Chainalysis, a major blockchain analysis firm, has published a blog post concerning last year’s Bitcoin laundering trends.

The firm traced $2.8 billion of illicit Bitcoin that was deposited to exchanges over the course of 2019. Binance and Huobi each received about one-quarter of that total, while assorted exchanges received the rest.

Sablier, a payment protocol, allows anyone to send continuously streamed payments around the world by leveraging the functionality of Ethereum. In the latest, users can now stream interest-bearing tokens, like CHAI.

On Jan. 16, Sablier announced the integration of synthetic USD (sUSD), wrapped BTC, wrapped ETH, and CHAI as streamable cryptocurrencies over the dApp. 

DeFi protocols are proving their value after providing profit-making opportunities during diverse market conditions.

In the first half of 2019, as the cryptocurrency market started to rise from multi-year lows, DeFi got its first taste of a bull market as loans on Maker hit an all-time high of $505 million. 

Even if the court rules in favor of Ripple’s motion to dismiss, XRP’s fate as a “currency” remains uncertain.

Ripple, the company behind the third-largest digital asset on the crypto market XRP, is battling an open-ended class-action lawsuit.

Bitcoin Satoshi’s Vision (BSV) entered a massive bull rally which saw the coin’s price increase by 5x. As the crypto community questions the sudden upswing, a technical pattern estimates that BSV is bound for an inevitable correction. 

On Dec. 18, 2019, BSV appears to have reached a market bottom at a low of $77. Since then, it skyrocketed approximately 500%. 

Sanctions experts from the United Nations have warned blockchain enthusiasts against attending an upcoming cryptocurrency conference in North Korea.

According to Reuters, a confidential report will be submitted to the UN Security Council warning that the event will include discussions that cover sanctions evasion and money laundering. 

NEO has made an investment in Switcheo, according to a blog post published on Tuesday, Jan. 14.

The investment was made through the NEO EcoBoost program, an ecosystem funding effort run by NEO and several partners. Though NEO has not revealed the size of the investment, it has set aside $100 million for EcoBoost in total.

A new secondary raise has been launched for popular stock and cryptocurrency trading platform Robinhood, valuing the company at $8.2 billion.

Austin, Texas-based crowdfunding platform Microventures is offering investors a stake in Robinhood in a secondary fundraising round. It gives the company a valuation of $8.2 billion. It is not a primary offering from Robinhood.

The U.S. SEC issued a warning to investors on the risks associated with investing in IEOs, potentially dampening future interest in crypto offerings on exchanges.

The Securities Exchange Commission has urged investors to be cautious about promises made in relation to IEOs. In a Jan. 14th notice to the general public, the regulator warned:

A massive capital inflow triggered a rally felt through the entire market. Now, led by Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP the market seems prepared to enter another bull run.

Based on the 1-week chart, several technical indicators reveal that Bitcoin is extremely bullish.