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Stablecoin issuer Circle sent emails to customers stating that individual consumer accounts would be phased out. Stablecoin issuer Circle will close out consumer or individual accounts on November 30, according to emails received by Circle customers on October 31. In an email to Cointelegraph, the stablecoin issuer confirmed that it is closing the accounts but confirmed that business and institutional “Mint” accounts will remain available. On the morning of October 31, crypto user Evanss6 posted an image to X (formerly Twitter) of an email that Circle customers allegedly received. The email stated that individual accounts are being closed “as part of Circle’s strategic review.” The customer was told that “wiring and minting functionalities” would no longer be supported and that the account would be closed on November 30. In an email to Cointelegraph, a Circle representative confirmed that the accounts are being shut down but that business and institutional accounts will remain o...

The non-custodial wallet will continue MoneyGram’s remittance focus allowing users to easily convert their digital assets to fiat. Payment processing giant MoneyGram is all set to launch its own non-custodial crypto wallets, the company’s chief executive officer, Alex Holmes, announced during the Stellar Development Foundation annual Meridian conference. The non-custodial crypto wallet will be built on the Stellar network and hit the market in the first quarter of 2024. The wallet was created in partnership with the Cheesecake Labs, and will make use of the Stellar network and MoneyGram's fiat on and off-ramp services to facilitate instant transactions. There will be no charge to use it until June 2024. The wallet will allow users to leverage stablecoin technology to move between fiat and digital currencies, and is intended to strengthen the company's focus on its core competence of cross-border remittance and payment settlements. Wallet users will be able to send digital ass...

HTX crypto exchange has been hacked, but it claims to know the identity of the attacker. Huobi Global’s HTX crypto exchange was hacked on Sept. 24, according to a report from blockchain analytics platform Cyvers. A total of $7.9 million of crypto has been drained in the attack. A known Huobi hot wallet posted a message to the attacker in Chinese. According to the message, the exchange knows the identity of the attacker and has offered to let them keep 5% of the drained funds as a “white-hat bonus,” but only if the attacker returns the remaining 95%. Red CodeYesterday, our ML-powered system detected a suspicious transaction involving @HuobiGlobal and @HTX_Global. Despite our attempts to reach out, we received no response. An EOA received 5K $ETH $7.9M from @HuobiGlobal's hot wallet. This morning, we spotted… pic.twitter.com/3oqHhAVi8P — Cyvers Alerts (@CyversAlerts) September 25, 2023 On Sept. 24 at 10:00 am UTC, the suspected Huobi hot wallet 0x2Abc22eb9A09EbBE7b41737C...

According to an analysis from Moody's Investors Service, AI and distributed ledger technologies are set to disrupt companies, industries, and economies across the globe. Artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain technologies have reached a "tipping point" and are set to shrink established industries while creating new ones, forecasts a report from Moody's Investors Service published on Sep. 6.  According to the authors, the combined impact of AI and distributed ledger technologies (DLTs), such as blockchain , has effects "far beyond corporate balance sheets," and "will likely reshape entire sector s, leading established industries "to shrink or disappear altogether while creating new market s from scratch ." The report notes: "History has shown that transformative technologies can shrink established sectors shrink or wipe them out entirely [...] AI will drive the emergence of new sectors, possibly in content generation, mobility, edu...

The new updates to the cryptocurrency ads policy allows for NFT gaming ads provided the games and ads don’t promote gambling. Google has updated its cryptocurrency advertising policy to allow for blockchain-based NFT gaming advertisements as long as they don’t promote gambling or gambling services.  According to a blog post from Google, the new changes will go into effect starting Sep. 15 and will be restricted only to games that meet certain criteria: “NFT games that allow players to purchase in-game items, like virtual apparel for a player’s characters, weaponry, or armor with better stats, consumed or used in a game to enhance a user’s experience or aid users in advancing the game.” Advertisements for games allowing players to wager or stake NFTs against other players or for rewards including cryptocurrencies and other NFTS would continue to be banned under the new policy. NFT casino games and any other social betting paradigm that allows players to wager or play for real-worl...

The CEO of Lightning Koffee launched the coffee startup in October with the aim of onboarding Medellín's businesses to Bitcoin. José Luis Garcia is a coffee -lover and entrepreneur trying to make his mark in the city of Medellín — the birthplace of Colombia’s modern coffee industry. Since the October launch of his start-up Lightning Koffee, Garcia has two goals in mind: Make a decent cup of joe and spread the word about Bitcoin (BTC). His coffee beans — which he's called “The Bitcoiners Coffee” — are sourced and processed locally and are known for having a sweet after-taste. Garcia believes his Colombian coffee can serve as a bridge for his fellow Paisas (Medellín locals) to lessen their reliance on the unpredictable Colombian peso and lean more toward adopting Bitcoin. “We have the best coffee in the world and I want my coffee brand to spread the word about Bitcoin so that other businesses will begin to receive it too,” Garcia said in an interview with Cointelegraph. He ...

The decision reverses a prior ruling, allowing Craig Wright to appeal a lawsuit claiming copyright to the Bitcoin whitepaper and database. A British court granted an appeal on July 20 that gave Craig Wright the right to argue in a litigation that the Bitcoin file format is well-defined enough to qualify for copyright protection.  Wright, who since 2016 has claimed to be the inventor of Bitcoin (BTC), launched a lawsuit against 13 Bitcoin Core developers and a group of companies, including Blockstream, Coinbase, and Block, alleging violation of his copyright to the Bitcoin whitepaper, its file format and database rights to the Bitcoin blockchain. The decision reversed a ruling from February that considered Wright's arguments insufficient to show how the Bitcoin file format was first recorded, a concept known as fixation on copyright laws. "The Claimants may consider themselves unlucky to have had their application for leave to serve out come before a Judge with at least some...

The Civil Aviation Administration and China Merchants Bank said passengers can utilize the central bank digital currency to access new services via this platform. As the pilot program for China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) — the digital yuan — takes off, Chinese business travel ers will reportedly be able to pay for flight tickets using the CBDC.  A collaboration between the China Merchants Bank and the Civil Aviation Administration of China led to the introduction of a digital yuan platform, which aims to facilitate transactions for travelers in the aviation network, according to a local media report. The newly introduced platform reportedly enables companies and entrepreneurs to utilize the digital yuan for convenient payment of business air tickets. Additionally, passengers will have the opportunity to use the CBDC to access new services via the platform. China Travel Service, a travel firm based in Suzhou, has already made use of the platform to purchase tickets on b...

Join Our Telegram channel to stay up to date on breaking news coverage Since the advent of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, there has been a paradigm shift in the world’s financial ecosystem. Without much ado, let me quickly share a little backstory about my sojourn into the crypto space so that you know where my advice is coming from. I have always had it in mind to invest, starting from the traditional markets, but my investment attempts fell short. While the crypto ecosystem is vast, I have learned to navigate and survive there since I started a crypto business. The moment Bitcoin hit the market, I started researching to gain more knowledge about the asset. I love game theory and statistics, which informed my decision to invest in Bitcoin. Through small plays and craftiness, I was able to increase my portfolio. However, I didn’t know some issues back then and couldn’t foresee the possible consequences, hurting my crypto business down the line. T...

Scientists at the University of Melbourne and Tsinghua University published pre-print research comparing the cryptocurrency market to traditional equities. A pair of computer science researchers recently published pre-print research indicating that the nascent cryptocurrency market is beginning to show a level of maturity similar to the traditional equities market.  Dubbed “Collective dynamics, diversification and optimal portfolio construction for cryptocurrencies,” the paper was written by Dr. Nick James, a fellow at the University of Melbourne’s Centre for Data Science, and Max Menzies, a professor at the Beijing Institute of Mathematical Sciences and Applications, Tsinghua University. Related: What’s next for EU’s crypto industry as European Parliament passes MiCA? The pair set out to determine what role cryptocurrency plays in portfolio diveristy and how the cryptocurrency market compares to the traditional equities market. Their findings indicate that, while there remains some ...

The firms were cited anonymously in the CFTC's complaint describing Binance’s alleged facilitation of U.S. clients. Trading firms Jane Street Group, Tower Research Capital and Radix Trading have been reportedly identified as Binance’s three “VIP” clients that were cited anonymously in the recent lawsuit filed against Binance by the United States commodities regulator. According to an April 5 Bloomberg report citing "people familiar with the matter,” Radix Trading is “Trading Firm A” as described in the Commodities Futures Trading Commission's (CFTC) suit while Jane Street was “Trading Firm B” and Tower Research was “Trading Firm C.” The firms on the CFTC's list were examples of U.S. clients allegedly able to access Binance. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) first reported on March 28 that Radix Trading was “Trading Firm A.” Radix co-founder Benjamin Blander told the WSJ in a March 30 report that he believed the firm acted legally even when trading with Binance's offs...

Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz believes regulators have got it "completely upside-down" on crypto vs AI regulation. Mike Novogratz, the CEO of digital asset investment firm Galaxy Digital told investors he is shocked over the amount of regulatory attention for crypto rather than artificial intelligence (AI), a technology he believes will trigger a “deep fake” Identity crisis. The chief executive explained at the firm’s fourth-quarter conference call on March 28 that the U.S. government has it “completely upside-down” in choosing to focus so much on crypto regulation and yet turn a blind eye to AI: “When I think about AI, it shocks me that we’re talking so much about crypto regulation and nothing about AI regulation. I mean, I think the government’s got it completely upside-down.” This concern appeared to stem from Novogratz’s fear that AI will trigger a “deep fake” Identity crisis. “In lots of ways, one of the best use cases for crypto is going to be identity around AI,...

"Withdrawals from OKX will continue to be available," wrote the OKX team in an email to users. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ On Mar. 20, cryptocurrency exchange OKX informed Canadian users via email the firm "will no longer provide services or allow users to open new accounts in Canada starting on Mar. 24, 2023, 12:00 AM EST," citing "new regulations." According to OKX, existing Canadian customers must close open positions in options, margins, perpetual, and futures by June 22, 2023. Fiat or tokens must also be withdrawn by the said date. "Your funds will remain safe in your account until you withdraw them. You will be able to withdraw dollars to your linked bank account and cryptocurrency to your self-custody wallet or your cryptocurrency account on another exchange. " OKX says its withdrawal from Canada is "temporary," and the exchange is working with regulators to solve this issue. "We hope to see you again in the future. Stay tuned," wrote OK...

Nissan has recently filed four new Web 3 trademarks for its Infiniti, Nismo and Nissan brands. Japanese automotive brand Nissan has become the latest car manufacturer to ramp up its Web3 efforts, filing four new Web3-related trademarks filed in the United States, while its Japan unit is experimenting with auto sales in the metaverse. According to Nissan’s Mar. 7 trademark applications to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the new filings cover its Infiniti, Nismo and Nissan brands. #NISSAN has filed 4 trademark applications for ️ INFINITI ️ NISMO ️ NISSAN The filings signal plans for Virtual Clothes + Cars Stores for Virtual Goods + NFTs NFT Marketplaces + Trading + Minting Metaverse Advertising Services# NFT #NFTCommunity # Metaverse # Web3 #Car pic.twitter.com/iG3ZVgyD5t — Mike Kondoudis (@KondoudisLaw) March 13, 2023 The filings to the USPTO reveal Nissan's plans to create virtual clothes, cars, headgear, trading cards, toys, tickets, and an NFT marketp...

The new active phishing attack is trying to steal Trezor users’ crypto by tricking investors into entering their recovery phrase on a fake Trezor site. Hardware cryptocurrency wallet provider Trezor has warned its users about a new phishing attack targeting their crypto investments by trying to steal their private keys. Trezor took to Twitter on Feb. 28 to caution users about an active phishing attack designed to steal investors’ money by making them enter the wallet’s recovery phrase on a fake Trezor website. The phishing campaign involves attackers posing as Trezor and contacting victims via phone calls, texts or emails claiming that there has been a security breach or suspicious activity on their Trezor account. “Trezor Suite has recently endured a security breach, assume all your assets are vulnerable,” the fake message reads, inviting users to follow a phishing link to “secure” their Trezor device. “Please ignore these messages as they are not from Trezor,” Trezor declared on Tw...

The first two months of 2023 haven't seen a slowdown in trademark filings, with recent filings covering automotive, clothing and fast-moving consumer goods. Despite a broader downturn in related markets, multinational corporations don’t appear to have slowed down on their trademark applications covering Web3, crypto, nonfungible tokens (NFTs), and the Metaverse. The month of February — now drawing to a close — saw the likes of General Motors and Lacoste, and Walmart making their territory with Web3-related trademark applications. January was an even busier month.  One of the latest NFT-related filings involved automotive giant General Motors, which filed for two new trademark applications on Feb. 16 covering its Chevrolet and Cadillac brands. According to the filing, the firm is interested in downloadable digital media files containing collectible artwork, text, audio, and video, authenticated as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). GM has filed a pair of new applications to trademark : ...

The ICF is also funding projects to drive Cosmos's adoption and use cases, including programs like the Interchain Developer Academy and Interchain Builders Program. According to a medium post on Feb. 20, the Interchain Foundation (ICF), a non-profit organization behind the creation of the Cosmos (ATOM) interblockchain communications (IBC) ecosystem, has committed to spending approximately $40 million in 2023 to develop its core infrastructure and applications. As a part of the Interchain Stack, which is utilized by around 50 blockchains, these include the Tendermint Core (and now CometBFT), Cosmos SDK, Cosmos Hub, and the IBC protocol. "Throughout the year, we envisage engaging other teams to deliver smaller, tightly defined tasks within each area of work. Such contracts will be to supplement the work of the teams mentioned below or in service of their needs that arise during the year." The ICF is also supporting the development of CosmWasm and Ethermint, the technologi...

Terraform Labs is the founder of US Dollar Terra (UST), an algorithmic stablecoin that lost its peg in May 2022. Albright Capital has dropped its lawsuit against Terraform Labs and its founder Do Kwon, according to a Notice of Voluntary Dismissal filed in U.S. District Court on January 9. Before its dismissal, the lawsuit had alleged that the company had violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”) by operating the stablecoin, UST, as a “Ponzi scheme.” Three Arrows Capital (3AC) Co-Founder Su Zhu posted the dismissal to Twitter, saying: Curious how long it will take cryptonative media to report on this sudden voluntary dismissal of class action against Luna foundation and Luna investors pic.twitter.com/8SyMhB4u4g — Zhu Su (@zhusu) January 10, 2023 Su Zhu had previously claimed that the bankruptcy of 3AC was partially caused by UST’s collapse. The lawsuit was dismissed “without prejudice,” meaning that the plaintiff has the option to refile it in t...