Ripple's XRP token could hit $1 in the coming days, according to a classic technical chart setup. Dubbed a "double bottom," the trend reversal indicator appears after the price bottoms out at a level, rebounds toward a higher resistance level, and then pulls back to or near the first bottom level — only to rebound again to the previous resistance line (also called the "neckline"). Should the price close above the neckline, an extended move upward is anticipated, the length of which equals the total height between the neckline and the bottom level. It appears that XRP is closer to …

Following a massive $600-million exploit of cross-chain protocol Poly Network, the Poly Network hacker has claimed his willingness to return the stolen cryptocurrency funds. At about 4:00 am UTC on Wednesday, the hacker sent an Ethereum transaction to themselves, stating that they were “ready to return the fund” in an embedded transaction message. In a subsequent message, the hacker asked for a multisig wallet address to return the funds to Poly Network. “Failed to contact the poly. I need a secured multisig wallet from you,” the hacker noted. Poly Network’s Twitter account posted an update on Wednesday, providing three separate …

GK8, a cybersecurity and digital asset custodian, has partnered with fintech company Securrency to provide banking clients with institutional-grade blockchain solutions. The partnership centers around GK8’s enterprise-grade custody solutions, which will become available to Securrency’s clients as the fintech company builds its tokenization infrastructure. Securrency’s main focus is tokenizing real-world assets such as stocks, commodities and other securities. Dan Doney, co-founder and CEO of Securrency, described GK8 as the “most secure custodial solution in the market,” adding: “GK8’s design provides all-around protection and functionality for enterprise-grade clients. By adding the GK8 custodial solution to our network, we can now make …

A network that’s home to tools and applications championing anonymity has announced that it is exploring the development of oxUSD, a privacy preserving stablecoin. Oxen’s network is already used to power the anonymous messaging app Session — as well as Lokinet, a router that offers an alternative to Tor. However, the project’s team say their infrastructure is capable of handling so much more. They believe a private stablecoin would be a powerful complement to the products that are already on offer, delivering instant and untraceable digital payments. When it comes to the rationale behind launching such a digital asset, Oxen …

Powers On... is a monthly opinion column from Marc Powers, who spent much of his 40-year legal career working with complex securities-related cases in the United States after a stint with the SEC. He is now an adjunct professor at Florida International University College of Law, where he teaches a course on “Blockchain, Crypto and Regulatory Considerations.” Well, well, well. It seems that some of those class-action law firms that ferret out possible securities claims in search of fees and recovery for investors, sometimes wrapped self-righteously in the flag of investor harm and rights, are properly receiving a cold shoulder …

A fintech platform is taking on the decentralized finance craze with a focus on security, stability and accountability that DeFi platforms, by their very nature, cannot match. “Crypto has a reputation problem and we hope to fix that,” crypto exchange and lender YouHodler CEO Ilya Volkov said. “We want to be as safe and reputable as your local TradFi bank but with an innovative twist that lets users harness the power of blockchain-based financial services.” Call it TradFi with a fintech twist, as YouHodler offers crypto-collateral loans on 30 cryptocurrencies, an exchange with a fiat off-ramp, high-interest savings, and a …

Most crypto enthusiasts are less than pleased with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s past approach to crypto. This is not because legitimate businesses oppose regulation but because of the breadth, complexity and uncertainty associated with the current regulatory regime. Even in the context of general discontent, few actions by the SEC have engendered as much widespread criticism as the Dec. 22, 2020 complaint that initiated a civil enforcement action against Ripple Labs and two of its executives. Not everyone opposed the action. For example, Coin Center, a pro-crypto nonprofit advocacy and research group, declined to argue against the …

United Kingdom-based crypto fund Nickel Digital Asset Management released a survey of 100 wealth managers and global institutional investors to find out the biggest investor concerns associated with crypto. The survey features respondents from the United States, France, Germany, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom, who collectively own $275 billion in assets under management. Conducted online from May to June 2021, the survey found low confidence among institutional investors in crypto security, with 76% of respondents citing concerns about the security of custodial services as one factor stopping them from investing in crypto. Respondents also identified the regulatory …

The New Jersey Bureau of Securities had issued a cease and desist order to centralized crypto lending firm, BlockFi, preventing it from onboarding new interest account clients in the state. The news was first broken by Forbes on July 19, with the outlet citing an undated, unpublished draft press release which revealed that the New Jersey Bureau of Securities was planning to issue a Summary Cease and Desist order to BlockFi. The draft reportedly accuses BlockFi of offering unregistered securities to its customers. The document purported to quote Acting Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck as stating: “Our rules are simple: …

Blockchain security firm CertiK announced Wednesday that it has received $37 million in fresh financing to expand its product and security capabilities for the cryptocurrency and DeFi industries. “We’re proud to advance transparency in the space by providing the tools and resources – including our official audit reports – so the community can make sense of vital security information,” said CertiK co-founder Professor Ronghu Gu. Kai Jiang, a partner at Coatue Management, said blockchain security is becoming increasingly important amid the DeFi revolution: “Decentralized finance has grown enormously over the last 18 months, giving millions of people access to innovative …

Following a $1.25 million seed funding round, a cryptocurrency payments and identity management app is moving deeper into decentralized finance. Numio has partnered with zkSync to provide a trustless layer-two solution for payments that it says are instantaneous and as much as 100 times cheaper than transactions on the clogged and expensive Ethereum blockchain. Numio promises peer-to-peer scalability of 2,000 transactions per second. Led by HashKey Capital, the funding round will allow Numio to push into DeFi, including cryptocurrency trading, swaps, pooling, and staking on Ethereum's layer two. Also on the roadmap is support for e-commerce and point-of-sale capability, letting …

Immunefi, a security service outfit that specialized in decentralized finance (DeFi) projects, has inked a collaboration with the Binance Smart Chain. According to a release issued on Friday, Immunefi will work in collaboration with BSC to improve the security of projects on the Binance chain. As part of the partnership, ethical hackers who take part in a campaign to discover vulnerabilities in BSC-based projects will earn rewards. As a security outfit, Immunefi has reportedly paid more than $3 million in bug bounties to ethical hackers. Major BSC protocols such as PancakeSwap, DODO, and Zapper among others are already deploying the …