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U.S. regulators may ask Congress to pass legislation to improve oversight of virtual currencies like bitcoin amid concerns about the risks posed by the emerging asset class, the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission said on Tuesday.

The Treasury Secretary is bringing together federal agencies to coordinate cryptocurrency regulation, the chairmen of two financial commissions said.

Sen. Richard Shelby, an Alabama Republican, discusses cryptocurrency regulation and the recent market turmoil with Bloomberg’s David Westin on “Bloomberg Markets: Balance of Power.” (Source: Bloomberg)

America’s largest banks had myriad worries in mind when they rushed this week to ban customers from using credit cards to buy cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin’s gut-wrenching slide was just one of the threats.

Abstract: In this piece, we briefly look over the history of Ripple and examine various disputes between the founders and partner companies, typically over control of XRP tokens. We then explore elements of the technology behind Ripple. We conclude that the apparent distributed consensus mechanism doesn’t serve a clear purpose, because the default behaviour of Rippled nodes effectively hands full control over updating the ledger to the Ripple.com server. Therefore, in our view, Ripple does not appear to share any interesting characteristics with crypto tokens like Bitcoin or Ethereum, at least from a technical perspective.

Bitcoin miners face a reckoning as the cryptocurrency’s tumble wipes out profits for all but the industry’s most efficient operators, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

South Korea’s spy agency has begun investigating the possibility that North Korean hackers orchestrated the theft of about $500 million worth of digital coins from Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck Inc., said a lawmaker who attended a meeting with the head of the intelligence service.

Australia’s largest banks have confirmed they do not currently have plans to block their customers from buying bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, despite the fact some UK and US banks have instituted a crypto-ban.

There is a “strong case” for authorities to rein in digital currencies because of their links to the established financial system, Bank for International Settlements General Manager Agustin Carstens said.

Officials want to track every financial transaction you make, and they see cryptocurrencies and cash alike as barriers to achieving that goal.

Google says hype leading to increase in phishing attacks on those talking about it online

A man sued T-Mobile on Sunday, claiming that the company’s lack of security allowed hackers to enter his wireless account last fall and steal cryptocoins totaling thousands of dollars.

There are similarities between this week’s crypto and markets routs.

Bitcoin is down 64% from its December high, but one investor still sees it hitting $50,000 in 2018.

VersaBank Inc., a tiny Canadian lender led by a tech-savvy CEO with a penchant for planes and classic motorcycles, is building a virtual safety deposit box for cryptocurrencies and other digital assets.

Kyle’s note: This is old news but they have comments from the bank.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies all peaked at roughly the same time; they’ve since declined in tandem as well.
That’s a bad sign for when market consol…

As major financial institutions weave themselves deeper into the patchwork of cryptocurrency trading, they are trying to figure out how to handle conflicts that could arise when employees trade digital coins in their personal accounts.

Angus Champion de Crespigny, EY Americas blockchain leader, discusses the selloff in Bitcoin with Bloomberg’s Julia Chatterley, Scarlet Fu and Joe Weisenthal on “What’d You Miss?” (Source: Bloomberg)

Facebook Messenger is unlikely to embrace cryptocurrency payments anytime soon according to David Marcus, Facebook’s vice president of messaging.

Answer: 100 percent clean and sustainable energy.

Credit card holders from four U.S. banks have been barred from purchasing cryptocurrencies using credit cards at Coinbase, the exchange has confirmed.

Banks in the U.S. and U.K. are declining cryptocurrency transactions on credit cards they issue. The cryptocurrency community is complaining, of course. But the banks’ action could save credit card holders lots of money.

Introducing batch spending for cheaper, more efficient bitcoin transactions One of the most requested features our users have recently been asking for is the ability to combine (or batch) multiple…

The website bitcoin.com published a blog post on Saturday, February 3rd, titled Ledger Addresses Man in the Middle Attack That Threatens Millions of Hardware Wallets. Some of the claims made in this post are unfortunately incorrect.

South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Coinpia has announced it will suspend both trading and deposits after it was unable to implement a customer identification system in line with a recently enacted government mandate.

A common question I’ve seen concerning Lightning is: “I have five $2 channels, is it possible for me to atomically send $6 to fulfill a payment?”. The answer to this question is “yes”, provided that the receiver waits to pull all HTLC’s until the sum matches their invoice.

A study of 2,700 IT professionals across the globe has revealed that 54% of organizations suffered a ransomware attack in the last year, and most organizations were hit more than twice, with the average number of ransomware per attacks being two.

As law enforcement officials try to get a handle on the flow of opioids into New Hampshire, they’re increasingly focusing on the trading of drugs on what’s known as the dark web.

Cryptocurrency scheme is part of wider UN effort to revolutionise aid with blockchain technology, increasing financial transparency

In what could be one of the year’s most talked-about launches, a cryptocurrency project called Augur may soon invite its community to bet against its success.

Singapore’s central bank has been studying the potential risks posed by cryptocurrencies, but there is as yet no strong case to ban trading of the digital coins in the city-state, Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said.

Former finance minister Chatib Basri has said that prohibiting the circulation of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is not an effective way to prevent negative impacts.

Banking regulators of seven U.S. states have agreed to simplify the way financial technology companies can apply for licenses, in a bid to make it easier for businesses to offer their services nationwide.