The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, has completed its second acquisition in 2020. Both acquisitions appear to further indicate Binance’s interest in crypto debit card issuance. After acquiring the industry’s most popular website, CoinMarketCap, in April 2020, Binance has now acquired Swipe, a Philippines-headquartered firm focused on crypto-to-fiat Visa debit cards. Binance and Swipe officially announced the acquisition on July 6, claiming that the new collaboration will push “further mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies” by bringing the gap between fiat and digital assets. Binance and Swipe “will be working closely together to launch crypto debit cards” While the official announcements do …

The Spanish Civil Guard has taken down a dark-web child porn ring that used cryptocurrency transactions to pay for content. Multiple individuals across the country were ultimately arrested. According to the Spanish Civil Guard, the “Jekyll” operation captured three people involved in the “Welcome 2 Video” platform, thanks in part to additional support from United States authorities. Bitcoin and “anonymous tokens” Users would send Bitcoin (BTC) and “other tokens or anonymous money transfer services” to access videos on the dark web site. Members were also rewarded for uploading their own videos and photos to the platform. Analysis of thousands of …

Another Filipino finance entity issued a warning against the alleged crypto Ponzi scheme Bitcoin Revolution, accusing them of impersonating the country’s president, as well as its finance and treasury officials. According to the Department of Finance (DOF) in an alert published on June 21, Bitcoin Revolution has been using the name of Secretary of Finance Carlos Dominguez III to promote what the watchdog claims is a fake “cryptocurrency auto-trading platform.” Fake news as bait for investors The alleged scammers are reportedly spreading fake news with an article that claims government has created a platform called “Bitcoin Lifestyle,” complete with a …

A report published by the Philippine Institute for Peace, Violence and Terrorism Research (PIPVTR) reveals that terrorist groups related to Islamic State (IS) in Southeast Asia have recently made their first transactions using cryptocurrencies. According to the report unveiled on May 20, the funds are helping finance regional terror groups like the Jemaah Ansharut Dalauh and the Mujahideen Eastern Timur in Mindanao. Coin laundry The report detailed a money-laundering operation’s use of cryptocurrencies, which consisted of two phases according to the PIPVTR. The first was where crypto assets of “suspicious origin” were channeled through unidentified exchanges. This “deliberately obfuscated” transactions …

The Philippines Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has flagged its third cryptocurrency scam this month, warning investors against a scheme dubbed “The Billion Coin” (TBC). Marketed as a so-called “abundance-based cryptocurrency,” the SEC said in an advisory on April 14 that TBCoin’s promoters present the asset as a decentralized cryptocurrency that “aims to revolutionize the global financial system in order to eradicate world poverty.” The concept of abundance is used to justify the asset’s autonomy from “market-driven norms” and prices by alleging that the more investors there will be, the higher the coin’s price will go. Unauthorized securities vendors face …

Edwin Bautista, president and chief executive of UnionBank of the Philippines, has forecast that the coronavirus outbreak will drive banks to shift towards digital currencies, leaving physical cash behind. As Euromoney reported on April 3, Bautista noted that the pandemic provoked a heightened demand in online banking services, pushing banks to revise their digitization strategy. “Certainly, this pandemic amplifies the need for all banks to go digital now,” Bautista said. Going further, the exec projected the beginning of the end of hard cash, especially if central banks fail to deliver notes and coins to banks and automated teller machines. Bautista …

The Philippines Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) warned of a crypto Ponzi scheme targeting Filipino, Australian, and European investors on March 30. The scheme, Bitcoin Revolution, comprises a classic Ponzi in which investors are offered exorbitant compounding daily returns on deposited funds. Bitcoin Revolution claims to have software that produces trades with a success rate of between 88% and 95% — offering a path to seven-figure status over just 61 days. From an initial deposit of just $250, the scammer claims that investors can earn 300% per day or 9,000% per month. Bitcoin Revolution brokers face 21 years in prison …

Decentralized finance, more commonly known as DeFi, is quite complicated. Even the heads of DeFi companies seem unable to define the sector in a few sentences. So, here’s another attempt: DeFi is a financial ecosystem, in which it is possible to build tools, services and smart contracts and then bond them together on a blockchain, just like lego. It might not sound like fun, but it’s probably more useful. Lego might well be Denmark’s most famous export, but DeFi’s number one company, MakerDAO, is giving it a run for its money. Since the company was formed in 2015, it has …

Raul Lambino, the administrator of the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) — the special economic zone that licenses cryptocurrency exchanges operating in the Philippines — has come under fire for allegations of corruption. On Feb. 20, The Manila Times published a story citing purportedly leaked from the Philippine National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA). The outlet claims that Lambino has unexplained wealth in the tens of millions of dollars. According to the NICA report: “It is now the general belief of many from Pangasinan, especially among provincial political leaders, that Lambino is the most liquid and moneyed government official in the …

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has encouraged the Philippines’ central bank to explore the possibility of starting to collect data on cross-border flows of crypto assets. The IMF made the recommendation in a Technical Assistance Report paper, released Dec. 30, 2019, and based on data from the Fund’s Monetary and Financial Statistics Mission in the country in July 2019. IMF mission recommendations According to the report, the IMF’s Philippines mission delivered a lecture on the treatment of crypto-assets in macroeconomic statistics at the request of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) earlier this year. Summarizing the mission’s lecture, the report …

Blockchain-based money transfer startup SendFriend utilizes Ripple’s technology to save up to 80% in remittance fees, according to a blog post published on Dec. 12. SendFriend uses Ripple’s xRapid product for cross-border payments, converting between the United States dollar, XRP and Philippine pesos and circumventing the longer process of traditional banking systems. Philippines-focused remittance platform SendFriend’s money transfer app aimed at reducing annual remittance fees for cross-border Filipino workers claims to lower such transaction costs by up to 75%. What makes it possible, according to the startup’s CEO, David Lighton, is RippleNet’s On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) technology. With ODL, RippleNet’s users …

Consensys founder Joseph Lubin has informed teams in India and the Philippines that their offices will be closing down. Consensys confirmed to Cointelegraph that local offices in India and the Philippines would indeed be shut down and that 11 employees are being laid off. A spokesperson for ConsenSys said: "A total of 11 roles were eliminated in India and the Philippines due to a realignment of the sales and services team in those countries." ConsenSys supports seven new Ethereum-based projects with $175,000 of funding Despite the recent rumors of ConsenSys closing down its offices in India and the Philippines, the …