Seth Goldfarb

PoolTogether’s Ethereum-based "no-loss lottery" is back, with a twist

Let’s face it: savings accounts are about as interesting as watching paint dry. But a new Ethereum-based “no-loss lottery” called PoolTogether aims to change that by using behavioral hacks to make saving money as fun as gambling it away. Initially launched in June to much fanfare, PoolTogether is now back with Version 2.0 of its platform, which just went live last Wednesday. And aside from a new interface and features, PoolTogether has also made a branding shift of sorts—eschewing its former gam...

How Binance Venus and “branded” stablecoins could one day replace banks

Could “branded” stablecoins turn out to be crypto’s “killer app”? The forthcoming launch of Binance Venus, a project which aims to help businesses build their own stablecoins all over the world, has some onlookers wondering whether Binance—the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume—could be unlocking the key to mass crypto adoption. Just weeks ago, Binance announced its intention to build an “independent, regional version” of Facebook’s Libra. Binance Venus, however, could be viewed a...

Hyperledger Besu brings public blockchain to enterprise

Ongoing collaboration between the Ethereum and Hyperledger communities is paying off big for the development of blockchain platforms for enterprise. The Hyperledger consortium announced today that Hyperledger Besu, an Ethereum client primarily developed by the ConsenSys-backed PegaSys, is the latest project to be voted into the fold by the Hyperledger Technical Steering Committee. (Obligatory disclore: ConsenSys also funds Decrypt.) Hyperledger Besu, formerly known as Pantheon, is a Java-based E...

Businesses can now claim their trademark blockchain domains, before it’s too late

If they’re not your keys, it’s not your website. Unstoppable Domains, a San Francisco-based company that offers “uncensorable” websites through the Zilliqa blockchain, today announced a “sunrise period” lasting from now until October 15 to give trademark holders the opportunity to claim their non-custodial .zil domain. Claiming domains now will allow businesses and trademark holders to protect their brands before these blockchain domains become available to retail customers, Unstoppable Domains...

U.S. government’s blacklisting of Bitcoin addresses is just getting started

The U.S. government is paying close attention to illegal activity associated with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. And the government’s “blacklisting” of blockchain addresses associated with digital currencies linked to crimes is sure to escalate, cryptocurrency compliance experts say. On Wednesday, the U.S. Treasury Department issued sanctions against three alleged Chinese “drug kingpins” who the government claims used Bitcoin to launder their ill-gotten gains. The Treasury’s Office of Fore...

Bitcoin evangelist Patrick Byrne resigns as Overstock CEO following "deep state" scandal

American entrepeneur and Bitcoin advocate Patrick Byrne has announced his resignation as both CEO and board member of Overstock.com. "[W]hile I believe that I did what was necessary for the good of the country, for the good of the firm, I am in the sad position of having to sever ties with Overstock," Byrne said in a letter to shareholders. The resignation comes a little over a week after Byrne admitted his involvement in an FBI investigation into whether or not Russia influenced the 2016 U.S. p...

U.S. Treasury targets alleged Chinese drug lords who used Bitcoin to launder cash

The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control’s (OFAC) today added 11 Bitcoin addresses and 1 Litecoin address to its list of Specially Designated Nationals as part of a crackdown on alleged “Chinese drug kingpins.” OFAC and the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced a coordinated effort to put financial pressure on three Chinese nationals designated as significant foreign narcotics traffickers under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act)....

Veritaseum strikes back at SEC over ICO lawsuit, demands court unfreeze assets

Veritaseum isn’t backing down from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, as the number of enforcement actions related to the 2017 ICO craze continue to pile up. The SEC filed an emergency lawsuit last week against Veritaseum in a New York federal court and obtained a temporary restraining order to freeze $8 million in remaining ICO funds held by Veritaseum and CEO Reginald Middleton. Yesterday, Middleton made public his company’s response to the SEC’s lawsuit—a 423-page document that att...

Tether responds to New York State Supreme Court ruling against iFinex

Tether isn’t taking yesterday’s New York State Supreme Court ruling lying down. In a statement issued today, the stablecoin issuer responded to Justice Joel M. Cohen’s order directing the New York Attorney General (NYAG) to continue with its case against iFinex. "We appreciate Justice Cohen’s consideration of our motion in late July and his order released yesterday. While we are disappointed in the decision on our motion to dismiss, we will continue to vigorously defend against any action by the...

Photo Credit: Dhruv Deshmukh on Unsplash

Bitcoin core developer Matt Corallo joins Square Crypto

Square Crypto is on the board with a big-time hire from within the cryptoverse. Matt Corallo, former engineer at Chaincode Labs and cofounder of Blockstream, has joined Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey's Square Crypto to help advance the company's Bitcoin development efforts. "Matt will play a vital role at [Square Crypto], much as he did at [Chaincode Labs], providing valuable experience of Bitcoin engineering within the team and broader ecosystem of new devs," the company announced today on Twitter. S...

Judge rules New York State has jurisdiction over Bitfinex

The New York Supreme Court has ordered the New York Office of the Attorney General (NYAG) to continue their investigation and prosecution of iFinex, the parent company of cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex and stablecoin issuer Tether. In a court order filed on August 19, New York State Supreme Court Judge Joel M. Cohen dismissed a motion by iFinex to toss the suit due to the matter being outside of the NYAG's jurisdiction. Olta Andoni, head of Ziliak Law’s blockchain practice and an adjunct profe...

PHOTO CREDIT: Erda Estremera on Unsplash

Big four accounting firm Deloitte unveils its "blockchain in a box"

Multinational "professional services network" Deloitte today announced the release of its "Blockchain in a Box," a mobile platform for hosting experiments and demos of business applications of distributed ledger technology. Communicating the unique benefits of blockchain technologies to stakeholders remains a key challenge for both startups and established businesses. Deloitte, one of the "big four" accounting organizations in the world, aims for its Blockchain in a Box to make it easier for dev...

Visa in a shop. Remember shops? Image: Shutterstock.

MakerDAO's Dai can now be spent anywhere in the U.K. that accepts Visa

Dai stablecoins can now be used to buy things anywhere in the U.K. that accepts Visa, thanks to a new partnership announced today between MakerDAO, Monolith, and Digix. Available in 31 countries throughout the entire European Economic Area, the Monolith debit card allows users to spend digital assets converted to GBP or EUR in their non-custodial Contract Wallet. Monolith, formerly known as TokenCard, launched its decentralized banking app on the U.K. and European iOS App stores last month. Th...

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Stories by Seth Goldfarb