Tag: Cryptocurrency Exchange

Categories
Crypto News

Square And Xapo Cryptocurrency Exchange Platforms To Get BitLicense To Operate In New York Legally

New York adds two cryptocurrency exchange platforms to the five that were already operating legally. More specifically, Xapo and Square became cryptocurrency exchange platforms are next for obtaining the BitLicense. The initial approval of Square’s license came on Monday, June 18th, while Xapo received it on June 14th.

According to Maria Vullo, Superintendent of Financial Services of the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS), the agency certified Square to enter the “well regulated foreign exchange market.”

The DFS also approved the licensing of the Xapo, Inc., exchange bureau after passing revisions to “cybersecurity, anti-money laundering, anti-fraud, and consumer protection policies.”

The Paxos Trust Company, formerly known as itBit and a subsidiary of Kabompo Holdings Ltd., was also granted permission to trade in various cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and Stellar (XLM).

Square and Xapo cryptocurrency exchange platform to get the BitLicense to operate in New York legally

The announcements coincide with the statement of Barry Silbert, CEO of DigitalCurrencyGroup (DCG), who through his Twitter account announced the partnership of Genesis Trading with Square for the development of the application for the purchase and sale of Bitcoin (BTC), Cash App.

“Finally, the association that Genesis built over the last year with Square is revealed publicly. It has been great working with Jack Dorsey and his team,” said Silbert.

According to a press release from DCG, Genesis Trading processed the BitLicense next to Square, thus receiving approval to bid Ethereum (ETH), Ethereum Classic (ETC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Litecoin (LTC), ZCash (ZEC), and Ripple (XRP), although the latter is the subject of discussions between U.S. regulatory agencies, as it can be considered a security.

BitLicense is the regulatory requirement imposed in New York State for cryptocurrency exchange platforms to offer their services in this state. This measure, which has been in operation since 2015, has been the subject of criticism and controversy since it was proposed by former DFS superintendent Benjamin Lawsky, causing an exodus of companies operating in this town.

Now, Square and Xapo cryptocurrency exchange platforms are next in row to obtain the BitLicense to operate in New York legally.

Categories
Crypto News

Coinrail, A South Korean cryptocurrency exchange, Was Hacked, Causing Bitcoin (BTC)’s Recent Drop

The Bitcoin (BTC) price has lost more than 10% this weekend after South Korea’s Coinrail cryptocurrency exchange platform confirmed that it was hacked. This latest cyber attack, once again, calls into question the security of cryptocurrencies.

The Coinrail cryptocurrency exchange platform has acknowledged that it has lost 30% of the coins it stored, with an estimated value of around $40 million according to local media, following a rapid cyber attack.

Although the platform does not exchange Bitcoin (BTC), the news has led to Bitcoin (BTC) hitting a low of $6,652, the lowest level since last April when it hit $6,620.

Since December 2017, BTC has fallen 65%, from its highest value against the USD, $20,000.

“Coinrail is not a member of the group that promotes self-regulation to improve safety. He’s a minor player in the market and you can see how those small platforms with lower safety standards can be exposed to more risk,” said Kim Jin-Hwa, a representative of the Korea Blockchain Industry Association, cited by Reuters.

South-Korean cryptocurrency exchange platforms are still facing security issues despite crypto regulations in this regard

In January, 14 Korean platforms committed to improving their security and adopting measures to further protect the user, including restrictions on creating more than one account.

Coinrail has reported that the remaining 70% of digital currencies it moved are now housed in a portfolio that is not connected to the main network. Authorities are investigating the theft and exchanges on the platform have been suspended.

Asia has a long history of cyber attacks as it is considered a world’s leader when it comes to the cryptocurrencies market. Earlier this year, Japan’s Coincheck platform was hacked into a half-billion-dollar cryptocurrency robbery.

In 2014, Mt. Gox, which once handled 80% of the world’s Bitcoin (BTC) exchanges, filed for bankruptcy after losing around half a trillion dollars worth of BTC.

Even more recently, in December last year, South Korea’s cryptocurrency exchange platform Youbit has filed for bankruptcy after being hacked twice.

Categories
Crypto Markets

Coinbase Acquired Keystone Brokerage Firm And Circle P2P Payments Platform Seeks Banking License

The renowned cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase, continues to make its way to emerge on the traditional stock market. Already one of the world’s leading Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrency trading platform, Coinbase has acquired the California-based securities brokerage firm Keystone.

While the details of the agreement are not yet known, speculation is growing that it is the first step for the cryptocurrency-related firm to offer products based on digital assets in the form of shares, in the future.

Keystone Capital Corp. is a US FINRA registered broker and is licensed to operate as an investment advisor, as well as to operate an alternative trading system, or ATS.

For Coinbase, which currently markets only the most capitalized cryptocurrencies on the market, the acquisition of Keystone could open up new business opportunities and allow it to offer its services to institutional investors with ease. Also, the acquisition of Keystone also increases the possibility that Coinbase may, in the future, expand on Wall Street.

But first, Coinbase will need regulatory approval to operate under Keystone’s licenses. President and COO Asiff Hirji said Coinbase is confident that he will get approval from the authorities. The company has advanced that in a matter of several months it will be able to integrate Keystone’s operations, once it obtains such approvals.

While Coinbase acquired Keystone, Goldman Sachs’ Circle P2P payments platform pursues a federal banking license

Coinbase movement is not the only one of this kind that has taken place in the last few hours.

Also, the P2P Circle payment platform, supported by Goldman Sachs in one of its final rounds of funding, pursues a federal banking license with the Office of the Currency (OCC) and registration as a brokerage and trading venue with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

According to Coin Telegraph, Jeremy Allaire, CEO of Circle, has said that the platform first seeks the approval of the SEC and, to that end, has already withdrawn the tokens that do not confirm the US supervisor’s guidelines for the Poloniex cryptocurrency exchange platform, which they acquired for $400 million in late February.

Experts point out that Wall Street is taking small steps to give space to cryptocurrencies, thus the news that Coinbase acquired Keystone and Circle P2P payments platform seeks officials’ recognition shouldn’t come as a surprise.

Categories
Crypto

Huobi Develops Its Own Blockchain, Huobi Chain, For A Decentralized Huobi Cryptocurrency Exchange

The Huobi exchange house, based in Singapore, wants to migrate its operations to a decentralized and participatory blockchain, for whose development it opened a competition to select the leaders who will carry out the plan. The project is called the Huobi Chain Project (HCP) and was announced by the Huobi Group on June 6th through its blog, adding that the initial investment will be 30 million Huobi Token (HT)(approximately $174 million).

In this regard, the company’s CEO, Leon Li, said that the main objective of the project is to gradually transform Huobi’s centralized platform into a decentralized and open source one, where the community can freely participate and regulate its operation. Thus, in Huobi Chain, the exchange of values, monetary collection, and other applications will be carried out in a decentralized manner.

The plan includes the gradual migration of Huobi to this new public blockchain and the upgrade of Huobi Token (HT) from a general token in Ethereum (ETH) network to one based on the new Huobi blockchain, according to the briefing note.

Huobi announced a Huobi Chain competition for attracting devs to help them move to a decentralized Huobicryptocurrency exchange

To launch its blockchain, Huobi also announced the bases of the Huobi Chain Superhero Championship (HCSCP) program, through which the company will choose the developers of the project, which will be implemented in 18 months, distributed in four stages. The first three months will be dedicated to the election of these leaders through this program, which began on June 6 with a public call for candidates and teams, which can be registered until July 5th.

It is also indicated that after the election, the Huobi Chian project will be led by these leaders, who will work with board members to oversee the process and contribute to its progress into new phases.

It is worth mentioning that Huobi is not the first cryptocurrency exchange platform to implement its own decentralized blockchain. Last March, another important exchange, Binance, announced a similar project when it launched Binance Chain which is a public blockchain designed to facilitate the transfer, commercialization, and generation of blockchain assets, which also required the update of its Binance Coin (BNB) cryptocurrency.

Categories
Crypto

Ripple (XRP) Might Get On Coinbase, As The Renowned Cryptocurrency Exchange Plan On Moving To Japan

According to news releases this morning, Coinbase, the cryptocurrencies market leader in cryptocurrency exchange platform, will relocate to Japan to commence expanded activities in the Asian country. Naturally, Japan is widely regarded as the homeland of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, mostly via the huge volume of investors and crypto enthusiasts living in Japan. Even though this information is not unexpected, a sudden move like this one would have huge repercussions for most of the cryptocurrencies communities. Even more, Ripple (XRP) might indeed reach Coinbase thanks to this move.

Like we are aware already, cryptocurrency exchange platforms operating on the Japanese territory must be licensed and obey a series of crypto regulations designed to protect security and integrity of both cryptocurrencies and investors. Thus, the Japanese regulations are not at all created to hinder the operations of cryptocurrency exchange platforms.

Thus, before moving its activity on Japanese soil, Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange must work to obtain a valid license and once it has been acquired Coinbase operations must comply with the Japanese crypto regulations.

Ripple (XRP) might eventually get on Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange, as the latter plans on moving to Japan

This recent news that Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange will move to Japan has ignited many speculations. Among them, however, one is quite plausible, namely, Ripple (XRP) might now get on Coinbase.

Above all, Ripple (XRP) is a very appreciated coin in Japan where it is, at the same time, the most used cryptocurrency, therefore, would be a smart move from Coinbase to list XRP, as soon as it moves its operations on Japanese soil.

From Ripple’s point of view, however, Ripple (XRP) addition on Coinbase would significantly surge XRP’s price against the USD, as well as its adoption. In the meantime, Ripple (XRP) won’t get on Coinbase as long as Coinbase keeps its business in the US and XRP is considered a security by the US regulators.

Therefore, as soon as Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange moves its operations to Japan, Ripple (XRP), the most used crypto coin on Japanese territory, might be listed.

Exit mobile version