A U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration official said that criminal activity no longer dominates cryptocurrency transactions, Bloomberg reported. The official noted that 90 percent of crypto transactions from five years ago involved criminal activity. However, that percentage has dropped to 10 percent today. Now, the driver behind crypto transactions is speculation, the official said.
In other news, Finder CEO and Co-founder Fred Schebesta wants to help create the “first crypto bank of Australia” — and is thinking of teaming up with a bank to make that happen, said Cryptovest. Schebesta said he thinks such a bank could go live over the next 18 months.
AlphaBit Cryptocurrency Exchange (ABCC) said it intends to set up shop in Malta — for its new European headquarters, noted Cryptovest. The exchange, based in Singapore, is not the first exchange to come to Malta: Both OKEx and Binance have opened offices there.
Two former regulators are the latest additions to the board of advisors for crypto trading firm Omniex, according to Reuters. Arthur Levitt, the former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman, has reportedly joined the board, along with former Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) chair Sheila Bair.
South Korea’s Blockchain Enterprise Promotion Association wants the local government to develop a framework to help spur blockchain development, Cryptovest reported. The association President Yoo Joon-sang said that “countries around the world are applying blockchain technology to all aspects of society … but instead of welcoming the people’s fervor for the technology, the government is focused on controlling it to address negative short-term side effects.”
Blockchain is going to the polls in West Virginia: The state is launching a voting app, based on blockchain, to every country in the state, CoinDesk said. Previously, the state had tested the app with deployed members of the military, along with dependents in two counties.
Duo Security came across a unique finding when it crawled through 88 million Twitter accounts: The team came across a network of bots — 15,000 strong — that promoted a crypto scam, reported CoinDesk. In its efforts, Duo Security used machine learning to discover bots on the social media tool.
Coinbase is making changes to its purchase limits and transfer speeds, CoinDesk noted. The crypto exchange is bringing its daily limit up to $25,000 per day for users who have gone through Coinbase’s identity verification process. In addition, customers sending funds from their bank accounts can now trade instantly with their funds. However, the exchange noted that users “cannot send their funds off the Coinbase platform until the funds coming from their bank have settled.”
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