Tor Project’s new Bitcoin (BTC)-based crowdfunding campaign has reached the softcap of $10,000 in 25 hours after the launch. The new crowdfunding program, known as BitcoinForTor, was launched on July 15 in collaboration with open-source payment processor BTCPay Server. By July 16, the project has raised the minimum amount expected to be secured, BTCPay announced. Having reached the softcap, Tor Project has not halted the fundraising campaign. It is inviting cryptocurrency users to continue donating with Bitcoin within the next 13 days, claiming that protecting privacy online “requires financial support beyond 10k.” At press time, the amount raised within BitcoinForTor …

United States Senators Mike Crapo and Sherrod Brown, respectively the Senate Banking Committee chair and ranking member, shared their views on crypto regulations. Both appear to want comprehensive policy for big tech companies. The senators made their remarks while speaking with the press following the Senate Banking Hearing on Facebook’s Libra on July 16. Senator Crapo stressed the importance of building an overarching regulatory framework for data protection — not just for Facebook, but for all Internet companies looking to launch their own cryptocurrencies, á la the Financial Stability Oversight Council for banks. Crapo said: “We've got to look at …

At the Tangle in Taipei on July 3, American economist and crypto sceptic Nouriel Roubini (aka “Dr. Doom”) and BitMEX CEO and co-founder Arthur Hayes didn’t agree on anything except that “Facebook’s Libra is not cryptocurrency.” One of the reasons on that is, while Roubini took for granted that the success of Bitcoin should be measured by its transaction speed only, Hayes argued that there was a different measurement. Roubini continued to criticize Bitcoin based on his assumption and said, as he has often pointed out, “this conference is not even accepting Bitcoin.” But for Hayes, that is not the …

Ethereum’s co-founder Mihai Alisie is extremely concerned that Facebook is attempting to hoodwink regulators into approving a centralized “cryptocurrency,” according to a report by Bloomberg on July 11. In an interview with Bloomberg, Alisie stressed that Facebook is attempting to get regulator approval for its yet-to-be-released virtual currency Libra by claiming that it will not be centrally controlled by Facebook, or other business giants, five years down the line. Alisie reportedly said that Facebook intends "to mislead the regulators who have learned in the last few years that blockchain is not something that can easily be regulated [...] It should …

When people outside of crypto think of John McAfee, they think computers, cybersecurity, anti-virus software. But in the world of crypto and blockchain, you think of a yacht in tropical waters, passionate — and sometimes, admittedly, inebriated — tweets on tech and crypto... and an enviable amount of partying. When I called McAfee to talk on record, he was sitting at a table outside a cafe in Cuba with palm trees and patches of blue sky behind him. We talked about McAfee’s presidential campaign in the United States, his relationship with the U.S. government, cryptocurrency mass adoption and why he’s …

Central bank digital currencies (CBDC) will not hold much interest for the general public unless they provide full anonymity, the deputy governor of Mexico's central bank has argued. The executive’s remarks were published by the Bank for International Settlements on July 11. Javier Calafell, deputy governor of the Bank of Mexico (Banxico), delivered a speech on potential strengths and weaknesses of CBDC during an event held by the United States Federal Reserve Bank and the OMFIF Foundation on July 9. While outlining CBDCs’ advantages such as security of payments and cost effectiveness, Calafell believes that there are a number of …

“Travel rule” was a term frequently heard at the V-20 Summit, which took place in parallel with the G-20 meeting in Osaka, Japan from June 28 to 29. Regulators and Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) — such as exchanges from different countries — met in Osaka for two days and discussed how to implement the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) latest guidance on how to prevent cryptocurrencies being used for money laundering. The travel rule requires VASPs to collect and transfer customer information during transactions. While its objective is to protect consumers, it is controversial from both technological and philosophical …

The servers Edward Snowden used to leak thousands of documents to journalists were paid for using bitcoin (BTC), the National Security Agency whistleblower revealed at the Bitcoin 2019 Conference on June 27. Snowden was working as a CIA subcontractor in 2013 when his leak revealed that telecom companies and governments were involved in “almost Orwellian” mass surveillance programs that swept up the phone records of unsuspecting Americans. Speaking via video-link from Russia, he described the ability to exchange and transact without being watched and recorded “is the foundation of all rights” — and said bitcoin was helping to deliver privacy …

Singapore’s central bank has held discussions with Facebook about its upcoming libra cryptocurrency, Bloomberg reported on June 27. Ravi Menon, the managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, reportedly acknowledged libra’s potential benefits — such as making payments cheaper or supporting the unbanked — but said the regulator needs to understand exactly how the tech giant’s system will work. As well as warning that it isn’t clear whether libra would offer a superior alternative to other electronic payment mechanisms, Menon said Singapore would be seeking assurances on security and privacy issues before making a regulatory decision. At a news …

Co-founder and CEO of major U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Brian Armstrong attracted criticism after praising private crypto transactions in a tweet published on June 22. In the aforementioned tweet, Armstrong notes that “a scalable, sufficiently decentralized, chain that supported private transactions by default (privacy coins) would be a game changer.” He then compares anonymous cryptocurrency transactions to cryptography on the web, pointing out that it is increasingly predominant. He also used messaging as an example: “Same with messaging, end to end encryption started out fringe and is now the expected default.” Armstrong also cited the recent news about the Electric …

The Electric Coin Company (ECC), the firm behind second-biggest anoncoin zcash (ZEC), intends to build a new scalable zcash blockchain, cryptocurrency news outlet Forklog reports on June 22. Per the report, chief engineer at ECC Nathan Wilcox said that the firm should “make Zcash usable by 10 billion people by 2050” if it can. Still, Decrypt notes that achieving this would require zcash’s blockchain to be able to manage thousands — or millions — of transactions per second. Forklog states that ECC is considering implementing sharding, a scalability solution that Ethereum devs also plan to integrate into that network in …

Automotive giant China Wanxiang Holding Co., Ltd has partnered with blockchain-based tech firm PlatOn to develop a “smart city” in Hangzhou, according to a report by CryptoNinjas on June 20. According to the report, the smart city—dubbed “Innova City”—will be built with tech using PlatON’s blockchain infrastructure, for purposes like interfacing with city resident ID cards as well as monitoring driving behavior. The report includes a statement from Chief Innovation Officer at Wanxiang, Vincent Wang, who goes into more detail on such applications, saying: “Imagine a smart transit system that tracks and rewards responsible driving behavior, or a renewable power …