digital currencies

The ongoing crypto crash has brought a lot of investors back down to earth. In the case of current and former Terraform Labs employees, it’s keeping them literally grounded.Dozens of past and present staff from the company behind two notorious crypto coins, terraUSD and Luna, have been barred from leaving South Korea, according to multiple reports. The travel ban comes amid an intensifying investigation into the sudden collapse of terraUSD, a so-called “stablecoin” algorithmically pegged to the value of the US dollar. It…

Image: Dan Kitwood (Getty Images)The 2022 Summer of Terror continues to scorch the cryptocurrency industry. Just as some eagerly hoped the worst might be over, prices of Bitcoin Wednesday hit yet another grim milestone, dropping to an 18-month-low.Bitcoin, at one point, reportedly dipped 7.8% to $20,289 this week. That’s the currency’s lowest point since December 2020. A recent Reuters report attributed the most recent massive price falls (which wasn’t limited to Bitcoin), to the sudden freezing of crypto withdrawals by…

Photo: Grey82 (Shutterstock)Back in February, hackers managed to squirrel away approximately $36 million in crypto assets from users’ retirement accounts. In the aftermath of that scam, it’s become less of a “who-dun-it” and more of a “who’s-gonna-take-the-blame?”In a lawsuit filed Monday against Gemini Trust Company, retirement investment company IRA Financial said it was let down by Gemini’s promise of security for its crypto assets.Gemini is the crypto exchange fronted by the Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, AKA the…

Plenty of questions remain whether existing stablecoin issuers like Tether will be able to operate in Japan.Photo: Justin TALLIS / AFP (Getty Images)The Japanese are stepping out in front of the international crowd of hungry crypto-curtailing regulators, becoming the first nation to truly clarify the legal status of stablecoins and setting a precedent for more regulations on the largely-unregulated crypto industry.Bloomberg and the Financial Times reported Japan’s new law passed by the upper house of parliament Friday…

Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, the founders of Gemini Trust Company, are some of the biggest names in the crypto exchange game.Photo: Joe Raedle (Getty Images)Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, AKA the Winklevoss Twins, AKA the “Winklevii,” are losing a bit of that crypto-based twinkle in their eyes. Not only is the pair’s crypto company Gemini looking to cut over 100 staff due to a market downturn, they were also sued Thursday over their company allegedly lying to federal regulators in order to be the first DeFi company to…

Pedestrians walk by a Chipotle restaurant on April 26, 2022 in San Francisco, California. Photo: Justin Sullivan (Getty Images)Customers at Chipotle will now be able to pay for their burritos with cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, ether, and dogecoin, in a move that could help crypto become more mainstream, according to trade publication Restaurant Business. But there’s just one important caveat: Chipotle will accept the crypto through a payments system called Flexa, which is far from the decentralized technologythat…

Crypto may be on the downfall right now, but experts are still warning against its lobbying influence. Photo: Kin Cheung (AP)A group of technology experts is trying to warn the government of the dangers of the crypto industry. In a letter to U.S. policy makers, 26 computer scientists and engineers called on lawmakers to block efforts to create a ‘regulatory safe haven’ for cryptocurrency. They want leaders in Washington to instead focus on what they’re calling ‘responsible fintech policy.’“The claims that the blockchain…

Illustration: JLStock (Shutterstock)Luna 2.0, a Frankenstein cryptocurrency resurrected after its predecessor crashed to near-worthlessness, is already looking pretty haggard out of the starting gate. And like Mary Shelley’s monster, there are signs of more misfortune in the near future.Luna 2.0, which launched Saturday to replace the old Luna and Terra cryptocurrency ecosystem (now rebranded as Luna and Terra “Classic”), started at a high of $19.53but then sank to a low of just over $4 over the next few hours, according…

Russia is considering allowing cryptocurrency to be used for international payments, Interfax news agency quoted a government official as saying on Friday. "The idea of using digital currencies in transactions for international settlements is being actively discussed," Ivan Chebeskov, head of the finance ministry's financial policy department, was quoted as saying. Russian officials are wrestling with how to regulate the country's crypto market and use of digital currencies, with the finance ministry opposed to the…