1. 8 cryptocurrency Trading and Exchanges Sites has been Closed by Italy’s Securities Regulators
Two crypto investing sites and six foreign exchange sites have been shut down by Securities Regulators in Italy. These sites have been found guilty of offering trading products and services that are not legal in the country thus violating the Midfid2 and the Consolidated Law on Finance.
In Italy currently, exchanges of cryptocurrency are not subject to tax however, profits on all transactions can be taxed. The senate committee on corporate affairs is in the process of creating a legislation to regulate the financial transaction done through electronic means by IT-related and Financial organizations.
Evaluation: Bad
Source: Cointelegraph
2. India law Enforcement has Nabbed their First Cryptocurrency Drug Dealer on the Dark Web
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) of India has arrested a crypto drug dealer on the dark web. This is the first crypto arrest by the Indian Authorities. A total of 55,000 tablets of drugs were seized.
The 21-year old drug dealer, Dipu Singh was allegedly selling several prescription and psychotropic drugs like alprazolam, zolpidem and tramadol then shipping these drugs to several countries including Spain, the United States and Romania.
Singh used cryptocurrency payment gateways to carry out these sales thus averting the authorities for a long time.
Evaluation: Good
Source: Fxstreet
3. The Newly Launched Crypto Exchange Altsbit Will be Shut Down after a Recent Attack
Italy based cryptocurrency exchange, Altsbit that just launched a couple of months ago has been hacked! This hack wiped out all the ARRR, BTC, ETH, and VRSC the exchange had except for the small funds stored on cold wallets.
The hackers were able to get away with 3,924,082 ARRR (Pirate Chain), 6929 BTC (Bitcoin), 23210 ETH (Ethereum), 1066 KMD (Komodo) and 414,154 VRSC (Verus Coin). The Bitcoin and Ethereum stolen amounted to over $72.5 million.
The affected customers have been told to apply for partial refunds which will begin on the 10th of February 2020 till the 8th of May 2020. Any refund request after the 8th of May will not be granted as the Altsbit exchange will be shut down.
LulzSec, the black-hat group which was linked to the Sony Pictures Hack back in 2011 has taken to Twitter to claim responsibility for the attack and explicitly stating that many other hacks will follow.
Evaluation: Bad
Source: Coindesk
4. German Banks Eager to Obtain License For Cryptocurrency Services
Following the European Money Laundering Directive that was implemented on January 1, 2020, German legislators have started subjecting cryptocurrency exchanges to regulatory laws and actions.
Under the new law in Germany, companies offering cryptocurrency custodial services are expected to apply for a license from the country's financial authority body. Banks are also given licenses to provide cryptocurrencies services because the law treats cryptocurrencies and shares equally.
Since the implementation of the law, BaFin has received an application from 40 banks, including Solaris Bank, for a custody license and other cryptocurrency-related services. If the license is granted, Solaris Bank will store bitcoin and altcoins for its customers.
Evaluation: Good
Source: Crypto-news-flash
5. BitPay Launches Retail Crypto Payments with New POS Partner
BitPay sets to offer cryptocurrency payments at merchants' POS centers. The new development comes through BitPay's collaboration with Poynt, a commerce platform that has over 100,000 active POS devices across the globe.
Poynt provides the hardware and software for its POS terminal, which can also run third-party apps. Poynt announced that it recently crossed $9 billion in gross payment volume within a year.
BitPay CEO and co-founder Stephen Pair acknowledged that the partnership is a growth opportunity for the business and a step in the right direction to achieving secure, faster, and cheaper payment for people and companies.
Evaluation: Good
Source: Coindesk
6. BlockFi Raises USD 30M funds as it Plans Singapore Office
After raising millions in its Series A funding, BlockFi gets 64% more funding after six months. BlockFi is also planning to open an office in Singapore.
The startup revealed that it has raised up to 30 million dollars in the second phase of its funding. The funding was led by Valar Ventures, a venture capital firm based in the United States. BlockFi is Valar venture's first investment in the crypto space.
BlockFI stated that the money received will be used to accelerate the growth of the startup and also expand their products, including the lunch of a mobile app in a few
Evaluation: Good
Source: Cryptonews
