Francisco Memoria

News Reporter

Francisco is a cryptocurrency writer who's in love with technology and focuses on helping people see the value digital currencies have. His work has been published in numerous reputable industry publications. Francisco holds various cryptocurrencies

Articles by Author

Ethereum

Ethereum Transaction Fees are Up Over 3,500% YTD as DeFi Interest Booms

The cost of transacting on the Ethereum network has gone up by 3,500% on average, making it more expensive to send and receive transactions and use decentralized applications and decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols. According to BitInfoCharts, at the beginning of the year, the average transaction fee paid to move ether on the blockchain was $0.084, […]
Altcoins

Venezuela Moves to Collect Taxes in Its Oil-Backed Cryptocurrency Petro

Venezuela could soon start collecting taxes in its oil-backed cryptocurrency the Petro (PTR), as the Bolivarian Council of Mayors has signed the so-called “National Tax Harmonization Agreement.” The agreement applies to 305 municipalities in the country and specifies that tax and sanctions payments may be collected in the oil-backed cryptocurrency. Since it was launched, the […]
Bitcoin

Most Bitcoin Investors Believe BTC Will Hit $100,000 By December 2021, Twitter Poll Shows

A Twitter poll created by popular cryptocurrency analyst PlanB shows that 51% of bitcoin investors believe the price of the cryptocurrency will appreciate to over $100,000 before December 2021. PlanB initially polled his Twitter followers in July, asking what they believe the price of bitcoin will be by the end of next year. The results […]
Bitcoin Exchanges

Coinbase Saved Its Clients 75% in Fees by Batching Bitcoin Transactions

San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has revealed it managed to help its clients save 75.2% in transaction fees by batching transactions on the Bitcoin network. According to a blog post the cryptocurrency exchange posted, since rolling out Bitcoin transaction batching on March 12 for both Coinbase Consumer and Coinbase Pro, it has greatly reduced the […]
Bitcoin Business

MicroStrategy Makes Massive $250 Million Bet on Bitcoin

The billion-dollar business intelligence software firm MicroStrategy has made a massive $250 billion bet on bitcoin, investing in the cryptocurrency as part of its capital allocation strategy. According to an announcement published by the business intelligence software firm, it purchased a total of 21,454 BTC at an aggregate price of $250 million, including fees and […]
Altcoins Security

Two Token Projects Seemingly Exit Scam Shortly After Listing on Uniswap

Two small token projects appear to have gone down shortly after getting listed on decentralized exchange Uniswap, after investors poured funds into them. As first reported by The Block both projects – Nugs.space (NUGS) and the Nexeum Protocol (NEXE) – disappeared. The first projects, China-based Nugs.space, blamed going down on a “smart contract bug,” claiming […]
Altcoins Ripple

Australian Woman Jailed for Stealing Over 100,000 XRP

An Australian woman who hacked into the email of a 56-year-old man and access his cryptocurrency wallet to steal over 100,000 XRP tokens, has been sentenced to two years in prison for the theft. According to « Australian news outlet Information Age the woman, 25-year-old Kathryn Nguyen, stole the funds back in January 2018, at […]
Bitcoin Mining

Bitcoin Transaction Fees Plummet as Network Congestion Eases

The cost of transacting on the Bitcoin network has fallen sharply last week, as bitcoin-related activity started to slow down after BTC’s price managed to remain above the $11,000 mark. According to data from Blockchain.com, first spotted by CoinDesk, the average transaction fee paid to transact on the Bitcoin network fell by 58% since last […]
Exchanges

Binance Launches Perpetual Futures Contracts Margined With Bitcoin

Leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance has launched perpetual futures trading contracts margined with BTC, and with leverage up to 125x. According to a press release shared with CryptoGlobe, the contracts are listed on the Binance Futures platform and are denominated as “COIN-margined” on it. Perpetual futures contracts, unlike traditional futures contracts in which both buyers and […]
Uncategorised

Peter Schiff Bashes Bitcoin and Grayscale’s ‘Drop Gold’ Ad Campaign

Gold bug and crypto critic Peter Schiff has bashed cryptocurrency asset manager Grayscale Investments for its “drop gold” ad campaign, as the firm plans to run another campaign advertising bitcoin. On Twitter, Schiff claimed that since Grayscale Investments ran its original ad campaign telling investors to “drop gold” and instead invest in bitcoin – which […]
Altcoins Ethereum

Ethereum and DeFi Are ‘Going Mainstream’ Says Former Wall Street Trader

A former Wall Street bond trader at Citi and the head of research at TradeBlock, John Todaro, has revealed he believes the decentralized finance (DeFi) space and Ethereum are “going mainstream.” In a tweet published in response to ZeroHedge pointing out Chainlink’s price performance as more and more traders start paying attention to DeFi, Todaro […]
Bitcoin Security

Bitcoin vs Quantum Computers: Real and Imagined Fears

Crypto enthusiasts have long-held fears of the future that quantum computing might bring. But are those fears overblown? Quantum computers are a near-perfect embodiment of Arthur C. Clarke’s third law, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” A fully functional quantum computer would be orders of magnitude more powerful than any conventional supercomputer in […]
Uncategorised

Smaller Bitcoin Holders Are Increasing Controlling More of BTC’s Supply, Data Shows

Data shows that the amount of bitcoin smaller entities hold has more than doubled over the past five years, while BTC whales have seen their holdings decline significantly over the same period. According to on-chain analytics firm Glassnode, the percentage of bitcoin’s supply held by entities with 10 BTC or less has grown from 5.1% […]
Business Ethereum Regulation

Grayscale Ethereum Trust Files to Status of Reporting Company With SEC

Grayscale Investments has voluntarily publicly filed a Registration Statement on Form 10 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its Ethereum Trust (ETHE) to obtain reporting status. If the filing is approved by the SEC, the Ethereum Trust will be the second cryptoasset investment vehicle ever to obtain the status of a reporting […]
Bitcoin

Future of Money: Bitcoin Whale Moves $1.1 Billion in Bitcoin for $4 Fee

Bitcoin’s second-largest address has moved its 92,857 BTC, worth $1.1 billion, to two separate wallets in a single transaction that incurred a fee of about $3.97, paying 83.2 satoshis per byte. The transaction was spotted by the Twitter-based transaction monitoring service Whale Alert, which identified the sender’s address as one belonging to Xapo, a bitcoin […]
Altcoins Bitcoin Security

German Authorities Seize $30 Million in BTC and BCH From Movie Piracy Site

German authorities have seized over €25 million ($29.6 million) worth of bitcoin and bitcoin cash from the alleged programmer of a movie piracy website called movie2k.to According to a press release prosecutors sent out, the movie piracy website ran for five years and in that time reportedly distributed over 880,000 pirated copies of films. It […]
Exchanges Markets

Crypto Derivatives See Second Highest Volume Ever in July: CryptoCompare Report

On July 27, after bitcoin surpassed the $10,000 mark, $46.91 billion worth of derivatives were traded. The day’s volume was second only to March 12, the day the price of bitcoin crashed nearly 50%. According to CryptoCompare’s July 2020 Exchange Review, Deribit’s options volumes stood out last month, as they set a new all-time high, […]
Exchanges Markets

Top-Tier Crypto Exchanges Beat Riskier Platforms as Crypto Trading Volumes Recover

Top cryptocurrency exchanges have seen their trading volumes surge throughout July, so much so these now represent 60% of the crypto space’s total spot volume. According toCryptoCompare’s July 2020 Exchange Review, Top-Tier cryptocurrency trading platforms, those graded AA-B according to the firm’sExchange Benchmark, have seen their spot volumes increased by 42.1% to $334 billion last […]
Bitcoin

Younger Investors Prefer Bitcoin While Older Go With Gold, JPMorgan Says

A team of strategist led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou at JPMorgan Chase have made a case that younger investors often prefer bitcoin when choosing an alternative investment, while older investors go with gold. According to Bloomberg, in a note sent on August 4 the JPMorgan Strategists pointed out that millennials prefer tech stocks, while older investors […]
Bitcoin Business

Billion-Dollar Software Firm MicroStrategy Eyes Investing in Bitcoin

The billion-dollar business intelligence software firm MicroStrategy has revealed it plans to invest up to $250 million in alternative assets over the next 12 months, and specifically mentioned bitcoin as an option. According to a transcript of the firm’s earnings call published by The Motley Fool, when addressing returning value to shareholders the company’s president […]

Ethereum Classic (ETC) Suffers Another 51% Attack After 800,000 ETC Double Spend

The Ethereum Classic (ETC) blockchain has suffered a second 51% in the last week, with the attackers double-spending well over 800,000 ETC in the first one. The most recent 51% attack was spotted by Ethermine’s parent firm Bitfly, which quickly warned the cryptocurrency community of the incident and advised miners that until further notice Ethereum […]

Human Rights Foundation, Square Crypto Announce New Bitcoin Development Grants

The Human Rights Foundation’s Bitcoin Development Fund has announced three new grants this week, at about the same time Square Crypto, a well-known grant distributor, announced a new grant of its own. As first reported by CoinDesk, Square Crypto has announced a grant to Lloyd Fournier, a bitcoin developer who plans to work on payment […]

Hackers Used Crypto Exchanges to Launder Bitcoin From a Ransomware Attack

The hackers that infected the systems of travel giant CWT and got the firm to pay a $4.5 million ransom in bitcoin to them have managed to launder $1.5 million of the BTC using crypto exchange Binance. As CryptoGlobe reported, the travel management firm CWT saw hackers allegedly lock 30,000 of its computers and demand […]

OKEx Launches Peer-to-Peer Crypto Exchange in India

Popular cryptocurrency exchange OKEx has announced the launch of a peer-to-peer trading platform in India, that will allow users to buy bitcoin and Tether’s USDt using the country’s fiat currency, with 0% transaction fees. According to an announcement the exchange published, the OKEx P2P trading platform will use “India’s most widely used payment methods,” including […]

90% of Ethereum’s Supply Is in a State of Profit, Which Could Mean a Big Move Is Near

Over 90% of Ethereum’s circulating supply is now in a state of profit, which could mean a significant bearish move is coming in the near future, as the last time this happened the price of ETH dropped from $925 to $380 in 2018. According to research and analytics firm Glassnode, the percentage of the second-largest […]

Bitfinex Offers up to $400 Million for Return of Bitcoin Stolen in 2016 Hack

Popular cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex is offering rewards up to $400 million for the return of the nearly 120,000 bitcoins that were stolen from its wallets back in 2016. According to an announcement the trading platform published, Bitfinex will give both the person who connects it with the hackers responsible for the security breach, and the […]

$51 Million Worth of Bitcoin From the 2016 Bitfinex Hack Moved in the Last Few Days

Around $51 million worth of bitcoin were moved by the hackers that breached the security of cryptocurrency trading platform Bitfinex in 2016, and stole nearly 120,000 BTC at the time. According to the International Business Times, the transactions have been closely tracked by blockchain large transaction monitor Whale Alert and blockchain sleuths, who found 620 […]

Crypto Hedge Fund Shuts Down After Losing Half Its Money

Cryptocurrency hedge fund Neural Capital has shut down after losing half of its money since it launched back in 2017, when most cryptocurrencies rose to their all-time highs. According to CoinDesk, Neural Capital is now in the process of refunding investors’ money. The news outlet’s report cites three sources familiar with the matter, who claimed […]

U.S. Authorities Seize $6.5 Million in BTC and USDt From Alleged Ponzi Scheme

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has seized about $6.5 million worth of bitcoin and Tether’s USDt stablecoin from the administrator of the alleged crypto Ponzi scheme “Banana Fund.” Following an investigation conducted by the U.S. Secret Service (USSS), a forfeiture suit against the cryptocurrency account holding the funds of the Banana Fund’s unnamed administrator […]

Travel Giant CWT Pays $4.5 Million in Bitcoin to Ransomware Hackers

CWT, a U.S. travel management firm that posted revenues of $1.5 billion last year and claims to represent over a third of companies in the S&P 500, paid $4.5 million in bitcoin to hackers who extorted them after infecting them with ransomware. According to Reuters, the attackers used a ransomware strain called Ragnar Locker, which […]

Ethereum Classic (ETC) Suffers Block Reorganization Because of a Single Miner

it suffered in January 2019. The recent reorganization was caused by a single miner. The blockchain reorganization was confirmed by the Twitter account of ETC and of the founder of Ethereum Classic Labs James Wo. It occurred at block 10,904,146 and was not labeled as an attack, as the miner behind the reorganization was seemingly […]

Alleged 17-Year-Old Twitter Hacker Owns Over $3 Million in Bitcoin

The 17-year-old accused of hacking Twitter on July 15 to promote a fake bitcoin giveaway, Graham Ivan Clark, reportedly owns over $3 million worth of bitcoin, according to his attorney David Weisbrod. According to the Tampa Bay Times, Weisbrod revealed Clark has over 300 BTC, worth over $3.3 million, on Saturday in a court hearing, […]

MoneyGram Received $15.1 Million in XRP Incentives From Ripple in Q2 2020

MoneyGram has received $15.1 million from Ripple in the second quarter of this year for providing liquidity to the company’s XRP cross-border settlement network, the On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) platform. According to MoneyGram’s second-quarter results, the Texas-based remittances firm received the funds in what it called “market development fees,” which were offset by transaction expenses of […]

Bitcoin Price Could Keep Moving up, HODL Wave Chart Suggests

A HODL Wave chart suggests that the price of bitcoin could keep moving up, as the number of unmoved BTC in the last 12 months recently hit a new all-time high. The HODL Wave chart was created by Unchained Capital, a financial services firm, and it looks at the number of bitcoin addresses with funds […]

Japanese Brave Browser Users Will Soon Start Receiving BAT Tokens

Japanese users of the cryptocurrency-powered Brave browser will soon start receiving BAT tokens for seeing privacy-respecting ads while browsing the web, if they opt-in to the Brave Ads program. According to an announcement published by Brave, the result of a partnership between the browser’s creator and Japanese cryptocurrency exchange bitFlyer, a new wallet called “Integrated […]

Bitcoin’s Surge Past $10,000 Increases Number of Millionaires Addresses to 18,000

Bitcoin’s recent price increase above the $10,000 mark has helped the number of bitcoin millionaire addresses – those with at least $1 million worth of BTC in them – rise to over 18,000. According to analytics firm Glassnode, the number of millionaire addresses rose to 18,000 thanks to a 38% surge supported by the cryptocurrency’s […]

Chinese Authorities Reportedly Rarest 27 Key PlusToken Executives

Chinese authorities have reportedly arrested all 27 key executives allegedly running the massive PlusToken cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme, in an operation led by the country’s top police agency, the Ministry of Public Security. According to Chinese financial news outlet CLS, the investigation led to the arrest of another 82 core members of the Ponzi scheme, which […]

Bitcoin transaction fees surge 500% as BTC’s price remains above $10,000

The average transaction fee paid per transfer on the Bitcoin network has surged over 580% after the flagship cryptocurrency broke out of its range between the $9,000 and $10,000 marks. According to data from Blockchain.com, the average transaction fee earlier this month was between $0.8 and $1.2, while the cryptocurrency traded close to the $9,000 […]

Coinbase to Start Paying DAI Holders 2% Interest a Year

San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has started rewarding users who hold MakerDAO’s DAI stablecoin in their accounts with a 2% yield per year, with the rate being subject to change.  According to an announcement the cryptocurrency exchange published, the program applies to customers in the U.S., U.K., France, Australia, Spain, and the Netherlands. Coinbase was […]

Bitcoin Is ‘Reversing Its Downtrend’ Says Oppenheimer’s Head of Technical Analysis

Ari Wald, head of technical analysis at Oppenheimer, has revealed bitcoin’s long-term trendline suggests it is “reversing its downtrend” and implies it has plenty of room to move up. Wald’s comments came after the flagship cryptocurrency broke a two-month long range between $8,000 and $10,000 over the weekend, and quickly moved up to the $11,000 […]

Bitcoin Will Move to $28,000 Before Correcting, Max Keiser Predicts

Max Keiser, host of the “Keiser Report” on RT news, has predicted that the price of bitcoin will move towards the $28,000 mark before enduring a pullback, after which it will move into six-figure territory. According to the bitcoin bull, the $28,000 mark is in play thanks to the flagship cryptocurrency’s breach of the $10,000 […]

Hackers Steal One Million Customer Emails From Crypto Hardware Wallet Maker Ledger

Hackers have managed to breach the e-commerce database of popular cryptocurrency hardware wallet maker Ledger, and stole one million emails from it. The emails are, at least yet, not for sale on the darknet. According to a notice Ledger published, on June 14 a researcher participating in its bounty program unveiled a potential security breach […]

Open Interest in Ether Futures Hits $1 Billion All-Time High

The total value of contracts that have not yet been settled on Ethereum futures has now surpassed the $1 billion mark for the first time. According to data from market analytics firm Skew, first reported on by Decrypt, the aggregated open interest on ETH futures surpassed the $750 million mark earlier this year ahead of […]

$27 Million Worth of Bitcoin From the 2016 Bitfinex Hack Were Mysteriously Moved

Around 2,550 bitcoins from the 2016 hack on the popular cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex have mysteriously started moving again, with the hackers making a series of transfers to other wallets. In total, the hackers moved bitcoin worth around $27.59 million. The transactions were quickly spotted by Twitter-based crypto transaction tracker Whale Alert, and blockchain sleuths quickly […]

Bakkt Reports Record Single-Day Volume for its Bitcoin Futures Market

The Intercontinental Exchange’s (ICE) cryptocurrency venture Bakkt has recorded a new all-time high in single-day trading volumes for its physically-settled monthly bitcoin futures contract. According to data from Bakkt, the firm traded a total of 11,509 BTC, worth nearly $124 million at press time, in July 2017, the same day the price of bitcoin moved […]

MakerDAO Surpasses $1 Billion in Total Value Locked as DeFi Space Keeps Growing

MakerDAO, the non-custodial lending protocol used to create DAI stablecoins, has become the first in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space to surpass $1 billion in total value locked in it. The milestone comes as users keep on locking cryptoassets in the DeFi space, so much so it has grown from over $660 million in total […]

Crypto Exchange Coinbase Reveals It Has 35 Million Customers

San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has revealed in a new report its client base has grown to 35 million retail and institutional clients, up from 30 million at the beginning of the year. According to the cryptocurrency exchange’s mid-year review, first reported on by The Block, Coinbase has seen additional participation among retail traders, while […]

Live-streaming platform Twitch offers Subscribers Discounts For Paying with Crypto

Twitch, a major live-streaming platform with 15 million daily active users is offering subscribers a 10% discount if they pay using cryptocurrencies.

Canadian Regulator Warns Against Crypto Site ‘Set up in Order to Steal Money’

The Manitoba Securities Commission has warned against a cryptocurrency website it says was “set up in order to steal money,” advising investors against depositing in it.

10,000 Bitcoin Mining Machines ‘Illegally Moved’ From Bitmain Mining Farm

The ongoing power struggle between the co-founders of cryptocurrency mining hardware manufacturer Bitmain, Micree Zhan and Jihan Wu,  has allegedly seen 10,000 Bitcoin mining rigs be “illegally moved” from a company-owned facility in Mongolia.

ESPN to Launch Gaming Platform With Cryptocurrency Payments

ESPN Global has announced the launch of a recently developed online gaming platform built with the use of blockchain technology, that will allow users to deposit and withdraw using bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Opera Expands Crypto Wallet Top-Ups to UK After Reaching 170,000 Monthly Active Users

Popular web browser Opera has expanded its cryptocurrency wallet top-ups to the United Kingdom via a partnership with crypto on-ramp Ramp, which leverages new European Open Banking APIs to allow for low-fee crypto top-ups using a bank account or Revolut.

Bank of Lithuania Launches Blockchain-Based Collectors Token

The central bank of Lithuania, the Bank of Lithuania, has launched a blockchain-based digital collector’s token called LBCOIN. The token is the first digital coin issued by a central bank, according to the financial organization.

First Crypto Hedge Fund Licensed in U.K. Shuts Down Over Insufficient Institutional Demand

The first cryptocurrency hedge fund to receive a stamp of approval from the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is shutting down over “insufficient” demand from institutional investors.

Hackers Who Hijacked Twitter Accounts to Promote a Bitcoin Scam Saw DMs from 36 Accounts

The hackers who last week compromised Twitter in a breach that saw the hijack high-profile accounts to promote a bitcoin scam have accessed the direct messages of 36 accounts.

Apple Co-Founder Wozniak Sues YouTube over Bitcoin Giveaway Scams

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is suing the Google-owned video-sharing platform YouTube for allowing scammers to use his name and image in bitcoin giveaway scams similar to those that were promoted after Twitter was hacked.

U.S. Banks Can Now Offer Crypto Custody Services, Says Federal Regulator

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is letting nationally chartered banks in the U.S. provide custody services for cryptocurrencies, according to a public letter from Senior Deputy Comptroller and Senior Counsel Jonathan Gould.

OKEx Expands Derivatives Offering With DOTUSDT and FILUSDT Perpetual Swaps

Popular cryptocurrency exchange OKEx is expanding its derivatives offering to its users with new DOTUSDT and FILUSDT perpetual swaps, shortly after it added DOGE margin trading and savings accounts.

Tether’s Market Cap Surpasses $10 Billion, Cementing Its Position as Third-Largest Crypto

The market cap of Tether’s USDt stablecoin has surpassed the $10 billion mark, cementing the stablecoin’s position as the third-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.

Silver Is the New Bitcoin’, Says Peter Schiff as Precious Metal Hits Six-Year High

Gold bug and bitcoin bear Peter Schiff has provoked the cryptocurrency community on social media, arguing that silver is now the new bitcoin, after the precious metal’s price hit a six-year high.