Blockchain entrepreneur Alex Tapscott has been fined $25,000 by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC,) according to a filing on May 14. Tapscott is the CEO of NextBlock Global, and in the filing, the SEC said neither the Canadian company nor its securities had ever been registered with the commission. The 33-year-old and his company have also been ordered to cease and desist from committing further violations of the Securities Act. According to the SEC, NextBlock was founded by Tapscott and three others in June 2017 for the purpose of investing in blockchain companies and related digital assets. …

Budget smartphones released by South Korean consumer electronics giant Samsung will reportedly feature cryptocurrency and blockchain features, local English-language local media Business Korea reports on May 14. Per the report, the crypto and blockchain-related functionality included in the Samsung S10 will be included in other Galaxy smartphone models. The electronics producer also reportedly plans to cooperate with telecommunications companies on blockchain-based mobile identification cards and local currencies. Chae Won-Cheol, senior managing director of the product strategy team at Samsung Electronics' Wireless Business Division, reportedly said: “We will lower barriers to new experiences by gradually expanding the number of Galaxy models …

Blockchain entrepreneur Alex Tapscott is paying a $148,000 fine and will lead ethics seminars at three Canadian business schools per his settlement agreement with the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC), according to a report by The Globe and Mail on May 13. Tapscott, the CEO of blockchain firm NextBlock Global Limited initially filed for a public settlement hearing with the OSC on May 9. The OSC had previously accused NextBlock and Tapscott of misleading investors when he collected a reported $20 million from 113 investors. The regulators alleged that Tapscott lied to investors by presenting them with a slide deck of …

A new report from Big Four audit firm Ernst & Young (EY) outlines the assets and debts of major Canadian crypto exchange QuadrigaCX and its subsidiaries. The report was released on EY site on May 9. EY — a monitor to the creditor proceedings of now-defunct QuadrigaCX — has published a trustee’s preliminary report revealing that Quadriga has around $20.8 million in assets, and around $160 million in liabilities as of April 12, 2019. The debt and assets are spread between three subsidiary companies; 0984750 B.C. LTD. (the “Quadriga Estate”), Quadriga Fintech Solutions and Whiteside Capital Corporation. Quadriga was officially …

The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) along with blockchain corporation NextBlock Global Limited and its CEO Alex Tapscott, have filed for a public settlement hearing on May 9. Tapscott and NextBlock were previously accused by the OSC Staff of the Commission of misleading prospective investors during a funding round that reportedly “raised approximately $20 million from 113 accredited investors.” Investors were allegedly shown investor slide decks that falsely portrayed various well-known figures in the blockchain industry as NextBlock advisors. NextBlock allegedly did not inform the individuals that they were being purported as advisors to the project. As previously reported by Cointelegraph, …

Canadian bitcoin (BTC) mining company Hut 8 made almost $50 million in revenue last year but triggered total losses of almost $140 million, according to an annual earnings report released on May 6. Hut 8, which counts itself as one of the world’s largest publicly-traded cryptocurrency mining companies, saw 2018 revenue hit $49.4 million. The company’s EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) for the year was $19.3 million. Losses amounted to $136.7 million. Hut 8 currently operates 85 mining centers worldwide, with 2018’s mixed performance reflecting the fate of many mining businesses during the cryptocurrency bear market. As …

Researchers have re-engineered the Hyperledger Fabric to support almost seven times more transactions per second (TPS), according to a May 2 news release from Canada’s University of Waterloo. A new series of optimizations increased the volume of data that the blockchain — used by financial institutions, IT giants and engineering companies — can process. Where it formerly maxed out around 3,000 TPS, the researchers claim they managed to achieve 20,000 TPS. The university’s work focused on improving “end-to-end transaction throughput” by redesigning Fabric’s ordering service, transaction service and data management layer. This means that the blockchain is more practical for …

Canadian blockchain firm Vanbex has filed a lawsuit against its former contractor for spreading false and defamatory statements about the firm, as Vanbex announced on May 1. On March 14, Canadian police froze personal assets of the firm’s founders Kevin Hobbs and Lisa Cheng due to an allegedly fraudulent initial coin offering (ICO). According to court documents, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) determined that Vanbex founders Kevin Hobbs and Lisa Cheng were defrauding investors by offering investment in its token Etherparty (FUEL), while intending to use investor funds for personal benefit, rather than developing products. Following the reports, Vanbex’s …

The central banks of Singapore and Canada have successfully used their blockchain networks to send each other digital currency, a joint press release confirmed on May 2. As part of the distributed ledger technology (DLT) projects being pursued by both banks, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (BAS) sent funds to the Bank of Canada (BoC) without a third party. The process was made possible by linking up two DLT networks: MAS’ nascent Project Ubin platform and BoC’s Project Jasper. JPMorgan and accounting giant Accenture, which assisted in the development of the platforms, also partnered with the banks to make the …

TrustToken has released its latest stablecoin, TrueCAD, on May 1. The latest in TrustToken’s line of fiat-backed stablecoins, its value is linked to the Canadian dollar. TrustToken has also created a number of other stablecoins, such as TrueUSD (U.S. dollars), TrueGBP (British pounds) and TrueAUD (Australian dollars); each of these backed at a purported 1:1 ratio with their associated fiat currencies. For now, holders can use these four stablecoins on the TrustToken app, and expect them to be listed on exchanges “over the coming weeks and months.” TrustToken further notes that some of their products are already being traded on …

Five Canadian banks will be employing a blockchain-based user identification system developed by tech startup SecureKey Technologies, Bloomberg reports on May 1. Per the report, the Verified.Me digital identity system is now available to clients of the Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Bank of Nova Scotia, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and Desjardins Group. The service will soon be available to users of the services provided by the Bank of Montreal and National Bank of Canada as well, while Sun Life Financial will reportedly be the first North American insurer to use the system. Bloomberg quotes SecureKey CEO Greg …

Coinbase Custody announced immediate support for the mainnet iteration of the KIN token today, April 30, 2019. As Cointelegraph previously reported, KIN is a cryptocurrency created by Canadian organization Kik Interactive of Kik Messenger fame. The token was originally developed on the Ethereum and Stellar networks and now operates on its own blockchain (a fork of Stellar). “KIN holders can now benefit from Coinbase Custody’s industry-leading offline storage platform and insurance coverage,” they say. Coinbase Custody is a custodial service provided by San-Francisco-based platform Coinbase. Coinbase Custody was first announced on Nov. 16, 2017 and launched on July 2, 2018. …