Cryptocurrency exchange Huobi is launching a fiat gateway in Indonesia to enable fiat-to-crypto trading between the Indonesian Rupiah (IDR) and Tether (USDT). In a Dec. 27 press release, the Huobi Group announced that the launch of the new fiat-currency gateway will make it possible for Indonesian investors to utilize the IDR to trade more than 250 cryptocurrencies available on its Indonesian subsidiary, Huobi Indonesia. Senior director of Huobi Cloud David Chen commented: "The new fiat gateway is part of Huobi's global expansion strategy and reflects our ongoing commitment to working with strong local partners in key markets across the globe …

Last month, the value of Bitcoin (BTC) nosedived to around the $6,500 mark after having stayed above the $8,000 threshold for a considerable period before that. This downturn showcased Bitcoin’s worst market performance over the past seven months — with the flagship crypto asset’s last stoop below the $6,500 mark occurring in May. However, even with this aforementioned reversal in BTC’s fortunes, data available on Google Trends suggests that global interest in the premier cryptocurrency seems to increase every time the asset witnesses sudden price movements — positive or negative. Also, it bears mentioning that last month, the term “Bitcoin” …

Binance, the second-largest exchange by daily trading volume, has extended trading capabilities for the Turkish lira (TRY) and added a new trading pair for the lira and the Russian ruble (RUB). Binance users can now trade Tether (USDT) against the Turkish lira (USDT/TRY) and the Russian ruble (USDT/RUB). According to an official announcement on Dec. 25, the exchange opened trading for the new pairs on Binance on Dec. 25 at 8:00 AM UTC. In addition, Binance Turkey’s community manager told Cointelegraph that the exchange has added order book trading for all of its Turkish lira trading pairs: BTC, ETH, XRP, …

Malta-based cryptocurrency exchange OKEx has added support for a new feature that allows users of stablecoin Dai (DAI) to earn interest by staking their holdings. In a blog post on Dec. 17, OKEx confirmed users can now stake their Dai via its in-house mining pool, Pool. In return, they will earn 4% interest via the so-called Dai savings rate (DSR), along with an added incentive from OKEx itself. OKEx lures Dai investors The move makes the exchange the first major trading platform to integrate DSR, and the feature will go live on Dec. 23. “On December 23, users of the …

Tether, the stablecoin operator behind USDT, has funded the development of the new version of Bitcoin (BTC) tokenization layer Omni. In a press release shared with Cointelegraph on Dec. 15, the companies announce the release of Omni Core 0.7.0, the development of which was sponsored by Tether. The new version reportedly enhances network performance and fixes locking issues and Remote Procedure Calls. The Omni protocol is a system running on the Bitcoin network that allows the creation of tokens on what is widely believed to be a secure network. Omni is also the platform that hosted the first USDT tokens. …

In a filing with the New York State Supreme Court’s Appellate Division, New York Attorney General Letitia James roundly criticized the efforts of Bitfinex and Tether to halt her office’s investigation into the companies. Bitfinex and Tether are under investigation for an accounting coverup in which Bitfinex is alleged to have improperly transferred $625 million that had been backing the Tether stablecoin in order to conceal Bitfinex’s liquidity shortfall. In the filing from Dec. 4 but made public on Dec. 12, Attorney General James wrote that Bitfinex and Tether are attempting to stop the “ongoing investigation by the Office of …

Controversial cryptocurrency payment processor BitPay has announced it is adding three stablecoins to its list of supported tokens. In a press release on Dec. 10, BitPay confirmed businesses could now accept payment in USD Coin (USDC), Gemini Dollar (GUSD) and Paxos Standard Token (PAX). All are pegged to the U.S. dollar. BitPay steers clear of USDT The rollout brings the total number of available cryptocurrencies to six, alongside Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Ether (ETH). Notably absent from BitPay’s choice is Tether (USDT), the stablecoin with by far the biggest trading volumes. “Accepting or paying with stablecoins opens up …

Binance, the second-biggest cryptocurrency exchange by daily trading volume at press time, now supports Bitcoin (BTC) futures trading on its new iOS app. After Binance initially launched its two futures testnet platforms on Sept. 2, the exchange now allows its users to trade Bitcoin and Ether (ETH) futures contracts via its newly released iOS application, according to a blog post on Dec. 9. BTC and ETH futures trading is also available on Android According to the firm, Binance iOS app users can now trade BTC/USDT contracts at up to 125x leverage, while ETH/USDT contracts are capped at 50x leverage. The …

The plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit accusing the Tether (USDT)-affiliated crypto exchange Bitfinex of Bitcoin (BTC) price manipulation have declined to amend their complaint. According to a court filing dated Dec. 2, the plaintiffs declined to make amendments to their complaint as a study conducted by John Griffin and Amin Shams “still concludes that USDT was being used to manipulate Bitcoin prices.” Moreover, they state that the findings connect the manipulation to a single entity. Last year, Griffin and Shams of the University of Texas published a paper, alleging that Tether partially caused Bitcoin’s historic high of $20,000 in 2017. …

Tether-affiliated crypto exchange Bitfinex is battling a new class action complaint, deemed by the firm to be both “mercenary and baseless.” In an announcement published on Nov. 24, the exchange revealed the lawsuit was filed against both companies in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington two days prior, on Nov. 22 — allegedly without advance notice. Bitfinex: no “nuisance settlements” will be reached Bitfinex’s post uses sharp language to cast aspersions on the motivation and legitimacy of the fresh legal action. The exchange compares the purportedly “copycat lawsuit” to one filed earlier this fall, at …

The non-profit Human Rights Foundation (HRF) has analyzed the censorship and privacy landscape of stablecoins in a report published on Nov. 20. For privacy coins that are not stablecoins, the largest single-week losses so far this year have ranged between 24% and 34%, the HRF notes; a fact that bolsters the attractiveness of stable-value crypto assets, particularly for citizens in hyperinflationary economies. Blockchain-based stablecoins do not only provide the stability advantages of the U.S. dollar but can “democratize access to that stability,” according to the report. The HRF further states that such assets have the potential to free citizens from …

At present, the combined capitalization of the 2,022 crypto assets with a known market cap was roughly $222 billion. On Nov. 19, 2017, just weeks before the current all-time highs would be set for the price and capitalization of Bitcoin and the crypto market overall, the 985 tokens with a known market cap represented a capitalization of around $244 billion — a similar zone to where the market is at currently. However, with the capitalization of Bitcoin (BTC) having grown 15% from $134.1 billion to $154.6 billion during the 24 months following November 2017, more than twice as many altcoins …