Major U.S crypto firms are rallying against FinCEN’s proposed regulations that would force businesses operating with crypto to gather information on the identities of non-customer counterparties. A Jan. 4 letter from Jack Dorsey, CEO of financial services firm Square takes aim at the proposal for seeking to impose reporting obligations that go “far beyond what is required for cash transactions,” and that Sqaure would be expected to collect “unreliable data about people who have not opted into our service or signed up as our customers.” “Counterparty name and address collection/reporting should not be required for [virtual currency] CTRs or recordkeeping, …

Coinbase has seen a large spike in buyer activity overnight as the price of Bitcoin (BTC) surpassed $32,500 on Jan. 2. Analysts say the trend was reminiscent of MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin accumulation, possibly fueled by institutional buy orders. As a result, BTC surpassed $31,000, reaching a new all-time high. Coinbase buyers were the catalyst for the Bitcoin rally In the last 48 hours, Coinbase has continuously seen a high premium compared to Binance. At one point, Bitcoin on the exchange was $100 more expensive than on Binance. When the price of Bitcoin surpassed $30,000, the premium reached as high as $350. …

The COVID-19 pandemic dominated the news in 2020, affecting myriad sectors — health, economics, social justice, politics and trade, as well as the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry. As country after country locked down to halt the virus’s spread, governments seized upon stimulus payments to preserve economic life. While necessary, these measures raised the specter of global inflation. This, in turn, pushed many traditional investors and institutions to take a new look at cryptocurrencies as an alternate store of value, especially Bitcoin (BTC), the top crypto. Following a March 11 dip, BTC went on a tear, reaching record levels by year …

A number of players are encouraging individuals to speak out against FinCEN’s new crypto rules before comments close next week. Crypto exchange Coinbase and the foundation behind Monero are the latest firms to join in calling for crypto users to share their thoughts on the U.S. Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s new rules. In a blog post today, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said the proposal would represent “too big of an intrusion” on users’ privacy, stating that crypto exchanges would need to collect and share names and addresses for anyone sending or receiving more than $3,000 in crypto in a …

San Francisco-based crypto exchange Coinbase may have had a problem with paying its employees fairly based on gender and race. According to a report from The New York Times journalist Nathaniel Popper, Coinbase paid salaried Black employees roughly 7% less than people in similar positions, based on payroll data from 2018. Across the company, this averaged out to a difference of $11,500. When factoring in the firm's stock options, the gap between white and Black employees' compensation at Coinbase was closer to 11%. The report also alleges a pay disparity by gender. For example, male level-one managers at Coinbase earned …

Major cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase will suspend trading for XRP in response to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission taking legal action against Ripple. According to a blog post published today by Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal, the exchange will fully suspend XRP trading starting on Jan. 19 at 10:00 am PST. Coinbase clarified that “trading may be halted earlier as needed” to maintain the exchange’s market health metrics. In addition, the suspension will reportedly not affect Ripple-backed Flare Network's upcoming Spark (FLR) token airdrop. "The trading suspension will not affect customers' access to XRP wallets which will remain …

Digital currency exchange Coinbase has awarded its first-ever Bitcoin Core developer grants, and a familiar name is among the recipients. João Barbosa and 0xB10C, the alias of a pseudonymous developer, were selected winners earlier this week. Although the funding amounts weren’t revealed, Coinbase said both developers will “be funded to work on Bitcoin for all of 2021” in amounts payable via BTC or USD. As Coinbase states: Both candidates demonstrated a consistent history of contributing to Bitcoin Core, and provided the Fund’s advisory board [...] with a clear, actionable outline of the projects they intend to work on.” Barbosa’s development …

Bitcoin (BTC) saw fresh rejection at $24,000 overnight on Dec. 24, but data shows that appetite for big buy-ins is only increasing. As recorded by on-chain analytics resource CryptoQuant, institution-focused exchange Coinbase Pro alone saw two large withdrawals of more than 12,000 BTC ($278 million) each this week. Coinbase outflows top $550 million As Cointelegraph reported, while not proven, single large outflow spikes suggest that a buyer has purchased a large amount of BTC and the proceeds are being moved to a single storage wallet. "Another big Coinbase outflows a few hours ago," Ki Young Ju, CEO of CryptoQuant, added …

The mainstream has taken a growing interest in cryptocurrency as the price of Bitcoin (BTC) continues to reach all-time highs. To put this interest into perspective, researchers at the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance recently found that 101 million people across the globe currently hold Bitcoin and other digital assets. The report states that in 2018, findings estimated the number of identity-verified digital asset users to be about 35 million globally. With such growth underway, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that crypto holders would get the idea of gifting cryptocurrency this holiday season. Social distancing requirements amid the pandemic …

In some ways, the Coinbase exchange is the poster child for the crypto industry. It has embraced — not fought — regulation, which sets it apart from most cryptocurrency exchanges while the firm’s trading app is praised for its ease of use. When JPMorgan Chase decided to extend traditional banking services to crypto firms in the United States earlier this year — a precedent-setting move — it began with Coinbase and Gemini, another registered U.S. exchange. Therefore, last week’s report that Coinbase filed a draft registration for an initial public offering with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission wasn’t …

Coinbase, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the United States, is advocating extension for the industry’s feedback deadline to newly proposed crypto rules by the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN. In a Dec. 21 blog post, Coinbase’s chief legal officer Paul Grewal addressed FinCEN’s newly released rulemaking regarding self-hosted crypto wallets. The blog post represents an open letter to Kenneth Blanco, the director of FinCEN. In the letter, Grewal considered the new rules by the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, as an “unfortunate and disappointing departure” from the company’s long-running relationship with the regulator. Grewal elaborated that …

CoinDCX, a cryptocurrency exchange based in India, continues to aggressively expand its business with a massive new fundraise. According to a Dec. 21 announcement, CoinDCX has raised $13.9 million from industry investors like Coinbase and Polychain in its Series B funding round. Led by major blockchain software firm Block.one, the new raise also included Singaporean investment firm Temasek, Jump Capital, Uncorrelated Ventures, Mehta Ventures, and Alex Pack. This was CoinDCX’s third round of funding in 2020, bringing the company’s total raised amounts to $19.4 million. In March 2020, CoinDCX raised $3 million in a Series A round from firms like …