 may…

A leading Japanese broker to join Libra Association

July 30, 2019July 29, 2019 CRYPTO WORLD

A leading online brokerage company in Japan, Monex Group, wants to become a part of Facebooks’ Libra project. The broker applied to become a node operator. Oki Matsumoto, the president of the Group, announced the decision during the company’s regular meeting devoted to the results of Q2. It is worth noting, that Matsumoto sounded very optimistic about Libra, despite that the recent Facebooks’s cryptocurrency initiative had faced stiff resistance from global regulators and governments. According to Matsumoto, Libra might unlock various possibilities, including “financial inclusion” and more efficient cross border…

European electronics retailer to accept crypto payments via UTrust

July 29, 2019July 29, 2019 CRYPTO WORLD

Phone House, a European electronics retailer and telecom provider, has teamed up with UTtrust, a cryptocurrency payment solution, to offer crypto payments to its customers. UTrust, based in Switzerland, went live earlier in 2019 when football club Benfica enlisted its services to accept cryptocurrency payments. Starting with August 2019, Phone House customers in Portugal will be able to purchase electronics at PhoneHouse.pt using crypto. The option to pay with cryptocurrency will initially roll out in Portugal, with other countries to be added in the coming months, according to the company.…

200-Year-Old Passport Printing Firm Launches Hardware Crypo Wallet

July 29, 2019July 29, 2019 CRYPTO WORLD

An Austrian printing company that has history going back to the early 1800s has launched a cryptocurrency storage device. The new hardware wallet comes from YOUNIQX Identity, a subsidiary of the Vienna-based Austrian State Printing House (Oesterreichische Staatsdruckerei or OeSD) – a secure printing firm which is now the country’s high-tech passport maker and provider of other secure identity solutions. Called Chainlock, the device is aimed to address the vulnerability of of “hot” or online wallets to hacking, which OeSD said in an announcement Monday “are a great security risk.”…

Privacy-Focused Coin Zcash Forks Into New Blockchain Network Ycash

July 20, 2019July 20, 2019 CRYPTO WORLD

Privacy-focused digital currency Zcash (ZEC) has forked into a new blockchain network dubbed Ycash, whose total supply amounts to 21 million coins. According to a tweet by the Ycash Foundation, the first block of Ycash was mined today, July 19, at 7:36:51 PM PDT. Ycash forked off Zcash blockchain at block height 570,000 and is independent from both the Electric Coin Company, the firm behind Zcash, and the Zcash Foundation. The Ycash project was initially announced in April, when the Ycash team member Howard Loo revealed in a forum post…

KPGM to Work With Microsoft, Tomia and R3 on Blockchain Telecom Solutions

July 20, 2019July 20, 2019 CRYPTO WORLD

Business advisory firm KPGM has partnered with tech companies Tomia, Microsoft and R3 to create a blockchain-based settlements solution for the telecom industry, in anticipation of 5G network services. KPMG announced the partnership and product plans in an official blog post. As per the report, the planned blockchain solution intends to make use of smart contracts in order to reduce disputes between carriers and mobile operators. Such smart contracts would reportedly include critical information for this purpose, by providing details such as correct rates, destination and bilateral deal information. The…

BitTorrent, Tron Launch Crypto-Powered ‘Speed’ Downloading Software

July 12, 2019July 10, 2019 CRYPTO WORLD

Peer-to-peer torrent client BitTorrent has launched its downloads optimization software, BitTorrent Speed, with native token functionality. The news was revealed in an official press release. As reported, Bittorrent launched a native Tron blockchain-based token, BitTorrent (BTT), at the start of this year, having revealed plans to evolve a tokenized content platform that would enable users to optimize their network speed and attain faster downloads. As per the press release, the Bittorrent Speed software will now be integrated into all new downloads of the company’s µTorrent Classic Windows client. The BitTorrent…

Blockchain supply chain market to reach over $9B by 2025

July 11, 2019July 10, 2019 CRYPTO WORLD

The global blockchain supply chain market is expected to reach over $9 billion by 2025, according to a study published by market research and consulting firm Allied Market Research (AMR) on July 8. AMR estimates that the global blockchain supply chain market will amount to $9.85 billion by 2025, showing an 80.2% surge of the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2018 to 2025. Among the key driving factors, AMR named the sector’s demand for transparency, and improved security of supply chain transactions blockchain could purportedly ensure. By industry vertical,…

Bitfinex to Use 27% of Tokinex Revenue to Burn LEO Tokens

July 10, 2019July 9, 2019 CRYPTO WORLD

Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange announced that it will spend 27% of past and future Tokinex revenue on burning LEO tokens, according to an official blog post on July 8. Bitfinex unveiled LEO in May as the native utility token for its initial exchange offering (IEO) platform Tokinex. Parent company iFinex committed to burning LEO tokens, until commercial circulation runs dry, in the LEO token whitepaper: “On a monthly basis, iFinex and its affiliates will buy back LEO from the market equal to a minimum of 27% of the consolidated gross revenues…

China’s Central Bank Developing Own Digital Currency in Response to Libra

July 9, 2019July 9, 2019 CRYPTO WORLD

China’s central bank is reportedly developing its own digital currency in response to Facebook’s Libra as the latter could purportedly pose a risk to the country’s financial system, the South China Morning Post reported on July 8. Wang Xin, director of the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) research bureau, argued that “if [Libra] is widely used for payments, cross-border payments in particular, would it be able to function like money and accordingly have a large influence on monetary policy, financial stability and the international monetary system?” Wang said that the…

Bing ban for 500,000 cryptocurrency ads

June 26, 2019June 26, 2019 CRYPTO WORLD

Microsoft’s internet browser Bing blocked more than 5 million cryptocurrency ads last year. The data was revealed in Microsoft’s annual review of advertising quality. Microsoft explained that digital advertising is a powerful and open channel. “it is also prone to abuse by bad actors trying to defraud and deceive users by delivering harmful and misleading ads, with persuasive content and innocent looking links that lead to phishing, malware attacks and other types of fraud,” said the report. In 2018, Microsoft suspended nearly 200,000 accounts and removed 900 million bad ads…

Facebook’s cryptocurrency partners revealed

June 17, 2019June 17, 2019 CRYPTO WORLD

Facebook has been quietly building out its cryptocurrency for over a year, and it looks like that time has been well spent, enlisting the support of some of the most prominent companies across payments, retail, and technology. As recently reported by The Wall Street Journal, Facebook’s cryptocurrency will be governed by a consortium of firms known as the Libra Foundation, which includes the likes of Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal. But The Block has gotten its hands on consortium marketing materials and can now report dozens of firms not previously known…

Crypto exchange Bittrex to block US users from trading in 32 cryptos

June 10, 2019June 10, 2019 CRYPTO WORLD

Cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex announced that it will block its United States-based users from trading in 32 cryptocurrencies. The exchange revealed the news in a post on its blog on June 7. Per the announcement, after June 21, U.S. traders won’t be able to access a slew of coins listed on the exchange, including QTUM and STORJ. The exchange noted that U.S. users will receive an email with explanations concerning what they are and are not allowed to do with the aforementioned assets. The options cited by the exchange include selling…

Russia may build offshore destination for cryptocurrencies, exchanges and forex

June 10, 2019June 10, 2019 CRYPTO WORLD

Russia may build a large financial center on the island of Bolshoy Ussuriysky, according to a report by the state-run TASS news agency on June 8. Leonid Petukhov, who heads the Far Eastern Agency for Attracting Investments and Supporting Exports, said the island could become an offshore destination for cryptocurrencies, crypto exchanges and forex markets. Bolshoy Ussuriysky lies on the border between Russia and China, with western parts of the long-disputed territory transferred to Beijing following a 2004 agreement. Petukhov made his statements while speaking to TASS at the St.…

Using Bitcoins may earn you a 10-year jail sentence

June 10, 2019June 10, 2019 CRYPTO WORLD

In a move that’s likely to cause huge disappointment, the government has proposed a 10-year prison sentence for persons who ‘mine, generate, hold, sell, transfer, dispose, issue or deal in cryptocurrencies. In a move that’s likely to cause huge disappointment, the government has proposed a 10-year prison sentence for persons who ‘mine, generate, hold, sell, transfer, dispose, issue or deal in cryptocurrencies. A new draft bill The Banning of Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill 2019 has proposed a 10-year prison sentence for anyone dealing with cryptocurrencies. The…