04/23/2018 - Iran’s central bank enforces harsh stance on cryptocurrencies, Coinbase blocks CheapAir following block on WikiLeaks
Iran’s central bank enforces harsh stance on cryptocurrencies; this follows a period of financial uncertainty in the region, which has seen the Iranian rial hit rock bottom; this is in anticipation of potential upcoming sanctions; the Iranian government is also reportedly worried over the potential to use cryptocurrencies in money laundering activity - Link
CheapAir announces their dismay with Coinbase’s removal of some features; this comes following a public altercation between Coinbase and WikiLeaks, which saw Coinbase block the WikiLeaks shop without explanation; this prompted WikiLeaks to call for a blockade of Coinbase - Link
Telegram’s CEO calls for Russian Telegram supporters to protest the Russian government's ban of the messaging application; Telegram was banned in the country following a refusal to share users' private data with the government; Russian Telegram supporters have previously thrown paper airplanes from windows in support of the app - Link
The Indian High Court of Delhi is exploring if a recent Indian cryptocurrency ban is unconstitutional; the ban was imposed by the Reserve Bank of India, and involved restrictions on any businesses dealing with crypto; however, following a public petition and a claim from cryptocurrency exchange CoinRecoil, the existence of the ban is now being cast into doubt - Link
Nasdaq-listed technology firm Xunlei faces several class-action lawsuits over disguising an ICO; the ICO in question was for Xunlei’s so-called Linktoken coin, however Xunlei claim that the token issuance did not constitute an ICO since it did not raise any funds; Xunlei’s CEO has so far rejected all accusations of misleading investors - Link
A huge Litecoin transaction, reportedly worth $99M, was sent between two crypto wallets this past Thursday; the identities of the parties involved are not known; most notably, the transaction took 2.5 minutes to complete and came at a cost of merely $0.40 in mining fees - Link
New Lightning Wallet update released; the release is compatible with Windows for light wallet and Linux for full node wallets; the wallet size has also been reduced to 20M - Link
The Bank of Montreal has recently announced that they are adopting the use of blockchain technology; this is intended to be used for experimental global trade; this follows successful pilot transactions during the last week; it comes as part of the Batavia project - Link
Taiwan looks to enforce cryptocurrency regulations come this November; this was made public in an announcement by Taiwan’s Minister of Justice, Qiu Taisan; in deciding how cryptocurrencies ought to be regulated, Taisan said that the country’s Central Bank, Bureau of Investigation and Ministry of Interior will work together - Link
Goldman Sachs hires cryptocurrency trader Justin Schmidt as Vice President and Head of Digital Asset Markets; this comes as part of the bank’s crypto exploration; however, Goldman Sachs has reiterated that the company has no plans to launch a cryptocurrency trading desk - Link