Bitcoin Brouhaha: Cryptocurrency Exchange OKEx Denies Price Tampering (The Wall Street Journal)
HONG KONG – A large cryptocurrency exchange denied accusations from some customers it manipulated prices of bitcoin futures after sudden price swings on its trading platform last week. OKEx, which operates one of the world’s most popular electronic venues for bitcoin trading, said it would cancel trades that occurred in a 90-minute period between 5 a.m. and 6.30 a.m. Hong Kong time Friday. That was when the price of a bitcoin futures contract on OKEx fell sharply below bitcoin’s spot price-which, according to CoinDesk, was about $7,000 that day. The exchange didn’t state the futures price, but traders said it slumped to as low as $4,755 during that period.
Cryptocurrency Startup BitKan Raises $10 million Series B Funding to Support Global Expansion (TechStartups.com)
The volatility and uncertainties surrounding Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies do not prevent forward-thinking startups from investing in cryptocurrency. BitKan is one of China’s leading provider of cryptocurrency services. The startup provides the latest pricing information for bitcoins and the mining difficulty charts and data. The bitkan app keeps users updated anytime anywhere. Bitkan announced today that it has secured $10 million in Series B funding round in bid to build momentum in the marketplace for the company’s newly-launched social network hub “K Site” and expand international operations.
Pixabay/Public Domain
Alibaba Drags Alibabacoin Foundation to Court for Trademark Infringement (Smartereum.com)
Chinese e-commerce giant, Alibaba [BABA] this week filed a lawsuit with a US District Court against the developers of a new cryptocurrency for using its trademark name in their Alibabacoin token. In the lawsuit, the Chinese-based company claimed that the defendants planned to use the trademark to raise funds in an Initial Coin Offering to generate over $3.5 million. Defendants to Alibaba’s suit include Alibabacoin (ABBC) Foundation, its founder Jason Daniel Paul Philip, cofounder Hasan Abbas and subsidiaries ABBC Block Chain IT Solutions LLC, and Alibabacoin General Trading FZE. ABBC Foundation which is currently having a crowdsale of its ABBC coin was accused to have used Alibaba’s trademark “in order to deceive investors in the U.S. and around the world with a single-minded focus to capitalize on Plaintiff’s reputation for success.”
Ra Entertainment Inc. Introduces RACoin – Cryptocurrency For The Real World Gambling Industry (NewsWire.ca)
RA Entertainment Inc. is a high-tech company focused on creating an advanced user experience in gambling. The team is focusing on developing and delivering effective and affordable solutions both for online and offline levels of interaction. It is building the Palau World Complex as a starting point to integrate blockchain ideas in a traditional gambling business. Palau World will be built and developed regardless of the outcome of the token sale. The company has an ambition to introduce RACoin to the global gambling industry as well as the hotel and entertainment centres all around the world. It has already started negotiations with the hotel complexes and gambling platforms in Asia and Europe, who will also incorporate RACoin into their infrastructure.
More Trouble For Cryptocurrency Exchange Youbit After its Insurance Claim was Rejected (BTCManager.com)
As if being hacked twice in eight months, losing 17 percent of its net assets, and having to file bankruptcy was not bad enough, South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Youbit now finds itself trapped in a classic out-of-the-frying-pan-into-the-fire situation. The troubled company announced March 29 that the insurance provider it signed up with is declining to cover the claim against the loss caused by the devastating December 2017 heist. No Relief Yet! Yapian Corp., the parent company of Youbit, flung into action following the December heist and filed a claim with DB Insurance Co., one of South Korea’s biggest property and casualty insurers. Apparently, Youbit signed up with the insurance firm just a few weeks before the devastating attack. The policy it chose entitles the exchange to a claim of up to $2.8 million for a yearly premium of $244,400.
Why You Should Invest in Litecoin (LTC) Now (HadePlatform.com)
Litecoin (LTC) is fifth in market capitalization according to Coinmarketcap. The bearish nature of the market led to the loss of close to fifty percent of its value in the first quarter of 2018 since it opened at $230.67 on Jan 1, 2018, and was $116.61 when the market closed on March 31, 2018. Reasons why Litecoin (LTC) will provide investors positive returns in the second quarter of 2018 include: 1) Association with the Lightning Labs Network. 2) Use as an alternative for Bitcoin (BTC) in Abra for smart contracts.
Ether’s Start to 2018 Has Broken Records (In a Bad Way) (CoinDesk.com)
Ethereum’s ether (ETH) token fell 47.5 percent in the first three months of 2018 – its worst quarterly drop on record. While the notable slump came amid a general downturn afflicting the cryptocurrency markets, it was also exacerbated by problems more unique, perhaps, to ethereum. However, although the decline appears major at first glance, it looks like a drop in the bucket when compared to the astounding 9,382 percent rally ether saw in 2017.
A Report Suggests Indians More Hyped About Ethereum Than Bitcoin (BitsOnline.com)
In India when it comes to cryptocurrency popularity, ethereum, the world’s second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, has outranked bitcoin. According to a report from Jana – one of the largest free internet providers in emerging markets – ethereum has topped bitcoin as the most searched cryptocurrency in a period of five months. Jana Report Data Contradicts Google Trend Data: As per Jana’s Mobile Majority report, which takes into account domestic Indian search data from October 2017 to February 2018, ethereum constitutes about 34.4 percent of the searches, versus bitcoin’s 29.9 percent. Jana’s study was conducted across its own mCent browser app. The third most searched cryptocurrency was NEM, which accounted for 21.2 percent of the search volume, followed by Dash, NEO, litecoin, and XRP.
Ripple Partners With BPG For ‘eMetal’ Digital Stock Exchange For Metal (CryptoDaily.co.uk)
Ripple is currently the third largest cryptocurrency, with a market cap of a whopping $20 billion. Currently trading at $0.535, XRP is slowly gaining traction outside of the blockchain sector. Apart from being an investment vessel, Ripple is being utilised as a ledger service, due to the blockchain technology it runs on. Banks and large payment processing companies are using Ripple to facilitate cross-border payments. This month will see Ripple launch a new gateway for payments and goods processing. BPG group is set to unveil ‘eMetals’, as said in their latest tweet: “Use the #Ripple network to buy, spend and trade #Gold, #Silver, #Platinum, #Palladium and #Rhodium (XAU, XAG, XPT, XPD and XRH). For more information please visit eMetals platform”.
Russia Says ‘Nyet’ to Free Exchange of Cryptocurrencies (TheNextWeb.com)
The Federal Financial Monitoring Service of the Russian Federation (Rosfinmonitoring) has come out against the free exchange of cryptocurrencies on Russian soil, local news outlet Bits.media reports. Speaking at the congress of the Association of Russian Banks (ARB), Rosfinmonitoring deputy-head Pavel Livandy expressed his views that cryptocurrencies are high-risk, speculative assets that do not have real value. Here are his exact words: The practice of free exchange of cryptocurrencies is not used anywhere in the world, even in jurisdictions with less strict regulations. The exchange only takes place through special exchanges which have pre-verified the identity of the person performing the exchange. Proceeding from this statement, it should be noted that this issue is being actively discussed.
