Gemini, a major cryptocurrency exchange founded by the Winklevoss twins, has launched its crypto credit card. The company officially announced Thursday that its Gemini Credit Card is available in the United States across all 50 states. The new card is issued by the state-chartered industrial bank WebBank and features Mastercard as the exclusive card network. The card’s rollout comes more than a year after Gemini initially announced the project in 2021, aiming to reward users for using crypto for everyday transactions. Since launching the Gemini Credit Card waitlist last year, more than 500,000 users have signed up for the product, …

Receiving cashback from your credit and debit card purchases has been a long-time benefit for credit card users. However, crypto entered the scene as projects start to implement crypto back rewards for card purchases. Back in 2021, BlockFi launched a Visa-backed Bitcoin rewards card as a way to welcome users into the crypto ecosystem. With the card, users can get 1.5% back in Bitcoin (BTC) instead of other rewards like cashback or miles. In the same year, Venmo also employed mechanics that allows users to buy crypto with their cashback rewards. A program called Cash Back to Crypto allowed credit …

Internet Computer (ICP) and DFINITY founder Dominic Williams has conjured up an oddball plan to speed up the end of the Russian invasion of Ukraine via smart contracts and $250 million worth of crypto rewards. DFINITY’s Internet Computer was launched in May 2021 and is a public blockchain and protocol that’s trying to decentralize the internet. Williams' March 16 proposal is focused on countering propaganda, and informing the Russian population — who he suggests are in general “completely ignorant” — on the reality of what is actually taking place in Ukraine, which will then, in turn, spur them on to …

On February 11th, two days before the Super Bowl and Coinbase’s $14 million color-changing QR code advert, an engineer was desperately trying to reach out to Coinbase management and the development team. Anyone here can get me a direct line with someone at @coinbase , preferably management or dev team, possibly @brian_armstrong himself? I'm submitting a hacker1 report but I'm afraid this can't wait. Can't say more either, this is potentially market-nuking. DMs open. — Tree of Alpha (@Tree_of_Alpha) February 11, 2022 Tree of Alpha had discovered “a flaw in the new Advanced Trading feature would have allowed a malicious …

Another Bitcoin miner from the Solo CK mining pool has solo mined a new block on the Bitcoin blockchain, earning a block reward of 6.25 BTC (over $220,000 at current prices) as a result. The event took place on Monday at a block height of 720,175. Solo mining consists of attempting to validate blocks by a single miner, without teaming efforts with other miners on a mining pool, and running a full blockchain node. Without significant hashing capabilities, the odds of validating a block tend to be extremely unlikely. To increase these odds and avoid the costs associated with solo …

American Express credit card holders may one day be able to redeem points for cryptocurrencies, but the company has no immediate plans to issue a crypto-linked credit card. In a Tuesday interview with Yahoo! Finance, Amex chief executive officer Stephen Squeri said credit card holders were “probably not gonna see a Amex crypto-linked card anytime soon” but the company was already involved in using cards for stablecoins, and monitored for central bank digital currency developments from the U.S. government. The CEO said he considered major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) as “more of an asset class” like gold, but did not …

Food delivery platform Grubhub has partnered with Bitcoin rewards app Lolli to give hungry people the opportunity to earn crypto back on their orders. In a Wednesday announcement, Lolli said Grubhub customers would be able to earn $1 in Bitcoin (BTC) rewards each time they used the platform’s extension or app. The funds will be available for transfer or storing in a user’s Lolli wallet after earning more than $15, or roughly 0.00026 BTC at the current price of $58,458. “We must make Bitcoin a part of everyday life,” said Lolli co-founder and CEO Alex Adelman. “Food delivery is a …

Landry’s Restaurant Group announced a partnership with cryptocurrency firm NYDIG on Tuesday that will enable diners to earn $25 worth of Bitcoin for every $250 spent at the hospitality conglomerate’s eateries. Landry’s will also begin keeping a portion of its corporate treasury reserves in Bitcoin under the care of NYDIG. The company is known for operating dozens of franchise entities including Morton’s, Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, the Rainforest Cafe, and the Palm. Landry’s is owned by billionaire TV personality Tillman Fertita, who also acts as the company’s CEO. Landry’s Director of Digital Asset Strategy Trey Zeluff said in a statement: …

Major credit card company Mastercard has announced it is preparing to integrate cryptocurrencies into its loyalty program offerings for United States-based banks, merchants and fintech firms on its payment network. In a Monday announcement, Mastercard said it would be working with digital asset platform Bakkt to allow its customers based in the United States to buy, sell and hold digital assets through custodial wallets. The partnership will also enable cardholders to earn and spend rewards in crypto rather than using loyalty points and accruing or redeeming tokens for purchases. “We’ll not only empower our partners to offer a dynamic mix …

Bitcoin (BTC) turned out to be a far more attractive prize than airline miles or other cashback rewards, new data from BlockFi suggests. It’s been three months since the New York-based crypto loans startup launched its Visa-backed Bitcoin rewards credit cards, BlockFi Rewards Visa Signature Credit Card, to customers. The card offers rewards in Bitcoin instead of using a more traditional points system. According to the company, if the average Bitcoin rewards card owner continues the shopping habit seen in these first three months, they'll be on track to spend more than $30,000 per year on average. This is almost …

The United States government is offering rewards in cryptocurrency for information relating to the operations of enemy state-backed hackers or suspected terrorists. The U.S. State Department’s new “Rewards for Justice” platform allows informants to submit anonymous tips and information in return for rewards in digital assets. The platform was promoted at the Black Hat USA event, which ran from July 31 to Aug. 5 in Las Vegas, with users able to submit tips via an unsecured Wi-Fi network called #Rewardsnotransoms. The open network was purposely set up to encourage attendees to log in and access the RFJ website, according to …

The mining difficulty of the Bitcoin network took a dive after China had announced a crackdown on mining operations, which at its peak contributed to three-quarters of the global hash rate. The latest data from BTC.com shows an ongoing spike in Bitcoin’s mining difficulty starting from June 17, 2021. As miners from China slowly settle down in crypto-friendly countries, the Bitcoin ecosystem witnessed a 13.77% increase in mining difficulty in two consecutive jumps, exceeding 15 terahashes (TH) for the first time since the second week of June. The next adjustment is expected to commence on Aug. 27, estimated to surge …