Revolut, a crypto-friendly trading app and one of the biggest fintechs in Europe, reportedly tripled its losses in 2019 despite growth in revenue and new customers. The London-based company reportedly posted a total loss of more than 106 million British pounds ($139 million), up from about 33 million pounds ($43 million) in 2018. Nik Storonsky, founder and CEO at Revolut, outlined that the massive losses in 2019 came despite a significant surge in customers, CNBC reports Aug. 11. “We increased daily active customers by 231% and the number of paying customers grew by 139%,” Storonsky noted. Over the course of …

The cryptocurrency field is a place where everything changes in the blink of an eye. New technologies, key market players and trends shift much faster than in any other industry. From the current point of view, many exciting developments seem viable. Still, this chaotic industry can bring more opportunities within the upcoming months, and everything we’ve seen before will be surpassed by something truly outstanding. However, let’s quickly check in. The shift toward a cashless society One of the most society-redefining trends of 2020 came unexpectedly. Right after Christmas, the world seemed safe and sound despite dreadful news from China. …

A European cryptocurrency trading platform called 2gether was recently targeted by an unknown group of hackers. These bad actors stole over 1.183 million Euros ($1.39M) from the service’s investment accounts in a cyberattack on July 31. Ramon Ferraz Estrada, CEO of the crypto firm, revealed in a series of Twitter posts that the hack affected crypto investment accounts and exposed user passwords, though he noted that Euro accounts and wallets “are safe.” To compensate for the stolen funds, 2gether has offered customers its native 2GT token at a price equivalent to 5 cents each. The 2gether team will also attempt …

A Slovak blockchain startup serves as the chief example of pandemic venture capital developments in central and eastern Europe (CEE), in a new report from Reuters on July 31. In the former Eastern bloc — where venture funding hit close to $1.6 billion in 2019 — uncertainty during the COVID-19 crisis has hit the start-up sector hard, particularly when it comes to early-stage deals. Alftins, a Slovak startup that is developing an online platform to trade digital assets, has recently secured funding from publicly-funded venture firm Crowdberry. The latter had earlier missed out on a version of the deal in …

Binance has confirmed the shipping of its crypto debit cards to Europe following a tweet from Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, or CZ, several days ago. “We began shipping a limited quantity of Binance Cards on July 24,” a Binance representative told Cointelegraph in a July 27 email. “The cards are being shipped to users in European Economic Area,” the representative added. CZ posted on social media about the card shipments CZ tweeted the news out in an unofficial capacity on July 25. “This started shipping in limited quantities as of yesterday, I heard,” the exchange CEO said referring to Binance …

After months of waiting, planning and testing, Binance has begun delivering its debit cards to customers. “This started shipping in limited quantities as of yesterday, I heard,” Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, also known as CZ, said in a July 25 tweet, responding to a community member interested in the product. Previous reporting shows an August launch for the card in European regions, so, it can be inferred, CZ means shipping to European customers at this time. Cointelegraph reached out to Binance for additional details but received no response as of press time. This article will be updated accordingly should a …

United Kingdom cryptocurrency custodian Copper announced support for United States dollar transfers through Signature Bank’s Signet blockchain payment platform. According to an announcement on July 20, the integration of Signature Bank’s Signet will allow Copper’s customers to instantly pay and settle transactions in U.S. dollars and other fiat currencies. The integration will “vastly reduce the time and other issues that asset managers face in transferring traditional currencies” between bank accounts and trading environments. Crypto exchanges Bitstamp, Huobi, Kraken, OKCoin and LMAX are already integrated with both Signet and Copper. The collaboration is part of a broader trend Copper CEO Dmitry …

Real innovations and breakthroughs don’t happen in the blink of an eye. Bitcoin (BTC) took many years to get to mainstream users since its inception in 2009. The bull market run in 2017 drastically improved crypto market volumes, but institutions still regarded it as another “dot com” bubble. Later, when distributed ledger technology, or DLT, was more widely accepted, a new type of digital asset aimed at bringing stability to the crypto market gained full recognition. Stablecoins had been (and still are) issued by private firms, but many failed to operate successfully for various reasons in 2020. Now, governments are …

Binance’s highly-anticipated cryptocurrency debit card, Binance Card, is officially debuting in countries of the European Economic Area, or EEA. Binance told Cointelegraph on July 14 that EEA-based users will be able to apply for a Binance Card starting in August. While the United Kingdom will follow in the near future, users in other regions are invited to “register their interest” via the Binance Card website, the firm said. As previously reported, Swipe is currently available in 31 countries within the EEA, including countries like France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, among others. Swipe is not yet available in the United States, …

Encrypted messaging services have always presented a tough challenge for government agencies all over the world. On one hand, they allow for freedom of speech, but on the other, they enable miscreants and bad actors to facilitate nefarious deeds. In this regard, on July 2, European law enforcement authorities arrested over 800 individuals that were allegedly partaking in shady activities through the use of an encrypted chat service called EncroChat. The messaging platform has servers based out of France and claims to provide users with “worry-free secure communications.” According to the BBC, EncroChat has a customer base of more than …

A technology unit at the European Commission has awarded millions of dollars to several blockchain projects in an effort to support the use of blockchain in socially beneficial ways. The European Innovation Council has awarded 5 million euros ($5.6 million) to six blockchain initiatives within its “Blockchains for Social Good” program. Announcing the news on Tuesday, the EIC noted that the prize intends to promote blockchain development in the areas of traceability, fair trade, financial inclusion and decentralized circular economy. The awarded startups include Dutch content authenticity firm WordProof, British startup PPP, Finnish GMeRitS, Oxfam’s UnBlocked Cash Project OXBBU, French …

21Shares, an asset manager specialized in cryptocurrencies, has chosen the custody service offered by crypto exchange Coinbase for its Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded product. According to a Wednesday Coinbase announcement, 21Shares will use Coinbase Custody to secure the Bitcoin backing the ETP launching Thursday. The derivative will launch on Deutsche Borse’s Xetra — Germany’s second-largest stock exchange. The product is purportedly the first physically backed Bitcoin ETP in Europe. Cryptocurrency derivatives see explosive growth Cryptocurrency derivatives are seeing new developments increasingly often. In late February, 21Shares also launched an inverse Bitcoin ETP called Short Bitcoin on Xetra. In January, the same …