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Showing posts from July, 2021

PayPal set to launch crypto trading in the UK and may embrace DeFi

The global payments platform wants to let British customers trade crypto on its new “super app”. Global payments platform PayPal is looking towards the United Kingdom as the next market in which to expand its crypto trading services. According to the company’s second-quarter earnings call on Wednesday, PayPal has done very well out of crypto trading for the period. CEO Dan Schulman stated that the U.K. is likely to be the next country where crypto trading is offered. “Yeah, well, we continue to be really pleased with the momentum we're seeing on crypto . […] We're going to launch, hopefully, maybe even next month in the U.K., open up trading there.” He stated that the company is adding “incremental functionality” to the crypto trading platform, having already increased the crypto purchasing limits to $100,000 per week on July 15. PayPal is also working on open banking integration, Schulman stated, adding that it “will increase the ability to fully integrate it into ACH and do

McGill now accepting crypto payments for services

Scottish building services and construction contractor  McGill  has announced that it will now accept cryptocurrency as payment for services delivered. The company has partnered with payment gateway provider  CoinGate  to accept payment in over 50 different crypto coins including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Dogecoin . The interest in cryptocurrency has grown exponentially in recent years with more consumers looking to put the new currency to use. McGill are one of the first and only building services companies in the UK to accept cryptocurrency payments. This announcement comes shortly after McGill appointed the highly experienced  Sharon Craig  to the board in the role of director of finance. Sharon Craig commented: “McGill is an ambitious, innovative and forward-thinking business and we always want to stay ahead of the curve. Our decision to accept cryptocurrency was an easy and obvious one. Many consumers now hold this form of currency, so we will accept it as payment, it really

A $1 Billion Covid Crypto Donation For India Hits Red Tape

  Sandeep Nailwal, a New Delhi-based entrepreneur founded the India Covid Crypto Relief Fund that received the donation. Two months after Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin donated about $1 billion in cryptocurrency to an India Covid relief fund, about $20 million has been paid out so far. That may not sound like much, but between cashing out of an illiquid asset, complying with government regulations and getting the money to the right places, it isn't easy, according to Sandeep Nailwal, a New Delhi-based entrepreneur who founded the India Covid Crypto Relief Fund that received the donation. Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum Foundation and Bitcoin Magazine, speaks during the TechCrunch Disrupt 2017 in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Monday, Sept. 18, 2017.  For starters, Mr Buterin's gift of 50 trillion Shiba Inu coins -- 5% of the memecoin in circulation -- spurred a 50% crash in the price. The tokens should eventually amount to $400 million, Mr Nailwal estimated

Singapore crypto license applications in final stages of review

  Singapore’s central bank is in the final stages of reviewing applications for licenses to provide crypto services , including payments and the operation of cryptocurrency exchanges, according to Tharman Shanmugaratnam, minister in charge of the  Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) , which regulates financial institutions in Singapore. Fast facts To date, Singapore has received over 480 crypto service license applications under the Payment Services Act, which came into effect in January 2020, said Shanmugaratnam yesterday in a written reply to a parlimentary question. Of these, around 170 applicants — or 35% — have applied to provide DPT services 170 applications for a license to provide digital payment token (DPT) services. No crypto license has been issued to DPT providers in Singapore to date. DPT service providers such as cryptocurrency exchanges  Binance Asia Services ,  Coinbase  Singapore and  Gemini  currently operate in Singapore with an exemption from holding a licence und

Amazon may soon allow cryptocurrency as payment

  Amazon may allow users to pay in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin soon as the e-commerce giant is hiring a digital currency and blockchain product lead for its payments team. According to a latest job listing, Amazon's Payments Acceptance & Experience team is "seeking an experienced product leader to develop Amazon's Digital Currency and Blockchain strategy and product roadmap". "You will leverage your domain expertise in Blockchain, Distributed Ledger, Central Bank Digital Currencies and Cryptocurrency to develop the case for the capabilities which should be developed, drive overall vision and product strategy, and gain leadership buy-in and investment for new capabilities," the company posted. The product lead will work closely with teams across Amazon, including AWS to develop the roadmap for the customer experience, technical strategy and capabilities as well as the launch strategy. Amazon doesn't accept cryptocurrencies as payment yet. A compan

Malaysian police steamroll bitcoin machines

Malaysian police hit on a novel way to dispose of more than 1,000 bitcoin-mining machines seized in raids -- they crushed the devices using a steamroller. Authorities on Borneo island discovered the machines, worth an estimated 5.3 million ringgit ( $1.25 million ), in crackdowns between February and April. Eight people were arrested for allegedly stealing the equivalent of $2 million worth of electricity to power the energy-hungry computers, according to police. "The crypto-miners stole electricity," said Hakemal Hawari, a senior police official in the city of Miri, where the devices were seized. "Their actions are dangerous for life and property, as they can cause power outages." The 1,069 mining machines were laid out in a car park of a police station in Miri last week and crushed with a steamroller. Six of those arrested were convicted of stealing electricity, jailed for six months and fined. Crypto-mining -- the process by which computers mint new virtual curre

EU will make Bitcoin traceable and ban anonymous crypto wallets in anti-money laundering drive

  Cryptocurrency exchanges could be forced to collect the details of people sending and receiving crypto under new rules proposed by the European Commission. The EU's executive branch announced the potential change on Tuesday as part of a package of reforms aimed at tackling financial crime within the bloc. "The aim of this package is to improve the detection of suspicious transactions and activities, and to close loopholes used by criminals to launder illicit proceeds or finance terrorist activities through the financial system," the Commission said in a statement. The new law would establish a new EU-wide anti-money laundering authority (AMLA) with oversight of cryptocurrencies by 2023. How would this affect cryptocurrency trading? Some crypto-asset service providers are already covered by the EU's anti-money laundering and terrorism funding rules. The proposed law would apply these rules to the entire crypto sector , forcing service providers like crypto exchanges

Police make UK's biggest ever cryptocurrency seizure as they confiscate £114m

About £114m of cryptocurrency has been seized by UK police as part of a money-laundering investigation. The Metropolitan Police said the confiscation was the largest of its kind in the UK, and one of the largest in the world. Last year, US authorities said they had seized around $1bn (£718m) worth of Bitcoin connected to darknet market place the Silk Road, which was shut down in 2013. The Met did not say which cryptocurrencies they seized, but revealed the operation was carried out by their Economic Crime Command team in connection with money-laundering offences. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Graham McNulty said:  "Every single part of the Met is working to reduce violence on the streets of London as an absolute priority, this includes our financial investigators. "There is an inherent link between money and violence.  Violence is used to extort, blackmail, burgle, control and exploit.  It's used to protect criminal profits and maintain control of territories. "Cas

Thousands fall victim to $2bn Turkish cryptocurrency fraud

  ANKARA: Turkey’s cryptocurrency market has seen its first large-scale fraud case after the founder of cryptocurrency exchange Thodex, Faruk Fatih Ozer, fled the country with about $2 billion, leaving more than 391,000 users defrauded. Ozer reportedly escaped to Albania. In collaboration with Turkish authorities, Interpol has issued a red notice for the fugitive wanted for prosecution. Although an investigation was launched into the company whose accounts were blocked by the financial crimes investigation board MASAK on April 21, the scheme revealed loopholes in the system. The company has operated since 2017. It recently shut down services for several days, saying that it will allow outside investment from “prestigious banks and funding companies” in order to serve partners. However, shortly after the statement, users began facing problems with money transfers before the site became inaccessible. The daily volume of cryptocurrency trading in Turkey is believed to be about $1-$2 bil

Jack Ma Buys New Startup For $400 Million, Saying “This is Where the Future Lies”

  Jack Ma makes his biggest investment. Wealth magnate and serial entrpreneur Jack Ma has just invested half of his wealth into a new project which he believes will shape the future of the financial industry. Having already become a household name as the CEO of Alibaba, Jack Ma now looks set to take the world of blockchain technology by storm. On Saturday, Jack Ma finalised a $400 Million deal with  Bitcoin Profit , saying that "the future of finance depends upon people having access to the best possible resources." The leap may come as a surprise to many, but many leading economists have been speculating about a take over of this kind for several months. British Economist Robert Heston recently said that "after the 2018 Bitcoin boom, the major players in the financial industry are going to have to wake up to the shake up. It won't be long before an individual comes along and changes the way we think about global finance." These views have been echoed far and wi

VISA crypto debit cards are coming to Australia amid regulatory uncertainty

  While the rest of Asia Pacific is busy trying to regulate cryptocurrencies the best way that they know how, Australia is already on the road to coming up with new use cases even though volatility is still a concern. CryptoSend, a startup created by two students from the University of Technology in Sydney, has  teamed up  with global payments and card issuing company VISA. They intend to launch a physical debit card that'll let users spend their earned  cryptocurrency  in nearby shops, bars, and more. Instead of converting cryptocurrency to fiat before every spend, the card will directly enable real-time settlement, enabling a direct purchase experience for the user. Australians have not been immune to the hype around cryptocurrencies during the pandemic. According to a report by the investor education app Finder, cited by  The Australian , every one in six Australian owns some sort of cryptocurrency as of June. Cryptocurrencies have been legal in Australia since 2017 and are als

Dogecoin creator calls crypto a scam, says it is controlled by powerful cartel of wealthy figures

  Dogecoin co-creator Jackson Palmer has hit out at the crypto industry by calling it a scam and saying that it is controlled by a powerful cartel of wealthy figures. Dogecoin co-creator Jackson Palmer has hit out at the crypto industry by calling it a scam and saying that it is controlled by a powerful cartel of wealthy figures. Palmer, who is otherwise inactive on social media platforms, took to Twitter on Wednesday and said that cryptocurrency is being used by the wealthy to increase their fortunes by evading tax, diminishing regulatory oversight and artificially enforcing scarcity. “After years of studying it, I believe that cryptocurrency is an inherently right-wing, hyper-capitalistic technology built primarily to amplify the wealth of its proponents through a combination of tax avoidance, diminished regulatory oversight and artificially enforced scarcity,” he tweeted out on Wednesday afternoon. Palmer further hit out at crypto enthusiasts by saying that while there is a common

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