Binance’s official account on China’s major microblogging website Weibo has been blocked. The account of the major global exchange was blocked on Nov. 13, purportedly due to violations of the site’s policies, Taiwan-based publication The China Times reported on Nov. 15. At press time, Binance’s Weibo page is blocked, displaying a notice that the account has violated provisions of the Weibo Community Convention. All content, including Binance’s posts and the number of followers, is currently unavailable. Cointelegraph has contacted Binance for a comment on the issue, but the exchange has not replied as of press time. Binance’s plans to launch …

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) took to Twitter on Oct. 25, saying that he had “got word” that WeChat Pay puts receipts on the blockchain, along with a screengrab of a receipt with a link to a block explorer. Why does CZ care so much? Globally, companies in almost every industry are implementing blockchain solutions, so why should CZ feel the need to comment on this one? Perhaps it has something to do with a story from earlier this month, in which CZ announced the launch of payment on-ramps for Binance in China, utilizing WeChat Pay and Alipay payment services. …

Facebook’s Libra stablecoin would be a serious threat to WeChat Pay, the payment service’s parent company Tencent admitted in a recent blockchain whitepaper. Asian news outlet EjinSight reported on Oct. 24 that in the document Tencent acknowledges that international expansion of Chinese mobile payments offerings would be threatened if Libra launched. In the newly released whitepaper, Tencent illustrated the effectiveness of Libra’s expansion strategy: “It’s a safe play resorting to the strategy of ‘encircling the cities from the rural areas,’ in which Libra coin could quickly enter markets with underdeveloped financial infrastructure, especially those that do not have a credible …

Major cryptocurrency exchange Binance has begun accepting fiat currencies through online payment service Alipay and mobile messaging and payment app WeChat, CEO Changpeng Zhao confirmed in a tweet on Oct. 9. Zhao was quick to clarify that Binance is not working directly with WeChat or Alipay, and users are still able to use them for peer-to-peer transactions. The move follows the implementation of Binance’s peer-to-peer trading for Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and Tether (USDT) against the Chinese yuan (CNY) earlier on Oct. 9. The service will be initially available to Android users who already have Binance accounts registered for at …

Major file sharing company BitTorrent, a subsidiary of blockchain company Tron, is going to internally test its blockchain-based live streaming platform in Q3 2019. Platform overview BitTorrent announced the news in an official blog post on Aug. 27. According to the announcement, the streaming platform — called BitTorrent Live (BLive) — supports live video content and an instant messaging service. Additionally, its underlying system reportedly contains a top user chart and a user relationship feature. BitTorrent intends to roll out BLive in alpha, beta and full versions from Q3 2019 to Q1 2020. The current alpha version features a small …

Within the past 12 months, stablecoins have transformed from a niche idea to tackle the issues of a volatile market into methods of payment championed by some of the world’s biggest and most powerful tech companies. Facebook’s announcement that it would be supporting the launch of a reserve-backed stablecoin played a vital role in turning around the so-called “crypto winter” by boosting Bitcoin (BTC) prices above $10,000 for the first time in over two years. Since then, the world’s number one cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, has thrown its hat into the ring with its own stablecoin development project, “Venus.” Binance launches …

China’s answer to Facebook’s Libra digital currency could help the central bank attract business away from Alipay and WeChat Pay. Speaking to mainstream media outlet the South China Morning Post (SCMP) on Aug. 19, Cindy Wang, an analyst at DBS Group Research, said Beijing could profit from the appeal of its state-issued digital currency to merchants. Bringing back bank deposits According to Wang, the two payment giants Alipay and WeChat Pay account for nine out of every ten transactions in China. In addition, the digital currency could help limit capital outflows. “Currently, banks are under pressure to retain their deposit …

On June 10, one of the top cryptocurrency media sites, CCN, initially announced that it would shut down, citing a June 3 Google Core Update for stifling its traffic. Writing on the website, the director and founder of CCN Markets and Hawkfish AS, Jonas Borchgrevink, blamed the update for an overnight fall of 71% of the site’s mobile traffic. While Borchgrevink noted that ups and downs are part of the business, such a vertiginous fall is unprecedented in its history. At the time of the post, the founder said that it could not support new additions to its team or …

E-cash inventor David Chaum says he believes the real killer app for blockchain and cryptocurrencies will be privacy-oriented messaging systems integrated with payments. Chaum made his remarks in an interview on the Bloomberg Odd Lots podcast on May 27. Chaum — a trailblazing American cryptographer who invented a secure, privacy-preserving digital currency back in 1982 — told Bloomberg that he believes that increased awareness around privacy and digital sovereignty in the contemporary era has paved the way for blockchain and cryptocurrencies to make a breakthrough as a mass society and consumer application. He stated that: “In the modern world, the …

Two Chinese over-the-counter (OTC) traders have been accused of running an illicit bitcoin (BTC) loan scheme and collecting bitcoin by promising interest on deposits, Chinese newspaper The Beijing News reports on May 22. According to the article, Yi Zhou and Xiang Li convinced traders to send them their bitcoin holdings by promising them interest on their deposits, obtaining over 7,000 BTC (nearly $54.7 million at press time) from over 100 investors. The allegedly defrauded investors first started cultivating suspicions when the interest — which was paid in yen — stopped arriving on time in April. The two individuals reportedly gained …

On May 7, Dovey Wan, founding partner of crypto investment firm Primitive Ventures tweeted that the Chinese social media behemoth and payment service provider WeChat is set to ban merchants from making cryptocurrency payments. This ban marks the latest effort to stymie cryptocurrency usage in China, with the government also mulling over ways of greatly decreasing the presence of crypto mining on its soil. WeChat bans crypto payments A rough translation of the Payment Service Protocol found on weixin.qq.com indicates that the ban is a result of changes regarding payment management and measures to ensure “the prevention of illegal telecommunications …

Top Stories This Week Hackers Withdraw 7,000 Bitcoins in Binance Crypto Exchange Security Breach Binance, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges by daily trade volume, experienced a security breach this week, losing a little over 7,000 bitcoins (BTC). CEO Changpeng Zhao stated at the time that the bitcoins were withdrawn from its hot wallets, which contain only 2% of the exchange’s total bitcoin holdings. In the interim, proceeds from the hack have been moved to seven addresses. CZ devoted a live AMA on Twitter to address community concerns in the wake of the hack, also discussing the idea of a …