Crypto News, June 20 2018: Flat Day
Highlights: $30M Bithumb hack, Tether undergoes a financial review, and Brian Armstrong shares some thoughts on market hype.
Bithumb Hacked for $31 Million
South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb reported today that over $31 million in coins had been stolen. CoinDesk confirms that Ripple was targeted during the hack. The announcement linked above urges users not to deposit any funds onto the exchange, and also promises to reimburse customers for any lost coins. Withdrawals are frozen for the time being.
Tether Review: Report Released
Source: Tether
In an effort to combat “allegations” circulating about Tether and its USD reserve backing, Tether earlier this year enlisted a firm to review their financial documentation. While not technically a true audit, the review confirms Tether’s claims that each of its coins in circulation is backed by USD reserves. The full report and details of the audit can be found in the source link above.
HP To Make $4 Billion Investment in “Intelligent Edge” Tech
Source: HP
Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) will invest $4 billion over the next four years into “Intelligent Edge” services and technologies, or Internet of Things. Among the projects is the continued development of HPE’s partnership with Streamr, bringing vehicle data to the blockchain.
TRON Hard Fork Scam
Source: CryptoVest
An announcement of a TRON “hard fork” following the launch of their mainnet has been revealed to be a scam. According to the source article, an r/Tronix moderator’s account was compromised, allowing a malicious party to post the “announcement” and proliferate it through social media. As of the time of this writing, the TRON Genesis Medium account, which also posted the news, has been suspended.
“TRON: The Frankenstein of Crypto”
Source: Twitter | Code Example 1 | Code Example 2
Tech researcher Lucas Nuzzi tweeted a dim outlook for the TRON mainnet launch, calling it “the Frankenstein of crypto.” He’s referring to the patchwork nature of the tech, which, ahem, seems to have been stitched together from several different sources. You can view some of the code examples he cited above.
CCID Ranks EOS #1
Source: Medium
The China Electronic Information Industry Development (CCID) has ranked EOS #1 overall on their crypto rankings. The rankings are based on technology, application, and innovation dimensions. ETH and NEO also made the top 3. Check out the full rankings at the source link above.
DENT Hits 2 Million Users
Source: Twitter
DENT announced yesterday via its Twitter page that it has reached 2 million users. They announced 1 million users on June 8th, meaning they’ve doubled their user base in under two weeks.
SEC: Crypto Collectibles Are Not Securities
Source: Reddit
The SEC stated that it does not consider crypto collectibles such as “KittyCash” to be securities. The statement is contained in a letter responding to a Boise, Idaho resident who apparently brought concern of insider trading to the SEC’s attention.
Partnership: Dash & AloGateway
source: Dash
The Dash currency will be coming to the AloGateway payment processing platform. AloGateway’s presence in the Asian markets, including support of China Union Pay, will extend Dash’s global reach and help establish it as a mainstream currency option.
Amsterdam Airport Launches “Bitcoin ATM”
The Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam will test a “Bitcoin ATM” over the next six months, allowing travelers to exchange their Euros for “global” currencies like BTC or ETH. Per the Twitter link above, the ATM has a 100 Euro limit
Nasdaq & Partners Complete Blockchain Proof-of-Concept
Source: Globe News Wire
The Nasdaq stock exchange has completed a proof-of-concept with partners ABN AMRO Clearing, EuroCCP, and Euroclear to improve the efficiency of using securities to cover margin calls after business hours. The proof-of-concept addresses the issues of coordinating “after business hours” on a global scale by leveraging blockchain technology, and was reportedly able to complete the process “within minutes.”
EU Allows Monitoring of Cryptocurrency Accounts
Source: Finance Magnates
Financial institutions in the EU now have the authority to link cryptocurrency addresses to their owners as part of its Anti-Money Laundering Directive. The EU cites terrorism funding as justification for the directive. All EU member states have until 2020 to update their legislation to comply.
SEC Complaints Against Coinbase
Source: Mashable
134 pages of complaints against Coinbase filed to the SEC, obtained by Mashable under the Freedom of Information Act, show a troubling pattern of mismanagement by the exchange. Customers have filed grievances stating that either their funds were completely lost or that they were locked out of their accounts, with multiple attempts to contact Coinbase going unanswered - in effect, their money was stolen. In a response, Coinbase cited a 300% growth in transaction volume, but did not address the specific complaints..
U.K. Exchange to Launch LTC Futures
Source: CoinDesk
A U.K.-based cryptocurrency exchange is set to offer Litecoin futures this week. Crypto Facilities will launch the LTC-backed futures on June 22, 2018. The exchange also launched Ethereum-based futures last month.
New Binance Listings: PundiX
Source: PundiX
PundiX (NPXS), winner of the Binance “Community Coin of the Month” initiative, will be available for trading on the exchange tomorrow. BTC and ETH pairs will be offered.
Free Money!*
Source: Blox
Today’s episode of Free Money Maybe is brought to you by Blox! Complete a few requirements and then take a “crypto quiz” for a chance to win $100,000. We’re pretty sure we didn’t nail the quiz, but as a bonus, Blox looks pretty legit.
Akon to Launch “Crypto City” in Africa
Source: CoinDesk
Singer Akon plans to launch a “crypto city” using a 2,000-acre plot of land gifted to him by the president of Senegal and a proprietary Akoin currency. Akon is quoted in the article praising the merits of blockchain, although there are no specifics on how a “crypto city” might actually leverage the technology. As Akon puts it, "I come with the concepts and let the geeks figure it out."
Pokémon on the Lightning Network
Source: Pokétoshi
Pokémon comes to the Bitcoin Lightning Network! You can now play Pokémon with cryptocurrency using a virtual controller. Each move costs 10 Satoshi.
Coinbase CEO Encourages Focus on the Long-Term
Source: Twitter
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong shared a thread of a message he sent to his internal team today. The message addresses the price of cryptocurrency, both its tendency towards volatility and its cyclical nature, and encourages “the team” (read: Twitter) not to buy into the inevitable hype that comes along with each extreme.
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