Denis Pitcher, chief FinTech advisor to the Premier of Bermuda, told CoinDesk on Sunday (Feb. 2) that he is planning to introduce a platform that will let the island’s residents pay for government services using digital currency.
He said by having the government take the plunge first, it could open doors to merchants giving it a serious look. He said Bermuda, with just 60,000 residents, doesn’t have PayPal, Revolut or Square. He thinks that having a digital currency plan could be the way to start.
The Google Play store is once again offering the mobile game Bitcoin Blast that gives users bitcoin to play with, CoinDesk reported on Friday (Jan. 31).
Bling, the company behind the app, did not know why the game was suddenly dropped from the app store, said the company’s CEO Amy Wan. Google reinstated the game following a Twitter campaign by Bling, Wan said.
Crypto-friendly financial services firm SBI Holdings of Japan is offering shareholders the choice of getting XRP cryptocurrency as a benefit or a product that the company’s subsidiary SBI Alapromo offers — cosmetics, health supplements and brown rice powder, CoinDesk reported. All shareholders get 50-percent off the subsidiary’s supplements and cosmetics.
SBI also announced that Japanese bank Sumitomo Mitsui was joining the venture.
SBI is considered among the most active companies in crypto and blockchain. Its crypto mining division was reportedly part of what could be the world’s biggest bitcoin mine under development in Texas.
The New York Supreme Court awarded $13.8 million to a trust that will benefit six bitcoin fraud victims, the court said in a release on Sunday (Feb. 2). The defendant was The Bitcoin Voluntary Associations. The plaintiff was Crypto Currency Resolution Trust, represented by legal counsel, Dr. Jonathan Levy.
The largest claim involved a hacked bitcoin wallet containing almost 1,000 bitcoins. Another claim surrounded Ponzi schemes using bitcoin investments.
“Cryptocurrency scams, hacks, and extortion cost consumers at least $10 billion annually. Until now, the victims have had no chance of recovery due to Bitcoin being a near-perfect criminal tool,” Levy said.
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