In today’s edition of Bitcoin in Brief we cover stories about one of the largest inter-dealer brokers in the world exploring the cryptocurrency market, a privacy-focused email service that now accepts several cryptos, a new white label exchange offering and a cloud mining service that abruptly ended BTC contracts.
Also Read: Coinbase Gets $20 Billion Prime Client, Ads Back on Facebook
TCAP Explores Market
TP Icap plc (LSE:TCAP), one of the largest connectors between banks’ traders in the financial, energy and commodities markets, has reportedly set up a ‘working group’ earlier this year to explore how it should approach cryptocurrencies. The crypto working group includes some of TP Icap’s most senior executives and was established under former CEO John Phizackerley, according to “people with knowledge of the matter” cited by Financial News London. This could be another indication that mega banks are looking to enter the crypto dealing market and that the networks that serve them are preparing for that day. Last week it was reported that Blackrock, the world’s largest asset manager, is probing the crypto market with a similar working group.
Hashflare Stops BTC Cloud Mining
Hashflare, a cloud mining service which has been operating for a few years already, has announced it stopped its active SHA-256 contracts due to continued BTC mining unprofitability. The company explained in a Facebook post that: “For over a month our users encountered a situation when the payouts were lower than the maintenance fees, resulting in zero accruals to the balance. As of 18.07.2018, the payouts were lower than maintenance for 28 consecutive days.”
The team seem to think they can recover from this, writing “We expect that the cryptocurrency market situation will stabilize in the nearest future
