The University of Basel has granted an honorary doctorate to Ethereum (ETH) co-founder Vitalik Buterin, according to an official statement on the university’s website today, Nov. 30. The Faculty of Business and Economics of Switzerland’s oldest university has awarded Buterin for “outstanding achievements in fields of cryptocurrencies, smart contracts, and the design of institutions,” as the university noted in a recent tweet on the official Twitter account. The honorary doctorate of the faculty of economics is awarded to Vitalik Buterin by dean Prof. Dr. med. Aleksander Berentsen. Source: Universität Basel The honorary degree was granted by dean Aleksander Berentsen, Professor …

Taiwan-based tech giant ASUS has partnered with GPU mining platform Quantumcloud to allow users to mine crypto via their graphic cards, multinational tech media TechRadar reported Thursday, Nov. 30. According to the agreement, ASUS graphic cards owners will be able to mine crypto through Quantumcloud software and withdraw earnings using PayPal or Chinese app WeChat. The new partnership allows gamers to monetize idle GPUs when the units are not occupied by graphic-consuming processes by mining cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC). However, Quatumcloud does not guarantee specific profits or outcomes for users, stating that users have to consider usage costs on …

The U.S. Treasury Department has sanctioned two Iranians allegedly involved in Bitcoin (BTC) ransomware scheme SamSam, the Treasury reported in an official press release today, Nov. 28. The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has taken action on Wednesday against two Iranian individuals, Ali Khorashadizadeh and Mohammad Ghorbaniyan, who are accused of exchanging Bitcoin into Iranian rials (IRR). This is also the first time that Bitcoin addresses have been publically attributed to “designated individuals” on the OFAC’s sanctions list. According to the report, SamSam ransomware breaks into companies’ computer networks, allowing criminals to take over …

Blockchain-focused electronics supplier SIRIN Labs will launch its first blockchain-based smartphone tomorrow, Nov. 29, U.S.-based IT and business tech magazine Computerworld reports today, Nov. 28. Following a funding round that raised $157 million in an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) for a blockchain-powered phone in December 2017, the Swiss-based firm announced this summer that they will release their blockchain-enabled smartphone FINNEY in November 2018. Based on both Android and SIRIN’s open-source operating system (OS), SIRIN OS, the FINNEY phone will offer a cold-storage crypto wallet and provide secure encrypted communications. On sale for $1,000, FINNEY will also contain a Token Conversion …

Spencer Bogart, a partner at the venture capital firm Blockchain Capital, believes that crypto opportunities are “still gigantic” despite the current bear market, the expert claimed in an interview with Bloomberg on Monday, Nov. 19. The expert at the crypto and blockchain-focused venture capital startup has maintained his pro-Bitcoin (BTC) stance, pointing out the critical role of “programmable money,” which is supposed to gain even more popularity over time. Considering programmable money as a “multi-trillion dollar idea,” Bogart emphasized the fact that Bitcoin has become the “biggest bull markets of all time,” referring to the the massive spike of Bitcoin …

Dutch rights management company Fintage House has signed a deal with blockchain-based social entertainment platform TaTaTu to start accepting cryptocurrency for rights transactions, entertainment industry news outlet Variety reported Nov. 12. Established in 1986, Fintage House specializes in the collection and management of TV, film and music publishing rights and licensing, as well as offering revenue collection and reporting for rights owners services. The partnership with TaTaTu enables Fintage House to accept the platform’s native token TTU for film and TV rights transactions. TTU tokens were originally designed to let users pay for video content — so the platform can …

Blockchain will “probably take a little longer” to develop than the internet, because it is “much more complicated,” ConsenSys creator Joseph Lubin told German media outlet t3n in an interview, Cointelegraph auf Deutsch reported Nov. 9. Lubin, who is also the co-founder of Ethereum (ETH), told reporters that blockchain technology is developing in a similar way to the web, citing its exponential growth with “hundreds of projects that are already practical for humans” to date. Based on blockchain’s use case for decentralized cryptocurrencies, the digital entrepreneur also suggested that distributed ledger technology (DLT) will be able to “permeate society more …

Crypto exchange Gate.io has removed web analytics tool StatCounter from their website following a breach report by cybersecurity firm ESET, according to an official blog post published today, Nov. 7. The company has reported that they immediately removed StatCounter's traffic stats service after receiving a security notice by ESET about suspicious behavior. Gate.io claimed they subsequently scanned the website with 56 antivirus products, and “no one reported any suspicious behavior at that time.” However, the firm still changed its traffic tracker, also reporting that “users’ funds are safe.” On Nov. 6, Slovakia-based cybersecurity firm ESET published a security report claiming …

Major global tech giant IBM has applied for another blockchain patent, this time aiming to deter augmented reality (AR) game players from intruding on undesirable locations. The tech firm’s latest patent document was released by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on Thursday, Nov. 1. In the patent, IBM, also known as Big Blue, describes a blockchain-based method and system of interactions between a AR-running mobile device and locational database in order to set and maintain safe boundaries between AR objects and real-world physical locations. According to the document, a distributed ledger is set to continuously maintain a growing …

Dapper Labs, developer of the world’s most used blockchain app CryptoKitties, has received $15 million in another financing round, global news agency PR Newswire reported on Nov. 1. The new funding will help the Canada-founded Dapper Labs to expand it services on a local and global scale, as well as to address infrastructure issues and to boost mainstream adoption of distributed ledger technology (DLT). According to the press release, the company is planning to set up a subsidiary in the U.S. headed by execs from video gaming firms Unity and Disney. Led by Venrock, the official venture capital arm of …

Programmer and crypto enthusiast John McAfee revealed his intention to use his 2020 bid for U.S. presidency as a platform to promote permissionless cryptocurrencies in an interview with Cointelegraph Nov. 1. Speaking with Cointelegraph at the Malta Blockchain Summit today, the founder of McAfee Antivirus Software said he plans to run “around a libertarian platform,” and use his access to the national stage solely to discuss cryptocurrencies, while expressing confidence that “no one will elect [him] as president.” McAfee commented that his pro-crypto stance is mainly based on the concept of “personal freedom,” stating that in his coming bid for …

Ripple has recently hired a former senior developer at Google’s new wireless messaging service as vice president of products, Reuters reports Friday, Oct. 26. The U.S. tech company that backs the third top cryptocurrency by market cap, Ripple (XRP), has confirmed to Reuters that Amir Sarhangi is leaving his position at Google to lead Ripple’s global payments network, RippleNet. Sarhangi reportedly joined Google in 2015 when the tech giant acquired Jibe Mobile, a startup that he founded to develop technology for wireless carriers to implement rich communication system (RCS). The RCS technology standard is considered to be a successor to …