Facebook is said to be finalising plans to launch its own cryptocurrency next year. testing of the cryptocurrency, referred to internally as GlobalCoin, will start by the end of this year. Facebook is expected to outline plans in more detail this summer, and has already spoken to Bank of England governor Mark Carney.

Europol and the Dutch Criminal Investigation Service took down the 6 servers hosting the Bestmixer.io coin tumbling service. Supposedly the first such policing action against a tumbler by law enforcement, it is alleged that the tumbler was aiding in money laundering. The tumbler was one of the 3 largest, and handled Bitcoin, Litecoin, and BCH.

The Coinstar service which is running a trial to allow customers in various grocery stores to purchase Bitcoin has now expanded to cover 21 American states. There are now over 2,200 such kiosks available to Americans in high traffic retail locations.

Crypto podcaster Guy Swann reported that the Bitcoin Cash blockchain had been reorganized by two mining pools working together to achieve hashrate dominance. While details remain sketchy at this time, it’s clear that the miners reorganized 2 blocks to reverse a theft of coins which occurred around the latest Bitcoin Cash fork.

US telecoms giant, AT&T announced that they will now accept Bitcoin for payment of mobile bills. AT&T is the first US mobile carrier to accept crypto.

Courtesy: 99Bitcoins.com

Crypto markets this week reached their highest level since August of 2018. Markets then corrected downwards, however, sentiment is still bullish, with major news networks covering the resurgence of crypto. 

Bitcoin, Ethereum, BCH, and Gemini exchange’s US Dollar-based stablecoin can now be used to purchase goods from Starbucks, Whole Foods, Nordstrom and many more retailers. The US-based payments service, Flexa in collaboration with Gemini confirmed that their new crypto app, Spedn, will enable instant crypto payments in participating stores. 

It was reported that BitOasis exchange, which is based in the United Arab Emirates, received a preliminary license to operate. If a full license is granted, BitOasis would be the first officially approved and regulated exchange in the region to offer crypto trading and storage. 

San Francisco Open Exchange, or SFOX, has partnered with M.Y. Safra Bank, to bring Federal deposit insurance to the Bitcoin trading space. The move represents the first time that crypto traders will have their funds guaranteed by the state, up to $250,000. This is another strong signal for the increasing integration of crypto into mainstream finance. 

New Zealand’s Cryptopia exchange was hacked in January of this year. The exchange went offline this week, displaying only a message that a firm has been appointed to handle liquidation proceedings. Most users have been unable to withdraw funds from Cryptopia since the breach occurred. 

Courtesy: 99bitcoins.com

Binance has just suffered a $40.7M Bitcoin theft, its largest loss ever
Binance has long been lauded for its top-notch security, but this week the exchange discovered a security breach that saw more than $40M in Bitcoin stolen. The exchange is still in the process of identifying impacted customer accounts, and will be using its SAFU fund to cover the shortfall in funds lost by affected customers.

Inside Zuckerberg’s decade-long battle over crypto with the Winklevoss twins
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and the Winklevoss twins have always had a contentious relationship. But the twins’ deep involvement with crypto could prove to give them a leg up on the race with Facebook to develop the world’s leading cryptocurrency. The rivalry between the two parties has only intensified in recent years as both begin to compete more heavily on the crypto front, even after the Winklevoss twins won a $65M settlement from Facebook for slighting them in its early days. 

Facebook’s new digital coin could double or triple crypto’s global user base
Recent analysis has shown that the introduction of Facebook’s digital coin could potentially triple the number of crypto users worldwide. The rollout could also drive an overall uplift in the markets, particularly if the cryptocurrency sees heavy usage early on. The social networking giant is presently searching for investment and technology partners to help it build and launch the new payment solution.

A Belgian programmer solved this perplexing crypto puzzle 15 years too soon
Last month, a Belgian programmer solved a decades-old cryptographic puzzle that has eluded even the most masterful problem solvers. Despite the puzzle being devised 20 years ago, its underlying principles have a significant amount of overlap with existing crypto protocols that leverage blockchain technology.

The story of Crypto Capital’s dark past, and its ties to the crypto industry
Crypto Capital is quietly becoming a quasi-central bank of the crypto industry, helping offer banking services to crypto exchanges, blockchain startups, and the like. Incorporated in Panama, the shadowy company has been helping exchanges like Bitfinex handle billions in customer funds. Two of its employees were arrested for money laundering earlier this week, casting a shadow over the organization.

Bitmain has reportedly cut its crypto mining capacity by up to 88%
This week, Bitmain revealed that it had reduced its Bitcoin mining power by 88%. The statistic is indicative of an overall reduction in capacity, and signals that the crypto mining giant is beginning to shut down at least some of its mining equipment. The news also runs counter to Bitmain’s claim that it would be deploying $80M worth of new mining equipment later this year.

Here’s how Cosmos is looking to put the global economy on the blockchain
Cosmos is a relatively new blockchain project that enables independent blockchains to interact with one another. This could open up an entirely new set of use cases and opportunities for crypto platforms to collaborate, and it’s perhaps the most promising interoperability solution yet.

A “blockchain bandit” is guessing private keys and scoring millions in crypto
Security researchers have discovered that a mystery thief is stealing millions of dollars in crypto, simply by guessing private keys. While the concept is simple, the execution of the theft appears to be quite complex, involving an array of advanced cryptographic techniques used to “predict” a user’s private key.
Courtesy: CRYPTO WEEKLY

The Bakkt Stock Exchange is nearing regulation. The company's high level of investment in the New York Stock Exchange, it has acquired a company specializing in cold storage for the preservation of digital assets. Bakkt also unveiled a partnership with the New York Mellon Bank to implement cold storage solutions at its secure facilities.

A MasterCard credit card requires regulatory approval for use in Europe. The prepaid card will allow customers to convert and send crypto assets wherever MasterCard is obtained. The request is under review by the Gibraltar Financial Authority.

A recent poll by Harris Poll for Blockchin Capital reveals that 89% of American adults are aware of Bitcoin, 43% see Bitcoin as positive financial innovation, 33% believe most people will use Bitcoin within 10 years, and 27% Years. All of these positive statistics have grown since the last survey in 2017, indicating that the youngest demographics are good for Bitcoin.

A HSBC account linked to the Betfinx is perceived by the US Department of Justice. The firm claimed that the account was used to channel money from the American Crypto Exchange, which was banned for US banking customers. Moreover, Zhao Dong, a major shareholder in BitFinex, said on Twitter that the stock exchange is looking to release its Toucan to raise $ 1 billion.
Courtesy: /macrobit.co.il