• "Did someone just say mixer?" (via Pixabay)
    Alt coins

    Decred cryptocurrency launches privacy mixing feature

    The autonomous virtual asset is doubling down on its commitment to allowing users to remain anonymous

    Decred works on a hybrid proof-of-stake/proof-of-work mechanism in which miners create new blocks, but owners of DCR coins vote to make the blocks valid, in exchange for 30% of the block reward. As a result, a little more than half of the roughly 10.3 million extant Decred are staked.

  • Treasury
    Cryptocurrencies,  United States

    Treasury talks tough on crypto exchanges

    FinCEN “will not tolerate” crypto’s noncompliance

    In a Thursday evening speech, one Treasury official made it clear that the department is serious about regulating cryptocurrency exchanges. “[O]ur regulations cover both transactions where the parties are exchanging fiat and convertible virtual currency, but also to transactions from one virtual currency to another virtual currency,” said Kenneth A. Blanco, director of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). He made the statement in a prepared speech at the 2018 Chicago-Kent Block (Legal) Tech Conference. This isn’t a new situation, of course. Blanco pointed out that FinCEN has held this view for five years, but his statements were meant to clarify their outlook. In other words, it was meant…