The Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine and the Stellar Development Foundation announce partnership to facilitate development of the virtual assets ecosystem

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Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine

On December 28, the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine and the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) signed a Memorandum of Understanding and Cooperation, within which they will work on the development of a strategy for virtual assets in Ukraine. Under the Memorandum, the Ministry of Digital Transformation and SDF will work to develop a modern virtual asset market infrastructure and enhance Ukraine’s status as an innovative digital country in the financial market in Eastern Europe. “The Ministry of Digital Transformation is working on creating the legal environment for the development…

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Synthetix co-founder’s siblings reveal blockchain game project

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blockchain game

A fledgling blockchain-based game project called Illuvium has already managed to attract support from major industry backers — a development owed in part to the fact that Illuvium co-founders Kieran and Aaron Warwick are the brothers of Kain Warwick, the co-founder of decentralized finance (DeFi) platform Synthetix. In an interview with Cointelegraph, Kieran Warwick clarified that development work has only been underway since September, and that the “two years” refers to the length of time Kain had been badgering Kieran to re-enter crypto full time. “I left to found a…

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Bitcoin hits $24K

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Bitcoin chart 2020

Bitcoin hits a fresh all-time high of $24,210 on Coinbase as volatility ensures the weekend bulls are not yet done. Bitcoin (BTC) set a new all-time high on Dec. 19 as markets continued to deliver surprises in weekend trading. Data from Cointelegraph Markets and Tradingview showed BTC/USD just eclipsing its record level set this week, reaching $24,210 on Coinbase before reversing. Volatility was high as the previous all-time high of $23,777 just gave way before resistance kicked in once again. According to exchange orderbook data, sellers are ready at $24,000,…

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Two thirds of Estonian crypto businesses lose their licenses

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Estonia flag

Estonia has withdrawn permits from one thousand crypto companies this year. One of the countries lauded as being among the most crypto friendly in the European Union revoked the licenses of more than 1,000 crypto firms in 2020. According to news outlet Postimees, Estonia’s Financial Intelligence Unit, or FIU, has revoked the licenses of roughly 70% of virtual currency companies operating in the country this year. Veiko Tali, the Deputy Secretary General of the Government Committee for the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing, said the remaining crypto firms…

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Germany legalizes digitized securities

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Germany blockchain

Europe’s largest economy is looking to pave the way for securities trading on the blockchain. The German word for securities is wertpapieren, or “papers of worth,” which may soon be as outdated as nocturnal traders saying they’re burning the midnight oil. Per a Reuters report from Wednesday, Merkel’s cabinet had passed a new law that will end the requirement to have a paper certificate for sale of a security, overtly looking to advance blockchain trading within the country. German Finance Minister Olaf Scholtz reportedly said, “The paper certificate may be…

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Bitcoin price consolidates as traders contest the $18.2K to $19.5K range

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BTC-USDT daily chart TradingView

After an impressive run to a new all-time high on Dec.1, Bitcoin (BTC) price appears to have entered a short consolidation phase as the price ranges between $18,200 and $19,500. The 1 and 4-hour charts show the price compressing into a pennant-like structure and break out from the pattern would likely see the price move to the $19,400 level where is a bit more resistance. A breakthrough the pennant would also suggest that the $19,000 level could now function as solid support and if bulls are able to flip the…

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Russia’s Gazprombank debuts Bitcoin trading in Switzerland

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Gazprombank Switzerland

The Switzerland-based branch of a major Russian bank has also joined OpenVASP. Gazprombank Switzerland, a subsidiary of one of the largest banks in Russia, has piloted its Bitcoin (BTC) transaction service following regulatory approval by Swiss regulators. According to a Nov. 19 announcement, Gazprombank will provide its new cryptocurrency solution in collaboration with its long-running partners like fintech firm Avaloq and crypto custody provider Metaco. Gazprombank Switzerland CEO Roman Abdulin said that the new service intends to make crypto transactions “as easy as transactions with traditional assets,” stating: “Digital assets…

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PayPal CEO: Our platform will ‘significantly bolster the utility of cryptocurrencies’

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PayPal cryptocurrency wallet

PayPal’s chief executive believes cryptocurrencies are on the verge of mainstream adoption as more businesses and consumers flock to “digital payments and digital forms of currency.” In an interview with CNBC, PayPal CEO Dan Schulman said the pandemic has accelerated the shift to digital forms of payments. PayPal wants to be at the forefront of the ongoing digital transformation. Schulman said the “use of cash has declined precipitously” amid the pandemic, adding that “40 to 70% of consumers no longer want to handle cash.” PayPal is not just making it…

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Bitcoin price doubles since the halving, with just 3.4M Bitcoin left for buyers

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Bitcoin statistics

The price of BTC has more than doubled since the Bitcoin’s third block reward halving in May. To be precise, BTC has gained 110%, with prices rallying from $8,566 on May 11 to test $18,000 as of this writing. According to report from crypto analytics firm Chainalysis, levels of liquidity and exchange flows have changed dramatically since the halving. The firm identifies illiquid, or investor-held Bitcoin, as “wallets that send less than 25% of Bitcoin they’ve ever received,” while the remaining wallets are classed as liquid Bitcoin, or trader-held Bitcoin.…

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Japan’s megabanks to lead experiment with digital yen

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Japonsko ulice

Japan’s three largest banks, as part of a group of 30 private sector actors, are set to collaborate on an experiment with a digital yen. The group consists of banks, various Japanese brokerages, utility and telecom firms and retailers, according to a Reuters report. For the purposes of the experiment, the private banks will be responsible for issuing the currency, although the prospect of other actors becoming involved in issuance has not been ruled out, according to the chair of the new group, Hiromi Yamaoka. Yamaoka is a former executive…

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Aerospace giant Thales uses blockchain to comply with NATO standards

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blockchain

Blockchain tech is handy for complying with NATO standards in aerospace and defense. Thales, a French multinational company specializing in products and services for aerospace and defense industries, is using blockchain technology for a new management system at its production hub in Spain. According to an official announcement on Nov. 5, Thales is seeking to deploy technologies like blockchain and big data to enable the digital transformation of its defense- and aeronautics-focused production and maintenance center. As part of the initiative, the Paris-based company looks to comply with standards by…

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Verizon’s newsroom to use blockchain in bid for absolute transparency

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fake news

News requires an element of trust. Blockchain may be able to help. Verizon has unveiled “a blockchain-based, open-source newsroom product designed to raise the bar for corporate accountability,” according to a public statement today. Called Full Transparency, the platform is meant to immutably document the company’s own news releases on a public blockchain. Verizon posted its first news story through the platform yesterday, according to comments sent to Cointelegraph by a Verizon representative. Alterations made after the story’s initial publication were also recorded. The representative noted, however, that “Only text…

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New Huawei smartphone will feature a hardware wallet for digital yuan

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HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro

The Mate40 series will reportedly enable dual offline transactions and allow users to control anonymity. Huawei has announced that its forthcoming Mate40 smartphone series will include an integrated hardware wallet for China’s central bank digital currency, the digital yuan. This will be the first smartphone to feature such a wallet, according to an official Huawei post on Chinese microblogging website Weibo on Oct. 30. The post also promises that users will be able to control and protect their anonymity and perform dual offline transactions. These enable mobile phone users to…

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More than half of all crypto exchanges have weak or no ID verification

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Average VASP KYC by country in 2020

The highest number of exchanges defying regulatory norms are in Europe. More than half of all exchanges worldwide have weak KYC identification protocols — with exchanges in Europe, the U.S. and U.K. among the worst offenders, according to a new study by blockchain analysis firm CipherTrace CipherTrace analyzed more than 800 decentralized, centralized, and automated market maker exchanges and found 56% of them did not follow KYC guidelines at all despite anti-money laundering (AML) regulations. The highest number of such exchanges are in Europe — a region renowned for stricter…

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More than $1B in Bitcoin has been tokenized for DeFi

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BTC locked in DeFi

Almost 100,000 Bitcoin are now tokenized on Ethereum, more than half of which have migrated over the past 30 days. More than $1 billion worth of Bitcoin (BTC) has now been tokenized to access decentralized finance protocols on the Ethereum network. That’s equivalent to the entire total value locked, or TVL, in DeFi less than four months ago. According to DeFi Pulse, roughly 98,300 BTC (worth $1.05 billion) has been tokenized using protocols other than Blockstream’s Lightning Network — equating to more than 12% of the DeFi’s sector’s $8.57 billion…

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