U.S. Treasury Cuts Fintech Red Tape
Non-depository fintech firms involved in banking in the USA can now apply to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for national bank charters. The green light from OCC was given several hours after the main regulator - Treasury Department has released a detailed recommendation paper, encouraging regulators and authorities to set the laws that will help them to work with non-banks, including fintech firms and data aggregators. The OCC will accept applications from non-depository fintech companies for a special purpose national bank charter.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
1. Currently, the U.S. has no federal framework regarding fintech companies. This makes complying with laws much harder as they have to abide by the rules of each state.
2. The new OCC regulation will provide the federal framework that allows fintech firms to operate in a unified manner.
Binance Lands Own Trust Wallet
The Binance, currently the 4th largest cryptocurrency exchange by daily trading volume, has announced the acquisition of a mobile digital wallets provider “Trust Wallet”. Binance will add Trust Wallet to its services as a subsidiary company. It will preserve autonomy and ability to further develop its application at the same time benefiting from access to Binance wide client base and decentralized exchange (DEX).
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
1. Before the acquisition, Binance did not have a decentralized wallet working with the exchange. Customers had to trust the company’s inner resources. Cryptocurrency exchanges are favorite targets for сyber attacks. Recently Bithumb, one of the largest crypto platforms in Asia, was hacked and lost $31 million in crypto. Another exchange, Conrail, suffered from a heist worth $37 million in tokens. But the biggest loser this year was Coinchech, with the crypto loss equal to $400 million.
2. Decentralized wallet will allow customers to store cryptocurrencies directly using their own "private keys". Although many Binance customers have already transferred their funds to an external wallet, the acquisition gives Binance its own wallet brand and hope for better security.
Madonna and Ripple Raise Funds for Orphans in Malawi
American singer Madonna launched a charity campaign to raise funds for orphans of the African state of Malawi. One of the partners will be Ripple company, which promised to double the number of donations collected. The campaign is held in honor of the 60th anniversary of the pop star.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
1. This is not the first charity project by Ripple, previously the company made Ashton Kutcher, a famous actor and a co-Founder of Sound Ventures to present $4 million to the Ellen Degeneres Wildlife Fund.
2. The crypto and blockchain technologies create the beneficial environment for the non-profit sector, as well as opportunities for more transparent and faster transactions with the help of the distributed ledger technology. Note that it also gets rid of the bank commissions.
Mexico Calls for Bids on Blockchain
Already this month, Mexican government will host the first state tender on the basis of the Ethereum blockchain. It also plans to use the distributed ledger technology for running the public procurement process. It is expected that blockchain can make public purchases more transparent.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
1. A new blockchain-solution should advance the quality of public services. The state will use the technology of a distributed register to find out whether reliable companies deserve the services provided to the state.
2. Blockchain will as well add transparency to the public bidding process. The technology will store the information about the bidding process, allowing post-factum to conduct its thorough audit.
SamSam Ransomware Scores $6 Million
Extortion software SamSam has brought to its creators more than $5.9 million since the end of 2015, says a report published by Sophos, a security research company. Having tracked all the blockchain wallet addresses used by the attackers, the investigators identified at least 233 victims who paid ransom to SamSam operators, of which 86 were publicly reported.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
1. The security company's report and a blog post highlight tips on how associations can shield themselves from the SamSam ransomware.
2. Efforts of companies like Sophos might reduce the effect from ransomware attacks.
3. Recently Moscow-based International airport Domodedovo became the victim of extortion. Anonymous attacker threatened to disrupt the work of the airport unless they received a ransom of several hundred Bitcoins.
At 20:00 (GMT+1) total cryptocurrency market capitalization stands at $271,6 billion
XRP (+1,97%) showed the best growth in the top-10 Populous (+14,94%) showed the best growth in the top-100
Market Dynamics
The trading volume of cryptocurrencies for 24 hours reached $13,8 (-1,3 billion per day)
Mining Profitability
- BTC $3,2 for 10 TH/s
- ETH $0,3 for 10 MH/s
- BCH $0,32 for 1 TH/s
- LTC $3,5 for 1 GH/s
- DASH $0,11 for 1 GH/s
Ongoing ICOs:
Expected ICOs: