Money transfer giant MoneyGram is suspending its partnership deal with Ripple, following the ongoing legal battle between the latter and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).MoneyGram announced the news of the suspension in its Q4 and full-year 2020 financial results published on Monday (Feb. 22, 2021). As part of its Q1 2021 outlook, the company said:“In addition, the Company is not planning for any benefit from Ripple market development fees in the first quarter. Due to the uncertainty concerning their ongoing litigation with the SEC, the Company has suspended trading on Ripple’s platform. In the first quarter of 2020, the Company realized a net expense benefit of $12.1 million from Ripple market development fees.”MoneyGram and blockchain company Ripple struck a two-year

North America’s first Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) has seen impressive results on its first two days of trading, following its recent approval by Canada’s securities regulatory body.Purpose Bitcoin ETF started on a flying note shortly after it began trading on Thursday (Feb. 18, 2021) under the ticker symbol “BTCC” on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX).Following its TSX debut, the fund has already accumulated $421 million in assets within the first two days of trading.According to Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, the Purpose Bitcoin ETF’s performance surpassed analysts’ estimates, adding that “if it were to keep up this pace, it will be the biggest ETF in Canada in 20 days.”STUNNING: The Canada Bitcoin ETF $BTCC already has collected $421m in assets first two days (crushing our

Japanese financial conglomerate SBI Holdings revealed that it was planning to establish a joint cryptocurrency venture that would serve as one of the company’s key earners.SBI Expanding Crypto ServicesAccording to Reuters on Monday (Feb. 15, 2021), SBI’s founder and CEO, Yoshitaka Kitao, the company was discussing with international financial firms to set up the new crypto business. The latest development was part of SBI’s plans to expand its crypto business.The company has been active in the crypto industry since 2018. As reported by CryptoPotato back in December 2020, SBI acquired B2C2, a UK-based cryptocurrency liquidity provider. Prior to the B2C2 acquisition deal, the Japanese financial giant bought a local crypto exchange, Tao Tao. SBI also launched a crypto lending service in

Jim Bullard, President of the St. Louis Federal Reserve, has dismissed the value proposition of Bitcoin (BTC) based on some of the oft-quoted advantages claimed by BTC proponents.Speaking to CNBC on Tuesday, Bullard remarked that the Federal Reserve viewed Bitcoin as more of a rival to gold than an actual currency.According to Bullard, “For Fed policy, it is going to be a dollar economy and a dollar global economy as far as the eye can see.”For Bullard, the primacy of the U.S. dollar is not dependent on Bitcoin or gold, experiencing significant changes in price action.The St. Louis Fed President also remarked that Bitcoin was only one of the emerging digital currencies in the market.According to Bullard, a non-uniform currency regime is not desirable, arguing that people are already faced

Verge, a privacy-centric cryptocurrency, reportedly suffered an attempted 51% attack, causing a massive blockchain reorganization, which wiped off over six months of transactions.200 Days Worth of Verge Transactions Wiped OffThe issue was first revealed by Antoine Le Calvez, chief data engineer at blockchain research company Coin Metrics. Tweeting on February 15, Le Calvez noted that 0over 560,000 blocks were affected.Le Calvez’s colleague, Lucas Nuzzi, who is Coin Metrics’ network data product manager, also said that the block reorganization effectively erased 200 days worth of transactions on Verge. Nuzzi added that the incident was “likely the deepest reorg that has ever taken place in a “top 100” cryptocurrency.”The past 200 days worth of $XVG transaction history just vanished.This is

Uniswap (UNI) has become the first decentralized exchange (DEX) to reach $100 billion in cumulative trading volume as the appetite for the decentralized finance (DeFi) market continues to grow. Meanwhile, the UNI token recently set a new all-time high, with the platform now boasting about $4 billion in total value locked (TVL).Uniswap Crosses $100B LandmarkTweeting on Monday (Feb. 15, 2021), platform creator Hayden Adams revealed that Uniswap had surpassed $100 billion in cumulative trading volume. Uniswap is the first DEX to reach this milestone and is a further testament to the massive growth in DEX activity since the middle of 2020.🦄 @Uniswap just became the first decentralized trading platform to process over $100b in volume – an exciting milestone for DeFi 🚀

Credit card giant Mastercard said that it would soon start supporting crypto payments on its network later in the year.Mastercard’s Merchants Soon to Accept CryptoAccording to a blog post by Master card on Wednesday (Feb. 10, 2021), the company revealed that would support a select number of cryptocurrencies in 2021, adding that crypto was quickly becoming an important part of the payments sector.An excerpt from the announcement reads:“We are preparing right now for the future of crypto and payments, announcing that this year Mastercard will start supporting select cryptocurrencies directly on our network. This is a big change that will require a lot of work. We will be very thoughtful about which assets we support based on our principles for digital currencies, which focus on consumer

Robert Ophèle, chairman of France’s financial regulatory body, the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), proposed a robust approach regarding cryptocurrecy regulations in order to encourage the growth and development of innovative projects.AMF Chairman Proposes Blockchain and DeFi Testing in Pilot RegimeSpeaking at the just concluded 5th Annual Conference Fintech and Regulation, Ophèle stated that with the continuous growth of the cryptocurrency sector, it was necessary for Europe to put in place appropriate regulatory policies.Back in September 2020, the European Commission proposed a new regulatory framework for crypto assets. The proposal included a pilot regime for markets willing to trade and settle using crypto transactions.The commission also introduced a policy called the Markets

BTC is becoming a popular feature on the balance sheets of publicly-listed American companies, with many firms committing a significant portion of their equivalent cash balance to the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.Apple Should Buy Bitcoin and Create Exchange PlatformAccording to a client note quoted by Bloomberg, RBC Capital Markets, RBC Capital Markets has urged the iPhone maker to create a Bitcoin exchange platform and also acquire some of the popular cryptocurrency. As part of the note to investors, RBC Capital Markets argued that such an investment move would be savvier than getting into the electric vehicle (EV) market, adding:“The wallet initiative appears to be a clear multi-billion dollar opportunity for the firm (potential for well over $40 billion in annual

Following the news about Tesla’s billion-dollar investment in bitcoin, analysts reveal that the Elon Musk-led company invested around 15% of its net cash into the flagship cryptocurrency.As reported by CryptoPotato earlier today, Tesla made headlines across the crypto verse after it invested $1.5 billion into bitcoin, as revealed in a 10k form filing with the U.S. SEC.Meanwhile, David Lawant, a Research Analyst at Bitwise Asset Management, tweeting shortly after the bitcoin investment, noted that the company put in up to 15% of its cash equivalent in BTC.According to Lawant, the SEC filing showed that Tesla has $19.4 billion in gross cash or $9.8 billion in net cash.With the above figures, the Bitwise research analyst noted:“Using these figures as a reference, $1.5 billion in #Bitcoin

San Francisco-based crypto payments platform Metal Pay has applied for a national bank charter with the U.S. national bank regulator, which would enable the company to offer seamless cryptocurrency-related services.Metal Pay Eyes Full National Bank LicenseIn a tweet thread published on Thursday (Feb. 4, 2021), Metal Pay’s First Blockchain Bank and Trust (FBB&T) revealed that it intends to become a full national crypto bank following its application with the Office of the Comptroller for the Currency (OCC).We’re thrilled to announce that we have applied for a full national bank charter from the OCC, a monumental step for the entire cryptocurrency industry.This marks a turning point for how Americans will view cryptocurrency. We’ll explain why in this thread.[1/7]— Metal Pay (@metalpaysme)

Following the recent attack on the Yearn.Finance protocol, major U.S. dollar stablecoin company Tether froze $1.7 million worth of USDT stolen from the platform. Meanwhile, Bitfinex disclosed that it had made the last loan repayment to Tether.Tether Freeze Raises Centralization ConcernsTether CTO Paolo Ardoino announced the news of the USDT freeze via his Twitter handle on Friday (Feb. 5, 2021). The company’s action would subsequently prevent the hacker from spending the stolen funds.. @Tether_to just froze 1.7M USDt stolen as part of the hack of Yearn DAI v1 vault.More info here https://t.co/MjGScEucQB— Paolo Ardoino (@paoloardoino) February 5, 2021The news of the attack was first reported by the decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol via Twitter on February 4, which revealed that Yearn’s

Digital asset management outfit Arca has secured $10 million in Series A funding as the company sets out to bootstrap its expansion in the emerging fintech scene. Crypto asset management firms are also seeing increasing inflows as investor appetite for digital assets continue to grow.RRE Ventures Leads $10M Arca Funding RoundArca announced the news of its $10 million Series A funding via a press release issued on Jan. 13. According to the press statement, RRE Ventures led the investment into the digital asset management firm. Apart from getting equity, some investors like RRE’s founder James Robinson will also take up advisory roles in the Arca board moving forward.For Arca, the company plans to leverage the funding received to create a robust infrastructure base while maintaining strict

​Bitmain co-founder Jihan Wu officially announced his resignation in a signed statement published on Tuesday.An excerpt from Wu’s cryptographic message reads: “The disagreement between Micree and myself, the two co-founders of Bitmain, has been finally settled in an amicable and, more importantly, a constructive manner.”As part of the settlement, fellow co-founder and rival Micree Zhan bought out Wu’s ownership equity valued at $600 million.According to Wu’s statement, two-third of that sum ($400 million) was raised via a loan from the company. The development confirms earlier reports from news sources in China saying the Bitmain power tussle saga was close to its conclusion in an amicable settlement between the parties.The  Bitmain saga began in 2019, with the co-founders initially forced

India is looking towards adopting blockchain technology for remote voting. This comes despite the country’s stance against cryptocurrency trading.Blockchain Technology in India’s Voting ProcessAccording to The Wire, on Monday (Jan. 25, 2020), Sunil Arora, India’s Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), announced the plans to use blockchain technology in a mock trial for remote voting. The exercise is aimed at finding an effective way to make the voting process easier for residents in far-flung cities.Speaking at the country’s National Voters’ Day, Arora revealed that the election commission was already carrying out research on the use of distributed ledger technology (DLT) for remote voting. Furthermore, as part of its efforts to utilize blockchain, the commission partnered with the Indian

Amid the renewed anti-Bitcoin remarks ascribed to mainstream finance stakeholders, reports have emerged showing banks in Australia working in cahoots with violent South American cocaine cartels. Despite aspersions to the contrary, the crypto market continues to account for an insignificant proportion of global financial crimes.Australian Banks Funelling Dirty Money for Drug CartelsAccording to the Australian Financial Review, banks in the country have reportedly laundered about 500 million Australian dollars (approx. $385 million) for South American drug cartels. The revelation is coming amid actions taken by law enforcement agencies in the country to disrupt the elaborate money-laundering scheme.Details from the investigation into the matter revealed that Australian banks helped move over

Michael Saylor’s Bitcoin bet appears to be far from over as his company MicroStrategy has acquired even more BTC despite the crypto price experiencing a significant retrace over the last couple of days.MicroStrategy has added more Bitcoin to its balance sheet according to an announcement issued on Friday (Jan. 22, 2021).MicroStrategy has purchased approximately 314 bitcoins for $10.0 million in cash in accordance with its Treasury Reserve Policy, at an average price of approximately $31,808 per bitcoin. We now hold approximately 70,784 bitcoins.https://t.co/zMJSH29bmC— Michael Saylor (@michael_saylor) January 22, 2021The business intelligence firm has acquired 314 BTC for $10 million increasing its Bitcoin holdings to over 70,784 “coins.”MicroStrategy’s announcement also revealed that it

​Janet Yellen, President Joe Biden’s U.S. Treasury Secretary nominee, seems to have balanced her statements about Bitcoin and crypto, after her previous negative rhetoric about the emerging technology.Janet Yellen Acknowledges Crypto’s BenefitsIn a written response to the U.S. Senate Finance Committee on Thursday (Jan. 21, 2021), Yellen stated that cryptocurrencies had benefits that needed to be explored. Yellen added that the emerging technology had the potential to “improve the efficiency of the financial system.”While Yellen believed that Bitcoin and other crypto assets had attributes that could benefit the country, the U.S. Treasury Secretary Nominee noted that they were also used for money laundering activities and terrorist financing.An excerpt from Yellen’s statement reads:“I think

Analysts at JP Morgan have argued against Bitcoin’s (BTC) value proposition as a competitor to gold, saying the largest crypto by market capitalization is not a suitable hedge during periods of market uncertainty.Bitcoin is Least Reliable as a Hedge During Market CrunchesAccording to Bloomberg, JP Morgan strategists John Normand and Federico Manicardi have issued a report classifying Bitcoin more as a risk-on asset than as a hedge against market uncertainties. As part of their analysis, the due remarked that BTC was the “least reliable hedge” in periods of severe market drawdowns.Back in mid-March 2020, during the Black Thursday market crash, panic over the coronavirus pandemic saw a massive liquidation haze overcome the financial market. Bitcoin and cryptos, in general, were not excluded,

A Hong Kong woman has fallen victim to a gang of robbers after conducting a crypto transaction worth almost $450,000.Gang of Four Steal $450K From Hong Kong Crypto TraderAccording to a report by the South China Morning Post, a female crypto trader was held at knifepoint by a gang of thieves, who stole HK $3.5 million ($448,700) from the victim.As part of the robbery operation, one of the thieves posed as a prospective cryptocurrency buyer. The woman had earlier conducted different crypto transactions for the man, ranging between HK$600,000 and HK$700,000.Hong Kong authorities stated that the trader sold Tether (USDT) tokens to the man via her iPhone and was later lured to an office to receive payment in cash. Shortly after receiving the money, other members of the gang held the trader at

Blockchain intelligence firm Chainalysis has tracked simultaneous Bitcoin (BTC) donations to wallets associated with right-wing extremist groups in the U.S., which might have helped fund the recent riot at the U.S. Capitol. The news marks yet another pivot towards pseudonymous money transfer means by alt-right groups in the U.S.Alt-Right Agitators Received $500K in Bitcoin Prior to US Capitol RiotPublishing its findings on Thursday (Jan. 14, 2021), Chainalysis revealed that several notable alt-right personalities who were present at the Jan. 6 riot in the U.S. Capitol received substantial Bitcoin donations.According to Chainalysis, a single donor funneled 18.15 BTC to addresses belonging to entities with right-leaning affiliations on Dec. 8, 2020. At the time, this figure was worth over

With the initial deadline for comments long expired, FinCEN has decided to extend the comment period for its proposed controversial crypto regulation for an additional 15 days.FinCen Sets New DeadlineThe Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), an office of the U.S. Department of Treasury, announced the news of the extension via a press release on Thursday (Jan. 14, 2021). FinCEN’s earlier deadline was set on January 4, 2021.Following the different requests for extension, it appears that FinCEN would not be hasty to implement the proposed regulation. The extension is beneficial for the industry, as affected entities can have time to analyze the proposal. Since the initial comment period, the bureau has received thousands of comments and is ready to receive more feedback.An excerpt

The San-Francisco-based blockchain company Ripple may still have more issues to deal with, as one of its lead investors involved in the company’s Series C funding has filed a lawsuit following the U.S. SEC’s allegations.Ripple Gets Hit From the InsideAccording to Bloomberg, on Tuesday (Jan. 5, 2021), Tetragon Financial Group, an investment company based in the UK fled a complaint against Ripple on Monday in Delaware Chancery Court. Part of the lawsuit is looking to “enforce its contractual right to require Ripple to redeem” Series C preferred stock.Tetragon was the lead investor in Ripple’s $200 million Series C funding back in Dec. 2019. The funds raised were channeled towards upgrading the XRP Ledger and to expand the utility of the XRP token.The investment company also wants the court

Grayscale Investments has removed XRP from its diversified public crypto fund  — Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund (DLC). The move could be yet another fallout from the current enforcement action by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against Ripple.Grayscale Nixes XRP, Reallocates Liquidated PositionAccording to an announcement, Grayscale revealed that it removed XRP from its Digital Large Cap Fund (GDLC). Following the liquidation of the XRP holdings in the fund, the funds were used to purchase more Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). Before the sale of XRP, the crypto token was about 1.46 % of the Fund.Meanwhile, it seemed that the cause for the XRP removal resulted from an earlier announcement by Genesis Global Trading, the fund’s

The crypto trading giant has set a new all-time high in 24-trading volume, exceeding $80 billion on both the spot and derivatives platforms. In total, more than $180 billion has been traded across the entire crypto market in the last 24 hours as of press time.Binance Trading Volume Records New ATHTweeting on Monday (Jan. 4, 2021), Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said that trading volume on the platform was twice its previous all-time high (ATH), reaching over $80 billion. Data from CoinMarketCap showed Binace spot volume at over $23.6 billion, while the derivatives volume was at $56.8 billion.Such is the extent of the current increase in crypto trading volume that the $80 billion recorded by Binance is two times greater than the figures recorded between Nov. 15th, 2017 and Dec. 15th, 2017, the

While Ripple is dealing with allegations from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) concerning its XRP token, major U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase seems to be getting its own share of legal saga, as the company faces a class-action lawsuit for receiving commissions gotten from the sale of XRP tokens.Coinbase Slammed With Class Action LawsuitAccording to a court document, Thomas C. Sandoval, the plaintiff, has filed a class-action lawsuit against the San-Francisco based crypto giant. The plaintiff alleged that Coinbase, the defendant, sold XRP as unregistered security and received commissions.In the lawsuit filed in the Northern District Court of California, Sandoval, a Missouri resident, stated that he purchased XRP twice on Coinbase before the SEC lawsuit and paid the

Veteran cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase announced that it would fully suspend XRP trading by January 2021, following the lawsuit filed against Ripple by the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).Coinbase to Suspend XRP TradingAccording to a blog post on Monday (Dec. 28, 2020), Coinbase stated that while XRP trading will be moving to “limit only” starting December 28, the exchange is planning to suspend XRP trading on January 19, 2021, 10 AM Pacific time.Despite the suspension, Coinbase said that customers will still have access to their XRP wallets, adding that it “will remain available for deposit and withdraw functionality after the trading suspension.”“Further, customers will remain eligible for the previously announced Spark airdrop (subject to approval in certain

Following the impressive list of institutional investors who have put their funds into bitcoin in 2020, it appears that more big names are showing interest in the number one crypto asset, after a global investments firm filed with the U.S. SEC to launch a bitcoin fund for accredited investors.According to an SEC document on Monday (Dec. 21, 2020), Anthony Scaramucci’s billion-dollar hedge fund, SkyBridge Capital, filed a Form D with the U.S. securities watchdog for its first bitcoin fund.The fund, known as SkyBridge Bitcoin Fund L.P., will have Scaramucci serving as manager. Also, SkyBridge registered the new fund under Rule 506(c), meaning that the issuer can advertise its offering with the condition that the buyers are verified, accredited investors.Founded in 2005 by Scaramucci,

With Bitcoin clocking $21,000 for the first time in history, one Wall Street investor is saying the top-ranked crypto by market capitalization should be worth a lot more.Bitcoin at $400,000, Says Guggenheim’s CIOIn a phone interview with Bloomberg TV on Wednesday (Dec. 15), Scott Minerd, chief investment officer at Guggenheim, said Bitcoin should be worth 20x its current market price.“Our fundamental work shows that bitcoin should be worth about $400k. We are going to, even if we have the ability to do so today, we are going to monitor the market and see how trading goes.” – He said.Minerd’s comments are coming amid mounting enthusiasm as bitcoin crossed the $21,000 price milestone for the first time in its history. As part of the interview, the Guggenheim executive revealed that the

Visa, a global financial services company and credit card giant, has partnered with Circle Internet Financial, a leading crypto fintech startup, to integrate the latter’s stablecoin.Visa Taps USDC for Digital PaymentsAccording to Forbes, on Dec. 2, Visa will be adopting Circle’s USD Coin (USDC) into its credit card platforms. The collaboration between both companies would see the use of the stablecoin to send and receive payments.Although Visa will not be a custodian to the USDC, Circle will help the financial services giant choose credit that will integrate the USDC into their platforms. The report also noted that 25 crypto companies involved in Visa’s Fast Track program would also be included in the partnership.Furthermore, Visa plans to roll a credit card in the near future, following