PayPal scraps annual purchase limit of cryptocurrency

PayPal Office, Dublin

PayPal has announced its annual purchase limit of $50,000 (£36,500) for Bitcoin and other digital assets is being removed.

Similarly, the platform’s weekly purchase limit is being raised fivefold from $20,000 (£14,500) to $100,000 (£73,000).

Jose Fernandez da Ponte, PayPal’s vice president of blockchain, crypto and digital currencies said: “These changes will enable our customers to have more choice and flexibility in purchasing cryptocurrency on our...

19 July 2021 | Bitcoin

Chainalysis valued at £3.6 billion after series E funding

ICO - ICOBox

The blockchain analytics and intelligence firm, Chainalysis, has raised $100 million (£72m) after its fifth round of funding, bringing its total valuation to $4.2 billion (£3.6bn).

Funding was led by investment management company Coatue, with further funds being provided by Benchmark, Accel, Addition, Dragoneer, Sequoia Heritage and SVB Capital.

This latest round of funding follows on from a successful series D round back in March 2021 in which Chainalysis raised $100m...

6 July 2021 | Big Data

Daymak Spiritus will be world’s first electric car to mine cryptocurrency while parked

Daymak crypto mining platform.

Daymak, a light electric vehicles (LEVs) manufacturer, has revealed its upcoming Spiritus electric car will include Daymak Nebula, Daymak’s patent-pending cryptocurrency infrastructure. 

The Spiritus, launching in 2023, is the electric car offering in the Daymak Avvenire series, a lineup of EVs spanning e-bikes all the way up to flying electric vehicles.

Daymak is accepting Spiritus pre-order payments in a multitude of cryptocurrencies including Doge, Ethereum,...

3 June 2021 | Bitcoin

Crypto firms failing to meet anti-money laundering standards, warns UK watchdog

A pile of bitcoins.

A substantial amount of cryptocurrency businesses are not meeting the minimum anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism requirements set by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

As of January 2021, cryptocurrency-related companies have had to register with the authority before doing business.

The FCA said it “will only register firms where it is confident that processes are in place to identify and prevent this activity”.

Just five companies are...

3 June 2021 | Bitcoin

HSBC steers clear of Bitcoin due to “volatility”

An HSBC sign.

HSBC has confirmed it has no interest in getting involved with Bitcoin.

The bank has no plans to offer the cryptocurrency to clients due to its volatility and lack of transparency, according to HSBC chief executive Noel Quinn.

He said: “Given the volatility we are not into bitcoin as an asset class. If our clients want to be there then of course they are, but we are not promoting it as an asset class within our wealth management business.

“I view bitcoin as...

26 May 2021 | Banking

How can cryptocurrency achieve mainstream adoption?

A pile of bitcoins.

Tesla founder Elon Musk ensured Bitcoin remained in the headlines this week, backtracking on comments he made that had suggested he might throw his support behind Dogecoin instead of Bitcoin.

During one of many recent Twitter spats, Musk tweeted: “Obnoxious threads like this make me want to go all in on Doge."

Rumours had already begun circulating that Tesla planned to sell the bitcoins it purchased for $1.5 billion (£1.06bn) in February 2021. Subsequently, Bitcoin...

20 May 2021 | Bitcoin

Musk backtracks on Bitcoin as Tesla payment method citing environmental concerns

Tesla has suspended users' ability to purchase vehicles through Bitcoin amid concern over 'rapidly increasing use' of fossil fuels for mining and transactions.

CEO Elon Musk said in a tweet that the company was 'looking at other cryptocurrencies' which used less than 1% of Bitcoin's energy per transaction.

"Cryptocurrency is a good idea on many levels and we believe it has a promising future, but this cannot come at great cost to the environment," Musk wrote. "Tesla will...

13 May 2021 | Automotive

Bitcoin Association touts cost-effectiveness of Bitcoin SV in yearly roundup

The annual report (pdf, direct download) from Bitcoin Association, a Switzerland-based organisation working to advance business on the Bitcoin SV blockchain, has argued that Bitcoin SV had higher daily transaction volumes and higher block sizes than other Bitcoin networks whilst still remaining the most cost-effective.

The organisation’s report highlights the achievements and the technical progress of the Bitcoin Satoshi Vision (SV) network, a forked version of the Bitcoin Cash...

5 May 2021 | Bitcoin

Banking survey reveals increased personal and corporate interest in blockchain

A report from global marketing agency LEWIS has argued the banking sector is more invested in blockchain technologies than previously considered - but mixed attitudes still remain in terms of large-scale adoption.

The agency's ‘Banking on Blockchain’ report looks at the extent to which banks are corporately investing in blockchain, as well as how personally involved senior bankers are.

From a survey of more than 500 senior professionals in the industry, LEWIS found...

28 April 2021 | Banking

South Korea threatens to shutdown all crypto exchanges amidst growing crackdown

The head of South Korea’s financial regulatory agency has said that all crypto exchanges operating in the country could be shut down later this year.

The statement from Eun Sung-soo comes as the South Korean government has launched a reinvigorated crackdown on ‘illegitimate crypto businesses’ and digital money laundering.

Seoul’s tax collection department kicked off the crackdown last week with the seizure of 25 billion won (£16.1 million) from over 600 tax...

26 April 2021 | Bitcoin