Tether’s New Bank Has Been Named in Two Global Bribery Cases (Breaker) Another day, another “Tether has a problem” story. This time, it has to do with the stablecoin’s new bank, Deltec. Some bribe money that was paid to a Venezuelan government official ended up there (and at another Bahamian bank, Ansbacher), according to an investigation. “Neither bank has been accused of complicity in the bribery or other corruption. However, the findings highlight what may be systemic deficiencies in Bahamian banking regulation. The Bahamas was recently added to the list of nations with deficient anti-money laundering practices maintained by the Financial Action Task Force, an international initiative anti-money laundering initiative,” writes Breaker’s David…
Must-reads for Nov. 6, 2018: Bitfury’s billion, crypto’s energy costs, and Pomp get dumped
Billionaire Novogratz Invests in Cryptocurrency Firm Bitfury (Bloomberg) Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital has joined Naver Group of Korea in an $80 million round of funding for Bitfury. The company “sells gear used to mine cryptocurrencies and develops blockchain technology for clients including the Ukrainian government,” notes Bloomberg’s Ruben Munsterman and Ruth David. That puts its valuation above $1 billion. “If it conducts the IPO in the next two years, Bitfury will seek a valuation of $3 billion to $5 billion,” concluded Munsterman and David. Quantification of energy and carbon costs for mining cryptocurrencies (Nature) Another day, another Nature study on the impact of cryptocurrency mining. A week ago, the…
Must-reads for Nov. 5, 2018: EOS is BS, ETH may go POS, and WEF touts BCH
Interview: Researcher Argues EOS isn’t a Blockchain — Just a Distributed Database (CCN) A paper by Whiteblock, a blockchain testing firm, has come down hard on EOS, the controversial protocol started by Block.one (helmed by none other than Brock Pierce). “EOS is not a blockchain, rather a distributed homogeneous database management system, a clear distinction in that their transactions are not cryptographically validated,” Whiteblock said. CCN interviewed Whiteblock’s CTO, Zak Cole, about their findings. Bitcoin is 10 years old: This is how it began and where it’s headed (World Economic Forum) One of the most bitterly debated topics in crypto is Bitcoin Cash. That makes this particular post provocative;…
Coinbase drips talent, crypto’s true believers, and Jamie Dimon goes off on Bitcoin (again)
Coinbase’s Head of Trading Resigns After Six Months on Job (CoinDesk) Hunter Merghart was hired by Coinbase’s general manager, Adam White, to run trading for them back in May. However, White jumped ship to become COO of Bakt in early October. Now Merghart has bailed from Coinbase as well. The company’s VP of corporate and business development, Emilie Choi, said Coinbase’s recent $300 million raise was for “a rainy day”. What if it’s just cloudy with a slight drizzle? Nasdaq Wants Crypto Market to Stamp Out Fraud—With Its Help (Bloomberg) Crypto markets are more manipulated than Kanye West. So what can be done about it? Nasdaq wants to use…
