Cryptocurrencies see $100 billion hit amid South Korean clampdown. Cryptocurrencies took it on the chin Monday, retreating from an all-time high valuation of the sector on Sunday, after South Korean regulators said they would begin inspecting commercial banks to ensure that they are complying with know-your-client and anti-money-laundering rules amid a white-hot fervor for digital assets. South Korea, a region that is one of the more active in crypto-asset investing, has seen local regulators in recent days step up scrutiny of investing in virtual currencies, like bitcoin BTCUSD, -7.91% according…

Get ready to ring in the new year and the future of Japanese idols with the birth of a new group whose claim to fame is an incredible gimmick, even in the world of strange Japanese idol concepts: Virtual Currency Girls (Kaso Tsuka Shojo / 仮想通貨少女). Managed by Cinderella Academy Inc., the group’s official site draws a progression through different types of monetary transactions throughout history, beginning with bartering, then the exchange of physical money, and finally to the beginnings of electronic payments over the internet and the widespread use…

President Nicolas Maduro said on Friday that Venezuela would issue 100 million units of its new oil-backed cryptocurrency in coming days, although it is unclear whether any investors will want to purchase the “petro” at a time when the OPEC member is going through a deep economic crisis and its leftist government has little credibility. Socialist Maduro surprised many last month when he announced the launch of the cryptocurrency, to be backed by Venezuela’s oil, gas, gold and diamond reserves, as a way to circumvent U.S. sanctions that have hurt…

BitPay Statement on Wave Crest’s Closing of Non-US BitPay Card Accounts We sent a modified version of this statement to all affected BitPay cardholders earlier today. We continue to communicate with cardholders as the situation develops. Yesterday our European BitPay Card issuer Wave Crest Holdings, Ltd. received direction from Visa® to immediately close all accounts of its prepaid Visa® debit card programs. The BitPay Prepaid Visa® Debit Card (non-US) was one of these programs, along with other cryptocurrency-related and standard prepaid Visa® debit cards. Unfortunately, Wave Crest was unable to…

In the world of cryptocurrency, there are so many currencies worth keeping an eye on, it almost becomes impossible to keep tabs on everything. One of the currencies in the top 25 making a lot of waves recently is Siacoin. Most people are familiar with this project, and it seems the native currency is finally appreciating in value to represent the potential value of this project. Thanks to an 86.15% gain over the past 24 hours, things are looking pretty good for the Siacoin price. Major gains for the Siacoin…

Users are left scrambling to figure out how to access their money. The cards were one of the few options for people who use them for day-to-day expenses. Visa ended its relationship with a large cryptocurrency card provider on Friday, causing thousands of people’s transactions to be declined and scrambling to figure out how to access their money. The card provider WaveCrest confirmed in an email to CNBC that they were required “to immediately close all Visa cards.” “As a licensed E-Money Institution, WaveCrest is required to safeguard funds to…

On the morning of Jan. 4, the cryptocurrency TRON (TRX) posted 136 percent growth, becoming the 9th largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, and pushing Dash to 11th place. The altcoin has been on a bullish trend since mid-December, growing well over 2,000 percent since then. In the first week of 2018 alone, the coin has seen almost 300 percent growth. TRON hit $0.20 earlier today, and is currently trading at an average of $0.17, with a market cap of $12.4 bln at press time. What is TRON? TRON markets itself…

In a move that sounds similar to that taken by JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, Wall Street bank Merrill Lynch has banned its financial advisors from buying Bitcoin-related investments for their clients. The decision comes as the major bank has concerns “pertaining to suitability and eligibility standards of this product,” according to an Internal memo reviewed by the Wall Street Journal. Going against the grain The decision taken by Merrill Lynch prevents roughly 17,000 advisors pitching anything to do with Bitcoin or even executing clients’ request to trade Grayscale Bitcoin Investment…