Japan’s finance regulator, the Financial Services Agency (FSA), has granted full permission for cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck to continue operating in the country. Cointelegraph Japanreported on the development on Jan. 11, quoting an official communique. Coincheck, which was hacked in January 2018, losing altcoin tokens worth $530 million at the time, now joins the slowly increasing number of officially sanctioned exchanges serving the Japanese market. The […]

Several tobacco shops in Paris, France, have started selling Bitcoin (BTC) for fiat despite regulatory uncertainty, Reuters reports Tuesday, Jan. 8. Reuters has learned that the world’s largest cryptocurrency can now be purchased at six tobacco shops throughout Paris. However, in a contradicting report French magazine Capital has claimedthat there are as many as 24 shops currently participating in […]

The European Banking Authority (EBA) has recommended further research into cryptocurrency and will perform “a number of actions” relating to the sector in 2019. The agency has said this in its latest report published Jan. 9. In the document, which focuses on the “applicability and suitability of European Union law to crypto-assets,” the EBA appeared broadly unhurried about developing new regulatory […]

Crypto wallet Samourai removed security features introduced in its latest app update after Google Play found them in conflict with its “store policies.” The app’s Twitter handle confirmed that it has disabled features called Stealth Mode, Remote SMS, and SIM Switch Defense. A separate blog post accused Google Play of being extremely restrictive to become a “walled garden,” […]

United States federal agencies reportedly raided the office of a Michigan-based science and tech center last month during a crypto-related investigation, local news outlet Wood-TV reported Jan. 5. As Wood-TV reported, Chris Boden, the founder of The Geek Group, made a live public statement on YouTube Saturday night, which has evidently since been deleted. Boden reportedly claimed the office of […]

The personal Coinbase merchant account of Andrew Torba, social media platform Gab’s founder, has been terminated, the official Gab.com account tweeted on Jan. 4. As blockchain blog Breaker reported earlier, Gab’s business account on Coinbase was allegedly closed in December. The news source put forward that a possible reason why it is hard for Gab to obtain a payment processor is […]

Stablecoins may qualify as “money” under Texas law, according to updated guidance from the state Department of Banking. A memo published Wednesday by Texas Banking Commissioner Charles Cooper outlines how cryptocurrencies are to be treated under local and federal regulations, in particular adding details of how stablecoins backed by sovereign, or fiat, currencies may be assessed. The […]

Crypto bull John McAfee threw down the gauntlet to the US Internal Revenue Service, and dared the agency to come after him for tax evasion. McAfee, 73, confessed in a stunning tweetstorm that he hasn’t filed a tax return in eight years. Why? He explained: Taxation is illegal. I paid tens of millions already and […]

The website of Dublin’s light rail system, Luas, has gone down after it was hacked, the Irish Examiner has reported. Consequently, visitors to the website, which has been offline for more than three hours now, are being greeted with a message that the hacker(s) posted citing their demands. The unidentified hackers are demanding to be paid one bitcoin in […]

Despite the price of bitcoin reaching a record high in 2017 and then taking a bearish turn as 2018 kicked in, bitcoin bulls were not deterred and continued making overoptimistic predictions throughout the year. Among the prominent bitcoin bulls, the co-founder of markets analysis firm Fundstrat Global, Tom Lee, stood out for his unrelenting optimism […]