Tag: Firm

Lock BTC, Get DAI: Lending Firm Bridges Bitcoin-DeFi Divide in Latin America

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Canadian startup Ledn, which offers bitcoin-backed fiat loans, now also offers dollar-pegged DAI loans, connecting bitcoin users with ethereum’s decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem. Ledn co-founder Mauricio Di Bartolomeo, a Venezuelan expat, told CoinDesk this new partnership with stablecoin promoter MakerDAO was driven by customer demand. Out of “thousands” of users, more than half of Ledn’s users are in Latin America, Di Bartolomeo said, where ethereum-backed DAI is increasingly seen as an alternative to strictly regulated dollar transfers. In fact, this past weekend the central bank of Argentina restricted civilians to…

Bitcoin Suisse Acquires $3M Share of Trade Intelligence Firm CoinRouts

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Swiss crypto broker Bitcoin Suisse has purchased a minority stake of CoinRoutes Inc., a provider of pan-exchange smart order routing and algorithmic trading software. The investment and a new director Bitcoin Suisse announced the news on Oct. 22, specifying that it acquired a $3 million share of CoinRoutes. Niklas Nikolajsen, the chairman of the Bitcoin Suisse Group, became a member of the board of directors of CoinRoutes’s United States and Swiss entities. Bitcoin Suisse had tested CoinRoutes’ Smart Order Routing and patent-pending Consolidated Best Bid & Offer offerings for a…

Cybersecurity Firm Releases WannaCryFake Bitcoin Ransomware Fix

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Cybersecurity firm Emsisoft has released a solution for Bitcoin (BTC)-demanding ransomware WannaCryFake. Pay Bitcoin in return for your data In a Sept. 25 blog post, Emsisoft announced that they are releasing a new free fix for the WannaCryFake ransomware bug. The WannaCryFake is the next version of the WannaCry worm, a type of malicious software program that first began spreading across computer networks in May 2017. When a computer system is infected with the WannaCryFake worm, data is held hostage and a payment in Bitcoin will be requested to decrypt…

EOS Parent Firm Block.one Opens Up Headquarters in Washington DC

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EOS parent company Block.one is opening its fourth global site located in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan region. Creating 170 jobs over the next three years On Sept. 23, Block.one LLC announced that it is opening new headquarters for its United States operations arm in Arlington, Virginia. The office will purportedly create 170 high-skilled jobs over a period of three years. Block.one CEO Brendan Blumer said: “Its proximity to the nation’s capital positions us close to the policy innovation around digital assets and distributed ledger technology in the U.S. This expansion…

Medici-Backed Blockchain Firm Wants to Unite the Coffee Industry of Honduras

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Agricultural startup GrainChain backed by Medici Ventures, the blockchain venture arm of online retail giant Overstock, plans to unite the coffee industry of Honduras by delivering its blockchain platform to a network of local stakeholders. The firm has signed several agreements with the aim of bringing the entire coffee supply chain of Honduras together on its blockchain platform, according to the press release published on Sept. 24. One of the world’s biggest coffee producers By launching the initiative, GrainChain intends to facilitate multiple processes in the coffee supply chain of…

Payments Firm Circle Pauses Circle Research in Most Recent Cutback

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Crypto finance startup Circle announced that it is hitting the pause button on its Circle Research activities. Deciding on a future direction In a blog post on Sept. 24, the Circle team said the suspension came despite “significant progress” with its content offerings. The team of the Goldman Sachs-backed crypto startup Circle explained: “It’s time to evaluate our contribution and overall strategy. With that in mind, we’ve decided to pause Circle Research activity for the time being as we decide on a future direction for the program.” Circle Research was launched on Oct.…

Tencent Leads $20M Funding Round for DLT Supply Chain Firm Everledger

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British blockchain-enabled supply chain firm Everledger has raised $20 million in a new funding round participated by Chinese Internet giant Tencent. “Everledger and Tencent are a natural fit” Following the investment, Tencent will now be represented in the Everledger board, the company said in a press release shared with Cointelegraph on Sept. 24. The new funding will help Everledger to continue improving transparency, sustainability and traceability across global supply chains. Leanne Kemp, founder and CEO of Everledger, also pointed out the importance of Tencent’s participation, outlining the potential synergies of…

FCA Warns Public About Clone Firm Offering Crypto Investment

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The British Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has warned the public about First BTC FX, a supposed clone firm offering fraudulent crypto investments. Using details of an FCA-authorized firm According to an FCA warning published on Sept. 20, First BTC FX is posing as authorized firm First Global Limited. First Global is a trade name for nonprofit organization International First Committee Association. First BTC FX also claims to represent a trade name of First Global on its website firstbtcfx.com. Clone firms posing as legal entities The scam entity claims to provide…

Former Overstock CEO Sells His Entire 13% Stake in the Firm for $90M

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Former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne has sold his 13% stake in the firm for $90 million to move to gold and crypto trading. Byrne sells his entire Overstock stake in 3 days Byrne, who resigned from Overstock on Aug. 22, cashed out nearly 4.8 million Overstock (OSTK) shares, which accounts for more than 13% of the company, American financial publication MarketWatch reported on Sept. 19. According to a filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the former Overstock CEO was selling his shares at lower and lower…

Publicly-Listed Mining Firm Argo Blockchain Adds 1,000 New Miners

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Mining firm Argo Blockchain installs 1,000 more mining machines, financial news outlet ProactiveInvestors reports on Sept. 19. The addition of the new machines would take the company’s total number of miners to 6,000. Furthermore, the firm also plans to acquire another 6,000 of them in the next two quarters. The firm, publicly traded on the London stock exchange under the ARB ticker. Reports which circulated in August also pointed out that the company signed a deal to increase its electricity supply by 357%, which would be enough to power an…