The long-awaited London upgrade for the Ethereum network is edging closer as the code was deployed to the final testnet this week. Ethereum’s London hard fork, which will usher in the Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 1559 upgrade, has now been scheduled for Aug. 4, following the launch on the Rinkeby testnet on Thursday. Ethereum developer Tim Beiko posted the testnet update confirming that the code has now been successfully deployed to all three testnets. And we are live https://t.co/a5blKgbZym All three testnets have now successfully upgraded to London Note: because of OpenEthereum being deprecated after London, a block hasn't been …

Over the past week, astute crypto market analysts noticed some interesting developments related to the supply of Ether (ETH) as the network’s Aug. 4 London hard fork approaches. Recent data from CryptoQuant, an on-chain analytics firm, indicates that the amount of Ether held in cryptocurrency exchanges’ reserves has hit new daily lows since the start of July. To determine if this is a bullish or bearish development for the top altcoin, let’s take a closer look at some of the factors playing a role in the increased demand for Ether, including the Eth2 staking contract, increased activity in decentralized finance …

The Ethereum network will undergo a major upgrade on Aug. 4, as the long-awaited London hard fork is expected to launch at block 12,965,000. The transition is part of a roadmap leading to the Ethereum 2.0 release, which aims to migrate the network to a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism. By no longer depending on the intense energy-consumption mining, the main goal is to drastically increase the network's capacity by using parallel processing, also known as sharding. The upcoming London upgrade will implement the critical Ethereum Improvement Proposal EIP-1559, making Ether (ETH) gas costs more predictable. This controversial change includes a transaction …

Ether (ETH) prices reclaimed $2,000 on Monday, increasing expectations that the latest rebound would serve as a cue for further upside moves based on bullish fundamental and technical outlooks. The world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization surged up to 4.96% to $2,083 ahead of the London opening bell. Its gains appeared as a part of an overall upside correction that started late Saturday. At that time, bids for ETH/USD had fallen to as low as $1,717.41. On Sunday, the pair closed the session at $1,984.71, following it up with another spike above $2,000 on Monday, a level that traders consider …

Mode Global Holdings, a London Stock Exchange-listed fintech group, has secured major regulatory approvals for cryptocurrency and fintech operations in the United Kingdom. The company announced Thursday that Mode has secured its Electronic Money Institution license and AMLD5 registration from the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority. The AMLD5 registration has been granted to Mode’s crypto arm Fibermode Limited, establishing it as an official crypto asset firm in the United Kingdom, pursuant to the amended regulations on money laundering, terrorist financing and transfer of funds. The AMLD5 registration is a requirement for crypto-related businesses in the country that fall within the scope …

Europe’s leading financial app Revolut has finally enabled Bitcoin withdrawals four years after it first provided crypto trading services to some users, and a year after it extended trading to all 7 million users worldwide. Revolut first added Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ethereum trading for premium users back in 2017, however they have only been able to withdraw it as fiat until now. The financial tech firm announced today the beta launch of Bitcoin withdrawals with exclusive access first given to its U.K.-based top-tier Metal customers. Revolut also plans to roll out withdrawals worldwide — it has users in the U.S., …

The $5.3-billion investment trust RIT Capital Partners has acquired a stake in leading crypto exchange Kraken. The London based-trust, formerly named Rothschild Investment Trust, holds ties to the Rothschild banking family of England through chairman Jacob Rothschild. In an April 12 note to investors, James Glass described the exchange as “one [of] the world’s biggest crypto exchanges having been founded in 2011. It has more than 6m clients and is the 4th largest exchange by trading volumes.” Glass suggested the acquisition had one eye on the potential direct listing for the exchange: “According to media reports, Kraken is considering going …

Ether (ETH) has been on a tear recently, with the premier altcoin’s value increasing from $1,800 to the peak of $2,480 since the start of April, showcasing a growth of nearly 30%. This latest wave of monetary momentum comes in the wake of Ethereum being on the receiving end of a lot of criticism regarding rising network congestion and transaction costs. To put things into perspective, since the second half of February, the average cost of facilitating transactions on the Ethereum ecosystem has continued to hover above the $16–$20 range, making it quite impractical for individuals looking to facilitate smaller …

The United Kingdom Crown Prosecution Service expects to see an increase in the number of Bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrency-related scams in the coming years but admits they are still rather infrequent for the time being. The CPS estimates that 86% of reported fraud is now cyber-related — a situation exacerbated in the past year by the outbreak of COVID-19, which pushed more people online, reports the Financial Times. City of London police statistics show that 27,187 reports of cybercrime were made across the U.K. and Northern Ireland between 2019 and 2020. Of that figure, 5,581 involved reports relating to cryptocurrency …

Upon the announcement of the United Kingdom budget for 2020, Chancellor Rishi Sunak commissioned Ron Kalifa to conduct an independent review of the U.K. fintech sector. On Friday, eight months later, the FCA published the 108-page report, and it contains multiple clear guidelines aimed at cementing the U.K.’s position as a fintech powerhouse. Over $95 billion was spent by U.K. fintech firms in 2019, and with 10% of the global market share, the U.K. is already ahead of the curve when it comes to fintech adoption and business. Investments in U.K. fintech firms totaled $4.1 billion in 2020, notes the …

A new report has determined that London was the most likely place Satoshi Nakamoto worked on Bitcoin (BTC) between 2008 and 2010. Report author Doncho Karaivanov reviewed several factors in order to justify the conclusion, including an analysis of timestamps of Satoshi’s published materials, his use of regional colloquialisms and word spellings, and the fact that The Times headline embedded in the genesis block was specific to England’s print version of the periodical. The idea that Satoshi was British is not new, as hundreds of journalists, sleuths and investigators have thoroughly pored over traces of the Bitcoin creator’s activity and …

Bitstamp, one of the world’s oldest and largest cryptocurrency exchanges, is relocating its European clients from the United Kingdom. Bitstamp is now migrating the accounts of its customers in the U.K. to Bitstamp Europe SA, a business entity based in Luxembourg. An executive at the exchange confirmed the news to Cointelegraph on Aug. 25. Vasja Zupan, COO of Bitstamp, told Cointelegraph that Bitstamp is migrating European clients from its Bitstamp Ltd. entity to the Luxembourg-based entity. According to the executive, Bitstamp has been planning to migrate the clients for months. Zupan highlighted that the account migration “does not involve any …