Argentina is back on the radar for Bitcoin (BTC) proponents after sudden capital controls cut U.S. dollar purchasing power by 98%. Central bank: $200 limit “temporary” As news outlets reported, including Cointelegraph Brasil on Oct. 28, the country’s central bank has opted to reduce the amount of dollars a saver can purchase each month from $10,000 to just $200. A drop of 98%, the stringent new rules appeared on Sunday, the day voters elected a new president. The previous $10,000 limit itself came into being as a result of capital controls in September. Argentina has seen the value of its …

Bitcoin’s (BTC) use as a protector of wealth is coming to the fore in Hong Kong as trading volumes spike and businesses iron out problems with acceptance. Trading record underscores Bitcoin’s “non-seizability” As multiple commentators including Morgan Creek Digital co-founder Anthony Pompliano noted this week, Bitcoin is a genuine solution for Hong Kong residents worried about monetary sovereignty. “When you’re worried about your assets being seized or becoming inaccessible to you, Bitcoin’s non-seizability becomes very attractive. This aspect of Bitcoin just became important for 1+ billion people in India & Hong Kong,” he tweeted on Oct. 6. Pompliano was writing …

Venezuela’s largest bank, the Bank of Venezuela (BDV), has added support for the country’s controversial Petro digital currency. Bank of Venezuela hints at crypto wallet As cryptocurrency news outlet Decrypt reported on Sept. 13, BDV clients have discovered a new section in their online banking account dedicated to cryptocurrencies. At present, the crypto wallet only caters to Petro, but as the section appears to be still under development, speculation suggests more tokens may follow. Petro, launched by the Venezuelan government, is notionally pegged to the country’s oil reserves. The United States Treasury Department believes President Nicolas Maduro wants the digital …

Finnish peer-to-peer crypto exchange LocalBitcoins has warned users about alleged security risks associated with anonymous browser Tor Browser. On Sept. 9, transactional compliance expert Richard Bensberg tweeted a screenshot of a LocalBitcoins banner warning Tor users about the risk of losing their Bitcoins (BTC), which stated: “Warning to all Tor users: A Tor browser exposes you to the risk of having your bitcoins stolen.” LocalBitcoins then responded to Bensberg, saying that while using Tor Browser is not against its terms of service, it does not recommend it for security reasons. LocalBitcoins did not specify why the browser makes users more …

Bitcoin (BTC) trading has hit a giant new record yet again in Venezuela as the country’s crippling hyperinflation continues to play out. LocalBitcoins volume up 48% Data published on Sep. 2 from monitoring resource Coin Dance, which tracks trade volumes on P2P crypto exchange platforms, showed Venezuelans traded more last week than ever before. In the seven days ending Aug. 31, 114 billion sovereign bolivars (VES) changed hands on LocalBitcoins alone. That figure dwarfs the previous record set the week before at 77 billion. In Bitcoin terms, however, the uptick was far smaller, rising from 465 BTC to 533 BTC. …

Venezuelans traded more bolivars for Bitcoin (BTC) than ever before last week, but the statistics say more about fiat than cryptocurrency. Yet another Bitcoin volumes record for Venezuela Data from Coin Dance, which tracks trading activity on P2P exchanges Localbitcoins, Paxful and Bisq, confirmed the seven days to July 20 were Venezuela’s biggest on record. During that period, users on LocalBitcoins alone generated volumes of over 57 billion bolivars, beating the previous all-time high of 49 billion, which appeared in the previous week. Weekly LocalBitcoins Volume (Venezuelan Bolivar) Courtesy of Coin.dance As Cointelegraph reported, Venezuela’s currency continues to suffer from …

Trading volume on Finnish peer-to-peer (P2P) bitcoin (BTC) exchange Localbitcoins hit a high not seen since November 2018, reveals data shown on cryptocurrency analytics website CoinDance. According to data from CoinDance, LocalBitcoins global weekly bitcoin trading volume hit $65.6 million in the week ending on Sunday, July 7. This is the highest level since November last year when the weekly trading volume of the platform hit $67.7 million in the week ending on Sunday, November 24, 2018. LocalBitcoins Global Weekly Trading Volume | Courtesy of CoinDance In some countries, last week represented an all-time high LocalBitcoins volume. For instance, in …

P2P bitcoin (BTC) trading platform Bisq is seeing record trading volumes as users drop Localbitcoins, data from monitoring resource Coin Dance confirmed this week. Bisq, the DEX formerly known as Bitsquare, is a decentralized application facilitating crypto-to-fiat trades without a formal intermediary. For the week ending June 22, the most recent period for which data is available, the platform handled $6.1 million, its best performance on record. Noticeable upticks came from markets as diverse and the United Kingdom and Brazil, the former seeing its second-biggest volumes. The increased activity comes weeks after Localbitcoins, traditionally the go-to P2P trading platform, abruptly …

Coming every Sunday, the Hodler’s Digest will help you 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 Mt. Gox’s Karpeles: “Press Rumors About My Blockchain Plans Are False” Mark Karpeles, the former CEO of long-defunct Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox, denied press claims this week that he is returning to blockchain. Karpeles said that his activities with Tristan Technologies will not involve the cryptocurrency sector, as previously reported, and that the …

On June 1, Finnish peer-to-peer (p2p) bitcoin (BTC) trading platform LocalBitcoins quietly removed in-person cash trading from its service. Three days later, the company publicly confirmed the ban on Twitter. As per the accompanying statement, LocalBitcoins had to renounce local cash trading to “adapt to the current regulatory environment.” The removal of the option has angered users, who seemingly began looking for decentralized platforms with more room for anonymity. However, as the Wild West-like unregulated days of crypto might be coming to an end, the more p2p services might have to apply Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) …

Global peer-to-peer (P2P) crypto exchange LocalBitcoins has officially confirmed the removal of trading in local fiat currencies, the firm announced in a tweet on June 4. As previously reported, the Finland-based exchange silently removed cash trading on June 1, which immediately caused some outrage in crypto community. In the official statement, LocalBitcoins noted that its liabilities are determined by the Act on Detecting and Preventing Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing, which requires the exchange to follow certain sanctions. LocalBitcoins wrote: “In order to adapt to the current regulatory environment, we had to reconsider our policy on local cash trades as …

Finnish P2P bitcoin (BTC) trading platform LocalBitcoins has kept silent after users reported it had removed cash trading from its service on June 1. LocalBitcoins, which allows users to trade BTC for fiat currency privately, purportedly cut the option for in-person meetups to trade crypto for cash, angering social media commentators. “It’s time to no longer recommend LocalBitcoins, EVER,” the top response to the original Reddit report reads. Executives from the company have so far refrained from publicly commenting on the move, which follows a slow process of Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) implementation. As Cointelegraph reported, …