On The Web

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Companies

Walmart Wants to Patent a Stablecoin That Looks a Lot Like Facebook Libra

August 2 2019

• in
• Cryptocurrencies
• Walmart

“Retail giant Walmart has applied for a cryptocurrency patent that bears some similarities to the Libra token proposed by Facebook in mid-June. In its application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Walmart touts the concept of a digital currency “tied to a regular currency” – that is, what’s commonly known as a stablecoin. Libra […]

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Regulation

IRS Sending Warning Letters to More Than 10,000 Cryptocurrency Holders

July 26 2019

• in
• Cryptocurrencies
• Financial regulators

“The Internal Revenue Service has begun sending letters to more than 10,000 cryptocurrency holders, warning about penalties for failing to report income and pay tax on transactions involving virtual currencies. The agency expects its mailing to be completed by the end of August. It is sending three variations of one letter, depending on the information […]

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Global

Indian Panel Proposes Fines and Jail Time for Cryptocurrency Use

July 24 2019

• in
• Cryptocurrencies
• India

“A panel reporting to India’s Finance Ministry suggested the country’s regulators have an “open mind” about a governmental cryptocurrency and, at the same time, proposed fines and up to ten years in prison for general use of crypto in the country. The panel, created by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, the Securities and Exchange Board […]

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Systems

Highlights From Facebook’s Libra Senate Hearing

July 17 2019

• in
• Cryptocurrencies

“Facebook will only build its own Calibra cryptocurrency wallet into Messenger and WhatsApp, and will refuse to embed competing wallets, the head of Calibra David Marcus told the Senate Banking Committee today . While some, like Senator Brown, blustered that “Facebook is dangerous!,” others surfaced poignant questions about Libra’s risks.”

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Systems

Credit Card Companies Forbid Bitcoin Purchases—with Good Reason

August 8 2019

• in
• Cryptocurrencies

“Prohibiting crypto purchases could be a matter of safety (bitcoin’s price is notoriously volatile), but it also prevents consumers from gaming the cards’ reward systems. If you were allowed to buy—and instantly sell—thousands of dollars of bitcoin, theoretically, you could generate a cash-back return without incurring much risk. It would be roughly equivalent to printing […]

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Systems

China’s Central Bank Digital Currency Is “ready” After 5 Years of Development

August 12 2019

• in
• Cryptocurrencies

“Mu Changchun, Deputy Chief in the Payment and Settlement Division of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC,) stated that the CBDC prototype exists and the PBOC’s Digital Money Research Group has already fully adopted the blockchain architecture for the currency. China’s CBDC will not rely entirely on a pure blockchain architecture, as this would not […]

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Systems

Binance Launches Venus, Which It Calls an “independent, Regional Version” of Facebook’s Libra

August 19 2019

• in
• Cryptocurrencies

“Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, announced today that it will launch an open blockchain project called Venus to develop regional stablecoins pegged to fiat currencies (or traditional currencies usually issued and backed by a government). Based in Malta, Binance launched its decentralized trading service, Binance Chain, earlier this year , and since then has […]

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Deals

Crypto Exchange Coinbase Acquires Xapo’s Institutional Custody Business

August 16 2019

• in
• Cryptocurrencies

“Coinbase said in an announcement on Thursday that the deal will help expand its custody business and will increase its assets under custody to be more than $7 billion. According to a Fortune report on Thursday, Coinbase acquired Xapo’s institutional business for $55 million after beating another strong contender, the investment giant Fidelity. Coinbase Custody’s […]

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Opinion

Payments Companies Like Square, Skrill And Circle Now Driving The Bitcoin Revolution

August 12 2019

• in
• Cryptocurrencies

“Banks began seeing cryptocurrencies as a non-event, then they decided to laugh at it – Jamie Dimon’s anti-Bitcoin rhetoric springs to mind – then they began fighting it by putting out their own coins – JPM coin – which I think we can all call a win for Bitcoin.   For payments companies, it has […]

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Systems

Rakuten’s Crypto Exchange Has Launched for Trading in 3 Cryptos

August 19 2019

• in
• Cryptocurrencies

“Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten has launched its own exchange for crypto spot trading. Announced Monday, Rakuten Wallet has gone live for trading in bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH) and bitcoin cash (BCH) against the Japanese yen via an Android mobile app. An iOS app is due to be released in the future, though no set timeline was […]