2019

Bakkt, the cryptocurrency trading platform owned by Intercontinental Exchange, launched regulated bitcoin options contracts on December 9, enabling institutional investors to hedge bitcoin exposure and establish directional positions through standardized derivative instruments.

Upbit, a South Korean cryptocurrency exchange, lost approximately 342,000 ethereum worth $49 million in an abnormal transaction that transferred funds from the exchange's hot wallet to an unknown address on November 26.

Chinese bitcoin mining equipment manufacturer Canaan Creative raised $90 million in its debut on Nasdaq on November 21, 2019, making it the first dedicated cryptocurrency mining company to achieve a U.S. public listing.

Chinese President Xi Jinping endorsed blockchain technology development as a strategic priority during a Politburo study session, stating that blockchain represents a core technology for the next round of innovation and industrial transformation.

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed an emergency action and obtained a restraining order halting Telegram's distribution of Gram tokens from its alleged $1.7 billion token offering, claiming the digital currency sale violated securities laws.

Blockchain gaming has become the fastest-growing segment in U.S. gaming, though blockchain enthusiasts, not seasoned game developers, built most of the games so far. Top universities are climbing abo

The SEC's top leadership appeared before Congress to discuss cryptocurrency regulation, bitcoin exchange-traded funds and the agency's approach to digital asset oversight during a House Financial Services Committee hearing.

Facebook announced Libra. Corporate interest in blockchain surged. On August 20, Spark Blockchain and Microsoft's NERD Center hosted a career fair in Boston that drew over 300 developers and job seeke

PodMiners opens a private token sale starting September 1, accepting investors until September 20. The fundraiser distributes 10 million POMT tokens from a 100 million token pool across multiple phase

Looking to venture into Bitcoin cloud mining? G Mining Inc. stands out as a reliable partner for this endeavor. The operation delivers competitive pricing structures and maintains a reputation for res

Vienna's fintech powerhouse Bitpanda announced the launch of its Bitpanda Global Exchange today, unveiling a trading platform tailored to institutional clients, professionals, and advanced crypto trad

PodMiners, which markets itself as the first blockchain-based platform promoting freedom of speech, is partnering with TranslateMe Network to offer podcast transcripts in thousands of languages. Tran

Betting has been part of human culture for millennia. In ancient Greece, spectators wagered on Olympic athletes. Romans placed bets on gladiatorial combat and chariot racing. Wagering happened person-

BKSbex, a brand-new digital asset trading venue based in Singapore, commenced operations on July 25th, 2019, immediately after its establishment that same month. The platform was built by seasoned pro

AMFEIX.com operates as a digital asset investment vehicle, enabling participants to deposit Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies into a collectively managed portfolio from which resultant returns flow b

Superorder released three new trading bots for its Marketplace. The Ukrainian-American startup designed them to automate cryptocurrency trading on Binance, Bittrex, and BitMEX. Traders access the bots

BetTronLive launched a casino platform on the TRON blockchain, using a proof-of-play system where players earn RAKE tokens as they gamble. RAKE operates as a TRC-20 token on TRON's network, and player

Facebook faced intense questioning from House Financial Services Committee members about its proposed Libra cryptocurrency, with lawmakers expressing concerns about the project's impact on monetary policy, financial stability and consumer protection.

Bull Bitcoin CEO Francis Pouliot spent years running a Bitcoin kiosk at The Bitcoin Embassy in Montreal during Bitcoin's scaling debate. Those conversations gave him access to something most Bitcoin o

Heavy rainfall in Sichuan province during late June 2019 destroyed tens of thousands of mining rigs and disrupted up to 20 percent of the global Bitcoin hashrate, prompting miners to relocate operations to Xinjiang.

Bitcoin surged to $13,880 in June, marking the cryptocurrency's highest price of the year as market participants responded to Facebook's Libra announcement and mounting institutional interest in digital assets.

Singapore-based Xfers is partnering with Zilliqa, a blockchain startup founded by researchers at the National University of Singapore, to integrate smart contracts into its payment platform. The two c

The cryptocurrency Dash and the augmented reality application Aircoins have announced they are joining forces in a collaborative effort that will enable players to discover, gather, and transmit Dash

Crypt-Oink, Japan’s first blockchain game, is expanding its breedable, collectible and tradable racing pigs to English-language markets with an exclusive collaboration with CryptoKitties, the company

Everex, the Singapore-based blockchain company, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Lao Development Bank to build blockchain systems for cross-border payments and trade finance. At the signing

Beaxy Digital, Ltd. opened its cryptocurrency trading platform to the public on Tuesday, marking the finish line for two years of development. The exchange now serves customers across 43 U.S. states a

North Carolina-based Fluree has closed a $4.7 million seed round, marking a significant milestone for the data management platform that marries blockchain technology with graph database capabi

CoinDesk's Consensus 2019 brought together the blockchain industry's power brokers, Fortune 500 executives, policymakers, academic researchers, and thousands of developers and investors hunting for th

The 2017-2018 wave of initial coin offerings demonstrated significant appetite for blockchain advancement. Developers unveiled countless technological frameworks leveraging blockchain technolo

Fundopolis and AlphaPoint revealed their partnership this week at Consensus, the blockchain and crypto conference held in New York. The two companies will integrate blockchain technology into Fundopol

Three major players in enterprise technology and luxury goods—LVMH, Microsoft, and blockchain development firm ConsenSys—have joined forces to launch AURA, a platform leveraging blockchain tec

The New York Attorney General opened an investigation into Tether last week, bringing fresh scrutiny to one of crypto's most controversial figures. The probe centers on claims of an $850 million fraud

Kaleido, a ConsenSys company, announced on Wednesday the launch of a new enterprise technology stack and the rollout of over a dozen new features, tools and capabilities for the enterprise blockchain.

Malta's government is pursuing blockchain adoption at the administrative level, with plans to modernize its company registration system using blockchain technology. Silvio Schembri, the nation

Hackers stole approximately 7,000 bitcoin worth $40.7 million from Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, in a coordinated attack that exploited API keys and two-factor authentication codes.

South Korea's financial regulator opened its fintech sandbox to its first wave of approved companies this week. The Financial Services Commission selected 18 projects from over 100 applicants to test

The World Economic Forum announced Wednesday that more than 100 organizations and experts had joined an effort to build an open-source toolkit for deploying blockchain in supply chains. The project, c

During Easter weekend, Bitcoin holders and Bitcoin Cash advocates tangled on Twitter over control of the @Bitcoin account. That handle has spent the better part of a year promoting Bitcoin Cash, a Bit

Liquid, the cryptocurrency exchange platform operated by Japanese startup Quoine, has partnered with Virtual Currency Partners (VCP), a venture capital group composed of fintech and crypto investors a

People cannot mine cryptocurrency without significant barriers. Entry to the space requires custom hardware, technical knowledge, and substantial upfront investment. CryptoTab, built by blockchain dev

BMW unveiled a blockchain app designed to combat odometer fraud at the VeChain Summit in San Francisco on April 18. The VerifyCar application, built with the blockchain startup VeChain, creates what t

USDQ is a decentralized stablecoin created by PLATINUM ENGINEERING that uses Bitcoin as collateral, with plans to accept other major cryptocurrencies in the future. Jitendra Rathod, managing director

The cryptocurrency industry has long understood a paradoxical truth: whether Bitcoin's valuation climbs or plummets, the media spotlight shines equally bright. This dynamic proves especially apparent

Set Labs Inc., a blockchain company based in the US, unveiled TokenSets, a platform for automating crypto portfolios. The first two strategies target bitcoin and ether: one buys during price declines

At Understanding Bitcoin in Malta, the second day's opening session brought together Blockstream executives to examine what's next for the protocol. Adam Back headed the conversation alongside colleag

A$170,000 in government backing has gone to Crypto SA, a blockchain consulting outfit, to establish Australia's initial blockchain incubator facility, according to Lead South Australia. The funding al

Blocko, the South Korean blockchain company with Samsung backing, has rolled out Aergo Enterprise, marking the end of its Coinstack private blockchain. The company is offering a migration program to m

eToroX, the blockchain arm of European brokerage eToro, opened its crypto exchange this week. The platform launches with eight fiat-stablecoins—eToroX tokens pegged to the New Zealand Dollar, Japanese

Nestlé and Carrefour are putting blockchain to work on supermarket shelves. Starting today, the two companies will use the technology to track Mousline instant mashed potatoes sold in French Carrefour

The lnd lightning client is preparing to launch static channel backups in its next update, with developers merging the required code and version 0.6 entering pre-release testing. Node operators have s

Attendees at this year's MIT Bitcoin Expo gathered to explore how the Lightning Network and Bitcoin itself might achieve broader mainstream use. The discussion panel brought together Zap wallet develo

Central banks resist new technology, but the World Economic Forum published a white paper suggesting they may become early adopters of blockchain and blockchain technology (DLT). Dozens of cen

Mega.co.nz has been dropped from Paypal, opening the door for an opportunity for Bitcoin.

PayPal has invested in Cambridge Blockchain's Series A funding round, marking the payments giant's first venture into blockchain startups. Cambridge Blockchain develops digital identity management sof

A survey of financial analysts shows confidence that Brexit could boost cryptocurrency markets. Cindicator, a blockchain intelligence firm, conducted the study and found that 63 percent of respondents

Bamboo Capital Partners, the government of Togo, and Moeda unveiled Bloc, a new investment fund Monday at the African CEO Forum in Kigali, Rwanda. The fund targets EUR 100 million for blockchain and t

CryptoKaiju, a UK blockchain company, is shipping its second collection of Ethereum-based collectible figures this week. The new toys, called Jaiantokoin, each carry tamper-resistant NFC tags linking

Duke University is pairing up with Citizens Reserve, a blockchain startup out of the Bay Area, to expand how the university teaches and engages students with cryptocurrency and blockchain technology.

eToro, the social trading and multi-asset brokerage firm, bought Firmo, a smart contract infrastructure provider. The company did not disclose the purchase price. Yoni Assia, eToro's co-founder and C

Odyssey, formerly the Dutch Blockchain Hackathon and Blockchaingers, returns for its third edition as a blockchain and artificial intelligence hackathon. The event brings 100 teams together to build s

Lykke, a Swiss fintech startup, has launched two cryptocurrency indexes alongside associated service tokens, expanding its array of products that the company says offer \"a simple path to the crypto ma

Ecxx Global Private Ltd., headquartered in Singapore, is set to debut its cryptocurrency trading venue on March 21 following a substantial pre-launch buildup. The exchange has already accumulated over

Bitcoin-Core developer Matt Corallo has recently proposed a series of changes to the Bitcoin...

In a bid to turn its blockchain industry into “a global leader,” Australia will be developing a national blockchain roadmap and allocating AU$100,000 (US$71,000) to domestic blockchain startups to inc

When crypto ventures seek investor backing, the composition and quality of the team ranks among the highest evaluation criteria. The correlation between project success and team strength—marked by col

CoinShares released a market overview focused on the second half of 2018, and its assessment of Ethereum amounts to a reckoning with unmet promises. The report returns to something Vitalik Buterin tol

Decentralized artificial intelligence network SingularityNET has unveiled a new working relationship with Ping An, the globe's premier insurer by both valuation and scale, alongside its position as a

Administrators responsible for France's commercial court system are implementing a major blockchain initiative designed to modernize the country's business registry infrastructure. The undertaking is

A handful of major mining pools now control Bitcoin's hash power, making the network more vulnerable to attack. This concentration hasn't triggered many actual exploits (though some classify SegWit2x

Malta's chief financial regulator has partnered with CipherTrace, a blockchain analytics and intelligence firm, to monitor and oversee cryptocurrency companies that operate with a license on the islan

Indian state governments are implementing blockchain technology across the country to improve how they deliver services to citizens. About half the states have launched such initiatives. Telangana and

Most UK consumers don't understand cryptocurrencies. Among the small number who have invested, few researched before buying. That's the picture painted by a Kantar TNS study released this week by the

eToro brought its social trading platform to the US crypto market on Thursday, opening access to customers in 32 states and territories. The move marks the brokerage's entry into digital asset trading

Hodl Hodl, a Latvia-based peer-to-peer exchange, plans to launch a prediction market where users can bet on cryptocurrency prices and real-world events without relying on a central exchange. The team

Delphi Digital released research on Ethereum's technical challenges. The firm examined four areas: blockchain growth, Infura's centralization, cross-shard communication, and code vulnerabilities. The

The Bahamas central bank tapped NZIA Limited to build its digital currency system. The announcement came on March 1, following more than a year of planning for Project Sand Dollar, which aims to creat

Ethereum activated its Constantinople upgrade yesterday, Feb. 28, bringing the network to block 7,280,000. The activation came after developers spent a month wrestling with security flaws uncovered in

Tencent's WeBank has agreed to work with Macao's government science and technology fund on smart city development. The partnership with the Macao Science and Technology Development Fund covers infrast

Curv, a digital asset wallet startup, has emerged from stealth and revealed a US$6.5 million seed funding round led by Team8 and Digital Currency Group, with participation from Flybridge Capital, Jump

Cryptocurrency attracted three-quarters of new investors who joined eToro during 2017 and 2018. Among those who bought crypto, one in nine moved into stocks, commodities, or forex afterward. Most dive

Bitcoin's core pitch includes decentralization and anonymity. That framing glosses over a hard reality: the blockchain is public. Anyone can trace every transaction: where funds moved, who sent them,

Cybercriminals are pivoting their attack strategies based on profit calculations, abandoning traditional ransomware and malware in favor of stealthier coin-mining operations that hijack computing reso

Recruit Holdings, the Japanese Internet and human resources firm that owns Glassdoor and Indeed, has launched a US$25 million blockchain fund.

Crypto trading platform BitMart has announced the integration of peer-to-peer (P2P) bitcoin marketplace Paxful onto its exchange as the two companies look to increase liquidity and scalability, they s

A new report examining the stablecoin market finds progress over the past year but substantial work ahead before these currencies mature. The State of Stablecoins 2019: Hype vs. Reality in the Race fo

An eToro analysis reveals a striking generational divide in financial trust. Roughly 45% of millennial day traders possess greater confidence in digital assets than traditional American equities. The

A Swiss-headquartered digital asset payment handler known as PayBear has undergone a transformation, changing its name to Savvy while unveiling a pair of new offerings designed to broaden its reach be

Blockchain platforms like Ethereum and EOS derive much of their appeal from the promise of programmable contracts executed across their networks. Proponents argue that Bitcoin's limited design restric

Digital asset marketplace OpenSea has inked a deal with game publisher So Couch Studios to integrate marketplace infrastructure directly into Ember Sword, the company's blockchain-powered fantasy role

The Enterprise Ethereum Alliance has set up a regional office in China to support its members there. The EEA started in 2017 and promotes Ethereum-based blockchain technology for business use worldwi

Hong Kong-headquartered fintech company FinFabrik announced the closure of its seed funding round, backed by BitMEX Ventures. The investment amount was not disclosed. BitMEX Ventures serves as the inv

MyEtherWallet unveiled the fifth generation of its open-source platform, crafted to deliver straightforward and accessible user interactions. Powering the refresh are integrations with Changelly, Bity

The Crypto Valley in Switzerland and Liechtenstein added 121 new companies in 2018, bringing the total to 750 by the year's end. That's a 20% increase, according to January's Top 50 Q1 2019 report, co

The financial services division of America's largest automaker is turning to blockchain technology as a means to upgrade data handling and address persistent headaches in vehicle financing—chiefly ide

Techstars and Alchemist announced the ten startups entering the first class of their blockchain accelerator program. The cohort will spend 13 weeks in New York, working with mentors from the block

Data security breaches dominated headlines throughout 2018, bringing digital protection into the spotlight for investors and the general public alike. The year exposed vulnerabilities that resonate ac

QuadrigaCX discovered after its founder Gerald Cotten died that approximately $190 million in cryptocurrency held in cold storage wallets remained inaccessible because Cotten alone possessed the passwords and recovery keys required to unlock the encrypted systems.

Criminal activity in digital currency markets reached alarming proportions during 2018, with perpetrators extracting roughly US$1.7 billion through coordinated thefts and deceptive schemes, new resear

Crypto Twitter is where the community assembles. The platform functions as the central hub for anyone involved in cryptocurrency. Follower counts climb from nothing to tens of thousands in months. Peo

TRM Labs, a San Francisco compliance startup, closed a $1.7 million seed round led by Blockchain Capital. Tapas Capital, Green D Ventures, The MBA Fund, and a group of strategic angels participated in

Most people assume Bitcoin provides privacy. The protocol offers almost none of it. Bitcoin transactions are transparent, traceable, and the network doesn't guarantee fungibility. Developers have prop

Binance traders can now buy cryptocurrencies with credit cards. The Malta-based exchange partnered with Simplex, an Israeli payment processor, to add Visa and MasterCard support. Investors can purchas

BxB Inc., a South Korean company, launched KRWb this week—the first stablecoin pegged 1:1 to the Korean won. Built on Ethereum's ERC20 standard, the token records transactions on the blockchain. The c

The appeal of digital currency for online wagering continues to expand, even as the underlying asset class experiences dramatic price swings. Bitcoin gambling platforms report steady growth in their u

Singapore-headquartered Bitsdaq has unveiled its new cryptocurrency exchange, engineered on Bittrex's infrastructure to serve the booming Asian digital asset trading market. The launch comes after rem

Hong Kong-based Bitspark, a fintech platform specializing in cryptocurrency-powered money movement, has unveiled what industry observers are calling a groundbreaking development: the first stablec

BitTorrent Token raised $7.2 million in less than 15 minutes on Binance Launchpad, establishing a successful precedent for the initial exchange offering model as an alternative to traditional initial coin offerings.

Oxfam released its latest annual report at the World Economic Forum in Davos on January 21, measuring the extent of wealth concentration worldwide. The richest 26 people on Earth now control as much w

The department of public expenditure and reform and the department of finance are running a blockchain hackathon this week. BlockAthon Ireland takes place January 25-27 at the Innovation Academy in Du

eToro now offers Zcash for trading. The privacy-focused cryptocurrency becomes the 14th digital asset available on the social trading platform, joining Bitcoin, Litecoin, Stellar, and Binance Coin. Z

The January has finally seen mainnet launches of two implementations of the novel MimbleWimble privacy-focussed payment protocol come to fruition. MimbleWimble was first introduced to the crypto-commu

MyCrypto, the open-source blockchain interface focused on streamlining cryptocurrency transactions, has taken control of Ambo, a wallet developer targeting accessible crypto investment. The deal is in

A new report from the World Economic Forum and McKinsey & Company argues that blockchain, Internet-of-Things sensors, and advanced food-sensing technologies could help fix a broken food system. The n

Huobi Group will launch its own stablecoin in the first half of 2019, according to Chris Lee, the company's CFO and board secretary. He made the announcement on January 20 at an invitation-only event

John McAfee said Tuesday that the IRS is chasing him over his use of cryptocurrencies, and he's running his 2020 presidential campaign from his yacht to stay ahead of federal authorities. \"I am being

Tangem, a Swiss manufacturer of crypto “smart banknotes,” has raised US$15 million from SBI Crypto Investment, a digital asset venture investment company wholly owned by SBI Holdings.

Aryze, a Danish crypto startup developing a global payments system, has completed its initial coin offering (ICO), raising US$1.6 million from 278 individuals representing 14 different nationalities,

A trio of emerging technologies—blockchain, artificial cognition, and immersive digital environments—are positioning themselves as the next wave of transformative forces reshaping enterprise and publi

The notion of a bitcoin mining death spiral has circulated through crypto circles for quite some time. The premise goes like this: a wave of miners stops operations when they can no longer turn a prof

UpStake, an exciting cryptocurrency project officially launched last year, is all set to take...

Two firms operating at the intersection of blockchain technology and cybersecurity have announced a strategic alliance. Rivetz, a developer of security-focused software solutions, is joining forces wi

Reports surfaced this week that Russia plans to load $10 billion worth of bitcoin into its foreign currency reserves early in 2019. Multiple outlets ran the story—The Daily Telegraph, Fortune, ZeroHed

Cryptopia, New Zealand's biggest cryptocurrency exchange, shut its doors on January 14 after hackers drained significant amounts from customer accounts. Police now estimate the theft could exceed $3.5

Mimicry drives innovation and accelerates human evolution—both scientific studies and observable animal behavior confirm this principle. When we replicate the best performers' methods, we bypass count

Monerium, a blockchain startup based in Reykjavik, closed a $2 million seed funding round led by the Nordic VC fund and Crowberry Capital. ConsenSys and Hof Holdings also participated in the round. F

Ulaanbaatar is preparing to test a blockchain-based payment infrastructure in its Nalaikh district, tapping stablecoin developer Terra to spearhead the initiative. The six-month trial will introduce t

Steemit removed the Dark Overlord hacking group this week. The blockchain-focused social site joins Twitter and Reddit in deleting the hackers, though it remains unclear whether Steemit's staff made t

whereas the Lightning Network is mostly known as a way to make Bitcoin payments instant and practically free, another often-touted aspect of the layer-two protocol has been its ability to facilitate a

Singapore's PAL Network, a blockchain-backed insurance technology firm, announced it has inked two agreements with major industry players Toyota Tsusho Corporation and Allianz Malaysia to jointly buil

Blockchain Exchange Alliance controls 38.7% of Bithumb, one of South Korea's largest cryptocurrency exchanges. The Singapore-based holding company raised $100.295 million in an equity crowdfunding rou

Crypto futures exchange Coin Futures and Lending Exchange (CoinFLEX) will introduce stablecoin-to-stablecoin futures contract, offering Tether (USDT) against Circle’s USD Coin (USDC), the company said

On Thursday, BitTorrent Inc. announced intentions to roll out a blockchain-based token designed to enhance download speeds for its users. The digital asset, branded as BTT, will be minted by the Singa

InnovaMinex wants to solve a puzzle that has plagued precious metals buyers for decades: where does your gold come from? Precious metals like gold and silver are paradoxes. They're scarce enough to h

Bitcoin marked a decade of existence on January 3rd, arriving at the milestone after a punishing 2018. The network went live on the same date in 2009, beginning with the Genesis block. Satoshi embedde

Dave Rubin and Jordan Peterson announced they will leave Patreon on January 15th, ending their relationship with the platform that has become central to how independent creators fund their work. The t

Determining which metrics truly matter remains one of the biggest challenges facing investors and analysts in digital assets. This issue took center stage at November's Consensus Invest conference, wh

Fred Wilson sees the cryptocurrency bear market ending this year. The Union Square Ventures co-founder laid out his thesis in his annual year-ahead post, arguing that 2019 will mark the transition fro

Huobi Pool, the mining operation within Huobi Group, plans to open an exchange dedicated to EOS trades in the first quarter of 2019. Users will be able to swap EOS for other cryptocurrencies on the ne

A new survey from PANews indicates that approaching 40 percent of the Chinese population expresses interest in cryptocurrency investments over the coming months. The investigation surveyed roughly

Tim Cook took to the stage in October to argue that the United States needed new federal rules protecting consumer privacy. He spoke against what he called the \"data industrial complex.\" Cook's rhetor