The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has filed a suit against two defendants for the allegedly fraudulent solicitation of Bitcoin (BTC), according to an official press release published on Friday, September 28. The CFTC’s complaint — filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas — charges the two defendants with running two fraudulent businesses and misleading the public to invest in leveraged or margined foreign currency contracts, such as forex, binary options, and diamonds. The first defendant, who goes by the name Morgan Hunt, is reportedly from Arlington, Texas, and owns the company Diamonds Trading …

On July 27, the foreign exchange trading market (forex) settlement powerhouse CLS reported it was in the final stages of testing its blockchain payment service for banks. However, while the service is reportedly set to be launched as soon as in August, the amount of players backing the project has halved since the initial announcement. As it turns out, large financial institutions are not quite ready to hand over their data to a blockchain-powered system. Brief introduction to forex and CLS system Forex is a worldwide market where convertible currencies are traded and their conversion rates are determined. Albeit being …

Forex exchange (FX) settlement giant CLS is in the final stages of testing its blockchain payment service for banks, Financial News reported July 27. The service is reportedly set to be launched later this summer, with at least seven banks expected to sign on to the system in the early months. CLS, the New York-based global multi-currency cash settlement system, has been working with tech company IBM to introduce the blockchain-powered payment netting service. The system is set to be incorporated in banking IT systems to boost the level of standardization in the global FX markets, as well as reduce …

CLS, a provider of foreign exchange settlement and processing, has invested $5 mln in R3, a New-York-based blockchain consortium, Reuters reported May 30. Under the deal, CLS will have a seat on R3’s Board of Directors. The deal reportedly comes as a part of the third tranche of R3’s fundraiser, which also included financing from Singapore real estate firm OUE and Japanese IT services provider TIS. David Rutter, R3’s chief executive officer, shared his enthusiasm about major infrastructure players’ involvement in using blockchain technology to improve their products: “It is absolutely right that major infrastructure players like this look to …

German bank Commerzbank and steel company Thyssenkrupp have completed a €500,000 pilot transaction of a forex (FX) forward on a blockchain, reported Cointelegraph auf Deutsch May 24. The EUR/PLN forward deal worth €500,000 with a one month tenor was initiated by Thyssenkrupp on the Commerzbank's FX Live Trader platform on Wednesday. The transaction was then confirmed directly through Corda, a distributed ledger technology (DLT) of the R3 blockchain consortium. The use of blockchain technology, which underpins the Bitcoin virtual currency, could help reduce delays and manual errors, as well as "significantly reduce operational risks in foreign exchange transactions", according to …

Gibraltar-based startup Travelers Box took a shot at helping travelers convert their leftover coins into usable currencies by introducing their first kiosk in Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport. Machines like these have been tried before and still seem to find success on European ferry lines between ports where different currencies are used (UK to France, for example, or Stockholm to Helsinki). Travelers Box added a twist to their machines, though. Users could convert their change into online accounts with PayPal, Qiwi, or Bitcoin. Well, now the Bitcoin option is off the board because people found out about it and went nuts. Said …