Ali Raza

Cryptocurrency-related ads are popping up on Facebook even though the social media giant banned them. A simple misspelling was all what advertisers had to do to evade the ban.

A national petition against cryptocurrency regulation has already received over 215,000 signatures and is currently awaiting an official response from the government.

Despite bitcoin's obvious popularity in India, the government's regulation prohibits businesses and retailers from introducing bitcoin to the country's mainstream economic sector.

The Chinese government's latest plans to crackdown on the cryptocurrency industry suggest that they hope to completely eradicate the practice within the country's borders.

Despite South Korea’s recent increased regulations, the government has confirmed that they don’t plan on instating a cryptocurrency ban.

This past weekend, bitcoin miners have confirmed that they collectively mined 16.80 million of the limited supply of 21 million coins. As such, there is only 4.20 million bitcoins left before the network reaches its 21 million supply cap.

Novogratz has recently stated that he’s willing to stake his entire cryptocurrency net worth of $400 million, and team up with Bradmer Pharmaceuticals, in order to establish a cryptocurrency retail bank, which was described by observers as the Goldman Sachs' equivalent of the cryptocurrency economy.

The Chinese government has advised cryptocurrency miners in the country that they should plan on ceasing mining operations by January 10th. This comes after China's blanket ban on cryptocurrencies in September, 2017.

Goldman Sachs recently acknowledged the value of bitcoin, following a long dispute over its utility in everyday life. Despite the encouraging acknowledgment, the report cautions investors against expecting the same growth that was experienced particularly by bitcoin in 2017.

The South Korean government has urged financial regulators all over the world including those from the United States, China, South Africa, and Russia, as well as several organizations and central banks, to join their endeavor in curbing cryptocurrency trading.

The popular chat app, Telegram, is orchestrating the world’s single largest ICO presale, which is likely to raise millions of dollars. The messaging service will issue their very own tokens, called the 'gram'. Users will be able to spend their tokens on various services offered by the Telegram app.

Renren, the Chinese social network, has canceled their plans to launch an ICO after meeting with Chinese regulators. According to the company’s whitepaper, Renren intended to launch an ICO, dubbed RRcoin. Renren has chosen not to comment on whether or not their decision was influenced by Chinese regulators. In addition, the Bank of China has not yet commented on the matter.

European bitcoin users were hit hard last week, when Wavecrest announced termination of all services associated with bitcoin debit card providers Xapo, Bitwala, Bitpay, and TenX. This came a consequence to Visa's decision to terminate all business relationships with Wavecrest, the debit card issuer.

Tether has already released the USDT, a digital currency backed by the US dollar, and has recently revealed the EURT, a digital currency backed by the euro. Both the USDT and EURT will be used with the ERC20 standard compatibility.

Ethereum's price has just exceeded the $1,000 mark. Even more, its price reached $1,800 on some South Korean exchanges, namely due to the new policies issued by the South Korean government which support the growing cryptoeconomy. The latest policies could also perhaps have contributed to the high price of most cryptocurrencies in South Korea, as compared to the rest of the world.

Bitcoin Lightning Network transactions might finally add some utility to increasingly impractical Bitcoin payments. Alex Bosworth, a prominent software developer, was able to pay his phone bill via a bitcoin transaction that utilized the "Lightning Network" (LN). This is by far the first transaction ever to utilize the LN, which is considered to be the solution to bitcoin's scaling problems.

Analysts believe that Japan could experience a GDP boost of 0.3% thanks to the country’s progressive attitude towards cryptocurrencies. In April 2017, Japan announced a progressive attitude towards bitcoin, and other altcoins, when the Payment Services Act officially legalized cryptocurrency trading. This led to a massive expansion in the Japanese cryptocurrency trading volume.

The privacy coin, Verge, has reportedly been leaking its users’ IP addresses, potentially exposing their real-life identities. Several media outlets recently noted that XVG is perhaps not as anonymous as it claims to be, and cautioned investors to not put too much trust in it. This precaution turned out to be invaluable, as a new website now claims to be listing several IP addresses linked to XVG transactions.

The popular exchange platform, Coinbase, has been rumored to soon add cryptocurrencies such as Stratis, Dash, and Ripple to its platform.

A new undercover cryptocurrency mining bot is infecting devices via a malicious video link that is sent through Facebook Messenger.

After abandoning the Segwit2X fork in mid-November, the project has been rebooted and scheduled to fork on December 28.

A security firm was able to use basic tools to hack into five popular South Korean cryptocurrency exchange platforms.

Charlie Lee, the developer behind litecoin, has given away and sold all his litecoin to avoid a conflict of interest.

Bitcoin Cash investors, exchanges, developers, and businesses are all eagerly preparing for the Change the Address Day which will change the cryptocurrency’s protocol address.

Like most other cryptocurrencies, litecoin has had a stellar year in terms of growth, however, it’s latest price increase can perhaps be attributed to a surprising catalyst: eSports.

The Estonian Government has announced that they’re currently building their own state-backed cryptocurrency as well as a crypto asset market.

After falling victim to a devastating hacking campaign for the second time this year, the cryptocurrency exchange, Youbit, has shut down.

The European bank, Swissquote, has recently announced that investors can now invest in up to four different altcoins on their trading platforms.

A South Korean newspaper recently confirmed that North Korean hackers were behind increasingly damaging attacks directed at South Korean cryptocurrency exchange platforms.

Most traditional financial institutions have declared a Bitcoin Crash as one of the top 20 possible financial threats in 2018, however, the regulatory body FSOC argues otherwise.

Coinbase president, Asiff Hirji, recently appeared in an interview with CNBC and hinted at some exciting new developments for the cryptocurrency exchange.

The latest bitcoin network development, the Lightning Network, promises to solve several issues currently encountered on the main bitcoin network, including scalability and long and costly transactions.

The country’s biggest crypto exchanges including Coinone, Bithumb, and Korbit have all confirmed that they are willing to comply with the newly imposed strict regulations.

The card issuing giant is one of the many companies looking to utilize blockchain technology to process payments quicker and more conveniently.

The wallet service provider, Trezor, recently underwent form firmware updates which include several useful upgrades such as support for more tokens as well as shorter addresses.

The island has passed a bill that provides comprehensive regulation for cryptocurrency and blockchain-based companies.

Some subtle policy changes in the tax bill could perhaps would dire consequences for cryptocurrency investors.

A Chinese whale investor bought four rare F1 cars worth over £4 million using his litecoin holdings.

The online retailing giant is currently investigating the possibility of allowing customers to pay for their goods using cryptocurrency.

The US regulator has issued a warning to all cryptocurrency investors by stating that the industry is fraught with risks and offers no investor protection.

American consumers have been resorting to increasingly dangerous methods to be able to invest in Bitcoin, including taking out mortgages, equity loans, and using credit cards.

The cryptocurrency exchange platform Bittrex has been subject to increasing scrutiny following several accusations ranging from pump and dump scams to withholding user funds.

Following the successful launch of their bitcoin futures contract, CBOE executive Ed Tilly, recently hinted that the platform could soon introduce additional cryptocurrency-related services and products.

One of the world’s largest banks announced that they will be using the Ethereum network to simplify its compliance system.

Bitcoin has entered the Wall Street world with a fanfare and has since CBOE’s Futures launch grown with 16% in the last 24 hours.

Despite the fact that CBOE’s Bitcoin Futures crashed an hour after launching, Twitter was abuzz with excitement regarding Bitcoin’s latest move in the financial mainstream.

The popular football player, Lionel Messi, will be endorsing blockchain-based tech devices manufactured by Sirin Labs, bringing blockchain to the mainstream even more.

The Russian Central Bank has confirmed that all cryptocurrency exchange platforms will cease operations in 2018.

The country’s central bank announced that they will prevent fintech firms from using cryptocurrency-based transactions on their platforms.

The exchange platform, Cboe, announced that they will launch Bitcoin futures by December 10.

Cryptocurrency’s first ever fad, crypto kitties, have taken over the Ethereum network, posing some serious threats to its scalability and network capabilities.

According to a Pastebin user, a critical flaw in several wallet apps could expose users’ private keys which could compromise their security.

The mining rig uses the Tesla supercharge system and could cut down miners’ electricity costs.

The Venezuelan cryptocurrency, petro, will be backed by tangible assets such as oil, gas, and diamond and gold reserves.

The Canadian Central Bank recently announced that they are in the process of investigating the possibility of launching a bank-backed cryptocurrency.

According to US Senate Bill S.1241, US citizens who do not declare their cryptocurrency holdings can be prosecuted.

Following several months of silence, Bitfinex and Tether have finally responded to mismanagement accusations via Media Blitz.

The cryptocurrency is working with several device manufacturers to create a platform where devices can automatically buy their required data.

According to new studies, ICOs launched in European countries accounted for more than half of the total raised capital in the last few years.

The major cryptocurrency exchange cautioned users to be wary of so-called “pump and dump” scams.

Researchers confirmed that 66% of cryptocurrency related apps available on the Google Play Store, did not use encryption.

Bitcoin Cash’s development team announced that they intend to increase the block sizes on their network by next year.

Two of the world’s largest cryptocurrency trading platforms crashed earlier this week due to unprecedented on the platforms following the Bitcoin price climb.

Swissquote Holding SA recently launched their very first Bitcoin Certificate on the SIX Swiss exchange platform.

The Asian country of Singapore has established itself as the eastern leader when it comes to ICOs. Singapore has recently cemented its place in the initial coin offering (ICO) industry on an international scale. Currently, the country follows closely behind the US and Switzerland when it comes to venture capital activity.

During the last annual Beyond Block Taipei 2017 conference that was hosted by Taiwan, the Ethereum creator, Vitalik Buterin, revealed his future plans for the cryptocurrency. According to Buterin, Ethereum 2.0 will focus on attaining a scalability level that could rival that of VISA within the next five years.

A hacker managed to compromise Bitcoin Gold’s Github page.

The Belarusian president is expected to pass a law which would legalize cryptocurrencies in the Eastern European country.

Despite the canceled SegWit2X fork, four more forks will take place in the next few months.

The wallet scam, mybtgwallet, has duped users out of a total of $3.3 million.

Bitcoin will become accepted as securities according to the country’s regulating agency.

The team from the China-based cryptocurrency project, NEO, has received criticism for their misleading project.

The Bitstamp CEO recently revealed that the European cryptocurrency trading platform will list Bitcoin Cash.

The mining company Golden Alliance announced that their ICO will issue investors with Gold Coins.

An unknown user has successfully gotten $600,000 worth of Bitcoin Cash from a Segwit Wallet.

ICOs have become a great way to raise millions and minutes, and prominent publicly listed companies are hoping to get in on the action.

Bitcoin Futures will be active on CME Group’s platform as of 10 December 2017.

The single largest ATM provider has announced that they will implement support for Bitcoin.

With Bitcoin’s upcoming forks, pre-mined initial fork offerings (IFOs) may well become the trendiest new way to fund a budding cryptocurrency.

The popular cryptocurrency exchange just revealed that intends to dump all their users’ Bitcoin Cash holdings.

The two cryptocurrency giants could soon up their anonymity by implementing Confidential Transactions.

American Express’s New Blockchain corridor will speed up payments between the US and the UK significantly.

The card issuing giant is one of the many companies looking to utilize blockchain technology to process payments quicker and more conveniently.

The world’s largest publicly traded hedge fund just announced that they would implement support for Bitcoin futures soon.

The launch of the Bitcoin Gold network has left several users with mixed feelings and confusion.

The Russian Federation has received over 40 application from cryptocurrency mining firms based in the EU and China.

Considering all the costs involved in setting up your ICO, startup owners have been looking to outsourcing their ICO to ensure its success.

The cryptocurrency announced that they intend to implement their new network on 12 November.

After Mt. Gox has concluded its bankruptcy proceedings, former CEO, Mark Karpeles will likely walk away with nearly $1 billion.

The Israel Securities Authority (ISA) recently outlined their concerns about ICOs.

A recent paper published by Korean researchers claimed that Bitcoin’s security protocols could become exploited by technology that is being developed.

The latest study suggested that Millennials are more likely to invest in cryptocurrency than any other age group.

Bram Cohen from BitTorrent created a cryptocurrency which uses fewer resources.

The popular sports platform’s fans have been accusing it of running a mining script without their consent.

Goldman Sachs’ chief technician stated that Bitcoin will soon reach up to $8 000.

The latest blockchain technology, Graphene, promises to be quicker and more efficient than current technology.

America's most sought-after tertiary education institutions are readily offering their students courses in blockchain technology.

Following the regime’s ban on all cryptocurrency, they are now strictly monitoring the Bitcoin over-the-counter market.

A new mining malware has been hijacking Australians CPUs to mine cryptocurrency.

Ethereum co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, has spoken out against BitConnect as being a ponzi scheme.

New studies have revealed that mining a single Bitcoin requires more electricity than a household’s average weekly consumption.

The 23-year-old Ethereum project creator revealed his future plans for the cryptocurrency.

Attackers have been using Ethereum’s default SSH Credentials to search the internet for all Ethereum mining software.

With Bitcoin’s new historic prices, the market value and demand is still lunging upward.

New research has found that the Russian economy lost out on over 18 billion rubles due to inefficient ICO regulation.

The trading platform now boasts over 12 million users.

The New Zealand financial regulating body has confirmed that cryptocurrency will be viewed as securities.

Other than Bitcoin, most Americans still don’t know anything about the general cryptocurrency market, according to the latest study.

In addition to price surges, Bitcoin proved to be the world’s leading creator of jobs.

One of the main developers behind the Segwit2x fork, Jeff Garzik, recently revealed another altcoin he developed called Metronome.

Bitcoin regained its glory of a few weeks ago when it recently surpassed the USD$6000 mark once again.

As sanctions increase against North Korea, the country has been suspected of running malware on computers across the world to mine Ethereum, Monero, and Zcash.

The French regulatory authorities released UNICORN this past week, an initiative dedicated to researched blockchain fundraising and ICOs.

The Central Bank of Singapore recently announced that they have no intention of establishing regulatory frameworks for cryptocurrencies.

Financial experts confirmed that the People’s Bank of China has launched attempts to crash Bitcoin.

Shortly after the Bitcoin Gold fork took place, a severe DDoS attack shut down the cryptocurrency’s website.

The latest cryptocurrency scam poses as the popular ewallet service, MyEtherWallet, and could cause victims to lose all their cryptocurrency.

With yet another Bitcoin hard fork being less than a month away, the Segwit2x team finally made some more information available.

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has accused banks of not providing services to distributed ledger technology (DLT) startups which have discouraged competition in the industry.

Apple Co-Founder, Steve Wozniak recently sang Bitcoin’s praises, stating that it’s better than gold.

Bloomberg studies concluded that most ICO tokens are not used after their initial fundraising, making investors increasingly apprehensive.

A market analyst which made several correct predictions previously stated that Bitcoin is set to reach record-breaking heights.

Despite, the record-breaking highs bitcoin experienced last week, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal cautioned over-optimistic investors.

Following the Bitcoin Cash Split, in less than 24 hours, we’ll have Bitcoin Gold.

Cryptocurrencies, and especially ICOs, have been under increased scrutiny as of late. The ICO business model allows for users to raise millions within hours, without needing to go through official channels. While this is great for startups, it has encouraged an environment of distrust and fraud.

The company currently responsible for settling the majority of US securities is planning to move their flagship blockchain project out of its testing phase.

Most tech crazes have adopted a "live fast, die young" mentality. With the decline of ICOs, we ask what is to follow.

The KYC Bill, which will introduce Bitcoin regulation, was recently approved by the Australian Senate.

The AIFC have announced a partnership which is developing a national cryptocurrency backed by fiat currency.

Two bills have just been submitted to the Ukrainian Parliament in an attempt to provide a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies.

The popular cryptocurrency trading platform intends to terminate all its services to US users by 9 November.

Users will be able to buy up to $25 000 worth of either bitcoin, litecoin, or ethereum directly from their bank accounts.

The Tezos ICO crowdsale raked in a historic $232 million.

Several users have had their Bittrex accounts closed recently without reason.

The government can soon use the blockchain technology to safely store sensitive data.

ProShare Capital Management recently filed two new Bitcoin EFTs that will be able to track future bitcoin contracts based on the Chicago Board of Options Exchange. The EFTs are currently awaiting approval from the Security Exchange Commission (SEC).

CoinLaunch’s CoinCreator will now allow anyone to make and sell their coins.

Researchers revealed that over 500 million PCs were mining cryptocurrency without their users’ knowledge.

With the looming bitcoin fork that is scheduled to take place on 25 October, Bitcoin Gold responded to some negative criticism and questions.

Japan has just established itself as the world’s capital of bitcoin activity.

The Italian restaurant, La Strada just unveiled its first Bitcoin ATM as the restaurant industry gradually embraces bitcoin customers.

A bill has been submitted to parliament which would legally define cryptocurrency and will allow it to be exchanged for goods and services.

The FSRA recently released its guidelines and official position on cryptocurrencies which it will use to regulate cryptocurrencies.

A recent editorial hinted that the Chinese government might look towards reinstating blockchain technology, but with strict regulation policies in place.

The Mizuho Financial Group is leading a group of banks that are working on creating a cryptocurrency for Japanese nationals. This cryptocurrency will be called J-Coin and will be pegged to the Japanese Yen, with payments possible through a mobile app.

The CEO of Block.one recently announced that EOS will channel $1 billion of its capital towards EOS-based projects.

New operating systems may allow the country to address concerns that caused it to instate bans on ICO and domestic cryptocurrency exchange.

The popular trading app Coinbase, recently announced that they will support both bitcoin blockchains following the cryptocurrency's fork.

A Harvard economist predicted an uncertain future for cryptocurrencies as cryptocurrencies face increasing regulation.

Learn how to accept Bitcoin as a method of payment in your online or brick-and-mortar store using this simple Guide!

Russia's Central Bank, as well as other financial experts, have recently expressed an interest in creating Russia's very own cryptoruble.

Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister, Coordinating Minister for Economic and Social Policies, and Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Mr. Tharman Shanmugaratnam, recently clarified the uncertain future of bitcoin and ICOs during a parliamentary conference.

Coinflash is a unique app. Instead of traditional trading, it rounds off all purchases you made with your debit or credit card to the nearest dollar. The few cents difference is then automatically used to invest in the cryptocurrency of your choice.

Despite bitcoin’s massive success, prominent JP Morgan executive still remains critical. John Normand, head of FX and commodities at JP Morgan, recently explained his negative view of bitcoin on national television.

While bitcoin prices are predicted to soar up to $6,000 per BTC by the end of the year, experts have cautioned users to expect extreme volatility.

The local Dubai government recently confirmed the launch of the world’s very first state-sponsored cryptocurrency. The digital tokens, emCash, will be made available to all citizens of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The tokens can be used to pay for all services, governmental as well as non-governmental.

Bithumb, a South Korean trading platform, unveiled their brand new cryptocurrency, Zcash.

Governments across the globe have already expressed interest in issuing their very own digital currency. Banks worldwide have also expressed enthusiasm in using what blockchain technology has to offer. Russia, however may prove to be a world leader in this regard.

Malicious attackers recently managed to infiltrate and disrupt the Etherparty Initial Coin Offering (ICO). The hackers hijacked Etherparty’s website this last Sunday and displayed their own Ethereum address, which misled many ICO participants to send money to the wrong ICO wallets.

South Korea has stated that the country will conduct an on-site inspection of its bitcoin exchanges to ensure that they take proper cybersecurity measures to protect customer assets.

SPiCE VC is set to launch an ICO in November for its SPiCE ERC20 coins, which will use the Bancor protocol to provide immediate liquidity to all who invest in it. The SPiCE tokens are based on Ethereum.

A third fork in the blockchain technology Bitcoin is reported to occur in October, adding Bitcoin Gold to Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash.

The Kingdom of Bahrain is a constitutional monarchy which consists of over 30 islands situated in the Persian Gulf. If this region decides to embrace bitcoin and other blockchain technologies, this region could soon become the new hub of financial technology.

Several sources have confirmed that the African country of Zimbabwe is currently experiencing its worst economic crisis yet. Economic experts have likened it to the inflation and currency crisis currently happening in Venezuela. As the country's economy plunged to unprecedented lows, the demand for bitcoin reached an all-time high. Bitcoin is currently trading at $6,150 USD per BTC.

Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund, recently addressed a conference in London where she highlighted the positive changes Bitcoin and other digital currencies could bring to the current financial landscape.

A long-time developer of Bitcoin, Matt Corallo, recently questioned the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) proposed new changes to the Bitcoin Investment Trust (BIT).

Overstock's blockchain subsidiary, Medici, just announced today the launching of the world's first ever Alternative Trading System (ATS). This system will provide a marketplace enabling individuals to exchange cryptographic tokens which will be categorized as securities in the US. 

The Middle Eastern country Bahrain has been considering digital currency as its main currency for the future.

The SEC has recently declared two different ICOs to be fraudulent which sparked debate about ICO regulation among Fintech experts.

Many cyberpunk hackers have had their say on how they take the new regulations for cryptocurrencies by the SEC.

The FSA intends to put all Japanese Bitcoin Exchanges under surveillance from October to prevent Bitcoin frauds and protect customer assets.

A hacker who stole more than $7 million worth of Ether Israeli Blockchain company CoinDash during their ICO in July, has returned $3 million worth of Ether to the company, and no one knows the reason behind it.

The Bank for International Settlements, in the wake of the rising popularity of cryptocurrencies, investigated the possibility of a Central Bank of Cryptocurrencies.

Malaysia’s Central Bank expects to come up with suitable guidelines for cryptocurrencies by the end of 2017, which will aim to tackle the problem of money laundering and terrorist financing using cryptocurrencies.

The European Commission announced it will implement new security tools and practices to prevent cryptocurrency cybercrime.

FINMA shut down QUID PRO QUO that sold E-coins as a cryptocurrency. The Swiss watchdog says it has three more companies on its radar and is conducting 11 investigations.

Ethereum’s Metropolis hard fork moved a step further this week as the Byzantium update entered into the testing phase.

The Raiden Network’s work in progress to solve Ethereum’s scaling problems has hit a landmark as a test service called micro Raiden goes live on the Ehtereum Kovan testnet.

The Australian government has introduced a bill that will relieve cryptocurrencies from the problem of double taxation to allow Australian fin-tech sector to compete globally.

The Chinese government is reportedly about to move swiftly against Bitcoin trading and exchanges within the country. Access to exchanges oversees could be blocked as well.