Online Cash Bitcoin Could Challenge Governments, Banks

guest · Nov 29, 2020

Pizza Hut to accept Bitcoin for pies in Venezuela
November 29, 2020
https://cointelegraph.com/news/pizza-hut-to-accept-bitcoin-for-pies-in-venezuela

A famous U.S.-based pizza chain has begun accepting cryptocurrency payments in all its stores in Venezuela.

According to a Nov. 27 tweet from crypto services firm CryptoBuyer, Pizza Hut stores in the South American nation now accept crypto as a form of payment for food and drinks. The move follows the crypto firm partnering with Mega Soft to drive adoption in Venezuela by facilitating crypto payments at more than 20,000 shops and businesses.

“Pizza Hut nowadays cannot be detached from these technological advances and all those incorporating new approaches for daily necessities," said Richard ElKhouri, General Director for Venezuelan operations of the pizza chain, in an interview with local news outlet ElAxioma.
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hawki · Nov 30, 2020

hawki said: ↑

Quite a correction in bitcoin today:

After passing the $19,000 level earlier in the week.

$16,474
-2,372 -12.58%
Click to expand...

That didn't take long:

Bitcoin USD

$19,025

Last Updated: Nov 30, 2020 8:47 a.m. EST

hawki · Nov 30, 2020

FWIW:

New all-time high

Bitcoin USD

$19,742
+1,475 8.08%

Last Updated: Nov 30, 2020 10:22 a.m. EST

Palancar · Nov 30, 2020

GrayScale and Paypal's name recognition (and other similar large names) are driving these coins into mainstream. For many these are Gold replacements. Not saying its right or wrong just stating facts.

guest · Nov 30, 2020

Someone just moved $5M in BTC from the 2016 Bitfinex hack
November 30, 2020
https://cointelegraph.com/news/someone-just-moved-5m-in-btc-from-the-2016-bitfinex-hack

Back in 2016, 119,756 Bitcoin were stolen from the Bitfinex crypto exchange. Some of these coins have continued to move between wallets over the years, including as recently as Monday.

Blockchain data shows that an unknown crypto user has moved 270.97974 Bitcoin (BTC) from a wallet associated with the hack. The sum is worth roughly $5.2 million at time of publication.
The hackers responsible for the breach have moved only 1-2% of the stolen funds during the four-year interim since the theft took place.
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98% of the stolen funds have remained untouched for four years, however. This may suggest that the hackers have faced difficulties laundering the digital assets as authorities enforce stricter regulations.
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guest · Dec 1, 2020

Libra Rebrands to ‘Diem’ in Anticipation of 2021 Launch
December 1, 2020
https://www.coindesk.com/libra-diem-rebrand

The group, composed of 27 member firms, announced Tuesday it was changing its name to Diem (the Latin term for “day”) as it gears up for the potential 2021 launch of a single, dollar-pegged stablecoin.

A revised white paper also reduces Facebook’s role. While the original document released in June 2019 mentioned Facebook six times and said that “Facebook is expected to maintain a leadership role through 2019,” and noted its creation of Novi, the December 2020 version only said, “While Facebook teams played a key role in the creation of the Association and the Libra Blockchain, they have no special rights within the Association.”
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Diem: Announcing the name Diem. Executive leadership in place in preparation for launch.

guest · Dec 4, 2020

Private German bank to roll out crypto fund
December 4, 2020
https://thepaypers.com/cryptocurrencies/private-german-bank-to-roll-out-crypto-fund--1246074

Private German bank Hauck & Aufhauser has announced it is launching a cryptocurrency fund in January 2021.

According to the announcement, the HAIC Digital Asset Fund will be aimed at institutional clients and hold several cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ether, and Stellar. The minimum investment will be EUR 200.000 (USD 243.000). The bank said it has seen digital assets and cryptocurrencies become increasingly attractive to institutional investors.
The bank is teaming up with the custody arm of Germany-based fintech company Kapilendo, which will manage the storage of the crypto assets in the fund.
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guest · Dec 8, 2020

MetaMask phishing steals cryptocurrency wallets via Google ads
December 5, 2020
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/ne...steals-cryptocurrency-wallets-via-google-ads/

Over the past week, users of the MetaMask cryptocurrency wallet have been losing funds to a phishing scam that lured potential victims through Google search ads.

MetaMask has a community of more than one million users. The site offers an Ethereum cryptocurrency wallet in the browser via a browser extension that lets distributed applications read from the blockchain.
MetaMask users find empty wallets
Although it is unclear how many MetaMask users fell for the scam, some say they ended up with empty wallets after clicking on a fraudulent search ad being promoted as the MetaMask site.
The phishing/ad scam is still active, with a new domain constantly being promoted via Google search ads.
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It was determined that the users were going to a fake MetaMask phishing page through Google ads. Once on the page, they are prompted to install the extension, which will give them an option to either import an existing wallet or create a new one.

Update [12/720]: MetaMask users are being targeted via ads displayed at the top of the results in other search engines. BleepingComputer today captured a screenshot showing fraudulent MetaMask ads in DuckDuckGo when the region filter was active.
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guest · Dec 9, 2020

Man Gets 6 Years for $25M Diamond and Crypto Ponzi Scheme
December 9, 2020
https://www.coindesk.com/man-sentenced-to-six-years-in-prison-for-diamond-ponzi-with-crypto-token

A South Florida federal district judge sentenced a Washington, D.C., man to six years in federal prison for operating a $25 million diamond investment scheme that included a crypto component. He must also pay over $23 million in victim restitution.

The accused, Jose Angel Aman, and his partners were sentenced by U.S. District Judge Rodolfo A. Ruiz II of the Southern District of Florida for soliciting funds from people in the United States and Canada for purported diamond contracts.
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guest · Dec 14, 2020

France to ban anonymous crypto accounts
December 14, 2020
https://thepaypers.com/cryptocurrencies/france-to-ban-anonymous-crypto-accounts--1246242

French financial authorities are strengthening the country’s cryptocurrency regulations in a move to prevent illicit activities like money laundering and terrorism financing.

Major global authorities and organisations like the Financial Action Task Force, the G7, and the G20 have called for measures to prevent illicit activity using crypto. As such, the French government is preparing to introduce new regulatory provisions to apply new digital identification tools for crypto transactions and virtual asset service providers.
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guest · Dec 16, 2020

Bitcoin price hits $20,000 for the first time in history
December 16, 2020
https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-price-hits-20-000-for-the-first-time-in-history

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) has reached $20,000 for the first time in history on Dec. 16. The historic milestone comes just over two weeks after breaking its previous all-time high.

At the same time, this rally is different from 2017’s due to several reasons that could help BTC soar even higher. These include growing institutional demand, the increasing perception among investors that BTC is a store of value, and stronger network fundamentals.
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guest · Dec 16, 2020

American Express dives deeper into crypto with trading platform investment
December 16, 2020
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/america...to-with-trading-platform-investment-1.1537274

American Express Co.’s venture arm has invested in the FalconX cryptocurrency trading platform, another sign that large financial services providers are tiptoeing into the digital-asset sphere.

The credit-card provider didn’t disclose the amount invested in the San Mateo, California-based startup, which raised US$17 million in May from the likes of Accel, Coinbase Ventures and a fund affiliated with Fidelity Investments’ parent company.

“Amex Ventures invests in startups as a way to better understand emerging areas of the payments ecosystem,” Harshul Sanghi, global head of Amex Ventures, said in a statement.
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FalconX’s chief executive and co-founder. An increasing number of traditional service providers and hedge funds have become interested in cryptocurrencies, he said.

“We are actually at the front and center of seeing this institutional growth,” Yarlagadda said in an interview.
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guest · Dec 20, 2020

mood said: ↑

Data Breach at Crypto Wallet Firm Ledger Exposes User's Personal Info
Hardware wallet provider Ledger said its marketing database was breached between June and July
July 29, 2020
https://cointelegraph.com/news/data-breach-at-crypto-wallet-firm-ledger-exposes-users-personal-info
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Ledger data breach: Hacker leaks stolen database on hacker forum
December 20, 2020
https://www.hackread.com/ledger-data-breach-database-leaked-hacker-forum/

Back in July this year, Hackread.com reported on a data breach involving Paris, France based hardware wallet provider Ledger. The incident took place on July 25th, 2020 in which attackers stole the personal data of customers and subscribers.

Now, Hackread.com can confirm that a threat actor is claiming to have leaked the same Ledger database on an infamous hacker forum.
It is worth noting that the stolen database was already being sold on several dark web marketplace since it was stolen 5 months ago.
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The good news is that there are no passwords in the database however at the time of publishing this article, the leaked database was already available on different hacking forums including an infamous and highly active Russian language one.
It is noteworthy that the July data breach came to light after a bug bounty hunter reported the incident to the company.
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guest · Dec 21, 2020

Tesla's Elon Musk asks about converting 'large transactions' to bitcoin
December 20, 2020
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...g-large-transactions-to-bitcoin-idUSKBN28U0XM

Elon Musk on Sunday asked about the possibility of converting “large transactions” of Tesla Inc’s balance sheet into bitcoin, according to a Twitter exchange between Musk and a well-known advocate for the digital currency.

Michael Saylor, chief executive officer of MicroStrategy Inc, in a tweet to Musk, suggested that the billionaire Tesla founder and head, make the move.

“If you want to do your shareholders a $100 billion favor, convert the $TSLA balance sheet from USD to #BTC,” Saylor wrote in his tweet. “Other firms on the S&P 500 would follow your lead & in time it would grow to become a $1 trillion favor.”
“Bitcoin is the best solution to the store of value problem faced by every individual, investor, & corporation on earth,” Saylor said.
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Bitcoin rose to a high of $24,299.75 on Sunday, after passing the $20,000 milestone for the first time last week, amid surging interest from larger investors. Bitcoin was last at $23,60.98 up 2.88%.
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guest · Dec 22, 2020

Ripple says it will be sued by the SEC, in what the company calls a parting shot at the crypto industry
December 22, 2020
https://fortune.com/2020/12/21/ripple-to-be-sued-by-sec-cryptocurrency-xrp/

Ripple, one of the most important companies in the cryptocurrency industry, said Monday evening that the Securities and Exchange Commission is poised to file a bombshell lawsuit against the company over the alleged sale of unlicensed securities.

The lawsuit will also name Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and cofounder Chris Larsen as defendants, according to Garlinghouse, who told Fortune the agency will file the case in the near future.
Judith Burns, a spokesperson for the SEC, declined Fortune’s request for comment about the lawsuit or to confirm that there would be one.
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If the agency does sue Ripple, the action will follow years of debate between the company and the agency about whether XRP, a digital currency associated with Ripple, is a security, like a share of stock—which must be registered with the agency—or is instead a currency and thus beyond the SEC’s purview.
XRP is the third most valuable cryptocurrency, and currently has a market cap of $23 billion.
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hawki · Dec 23, 2020

mood said: ↑

Ripple says it will be sued by the SEC, in what the company calls a parting shot at the crypto industry
December 22, 2020
https://fortune.com/2020/12/21/ripple-to-be-sued-by-sec-cryptocurrency-xrp/
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"Trump Administration Obliterates Biggest Bitcoin Competitor with SEC Lawsuit

The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed suit against executives overseeing bitcoin’s biggest competitor, obliterating the currency’s price and setting the stage for regulatory uncertainty that will not be resolved until the incoming administration takes office.

The complaint, which names Ripple CEO Bradley Garlinghouse and former CEO and co-founder Christian Larsen, alleges the company’s XRP token constituted an unregistered securities offering, and that the two engaged in insider trading worth $1.3 billion..."

https://www.mediaite.com/news/trump...-biggest-bitcoin-competitor-with-sec-lawsuit/

guest · Dec 29, 2020

No, NFL player Russell Okung is not being paid in Bitcoin
December 29, 2020
https://www.theverge.com/2020/12/29...tcoin-debunk-carolina-panthers-cryptocurrency

“Panthers’ Russell Okung Becomes First NFL Player to Be Paid in Bitcoin,” the headline proclaimed — and soon, ones just like it started sprouting up across the web, with sports publications, tech publications, and mainstream media outlets alike jumping to tell how the Carolina Panthers offensive lineman finally fulfilled his spoken desire to get paid in cryptocurrency.

Unfortunately, the headline isn’t true. “Not accurate,” an NFL spokesperson tells me, adding that “his people are converting some of the money into bitcoin” after he gets paid in US dollars, just like every other NFL player.
Okung’s own team, the Carolina Panthers, also confirmed to The Verge that teams pay their players in US dollars.
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It’s not clear why Okung chose this particular startup to convert his paycheck (it does accept direct deposit), or why he’s tweeted fourteen times this afternoon encouraging his followers to hop on board the bitcoin and Zap train.
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guest · Jan 1, 2021

Bitcoin keeps hitting new records, nears $30,000 in late 2020 price surge
December 31, 2020
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-keeps-hitting-new-records-193106428.html

Bitcoin started the year at $7,200. It’s ending the year close to $30,000, up 296%. (For comparison, the Nasdaq is up 43% in 2020, the S&P 500 up 16%, the Dow up 7%.)

In the past, a common criticism of bitcoin from skeptics was that it isn’t useful as a real currency—you can’t spend it in most places. In 2020, investors decided they don’t care about that, and don’t want to spend their bitcoin anyway. Institutional firms flooded in, viewing cryptocurrencies as a legitimate asset to hold in their portfolio.

At the very least, the consensus now appears to be: Bitcoin isn’t going away. It has existed for 10 years and will continue to exist.
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hawki · Jan 2, 2021

mood said: ↑

Bitcoin keeps hitting new records, nears $30,000 in late 2020 price surge
December 31, 2020
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-keeps-hitting-new-records-193106428.html
Click to expand...

Bitcoin USD

$33,004

Last Updated: Jan 2, 2021 11:40 a.m. EST

https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/cryptocurrency/btcusd?mod=home-page

guest · Jan 3, 2021

Bittrex To Delist Privacy Coins Monero, ZCash and Dash in Two Weeks
Privacy coins are under scrutiny by regulators
January 1, 2021
https://decrypt.co/53012/bittrex-to-delist-privacy-coins-monero-zcash-and-dash-in-two-weeks

Crypto exchange Bittrex today announced that it will delist privacy coins Monero (XMR), ZCash and Dash on Friday, January 15, at 23:00 UTC.

#Bittrex Customers:
The $XMR, $ZEC, and $DASH markets will be removed on Friday, January 15th at 23:00 UTC.
Details: https://t.co/8qAdjuwryJ
— Bittrex (@BittrexExchange) January 1, 2021
The Bermuda-registered exchange did not provide a reason for the delistings, but all three are privacy coins—a class of cryptocurrencies that offer untraceable transactions.

Monero is private by default, and ZCash and Dash have an option for private transactions.
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Privacy coins are under scrutiny by regulators, who consider them facilitators of illegal activity.
Bittrex cites "evolving regulatory standards and other compliance issues" among its reasons for delisting tokens.
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IRONY · Jan 4, 2021

Yep, should still be banned.

Palancar · Jan 4, 2021

IRONY said: ↑

Yep, should still be banned.
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Educate us as to why you feel that way!

guest · Jan 5, 2021

Jack Dorsey warns that FinCEN regulations will drive crypto users offshore
Major U.S crypto firms are united in opposition to new AML laws proposed by FinCEN
January 4, 2021
https://cointelegraph.com/news/jack...-regulations-will-drive-crypto-users-offshore

Major U.S crypto firms are rallying against FinCEN’s proposed regulations that would force businesses operating with crypto to gather information on the identities of non-customer counterparties.

A Jan. 4 letter from Jack Dorsey, CEO of financial services firm Square takes aim at the proposal for seeking to impose reporting obligations that go “far beyond what is required for cash transactions,” and that Sqaure would be expected to collect “unreliable data about people who have not opted into our service or signed up as our customers.”

“Counterparty name and address collection/reporting should not be required for [virtual currency] CTRs or recordkeeping, as it’s not required for cash today.”
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Square predicts that if passed, the law would drive cryptocurrency users toward unregulated and non-custodial crypto services based outside of the U.S. — impacting the nation’s global competitiveness and creating further challenges for regulators:
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guest · Jan 7, 2021

Bitcoin Tops $40K for First Time, Bringing Year-to-Date Gain to More Than One-Third
January 7, 2021
https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-tops-38k-for-first-time-a-day-after-racing-past-36k-37k

Causing observers to run out of superlatives and Google users to query about whether a crash is coming, bitcoin topped $40,000 for the first time Thursday, only hours after the leading cryptocurrency blew past $38,000 and $39,000.

The price of bitcoin set a new-all time high of $40,123.30, up 13.45% over the last 24 hours. Yesterday, bitcoin (BTC, +10.71%) passed $36,000 and $37,000 for the first time before rocketing today past $38,000, $39,000 and now $40,000.

It continues a wild start to 2021 and follows a landmark year in which the cryptocurrency rose more than 300%, with an almost 50% gain in December alone.

The prevailing narrative of this record-setting run is a growing view that bitcoin represents a form of "digital gold," a view that has brought a flood of institutional investors into the cryptocurrency.

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hawki · Jan 11, 2021

mood said: ↑

Bitcoin Tops $40K for First Time, Bringing Year-to-Date Gain to More Than One-Third
January 7, 2021
https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-tops-38k-for-first-time-a-day-after-racing-past-36k-37k
Click to expand...

FYI

Bitcoin USD

$30,562

-$7,422
-19.54%

Last Updated: Jan 11, 2021 11:40 a.m. EST

https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/cryptocurrency/btcusd?mod=home-page

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