Payments News

On The Web

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Systems

Bad stuff on the blockchain: Bitcoin’s (BTC) Story May Have Come To An End

March 23 2018

“Apparently, Bitcoin’s (BTC) distributed ledger is being used, besides storing monetary information, to store hideous links and data connected to some hundreds of files with illegal pornographic content of underaged children. Over 1600 files found in 1.4% of the blockchain, with a couple of them containing links to the sexually abusive imagery of young children, […]
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Systems

A Quantitative Analysis of the Impact of Arbitrary Blockchain Content on Bitcoin

March 19 2018

“The possibility to store non-financial data on cryptocurrency blockchains is both beneficial and threatening for its users. Although controlled channels to insert nonfinancial data at small rates opens up a field of new applications such as digital notary services, rights management, or non-equivocation systems, objectionable or even illegal content has the potential to jeopardize a […]
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Systems

Lightning Labs Launches Beta With Twitter CEO Backing

March 16 2018

“A version of bitcoin’s much-anticipated Lightning Network is finally ready for real users. Announced today, California startup Lightning Labs has officially launched a beta version of its software (LND), making available what investors and project leads say is the first thoroughly tested version of the tech to date. This means that users can now leverage LND to send bitcoin and litecoin […]
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Systems

Bitcoin’s Computing Power Growth Is Outpacing The Bitcoin Price

July 11 2018

“The sudden rise in the bitcoin price, which climbed from around $1,000 at the beginning of last year to almost $20,000 by December, led to a huge influx of new miners adding their computing power to the bitcoin network. However, despite bitcoin’s price stumble in 2018, the hash rate has continued to grow — increasing over […]
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Systems

Bitcoin’s Use In Commerce Keeps Falling Even As Volatility Eases

August 3 2018

“A lot fewer people than you probably would have guessed. After peaking at $411 million in September, the amount of money the largest 17 crypto merchant-processing services received in the best-known cryptocurrency has been on a steady decline, hitting a recent low of $60 million in May, according to research that startup Chainalysis Inc. conducted […]
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Companies

Square Sees Profits From Bitcoin Sales Double In Q2

August 2 2018

“Mobile payments firm Square said it made $37 million in revenue from bitcoin sales in the second quarter of 2018. The company released an unaudited quarterly financial report on Wednesday, which indicated it made an overall net revenue of $814 million, 6 percent of which came from the cryptocurrency buying service added to its Cash App late […]
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Companies

Square Expands Cash App Bitcoin Service to All 50 US States

August 15 2018

“Mobile payments firm Square now lets customers buy and sell bitcoins via its Cash App in all 50 U.S. states. The company – which was co-founded by Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey – announced the service expansion through a Tweet on Monday, months after the firm initially rolled out the bitcoin service to investors in the country.”

On The Wires

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Systems

INTERCONTINENTAL EXCHANGE ANNOUNCES BAKKT, A GLOBAL PLATFORM AND ECOSYSTEM FOR DIGITAL ASSETS

August 6 2018

“Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE), a leading operator of global exchanges, clearing houses, data and listings services, announced today that it plans to form a new company, Bakkt, which intends to leverage Microsoft cloud solutions to create an open and regulated, global ecosystem for digital assets. The new company is working with a marquee group of organizations […]