Cryptocurrency & Blockchain breaking news

Customer of Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange filed a motion late Tuesday, December 13, in federal court seeking to block the Internal Revenue Service from accessing personal and transactional information of individuals who used the Coinbase Bitcoin trading and storage platform during the years 2013-2015.  

Andhra Pradesh, an Indian state located on the Southeastern coast of the country, has been reported as the first in Asia where the state government has introduced Blockchain technology to protect a database from cyber-attacks.

Wyre, a payments company that uses the blockchain to conduct transactions, has announced the launch of its cross-border payments platform also called Wyre.

Australian banks are ready to replace both the R3 Blockchain Consortium and the Linux Hyperledger projects in the position of leaders who drive the development of Blockchain technology. This future is predicted by Thomas McAlister, an Australian expert at Bankcoin Reserve Pty Ltd, who works with governments and their central banks.

A major online lingerie shop, that was one of the most loyal advertisers on Playboy, is now accepting Bitcoin for its panties and bras.

Two more West African countries - Benin and Togo - have joined the list of countries to have their own cryptocurrencies controlled by central banks following the pioneers of the initiative - Tunisia and Senegal.

BlockchainHub has announced two winners of its Blockchain Startup Contest – an Ethereum mobile client Status, and a decentralized insurance application Etherisc. The winning teams received an award of €15,000 each.

Valartis Bank Liechtenstein is reported to have been attacked by hackers demanding a ransom in Bitcoins.

MasterCard has filed 4 new patent applications focused on payments and transactions based on Blockchain technology with the US Patent and Trademark Office.