According to TechCrunch, Reddit is ending its Community Points program, which was founded on blockchain technology and lasted for about three years. “Though we saw some future opportunities for Community Points, the resourcing needed was unfortunately too high to justify,” Tim Rathschmidt, Reddit’s director of consumer and product communications, told TechCrunch. “The regulatory environment has since added to that effort,” he added. Reddit’s native currency, Moons (MOON), is down 85% on the announcement, while Bricks (BRICK), which is given out as payment for contributions on the r/Fortnite subreddit, is down 67%.The coin called DONUT, which stands for the r/ethtrader subreddit’s community points, is currently 66% off. “Part of why we’re moving past this product is that we’ve already launched,

The Fantom Foundation declared that a number of their wallets have been compromised. According to reports, there was a loss of about $550,000 in Fantom Foundation cash earlier today in a number of Fantom wallets. That being said, it’s comforting to know that more than 99% of the Fantom Foundation’s finances are safe and undisturbed

WeStreet Credit Union, headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, has announced a Crypto Portal to help its members and the public purchase, sell, and hold cryptocurrencies in a step towards accepting digital money. The portal was first released in August 2023 as a members-only service, and in October it opened up to the general public. The trading

To increase the likelihood that his own energy conservation bill would pass, a representative from Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives removed a two-year prohibition on crypto mining licences.In order to enact the restriction, Democratic Rep. Greg Vitali said in June that he intended to submit the Cryptocurrency Energy Conservation Act. “The crypto mining industry is a massive energy user,” Vitali said at the time. “Globally, crypto mining consumes more energy than the countries of Argentina and Australia. This high level of energy usage places more stress on the environment and accelerates the climate crisis, in addition to raising costs for consumers.” However, he did not include the moratorium in the measure when he submitted it to the Environmental Resources and Energy Committee of the California House of Representatives on Monday.He is the chairman of the committee, and both the bill and the amendment were approved. The bill was approved by a one-vote margin.On Monday, Vitali told the Pennsylvania Capital Star that he had discovered the hard way that “there is not a high tolerance for strong environmental policy,” and that he had removed the ban to give the legislation a chance to reach the House. After the ban expired, the bill mandated an impact analysis from the Department of Environmental Protection and defined reporting guidelines for certain crypto-mining operations. In New York, a two-year prohibition on new mining facilities was put in place last year. American lawmakers are becoming more concerned about cryptocurrency mining and its energy implications.Meanwhile, miners are advocating in Washington, DC, for friendlier laws.

According to proposed guidance released by international standard-setter the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision on Tuesday, banks must report both quantitative and qualitative information about their cryptocurrency activity. Following volatility impacting crypto-linked lenders like Signature Bank and Silicon Valley Bank, the plans increase the stringent capital requirements already established by the committee to deter banks from holding unbacked crypto like bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH). Under the proposals, which would take effect in 2025, “banks would be required to disclose qualitative information on their activities related to cryptoassets and quantitative information on exposures to cryptoassets and the related capital and liquidity requirements,” said the committee, which is linked to the Bank for International Settlements, a network of central

Regulators from the European Union issued a warning on Tuesday, stating that “complex and opaque” international crypto firms may attempt to take advantage of regional differences by operating from EU-based shell businesses even after the historic Markets in Crypto Assets Act (MiCA) goes into effect.Even as national regulators scramble to create the procedures that would help exchanges and wallet providers obtain a sought-after crypto license, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) on Tuesday urged large global crypto firms to start preparing for MiCA now. MiCA license regulations go into effect in December 2024, however businesses can operate until July 2026 without a complete license if they are registered under one of the nation’s current, less stringent anti-money laundering laws, as has been done by companies like Binance in France and Coinbase in the Netherlands. Officials from ESMA are now concerned that the temporary provision may cause customers to get confused, which MiCA is trying to avoid, and may allow businesses to take advantage of regional regulatory variances. “Opaque group structures may also render it difficult for clients of service providers to know which entity they are dealing with and its regulatory status,” ESMA said in a statement today, adding that some existing crypto companies “may lack a strong compliance culture … and their large scale and geographic scope allow

Coinbase.Following an update to the exchange’s conditions of usage, US users are no longer able to withdraw dollars directly from the platform. “In the event that customers wish to withdraw U.S. dollar funds from their account, they may do so by converting U.S. dollar funds to stablecoin or other digital assets, which can subsequently be

BitGo, a cryptocurrency custody specialist, has purchased HeightZero, a company that offers software solutions to financial managers whose customers may wish to allocate a portion of their portfolios to digital assets and cryptocurrency. The transaction’s financial specifics were not disclosed to the public. Cryptocurrency trading is known for its frantic, risky, and intricate trading methods.

Fileverse, a Web3 workspace and file management tool, raised $1.5 million in a pre-seed round. According to a news release issued by the company, the investment was led by venture capital firm Factor and privacy-focused Gnosis Chain. Provider of cryptocurrency wallets Secure social media privacy fix In addition to Mask Network, other angel investors in

According to a blog post by the firm, Binance will halt taking on new customers from the United Kingdom as of Monday in order to adhere to local regulations on crypto marketing.The new rules, which took effect on October 8, allow businesses that are registered with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) of the United Kingdom to approve their own advertisements.If that doesn’t work, businesses might ask legitimate organizations to approve their adverts. Prior to the regulations taking effect, Binance collaborated with a company called Rebuildingsociety.com to have its promotions and advertisements approved in the U.K. However, the FCA said last week that the latter was not permitted to approve cryptocurrency advertisements. “We are working closely with the FCA to ensure that our users are not harmed by these developments and are looking to find another suitable FCA authorized firm to approve our financial promotions as soon as possible,” the exchange said. Existing U.K. customers who have passed the “Investor Declaration and Appropriateness Test” will still have access to services, but new customers won’t be able to utilize any new goods or services during this time, the business stated.

An important milestone in the company’s plan to strengthen its digital asset venture in the area was taken on October 16, 2023, when Upbit Singapore Pte. Ltd. (Upbit Singapore) received an in-principle approval (IPA) for a Major Payment Institution (MPI) licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). While waiting for the complete licence to

According to a Bloomberg story published on Monday, BC Technology Group is considering selling its cryptocurrency exchange, OSL, for a price of $128 million, or one billion Hong Kong dollars. OSL provides infrastructure for financial institutions to enable digital asset trading, as well as prime brokerage, exchange, and custody of crypto assets. The article, which

According to a press announcement on Monday, stablecoin issuer Tether has frozen cash in 32 cryptocurrency accounts connected to terrorism and conflict in Israel and Ukraine. Tether stated that in an effort to combat terrorism and violence fueled by cryptocurrencies, it has been collaborating with Israel’s National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing (NBCTF). Tether disables

A cryptocurrency measure that will begin to enforce harsher regulations on companies performing crypto operations in July 2025 has been adopted by California Governor Gavin Newsom. According to a statement released by Newsom on October 13 and dubbed the Digital Financial Assets Law, it will be necessary for both individuals and businesses to get a Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) license in order to engage in business activities involving digital assets. A reference to California’s money transmission rules, which forbid the operation of banking and transfer services without a license issued by the DFPI commissioner, is made in legislative documents. The DFPI will be able to impose strict audit requirements on crypto enterprises and oblige them to adhere to recordkeeping standards thanks to the new crypto statute, nevertheless. “[This bill] would require a licensee to maintain […] for 5 years after the date of the activity, certain records, including a general ledger maintained at least monthly that lists all assets, liabilities, capital, income, and expenses of the licensee.”The statement noted. It further states that businesses who disregard the law will be subject to enforcement actions. A similar bill that sought to create a licensing and regulatory framework for digital assets in California was rejected by Newsom about this time in 2022. Despite the fact that there was no resistance to the bill during its passage through the California State Assembly, Newsom stated that he was returning it “without my signature.” The law, according to Newsom, wasn’t

The FTX estate staked more than 5.5 million SOL on October 13 suggesting that it is optimistic about Solana. On-chain data indicates that the coins were transmitted to Figment, a staking validator company for institutional investors, by a wallet with the FTX identifier. FTX estate address was eventually determined to be the source of the transaction by anonymous on-chain researcher Ashpool after it was discovered by blockchain tracker Whale Alert. A small portion of FTX’s SOL holdings, totaling $122 million, are represented by the coins staked. Staking entails securing a predetermined number of coins for a predetermined amount of time. In exchange for safeguarding the network with their investments, stake holders receive SOL coins as compensation. The defined vesting timeline results in FTX frequently receiving a sizeable amount of SOL unlocked. FTX was an early investor in Solana. These holdings are subject to liquidation at any time by the FTX estate, which is managed by a bankruptcy trustee. Recovering assets for the exchange’s creditors is its main responsibility. With the sale of $1.3 billion in SOL from FTX allowed by a US court in September, holders of the stock began to worry about a possible price decline. The bankruptcy court mandated that the sale take place through an investment adviser in weekly batches in order to prevent burdening the cryptocurrency market. SOL’s price fell to a two-month low of $17.34 on September 11 as a result of the decision. Among the top 10 assets held by the corporation, including Solana, Bitcoin, Ether, Aptos, and other cryptocurrencies, FTX has $3.4 billion in Digital Assets A. Since the exchange sought bankruptcy protection in November 2022, nearly $7 billion has been recovered, according to court

The exchange THORSwap, which shut down last Friday after a string of deals connected to the FTX hack, resumed operations on Friday after revising its terms and conditions to bar North Korea and other nations subject to U.S. and European Union financial restrictions.According to CoinMarketCap, the native token of the platform (THOR) has increased by 10% during the last 24 hours. Users who reside in nations that have been sanctioned by the United States, United Kingdom, or the European Union are prohibited from using the exchange, according to the amended terms and conditions.Zimbabwe, Myanmar, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria are among the specific nations mentioned. “THORSwap is back online!” the company wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter). “Other than the shiny new terms of service, users won’t notice a thing. Behind the scenes, we’ve partnered with an industry leader to put some extra guardrails in place to help prevent the flow of illicit funds.” The THORSwap protocol is built on top of THORChain, a network that enables users to freely exchange tokens between various blockchains.Following “consultation with advisors, legal counsel, and law enforcement,” as the team put it, it had suspended operations a week earlier and switched to “maintenance mode.” The

In the event that this is accurate, Grayscale’s application for a spot Bitcoin ETF must be reviewed and approved by the SEC. Grayscale may appeal the ruling if it is rejected. The latest ruling by the court that favoured Grayscale Investments is said to not be being appealed by the United States Securities and Exchange

Due to dealer requests and market demand—many customers having invested in digital currencies—Renault Ferrari decided to accept cryptocurrency payments. Ferrari will take bitcoin payments for its high-end sports cars in the US since there is a demand from customers. The automaker intends to take cryptocurrency payments in Europe as well. In a recent Reuters story,

The largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, Coinbase (COIN), claims that a recent IRS plan will jeopardize both the industry and the privacy of Americans.Recently, the IRS had put up a rule to formally classify crypto brokers and give them guidance on how to correctly file taxes on behalf of both themselves and their clients.But in a letter of submission to the organization on Thursday, Coinbase claimed that the proposed rule would amount to “an unprecedented, unchecked, and unlimited tracking on the daily lives of Americans.” “These rules would establish an incomprehensible and unduly burdensome set of new reporting requirements that will degrade and displace the same taxpayer services the IRS is seeking to improve,” according to the letter from Lawrence Zlatkin, the vice president of tax for Coinbase Global Inc. The Blockchain Association, a U.S.-based organization that promotes cryptocurrencies, had previously stated that enacting these restrictions may destroy the sector in the country.The IRS’s most recent “tax gap” estimate, which indicates how much tax money the agency should be getting but isn’t, came out hours before Coinbase sent its letter, and it had plenty to say about how cryptocurrency was reducing tax collections.According to that estimate, estimates can’t take into consideration noncompliance in several sectors, including “issues involving digital assets and cryptocurrency.” Crypto was singled out as a part of the expanding issue. The 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act was finally going to be complied with, so the Treasury Department submitted a roughly 300-page proposed rule in August.It specifies the reporting requirements for centralized cryptocurrency exchanges, payment processors, some hosted wallet providers, some decentralized exchanges, and individuals or businesses that redeem cryptocurrency tokens.Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and other Democratic senators this week sent their own letter to the IRS in which they urged the organization to disregard business complaints.The main concern of the legislators was that the proposed laws would take too long to implement, which would “disadvantage law-abiding Americans” and “cause the federal government to lose out on billions of dollars in tax revenue.”The senators advised implementing the rule “as quickly as possible.” But Coinbase asked the IRS to re-write

According to the corporation, Tether’s dedication to actively exploring new business operations is reflected in the shift in leadership. Tether, the stablecoin issuer with the greatest market value in the world, is changing its CEO in an effort to broaden its areas of concentration. As of October 13, Tether announced that Paolo Ardoino, who has

Big-name dealers should make sure there are rigorous security standards and precautions in place to guard against hacking and phishing attempts, both of which are commonplace in the crypto sector.Not Alameda Research though.According to recent allegations made by ex-employee Aditya Baradwaj, the troubled Sam Bankman-Fried managed trading company lost at least $200 million to a number of widespread attack vectors that run rampant in the industry. “SBF believed that the single most important thing for a startup like Alameda or FTX was being able to move very, very fast,” Baradwaj posted on social app X earlier today. “This meant virtually no code testing and incomplete balance accounting.” “Blockchain private keys and exchange API keys were stored in plaintext in a

The newest depegging catastrophe in cryptocurrency might turn out better for the afflicted investors.The creator of the failed stablecoin USDR that was backed by real estate intends to sell the token’s assets and hold a redemption.Michael Slatkin, who oversees marketing for USDR issuer Tangible, said in the group’s Discord server late on Wednesday that “our focus right now is to make users whole.” An announcement on the server states that holders of USDR would be able to exchange their badly undervalued stablecoins for a variety of cryptocurrencies, some of which represent real estate in the United Kingdom.It’s unclear how much value investors would finally receive from the redemption procedure, which could take months.USDR dropped from its $1 peg to around 50 cents this week as investors fled the token, which is backed mostly by real estate holdings. A large portion of the asset’s DAI reserves were depleted as a result. It’s one of the first well-publicized failures in the real-world assets (RWA) subsector of the cryptocurrency markets, whose supporters seek out various ways to tokenize more conventional investments like treasuries and real estate.As of press time, the $45.5 million USDR that was in circulation was trading at a 44% discount.According to the initiative, the real estate assets that made up 78% of USDR’s support also gave its investors returns of up to 16%.It was claimed that this made the stablecoin more desirable than more widely used dollar-pegged assets like Circle’s USDC. But it also increased the level of risk.The vast majority of Circle’s stablecoin reserves are held in extremely safe and liquid short-term Treasury bonds.One investor claimed that USDR’s more speculative, illiquid real estate assets cannot be sold swiftly to meet the conditions similar to a bank run that occurred this week.According to Slatkin’s remark, Tangible, which specializes in developing such RWAs, will stop using USDR after the redemption is over. “We tried something new, we learned from the experience, and we’ll keep building,” Slatkin said in the announcement. “New products, both announced and unannounced, will improve on what was developed for Real USD and Tangible will continue to be a leader in the category.”

According to information provided by the forensics business Elliptic and the Tel Aviv software startup BitOK, the terrorist group Hamas and its affiliates have received millions in cryptocurrency donations.Between August 2021 and June 2023, Elliptic reported that Palestinian Islamic Jihad collected $93 million in cryptocurrency.In the same period, Hamas received nearly $41 million, according to the report. Cryptocurrency is frequently viewed as a covert finance option for organizations and countries excluded from the U.S.-dominated international banking system.For instance, North Korean hackers have made millions of dollars in cryptocurrency by compromising multiple projects and protocols.These cash flows are challenging to track due to the privacy-preserving characteristics of many cryptocurrencies, which causes concern among government organizations. “This is not an easy task,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told the WSJ. This June, it was revealed that Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the terrorist arm of Hamas, had received up to $100,000 in bitcoin (BTC) since the start of 2021, with a spike in donations in May when Israel and Hamas traded rocket assaults.Data from three blockchain analytics companies shows that Binance was the hub of the trades. However, cryptocurrency is not the main source of funding for Lebanon-based Hezbollah and allied organizations like the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas.According to the U.S. government, Iran is by far the greatest financing source, contributing $100 million annually. “Crypto is a very small part of Hamas’ fundraising strategy. It’s mostly state-sponsored,” Ari Redbord, head of legal and government affairs of blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs, said in an interview. “There’s a focus on it because

Market takers in Argentina, Colombia, and Venezuela can now trade without paying any fees on Bitfinex’s peer-to-peer (P2P) network. Bitfinex is a well-known digital asset trading platform. The recent launch of the P2P trading service for customers in these regions, which further accelerated the uptake of cryptocurrency trading in the area, preceded this development. Bitfinex

After the borrower defaulted, the plaintiff, Mr. Ming, will not be able to obtain court remedy to recover his 80,000 Tether loan. According to a second Chinese court, cryptocurrency lending is not covered under the nation’s legal framework. In April 2021, a person by the name of Mr. Ming loaned a total of 80,000 Tether

Following a two-month decline of more than 80% in value, Bricks (BRICK), the native token of Reddit’s Fortnite community, saw a 110% increase in value in the last 24 hours. Most of the trading activity was on Kraken; according to CoinMarketCap, the total amount traded on all exchanges was about $750,000, an 800% increase from

According to Bitstamp USA CEO, the company’s expansion goals are “primarily a timing issue” that led to Bitstamp’s decision to end operations in Canada. According to Bobby Zagotta, CEO and worldwide chief commercial officer of Bitstamp USA, the cryptocurrency exchange plans to reopen in Canada after ceasing operations early in 2019. According to a statement

The liquidator of the insolvent hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC), Teneo, and Taiwan-based liquidity provider WOO Network have reached an agreement for the repurchase of shares and tokens that WOO Network sold in 2021. A press release stated that WOO consented to repurchase 20 million WOO tokens, which are currently valued at approximately $3.4

Following American sanctions, Tornado Cash’s overall usage fell by 90%, according to a report released on Wednesday by blockchain analytics company TRM Labs.In August 2022, the Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Treasury Department blacklisted Tornado Cash on the grounds that it was a crucial tool used by criminals to launder money.With the help of Tornado Cash, users of the Ethereum, BNB Chain, Arbitrum, Avalanche, and Optimism networks can swap tokens while hiding their wallet addresses.Although the service itself is not malicious, cryptocurrency fraudsters are increasingly using it to hide the trail of money they have stolen. According to the US Department of Justice, Lazarus, a group of North Korean hackers, utilized the service to launder more than $1 billion in illegal payments. “Though the government’s actions have crippled Tornado Cash’s service, a few illicit actors aren’t deterred, showing that while the sanctions were a hurdle, they weren’t a full stop for all nefarious activities,” the report stated. The crypto community criticized the sanctions in major part, but it had little effect.A group of cryptocurrency investors and developers who claimed the Treasury Department exceeded its power lost a Coinbase-funded lawsuit in August.While North Korean hackers have generally switched to other Bitcoin mixers, some unauthorized usage of Tornado Cash has persisted, according to TRM experts. “Though the government’s actions have crippled Tornado Cash’s service, a few illicit actors aren’t deterred, showing that