A U.K. woman has been arrested in possession of £115,000 ($150,000) of Bitcoin (BTC), according to a Metropolitan Police report. The cryptocurrency is alleged to be the proceeds of a fraudulent scheme applying for government loans designed to assist small businesses in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The 35-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of fraud, money laundering and child neglect, following the search of a residential address in Ipswich, United Kingdom on Aug 12. Officers successfully applied for the detention of the Bitcoin held in the suspect’s cryptocurrency wallet on Aug 13. The investigation leading to the arrest …

Professional services firm KPMG has published a report predicting that blockchain will be one of five emerging technology sectors to see increased investment from enterprises over the next 12 months. Titled Enterprise Reboot, the report was compiled by KPMG International and HFS Research. It draws on a survey of 900 executives from organisations on the Forbes’ Global 2000 list of the largest public companies with more than $1 billion in annual revenue. While it found investment in blockchain fell by 63% due to the pandemic, the report predicts that the sector, along with artificial intelligence (AI), cloud, 5G, and process …

Coronavirus lockdowns will force people out of fiat currency and into gold and Bitcoin (BTC), the CEO of cryptocurrency asset manager BitGo has warned. In a series of tweets on Aug. 12, Mike Belshe strongly urged investors to divert a minimum of 3% of their portfolio into Bitcoin. Belshe: investors will move from cash to gold, Bitcoin As multiple jurisdictions around the world reenter compulsory lockdown conditions, Belshe said that in the United States, the government had made a prison for itself using the policy. “The government is being forced to maintain lockdowns for political correctness, which will force them …

A major satellite city in South Korea, Seongnam, is preparing to expand its existing blockchain-powered payment program by issuing new digital gift certificates. According to Kyunghyang Shinmun, the city’s Blockchain infrastructure will rely on a mobile app named Chak app. This app will be built by the Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporation, or KOMSCO. Seongnam’s project hopes to make it easier for elderly and middle-aged residents to utilize the city’s existing Blockchain technology. They also hope to strengthen the use of contactless payments during the COVID-19 pandemic. Local media outlets said that three digital gift certificate types – representing …

KEB Hana Bank, one of the biggest commercial banks in South Korea, reached an agreement with the state-backed highway operator, the Korea Expressway Corporation, to bring blockchain-based toll payments system across the nation’s highways. According to D Daily, the project is expected to launch before the end of the year. The system will connect KEB Hana’s smartphone banking app, Hana One Q, for motorists to arrange their toll payments, defer them, or even receive toll fee refunds. The report states that both parties involved in the deal reached to implement the blockchain solution aim to remove the cash-based or credit …

Countries all over the world are feeling the impact of COVID-19, as travel restrictions have virtually put an end to tourism for this year. To put this into perspective, recent statistics from Hawaii’s Maui News found that in June of this year, 1,929 visitors came to Maui, while the island welcomed 287,449 visitors the same time last year. According to Statista, European destinations like Spain and Italy are also likely to feel an economic impact due to the decline in visitors this summer. Unsurprisingly, a number of coronavirus contact-tracing apps have emerged to help revive the global tourism industry, which …

Enterprise-focused blockchain company ShareRing has launched a blockchain based contact tracing solution it will offer to 2.6 million hotel and activity providers that currently use one of the company’s services. The anonymous e-passport app hopes to solve the privacy issues facing similar tracing apps. ShareRing’s app, which focuses on tourism’s $9 trillion tourism industry, allows users to upload important documentation, such as e-visa on arrival (eVOA), passport information, travel insurance, flight and accommodation bookings and a negative COVID-19 test result. When a user of the app subsequently tests positive to the virus, the app will anonymously send the necessary information …

The largest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin (BTC), is not going away once the ongoing financial crisis subsides, United States Representative Tom Emmer (R-MN) believes. A known industry advocate, Emmer says that Bitcoin will only be getting stronger after the world eventually emerges from the economic chaos caused by the coronavirus. Bitcoin and blockchain will continue to become more important “As we come out of the crisis, Bitcoin ain’t going away, it’s gonna get stronger,” the Congressman saod during an Aug. 3 interview with co-founder of Morgan Creek Digital Anthony Pompliano. According to Emmer, both Bitcoin and its underlying technology of blockchain will …

A Slovak blockchain startup serves as the chief example of pandemic venture capital developments in central and eastern Europe (CEE), in a new report from Reuters on July 31. In the former Eastern bloc — where venture funding hit close to $1.6 billion in 2019 — uncertainty during the COVID-19 crisis has hit the start-up sector hard, particularly when it comes to early-stage deals. Alftins, a Slovak startup that is developing an online platform to trade digital assets, has recently secured funding from publicly-funded venture firm Crowdberry. The latter had earlier missed out on a version of the deal in …

The number of accounts holding more than one million XRP has increased by 3.7% with 30 new whales appearing over the last two weeks, according to Santiment’s holder distribution chart. These investors now hold between $240,000 and $2.4 million in XRP each, which has contributed to upwards pressure on price. After a fairly uninspiring few months, XRP has seen a price rise of over 30% from $0.19 to $0.25 in a fortnight. At least 30 big investors with deep pockets believe the price rise is set to continue. XRP Holder Distribution vs. Price. Source: Santiment Why Ripple? There’s no obvious …

Data from Bitcoin (BTC) marketplace Paxful shows a huge surge of interest in cryptocurrency peer-to-peer trading in Russia, with 350% growth on a year-over-year (YoY) basis. According to the study, from the period of May 2019 to May 2020, Paxful is now seeing an average monthly trading volume of $4M in Russia. The company says that this number “exceeds expectations,” together with the YoY usage increase figures. The last three-months saw a 42% increase, with May recording the best monthly performance amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The virus is one of the major drivers of growth according to Paxful. Lack of …

U.S. residents who invested their first stimulus checks in Bitcoin have seen a 45.5% return, from $1,200 in April to roughly $1,746 at the time of writing, when the cryptocurrency is surging past $10,200. In a July 26 interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow confirmed Americans will be receiving another $1,200 check as part of a roughly $1 trillion stimulus package first announced on July 23. However, according to Newsweek, many Americans have reported not receiving the first checks, which the U.S. Treasury started issuing in late March. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has said the …