Cryptocurrency

According to Reuters, China’s state planner wants to ban Bitcoin mining. The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has updated a draft list of industrial activities that it is looking to encourage, restrict, or eliminate. The list was first published in 2011. NDRC Wants to Ban Cryptocurrency Mining Unfortunately for crypto enthusiasts, cryptocurrency mining has

Bitfinex has removed its $10,000 minimum equity requirement to start trading on the cryptocurrency exchange, enabling a broader range of investors to participate. The company, based in the British Virgin Islands, cited “overwhelming demand from a wide variety of traders” for the change. “We simply could not ignore the increasing level of requests for access to

Good days may be ahead for cryptocurrencies. The sentiment of digital assets is improving slowly after witnessing a bear trend in 2018. The total cryptocurrency market cap has increased considerably by over $50 billion USD since the beginning of 2019. Many digital assets are outperforming the market when compared to the largest indices worldwide. CCI30

UPDATE (April 8, 13:40 UTC): The funding round was led by Initialized Capital, not Pantera Capital. The headline has been updated. A San Francisco-based decentralized exchange (DEX) called Sparkswap launched Monday, becoming the first North American exchange to fully integrate the lightning network, a bitcoin scaling solution. Sparkswap is funded by a $3.5 million seed

When people see blockchain, the first thing they probably think of is cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin. No doubt blockchain has been thrust into the limelight by the unprecedented popularity of Bitcoin and the universe of cryptocurrencies, but blockchain is more than just a technology used in transactions. Blockchain, simply put, is a distributed ledger of digital

Noelle Acheson is a veteran of company analysis and member of CoinDesk’s product team. The following article originally appeared in Institutional Crypto by CoinDesk, a newsletter for the institutional market, with news and views on crypto infrastructure delivered every Tuesday. Sign up here. For those of us in the northern hemisphere, April is traditionally the month when the

The cryptocurrency market has again undergone strict scrutiny after analysts and market players were shocked by the sudden jump in Bitcoin price two days back on Tuesday. The shocking spike in the price generated fear about the high volatility and risk involved in the cryptocurrency market. Investors and analysts, rather than celebrate, have become all

Mainstream news coverage of cryptocurrency is often disingenuous or factually incorrect – that’s certainly no surprise given the nascent technology is widely misunderstood. But if one would have thought that recent milestones – bitcoin’s 10th anniversary, the arrival of crypto projects from the likes of JP Morgan and Facebook – would have encouraged the media to

Cryptocurrency is taking over the financial world, and crypto exchanges are taking over the jobs world. Because on LinkedIn’s Top 50 US employers list for 2019, Coinbase has ranked higher than investment banking giant JPMorgan. Now, Coinbase jobs will be in higher demand than ever before. The Perks of Coinbase Jobs Coinbase ranked at number 35

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has ranked above investment banking giant JPMorgan in LinkedIn’s top 50 U.S. employers list for 2019. The networking platform for professionals published the list on Wednesday, ranking Coinbase at number 35, 9 spots ahead of JPMorgan at number 44. No other cryptocurrency or blockchain firm made the list. Coinbase has predominantly hired staff in

Belgium’s Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) has updated its crypto blacklist. According to an official statement made today, the government body has added seven crypto trading platforms to it. Crypto Blacklist The crypto blacklist is comprised of websites and/or platforms associated with fraud or that show signs of fraudulent behavior. Effectively, these websites are known to

Bitcoin and the rest of the cryptocurrency market have started Q2 off with an emphatic bang, having at one point increased the market’s total capitalization by nearly $40 billion since the beginning of April. Indeed, bitcoin led the market-wide charge on April 2, surging over 20 percent in a single hour – a move that

It’s been nearly six months in the making and now the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has finally published its regulatory guidelines for token issuers. Though many questions remain unanswered, crypto enthusiasts have finally got some clarity on the issue of “tokens as securities.” SEC Guidelines The SEC Guidelines focus on tokens and how

The Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) is soon to trial bitcoin and ether trades with help from Canadian fintech firm Blockstation. The two firms jointly announced Wednesday that they have entered into an agreement to enable live trading of digital assets including security tokens in a “regulated and secured” environment. The trial of bitcoin and ether

It’s a bullish day in the cryptosphere. Paypal makes a blockchain investment and Bitcoin jumps above $5,079 USD. Bitcoin Jump: April Fool’s Joke? Bitcoin gained 21% in early trade and has now slightly corrected back down to $4,712 according to CoinMarketCap. However, no one knows why the Bitcoin jump happened in the first place. Now,

Bitcoin’s price has emerged above three major moving averages for the first time in nearly 15 months on Tuesday. The development is a byproduct of the cryptocurrency’s surge above $5,000 during Tuesday’s trading session, representing an increase in excess of 20 percent. A moving average (MA), when used in financial analysis, is simply a continuously

Where Bitcoin (BTC) goes, the rest of the crypto market tends to follow. And with the top ten in green, it stands to reason that Bitcoin price is also faring nicely. In fact, BTC price as of late has been giving investors food for thought. The first three months of 2019 have seen the coin

Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck has launched an over-the-counter (OTC) cryptocurrency trading service aimed at institutional clients, the firm said Monday. While the service seem primarily to serve bitcoin trades, Coincheck said it will consider trades in other cryptocurrencies. Coincheck said its OTC trading desk will allow customers to buy and sell a minimum of 50 bitcoins ($205,423

Litecoin’s (LTC) price has doubled in the first three months of 2019 to register its best first-quarter performance on record. The fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization is currently trading at $61, representing a 100 percent gain on January’s opening price of $30. It clocked a six-month high of $64.20 earlier this month, according to Bitfinex

Blockchain technology has many uses. Mostly synonymous with the financial sector and for crypto trading, it might surprise some to learn that the fashion industry has found a clever use for the technology. Dubbed the AURA blockchain, luxury brand conglomerate and owner of the Louis Vuitton fashion label, LVMH, has developed the LVMH blockchain. The

David Weisberger is co-founder and CEO of CoinRoutes and a veteran of building trading desks and financial technology businesses. The opinions expressed in this article are his own, and do not reflect CoinDesk’s position. The following article originally appeared in Institutional Crypto by CoinDesk, a free newsletter for the institutional market, with news and views

Bitmain Technologies has abandoned its IPO enthusiasm after the company’s Hong Kong stock market proposal listing expired earlier this week, sparking debate on the future of the entire cryptocurrency market. The company did say that it plans to reapply at an appropriate time in the future, saying that “despite the huge potential of the cryptocurrency

Mark Karpeles, former CEO of the long-defunct bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox, is to appeal his conviction on data manipulation charges earlier this month. According to a report from The Associated Press on Friday, Karpeles said he had decided to appeal because the Tokyo District Court did not fully look at the defense arguments. Karpeles said:

Weiss Cryptocurrency Ratings released its March 2019 “Weiss Cryptocurrency Outlook” report, with Ripple (XRP), EOS, Bitcoin (BTC), and Binance Coin (BNB) receiving the top four spots on the list of 122 cryptocurrencies. Weiss Ratings is the world’s only financial rating agency that provides grades on cryptocurrencies. The report, which is called “Dark Shadows with a Bright

Daniel Cawrey is CEO of Pactum Capital, a cryptocurrency investment firm focused on market making and liquidity. Formerly a CoinDesk Contributing Editor, he is author of the upcoming “Mastering Blockchain” book to be published by O’Reilly Media. Recently, a report was produced by Bitwise Asset Management showing the existence of faked volumes in the bitcoin

According to Medium, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies will be able to be sent through the WhatsApp messaging service. A new crypto wallet service developed by Wuabit will mean the sending of crypto via WhatsApp. Wuabit The Wuabit service will give users access to their tokens through WhatsApp. In essence, the wallet will appear linked to

While leading cryptocurrency exchanges like Coinbase and Binance feverishly add new tokens, smaller exchanges serving emerging markets are pivoting toward retail applications of the lightning network’s bitcoin scaling solution. The latest is Singapore-based exchange Zebpay, which now offers lightning wallet options for users who want to send lightning-enabled payments to external wallets. Bitcoin users can

The former CEO of Enron, Jeffrey Skilling, is reportedly looking to start a blockchain company just a month after being freed from jail for his role in the energy giant’s massive accounting scandal back in 2001. According to a Wall Street Journal article on Monday citing sources “familiar with the matter,” Skilling may be planning

Malta-based crypto exchange OKEx has announced plans for its own decentralized exchange or DEX on its own blockchain. The company made the announcement on Friday detailing the OKEx blockchain. OKEx Blockchain: OKChain According to a release on Medium, the company detailed how its operations team has been developing a blockchain called OKChain. The blockchain will be

ConsenSys spin-out BlockApps is working with Bayer Crop Science, the controversial agricultural giant formerly known as Monsanto. The multinational corporation is collaborating on several BlockApps pilot projects, CoinDesk has learned, although the firm declined to specify how many. The projects began as proof-of-concept implementations in 2018. Michael Pareles, the global digital strategy manager of Bayer’s