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IDAX Freezes Cold Wallet Transactions Following CEO Disappearance

Chinese cryptocurrency exchange IDAX has frozen withdrawals and deposits after the alleged disappearance of its global CEO. The cryptocurrency exchange made an announcement on Nov. 29, claiming that it had closed down its operations after its staff members were unable to make contact with the company’s CEO.

In the announcement, IDAX stated that it is still trying to locate its CEO’s whereabouts and trying to make sense of the situation. While the announcement highlighted that the IDAX team is in the process of establishing a contingency plan for the exchange, there was no mention of a timeline to enact the proposed contingency plan or regarding when normal services can be expected to resume.

IDAX Cold Wallet Locked Up

The exchange announced that the reason for the CEO’s disappearance is still a mystery at this point. The exchange has informed users that access to its cold wallet which stores nearly all cryptocurrency assets has been restricted and withdrawals and deposits are not allowed. It has advised all crypto users to stop using its services and platform for the time being. The company’s cold wallet is, therefore, on lockdown to protect users’ money.

However, the exchange hasn’t specified the value of cryptocurrency held in its cold wallet.

The crypt exchange didn’t directly link the CEO with cold storage wallet access nor did it say that users’ funds were at risk.

The announcement comes just days after the cryptocurrency exchange informed users on Nov. 24 about congestion holding up withdrawals and deposits and that it would no longer offer services to China-based users.

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Tezos Looks Set to Beat Bitcoin In 2020

So far, Bitcoin has outperformed all other major assets this year, and it is one of the best crypto performers in 2020. Although Bitcoin’s price plummeted in March amid a broader coronavirus-induced market sell-off, it is so far up around 30% this year.

But one lesser-known cryptocurrency has nearly doubled since January, with expecting it to rise even higher. Since the beginning of the year, Tezos (XTZ) has risen by 85%, adding to gain made during the previous year and giving the cryptocurrency market capitalization of nearly $1.8 billion.

By market capitalization, Tezos was the 15th most valuable cryptocurrency at the start of the year. However, now the cryptocurrency has broken into the top ten and could move quickly past some rival cryptocurrencies if its run continues.

Tezos has indicated strong gains in 2020 with the current price of $2.68 almost double the price coming into this year.

Tezos is a preferred way for holders to profit

Tezos (XTZ) is one of the most prominent and largest among a fast-growing list of digital currencies recognized as “staking tokens.” Tezos is the most among crypto assets with a market value of at least $1 billion. That is more than double the 37% gain for Bitcoin (BTC), the largest cryptocurrency by market value.

Tezos styles itself as a self-amending cryptographic ledger and utilizes the so-called “proof-of-stake” consensus model. The crypto has emerged as a favorite cryptocurrency and blockchain for tokenized security and real estate tokens.

But Tezos cannot be mined like Bitcoin because it uses proof-of-stake rather than Bitcoin’s proof-of-work.

Proof-of-stake blockchains are normally considered to be less resource-intensive and more scalable as they do not expect miners to solve complicated mathematical problems so that to create the next bloc.

Proof-of-stake blockchains also incentivize token holder participation in network security. If Tezos holders store their funds in certain wallets, then they can stake their XTZ and get additional tokens as a reward for verifying and creating new blocks in the chain.

Joseph Todaro, managing partner at Blocktown Capital, an investment company specializing in digital currencies, said that the strong performance of Tezos is partly because of increased interest in staking-based returns.

Some crypto exchanges provide staking as a service to make it easier for investors to participate. Recently, Tezos has benefited from new listings on the exchanges like Coinbase, Binance, and Bitfinex.

The Tezos rally started in November last year and has been pushed on by key partnerships with financial institutions and the so-called Tezos Foundation, which awards users up to 0.01 XTZ every 12 hours.

Ethereum, which is the second-largest cryptocurrency after bitcoin, intends to upgrade to a staking model in July. Some analysts state that ether has created additional interest among speculators because of the transition to staking.

Latin America’s largest investment bank boosts Tezos with 1 billion STO

Tezos has been one of the best performing crypto assets of this year. The blockchain of Tezos run by the Tezos Foundation has made important achievements in recent years in terms of joining forces with platforms, groups, and banks to further develop Tezos’ potential.

Several partners use Tezos as a part of the solutions applied to everyday life. June last year, BTG Pactual, Latin America’s largest investment bank announced that it plans to use the Tezos blockchain for security token offering potentially worth $1 billion.

BTG Pactual bank partnered with the leading Dubai-based asset management company Dalma Capital to issue $1 billion of real estate securities on the Tezos network. It is, therefore, clear that the Tezos Foundation remains committed to consolidating vital strategic cooperation with the aim of developing real use cases for Tezos (XTZ).

India's Largest Crypto Exchange CoinDCX Raises $2.5 Million in New Growth Capital to Increase User Base

CoinDCX, India’s largest crypto exchange, has announced that it has raised $2.5 million from investors like Polychain Capital and Coinbase Ventures. Polychain Capital led the funding round with support from Coinbase Ventures, the investment arm of the US cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase.

CoinDCX had raised a $3 million Series A round earlier in March, which was also led by Polychain Capital and included HDT Group (operator of BitMEX) and Bain Capital Ventures.

The company’s other main investor, Coinbase Ventures, has also made investments in other crypto businesses like BlockFi, Messari, Compound, Securitize, and Etherscan.

Thriving through tough times

There is a good reason why India has not been having lots of firms around cryptocurrencies or their trading. The key reason is that the Reserve Bank of India (country’s banking regulator) issued a ban on crypto industry in 2018. The ban shut down doors to new crypto companies while almost crippling whatever cryptocurrency firms existed during that time.

In March 2020, India’s Supreme Court made a landmark ruling that overturned the ban issued by the Central Bank. Ever since, things have changed and the more resilient cryptocurrency firms, which survived the ban, are now flourishing. That explains why CoinDCX, the largest crypto exchange in the country, is doing very well because of its resilience. Recently, the Mumbai based startup has secured a capital funding of $2.5 million from Polychain Capital and Coinbase ventures.

CoinDCX stated that it will use the fresh round of funds to handle the growth spurt, which has been initiated by the Central Bank’s recent announcement. The crypto exchange intends to drive cryptocurrency adoption in India by supporting its plans of increasing cryptocurrency traders and investors in India to 50 million. The company plans to divert these funds to assist in achieving that goal. Moreover, the firm seeks to develop a secure and user-focused exchange to support the rising demand for cryptocurrency in the country.

But that is not the only focus of the company. While India’s market is certainly growing, the majority of the population does not understand the concept of cryptocurrency. Based on the number alone, the country has lots of potentials when it comes to the cryptocurrency market. But there is a great need for blockchain and crypto education. CoinDCX aims to address this gap by launching a $1.3 million initiative for educational campaigns, consumer campaigns, community engagements, and meetup events. As part of the initiative, the company intends to create an online academy, which is a cryptocurrency and blockchain learning program aimed toward first-time cryptocurrency traders.

Following the Reserve Bank of India lifting banking ban on the crypto industry, CoinDCX stated that its sign-ups had risen by 10 times in one week. The crypto exchange said that its trading volumes had increased by 47% and it saw a 150% growth in daily active users in March.

The fresh round of funding comes a time when cryptocurrency trade in India is experiencing new highs despite the global economic crisis caused by the coronavirus outbreak. Crypto investments such as Bitcoin have been seeing growth ahead of traditional assets like gold and equity globally. Bitcoin also has been receiving positive endorsements from mainstream investors, including the US billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones who revealed that 1-2% of his assets are held in Bitcoin.

India’s supreme court turned the tables on crypto ban in landmark ruling

In April 2018, India’s Central Bank instructed all banks under the banking regulator not to deal with digital currencies or provide services to organizations and individuals dealing with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. The move that the regulator took was directed at a consistent effort to oppose payment systems, which undermine the integrity of the banking system. The directive caused lots of firms to either close down their businesses or shift their operations outside the country.

But when the Supreme Court overturned such a directive in February, crypto firms rejoiced and since then the market has been flourishing. Recently the Reserve Bank of India has also confirmed that there is no banking ban on the cryptocurrency industry. The Central Bank responded to a Right to Information (RIT) inquiry that asked whether the regulator has banned banks from providing bank accounts for crypto traders. The regulator confirmed that there is no such prohibition. With the environment ripe of crypto firms to nurture, lots of more investments, like the one recently funded to CoinDCX, are expected to increase.

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Crypto Debit Card Issuer Wirecard Missing Over $2 Billion in Cash as Auditor Raises Questions

Shares of Wirecard, a German payment company, have fallen more than 60% after the company announced that its auditor, Ernst & Young (EY), raised questions over missing balances worth 1.9 billion euros (over $2 billion) of cash. The auditor said that it did not have adequate evidence for 1.9 billion euros of cash balances on Wirecard’s trust accounts. The missing funds amount to an estimate of a quarter of its total balance sheet.

Wirecard stated that there was evidence of “spurious” figures provided by a third party in order to deceive the auditor.

Wirecard joined Germany Blue Chip Stock Market Index two years ago. During that time, the company was valued at €24 billion. But following the latest plunge of its share price, the company’s value has declined just to €4 billion.

The future looking sore for the Fintech company

The company’s statement said that a trustee of Wirecard’s bank accounts tried to deceive the auditor and falsely indicated the existence of the cash.

Wirecard stated that the missing funds were supposed to be held in accounts in Asian banks and had been set aside for “risk management.” However, the auditor disclosed that the banks had been unable to provide the account numbers.

The scandal came after numerous articles published by the Financial Times in the previous year looking into alleged accounting irregularities in Wirecard’s Asian operations. The Financial Times earlier reported that Wirecard staff in Dublin and Dubai seem to have conspired to falsely inflate profits and sales for nearly a decade.

Wirecard is a major fintech company that issues crypto debit cards to various blockchain firms including Crypto.com, among others. The current problem facing Wirecard could put crypto card providers in jeopardy.

Although it is unlikely that crypto user funds are directly threatened, the mess in the Wirecard’s reserves could lead to service disruptions on crypto cards that the company issues. Currently, Wirecard is the debit card issuer for Crypto.com, CryptoPay, TenX, and Wirex.

Most providers are not willing to work with crypto firms. The crypto debit card industry, therefore, remains vulnerable to a few struggling principle issuers. In 2018 January, WaveCrest payment service provider collapsed and completely left all crypto debit card firms without a product, however, it remains unclear whether issues facing Wirecard would result in a similar scenario.

Binance launched new crypto debit card issued by VISA

In March 2020, Binance launched its new crypto debit card with the aim of providing crypto payment services anywhere around the globe. However, Binance is not the only cryptocurrency exchange that pursues this concept.

Last year, Coinbase unveiled a similar product, and many more exchanges are increasingly seeking to enter into the crypto debit card industry. With the number of crypto users skyrocketing, the number of blockchain-based debit cards is rising in the payment market.