Bitcoin is seeing a breakout above $8,000 for the first time this year
After a months-long bear market, Bitcoin's rally is starting to gain some steam. The cryptocurrency has doubled in value since the start of the year, and the rise in value is reportedly tied primarily to increasing interest from institutional investors, as well as new products from established crypto startups (like Bakkt, which announced a July launch date for its crypto futures product this week).
Crypto payments are coming to Whole Foods and other retailers via Gemini Exchange
This week, crypto exchange Gemini announced a new partnership with payments startup Flexa that will see retailers across the US (including Starbucks, Whole Foods, and others) begin accepting crypto for payments. Gemini will be handling the back-end operations, while the payments themselves will be facilitated through Flexa's mobile app.
Here's why outlawing cryptocurrency purchases would be a terrible idea
Last week, some members of the US House of Representatives called for the passage of a bill that would effectively outlaw crypto purchases. Putting this bill into action, however, would be inadvisable as privacy-protective cryptocurrencies are core to taking back sovereignty of one's finances - and laws like these only give the governments that enact them more power than ever.
EY's investigation into Quadriga CX's funds has turned up $25M so far
After more than three months of investigation, accounting firm Ernst & Young's investigation into Quadriga CX's $200M+ in missing funds has turned up just $25M so far, or just 14% of the total funds stolen. In a statement this week, EY said that the total amount of funds may never be recovered, and that the company's poor bookkeeping may make a review of its finances impossible.
If Bitcoin is so safe, why is it continually being hacked?
Cryptocurrencies (and Bitcoin itself) are often hailed as being one of the most secure ways to pay and invest. That said, a lot of high-profile hacks have occurred lately. This isn't necessarily due to Bitcoin being insecure - it's more indicative of how attractive the platform has become to hackers, who see it as a low-risk and high-reward theft opportunity.
An ex-NFL owner is reportedly tied to a $850M crypto mystery
Last week, Bitfinex was accused of hiding its loss of $850M in crypto, but in response, Bitfinex executives said that the funds were actually channeled to Crypto Capital, a well-known "crypto central bank" of sorts. Recent weeks have seen the case take another wild turn, as ex-Vikings owner Reginald Fowler was indicted for running an unlicensed money laundering operation related to crypto trading.
Anchoring is key to the tokenization of assets - here's how it works
Simply put, anchoring is the act of tokenizing another asset by putting it on the blockchain. Its core to the process of tokenization, and its key use case is in the international settlements sector. By anchoring fiat currencies, crypto users can now perform international remittances or wire transfers in just seconds, instead of days.
Binance's CEO is spurring an outcry by suggesting a rollback of its $40M theft
This week, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao caused an uproar in the crypto community when he suggested (via several tweets and a video) that pooling a group of powerful miners together to rewrite the blockchain might be a good way to rollback its $40M theft earlier this month. The statement was a potent reminder that blockchain's immutability is at best an illusion, and that it's still subject to the whims of a small group of powerful miners. | |
