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The Italian Red Cross and the Colli Albani Committee are raising donations of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to fight the country’s coronavirus pandemic with the support of Helperbit, as announced on March 12. Proceeds from the campaign will reportedly be used to set up a second-level advanced medical post for pre-triage of COVID-19 cases in the country, and it is expected to reach a goal of €10,000 to buy the necessary medical equipment for the infrastructure. The remaining funds will be used to cover the fees of the medical staff that will be involved in the project. Bruno Pietrosanti, president of the Colli Albani Committee, said that they need to ease the pressure on hospitalizations due to the increase in infected patients and the reduced number of places available in Italian hospitals: On carrying out the initiative alongside Helperbit, a blockchain startup that offers a platform for charities, Pietrosanti added the following: “We believe that an...

In the United States, President Trump announced new travel restrictions today in response to the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. The Commander in Chief signed a Presidential Proclamation suspending the entry of most foreign nationals who have been in certain European countries during the 14 days prior to their scheduled arrival to the U.S. These countries include Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. The United Kingdom is exempt. Meanwhile, India announced it would suspend visas for most foreign visitors arriving between March 13 to April 15, and close the country’s land border with Myanmar. Air India has already cancelled flights to Italy and South Korea, the two countries outside China most affected by the outbreak. Other countries, from Australia to...

Huobi Group is a global blockchain company founded by Leon Li in 2013. Currently, the crypto exchange has an accumulative turnover that exceeds USD $3 trillion and offers its services to users from more than 170 countries. Huobi Group has officially announced the launch of its new mobile application, Huobi Lite. Per a March 10 announcement, the new app will allow anyone to trade major cryptocurrencies on Android and iOS without fees or commissions. Users will be able to trade cryptocurrencies with fiat currencies such as the United States Dollar, Vietnamese Dong, Malaysian Ringgit, Hong Kong Dollar and Chinese Yuan through multiple payment methods, including credit cards. Currently, Huobi Lite supports BTC , ETH, USDT, HT, EOS, BCH, XRP, LTC and HUSD, although they have clarified that they expect to incorporate new crypto assets in the future. Users will be able to store, track and manage their portfolios and the company claims that a Bitcoin can be obtained...

ICE Reveals Cryptocurrency Intelligence Program The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has revealed the existence of a Cryptocurrency Intelligence Program (CIP) in the agency’s 2021 budget proposal. The proposal states that the CIP seeks to identify unlicensed capital flows taking place across peer-to-peer (P2P) marketplaces, online forums, and darknet markets. The CIP was developed by ICE’s Bulk Cash Smuggling Center (BCSC). Lloyd’s New Insurance Offering Covers Crypto Held in Hot Wallets Insurance giant Lloyd’s of London now provides a new type of liability insurance policy to protect cryptocurrency in hot wallets that is lost by theft. Lloyd’s new offering was developed by Lloyd’s syndicate Atrium together with crypto will-focused firm Coincover, with limits from as little as £1,000 ($1,275), Lloyd’s announced on March 2. The policy is also backed by an array of other Lloyd’s insurers, including TMK and Markel, all of whom are members of...

Bitfinex, the 11th largest cryptocurrency exchange by daily trading volume, will remove dozens of cryptocurrency trading pairs later this week. According to a March 2 blog post , Bitfinex will remove 46 crypto trading pairs on Friday, March 6 due to low liquidity on the platform. The cryptocurrency exchange noted that the delisting of the trading pairs is a common measure that is expected to improve liquidity on Bitfinex platform and lead to a “more streamlined and optimized trading experience for our users.” The majority of trading pairs that are planned to be removed on Friday include a wide list of altcoins trading against Ether ( ETH ), the second-biggest cryptocurrency by market cap. That list includes about 30 trading pairs including altcoins like OKEx token ( OKB ), Verge ( XVG ) and Nucleus Vision ( NCASH ). Another 16 trading pairs include altcoins trading against Bitcoin ( BTC ), including pairs like Hydro Protocol ( HOT )/BTC and Medicalchain ( MT...

The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has revealed the existence of a Cryptocurrency Intelligence Program (CIP) in the agency’s 2021 budget proposal . The proposal states that the CIP seeks to identify unlicensed capital flows taking place across peer-to-peer (P2P) marketplaces, online forums, and darknet markets. The CIP was developed by ICE’s Bulk Cash Smuggling Center (BCSC). “The BCSC has developed a Cryptocurrency Intelligence Program (CIP) which identifies unlicensed money services businesses in the form of independent cryptocurrency brokers’ use of peer-to-peer (P2P) sites, online forums and classified advertisements, and darknet markets (DNM) to engage in unlicensed money services businesses (MSB) activity.” ICE states that “a large portion” unlicensed MSBs operating with cryptocurrency on darknet markets and P2P marketplaces are engaged in the laundering of narcotics proceeds. The agency adds that it has increased its training and cy...

Bitcoin To Hit $100K In 2025, Says Justin Sun, Founder Of Tron Justin Sun, the founder and CEO of Tron (TRX), the 15th biggest cryptocurrency by market cap, is investing in a number of cryptos other than Bitcoin (BTC). In a Feb. 23 interview with CNN, Tron CEO said that he is a long-term believer in cryptocurrencies and owns a stake in many altcoins, including the two largest coins after Bitcoin  —  Ether (ETH) and XRP. Iranian Cell Calls For The Use Of Cryptocurrency This week an Iranian general called for a unique way to bypass the sanctions on his country enforced by the United States. Saeed Muhammad, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, called for Iran to use cryptocurrencies to evade the economic sanctions. According to the Telegram channel of Coinit.ir , a crypto news organization based in Iran, the general addressed a crowd on Feb. 26 (translated from Farsi): “We are demanding the creation of a more sophisticated mechanism to bypas...

Confidential Transactions keep the amount and type of assets transferred visible only to participants in the transaction (and those they choose to reveal the blinding key to), while still cryptographically guaranteeing that no more coins can be spent than are available. This goes a step beyond the usual privacy offered by Bitcoin’s blockchain, which relies purely on pseudonymous (but public) identities. This matters, because insufficient financial privacy can have serious security and privacy implications for both commercial and personal transactions. Without adequate protection, thieves can focus their efforts on high-value targets, competitors can learn business details, and negotiating positions can be undermined. Confidential Transactions (CTs, the general idea of which was proposed by Adam Back on BitcoinTalk in 2013) aims to make the content of a transaction private — as Greg Maxwell explains in a 2017 talk , the amounts transacted are often more valuable to spi...

Justin Sun , the founder and CEO of Tron (TRX), the 15th biggest cryptocurrency by market cap, is investing in a number of cryptos other than Bitcoin (BTC). In a Feb. 23 interview with CNN, Tron CEO said that he is a long-term believer in cryptocurrencies and owns a stake in many altcoins, including the two largest coins after Bitcoin — Ether (ETH) and XRP. When asked whether Sun has its crypto portfolio diversified, the Tron CEO answered: “I own a lot of XRP and Ethereum, too. I’m like a long-term believer of the crypto so I want all crypto assets to succeed. So that’s why I own a lot of other different cryptos as well.” As a major believer in crypto, Sun is bullish on the price of cryptocurrencies and confident that cryptos like Bitcoin are the future of money. In the interview, Tron CEO predicted that Bitcoin will cross $100,000 mark in 2025, emphasizing that other cryptocurrencies will follow the trend. Justin Sun’s $100,000 Bitcoin prediction in his ...

Email Extortion Scam Targets Googles AdSense A new extortion scam targeting website owners serving banner ads through Google’s AdSense program has begun circulating the Internet. The malevolent scheme demands Bitcoin (BTC) in exchange for preventing an attack, which would purportedly lead to the users’ AdSense account suspension. The email-based extortion scheme was reported by security news and investigation blog KrebsOnSecurity, on Feb. 17. The blog post detailed that some site owners received a message as their site had been spotted by the malicious program as one seeking revenue from publishing an ad. Coinbase Pitches Crypto As A Solution For Racial Discrimination To mark Black History Month, Coinbase has launched an advertising campaign with the pitch that cryptocurrencies can help tackle racial injustice in the financial sector. As part of the campaign, the exchange published a blog post on Feb. 13 with the results of a survey it conducted in ...

Major cryptocurrency exchange Binance halted trading on its platform to resolve an unexpected technical issue with its infrastructure. An announcement published by Binance on Feb. 19 notes that, due to unscheduled system maintenance, the exchange suspended most of its activities. More precisely, as of press time, it is not possible to perform “deposits, withdrawals, spot trading, margin trading, P2P trading, lending, redemption, as well as asset transfers from sub-accounts, margin accounts, futures accounts, and fiat wallets” on the platform. In a statement shared with Cointelegraph, Binance reassured its users that partner exchanges such as Binance.US were unaffected and that trading activity will resume shortly. Binance co-founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao explained in a tweet sent earlier today that one of the market data pushers experienced an issue, but the matching engine did not, so no funds or data were lost. He also said in a separate message that futures t...

Steve Chen , the mastermind behind the $147 million Gemcoin cryptocurrency scheme, has admitted to wire fraud and tax evasion in a plea agreement. The 62-year-old Southern California resident agreed that he and other co-conspirators fraudulently promoted a cryptocurrency called Gemcoin (or Gem Coins) that helped fleece $147 million from 70,000 victims. Chen, also known as “Boss,” reported an income of $138,000 in 2014 which is a far cry from the $4.8 million he now admits to pocketing that year. Chen used the proceeds to buy homes and pay for a gambling habit, authorities said. Between July 2013 and September 2015, Chen ran a multi level marketing scheme to promote U.S. Fine Investment Arts, Inc. (USFIA) which rewarded investors first with points, and then with Gemcoins. These virtual coins were supposedly backed by gems mined by the company and could be traded on the USFIA platform . While the value of the coins supposedly increased based on the company...

A new extortion scam targeting website owners serving banner ads through Google’s AdSense program has begun circulating the Internet. The malevolent scheme demands Bitcoin (BTC) in exchange for preventing an attack, which would purportedly lead to the users’ AdSense account suspension. The email-based extortion scheme was reported by security news and investigation blog KrebsOnSecurity , on Feb. 17. The blog post detailed that some site owners received a message as their site had been spotted by the malicious program as one seeking revenue from publishing an ad. The message appears as a warning, wherein the cybercriminals demand $5,000 worth of BTC to deter the attack. “Very soon the warning notice from above will appear at the dashboard of your AdSense account undoubtedly! This will happen due to the fact that we’re about to flood your site with huge amount of direct bot generated web traffic with 100% bounce ratio and thousands of IP’s in rotation — a nigh...

Ukrainian Regulations States That Mining Does Not Require Governmental Oversight Ukrainian’s powers stated that crypto mining does not require regulatory activity from governmental oversight bodies or other third-party protocols. In its legal article on virtual assets published on Feb. 7, the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine specified that mining does not necessitate directives by state authorities as this activity is measured by the protocol itself and network members. Internet Surges 300% In North Korea Over The Past 3 Years North Korea’s internet use saw a 300% surge over the past three years, as the country’s regime has continued to rely on cryptocurrencies for various activities. Misuse of crypto and blockchain technology is among the primary tactics for the country to generate revenue as well as transfer and use illicitly obtained funds, a new study says. Blog U.S. Think Tank Contradicts Need For Federal Digital Currency ...

Conservative United States think tank the Heritage Foundation argues that instead of launching a central bank digital currency (CBDC), the government should ensure that the public can use the currencies they prefer, including private ones. In a commentary piece published on Feb. 12, the Heritage Foundation notes that Facebook’s Libra global stablecoin project “is just the latest reminder that providing money does not have to be a centralized function of government.” The report answers to the idea that the public sector must ensure that sovereign currencies stay at the centre of each nation’s financial system. The report argues that the principle of monetary sovereignty that member of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors Lael Brainard spoke about in February should be replaced with the concept of consumer sovereignty. The Heritage Foundation cites the popular concerns that stablecoins and cryptocurrencies heighten the risk of crime and fraud, and notes tha...

North Korea’s internet use saw a 300% surge over the past three years , as the country’s regime has continued to rely on cryptocurrencies for various activities. Misuse of crypto and blockchain technology is among the primary tactics for the country to generate revenue as well as transfer and use illicitly obtained funds, a new study says. Titled “How North Korea Revolutionized the Internet as a Tool for Rogue Regimes,” the study was released on Feb. 9 by Insikt Group, an intelligence arm of the United States-based cybersecurity firm Recorded Future. The report analysed North Korean senior leadership’s internet activity between Jan. 1, 2019 and Nov. 1, 2019. According to the study, North Korea has continued to exploit cryptocurrencies as a strategic weapon, with the country’s political and military elite being reportedly involved in massive hacks of South Korean crypto exchanges, scams, cryptojacking, and crypto mining. Along with illicit banking processes an...