• SEC to Focus on Cryptocurrency and ICO Fraud as Top Priority ;
• Binance Refutes Accusations Of Hack With The Power Of Blockchain;
• Hong Kong Orders Exchanges to Delist Securities Tokens;
• The Story of the Four BitConnect Lawsuits;
• Former Alibaba, Baidu Chief Architects To Launch Blockchain Academy
• Daily Crypto Calendar, February 9th 💰

SEC to Focus on Cryptocurrency and ICO Fraud as Top Priority

The financial inspectors of the SEC publish their top priorities at the beginning of every year in an effort to improve compliance, prevent fraud, monitor risk, and inform regulatory policy. This year, tacking fraud in the ICO and cryptocurrency markets takes center stage.

Read more & Source: https://news.bitcoin.com/sec-focus-cryptocurrency-ico-fraud-top-priority/

Binance Refutes Accusations Of Hack With The Power Of Blockchain

Binance, one of the largest crypto exchanges by trading volume according to CoinMarketCap, has had to continuously refute accusations of a hack since their exchange has unexpectedly gone offline due to server issues.

The time offline was supposed to only last for several hours, but, similarly to the extended Kraken downtime of over two days in January, Binance has since announced that they will only be back online on Feb. 9 at 4am (UTC) (11:00pm EST).

Read more & Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/binance-refutes-accusations-of-hack-with-the-power-of-blockchain

Hong Kong Orders Exchanges to Delist Securities Tokens

Hong Kong's securities regulator appears to be stepping up efforts to regulate cryptocurrency exchanges involved with initial coin offerings (ICOs).

In a statement released Friday, Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) revealed it has sent warning letters to seven cryptocurrency exchanges advising that certain tokens being traded on their platforms may be defined as securities. Though the names of the exchanges were not disclosed, the SFC indicated they are either based in or connected to Hong Kong, and among the top 20 in volume globally.

Read more & Source: https://www.coindesk.com/hong-kong-orders-crypto-exchanges-delist-tokens-deemed-securities/

The Story of the Four BitConnect Lawsuits

Things have certainly gone from bad to worse for the BitConnect Ponzi scheme. After defrauding hundreds of investors, the company decided to pull the plug on its operation and the associated exchange. With so many people left in the dust, it was only a matter of time until the lawsuits started piling up. So far, we have seen a total of four lawsuits filed against BitConnect in various regions. It is evident this company will continue to face a lot of backlash over its business venture.

Read more & Source: https://themerkle.com/the-story-of-the-four-bitconnect-lawsuits/

Former Alibaba, Baidu Chief Architects To Launch Blockchain Academy

Alibaba's ex-chief architect, Jianxiang Mo, will team up with the former chief architect from Baidu, Haiyang Xu, to co-found a blockchain technology academy with $100 million worth of angel investor funds in hand.

They have likened the proposed institution to the Whampoa Military Academy (the so-called West Point of the East) but the curriculum will focus on FinTech rather than firearms. Details as to when and where the academy is to be built haven't yet been revealed.

Read more & Source: https://www.ethnews.com/former-alibaba-baidu-chief-architects-to-launch-blockchain-academy

Daily Crypto Calendar, February, 9th

• EOS (EOS)

NY Meetup

• Stellar (XLM)

Join the Stellar team on Feb 9th for a phenomenal Stellar Kuala Lumpur Blockchain Meetup about The Future Of Payments.

• Rise (RISE)

This market is getting delisted on February 9th, 2018.

• FunFair (FUN)

This market is getting delisted on February 9th, 2018.

• Ethos (ETHOS)

Special Facebook Live team announcement: "We’ve been waiting to share something (well, someone) with you. This Friday, the wait is over."

• Dent (DENT)

We are delighted to inform you that OKEx has announced the start of their competition and they are giving away 4,800,000 DENT.