Category: cryptocurrency

UK financial regulator seeks cryptocurrency and blockchain expert


One of the UK’s main financial industry regulators is looking to better understand cryptocurrency. According to a job listing posted earlier today, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the independent agency that oversees and regulates financial product offerings in the country, wants to hire a cryptocurrency expert. [Read: UK regulator wants crypto-derivatives ban to protect ‘ill-suited’ investors] The candidate More specifically, the FCA is looking for someone who’s experienced in working with “crypto-assets,” distributed ledgers, blockchains, and emerging fintech products. Throughout the listing, there is a particular emphasis on compliance, crime, and 5MLD (EU’s 5th Money Laundering Directive). You will…

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Love is a myth, Tinder earned $1.2 billion revenue in 2019


Dating app Tinder made $1.2 billion last year, accounting for half of Match Groups total annual income, reports The Verge. Match Group’s latest annual earnings report shows it posted $2.1 billion in revenue in 2019, an increase of 19 percent year-on-year. The firm also owns dating services OKCupid and Hinge. The report further notes Tinder averaged 5.9 million subscribers last quarter, up 36 percent over the previous year. Such strong numbers only prove how important Tinder is to Match Group’s success. Even though the app launched some eight years ago, it seems the world isn’t tired of judging random strangers…

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Tesla shorters have lost $8.3 billion in 2020 as stock price hits record high


Speculators who’ve bet against Tesla by “short-selling” its stock have already lost $8.3 billion this year, as its price surged Monday to reach a record-high, CNN reports. Such high losses can be attributed to the sheer number of $TSLA “short-sellers” out there. These investors borrow stock from a broker when they believe its overvalued, immediately sell it with the intention of re-buying at a lower price, and profit from the difference once they’ve been returned. According to data analysts S3 Partners, $TSLA has more short-sellers than any other U.S. stock, currently controlling more than 18 percent of the company’s publicly available…

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Venezuelan retailers can’t replace stock because of Maduro’s Petro ‘cryptocurrency’


Petro, the cryptocurrency pet project from Venezuelan President’s Nicolas Maduro, is causing headaches for the country. Retail stores in Venezeula are protesting the Petro by refusing to accept it as a payment method, local news reports. Retailers say that no supplier accepts the “cryptocurrency,” which means vendors have to exchange it for fiat. [Read: Maduro’s Petro cryptocurrency will be an official currency in Venezuela — like the Bolivar] Ordinarily this wouldn’t be too much of a problem, but because of Venezuela‘s wild hyperinflation, it’s putting vendors in a very tight spot. The Bank of Venezuela rolls the conversion rate from…

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MasterCard CEO on Facebook’s Libra: ‘I don’t understand how that works’


MasterCard chief exec Ajay Banga has lambasted Facebook‘s digital currency Libra, citing the social media giant’s apparently shaky attitude towards compliance for his company’s departure from the project back in October. In an interview with Financial Times, Banga noted he believed that key members of the Libra Association weren’t fully committed to “not do anything that is not fully compliant with local law,” particularly in relation to anti-money laundering and data management concerns. “… all that […] every time you talked to the main proponents of Libra, I said ‘Would you put that in writing?’ They wouldn’t,” Banga told FT. [READ: Swiss president:…

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Coronavirus to hit China’s smartphone and LCD panel production hard


The ongoing coronavirus crisis in China is expected to disrupt local production of LCD panels and smartphones, causing prices to rise and supply shortages across the world. Leading LCD and OLED panel manufacturers in the country have stated they believe that the total capacity utilization for LCD fabs could be reduced by 10 percent, reports IHS Markit. That number could increase to more than 20 percent during February. An acute shortage of essential LCD modules in China could emerge, with several third-party module suppliers having already reportedly ceased production. [READ: How Chinese tech giants are assisting in the battle against coronavirus…

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Moonday Mornings: Twitter adds custom Bitcoin emoji


Hello Forkers, welcome to Moonday Mornings, Hard Fork’s wrap-up of the weekend’s top cryptocurrency and blockchain headlines you can’t afford to miss! Let’s see what happened this week: 1. Cybercriminals use Kobe Bryant wallpaper to cyptojack victims According to researchers at Microsoft’s Security Intelligence division, cybercriminals embedded a coin mining script in a digital wallpaper featuring the recently deceased basketball star Kobe Bryant. While the world mourns the loss of an NBA legend, cybercriminals are, as expected, taking advantage of the tragedy. We found a malicious HTML file posing as a Kobe Bryant wallpaper that contains a coin mining script.…

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XRP Q4 2019: Crypto traders had one shot to make 20% profit


Ripple (XRP) is still arguably the most polarizing digital asset in the cryptocurrency space. Powered by a network of less than 100 validators, Ripple Labs pitches XRP as a liquidity tool for the traditional finance sector. Its supporters fervently believe adoption is coming, while critics have long claimed that regulators may one day classify XRP as a security. [READ: XRP bag holders are begging Ripple to stop dumping its coins] Still, quarter after quarter, Ripple Labs sells millions of dollars worth of XRP to investors. This quarter saw the firm earn $13.08 million by selling XRP, down from $66.24 million in the previous three…

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Cambodia just months away from launching its own central bank digital currency


Cambodia’s central bank is readying to launch its blockchain-based, peer-to-peer money platform within the next few months, Phnom Penh Post reports. The system, named ‘Project Bakong,’ is a payments app powered by a central bank digital currency (CBDC). National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) chairman Chea Serey described it as “the national payment gateway for Cambodia.” The current Bakong implementation links to users’ bank accounts to exchange the CBDC with hard currency. An exec from one participating bank told reporters that Bakong is cheaper and more convenient than credit and debit cards, before noting that some banks might lose some of their…

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Q4 2019: Stellar gives away $16M, burns 50% of XLM — price still drops


XLM is the native cryptocurrency of the Stellar network, a blockchain-powered solution pitched to make cross-border payments more efficient. Stellar’s consensus architecture is relatively centralized when compared to Bitcoin. While this does allow it to process transactions with low fees and fast confirmation times, it does require users to place more trust in the network comparatively. Regardless of this sacrifice, Stellar is almost always listed in the top cryptocurrencies. XLM’s market cap is currently $1.19 billion, and ranked 14th — just behind Monero. XLM/USD 2019 Q3 performance recap As with the rest of the cryptocurrency market, Stellar had a pretty tough…

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