Nonbank fintechs may be left unable to contribute to the United States government’s relief plan for small businesses hit by the COVID-19 crisis. On April 3, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) launched a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) as part of the federal government’s $2 trillion coronavirus relief package. The PPP aims to support small businesses during the pandemic by providing them with access to low-interest, forgivable loans. The $349 billion loan program — specifically targeted at Main Street firms that need urgent liquidity to cover their payrolls and other expenses — is actively seeking to enlist private-sector lenders such …

Swiss blockchain startup, Nym Technologies, has invited the general public to take part in the next phase of its mixnet platform’s user testing on April 8. The privacy infrastructure promises advanced protection against mass-surveillance, and comes at a time when governments globally are expanding their powers in the name of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. The good mixer Users are initially invited to run mix-nodes on the Nym testnet. A global network of mix-nodes will form the mixnet, which acts to irreversibly hide patterns and metadata in internet traffic by mixing data packets with those of other users. Nym claims that, …

The Texas State Securities Board (TSSB) has taken emergency action against cloud mining firm Ultra BTC Mining for issuing unregistered securities. The emergency cease-and-desist order was jointly filed against Ultra Mining by the TSSB and the Alabama Securities Commission on April 8. The securities regulators accused Ultra Mining of registration violations, fraud, failures to disclose key information relating to its operations, and misleading or deceptive statements. The regulators allege Ultra BTC Mining and its agent Laura Branch were running a "recession special” to prey on economically vulnerable Texans and had refused to verify a claimed $100,000 donation to help UNICEF …

Facebook and Instagram filed suit against a user who, they allege, operated a cloaking service that allowed ads for a range of scams to slip through the advertisement reviews for both platforms. Facebook’s accusations and request for relief In a civil complaint filed with a federal court in San Francisco on April 9, the social media giants accuse Bassant Gaijar of operating LeadCloak, a software provider specializing in cloaking ads. Per the complaint, Facebook alleges that: “[Gaijar’s] cloaking services were used to promote, among other things, deceptive diet pills and pharmaceuticals, cryptocurrency investment scams, and even misinformation about the economic …

Galaxy Digital, a major cryptocurrency investment bank founded by ex-Goldman Sachs partner, Mike Novogratz, continued its 2018 trend by posting another net loss in Q4 of 2019. According to an official April 8 announcement, the company suffered a net loss of more than $32.9 million in Q4, with the company outlining “realized loss on digital assets” and operating expenses as causes for the loss. Galaxy Digital has posted repetitive losses since its founding in 2018 Galaxy Digital was officially founded in early 2018 with the mission to institutionalize the crypto industry. Since then, the company has struggled to stay afloat, …

As the United States continues to struggle with a shortage of N95 masks needed to combat the deadly coronavirus, the Food and Drug Administration announced on April 3 that it has approved the use of KN95 masks in the country. Unlike N95 masks that are tested and certified by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention research agency, KN95 masks are regulated by the Chinese government. Although there are minor differences between N95 and KN95 masks, a growing concern around the authenticity of KN95 masks has come to fruition. An FDA spokesperson …

Nonprofit cryptocurrency advocacy group Coin Center has appealed to the community to develop tech-based responses to the COVID-19 pandemic that protect civil liberties and privacy. In a post published on April 8, the center’s director of research, Peter Van Valkenburgh, surveyed recent proposals from the Zcash Foundation for Private Contact Tracing Protocols, as well as progress with Decentralized Identifiers by Microsoft Research. “It's our duty as a community of technologists to be vigilant against the imposition of tracing and identity technologies that could, long term, jeopardize our autonomy and privacy,” Van Valkenburgh wrote. Resisting state overreach Coin Center warns against …

United States Federal District Judge Jed Rakoff is considering temporarily releasing a 61-year-old toy retailer-turned-Silk Road vendor amid concerns of a purportedly imminent COVID-19 outbreak in a federal jail. According to Law360 on April 8, the prisoner, Hugh Haney, is serving a three-and-a-half-year money-laundering sentence for failing to explain where he obtained $19 million in Bitcoins (BTC). While Judge Rakoff gave additional time to brief a bail request after an April 8 hearing, he described the motion for Haney’s compassionate release as “an argument for releasing every single person” in the facility. Judge considers Silk Road vendor's request for release …

The recent COVID-19 market crash has reduced the risk of a halving price dump and could have set up a Bitcoin bullrun, some cryptocurrency experts believe. Earlier today Chainalysis brought together a group of industry experts for an online panel to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on Bitcoin and what it means for the future. Chris Bendikson, Head of Research at CoinShares, said he believed the recent price crash in March had prepared miners early for the halving, which will reduce the sudden impact it could have had on their profitability. Those with outdated equipment had already been forced to …

The Texas securities regulator has continued its crackdown on cryptocurrency scams, spotting an alleged fraudulent crypto firm that made fake claims about COVID-19 donations. On April 8, the Texas State Securities Board (TSSB) issued an emergency cease and desist order against Ultra Mining, alleging that the crypto mining firm is involved in diverse illicit activities including purportedly fraudulent claims to double investors’ money. As specified in an official TSSB notice, the Texas action was brought jointly with the Alabama Securities Commission to stop the ongoing illegal offering. According to the order, Ultra Mining is promising some “eye-opening returns.” As such, …

Canadian technology company, VitalHub Corp, announced on April 8 the first deployment of a blockchain-based coronavirus screening tool. The tool will be used by a Region of Waterloo-owned long-term care facility called Sunny Side Home. According to the announcement, a request by Sunnyside Home resulted in the development of DOCit — a blockchain-driven app which will help to screen residents for common COVID-19 symptoms. The tool seeks to deploy and configure any screening or recurring task, enabling reporting standards for care providers, operations staff, and National, Provincial, or Regional health authorities. Efforts to contain the coronavirus outbreak in Canada Julie …

Despite hopes that a peak of the coronavirus cases is near, the pandemic continues to impact almost every aspect of daily life, becoming a rolling news ticker in itself. When such a disaster strikes, it can be easy to go through each day devouring the latest news as it occurs and digesting each piece as a story by itself without forming an overall picture. This pandemic is a seismic event with far-reaching impacts across different sectors, and crypto is no exception. In fact, because cryptocurrency markets move at breakneck speeds, the fact that coronavirus has been making its presence felt …