Last month, Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange Huobi announced that it was expanding across the Middle East and Africa. That is just part of a global expansion plan currently being undertaken by the third-largest crypto exchange – based on trading volumes – and is in addition to its goal to set up an office in Russia. That goal has now been reached, but the company says that it has much higher ambitions for the country than just offering an exchange.
Huobi is the first major crypto exchange to have a physical presence in Russia, complete with a Russian-speaking call center. Looking past the trading options, the company wants to also offer lending and space rentals to miners, provide an educational platform for blockchain and crypto innovation and also to help shape the country’s crypto regulations.
While several other exchanges, including Bitfinex, Binance and OKEx, offer a platform for Russian traders, and even have Russian interfaces, not one provides real-time support in Russia. Customers of those platforms who don’t speak Korean, Chinese or English are simply out of luck to finding immediate answers to their questions.
Huobi opened its new office in Moscow, complete with 30 staff members, about a week ago. The office includes the call center, as well as back-office support for over-the-counter listing and trading, as well as personal managers for certain high-end customers. The office manager, Andrew Grachev, told CoinDesk, “If someone wants to start trading with $1,000, he can come to the office and register with the help of a personal manager.”
Huobi Russia is running a campaign that offers commissions below 0.1% in an effort to drum up new business. The rate is applicable to anyone who trades over 50 Bitcoin Core (BTC) within a two-week period this month and is accompanied by a cash back reward that gives traders 20% back on trading fees in the form of Huobi’s own crypto, Huobi tokens.
While Russia is still trying to figure out if it’s in or out of the cryptocurrency ecosystem, the platform won’t be able to accept rubles for deposits. The head of the Center of Digital Transformations for the Vnesheconombank development bank said, “[Huobi officials] consulted with us a lot, and in the end, I think, we made them feel disappointed. They were interested in providing fiat operations, but we told them it’s impossible.”
In the meantime, Huobi will push forward with its other plans. It will offer blockchain training through a special course at Plekhabov University of Economics and will also provide laons to miners so that they can purchase equipment. It will also rent space to miners, with all of the new plans more than likely beginning in the first quarter of next year.
Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.
The post Huobi wants to be a crypto one-stop-shop in Russia appeared first on Coingeek.
Insurance study finds Kraken, Bittrex, Coinbase Pro among safest exchanges
A joint venture between cybersecurity firm Group-IB and Swiss insurance broker ASPIS SA, through its CryptoIns platform, has classified cryptocurrency exchanges by insurance risk, finding the Kraken exchange to be the most secure.
According to online tech magazine The Next Web, the developers of what is claimed to be the first scoring model for security of cryptocurrency exchanges, looked at level of technical security, and reliability in storing keys, passwords, and personal data. Also considered are risk management systems and availability of anti-money laundering/know-your-customer (AML/KYC) guidelines, as well as independent ratings.
“In some cases, with founders’ consent, the assessment includes penetration testing using social engineering methods aimed at the network compromise through the most vulnerable link at any organization – humans,” a representative of Group-IB was quoted as saying.
“According to our estimates, Kraken is the most secure exchange, with 1.25 percent insurance rate” for a period of 90 days, Group-IB said, putting the exchange in the first, most secure group.
The next group consisted of Bittrex and Coinbase Pro, with a 1.5% premium assigned to them.
The third group, with a 1.9% premium, is where most of the assessed exchanges were included: Binance, BitFinex, Bithumb, Bitmex, Localbitcoins, MyEtherWallet, and Poloniex.
In the last group were OKEx, Huobi Pro, and CoinCheck, although many more were excluded that were deemed too risky to insure at all.
The maximum amount insured by CryptoIns is about $100,000, and premium payments can be made with around 100 different cryptocurrencies.
According to the Security Affairs website, CryptoIns sees the cryptocurrency insurance market amounting to $7 billion by 2023. The insurer’s CEO Timofey Volkov said, “Currently, approximately 3,600,000 BTC are stored in user accounts on cryptocurrency exchanges, making this market highly attractive for hackers… The challenge for insurers is how to cover emerging risks for customers in a young industry formed by completely new technologies and relationships between market participants.”
A study by blockchain forensics firm CipherTrace has pointed out that 2018 is the first year where cryptocurrency thefts will amount to over $1 billion. $927 million has already been stolen in the first three quarters of the year, much of which was taken from cryptocurrency exchanges.
Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.
The post Insurance study finds Kraken, Bittrex, Coinbase Pro among safest exchanges appeared first on Coingeek.
Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) is making it tougher for cryptocurrency exchanges to register their businesses in the country, requiring disclosure of a lot more information than before, the Japan Times reported.
The regulator is requiring applicants to answer approximately 400 questions, from about 100 questions previously, during the screening process, as part of its efforts to keep customers’ money safe.
Among the added requirements for exchanges is to provide the FSA copies of minutes of board meetings, to ensure that sufficient discussions are held about a company’s financial management, and about database security. The FSA will also monitor a company’s list of shareholders, checking for, as the Japan Times phrased it, “links to antisocial groups.”
According to news.bitcoin.com, there are 160 companies looking to operate in Japan, but it remains to be seen how many will pursue their applications with the added requirements. At present, there are 16 exchanges licensed by the FSA. Another 16 are operating while their applications are pending review.
The stricter registration process comes after the January hacking of Coincheck, which lost a total of 523 million NEM tokens (XEM) worth $528 million at the time. This was larger than the 2014 Mt Gox hack where thieves took off with Bitcoins worth $480 million at the time. As early as March, Coincheck began the process of partially refunding those whose tokens were stolen.
Since the Coincheck hack, the FSA has conducted on-site inspections as a way to confirm information stated in applications. Such inspections revealed a lack of protection for users, in terms of manpower assigned to handle the large sums of money, and a skirting of anti-money laundering requirements. Some exchanges were suspended as a result. It was also found that records of minutes of the board were not kept properly.
The FSA has stated that it would allow the local cryptocurrency industry to grow, but “under appropriate regulation.”
Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.
The post Japan puts more pressure on crypto exchanges appeared first on Coingeek.
