Pavel Lerner has been freed from captivity following his kidnapping this week. The EXMO analyst is physically unharmed and no longer being held hostage, according to a company press release. Free at Last On December 26, Pavel Lerner, 40, was wrapping up work at his office in Kiev, Ukraine, where he works as the lead analyst of UK-based cryptocurrency exchange EXMO. Upon leaving work, Lerner was jumped by a group of men wearing balaclavas (ski masks, for our American readers). The assailants reportedly bound Lerner and threw him into the backseat of a Mercedes-Benz Vito and drove away. After days ofPowered by WPeMatico
Imagine that you had over US$100 million worth of Bitcoin rotting away in a landfill and there was nothing you could do about it. Welcome to the world of James Howells, a Welsh IT worker who threw away a hard drive containing Bitcoin he’d mined back in 2009. The Newport South Wales City Council has repeatedly denied his requests to commence digging operations in the trash heap for his treasure trove of digital gold. One Man’s Treasure Is Literally Trash “You know when you put something in the bin, and in your head, say to yourself ‘that’s a bad idea’?” James Howells rhetorically
The Japanese financial regulator has approved one more cryptocurrency exchange, making it the 16th exchange to be licensed. As competition intensifies, some local exchanges are branching abroad in search for more volume and liquidity. Meanwhile, more merchants are embracing bitcoin. Also read: Russian Regulators Draft Law to Restrict Crypto Mining, Payments, and Token Sales Another Bitcoin […]
Recently Singapore had its first high profile legal case involving over 3,000 BTC in a dispute between the UK-based company B2C2 and the local cryptocurrency exchange Quoine. According to the Singapore Commercial Court documents, Judge Simon Thorley has dismissed the plaintiff B2C2’s case for US $43Mn worth of bitcoins. Also read: While Bitcoin Trades Above $19K […]
The overall cryptocurrency market seems to have stabilized after a correction that lowered its total capitalization to below US$450 billion last week. That said, the market has yet to convincingly bounce back to pre-correction levels, as its market cap continues to drift between US$500 billion and US$600 billion. The Bears are Back November and December saw record highs across most cryptocurrency markets. The total market cap increased a staggering US$350 billion from the beginning of November to its December peak, and top 10 coins repeatedly hit new all-time highs over the course of this latest market run-up. Nothing lasts forever, however, and these fortunes faded almost as quickly
What might be the best gift for a kitten? Most probably a tiny glorious fish will meet expectations. But what if that kitten is in fact a crypto token that lives in Ethereum blockchain? Than a crypto fish should be invented. Disclosure: This is a Sponsored Article Meet the new game on smart contracts called Fishbank — that is classic PvP (player-versus-player) to grow the predatory fish that hunt opponents gaining their weight. Built in the setting of “deep blue distributed ocean” it has the major aim to nurture the largest fish to dominate the others. Every fish is a
In a continuation of its regulatory machinations, the South Korean government has unveiled its latest cryptocurrency legislation. With its sights set once again on exchanges, officials want to curb the use of anonymous accounts and increase their control over exchanges overall. Perhaps in response to the news, the cryptocurrency markets fell overnight, with Bitcoin slumping 10%. South Korea Says No to Anonymity As originally reported by Reuters, South Korean officials have taken yet another regulatory approach to temper crypto enthusiasm among its citizens. On Thursday, the government announced that it would place a ban on anonymous trading accounts. The ban, which
One of the key functions of the blockchain is the ability to mark data permanently. This immutability has primarily been used to record currency transactional data, but this ability can theoretically be extended to permanently record other secondary information. It is this ability that holds promise for the blockchain to be an all-encompassing solution for verification of various assets. Disclosure: This is a Sponsored Article Devery.io is building a protocol layer above Ethereum to enable third party developers to easily build product verification services on the Ethereum blockchain through APIs. Further, the Devery Protocol connects provenance systems into one central
To invest or not to invest in cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings (ICOs). That is the challenge of many millennials. The spend-it-now generation is having a hard time saving for retirement. Mobile apps and automated robo-investment advisors have made it easier than ever to set up and manage an investment portfolio, but beating inflation is hard to do in today’s low interest rate environment. Millennials concerned with ideally growing and preserving their portfolio value are challenged. Disclosure: This is a Sponsored Article Over the past decade, the average US inflation rate was 3.2 percent while the average interest rate on
If you’ve interacted with Facebook, you may have had run-ins with spam bots that infest your profile (or your friends’ profiles) and post links or advertisements without your permission. Well, the same malware that tells your friends to “Check out this link for 90% off a BRAND NEW pair of Ray Bands. WOW!” is now being used to mine cryptocurrency. A downloaded client runs mining software that contributes hashing power to the malware’s source server. Unaware Facebook users may have downloaded this bot through links shared on Facebook Messenger. Mining on Someone Else’s Dime You could be mining cryptocurrency without even knowing it,