Tokyo police have arrested eight men that are suspected of collecting a total amount of 7.8 billion yen ($68.4 million) in cash and cryptocurrency using a pyramid scheme, Japanese daily newspaper Asahi Shimbun reports Wednesday, Nov. 14. The suspects claimed to run a U.S. investment company dubbed “Sener,” conducting seminars with foreign speakers. The police report that at least one of the meetings has been recorded, with video uploaded on YouTube. During the seminars, the group of suspects promised monthly returns from 3 to 20 percent for the investments. The suspects also asked the participants to pledge to invite other …

Japanese multinational cybersecurity firm Trend Micro has detected a new strain of crypto-mining malware that targets PCs running Linux, according to a report published Nov. 8. The new strain is reportedly able to hide the malicious process of unauthorized cryptocurrency-mining through users’ CPU by implementing a rootkit component. The malware itself, detected by Trend Micro as Coinminer.Linux.KORKERDS.AB, is also reportedly capable of updating itself. According to the report, the combination of hiding and self-upgrading capabilities gives the malware a great advantage. While the rootkit fails to hide the increased CPU usage and the presence of a running crypto-mining malware, it …

Recently re-opened Japanese crypto exchange Coincheck has announced it has resumed NEM (XEM) crypto token trading after a restructuring of its platform by external “security experts,” South Korean news outlet FNNews reports Nov. 13. In January of this year, Coincheck suffered an industry record-breaking hack when $534 million worth of NEM was stolen from its wallets. This latest development from Coincheck reveals the exchange has “joined the Japan Security Association and is “ready to renovate its image.” Alongside NEM trades, the platform has also opened support for Ethereum (ETH) and Lisk (LSK). Coincheck is quoted as saying that "technological safety …

Japanese bank holding and financial services company Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. (MUFG) said it will use Ripple (XRP) to create a new cross-border payments service to Brazil in a press release Nov. 9. MUFG, which has demonstrated an increasing interest in cryptocurrency products, will partner with Brazil’s Banco Bradesco to create the platform through its local subsidiary Banco MUFG Brasil. Confirming the two parties had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), MUFG reiterated its faith in Ripple’s technology, after joining its global payments steering group in March last year. “The new payment system [...] will assist the banks as …

Japanese IT giant GMO Internet has published its third quarter report Monday, Nov. 12, revealing a “historical performance” of its crypto-related sectors despite “the harsh external environment.” GMO claims its crypto businesses, including mining equipment production and its crypto exchange, have gained 2.6 billion yen ($22.8 million) in revenue over the third quarter “in just a year since the launch.” GMO Coin, an exchange platform launched by the company, has reportedly seen up to 208,000 users trading about 89 billion yen ($781 million) in October. GMO also reports that the profits are up 34.4 percent quarter on quarter (QoQ). In …

Japanese insurance company Sompo has partnered with pan-African digital payment platform BTC Africa, also known as BitPesa, according to Sompo’s press release published Nov. 9. As Cointelegraph Japan has confirmed, Sompo Holdings Inc. invested 570 million yen ($5 million) Nov. 8 to acquire a 10 percent stake in BitPesa. BitPesa is anAfrican Bitcoin (BTC) startup that was founded in 2013, with an initial focus on crypto-enabled fiat remittances between the U.K. and Kenya. In a statement accompanying the investment, Sompo outlined that the partnership is focused on the “digitalization of global remittance services,” and that: "Using BitPesa's technology, developed through …

A Japan-based blockchain platform says the country’s beloved anime industry is at an impasse. While the number of global fans for this distinctive, inimitable animation style has been growing exponentially, artists face “a harsh work environment with very little incentive.” Twilight Coin fears that, if this trend continues, it is unavoidable that both the quality and quantity of Japan’s anime culture will start to go in decline. This is why it is offering a “creator to consumer” model which enables artists to connect directly with fans and receive funding for projects that everyone is passionate about. The company believes that …

Japan’s Shinsei Bank has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with blockchain startup ConsenSys to widen its exploration of the technology’s applications for finance, Cointelegraph Japan reports Nov. 8. According to an English-language press release published the same date, the MoU entails a business alliance between Shinsei Bank, Hong Kong-based restricted license bank Nippon Wealth, Singaporean private equity fund Tribay Capital, and ConsenSys. The latter was founded in 2014 by Ethereum (ETH) co-founder Joseph Lubin, and is currently headquartered in New York. The alliance between the four entities will focus on exploring the use of ConsenSys’ decentralized applications (DApps) to …

A cybersecurity subsidiary of Japan’s Nomura Research Institute (NRI) unveiled a new blockchain security alert tool in a press release Nov. 8, also confirming a partnership with U.S. blockchain software company ConsenSys. With the tool, dubbed the “Blockchain Security Monitoring Service,” NRI SecureTechnologies (NRI ST) said it aimed to increase security in blockchain implementations, informing operators about “vulnerabilities.” The solution’s first outing will target smart contract weaknesses, the release says, while at the same time NRI ST will work with ConsenSys’ Diligence team on expanding its security offering. Last week, a group of researchers from two American universities found that …

Spain’s second largest bank, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA), has carried out a blockchain-based syndicated loan of $150 million, U.K.-based global financial news agency Finextra reports Wednesday, Nov. 7. The syndicated bank transaction has been conducted on a private blockchain network through a group of three funding banks including French banking group BNP Paribas, Japan’s bank holding Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), and BBVA. Acting as the sole underwriter of the transaction, BBVA also secured the participation of a partly state-owned Spanish company Red Eléctrica de España, as well as two legal advisors, U.K.-based multinational law firms Linklaters and Herbert …

Cybersecurity experts say they have found potentially incriminating evidence against the hackers of Japanese crypto exchange Zaif, according to an official statement today, Nov. 5. The experts are from Japan Digital Design Co. (JDD), a subsidiary of bank holding giant Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG). As previously reported, as a result of a security breach on the Zaif exchange in mid-September, hackers succeeded in stealing 6.7 billion yen (about $59 million at press time) worth of crypto assets belonging to both users and to the exchange itself. Specifically the compromised funds consisted of 5,966 bitcoins (BTC), in addition to Bitcoin …

Throughout 2018, the cryptocurrency market experienced the fourth worst correction in its nine-year history, as Bitcoin lost more than 69 percent of the value from its all-time high of $19,500. Despite the substantial decline in the price of Bitcoin (BTC), which heavily affects the earnings of miners, the hash power of the Bitcoin network has continuously increased throughout the past 10 months, from 15 million TH/s to over 50 million TH/s from January to October. As portrayed by the research of blockchain analyst Barclay James, the breakeven cost of mining Bitcoin at 35 million TH/s is around $6,900. The formula …