Cryptocurrency

Newly released documents relating to Telegram’s 2018 ICO have revealed some big-name backers, including Russian oil tycoon Roman Abramovich and former Minister of Open Government Affairs Mikhail Abyzov. The publication of the documents highlighting some of the big-money backers in Telegram’s planned blockchain, Telegram Open Network (TON), is just the latest development in the US

The world of crypto has developed at a breakneck pace over the past few years, and in a new development, cryptocurrency firm BitGo has announced the launch of its own crypto lending service. In recent times, the crypto lending industry has grown at a decent pace, but there is still room for a lot of

The crypto industry is taking aim at one of Wall Street’s oldest redoubts: investing in the $17 trillion market for U.S. Treasury bonds.  Arca Funds, a Los Angeles-based money manager specializing in cryptocurrencies, wants to create a fund to buy U.S. Treasury bonds and then use them to back a digital token created atop the

A lawsuit claiming Ripple violated securities laws will be allowed to move forward – though with a caveat favorable to the San Francisco-based payments firm. In a ruling Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton, of the Northern District of California, allowed a putative class-action lawsuit by retail XRP (XRP) buyers to proceed. Hamilton said the

An Iranian general is reportedly calling for the use of cryptocurrency to evade sanctions. Saeed Muhammad, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ “Army of Guardians of the Islamic Revolution” (or Sepâh for short), a branch of the Iranian Armed Forces, said in a speech Wednesday that Iran should look to cryptocurrencies to bolster international

Coinhako, a cryptocurrency exchange backed by Tim Draper, has restricted user withdrawals after falling victim to a “sophisticated attack.” The Singapore-based exchange told users Friday that account send functions for cryptocurrencies had been temporarily disabled. Although a spokesperson initially said this was for “network maintenance”, the exchange admitted Saturday it had been victim to an

The spreading coronavirus sowed a new bout of fear among investors, triggering a stock market sell-off and flight to safe-haven assets like gold and U.S. Treasury bonds, with 47 countries now reporting infections amid widespread reports of travel cancellations, shipment delays and business interruptions. U.S. stocks fell for the sixth straight day, Treasury yields slid

Decentralized derivatives exchange Digitex has fallen victim to a significant data breach believed to have exposed the email addresses and possibly other information of more than 8,000 users. A former employee stole private information for more than 8,000 users, Christina Comben, who heads Digitex’s communications, said Friday. Comben told CoinDesk the exchange was “aware of

The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Small Business is set to discuss the benefits blockchain technology can bring to entrepreneurs. Slated for March 4 at 16:30 UTC, the “Building Blocks of Change: The Benefits of Blockchain Technology for Small Businesses” hearing will explore the ways in which some startups are utilizing blockchain technology to

U.S. stocks continue to reel over coronavirus-related fears, and investors are increasingly betting the Federal Reserve will slash interest rates to stabilize the economy and markets. But whether those investors turn to bitcoin (BTC) as a crisis hedge remains to be seen. Such action by the Fed could, in theory, help bitcoin prices since lower

Researchers at the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) are grappling with the future of payments – so much so that their newest quarterly report, released Sunday, is entirely dedicated to what that potential revolution holds. In its 138-page look at what lies beyond the financial horizon, the Swiss-based institution reckoned with coming trends that may

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control has added 20 new bitcoin (BTC) addresses associated with two individuals to its list of sanctioned individuals. According to an update to OFAC’s “Specially Designated Nationals” (SDN) list, Jiadong Li and Yinyin Tian are accused of being linked to the Lazarus Group, a cybercrime group possibly

Polkadot is readying itself for its expected network launch after it announced its integration with Chainlink oracles on February 25. The progress made with the integrations is an indication of a systematic approach that will allow porting with Ethereum infrastructure. Polkadot Announces Integrations of Chainlink Oracles The integration of Chainlink oracles is vital in the

The Libra Association has signed up Canadian e-commerce platform Shopify as its newest member as the troubled crypto project looks to get back on track. Libra has lost several founding members in recent months for a variety of reasons, the most prominent of which was the massive amount of scrutiny leveled at the project. The

Daily trading volume in bitcoin (BTC) futures listed on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) dropped to year-to-date lows on Friday.  The volume hit $118 million, the lowest level since Dec. 31. On that day futures recorded volume of $112 million, according to Skew Markets.  What’s worth noting is volumes have pulled back sharply from the

Byrne Hobart, a CoinDesk columnist, is an investor, consultant and writer in New York. His newsletter, The Diff (diff.substack.com) covers inflection points in finance and technology.  In October, China’s President Xi Jinping said China should “seize the opportunity” to use the blockchain. To cryptocurrency advocates, this is exciting – and confusing. Why would a deeply