Tag: coinbase
Former Coinbase employee pleads guilty to insider trading charges
A former product manager at Coinbase has pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in what’s believed to be the first crypto-related insider trading case in the US. Ishan Wahi initially pleaded not guilty last year.
Federal prosecutors claim that, on at least 14 occasions, Wahi shared confidential information with his brother Nikhil Wahi and friend Sammer Ramani about cryptocurrencies that Coinbase was planning to let its users trade so the pair could buy them in advance. Once Coinbase announced that it would list the tokens, their values rose. Nikhil Wahi and Ramani are said to have then sold the assets to make a profit. The scheme allegedly generated north of $1.5 million in ill-gotten gains.
Ramani has not been apprehended. Nikhil Wahi pleaded guilty to a wire fraud conspiracy charge in September and was last month sentenced to 10 months in prison. Ishan Wahi faces a prison sentence of between 36 and 47 months as part of his plea deal, according to Reuters. He’ll be sentenced in May.
Along with the criminal charges, Wahi faced a civil lawsuit from the Securities and Exchange Commission. He asked a judge this week to dismiss the suit, having claimed that the cryptocurrency tokens in question are not securities, meaning they would not be subject to SEC regulation.
Google Fi hack victim had Coinbase, 2FA app hijacked by hackers
On January 1, a technologist who goes by the nickname regexer received an email saying he had successfully reset his account at the crypto exchange Coinbase. Unfortunately — and worryingly — he had actually not requested a password reset. Regexer, who asked to be referred to by his online moniker for fear of being targeted […]
Google Fi hack victim had Coinbase, 2FA app hijacked by hackers by Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai originally published on TechCrunch
Daily Crunch: Citing ‘unscrupulous actors’ and market trends, Coinbase CEO lays off 950 workers
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Daily Crunch: Citing ‘unscrupulous actors’ and market trends, Coinbase CEO lays off 950 workers by Christine Hall originally published on TechCrunch
Coinbase lays off nearly 1,000 more employees, blaming FTX ‘contagion’ and economic downturn
Coinbase secures regulatory approval in Ireland
The company’s registration means that it will be subject to the Criminal Justice Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Act 2010.
Coinbase secures regulatory approval in Ireland
The company’s registration means that it will be subject to the Criminal Justice Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Act 2010.
The Ratings Game: Visa, Mastercard are ‘great defensive names’ for 2023, but PayPal and Coinbase stocks could be set for a rebound, analysts say
Steven Bartlett’s Web3 Developer Platform, thirdweb, Launches GamingKit in Collaboration with Coinbase
thirdweb, the groundbreaking technology platform for building NFT and Web3 apps, is launching GamingKit, a kit specifically for Web3 gaming…
The post Steven Bartlett’s Web3 Developer Platform, thirdweb, Launches GamingKit in Collaboration with Coinbase appeared first on TechRound.
Coinbase is feuding with Apple now over commissions on NFT transactions
When a non-fungible token or NFT is sold on the aftermarket, there are a few different parties that make money. The seller of the NFT gets paid, the original creator of the NFT piece receives a royalty, and the NFT platform charges a transaction fee.
Now, there’s one more party that would like to get paid on these NFT trades: Apple.
According to Coinbase, the largest crypto exchange in the U.S., NFTs currently cannot be traded in the Coinbase Wallet app. The company says Apple is currently blocking the latest release of the app. Why? Because Apple wants Coinbase to either remove the feature or implement the transactions as part of Apple’s in-app purchase system. That way, Apple gets paid its 30 percent cut from each transaction.
“Customers cannot currently send NFTs on Coinbase Wallet iOS because Apple blocked our last app release, asserting that the network fees required to transfer NFTs between wallets need to be paid through their In-App Purchase system,” said a Coinbase spokesperson in a statement provided to Mashable. “Anyone who understands how NFTs and blockchains work, knows this is not possible. Apple’s proprietary In-App Purchase system does not support crypto so we couldn’t comply even if we tried and we’ve submitted an application for Apple to change these guidelines.”
Basically, when a user takes part in an NFT transaction, they need to pay what is known as a “gas fee.” Gas fees are basically blockchain transaction fees, and the amount depends on how busy the specific network is at the time. The busier the network, the higher the fee. The fee is paid to those who validate the blocks on the blockchain. Since those gas fees don’t go to Coinbase, Apple’s 30 percent wouldn’t come out of Coinbase’s cut. This would likely end up requiring users who are paying gas fees through an app purchased in the App Store to pay more for in-app NFT transactions than they would outside the App Store ecosystem.
According to Apple, the company just recently updated its policies surrounding NFT transactions, which is why Coinbase’s most recent release was the first to be blocked. Even though it appears Coinbase is the first major crypto platform to go public with the issue, Apple says that this rule will apply to all developers.
Apple pointed Mashable to the specific rule in its App Store Review Guidelines which now reads:
“If you want to unlock features or functionality within your app, (by way of example: subscriptions, in-game currencies, game levels, access to premium content, or unlocking a full version), you must use in-app purchase. Apps may not use their own mechanisms to unlock content or functionality, such as license keys…cryptocurrencies and cryptocurrency wallets, etc. Apps and their metadata may not include buttons, external links, or other calls to action that direct customers to purchasing mechanisms other than in-app purchase.”
Apple stated that it will work with developers affected by this update as the NFT space is fairly new.
The 30 percent commission that Apple charges developers for all App Store purchases has caused issues before. Fortnite developer Epic Games has feuded with Apple over the 30 percent cut, which resulted in the game being removed by Apple from the App Store. Most recently, Elon Musk complained that Twitter had to pay 30 percent of the $8 Twitter blue subscription to Apple.
Coinbase, for its part, is striking a diplomatic tone. “We hope this was an oversight and we look forward to working with Apple to find a solution that benefits Apple and Coinbase customers,” its statement says.