Ant Unveils Blockchain Product as Group Approved for World’s Biggest IPO

Goldman Sachs has reportedly agreed to settle with the U.S. government over its role in a corrupt Malaysian government investment fund, which is one of the firm’s worst scandals since the financial crisis. In addition, Goldman Sachs previously agreed to pay the Malaysian government billions of dollars to end a criminal probe. Goldman Sachs’ Billions of Dollars in Settlement Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has agreed to pay about $2.8 billion to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to settle a case involving a corrupt Malaysian government investment fund, the Wall Street Journal....

The CSO of CoinShares thinks that a payments-focused PayPal token could be forthcoming. Global digital payment giant PayPal might be moving into issuing its own cryptocurrency after officially entering the crypto industry, according to a major industry exec.Meltem Demirors, CSO at digital asset management firm CoinShares, says that she will not be surprised if PayPal issues its own token after the company broke the news of its soon-to-come support for crypto..In an Oct. 21 interview with CNBC’s Fast Money, Demirors claimed that PayPal’s supporting crypto could eventually become a basis for....

Raiffeisen's stablecoin project is becoming blockchain-agnostic, adding interoperability tech from Bitpanda and the ​Technical University of Vienna.

It’s been a good day for the crypto market, with Bitcoin, Ethereum, and altcoins posting strong gains. The two leading crypto-assets have gained approximately 8% each over the past 24 hours, which is the best performance in many weeks. Ethereum is expected to move higher as fundamental and technical trends align. One crypto-asset trader pointed to the significance of Ethereum’s recent move higher. The leading cryptocurrency recently passed above the important $390 resistance level, which […]

The platform is just the latest product in the fintech's long-evolving blockchain solutions. Chinese fintech Ant Group — which is now poised to launch what could be the world's largest initial public offering — has announced a new platform via its blockchain business. Ant Group spun out from e-commerce giant Alibaba and is the parent company of China's largest digital payments service Alipay. Ant Group's blockchain business, AntChain, has today rolled out a new digital copyright services platform. It combines blockchain technology with AI to enable creators to securely authenticate and....

Bitcoin price hits a new record high in seven national currencies of 500 million people. Compiled by entrepreneur and market commentator Alistair Milne, exchange rate figures show that at this week’s highs, Bitcoin was worth more in seven currencies than ever before.Countries where #Bitcoin has hit a new ATH in their local currency: Brazil - pop. 209million Turkey - pop. 82m Argentina - pop. 44.5m Sudan - pop. 41m Angola - pop. 30m Venezuala - pop. 29m Zambia - pop. 17m Soon: Russia Colombia ... then all other fiat currencies— Alistair Milne (@alistairmilne) October 22, 2020 Milne:....

HEX.COM – The First High Interest Blockchain Certificate of Deposit – has outperformed every asset in 2020. Ranked Top 20 by Nomics (BTI verified #1 in Market Data Integrity), over $240 Million HEX are in active stakes paying a variable 28% APY. The average stake length is 5 years; the longest stakes are 15 years. This kind of verifiable onchain commitment seen in HEX is unprecedented in cryptocurrency. HEX is Designed to Outperform And It’s Working On November 19th HEX’s Big Pay Day highlights the strong finish to an exciting yearlong launch phase, crediting active....

The exchange had shuttered its Japanese services after Coincheck's $530 million hack in 2018 spooked regulators and prompted a crackdown.

Lead anchor Oliver Renick, at the end of his six-minute-long market wrapup, claimed that investors are more interested in owning Bitcoin than the equities. He said the cryptocurrency has "a lot to go" since it is the only asset that performed bullish on the positive US stimulus news on Wednesday.

A multinational payments firm is partnering with cryptocurrency custodian Hex Trust to help its European banking clients hold digital assets.

The venture builder is seeking to invest in early-stage startups with a focus on transparency, privacy and "fairness."

Litecoin started a strong upward move from the $41.50 support zone against the US Dollar. The price is now trading nicely above the $50.00 level and the 100-day simple moving average. There was a break above a crucial bearish trend line with resistance near $48.90 on the daily chart of the LTC/USD pair (data feed […]

Two cryptocurrency trading firms are merging, and in a rare twist, so are their tokens.

LGO exchange is a gateway for Voyager to access Europe. Crypto broker Voyager has teamed up with LGO, a European digital asset exchange focused on institutions. "LGO and Voyager will merge their services and offering under the Voyager brand, to offer a premium experience to retail cryptocurrency investors, in the US and in Europe," LGO CEO Hugo Renaudin told Cointelegraph. "European clients will be able to access the Voyager app using the LGO regulatory setup in Europe, and both LGO and VGX tokens will be merged into a new token."As a crypto broker, Voyager facilitates trades for customers....

Demand for Ethereum-based stablecoins exploded during the third-quarter DeFi bubble, with DAI’s supply growing by more than 600% and USDC expanding 200%. Decentralized finance’s (DeFi) explosive third-quarter brought significant growth to Ethereum (ETH)-compatible stablecoins.According to crypto market data aggregator Messari, the supply of MakerDAO’s DAI stablecoin grew by 623% in Q3 2020, pushing the token’s value above $1 for four consecutive months.Since starting July with a market cap of nearly $130 million, DAI’s supply has expanded to more than $940 million today.DAI is created when....

Ethereum surged over 5% and it even spiked above the $400 resistance against the US Dollar. ETH price is struggling to clear the $400 resistance, but is remains well supported. Ethereum started a strong upward move above the $385 and $392 resistance levels. The price traded to a new monthly high at $402 and it […]

Of the 450 million new USDT tokens, more than 185 million have been distributed with 126.9 million USDT going to Binance alone The Tether (USDT) Treasury has minted almost half a billion new USDT tokens and distributed more than 185 million tokens to exchanges and other addresses in the last 36 hours. As shown by blockchain tracker Whale Alert, two transactions of 150 million and 300 million USDT tokens were minted on Oct 20 and Oct 21 respectively.The first 150 million was printed only hours before Paypal’s announcement and the Bitcoin (BTC) price rally that followed. Although some raised....

On Wednesday, Bitcoin logged a supersonic bull run, hitting $13,000 for the first time in 15 months. The rally started after PayPal announced its foray into the cryptocurrency sector, leading analysts to believe that the $138 billion global payments firm drove the latest Bitcoin adoption. But at least one of them disagreed. In a tweet published earlier Thursday, the pseudonymous analyst claimed that Bitcoin went upwards because of an abundant supply of Tether’s stablecoin, USDT. […]

Binance boss Changpeng Zhao aired his views on CBDCs adding that Bitcoin could be under threat if a more advanced currency was launched Changpeng Zhao, the enigmatic chief executive of Binance, believes a central bank digital currency that’s designed well enough could become a threat to Bitcoin. In a video interview with Fortune senior writer Jeff Roberts, he was asked how the People’s Bank of China’s digital yuan initiative would affect the crypto industry. Zhao responded that any blockchain or digital currency would be good for the industry overall as it legitimizes digital assets and....

Bitmex said Wednesday that it is fast-tracking its user verification program in order to comply with regulatory requirements. Users must now be fully verified by Nov. 5, 2020 “to continue trading on the platform,” it said. In a statement, the crypto derivatives exchange stated that “unverified users will not be able to open new positions” after this date. They will also “not be able to withdraw funds from their Bitmex account without completing verification” beginning Dec. 4. The accelerated verification means Bitmex’s mandatory know-your-customer....

True decentralization will take time, U.S. presidential candidate Brock Pierce suggests, citing DeFi as a crucial stepping stone towards this end. U.S. presidential candidate Brock Pierce believes true decentralization, in its purest form, does not exist today, and is not practical in the near future. He told Celsius founder and CEO Alex Mashinsky in an hour-long #MOIP interview released earlier today that while DeFi, is headed towards decentralization, it shouldn’t attempt to be entirely decentralized right now.The crypto venture capitalist turned politician stated a hybrid approach....

Japanese residents can once again trade BTC, ETH, LTC, XRP, and BCH on Kraken, two years after it pulled out of the country. Major U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has launched funding and crypto trading services in Japan, furthering its expansion into the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.On Oct. 22, the exchange announced it had launched spot trading of Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Ripple (XRP), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) for Japanese residents. Both crypto-to-crypto and JPY-denominated pairings are available.Customers are able to make deposits in the five crypto assets,....

Bitcoin price rallied more than 5%% and it even broke the $13,000 resistance against the US Dollar. BTC is now correcting gains, but there are key supports near $12,500. Bitcoin gained bullish momentum and it rallied above the $12,500 and $13,000 resistance levels. The price traded to a new monthly high at $13,243 and it […]

The move reverses a 2018 decision that officials did not have to declare crypto holdings. Russia's public officials will be mandated to declare all private crypto assets holdings from New Year’s Day, 2021.The requirements were announced on Oct. 20 by the office of Russian prosecutor general, Igor Krasnov, following a meeting with 15 fellow prosecutor generals representing member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).“Starting next year, civil servants will be required to declare [virtual] currencies on an equal basis with other assets,” Krasnov said.In 2018, Russia’s labor....

U.S. capital gains tax laws are likely to catch out many new users of PayPal's cryptocurrency payments system The news that payments company PayPal will support cryptocurrencies has given the industry a major boost — but there are tax implications that are little understood by crypto noobs.PayPal users will soon be able to use digital assets as a funding source for purchases at its 26 million merchants worldwide. The company has almost 350 million active users worldwide and Alex Mashinsky, the CEO of crypto lending platform Celsius, has predicted the integration could result in “millions....

The CFTC wants futures commission merchants to take care when dealing with customer's funds.

Bitcoin’s price rocketed to $13,000 this morning after news broke regarding FinTech giant PayPal’s foray into the crypto market. It has long been rumored that the payment processing firm was cooking up a crypto-related feature. Still, past reports regarding blockchain-specific job openings could have marked their way of exploring digital assets in a non-serious fashion. […]

According to a recent research survey, cryptocurrency investment is a touch more popular than gold in Russia. An organization called the World Gold Council surveyed 2,023 investors and cryptocurrency turned out to be the fifth-largest investment next to gold. The World Gold Council (WGC) is considered an authority on the gold industry as the market development organization works with all types of industry leaders in the precious metals field. WGC also manages the very popular web portal gold.org and it often publishes research studies concerning safe-haven investments. Just recently, WGC....

Bitcoin has continued to explode higher over the past 24 hours. The coin now trades for $12,750, around 7% higher than it was just 24 hours ago. This latest leg higher in the Bitcoin price can be pinned to two fundamental news events: PayPal adding crypto and more fiscal stimulus coming. Bitcoin Rallies Higher as Stimulus Talks Continue Bitcoin has continued to explode higher over the past 24 hours. The coin currently trades for $12,750, […]

News breaking today that payments giant PayPal would be supporting cryptocurrencies sent the price of Bitcoin rocketing over $1,000 in a single day. But it was another asset that soared to a new all-time high on the news. Here’s how PayPal’s stock shares also benefitted from supporting the emerging asset class. Bitcoin Blasts Over $1,000 […]

Earlier this week, all eyes were on Bitcoin, not DeFi. The leading cryptocurrency shot a handful of percent higher while altcoins actually began to move lower against the dollar, sometimes by 5-10%. Some DeFi coins actually dropped 15% on the day that Bitcoin shot 2-3%. This trend did not persist, though. Altcoins have begun to […]

South Korea's SK Telecom is issuing a blockchain solution for the storage and management of government certificates. The South Korean telecom giant SK Telecom has announced it will issue its first digital wallet for blockchain-powered digital certificate storage and management with the approval of the Ministry of Public Administration and Security.According to NewsTomato, SK’s Wallet is compatible with the ministry’s own Government24 digital certificate initiative, which promotes the use of electronic certificate issuance and distribution systems in South Korea in the wake of the COVID-19....

Bitcoin price just secured a new 2020 high and traders expect the price to rise higher for 3 key reasons. On Oct. 21 Bitcoin (BTC) price overtook the $13K mark to reach $13,217 after traders took out key resistance levels at $11,900, $12,000, and $12,500 in the last 48-hours. While there are various technical reasons behind the abrupt upsurge, there are three key factors buoying the rally.The three catalysts are a favorable technical structure, PayPal enabling cryptocurrency purchases, and Bitcoin's rising dominance rate.PayPal's crypto announcement adds to BTC's momentumEarlier today,....

Bitcoin has seen an absurd amount of intraday volatility over the past day amid the best price action in many months. The coin currently trades for $12,900, a few hundred dollars shy of the daily and year-to-date high set just minutes ago at $13,250. Bitcoin plunged as low as $12,600 on futures platforms during that […]

Bitcoin’s price has seen some significant momentum throughout the past few days The cryptocurrency is currently trading at the highest price it has been at since before the summer rally came to an end This momentum appears to be the result of a confluence of different factors, including growing BTC adoption amongst corporations Just today, PayPal announced that they are planning to rollout cryptocurrency buying, selling, and storage features to all of their users Bitcoin, […]

News of PayPal’s support for crypto assets has triggered a rally in the markets, with Bitcoin trading above $13,000 for the first time since July. Bitcoin (BTC) has rallied above $13,000 for the first time since July, and only the third time since the all-time high bull run of late-2017.The move follows the long sustained period of five-figure price action, with BTC having spent nearly the entirety of the past 12 weeks trading above $10,000.Weekly BTC/USD chart: BitcoinWisdomThe spike was triggered by news that the global payments giant PayPal is launching support for Bitcoin, in addition....

Bitcoin (BTC) has risen above $13,000 in less than 24 hours after it broke the $12,000 level on the news that PayPal will support cryptocurrencies on its platform.

It’s been quite the past few days for the Bitcoin price. After trading as low as $11,200 last week, the cryptocurrency has rocketed higher. BTC now trades for $12,940 as of this article’s writing, just shy of the $13,000 daily highs it reached just hours ago. Source of BTC's price action over the past few […]

The CFTC has issued new guidance for crypto derivatives markets that hold customer funds, much of which boils down to "be very, very careful." Per guidance released Wednesday evening, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is advising businesses trading in crypto derivatives to hold customer funds very carefully.The new guidance continues the CFTC's interest in carving out rules for custodianship of virtual currencies — an area obviously distinct from any other asset class. Per the commission: "Custodians of virtual currencies are typically not subject to a system of comprehensive....

Juan Benet, a founder at Filecoin, is attacking Justin Sun for spreading completely false accusations about the movement of the FIL tokens soon after listing. In his long Twitter rebuff, Benet accuses Sun of spreading lies with the intention of harming the Filecoin project financially. Calling the accusations ridiculous, Benet says no one from the Filecoin team sold the FIL token on the day of listing. Soon after the FIL token went live on many exchanges, Sun unexpectedly tweeted alleging that Benet and others at Filecoin had exit scammed. This follows reports the Filecoin team had dumped....

With a strong correlation between stocks and the bitcoin price in recent months, analysts say a stimulus package could boost BTC as well.

Chainlink and other altcoins have been severely underperforming Bitcoin throughout the past few days, as BTC has pushed to fresh yearly highs while most altcoins remain down 50% or more from their highs that were set just a few days ago. The immense selling pressure that has been placed on altcoins as a result of […]

Bitcoin derivatives favor bulls but data shows top traders added to their short positions as BTC rallied above $12K. As Bitcoin (BTC) breaks the $12,000 resistance, derivatives markets are flirting with overly excessive bullish sentiment. The futures basis and the options 25% delta skew both reached the same levels seen now on October 12 when BTC briefly tested $11,700 but failed to maintain momentum.What differentiates the current situation from nine days ago is the positions of top crypto traders. On Oct. 12, these traders increased their longs, but during the recent move to $12,000....

Mainstream investors apparently liked the company's turn towards crypto. PayPal (PYPL) reached $215.87 on Oct. 21, a few dollars past its previous all-time high of $212.38, set on Sept. 2, 2020, according to data from TradingView.This price action came shortly after the payments company announced that it would soon be including crypto assets on its platform. PayPal plans to integrate Bitcoin (BTC), Etheruem (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) offerings into their network in 2021.Opening the trading day at $206.20, PayPal quickly rose past its all-time high, but just barely —....

Bitcoin’s price hit a 2020 record as ether’s share of the market dips.

A project that started out in the Ethereum ecosystem may soon be a worthy adversary for the network. CasperLabs has raised $14 million in a private validator token sale, with over a dozen investors participating in a round led by Digital Strategies. The company expects to launch its public mainnet in the first quarter of 2021, followed by a public token offering which will exclude U.S. investors. In 2018, CasperLabs raised $14.5 million in an equity Series A round led by Terren Piezer. The original plan provisioned for an Exchange Validator Offering on the BitMax exchange, but the recent....

The outlook is grim for the Canadian messaging app as it loses $5 million over its ICO for Kin tokens. On Wednesday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced the end of its lawsuit against Kik Interactive.The Canadian messenger app fell afoul of the U.S. regulator for failing to treat its sale of KIN tokens as a securities offering. A district judge confirmed the SEC's view at the end of September, but only today did the court see the final judgment. As a result of today's judgment, Kik will need to pay the SEC $5 million in penalties and keep the commission posted as to any....

Ethereum’s price has been significantly underperforming that of Bitcoin as of late While the benchmark cryptocurrency is now trading at fresh yearly highs, Ethereum is still down nearly 30% from its 2020 highs This underperformance is quite surprising to investors, as this latest Bitcoin rally is one of the few that has occurred in full isolation Altcoins have not been able to match its momentum throughout the past few days, but it remains unclear as […]