Ripple spent about $84 million of XRP from its nearly $1 billion January reserve last month, according to current market prices. The company had access to 1 billion XRP last month, meaning the remaining 900 million went back into escrow at the end of January. The funds were transferred back through two transactions, with the 900 million XRP holding a value of $756 million at press time. The company has 61 billion XRP valued at $51 billion locked up in escrow over the next four years through a series of…

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Bitcoin whipsawed investors Friday, falling below $8,000 for the first time since November before recovering most of the day’s losses, as a miserable 2018 continued for cryptocurrencies. Investors are confronting a mounting list of concerns about the future of the industry. Since reaching a record high of $19,511 on Dec. 18 shortly after the introduction of regulated futures contracts in the U.S., bitcoin’s value has fallen by more than half amid waves of negative news. Setbacks included escalating regulatory threats from authorities around the world including India, South Korea, China…

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Global shipping giant UPS may be looking at accepting bitcoin through an item-exchange locker service, newly published patent filings show. UPS is eyeing a system of locker banks that can take digital forms of payment, according to an application released by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on Thursday. In addition to traditional payment systems, the patent filing lists bitcoin as a possible currency to pay with. The filing outlines a system of lockers where a party trading or selling an item can leave it in the locker for…

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Steve Wozniak has sold all his bitcoin after getting tired of all the hype around its price, the tech icon told an audience at Nordic Business Forum in Stockholm last week. Wozniak revealed last summer he had bought into the cryptocurrency when one coin sold for $700: “I wanted to experiment with it.” But after the market went nuts last fall, reaching highs of almost $20,000 per bitcoin, Wozniak had enough and cashed out. “When it shot up high, I said I don’t want to be one of those people…

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Facebook is firing back against misleading and deceptive ad practices, and ICOs, cryptocurrencies and binary options are at the top of their list. In a blog post by Facebooks’ Rob Leathern, the social media giant is trumpeting a new policy, banning ads that “promote financial products and services that are frequently associated with misleading or deceptive promotional practices.” Without a clear regulatory framework for ICOs, Facebook is just trying to protect its users — of which there were 2.7 billion as of Q2 2017 — and prevent bad actors from…

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Users will receive 88.549 yen for each coin that was stolen. Japanese exchange will compensate clients using internal funds. Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck Inc. said it will use its own capital to reimburse customers who lost money in Friday’s $400 million theft. The Tokyo-based company will repay all 260,000 users impacted by the theft of NEM coins, at a rate of 88.549 yen (81 U.S. cents) for each coin, according to a statement posted on its website after midnight local time on Sunday. A total of 523 million coins were…

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No-commission stock trading app Robinhood is set to start letting some users buy and sell Bitcoin and Ethereum. From next month, the app will offer round-the-clock, commission-free trading in five US states, including California. More states and more cryptocurrencies will follow. Meanwhile, all Robinhood users will be able to add 16 cryptocurrencies to their watchlists, monitor market data, read related news, and create custom price alerts. “We believe that cryptocurrencies have the potential to fundamentally reorganize the way money works from the ground up, putting power previously held by financial…

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