Binance has delisted the Mayweather-backed Centra token after SEC investigation
The world’s largest crypto exchange delisted Centra after two of its founders were arrested and an SEC investigation was launched into the firm’s fraudulent ICO tactics. The startup’s founders have become the first group to be arrested inside the US as a result of a fraudulent ICO.Verge, the fastest-growing coin in crypto, has just suffered a debilitating hacking attempt
Verge has become one of the world’s fastest-rising cryptocurrencies as many anticipate that a significant global partnership will be announced later this month. Verge already has a working product, but its ambitions suffered a setback this week as it suffered a 51% hacking attack and was forced to launch an “accidental hard fork” to mitigate the damage.Coders around the world are looking to be the first to launch an ICO on Ripple
Although Ripple has long been focused on development of its distributed ledge technology, it’s still possible to launch a token on its platform. One Brazilian startup, XRP Ledger, has even released a solution for startups looking to run their ICOs on the platform – but the software isn’t officially endorsed by Ripple, and may even come into conflict with its terms of service in the future.Inside the good and bad of the crypto “Wild West”
In many ways, the current trajectory of the crypto community is mirroring that of the American wild west. After a gold rush for mining resources, the markets have given way to fear and paranoia around data security, particularly after the attacks on Mt Gox and Coincheck. That said, the new infrastructure that’s being built should strengthen trust in the markets, and with that, trading volume is set to increase.
Bitmain has officially announced the first ASIC miners for Ethereum
After months of anticipation, Bitcoin mining giant Bitmain has announced its line of ASIC miners for Ethereum. The first production run of miners has already sold out, and many are now looking to the Ethereum Foundation to see if any counteraction will be taken to combat the pending influx of crypto miners.
It’s time to take a critical look at the current state of crypto hedge funds
After a year of record-setting returns in 2017, crypto hedge funds are facing a rocky investment climate this year, and nine crypto hedge funds have already shut down this year. The performance of crypto markets to date this have reinforced how difficult it can be to implement a true investment strategy within a crypto hedge fund, particularly given the volatile market conditions.
AngelList spinoff CoinList has just raised $9.2m to help founders launch their token offerings
After starting CoinList as a platform for token offerings, parent company AngelList has since decided to spin the company off as its own entity and pursue a $9.2m funding round to help the startup build out its token listing platform, which hopes to become a liquid secondary exchange for securities. The funding round was led by Polychain Capital.
Not even a month into beta, Lightning applications are continuing to grow
The beta of Lightning Network was launched just weeks ago, but the platform is already seeing a significant influx of LApps from third-party developers (most notably Blockstream, which announced seven new LApps in just a week late last month). In addition to the network, many developers are showing increased interest in developing apps for nanopos, Lightning’s point-of-sale solution for merchants.
Here’s what the world would look like if all tokens were securities
As crypto regulations begin to be fully defined, it’s more critical than ever to be able to delineate between tokens and token-based securities. Investment tokens behave like securities but are not classified as such in the traditional sense, while utility tokens are a separate category altogether. That said, the two may end up merging together in the long-term as their use cases will likely end up becoming intertwined.
ICO investors are increasingly seeking veto power over future token sales
For many startups, conducting a token sale is increasingly being seen as a quick and simple way to raise funding outside the confines of the traditional VC route. But major VCs are starting to push back on what they see as a dilution of ownership (and control) over the firms they’re highly invested in – and some are even including clauses that allow the vetoing of future token sales in their term sheets. |
