In the mid of July 2019, Bloomberg published a stunning report which indicated that Spanish LEAs are quite concerned regarding the fraudulent use of Bitcoin ATMs. To be very specific, the local forces pointed out an array of glitches in Europe’s AML provisions, which ultimately facilitate the people from the underworld to carry out their…

It is no secret that for the past several years most major technology companies have been researching blockchain systems, with many looking for a pathway to enter and profit from the space. IBM has clearly been at the forefront of this movement, with a myriad of blockchain projects under development, and partnerships with institutions seeking…

The Iranian government recently approved digital coin mining. The announcement which was made on July 2019 by the country’s Economic Commission, has prompted authorities to find ways to control crypto mining within its current legal structures. Thanks to the country’s reduced electricity costs, mining has been thriving even before it was officially legalized. Mining Electricity Costs A…

The United States Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has extended the deadline for companies to report their cryptocurrency ventures. The regulatory notice comes at a time when all eyes are set on Libra, Facebook’s crypto initiative. The initial deadline was July 31,2019 but has since been moved to a similar date next year. Despite the growing…

Binance has been hit with its second security breach this year as a hacker has begun releasing customers’ personal information related to the exchange’s know-your-customer (KYC) processes. The hacker began releasing the information after Binance refused his extortion demand of 300 Bitcoins. Although Binance is downplaying the significance of this incident, it is cooperating with…

Although impressive development has taken place across the blockchain space during the past few years, the ability to purchase crypto with fiat remains challenging. Despite growing interest from the public, purchase options are limited, as the process tends to be long, inconvenient, and expensive. More fiat onramps are opening, but regulatory hurdles continue to be…

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) plans to ban financial instruments associated with digital currencies like Bitcoin. According to a published policy document referenced, “Restricting contract for difference products sold to retail clients”, the financial regulatory body that is based in the United Kingdom announced the proposed ban in July 2019. Though it cannot prevent the direct…

Blockchain technology is on track to disrupt many institutional and business sectors, and its move into the mainstream will likely take place in steps. Among the first is logistics, with the fight against counterfeit goods being a top priority. This type of application is relatively easy for distributed ledger platforms to perform, and could result…

The Bitcoin price recovery that began in April has flatlined, with the price remaining around USD $10,000 for most of this month. Although Bitcoin remains firmly in the top position in terms of market value, its status as the flagship cryptocurrency continues to face challenges. The current state of affairs within the blockchain space reflects…

This article explores the current state of the Lightning Network and the categories/industries which have adopted the second layer technology. They are pioneers breaking new ground and testing out a very important improvement and a potential solution to the Bitcoin scalability issue.