Digital Currency

Most people never even see the server that runs the internet network in their houses. But Start9 Labs is working to change that with its latest upgrades to the Embassy Server, a self-sovereign, private internet server and operating system for your home. It’s an ambitious project to make self-sovereign computing viable for consumers, but one that offers a way out of the centralized internet people know. To expand on their efforts, Start9 Labs recently closed a $1.2 million funding round spearheaded by Collider Ventures, Ten31 and Erik Voorhees, CEO of…

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has hired former U.S. senator and ambassador to China Maxwell Baucus as a government relations adviser. The exchange announced Thursday in a press release it had hired the long-term government official to provide guidance and advice to the firm and work with U.S. regulators. The move could signal a shift in Binance’s approach to the U.S. market, which it currently doesn’t serve directly. Baucus was an ambassador to China under former President Barack Obama between 2014 and 2017. Prior to that, he served in the U.S. Senate and…

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has hired former U.S. senator and ambassador to China Maxwell Baucus as a government relations adviser. The exchange announced Thursday in a press release it had hired the long-term government official to provide guidance and advice to the firm and work with U.S. regulators. The move could signal a shift in Binance’s approach to the U.S. market, which it currently doesn’t serve directly. Baucus was an ambassador to China under former President Barack Obama between 2014 and 2017. Prior to that, he served in the U.S. Senate and…

Bitcoin (BTC) trading around $57,572.97 as of 21:00 UTC (4 p.m. ET). Climbing 2.11% over the previous 24 hours. Bitcoin’s 24-hour range: $54,323.61-$57,632.81 (CoinDesk 20) BTC trades above its 10-hour and 50-hour averages on the hourly chart, a bullish signal for market technicians. bitcoin trading on CoinbaseSource: TradingView The bitcoin market is back in bull mode but for one key attribute, almost like a missing tooth: low trading volume. Bitcoin’s price on Thursday extended its winning streak to a seventh day as a renewed appetite for risk-taking in traditional markets sent U.S. stocks to…

Crypto.com has launched a free service it says reduces the complexity of filing cryptocurrency tax returns. In a blog post Wednesday, the Hong Kong-headquartered exchange said its new tool provides “an estimation of taxable gains/losses on relevant crypto transactions,” which can be downloaded for tax filing. Users can import transaction records from supported exchanges and wallets via CSV files or using API synchronization where supported. Initially, the service is only available in Canada but will later be rolled out to other jurisdictions. When that happens, the tool will use country-specific tax calculation…

Youtube is said to have settled a court case brought by Ripple that alleged the video platform failed to enforce its own policies and allowed fake accounts to impersonate the blockchain payments company and its CEO Brad Garlinghouse. In a series of tweets Tuesday, Garlinghouse said the companies have now opted to “work together” with YouTube to “prevent, detect and take down these scams.” In April, Ripple sued the video streaming giant for failing to effectively police against scams involving the cryptocurrency XRP (-1.91%), resulting in monetary damage to users and reputational harm to Ripple. The…

Digital Currency Group, the parent of Grayscale, said it’s authorized the purchase of up to $250 million worth of the lagging shares of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (OTCQX: GBTC), its subsidiary’s flagship product. In an announcement Wednesday, DCG – which is also the parent company of CoinDesk – said it will be buying GBTC shares on the open market. The purchase comes as the price of GBTC shares has fallen from an all-time high of $58.22 set last month to $41.40 last week before rebounding somewhat. In addition, the shares, which had…

Bitcoin and ether (ETH, -0.73%) purchases by companies in Scandinavia and Hong Kong are fueling speculation a wave of non-U.S. corporate treasurers might follow MicroStrategy, Tesla and Square into buying cryptocurrencies, according to a new report by the Norwegian analysis firm Arcane Research. Hong Kong-listed Meitu, a maker of photo-retouching software, said it bought 15,000 ETH and 379 BTC (+3.58%) in open-market transactions last week. Arcane figures the company paid an average $47,230, well below the current market level of around $57,000. In addition, on Monday Aker, a Norwegian energy engineering company, added 1,170 BTC to its balance sheet, paying approximately…

The U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.4% in February, leaving it up 1.7% over the last 12 months, in line with economists’ expectations, a Labor Department report Wednesday showed. The 12-month rate represents an acceleration from January’s 1.4% clip, a pickup partly driven by higher gasoline prices, which rose 6.9% in February, accounting for over half of the seasonally adjusted increase in the all-items index, according to the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. Core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, rose 0.1% in February, the report showed. That level was…

The outperformance of ether (ETH) over the past year relative to bitcoin (BTC) appears to have reversed since the Chicago-based commodities exchange CME launched its new ether futures contract in early February, an analysis of chart patterns shows. ETH put in a relative bottom versus BTC around the end of 2019. The near 700% increase in ETH versus BTC’s 500% rise over the past year could reflect investor enthusiasm for decentralized finance (DeFi), which seeks to transform traditional financial products in a decentralized manner and largely sits atop the Ethereum blockchain. ETH has underperformed…