Bittrex to Enable USD Trading
In a recent podcast interview, Bill Shihara, the CEO of Bittrex, confirmed that the exchange will enable USD trading to the majority of its customers. According to the Coin Telegraph, Bittrex will comply with all of their KYC and AML legal obligations, and users will have to go through several verifications. The CEO went on to suggest that Bittrex is not designed for the retail customer, but more experienced or institutional traders instead.
JP Morgan Chase and Citigroup Join Bank of America, Capital Once, and Discover in Banning Cryptocurrency Purchases with Credit Cards
JP Morgan Chase and Citigroup have joined Bank of America in banning credit cards transactions intended to purchase digital currency. According to The Verge, Capital One and Discover previously announced bans on cryptocurrency purchases on their credit cards as well. All of these banks cited concerned over their ability to monitor money laundering activity once fiat is converted to cryptocurrency.
Researchers Suggests New BlockDAG Network Structure to Compete Against Blockchain
PhD candidate Yonatan Sompolinsky and Dr. Aviv Zohar have released a paper this week on a new, scalable BlockDAG, called PHANTOM. According to the Coin Telegram, PHANTOM will “create a more linear block structure by distinguish[ing] between blocks mined properly by honest nodes and those mined by non-cooperating nodes that deviated from the DAG mining protocol.’” The architects claim PHANTOM is a more viable network structure to Blockchain.
Popular Chinese Search Engines and Social Media Platform Appear to Hide Sponsored Content Relating to Cryptocurrencies and ICOs
The most popular Chinese search engines and social media platforms appear to no longer display sponsored posts and paid advertisements that involve keywords such as ‘bitcoin’, ‘cryptocurrency’, and ‘ICO.’ As reported by Bitcoin.com, only journalistic content appears on the most popular Chinese search platforms — such as Baidu and Weibo. While Weibo has confirmed it does not allow advertising relating to cryptocurrencies, Baidu has yet to comment on its advertising policies.
Source: ICO Alert