Since the United States Federal Reserve and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network opened for public comment a proposed rule to acquire more information on smaller international transactions, many crypto users have labeled the measure an invasion of privacy. On Oct. 23, the regulatory agencies published a notice of a proposal to modify a long-standing rule in which financial institutions in the U.S. are required to exchange client information for all international transactions greater than $3,000. The proposal — which includes “transactions involving convertible virtual currencies and digital assets with legal tender status” — would lower this monetary threshold to $250. …

A blockchain analytics firm is urging crypto businesses to make compliance a top priority, as regulators step up requirements for virtual asset service providers. Bitcoin’s bullish 2020 has sparked an influx of crypto businesses with cutting-edge product features coming into the market — along with new blockchains, tokens, and DeFi protocols. All of these startups will need to meet the regulatory guidelines of the country where they base their business in. Crystal Blockchain says 2021 is shaping up to be an important year — and is advising crypto service companies to introduce compliance measures that meet regulatory and due diligence …

According to Tether’s official transparency data, the USDT market cap crossed a $17 billion mark for the first time, hitting over $17 billion in total assets. Tether’s market cap has been growing exponentially in 2020. As of mid-September, Tether’s market cap had seen nearly a four-fold increase since the beginning of the year, surging above $15 billion from around $4 billion. According to data from crypto analytics firm Messari, USDT saw a notable increase from August 2020 to date. As such, USDT added more than $5 billion in market cap over the past three months. Tether (USDT), the largest stablecoin …

As the Bitcoin (BTC) price is reaching its highest levels since January 2018, Bitcoin mining is getting more profitable due to a number of factors. According to data from Blockchain.com, BTC miner revenue has soared to levels not seen since Bitcoin’s third halving in May 2020, which reduced the miner block reward from 12.5 BTC to 6.25 BTC. As such, BTC miners’ revenue hit $20.8 million on Nov. 4. According to Blockchain.com, this is the highest point recorded since September 2019, when the miners’ block reward was twice as much as now. A spike in BTC miner revenue levels is …

The DeFi bubble seems to be slowing down in the last months of 202, with fees and confirmation times retreating back to less formidable levels. "ETH fees are way down suggesting the DeFi madness has abated for now," Josh Olszewicz, also known as CarpeNoctom on Twitter, told Cointelegraph. "DeFi cooling off, BTC HR [hash rate] way down (-16% difficult adjustment)," he also said, referring to the situation on Bitcoin's (BTC) network. Bitcoin's network action, however, is not related to the drop in Ethereum fees, based on Olszewicz's opinion. "Just happens to correlate," he explained. Bitcoin's hash rate suffered a recent …

Australian Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg thinks that blockchain technology can solve a number of major regulatory issues in his home country. According to Bragg, blockchain technology could become a useful tool in reducing complications associated with financial regulatory compliance and transparency. “The future is technology by blockchain,” the senator said at an online panel of the Future of Financial Services 2020 conference, ZDNet reported on Nov. 4. Bragg said that blockchain-powered instant cross-border transactions “may well be the solution to one-touch government with international transactions in real time.” The senator stated that blockchain tech can solve major problems associated with …

Cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase, Paxful, Gemini and BitFinex have all joined the Anti-Human Trafficking Cryptocurrency Consortium, or ATCC. Launched in April 2020 by the Anti-Human Trafficking Intelligence Initiative, the consortium is a nonprofit focused on intelligence sharing, best practices and the development of tools to fight trafficking. The ATCC brings together crypto exchanges, blockchain intelligence firms and law enforcement to combat human trafficking and child sexual abuse material, also known as CSAM. Aaron Kahler, chair and founder of the Anti-Human Trafficking Intelligence Initiative, told Cointelegraph that thought leadership and information-sharing within the cryptocurrency space are vital to building awareness for anti-human …

What factors contribute to transaction fee sizes? The two main factors affecting fees are the size of a transaction, and demand for block space. Given that some networks can only contain a limited amount of data in each block, miners or validators are restricted on the number of transactions they can include. When there are many users sending crypto funds simultaneously, demand for block space increases, and there are more transactions waiting for confirmation. Sometimes, demand for block space can get so high that networks experience congestion, and fees surge to unsustainable levels. Larger transactions require more space in the …

The governor of China’s central bank has given more details about the country's ongoing digital currency pilot. Yi Gang, governor of the People’s Bank of China, said that the digital yuan pilots have processed over four million transactions to date, totaling more than 2 billion yuan ($299 million). The official delivered his latest remarks at the Hong Kong Fintech Week conference on Nov. 2, Bloomberg reported. According to Yi, the pilots have been going smoothly so far, having rolled out for extended testing in four cities. Growth in demand for digital and contactless payment methods amid the coronavirus pandemic have …

The Bitcoin network has slowed down amid Bitcoin’s (BTC) new price highs, causing a large number of unconfirmed transactions. According to the mempool transaction count on Blockchain.com, the number of unconfirmed Bitcoin transactions surpassed 100,000 on Oct. 27. This is the highest number of unconfirmed Bitcoin transactions recorded since late 2017, when Bitcoin hit $20,000. The all-time high of unconfirmed transactions in the Bitcoin mempool was recorded in early December 2017, accounting for about 180,000 transactions, according to data from Blockchain.com. The high number of unconfirmed transactions comes amid Bitcoin hitting new multi-month highs. On Oct. 27, Bitcoin surpassed a …

With Bitcoin's price continuing to hold close to $13,000, one crypto wallet has moved more than $1 billion of the digital asset. According to on-chain data, a Bitcoin (BTC) wallet holder moved more than 88,857 BTC — worth roughly $1.15 billion — for a fee of only 0.00027847 BTC, or $3.58 at time of publication. The coins were confirmed in block 654,364 on Oct. 26. Data from analytics platform CrystalBlockchain appears to show that the user sent the coins from an address labeled as a Xapo Bitcoin wallet. Because Coinbase Custody acquired Xapo’s institutional business in 2019, it is possible …

Harvest Finance, a major decentralized finance protocol, has seemingly issued a $100,000 bounty in the aftermath of a $24 millon attack targeting its liquidity pools. In an Oct. 26 tweet, Harvest Finance said that there is enough data so far to identify the attacker, “who is well-known in the crypto community.” In addition to the BTC addresses which hold the funds, there is now a significant amount of personally identifiable information on the attacker, who is well-known in the crypto community. We are putting out a 100k bounty for the first person or team to reach out to the attacker …