Tuesday, January 29, 2019

$7 mil in 15 🤑

January 29, 2019

BitTorrent's ICO Netted $7 Million in Less Than 15 Minutes

On Monday, BitTorrent's initial coin offering (ICO) reached the funding target within 14 minutes.

BitTorrent, the peer-to-peer file sharing platform now owned by TRON, raked in $7.1 million after selling 50 billion BTT tokens for $0.00012 a piece.

The token is based on TRON's network and will help the platform to "transact in computing resources shared between BitTorrent clients and any other participating service requesters and service providers."

State of the ICO

With January about to close, the BTT token sale helped boost the struggling ICO market.

According to ICO Bench, half way through January, ICOs had only raised 33% of December ICOs. That amounted to a total of $160 million - half of which came from one project.

But while the 150 ICOs scheduled in January were met with tough investors, 3 out of the 5 major sales still reached or almost reached their goals.

What do you expect from winter?

The numbers detail a falling ICO market alongside the total crypto market.

It's reasonable that as value drops, investors will tighten their purse strings too.

Still, the BTT sale was a feat in its own, likely caused by the strong brand presence BitTorrent already has online.

INTERNATIONAL

South Korea Says No Need for Central Bank Digital Currency Right Now

According to local newspaper the Korea Herald, South Korea is going to hold off on introducing its own digital currency for the near future.

Apparently, after conducting trials and studies around the idea, researchers found no urgent need to pursue the project - meaning their weren't large enough benefits to embark on the endeavor.

An unnamed official commented:

"We have no plans to issue any type of CBDC that is available for all people in the near future. We have to work further on benefits and costs of CBDC implementation first."

Research will continue

Despite the findings, however, South Korea will still continue to pursue the idea through more studies that unlock the impacts of issuing a state digital currency.

Recently, the Bank for International Settlements conducted a survey among central banks worldwide to find:

70% of central banks are researching digital currency issuance
50% of central banks have moved to experiments and hands-on work
5 central banks are already running pilot projects including Sweden and Uruguay

Still, the race continues for the first country to actually implement such an idea.

EXCHANGE

Previously Hacked BitGrail Owner to Return Funds to Customers

In a court decision released Monday, ex-BitGrail owner Francesco Firano has been ordered to return as much funds as possible to victims of the alleged hack.

To accomplish the order, the court mandates that Firano "be declared bankrupt, authorizing seizures of many of Mr. Firano's personal assets."

Already, over $1 million assets including his car have been seized.

BitGrail, not Nano

When the hack was announced in February 2018, funds were already lost months before from ongoing attacks.

The losses amounted to $150 million and as Firano panicked, he blamed the situation of Nano developers claiming they had a vulnerability that allowed the theft.

In the end, the court found it was indeed BitGrail's fault after a software flaw allowed multiple withdrawals.

BITS

But wait, there's more...

💸 A Swiss wallet firm is producing physical bank notes for a Marshall Islands digital currency.
🧐 Saudi Arabia and the UAE are looking to share a digital currency to cut costs.
👀 Crypto exchange QuadrigaCX goes down for alleged "maintenance issues" amid legal battle.

MEME