Coin News

The price of bitcoin appreciated nearly 4% for the week ending 27th May, but the figure is perhaps not indicative of the wild trading action the market saw during the period. Such movements came as market observers are becoming more interested in the relationship between bitcoin, the token supporting the world's longest-running blockchain, and ether, the token for the […]

Micropayments have long been one of the most anticipated use cases for bitcoin, but similar tech may be coming soon to Ethereum.

The parent company of Swedish bitcoin mine operator KnCMiner has declared bankruptcy.

Editor's note: This is a guest post by Matt O’Brien. As the hype and pessimism around blockchain technology converge toward reality over the...

The post Blockchain Technology Will Profoundly Change the Derivatives Industry appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

Bitcoin prices surged more than 5% in the early hours of 27th May, to reach a more than six-month high.

The world economy is in a fascinating period. It is an encouraging time for those hopeful about Bitcoin and other open blockchain-based...

The post Why the Global Economy Needs Open Blockchain Assets to Fight Negative Interest Rates appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

The U.S. Postal Service has identified a number of ways that blockchain technology can improve its services and make it a more relevant player in global commerce, according to a report, “Blockchain Technology: Possibilities for the U.S. Postal Service.” The postal services’ Office of Inspector General (OIG) contracted with Swiss Economics to better understand blockchain […]

The post How Blockchain & Digital Currency Could Revamp the U.S. Postal Service appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

Bitcoin price has been traded through resistance – an initial sign of a larger wave of advance. A few cautions remain as we await additional confirmation that resistance has become support. This analysis is provided by xbt.social with a 3-hour delay. Read the full analysis here. Not a member? Join now and receive a $29 […]

The post Bitcoin Price At a 2016 High appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

Leading bitcoin hardware mining producer Bitmain technology has invested an undisclosed sum as a part of a seed investment in ChainLab, an Israeli blockchain startup. Tel Aviv-based blockchain startup ChainLab has announced a seed investment from Bitmain Technology. The funds from the investment will be used directly to aid in the development of ChainLab’s Wings […]

The post Bitcoin Mining Developer Bitmain Invests in Blockchain Startup ChainLab appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

The Russian Ministry of Finance, known for its disdain and intent to criminalize bitcoin activity, is considering the issuance of a state-controlled cryptocurrency in discussions with banks and regulators. The idea of a state-controlled cryptocurrency in Russia is currently being deliberated in meetings between the Russian Ministry of Finance, the Central Bank of Russia and […]

The post Russia Is Considering Its Own Cryptocurrency appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

Bitcoin price has made significant gains since the early hours of Friday, surging toward $480 in an early day rally. The Bitstamp Price Index came close to hitting the $480 mark following a surge in bitcoin price that began under an hour after midnight, jumping 5% in a 7-hour window. At the time of publishing, […]

The post Newsflash: Bitcoin Price Surges to a Year-High Beyond $475 appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

Santander has launched a new app that lets people transfer money internationally using blockchain technology, the cutting-edge database protocol that underpins bitcoin.

The main benefits of the new tech are speed and accuracy. 

The new app, which for the moment is just being trialed with staff, will let people transfer between £10 and £10,000.

The efficiency of the new technology means transfers will show up within 24 hours, compared to the current wait times that can vary from one day to three days.

When it shows up in your account you'll be able to spend it immediately, too. Currently, incoming cash deposits will appear as a "pending" transaction, meaning it hasn't been cleared yet (basically been signed off by the bank). But blockchain transactions are "immutable" — that is, absolutely certain. So it does away with the "pending transactions" delay.

And the blockchain technology also means that the amount you send is the amount the other person gets. Currently, international bank transfers involve your bank telling a partner banks in another country to put money into somebody's account. Then the two banks pay each other at the end of the day.

The problem is these partner banks will often take a handling fee or processing fee that you might not be warned about at the start. That means that £100 sent could turn into £95 at the other end. With Santander's app, £100 sent means £100 received.

The app is able to do all this by using the blockchain protocol, a type of database set up first developed to underpin digital currency bitcoin. Blockchain, also known as distributed ledger technology, cuts out the need for a "trusted middleman" to sit in between parties in a transaction — the partner banks who take a fee. You can deal directly with whoever you're sending money to, just like handing them cash on the street.

The blockchain protocol allows this by copying identical records across a network, in this case banks. It then makes all parties on a network sign off on transactions at the time they are sent to ensure they are accurate. It uses complex cryptography to ensure records can't be altered.

All this cuts out the need for records to be reconciled and makes transactions quicker, cheaper, and easier when compared to the current systems. Santander estimates blockchain technology could save banks $20 billion a year in costs.

The bank's new app has been developed in partnership with US blockchain company Ripple. Santander invested $4 million in Ripple last October, saying at the time working on a "proof of concept" using Ripple's technology for international payments and the technology could be rolled-out to customers to allow "international payments in real time, more efficiently, at a lower cost."

Ripple is seen as one of the most exciting startups in the blockchain space. The company has developed a protocol that allows banks to use blockchain for transfers. It was founded by Chris Larson, the co-founder and former CEO of leading US peer-to-peer loans marketplace Prosper.

Sigga Sigurdardottir, Head of Customer and Innovation at Santander, says in an emailed statement that the bank: "believe[s] new Blockchain technology will play a transformational role in the way we achieve our goals and better serve our customers, adding value by creating more choice and convenience."

Right now the Santander app allows payments in euros to 21 countries and dollar payments to the US only. If the staff trial goes well, Santander plans to roll out the app to customers later this year. Santander staff can use the app for free but if it does launch commercially it will charge a transfer fee. A spokesperson for the bank said no firm prices have been drawn up but said it would be "competitive."

International transfer is just one use case for blockchain technology that Santander is exploring. Mariano Belinky, head of Santander's fintech investment arm InnoVentures, told Business Insider last June: "We have internally identified 20 to 25 use cases where this technology can be applied." Other use cases include trade finance, syndicated lending and collateral management.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: 7 inventors who were killed by their own inventions

Santander has launched a new app that lets people transfer money internationally using blockchain technology, the cutting-edge database protocol that underpins bitcoin.

The main benefits of the new tech are speed and accuracy. 

The new app, which for the moment is just being trialed with staff, will let people transfer between £10 and £10,000.

The efficiency of the new technology means transfers will show up within 24 hours, compared to the current wait times that can vary from one day to three days.

When it shows up in your account you'll be able to spend it immediately, too. Currently, incoming cash deposits will appear as a "pending" transaction, meaning it hasn't been cleared yet (basically been signed off by the bank). But blockchain transactions are "immutable" — that is, absolutely certain. So it does away with the "pending transactions" delay.

And the blockchain technology also means that the amount you send is the amount the other person gets. Currently, international bank transfers involve your bank telling a partner banks in another country to put money into somebody's account. Then the two banks pay each other at the end of the day.

The problem is these partner banks will often take a handling fee or processing fee that you might not be warned about at the start. That means that £100 sent could turn into £95 at the other end. With Santander's app, £100 sent means £100 received.

The app is able to do all this by using the blockchain protocol, a type of database set up first developed to underpin digital currency bitcoin. Blockchain, also known as distributed ledger technology, cuts out the need for a "trusted middleman" to sit in between parties in a transaction — the partner banks who take a fee. You can deal directly with whoever you're sending money to, just like handing them cash on the street.

The blockchain protocol allows this by copying identical records across a network, in this case banks. It then makes all parties on a network sign off on transactions at the time they are sent to ensure they are accurate. It uses complex cryptography to ensure records can't be altered.

All this cuts out the need for records to be reconciled and makes transactions quicker, cheaper, and easier when compared to the current systems. Santander estimates blockchain technology could save banks $20 billion a year in costs.

The bank's new app has been developed in partnership with US blockchain company Ripple. Santander invested $4 million in Ripple last October, saying at the time working on a "proof of concept" using Ripple's technology for international payments and the technology could be rolled-out to customers to allow "international payments in real time, more efficiently, at a lower cost."

Ripple is seen as one of the most exciting startups in the blockchain space. The company has developed a protocol that allows banks to use blockchain for transfers. It was founded by Chris Larson, the co-founder and former CEO of leading US peer-to-peer loans marketplace Prosper.

Sigga Sigurdardottir, Head of Customer and Innovation at Santander, says in an emailed statement that the bank: "believe[s] new Blockchain technology will play a transformational role in the way we achieve our goals and better serve our customers, adding value by creating more choice and convenience."

Right now the Santander app allows payments in euros to 21 countries and dollar payments to the US only. If the staff trial goes well, Santander plans to roll out the app to customers later this year. Santander staff can use the app for free but if it does launch commercially it will charge a transfer fee. A spokesperson for the bank said no firm prices have been drawn up but said it would be "competitive."

International transfer is just one use case for blockchain technology that Santander is exploring. Mariano Belinky, head of Santander's fintech investment arm InnoVentures, told Business Insider last June: "We have internally identified 20 to 25 use cases where this technology can be applied." Other use cases include trade finance, syndicated lending and collateral management.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: 7 inventors who were killed by their own inventions

Good morning! Here's what you need to know in markets on Friday.

A British exit from the European Union would be a serious risk to global economic growth, Group of Seven leaders said in a summit declaration on Friday. "A UK exit from the EU would reverse the trend towards greater global trade and investment, and the jobs they create, and is a further serious risk to growth," G7 leaders said, in the only reference to the vote in a 32-page declaration.

Axa says the sale of its UK Life & Savings businesses will generate a loss of €400 million (£305 million, $447.6 million). Bloomberg reports that the French insurer said Friday that it agreed to sell its UK investment, pensions and direct protection businesses to Phoenix Group Holdings, a transaction that it expects to complete in the second half of 2016.

Oil is back below $50 (£34.08) a barrel. After Brent broke through the psychologically important level on Wednesday, both key measures have dipped below it again on Friday. Brent oil is down 0.77% to $49.21 (£33.54) at the time of writing (6.35 a.m. BST/1.35 a.m. ET) and US West Texas Intermediate is down 0.75% to $49.11 (£33.47).

Microsoft and Facebook have agreed to jointly build a subsea cable across the Atlantic Ocean to meet growing demand for high-speed cloud and online services. The construction of the new "MAREA" cable will begin in August and it is expected to be completed in October 2017, the companies said in a statement on Thursday.

A top Apple executive raised the prospect of the iPhone maker buying Time Warner at a meeting with the owner of HBO, CNN, and Warner Brothers, according to three people who were briefed on it. The Financial Times reports that Eddy Cue, who oversees critical Apple businesses such as the iTunes store, Apple Music, and iCloud, broached the idea of a bid at a meeting at the end of last year with Olaf Olafsson, Time Warner’s head of corporate strategy, the people said.

Santander has launched a new app that lets people transfer money internationally using blockchain technology, the cutting-edge database protocol that underpins bitcoin. The main benefits of the new tech are speed and accuracy. The new app, which for the moment is just being trialed with staff, will let people transfer between £10 and £10,000.

Stock markets were quiet overnight. In Asia, China's benchmark Shanghai Composite is up 0.05% at the time of writing (6.35 a.m. BST/1.35 a.m. ETC), the Hong Kong Hang Seng is up 0.48%, and Japan's Nikkei is up 0.36%. Stock markets in the US had similarly minor moves at the time of close.

US GDP numbers are coming. Preliminary growth figures for the first quarter will be published at 1.30 p.m. BST (8.30 a.m. ET). Economists are forecasting 0.7% growth on the previous quarter and 0.9% growth on an annualized basis. 

Alibaba, which disclosed it is under investigation for its accounting practices, has emerged as one of the short-selling community's favorite targets in the relatively short time it has been in the public market. Noted short-sellers Jim Chanos of Kynikos Associates and John Hempton of Bronte Capital have been raising red flags since last year about the Chinese e-commerce giant's accounting practices.

Goldman Sachs has discovered something important about its employees: They want more feedback on how they're doing. The firm is overhauling the way it gives feedback following an internal survey that highlighted that desire.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: These are the watches worn by the smartest and most powerful men in the world

The Internet has fostered the development of machines that can collect sensor-generated data and sell it in return for passive bitcoin payments, 21 Inc stated on Medium. There are presently two paradigms by which this process works: grid computing and cloud computing. The grid refers to a group of heterogeneous machines in offices and homes that different economic […]

The post Grid Vs. Cloud: Earn Bitcoin By Monitoring Environmental Data appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

Snapchat raises 1.8 billion dollars, Microsoft and Facebook team up to build a trans-atlantic cable, Peter Thiel is trying to cripple Gawker, Reddit launches their own photo uploader, and Treat is an on demand Vet service. All this on Crunch Report. Read More

The CFTChas granted registration to a trading platform that was an early entrant in the US market for financial derivatives tied to bitcoin.