Ethereum Price Diving: Can Bulls Save This Key Support?

Ethereum extended its decline below the $140 support versus the US Dollar, while bitcoin dived below $8,000. ETH bulls must protect the $135 support to start a decent recovery. Ether price failed to recover and declined further below $140 against the US Dollar. The price is currently approaching the main $135 support and pivot area. There is a new connecting bearish trend line forming with resistance near $138 on the hourly chart of ETH/USD (data feed via Kraken). The pair could decline heavily if it fails to stay above the…

Is SardineCoin Real? The Sardines Are, At Least

It smelled fishy from the start. On Wednesday, MY Sardines, a Luxembourg-based company, announced its intention to launch a cryptocurrency backed by –  are you sitting? – vintage sardines.  Between the novel collateral, a white paper thin on details (who is the unnamed external auditor for the stock of sardines?) and an April 1 (April Fools’ Day) end date for the sale, crypto commentators suspected SardineCoin was an elaborate prank. This much is clear: It’s not a fluke. CoinDesk found the MY Sardines booth at CES 2020, the long-running consumer…

MakerDAO Pitches DeFi to the Masses at CES 2020

LAS VEGAS – There’s a “digital money” section on the show floor of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, but MakerDAO is the only digital money with a booth there. There are a couple of other crypto wallets, security firms and a bitcoin ATM company, but ethereum’s favorite stablecoin is the only cryptocurrency directly represented.  MakerDAO Foundation Head of Business Development Gregory DiPrisco had a straightforward answer for why the organization chose to take a space in Vegas. “It’s about opening doors to companies that otherwise we’d have…

Facebook’s Zuckerberg Highlights Digital Commerce, But Not Libra, in 2030 Vision

Mark Zuckerberg’s new 10-year vision says a lot about Facebook’s plan for financial services – and nothing whatsoever about Libra.  Unveiling a vision for 2030, the Facebook CEO unveiled a laundry list of decade’s-end aims for his social media goliath, including an extensive “opportunity” for Facebook to “decentralize” finance and business. “Over the next decade, we hope to build the commerce and payments tools so that every small business has easy access to the same technology that previously only big companies have had,” Zuckerberg said in the post. That vision…

Dutch Derivatives Exchange Deribit to Move to Crypto-Friendly Panama

Deribit is moving to warmer waters, citing regulatory concerns. Announced Thursday, the Amsterdam-based crypto derivatives exchange will operate out of Panama as DRB Panama Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of current platform Deribit B.V., beginning Feb. 10.  The company claimed the Netherlands’ presumed adoption of “very strict” anti-money laundering (AML) regulations applied to cryptocurrency firms spurred the trans-Atlantic voyage. “If Deribit falls under these new regulations, this would mean that we have to demand an extensive amount of information from our current and future customers,” the exchange wrote in a…

Narrative Watch: Why 2020 Will Be the Year of the DAO

The aftershock of the 2016 hack of The DAO meant decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) weren’t nearly as hyped as ICOs and, later, some other aspects of the Web3 movement. In 2019, however, DAOs came roaring back and start 2020 with the wind in their sails.  In this episode, we look at the tale of the tape for DAOs in 2019 – what people thought would happen and what actually did happen, including the launch of MolochDAO, MetaCartel, ethereum’s MarketingDAO and more than 1,000 DAOs on Aragon. We also hear from…

Illinois Legalizes Blockchain Contracts – CoinDesk

With the new year Illinois became the latest state to recognize smart contracts and other blockchain-based records as legal instruments. The state’s “Blockchain Technology Act,” sponsored by Rep. Keith Wheeler (R), took effect Jan. 1, opening a slew of potential new legal scenarios for blockchain-based contracts. These contracts are now admissible as evidence in court, recognized as a viable alternative to paper-based records and statutorily exempt from local taxation.  “A smart contract, record or signature may not be denied legal effect or enforceability solely because a blockchain was used to…

ETF Giant Leads $17.7M Series A for Blockchain Compliance Startup

One of the world’s largest exchange-traded fund (ETF) providers is leading a $17.65 million investment in blockchain compliance startup Securrency. WisdomTree was the lead investor in the $17.65 million Series A funding round announced Tuesday. Other investors include the state-backed Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO), Japanese financial services giant Monex Group and venture capital firms RRE Ventures, Strawberry Creek Ventures and Panthera Capital Investments. As the lead investor, WisdomTree put some $8 million into the round, WisdomTree founder and CEO Jonathan Steinberg told CoinDesk in a phone interview. WisdomTree recently…

BlockFi Includes Litecoin and USDC in Lending Portfolio

Cryptocurrency has gone through a lot of new developments over the past few months and today, cryptocurrency lending company BlockFi made a major new announcement. The company, which operates its own platform, announced today that it has added support for two more digital assets. Major Expansion The company announced that from now on, loans can be disbursed in the form of Litecoin as well as in the stablecoin USDC. USDC is backed by the United States Dollar. This is a significant development for Litecoin and USDC, as both those cryptocurrencies…

SEC Charges Man Behind Alleged Crypto Mining Scam

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed suit against Donald G. Blakstad for scamming investors partly through an allegedly fraudulent crypto mining operation. In a filing Jan 8, the SEC alleged that Blackstad, 60, bilked over $3.5 million from investors of three separate firms: an oil and gas company; a vehicle parts holding company; and “Energy Sources International” (ESI), a purported cryptocurrency mining company whose Las Vegas datacenter has only one employee: Blakstad. The crypto mining operation specifically took in some $550,000 from five separate investors, all of whom…