The U.S. tech giant Google is set to update its ad policy in October, reallowing some crypto businesses to advertise on its platform. The company announced this in an official post Tuesday, September 25. According to the official announcement, starting in October Google will allow registered cryptocurrency exchanges to advertise on its Google Adwords platform, targeting the U.S. and Japanese audiences. The announcement says: “Advertisers will need to be certified with Google for the specific country in which their ads will serve. Advertisers will be able to apply for certification once the policy launches in October.” This decision follows an …

Nobuaki Kobayashi, the trustee of defunct cryptocurrency exchange Mt.Gox, released a new statement Tuesday, September 25. According to the document, Kobayashi has liquidated almost 26 billion yen ($230 million) in Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash in around four months. Kobayashi, who is known as the “Tokyo Whale” due to the multiple rounds of cryptocurrency sell-offs he has undertaken on behalf of Mt.Gox since Q3 2017, stated he had sold 24,658 BTC and 25,331 BCH. The transactions occurred “during the period from the 10th creditors’ meeting in the Bankruptcy Proceedings (i.e., from March 7, 2018) to the commencement of Civil Rehabilitation Proceedings,” …

Japan's Financial Services Agency (FSA) has issued a third business improvement order to the owner of hacked crypto exchange Zaif, Tech Bureau. The news was reported by Cointelegraph Japan today, September 25. As previously reported, as a result of a security breach on the Zaif exchange September 14, hackers succeeded in stealing 6.7 billion yen ($59.7 million) worth of crypto assets belonging to both users and to the exchange itself. The Financial Services Agency had already ordered Tech Bureau to make business improvements first in March, and subsequently in June this year. The FSA considers that Tech Bureau’s investigation into …

Japan`s financial services giant SBI Holdings is trialing a crypto token that can be used to make retail purchases with users’ smartphones. This was officially confirmed in a news release published September 25. The news release presents the trial as a key litmus test for blockchain’s possibilities and usefulness. SBI also alludes to the pseudonymous developer behind Bitcoin (BTC) Satoshi Nakamoto, claiming that the company aims to “improve” upon the “convenience of [Nakamoto’s]’ vision. The announcement – made jointly with tech startup Orb and fintech company Glory – indicates that SBI it is now set to test its new blockchain-based …

Coming every Sunday, the Hodler’s Digest will help you to track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions, and much more — a week on Cointelegraph in one link. Top Stories This Week Japanese Cryptocurrency Exchange Zaif Hacked Of Reported 5,966 Bitcoins As a result of a security breach on September 14, hackers have managed to steal 4.5 billion yen from Japan’s Zaif cryptocurrency exchange, as well as 2.2 billion yen from the assets of the company, with total losses amounting to 6.7 billion yen or …

The Financial Services Agency (FSA) of Japan has launched an investigation after $60 million worth of cryptocurrencies were allegedly stolen from local crypto exchange Zaif, Cointelegraph Japan reports Friday, September 21. According to the report, the FSA has sent its staff to Tech Bureau — Zaif's parent company based in Osaka — to verify whether the company will be able to cover customer losses. As Cointelegraph Japan has learnеd, the Japan Virtual Currency Exchange Association (JVCEA) has urged all local crypto exchanges to conduct an immediate inspection of their security protocols. Following the notice, exchanges BitFlyer and Quoine reported they …

This week, yet another major hack occurred in Japan: Hackers stole around $59 million worth of cryptocurrencies from local cryptocurrency exchange Zaif. It took several days for the platform to notice the breach, and now it has fallen under the tight scrutiny of the country’s regulator. The company that owns Zaif has already agreed to sell its majority stake to cover the losses. Zaif was already under the FSA’s scope Zaif was founded in May 2014 by Osaka-based startup Tech Bureau Inc. It is one of the 16 crypto exchanges in Japan which have received approval from Financial Services Agency …

Japan’s National Police Agency has revealed that a staggering 60.503 billion yen ($540 million) worth of crypto was stolen in the first six months of 2018, Asahi Shimbun reports September 20. The agency is said to have stated that the number of reported incidents involving crypto thefts has hit 158 over the course of the first half of this year, triple the number of incidents reported for the same time period in 2017. For the entirety of 2017, around 662.4 million yen ($5.91 million) worth of crypto was reportedly stolen online, in 149 incidents – a figure dwarfed by almost …

Hackers have reportedly stolen $59 million worth of cryptocurrencies from Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Zaif, Cointelegraph Japan reports September 19. According to a local report, as a result of a security breach on September 14, hackers managed to steal 4.5 billion yen from users' hot wallets, as well as 2.2 billion yen from the assets of the company, with total losses amounting to 6.7 billion yen or around $59.7 million. Tech Bureau Inc, which operated Zaif, stated in press release that the exchange detected a server error on September 17, after which Zaif suspended deposits and withdrawals. On September 18, the …

The Chinese entrepreneur in charge of a $1.5 billion blockchain fund will seek to create up to three new stable cryptocurrencies (stablecoins) pegged to various fiat currencies, South China Morning Post reports Tuesday, September 18. Yao Yongjie, whose Grandshores Blockchain Fund has the backing of well-known Chinese Bitcoin investor Li Xiaolai and the local government of the city of Hangzhou, said the first stablecoin project would involve the Japanese yen. A second company Yao chairs, Hong Kong-based Grandshores Technology, aims to raise HK$100 million ($12.7 million) in financing for the cryptocurrency. “We believe cryptocurrency traders and exchanges will be potential …

South Korea’s LG UPlus, a mobile carrier owned by the country’s fourth largest conglomerate LG Corp., is launching a blockchain-based cross-carrier overseas payment service, Korea Times reports today, September 16. Last Thursday, September 13, LG UPlus had signed an MoU to develop the new service alongside three global partners: Taiwan-based Far EasTone Telecommunications, Japan’s SoftBank, and U.S.-based TBCASoft. Through the new service, users of one telecoms carrier will be able to frictionlessly complete transactions on the payment networks of another. According to the Korea Times, the first trial of the LG UPlus partners’ blockchain-based cross-carrier payment system (CCPS) is slated …

Backed with continuing adoption, crypto holidays have become a reality. At this point, flights and hotels all around the world can be booked with Bitcoin (BTC). Still, some cities are more ready to accept your BTC — and major altcoins — than others, depending on the local infrastructure and crypto-related policies. According to data from Coinmap, currently there are around 13,150 venues, shops and ATMs supporting Bitcoin on the planet, and that number has been unhesitatingly growing since late 2013. However, as Gili Gershonok, a crypto nomad who deliberately chooses not to have a bank account, told Cointelegraph, ignoring fiat …