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Cardano CEO Charles Hoskinson Cautions Against Fake YouTube Cryptocurrency Promotions

By
Adam Barry
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0

Cardano has warned against growing scams promoting a giveaway of sham Cardano (ADA) on YouTube. Charles Hoskinson, the CEO, and inventor of Cardano, took to twitter to highlight the emergence of scams that are using his Virtual Summit keynote to scam people.

Scamming has been growing on YouTube since 2017

There has been widespread scamming in the cryptocurrency space, and since 2017 when Bitcoin hit an all-time high of $20,000, there has been a dramatic increase in YouTube crypto scams. Although the scams take different forms, the most popular is the reproduction of speeches from important people in the industry while promoting a cashback or an airdrop.  Normally the scammers will offer a wallet address where users can send a specific amount of cash to get twice the amount they have sent. Such videos are nowadays popular on YouTube.

Some of the industry’s important people that scammers use include Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, Ripple CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, Ethereum co-creator, Vitalik Buterin, and IOHK CEO Hoskinson. In the Twitter post, Hoskinson indicated that there has been a scam floating on YouTUbe using his Virtual Summit keynote to advertise a giveaway. He urged users to report the scam to YouTube, and they will take action against the scammers.

Scammers use Hoskingson’s Shelley mainnet upgrade keynote to promote an airdrop

YouTube brought down the video, but Hoskinson indicated that YouTube ads were promoting the scams. The scammers reportedly used his keynote related to Shelley mainnet launch. Several users reported scams related to a scam airdrop, and this has ignited debate in the cryptocurrency community about the possibility of having a YouTube alternative.

Cardano is upgrading its ecosystem to the Shelley mainnet, which will move to a distributed network from a centralized one. Last week Cardano surged 85% on the news of the upgrade to $0.137 from $0.074. With the development, Cardano holders can now start staking in Coinbase custody from Q4 2020. Equally, there has been growing speculation that Coinbase could soon move to list ADA on the exchange.

Coinbase Chief Tax Officer Says Lack Of Clear Cryptocurrency Taxation Laws Causing Market Uncertainty

By
Adam Barry
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Coinbase indicated that other countries are more crypto-friendly in terms of taxes and crypto regulation compared to the US.

Lack of cryptocurrency taxation causing market uncertainty in the US

The crypto exchange’s chief tax officer, Lawrence Zlatkin, indicated that global customers will define crypto’s future because of the open-mindedness of other jurisdictions. Zlatkin shared Coinbase’s outlook on the global crypto market, and taxation during the Unitize panel held on July 7. Others who joined the panel were Deloitte’s tax leader, Rob Massey, and Jessica Reif-Caplan, the senior tax counsel of Fidelity.

In the discussion, the speakers pointed out the lack of clarity in the US on cryptocurrency taxation. According to the Fidelity and Coinbase tax experts, the uncertainty around cryptocurrency taxation is due to the complex nature of crypto assets and the broader collection of various types and characteristics of different digital coins.

For instance, staking is one such impediment that causes a huge challenge when it comes to taxation. Staking is the locking of digital assets to receive rewards. Reif Caplan noted several differences between digital assets; one of the things that complicate things is staking, which is very hard to understand if you are not familiar with digital assets.

IRS yet to offer guidelines for filing crypto returns

Although the IRS has been calling for the inclusion of crypto when US citizens are filing returns, the authority has not offered comprehensive guidelines. Zlatkin highlighted this uncertainty in the taxation of digital assets but alluded that the authority might consider labeling staking rewards taxable. Further, Zlatkin explained that the uncertainty in the US around cryptocurrency tax was resulting in the outflow of capital to jurisdictions that have regulations around digital technology and asserts.

For instance, staking is one of the things that Zlatkin highlighted. As a result, Coinbase, which is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the US, will be expanding its operations to markets where there is open-mindedness about crypto. The exchange will consider markets like the UK, EU, Canada as well as Asia.

Movie Featuring Cryptocurrency Theft, Money Plane, To Premier On July 10

By
Adam Barry
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0

Cryptocurrency is at the center of the movie “Money Plane,” which stars WWE star Adam Copeland and Jack Reese, a professional thief. The movie, which is a casino heist, will premiere at the end of this week.

“Money Plane” based on a cryptocurrency casino heist

According to the movie trailer, Money Plane is all about an indebted former gambler who has to take one last job. They have to steal billions of cryptocurrency from the “Money Plane,” an airborne casino in international space. The aircraft is bulletproof and is operating in a global space where no government agency can touch it. Kesley Grammer’s character indicates that the plane carries billions on board in the form of cash and cryptocurrency.

Despite not identifying the cryptocurrencies that are on the plot the screen capture indicates that the aircraft might have around $241 million worth of Bitcoin (BTC),  $128 million, $70 million, and $13 million of Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP) and Litecoin (LTC) respectively. Equally, there is an undisclosed amount of Ioat (MIOTA).

Movies helping create visibility for digital assets

There have been mixed reactions from the crypto community regarding how the movie portrays cryptocurrency. One Reddit user known as JokeOlantern indicated that movies such as “Money Plane” will help create visibility for cryptocurrencies. However, the user questioned the way the digital assets are being portrayed as being associated with criminals and casinos.

Another user by the name Micro56 equally had the same concerns regarding the disconnect between real life and Hollywood. The user indicated that such portrayals are necessary when explaining the emergence of new tech such as crypto tokens. Micro56 recounted how ridiculous TV scenes and moves used to depict the internet in the past at the advent of the internet age.

Although cryptocurrencies are yet to achieve mass adoption this year, it appears to be a year when more people will move to digital assets. In June, Cointelegraph reported that Stampede Venture was producing a movie on the book Bitcoin Billionaires, Tyler and Cameron Winkelvoss.

Uniswap Reports A Surge In Scam Tokens On The Platform Claiming Affiliation To Popular DeFi Projects

By
Adam Barry
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0

Decentralized exchange and liquidity pool, Uniswap, faces a growing problem of scam tokens that claim to be affiliated with common decentralized finance (DeFi) projects. This is due to Uniswap’s open listing policy.

There have been warnings recent in the past few days regarding the issue of fake tokens that target four of the most popular DeFi projects. Some of the projects that have been targeted include dYdX, Curve Finance, Tornado.Cash, and 1inchExchange.

Scam tokens increasing on Uniswap platform

It is quite easy to list any token on the platform’s drop-down menu, which only requires a GitHub request. There has been growing concern from users regarding scam tokens, and they are increasingly calling for the introduction of stricter vetting before tokens can be listed.

On July 7, decentralized finance project Opium warned users through Twitter of a possible fake token calling itself Opium. It indicated that the fake token has been listed under ticker OPM on Uniswap yet Opium doesn’t have a native token.

Equally, Defiprime took to Twitter on the same day to note that there was a DYDX token claiming affiliation with the tokenless DeFi protocol dYdX. The also noted that there was also a scam “Uniswap Community Token.” This comes after Tornado.Cash reported that scammers were selling fake “TC” purporting to have an association with the project.

On July 4, and July 5 1inch.Exchange and Curve Finance also reported that scam coins impersonated their native tokens that were yet to be launched. Also, last month, there was a similar fake token reported to have impersonated Balancer Labs’ anticipated BAL token.

“V2” overhaul attracting more users to Uniswap

Uniswap has been attracting massive liquidity since May when it overhauled its “V2.” It has emerged as a pillar for the growing decentralized finance ecosystem. According to data released by Dune Analytics, Uniswap has grown its DeFi users significantly to around 92,000. The V2 overhaul also preceded a significant surge in Uniswap volume, with trading activity surpassing $2 million on July 2, 2020.

NEM’s Blockchain Project Symbol Unveils Supply Chain Solution To Help Wine Industry End Fraud

By
Adam Barry
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0

The wine industry has been losing revenue in millions of dollars through theft, counterfeiting, and tampering. However, that now will be a thing of the past thanks to the NEM ecosystem’s Symbol, which is offering blockchain tech to solve frauds in the wine industry.

Symbol’s new solution to end fraud in the wine industry

Symbol, which is an enterprise blockchain project, was has developed a solution that has the capability of tracing and verifying huge transactions per second. The solution can be helpful in the wine industry for growers and producers in keeping track of what is going on with raw materials through production up to the distribution of wine.

Equally, Symbol’s make up includes a PoS plus consensus mechanism, Aggregate Transactions, and Harvesting. This allows the system to process a range of transactions that involve multiple signers and facilitating multi-party asset deals and exchanges. For businesses operating in sectors that need consistent verification of data and information is important to succeed, such as the wine industry, this solution will be very important. Enterprises will now produce, distribute, and optimize the products globally without having to worry about tempering.

The technology has an integrated hybrid blockchain solution that addresses data privacy concerns for all the involved parties, such as sellers, buyers, and distributors. Symbol says that for winegrowers to counter tampering during transportation, they can equally set up disposable smart contracts. Interestingly final payments with transport partners will be settled after product verification, and confirmation of quality and authenticity by all parties is completed.

Producers to pay transport partners in staggered payments

This process will allow the grower or producer to engage in exclusive blockchain-supported financial agreements. Symbol explained that this will equally enable them to use staggered payments through multi-signature accounts. At the same time, growers will be leveraging ultramodern blockchain tech that offers real-time verification results.  

Blockchain technology is increasingly disrupting various business aspects, more so supply chain processes. The tech is affecting all industries, and the wine industry will benefit massively from these solutions that will put an end to fraud.

Expedia Teams Up With Travala.com To Facilitate Bookings Using Crypto Payments

By
Adam Barry
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0

Expedia has announced its collaboration with Travala.com that aims to enable customers to pay for bookings through cryptocurrencies. Customers can now pay for accommodation at more than 700,000 locations through Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

The recent announcement revealed that an extra 700,000 accommodations locations listed on Travala.com will now accept payment for bookings in the form of cryptocurrencies. The platform already has more than 2 million locations in 230 countries. Alfonso Paredes, Expedia’s senior vice president stated that the move is aimed at helping Travala.com to rapidly expand its business. He also acknowledged the booking platform for recognizing the need to adopt innovative avenues that provide more convenience for customers.

The partnership allows Travela.com customers to pay for a variety of Expedia listings through digital currencies. The crypto payment option will accept 30 cryptocurrencies including the most popular one, Bitcoin. Expedia made the collaboration with Travela.com possible through its subsidiary, Expedia Partner Solutions (EPS). The latter gave Travala.com access to its Rapid application programming interface which played a critical part in providing access to Expedia customers.

Such collaborative deals are turning out to be quite lucrative

Although the partnership between the two highlights a rare collaboration in the industry, it is not the first of its kind. Travala.com also signed a similar deal with Booking.com in November last year. Travala.com revealed in January this year that the deal with Booking.com resulted in a 33% revenue boost.

Travela.com also collaborated with TravelByBit in May this year. TravelByBit is a flight booking service that accepts Bitcoin as payment. The partnership is also aimed at providing options for customers to pay through cryptocurrencies.

The collaborations are not only good for the companies but also an important development for the cryptocurrency community. One of the goals of the cryptocurrency community is to facilitate the use of cryptocurrencies for day-to-day transactions. However, the process of widespread cryptocurrency adoption for transactions has been slow, largely because cryptocurrencies have been known to be highly volatile. Some of the retail outlets that accept cryptocurrencies convert to fiat immediately after the transaction, thus reducing the risk of losses through volatile price changes.

LocalBitcoins Posts Revenue of $29.5 Million Despite Implementation Of KYC Affecting Trading Volume

By
Adam Barry
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0

Leading peer to peer cryptocurrency platform LocalBitcoins has posted a 10% YoY increase in revenue for 2019 to almost $29.5 million. LocalBitcoin reported the increase despite the KYC overhaul of the platform affecting trading volume on the cryptocurrency marketplace.

LocalBitcoins report a 6% drop in operating income 

Although there was an increase in revenue compared to 2018 when it reported $26.9 million, there was a drop in annual operating income by 6% to around $19.8 million. Most importantly, the firm’s staff expanded significantly in 2019 as LocalBitcoin enhanced sits KYC requirement in Q3 and Q4 of 2019. It increases its staff headcount to 43 from 26.

The company’s CEO, Sebastian Sonntag, stated that last year was an instrumental learning experience for LocalBitcoins. This was as a result of the implementation of the know-your-customer and anti-money laundering regulations. Sonntag added that as a result of the implementation, they managed to drive away undesired activity from the platform. The KYC implementation was a challenging process for the company, but despite these, the company managed to deliver exceptional growth and incredible earnings.

LocalBitcoins has continued to show significant growth this year, with a 50% increase in customer signups from around 4,000 at the beginning of the year to almost 6,000 currently. Last year the company had 1.46 million users with around 913,000 active users that generated $2.8 billion in volume in more than 15.6 million transactions. This indicates that on average trade size was $179.49.

Paxful overtakes LocalBitcoins in terms of P2P trading volume

However, UsefuTulips data indicates that Paxful has overtaken LocalBitcoins as the leading peer to peer exchange in terms of trade volume. This comes even as Sonntag seems optimistic regarding the short-term outlook of LocalBitcoins. UsefulTulips’ Martt Ahlborg reported on June 9 that the trading volume of Paxful had surged to new all-time highs in Sub-Saharan Africa and North America, which are two leading jurisdictions in terms of P2P trading volume.

A spokesperson of Paxful indicated that the massive growth of its com unity was due to its community that they listen to, thus helping them learn.

Japanese Blockchain Startup Soramitsu To Roll Out ‘White Tiger’ Digital Currency At A Fukushima university

By
Adam Barry
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0

Soramitsu, a blockchain startup based in Japan, is reportedly planning to roll out a new digital currency called White Tiger, which will be tested at the University of Aizu in Fukushima.

A Nikkei publication recently revealed that the blockchain company plans to start testing the cryptocurrency through retailers inside the University of Aizu. The latter is located 300KM north of Japan’s capital, Tokyo. According to the publication, ‘White Tiger’ will be accepted at shops and cafeteria inside the university. The rollout will be a test phase, and the cryptocurrency will be operated on the Iroha, which is Soramitsu’s hyperledger.

The news report also revealed that the cryptocurrency launch at the university will kick off on June 1, and it will be gradually made available at other locations outside the university campus. The cryptocurrency launch is a significant development for Japan’s cryptocurrency community and for the country. This is because the cryptocurrency is part of a larger smart city campaign backed by Aizu-Wakamatsu city officials and private organizations based in the city.

Pushing for digital transactions

Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency rollout at the university is a critical step towards finding out how ‘White Tiger’ will be received. The area has approximately 120,000 who will be able to access the cryptocurrency through charge cards or apps on their smartphones. The idea behind the launch within small demography is to see how effective it will be as a digital alternative to fiat money and whether the people will prefer the digital alternative.

The launch comes when the coronavirus has resulted in a call on people to avoid physical contact. The physical exchange of cash is one of the ways in which the virus can be transmitted easily from one person to another. The availability of digital alternatives that will not require physical interaction will thus contribute towards avoiding the viral threat.

Soramitsu has a strong reputation in the cryptocurrency and blockchain community. It was one of the companies that were involved in developing Cambodia’s central bank digital currency. The new development, therefore, adds to its portfolio.

Bitmex Introduces Services That Are Tailored For Corporate Customers

By
Adam Barry
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0

Bitmex has announced the launch of new services and features designed to help corporate customers maximize their opportunities through its platform.

The company published the news on the support page of its website on June 22 through which it also announced a slew of upgrades. This includes accounting, auditing, and customer service features. The newly added services will specifically target corporate customers. They are thus designed to make Bitmex more appealing to corporate customers that want to invest in the cryptocurrency segment.

Bitmex revealed that the new features were designed to provide more options to customers that might be interested in different ownership structures. The new services will allow Bitmex employees to manage accounts on behalf of corporate clients. The Hong Kong-based exchange also announced that it will provide instant transfers and multi-login options between accounts to customers before the end of the year.

Bitmex hopes that the new features for corporate clients will help shift tides in its favor

The past few months have been quite tough on Bitmex, especially after the March situation where the platform went dark for 25 minutes during a Bitcoin freefall. Customers were outraged by the situation as some lost while others saw the situation as opportunities missed. Bitmex reported that the outage on its platform was caused by a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack.

The outage of the trading platform led to distrust from users, especially corporate clients. However, the newly added features targeting corporate clients aim to make the platform more appealing while also contributing to damage control that will help improve the relationship with customers. The company confessed that it lost some users due to the outage in March, and they shifted to other exchanges that provide derivative services.

Bitmex was also the victim of a lawsuit in May, which accused the exchange of facilitating fraud, money laundering, and racketeering. However, the derivatives exchange announced that it was fully prepared to fight the lawsuit through the correct legal processes. This announcement came after the exchange reviewed a draft of the complaint that was filed as part of the lawsuit.

Tokai Tokyo Unveils Plans To Develop A Tokenized Securities Exchange In Japan

By
Adam Barry
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0

Tokai Tokyo Financial Holding has unveiled plans for developing a digital security exchange. The company, one of the traditional financial institutions in Japan, has already invested in Huobi Japan.

Tokai Tokyo to establish a Japanese digital security exchange

According to Nikkei, the first step for the company was investing in Hash Dash Holdings, a blockchain firm. It will leverage Hash Dash’s blockchain knowledge in the development of the exchange. Hash Dash is planning to apply its blockchain technology in the financial sector for digital tokens issuance as well as the provision of a trading service on mobile devices.

The company owns 33% in Hash Dash with other equal shareholders, including ICH X Tech, which is Singapore company running iSTOX and the founder of Hash Dash Kazuto Hayashi. In November 2019, Tokai Tokyo committed $5 million to the iSTOX platform. The expected exchange will offer tokenized real estate trading and Hash Dash. ICHX Tech and Tokai Tokyo will explore possibilities of digitizing real estate in Japan and iSTOX trading. Similarly, the companies are considering digitizing corporate bonds and digital IPs.

Tokai Tokyo is planning to connect the Japanese digital securities exchange with the iSTOX to enable seamless buying and selling of digital assets by investors in either exchange. This will make it possible for corporations in Japan to raise cash at the iSTOX in Singapore.

Tokai Tokyo investing in crypto

In December last year, Tokay Tokyo invested around $4.7 million in Japanese crypto exchange, Huobi Japan. The company planned to initiate an IEO that will help companies in raising cash. Similarly, Tokai Tokyo considered trading some of the community currencies at the IEO.

Various companies in Japan have been keen on securities tokenization. For instant, Nomura and Nomura Research Institute unveiled the BOOSTRY platform that will initially target bonds. Also, Securitize, a blockchain asset platform, has already formed a Japanese real estate venture platform backed by various firms. Some of the firms include Nomura, Sony Financial Ventures, Kiddi SBI Holdings, Mitsui Fudosan, and MUFG.

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