This Week in Cryptocurrency: June 14th, 2019

This week’s cryptocurrency market was a mixed bag. Big boy Bitcoin is up 5.2%, Ethereum up 2.91%, XRP down 6.17%, and Litecoin is up 11.94%.

As a result of the breaking announcement that Binance will no longer allow U.S. customers, BNB is down 11.64% on the day.

John McAfee Vs. The U.S. Government: “I’ll f**king bury you!”: John McAfee, an iconoclastic programmer known for his brazen attitude towards the government (and, well, life), aimed his wrath at the U.S. government. McAfee claims the government has been hassling him over unpaid taxes by plotting to charge him with murder, racketeering, and money-laundering charges with the goal of extraditing him fro the Bahamas and throwing him in the slammer for tax evasion. McAfee admitted in January that he hasn’t filed income tax in eight years for ideologic reasons. “The US Government has never faced a foe like me before,” McAfee decreed. In June 2018, McAfee announced he is going to run for President in 2020.

All I wanted was to be left alone. I paid tens of millions of dollars in taxes ane received only the condescension of Federal employees, when i needed services, in return. I chose to pay no more. This is my crime. You should have left me alone.

— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) June 10, 2019

Binance Will Block U.S. Customers from Using Its Services: The world’s largest crypto-to-crypto exchange announced it will stop providing its services to US customers in September. Binance currently receives about 15% of its traffic from U.S. users. After September 12th, users in the U.S. will not be able to trade or deposit on Binance.com, but will still have access to their wallets and funds. The skinny of it: if you are a U.S. based customer, get your funds off Binance.

Cryptocurrency Goes Catholic: Rick Santorum Endorses a Token: Former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum tweeted his support for Cathio, a for-profit organization that aims to “provide efficient, secure, and transparent movement of funds within the Catholic world.” Cathio users will pay 2% to run their transactions through the system, circumventing more traditional payment service providers. Additionally, users will be able to transparently see where their donations go. Cathio also comes with a map that allows priests and users to post photos and map times on a map. “Millennials don’t carry cash, they date on apps and watch on-demand entertainment. We have to be there, we have to learn from successful tech companies, and we have to provide a universal solution that makes it easy for younger generations to engage with the Church,” noted Santorum.

What’s New at CoinCentral?

What Is BitTorrent (BTT)? | The World’s Largest Decentralized File Sharing Protocol: BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer file sharing protocol that recently launched a new cryptocurrency, BTT. The network enables you to download several different types of files quickly and for free from the Internet. Currently, over 170 million people use the protocol each month.

Interview with Richard Dennis, Founder & CEO of temtum, a Next-Gen Payments Network: We caught up with Founder and CEO Richard Dennis to find out what the inherent issues with current cryptocurrencies are and how temtum plans to take on the established players and release a payments platform to achieve critical mass adoption.

India Looks to Impose Harsh Crypto Legislation, Market Shift Expected: India’s anti-bitcoin lawmakers have proposed a law that prohibits citizens from possessing, trading or profiting from bitcoin-related ventures which include mining. The “Banning Cryptocurrencies and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill 2019” proposes that persons found to be dealing in cryptocurrencies face an unbailable 10 years behind bars.

Live Planet Chases 5G, Appoints 20th Century Fox Exec Hanno Basse: Live Planet appointed 20th Century Fox Film Corporation CTO Hanno Basse to join its team as President of Decentralized Media Solutions. Live Planet’s existing solutions include an end-to-end virtual reality (VR) video streaming and publishing solution, and a full stereoscopic VR Camera and Cloud capable of live streaming 4K video to millions of devices.

Stop Calling Facebook’s GlobalCoin a ‘Bitcoin Killer’: Unless you’ve been on an Internet hiatus for the last month, you’ve probably heard about Facebook’s secretive Project Libra and the upcoming launch of the company’s GlobalCoin. While there’s still little that we know about the new stablecoin, several figures and news outlets are already dubbing it the next Bitcoin killer. Notice our intentional use of the word “next.”

BRD Partners with Wyre to Bring Industry-Low Bank Transfer Fees for Crypto: BRD, a secure cryptocurrency mobile wallet used by roughly two million users in 170 countries, announced its new partnership with Wyre, a leading payments provider for the blockchain industry. This partnership will allow BRD’s US customers to directly link their bank accounts and securely exchange their fiat for crypto. With a bank transfer, users will also enjoy the lowest fees when purchasing crypto. This new capability is supported by over 1,700 US banks.   

John McAfee Launches Crypto Trading Platform and Debit Card Called McAfee Magic: Double trouble! Two independent John McAfee pieces of news in one week, lucky us. McAfee Magic will combine manual and bot trading across eight exchanges, allowing users to quickly make trades while simultaneously also using preset automated bots. The platform also allows users to “shadow trade”, or copy the trading techniques of professionals. McAfee Magic is powered by Arbitrage (ARB), an ERC20 token. “Sorry to be late with my magnum opus trading platform,” McAfee noted on Monday. “But I did not anticipate having to mud wrestle the Bahamian Police Commissioner along with dodging assassins this week — But better late than never — Here it is.”

Telegram Token Sale Finally Goes Public in a Small Dose: According to a report by TechCrunch, there will be a limited sale of Telegram’s token on the Liquid exchange starting July 10th, in lieu of the full public sale slated for October. The sale is going to be carried out by Gram Asia, a Korean entity that claims to be the largest single holder of the gram token. Telegram’s token is notable because it is the largest ICO yet, with $1.7B raised ina two-phase ICO in February and March 2018.  According to the website, “The tokens being sold will not be released until after TON goes live (main net release), in accordance with the delivery schedule. Purchasers will not be able to transfer, withdraw, or trade the Grams before they are released.”