Major privacy-centric email service ProtonMail is not giving up on Bitcoin (BTC) despite the extreme volatility leading to its price to plunge to nearly $30,000 on Wednesday. ProtonMail announced Friday on Twitter that the company has continued to hold a significant amount of Bitcoin in order to help the company stay independent: “Responsible financial diversification requires holding some assets outside of the traditional government controlled banking system. That’s why Proton will continue to #HODL a significant proportion of our reserves in #Bitcoin to safeguard our independence.” By announcing the news, ProtonMail echoes moves by companies like MicroStrategy whose CEO Michael …

Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) will co-exist “for a while” with more restrictive digital currencies like China’s digital yuan, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said in a Bloomberg interview on Monday. According to Zhao, some of the key features of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) — freedom of use and limited supply — won’t be offered by central bank digital currencies. “At the end of the day, those are core properties that users care about,” he stated. Zhao said that the differences between the two types of digital assets could make central bank-issued currencies unattractive to people in the crypto …

In this hyperconnected world, where personal data is a precious commodity, privacy has become a hot-button topic. Now more than ever, many consumers are craving confidentiality — especially when it comes to the transactions they make and the digital trails they leave behind. And that’s what the anonymous team behind a peer-to-peer ecosystem called Utopia say they provide. The platform has been built out of “fundamental respect for, and protection of, individual freedom and liberty online” — and is designed to eliminate surveillance and censorship. Its goal is to ensure that financial transactions, user data and personal communications are kept …

Dr. Richard Stallman is well-known for his free software movement activism. His speeches and work revolve around a term: freedom. And it is precisely that word that prompted Stallman to launch the GNU Project, founding the Free Software Foundation and releasing the GNU General Public License, among other projects, to promote the free software concept. RMS, as Dr. Stallman is also known, has some opinions regarding the concept of cryptocurrencies that have been widely discussed within the crypto community. Three freedoms To understand the concept of freedom Stallman often mentions in his speeches, he explains the difference between "free software" …

On July 9, peer-to-peer bandwidth market company, Orchid, announced the official launch of its crypto-enabled VPN app in the Apple App Store. This move comes after the company witnessed a record-breaking demand for VPN services across the world. iOS users will now be able to use Orchid Network’s services amid the current fight against government surveillance in places like Dubai, China, and Hong Kong. One of the major features of Orchid’s VPN is that bandwidth providers are compensated with Orchid’s own digital token, OXT. Strengthening users’ internet privacy Speaking with Cointelegraph, Dr. Steven Waterhouse, the CEO of Orchid Labs, went …

U.S-based Peer-to-Peer VPN Provider Orchid will start offering a private network for free to journalists across the globe, according to an announcement made on March 20. According to Orchid, journalists who have press credentials and proof of status, regardless of their geographical location, can send an email to the company so they can access the network. VPN free as a measure against press censorship Speaking with Cointelegraph, Dr. Steven Waterhouse, CEO and co-founder of Orchid Labs, made some comments regarding the motivations that led the VPN provider to offer such a feature: "In the wake of crises, freedom of the …

Former presidential candidate and known cryptocurrency proponent Andrew Yang has announced a new initiative to protect privacy online. After ending his presidential bid last month, Yang has announced the creation of new nonprofit organization called Humanity Forward. It aims to “rewrite the rules” of economy and society with a focus on data privacy. Announcing the news in a March 5 tweet, Yang outlined that the group is building a human-centered America, calling for donations to support the movement. Despite Yang previously accepting donations within his presidential campaign in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC), Humanity Forward doesn’t support donations in crypto as …

While some global cryptocurrency exchanges move to expand Know Your Customer (KYC) rules, some major rivals claim that crypto platforms do not need KYC at all. Digitex, a Seychelles-based crypto derivatives exchange, will start removing KYC identification this week in response to a major user data leak that happened last month. Digitex will have no KYC identity requirements as of April 2020 Adam Todd, CEO at Digitex Futures Exchange, revealed the news in a public video statement on March 4, declaring that Digitex will have all KYC identification processes removed from its platform as of April 2020. Todd clarified that …

Hostility to Bitcoin (BTC) from the global regulators is a double-edged sword that can hurt authorities if they lose their power, the Blockstream Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) warned. During a panel at a Liquid meetup at Litecoin Summit on Oct. 29, Blockstream CSO Samson Mow predicted that regulatory restrictions to Bitcoin could have both favorable and unfavorable consequences for the regulators themselves. Regulators should be careful while enforcing Bitcoin regulation The panel is a part of the event hosted by BTC technology firm Blockstream and BTSE exchange in Las Vegas, BTSE’s global marketing director Lina Seiche shared on Oct. 31. …

Disclaimer: this article has been updated to reflect the controversial background of APCU co-founder Jikida “Jay” Aeba. Two executives from the Asia Pacific Conservative Union (APCU) have launched the Liberty Ecosystem, a blockchain-based network designed to fight authoritarianism, a press release shared with Cointelegraph reveals on March 2. The co-founders of the project are APCU chairman, Jikido "Jay" Aeba, and CEO and co-founder of the organization, Yasu Kikuta. The press release describes the initiative as a “decentralized federation of local advocacy and economic development organizations seeking to combat the rise of authoritarianism in the Asia-Pacific region and around the world.” …