A handful of government-backed financial institutions have been exploring tokenization use cases to revolutionize traditional financial systems. For instance, El Salvador’s Bitcoin Volcanic bond project has been in the works for over a year and aims to raise $1 billion from investors with tokenized bonds to build a Bitcoin city. The Central Bank of Russia has also expressed interest in tokenized off-chain assets. In addition, the Israeli Ministry of Finance, together with the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE), recently announced the testing of a blockchain-backed platform for digital bond trading. Cointelegraph Research’s 2021 Security Token Report found that most securities …

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance is moving large amounts of cryptocurrency as part of its proof-of-reserve (PoR) audits, according to the CEO. Binance sent 127,351 Bitcoin (BTC), or more than $2 billion, to an unknown wallet on Nov. 28, Whale Alert reported on Monday. According to on-chain data, the transaction occurred at 10:00 am UTC, costing Binance just a 0.000026 BTC ($0.42) fee. The huge Bitcoin transaction has immediately triggered some FUD in the community, with many noting that Binance has moved an amount that is an entire fortune in one single transaction. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao subsequently took to Twitter to …

Cryptocurrency exchange and Initial Coin Offering (ICO) platform CoinList took to Twitter to address “FUD” after a blogger tweeted that users reported being unable to withdraw funds for over a week, sparking fears the company was having liquidity issues or w insolvent. “There is a lot of FUD going around that we would like to address head-on,” CoinList said in a Nov. 24 Twitter thread that stated the exchange is “not insolvent, illiquid, or near bankruptcy.” It said however that its deposits and withdrawals are affected by “technical issues.” 2/ We are upgrading our internal ledger systems and are migrating …

Starling — a digital bank based in the United Kingdom — is the latest financial institution to ban crypto-related transfers and activities for its cardholders. Starling customers will no longer be able to purchase cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) or receive incoming transfers from crypto exchanges or merchants. The online bank announced the news in a statement to customers as well as on Twitter, citing the perceived high risks of crypto trading. Hi there We always review our position in relation to financial crime. We consider crypto activity to be high risk. We’ve taken the decision to prevent all card payments …

The cryptocurrency sector is the Wild Wild West in comparison to traditional finance, yet a number of banks are showing interest in digital assets and decentralized finance (DeFi). This year in particular has been notable for banks exploring digital assets. Most recently, JPMorgan demonstrated how DeFi can be used to improve cross-border transactions. This came shortly after BNY Mellon — America’s oldest bank — announced the launch of its Digital Asset Custody Platform, which allows select institutional clients to hold and transfer Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH). The Clearing House, a United States banking association and payments company, stated on …

Mining helps verify the legitimacy of transactions conducted via a blockchain network such as the Bitcoin blockchain. Miners can start mining cryptocurrencies using hardware like a central processing unit (CPU) or application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs). Alternatively, they can use smartphones powered by Android and iOS systems to mine the cryptocurrencies of their choice. READ ALSO What are the different ways to mine cryptocurrency? by Cointelegraph 2 months ago But, how about mining cryptocurrencies via a decentralized wireless network? Strange it may sound, but miners can now mine cryptocurrencies without relying on expensive infrastructure. Helium Network has made it possible by …

To counter the rising mistrust among crypto investors following the FTX collapse, crypto exchanges unanimously decided to share proof of reserve with the public as a way to showcase legitimacy. However, certain anomalies found during on-chain investigations suggest foul play and market manipulation. Just two days after Crypto.com made its cold storage information public, investigators found that 320,000 Ether (ETH) was sent to Gate.io on Oct. 21, 2022. However, Kris Marszalek, the CEO of Crypto.com, dismissed any wrongdoing by stating that the funds were transferred accidentally and were eventually returned back to the original storage. On Oct. 28, Gate.io released …

The fall of FTX highlighted the importance of proof of reserves in averting risks and improving investor confidence, urging leading crypto exchanges to publicly list down their cold and hot wallet addresses. When trying to confirm the availability of funds on Crypto.com, cold store information revealed a suspicious transfer of 320,000 Ether (ETH) to a wallet address linked to Gate.io on Oct. 21, 2022. Community member @jconorgrogan raised concerns about the transfer of 320,000 ETH from Crypto.com’s cold wallet to Gate.io, considering that the former claims that 100% of user-owned cryptocurrencies are held offline in cold storage in partnership with …

Despite being underpinned by blockchain technology that promises security, immutability, and complete transparency, many cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin SV (BSV), Litecoin (LTC) and Ethereum Classic (ETC) have been subject to 51% attacks several times in the past. While there are many mechanisms by which malicious entities can and have exploited blockchains, a 51% attack, or a majority attack as it is also called, occurs when a group of miners or an entity controls more than 50% of the blockchain’s hashing power and then assumes control over it. Arguably the most expensive and tedious method to compromise a blockchain, 51% of attacks …

The recent tensions between the two major crypto exchanges FTX and Binance, which was accompanied by a massive selloff of FTX Token (FTT), resulted in the collapse of roughly 130 companies linked to FTX Group — including FTX Trading, FTX US, West Realm Shires Services, and Alameda Research. Following the resignation of FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and the revelation of the company’s intent to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, on-chain data hinted at the commencement of bankruptcy proceedings as multiple FTX wallets were found transferring funds over to a common Ethereum (ETH) wallet address. The wallet address in question received …

Amid the ongoing market turbulence for Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies, some big investors are waking up to move their BTC holdings that were untouched for about a decade. According to on-chain data, seven dormant Bitcoin wallets awakened on Nov. 11 to move a total of 3,500 BTC ($60,6 million) to new addresses. A transaction fee for one of these 500 BTC transactions ($8.7 million) amounted to just 0.00011383 BTC, or $2. Blockchain researcher and developer Kirill Kretov flagged the transactions in a LinkedIn post, noting that the new addresses were “not consolidated” yet. Each of the mentioned seven addresses …

In the aftermath of the $28 million Deribit hack, the unknown exploiter is moving stolen funds using the decentralized cryptocurrency mixer, Tornado Cash. The Deribit hot wallet hacker has transferred a total of 1,610 Ether (ETH), or around $2.5 million, to Tornado Cash, according to data from the Ethereum block explorer Etherscan. The funds were transferred in 17 transactions, with the first outgoing transaction occurring on Nov. 5 —just a few days after Deribit suffered the hack. The amount of funds moved to Tornado Cash is just a fraction of all stolen ETH on the hacker’s address, as its balance …