BitPay, one of the largest payment blockchain providers in the world, announced a new record reached in 2018. The company processed payments in the amount of more than $ 1 billion and again showed record income.

In addition, Dish Networks, HackerOne, and the Ohio State Government have joined the payment network. The B2B division showed record numbers and grew by 255%, as many law firms, data centers and manufacturers in the IT industry connected to bitcoin reception.

Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange in terms of trading volume, launched a new exchange on the island of Jersey, a British self-governing dependency. On Wednesday, the company announced that thanks to the new exchange, users will be able to trade Bitcoin and Ethereum against the British pound and euro in Europe and the UK.

"Binance selected Jersey for its highly developed digital infrastructure, robust regulatory framework, and world-class financial services sector," said Wei Zhou, chief financial officer of the exchange.

Coinbase and Kraken, the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the United States, have joined the ranks of platforms that have confirmed the support of hardwood for Ethereum Constantinople, which will be implemented this week.

Two major exchanges joined Binance, Huobi and OKEx, which previously expressed their support for the upcoming update, and promise to monitor the hardforks, which will be carried out at block 7,080,000. This will probably happen on the night of January 16-17.

US regulatory agencies - the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) are exploring the possibility of providing federal banking licenses for technology companies that provide financial services, such as remittances and lending.

Serbian startup accelerator Decenter reported that the Google Ads contextual advertising service blocked all advertisements containing the word "Ethereum".

Co-founder and managing partner of the Multicoin Capital cryptocurrency fund, Kyle Samani, shared his opinion on important trends in the field of cryptoassets for the coming year.

Samani noted that he is closely watching the popular Binance Cryptocurrency Exchange and its development of a new decentralized platform, the launch of which can change the digital industry. He expects that the status of this exchange will allow it to attract a large number of users to an alternative solution, while Binance competitors, who are also developing such platforms, are unlikely to succeed.

Analysts of the MarketWatch portal analyzed the ICO market and concluded that the number of initial placement campaigns conducted in accordance with all the requirements of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) increased significantly in 2018.

The trend continues its course, bringing more and more complete ecosystems. The cryptocurrency launching that are exclusively for point-to-point payments have ended. The trend has improved itself, and the emerging tokenization projects cover a rich ecosystem. The replication of traditional services inside the cyberspace continues, even improving traditional models when digitized.

In the fintech sector, global adoption of cryptocurrencies, tokens, smart contracts and multifunction wallets is beginning to be the norm. A sector as demanding as it is requires the latest advances and implementations to be competitive.

After putting together, a series of successful blockchain conferences, Block Hedge is all set to unite leading stakeholders in the crypto sphere at Bangkok, Thailand.

Thailand, as we know is one of the most prominent blockchain and cryptocurrency centers on account of its favorable business environment, regulations and tax rates. It is home to few of the most prominent crypto powerhouses, which is why it has been attracting the sizeable attention of all those involved in the field.