This week, JP Morgan Chase launched a blockchain-based IOU system that definitely isn’t a cryptocurrency. Waves Platform and Coinbase both released any Bitcoin SV they were previously holding. Two public pension plans invested in blockchain technology. And let’s not forget, Coinmama, an alternative to Coinbase for easy acquisition of cryptocurrency, suffered a breach.
Not much to speak of on the market front, this week. We consistently find the Bitcoin price somewhere between $3500 and $3700, no matter where you look, besides some esoteric perhaps unsavory markets with low volume. In other news, however, it was a rich week.
JP MORGAN LAUNCHES JPM COIN
Our top story this week in crypto has to be JP Morgan Chase’s entrance into the blockchain technology sector. The story is particularly interesting due to JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon’s years-long stance on cryptocurrency. (In case you were unaware, he’s called it a “fraud” and eventually vowed “not to talk about it anymore.”)
America’s largest bank has rolled out an internal product to reduce the friction in its movement of over $6 trillion per day. The platform lacks all of the properties of a traditional blockchain – it’s more of a tokenized distributed ledger with censorship and centralized governance.
This reporter sounded off on the subject and wondered about the implications for Ripple Labs. Joseph Young wondered the same. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse addressed such concerns later in the week.
COINMAMA BREACH EXPOSES 450,000 USERS
Joseph Young broke the news to CCN readers that Coinmama’s more than 450,000 users had their e-mail addresses and passwords exposed in a wide-ranging security breach that included other sites like MyFitnessPal. Young writes:
The official statement of the exchange disclosed that 450,000 email addresses and passwords were leaked in a massive global hacking attack involving 24 websites and some 747 million records.
Unique to Coinmama in the breach, however, was the potential for theft. Users who had not enabled 2-factor authentication and had their accounts breached before detection would have been subject to withdrawals. Potentially, through social engineering, the hackers could have acquired further financial information about the users, as well.
Still a developing story, no losses have yet been reported.