NEO Blockchain Platform Opens Seattle Office Headed by Ex-Microsoft Exec

Chinese blockchain platform NEO will open an office in United States city of Seattle, according to an official announcement shared with Cointelegraph on Feb. 15. The new office will be headed by ex-Microsoft executive John deVadoss. The NEO Global Development (NGD) Seattle office will open and begin recruitment this month, purportedly allowing the company to expand into the U.S. market. Per the press release, the NGD has been developing partnerships with Microsoft and other companies. According to NEO founder Erik Zhang, Seattle’s reputation for tech talent was one of the…

QuadrigaCX Founder May Have Stored Private Keys on Paper in Safety Deposit Box

The founder of major Canadian crypto exchange QuadrigaCX, Gerald Cotten, may have stored the exchange’s private keys on paper in a safety deposit box, Bloomberg reported on Feb. 15. In an interview on the “True Bromance Podcast” in February 2014, Cotten warned of the danger of losing keys to cold wallet storage systems, and thus losing access to the assets stored on them. “Even the U.S. government, with the biggest computers in the world, could not retrieve those coins if you’ve lost the private key. It’s impossible to retrieve those,”…

Moscow Blockchain Cluster Needs Intellectual Property Mechanism, Says Expert

The Moscow-based blockchain innovation cluster needs a mechanism for assessing intellectual property, says the founder of blockchain platform Universa.io, Aleksandr Borodich. Borodich’s statements were reported by Russian news agency TASS on Feb. 15. The plans to launch a blockchain-based city innovation cluster by summer 2019 were initially announced by the Moscow municipal government earlier in February. The upcoming platform for the city’s IT innovation cluster will purportedly bring together various tech and business entities and enable participants to find potential partners, as well as learn about their products and equipment.…

Chinese Crypto Miner Predicts That Bitcoin Could Reach $740K

Zhu Fa, co-founder of Poolin, a Chinese-based crypto mining pool, predicted that the Bitcoin (BTC) price could hit 5 million Chinese yuan ($738,000 (USD), crypto news outlet 8BTC reported on Feb.11. While Zhu noted that “it now feels more like a bear market,” he reportedly predicted that in the next bull run, prices will be 10–20 times higher than previous ones. Zhu also noted that massive prices spikes like the one that resulted in the $20,000 per BTC high in 2017, will not always exist, adding that the next bull…

Global Blockchain in Energy Utilities Market to Grow 60% by 2024

The global blockchain in energy utilities market is expected to grow by 60 percent by 2024, according to a new report from Infoholic Research LLP published on Feb. 15. Per the report, the global blockchain in energy utilities market was assessed to be $210.4 million in 2018, and is expected to reach $3.4 billion by 2024. Infoholic Research thus predicts the growth at a compound annual growth rate of 59.4 percent during the period from 2018 to 2024. The report also notes that the key driver of growth in the…

New Legislation Recognizes Crypto as Trading Commodity

Indonesia has introduced new legislation that recognizes Bitcoin (BTC) as a trading commodity, Asia-oriented news outlet KrASIA reported on Feb. 15. Indonesia’s Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency, also known as Bappebti, initially signed a decree to make cryptocurrency a commodity future legally tradable on stock exchanges last June. The agency then stated that the Indonesian government would soon release corresponding legislation regulating currency exchange companies, taxation, and other related issues. Today, Bappebti reportedly approved regulation No. 5/2019 that recognizes Bitcoin and other digital currencies as a trading commodity. The legislation…

Coinsquare Acquires StellarX | Canadian Exchange Takes Over

Canada’s largest crypto exchange Coinsquare has acquired the StellarX DEX according to a press release published yesterday. Under the terms of the agreement, StellarX will become a fully-owned subsidiary of Coinsquare and will now need regulatory approval to operate its service under the Coinsquare umbrella. Coinsquare Acquires StellarX Based in Bermuda, StellarX describes itself as “the first decentralized crypto platform with global fiat gateways. You can trade Bitcoin for Euros for Chinese Yuan on StellarX. That’s not possible anywhere else.” Developed as an on-ramp for traders, customers have the ability to deposit fiat money directly…

Apple Notes Blockchain Guidelines in Recent SEC Filing

Tech giant Apple has mentioned its work in forming the Blockchain Guidelines of the Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI) in a filing with the United States Security Exchange Commission (SEC). The document, entitled “Conflict Minerals Report” was published on Feb. 15. In general, the document pertains to Apple’s business practices and ethics in sourcing minerals for its various consumer electronic devices. Apple states that it is “committed to going beyond the minimum requirements in order to meet and exceed internationally accepted due diligence standards and protect people in its supply chain…”…

Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, EOS, Bitcoin Cash, TRON, Stellar, Binance Coin, Bitcoin SV: Price Analysis, February 15

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision. Market data is provided by the HitBTC exchange. United States banking giant JPMorgan Chase, whose CEO has been one of the most vocal critics of cryptocurrencies, has announced the launch of its own cryptocurrency, named “JPM Coin.” This clearly shows that many criticize the technology as they do not understand it, but…

Crypto Markets Continue to See Mixed Signals, Dow Jones Up Over 360 Points

Feb. 15 — crypto markets have continued trading sideways after hitting a multi-month high of daily trading volume of more than $36 billion yesterday, according to CoinMarketCap data. Market visualization from Coin360 Bitcoin (BTC) is slightly down over the past 24 hours, and is trading at $3,626 at press time. At press time, the biggest cryptocurrency is up around 0.41 percent over the past 7 days, while down some 0.1 on the day. On Feb. 11, Bitcoin transaction fees saw a new low point. Bitcoin 7-day price chart. Source: CoinMarketCap…