European police busted an illegal streaming ring that provided service to 2 million people and was so sophisticated that it had its own customer-service team. From a report: The criminal network operated for over five years and offered more than 40,000 channels, movies, documentaries and other content, according to European police coordination agency Europol. The scale of the operation shows how…
Tag: cryptocurrencies
JPMorgan Extends Banking Services To Bitcoin Exchanges
According to The Wall Street Journal, JPMorgan Chase has taken on Coinbase and Gemini Trust as banking customers (Warning: source paywalled; alternative source) — “the first time the bank has accepted clients from the cryptocurrency industry.” From the report: The move is the latest in a string of positive developments for bitcoin and another sign that Wall Street is becoming more…
China Rolls Out Pilot Test of Digital Currency
China’s central bank has introduced a homegrown digital currency across four cities as part of a pilot program, marking a milestone on the path toward the first electronic payment system by a major central bank. The Wall Street Journal reports: Internal tests of the digital currency are being conducted in four large cities around China — Shenzhen, Suzhou, Chengdu and Xiong’an,…
Russia Will Ban the Issuing and Selling of Cryptocurrencies
A senior Russian official says an upcoming digital assets bill will ban the issuing and selling of cryptocurrencies. Forbes reports: “We believe there are big risks of legalizing the operations with the cryptocurrencies, from the standpoint of financial stability, money laundering prevention and consumer protection,” Russia’s central bank head of legal, Alexey Guznov, told Russia news agency Interfax this week in…
Bitcoin Drops Almost 30 Percent To Under $5,800
Draconi writes: The price of Bitcoin dropped from it’s March 6th, 2020 high of $9,126 to under $5,800 today as market sell-offs accelerated with the S&P and Dow Jones dropping 7% in early hours trading. Bitcoin, long considered to be a safe-haven during times of economic stress, currently costs at least $4,313 in electricity per coin to generate. The latest drop…
Sweden Starts Testing World’s First Central Bank Digital Currency
Sweden’s Riksbank said on Wednesday it had begun testing an e-krona, taking the country a step closer to the creation of the world’s first central bank digital currency (CBDC). From a report: If the e-krona eventually comes into circulation it will be used to simulate everyday banking activities, such as payments, deposits and withdrawals from a digital wallet such as a…
Coinbase Becomes a Visa Principal Member To Double Down On Debit Card
Coinbase has become the only cryptocurrency company with a Visa Principal Member certification. TechCrunch reports: Cryptocurrency company Coinbase has been working with Paysafe to issue the Coinbase Card, a Visa debit card that works with your Coinbase account balance. The company is now a Visa Principal Member, which should help Coinbase rely less on Paysafe and control a bigger chunk of…
The Countdown To Bitcoin Halving 2020 Begins
Ali Raza from InsideBitcoins discusses the expected Bitcoin Halving in May 2020, and the impact it will have on the market valuation. From the report: The next Bitcoin Halving will take place on May 20th 2020. It will be the third time, that the block reward of the most known blockchain will be halved. As a consequence, miners will earn 50…
Price of Bitcoin Plummets Below ‘Psychological’ $7,000 Level After China Promises Crackdown
Friday Forbes wrote that price of Bitcoin had dropped 10% over the previous 24 hours, dipping below the “psychological” $7,000 level. That’s after starting the week at over $8,000, and less than a month after it rose to $10,000. Apparently cryptocurrencies had gotten some very bad news from China. Bitcoin rivals ethereum and bitcoin cash have led the market lower [Friday]…
The Price of Bitcoin Spiked 40% Friday Night
“The price of Bitcoin skyrocketed overnight, rising by nearly 40 percent from a recent low,” reports Newsweek:
The sharp turn came as Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke highly of the decentralized technology on which the digital currency is founded, telling members of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee that the country should “seize the opportunity” of blockchain… China banned cryptocurrency exchanges…