Crypto Briefs is your daily, bite-sized digest of cryptocurrency and blockchain-related news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s crypto news.
Legal news
- Major investment bank JPMorgan Chase has agreed to pay USD 2.5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit over its decision to begin treating purchases of cryptocurrency with Chase credit cards as cash advances in 2018, which resulted in higher fees, reports Reuters. Per a motion filed in Manhattan federal court, the bank is not admitting wrongdoing as part of the deal, while plaintiffs said the settlement would result in class members getting c. 95% of the fees they claim were unlawfully charged.
- The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced charges against California-based blockchain services company BitClave PTE Ltd. for conducting an unregistered initial coin offering (ICO) of digital asset securities. According to the press release, in 2017 the company raised USD 25.5 million by selling its Consumer Activity Tokens (CAT) to c. 9,500 investors. BitClave agreed to settle the charges by returning the proceeds from the offering, as well as prejudgment interest of c. USD 3.5 million and a penalty of USD 400,000, to be distributed to investors through a Fair Fund.
Crypto adoption news
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Discovery-owned Science Channel has slated a limited docuseries that will explore the rise of blockchain company Dragonchain (DRGN), and the evolution of cryptocurrency technology, Realscreen reported. Produced by Vision Tree Media, Open Source Money will examine the history of the Disney-incubated blockchain technology company that was launched in 2017, it added. Open Source Money is set to premiere on July 4. DRGN ranked 178th by market capitalization on Coinpaprika.
- Following the recent launch of Tezos (XTZ) staking rewards for our US customers, major crypto exchange Coinbase has launched this feature for its users in the UK and certain EU member countries, namely France, Spain, and the Netherlands. Per the announcement, Coinbase will stake XTZ on behalf of customers and distribute rewards directly to customer accounts. Since the US launch of staking rewards, customers have earned over USD 2 million in Tezos staking rewards, says the exchange.
- A customer survey conducted by Japanese crypto exchange GMO Coin has found that users are expecting bitcoin (BTC) to perform well this year, while expectations for XRP have taken a sharp fall compared to last year’s figures. Per Coin Post, 56% of respondents believed that XRP prices would rise when surveyed at the same time in 2019, a figure that has now fallen to just 25%. Meanwhile, last year just 28% of customers said they expected to see bitcoin prices rise, a number that has increased to 47% this year.
Gaming news
- Blockchain game technology firm Enjin (ENJ) has announced that their blockchain plugin for the popular sandbox video game Minecraft, called EnjinCraft, is live. EnjinCraft is giving the player the ability to integrate, use, and trade blockchain gaming items in their server, states the announcement. Players can provide unique permissions to other players based on their blockchain inventory, allow P2P trading in their Minecraft server, send blockchain assets to players via console commands, show players their real-time enjin coin and ethereum (EHT) balance, etc.
Conference news
- The sixth edition of Devcon, the annual gathering held by the Ethereum Foundation will not happen this year. Instead, it will take place in Bogotá, Colombia at the Agora Bogotá Convention Center in 2021, announced the Devcon Team. As there are talks of large events planned for this fall, the Devcon team we’ll be lending their support to the organizers and help to promote and possibly coordinate these efforts into something representative of the times we live in, they write.
Regulation news
- Chinese citizens may be allowed to inherit cryptocurrencies or leave them to loved ones in their wills, says a legal expert. Recent changes to the nation’s inheritance laws, as reported by Xinhua, included a clause that would appear to allow next-of-kin relatives to inherit e-pay credit on platforms such as Tencent’s WeChat Pay and Alibaba’s Alipay. Speaking on TV network CCTV, Yang Lixin, the Faculty Directory at the Renmin University of China law school, stated that this ruling would also likely apply to cryptocurrencies.
Blockchain news
- Samsung Electronics appears to have appointed a blockchain lead. Yoon Woong-ah, the former Chief Architect of Blockchain Solutions for Healthcare and Life Sciences at IBM, has updated his LinkedIn profile, stating that he is now a Vice President at Samsung Electronics in the AI PM Group / Blockchain Dev Group, and has held the position for five months. Fn News reports that Samsung has refused to comment on “HR-related matters,” but the company is believed to be ramping up its blockchain operations.
- China’s biggest ports operator China Merchants Port has signed a blockchain deal with Alibaba and the latter’s affiliate Ant Financial, reports Lieyunwang. The parties say that they will work on a blockchain-powered platform that will allow buyers, sellers, logistics companies, banks, customs and tax officials, as well as banks, to conduct “contact-free” digital export- and import-related transactions.
Investment news
- Micropayments firm SatoshiPay has secured USD 550,000 from its partner the Stellar Development Foundation by way of convertible loan notes. According to the blog post, the investment amount was paid in lumens (XLM), Stellar’s native currency.
Mining news
- A former Russian regional post office chief used work computers to mine crypto, reports RNS. Police in Mineralnye Vody, a town in Stavropol Krai, stated that they believe the former chief of the town’s branch of the Russian Post used professional mining hardware on the post office’s network to mine cryptocurrency, beginning in September 2019, until he was eventually detected six months later.
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