Goldman Sachs is creating its own cryptocurrency and a large Ukrainian bank is embracing Bitcoin. Here are the cryptocurrency highlights of week 49:
- The second scaling Bitcoin workshop will be held in the next two days, 6 and 7 December. During these two days, community leaders are hoping to move closer towards reaching consensus on what to do with Bitcoin’s current block size limit of 1 MB. Bitcoin XT developers Gavin Adresen and Mike Hearn, who implemented BIP 101 in their Bitcoin fork project, will be among the most notable absences during this event.
- Goldman Sachs is intending to use blockchain technology to launch a new settlement system for trading stocks, bonds and other assets. To this purpose, Goldman has created a new cryptocurrency called SETLCoin. SETLCoin will be used to transfer ownership of certain securities, removing the need for traditional clearing houses. This setup mainly eliminates the risk (e.g. Bankruptcy risk) on the normal time gap between a trade and the moment the actual ownership of securities is transferred.
- One of Ukraine’s largest banks, PrivatBank, is embracing Bitcoin, and integrating the digital currency as a payment method. Online retailers will get the option to be able to accept Bitcoin payments, which will subsequently be converted to fiat currency upon receiving a payment with the digital currency. In essence, this makes it very easy for merchants to accept Bitcoins via their current bank account without the need for a specialized payment processor in the Bitcoin industry.
- The central bank of Greece has revealed that at least three of the country’s banks have successfully fend off an attack by a group of hackers called Armada Collective. The hackers managed to bring down the online banking operations of these banks, and demanded 20.000 Bitcoin (worth about $7.5 million today) from each bank to stop the disruption. The attack lasted several hours on November 26, after which the Greek intelligence agency operatives and cybercrime authorities successfully restored the system.
- The price of Bitcoin is back into rally-mode, adding another six percent to its value this week. The price increased by roughly $23 per coin to a current exchange rate of about $379.
