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Conflux the first-ever public blockchain platform to be supported by the Chinese government. The blockchain firm has also been listed as one of the top 57 high-tech projects by the Shanghai government.

Interestingly, Conflux is also well known for its contribution to other tech areas like 5G and aerospace engineering, not to mention several other technological fields. The funding will be directed at facilitating in-depth research on Conflux’s public blockchain. The fund will also help in creating a proposed supply chain project on the Conflux network.

With increasing interest in blockchain by the Chinese government, Shanghai province has put forward a five-year plan. The plan contains a series of projects (both social and economic) directed at ensuring all-around development in the province. According to reports, Conflux is a major aspect of the Shanghai government’s most recent five-year plan.

Speaking on the announcement, Conflux co-founder Fan Long pointed out that his team was excited by the funding from the Shanghai government. Adding that while the funds were a welcome development, the fact that the startup got the support of the government is what matters most.

China’s detest for cryptocurrency means that Conflux will carry out no ICO or token sale of any form.

China, Blockchain, and Cryptocurrencies

Cryptocurrencies aren’t welcome in China. The country, though a staunch supporter of blockchain, is yet to extend that stance to the cryptocurrency space (the communist government of China is not a fan of decentralized finance). China is looking to become the world’s leading blockchain infrastructure provider via its Blockchain Service Network (BSN). The platform, last August, added six different public blockchains to its Blockchain Service Network.

In 2017, the country clamped down on all forms of ICOs and fiat-to-crypto trading in the country. In a bid to further prevent the use and adoption of cryptocurrencies, it announced plans to launch the Digital Yuan (CBDC). The Digital Yuan has currently undergone three different test phases, with the latest testing currently ongoing and involving $3 million worth of digital yuan. Interestingly, one of the four largest state-owned banks in China commenced testing of its digital yuan on ATMs in Shenzhen.

Launched in 2018, Conflux, over the course of its existence, has raised a total of $35 million from top investors like Huobi Group, Rong360, Shunwei Capital, and Sequoia China. It also boasts of a team of top-notch developers.

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$40,000.

Whether it's trickle-down cryptonomics, a rising tide lifting all boats, a newly launched proof-of-stake chain, or something else, Ethereum has been making moves too.

The price of Ethereum has increased 14% in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap, to hit $1,400. That's above Ethereum's all-time high of $1,396, according to the data site.

The coin has been on a tear recently, rallying from $730 at the start of the year up to $1,270 in little over a week. Since then the coin saw a price correction to the $900 mark before pressure starting building back again.

Trading volumes have been growing rapidly. More than $37 billion in Ethereum has been traded in the last 24 hours, as traders rush to get in on the action.

The growing price has pushed Ethereum's market cap up. It now weighs in at $159 billion—that's around 23% of Bitcoin's market cap size.

The rest of the market has been performing well today, with XRP up 7%, Litecoin (LTC) up 14% and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) up 9%. Some coins have fared particularly well in the last week too, with Polkadot (DOT) up 105% in the last seven days and Chainlink (LINK) up 50%.

The growing price has, in part, pushed up the amount of value that's moved across the Ethereum blockchain per day. According to Money Movers, just shy of $20 billion is moved across the network per day. On this metric, Ethereum and Bitcoin are neck and neck.

Australian Financial Review  reported.

Flynn runs a cryptocurrency over-the-counter (OTC) desk and reportedly serves around 450 clients. The legal complaint filed against Westpac and ANZ detailed that the banks closed his accounts soon after they were opened.

Interestingly, it was not the first time the crypto trader faced such issues with banking services. Over the last three years, over 20 of his bank accounts were shut by several banks, including CBA, NAB, ING and Bendigo Bank.

“How am I supposed to run a lawful business if I can’t get a bank account?” Flynn told the publication.

What Does 2021 Hold for the Markets? HYCM CEO SpeaksGo to article >>

He is now demanding compensation of over AUD 250,000 ($192,000) from the banks for discriminating against him and his Bitcoin business.

Banks have always remained hostile towards cryptocurrency companies. Though this is changing with the recent mainstream adoption of Bitcoin, the hostility was at its peak around the last few years.

Major companies like Coinbase even faced complications when its UK banking partner denied continuing offering services. However, the most noticeable one might be in India, a country with a significant crypto market. The central bank’s ban on banking services for crypto companies remained effective for a year until the top court squashed it.

Meanwhile, many cryptocurrency companies are now forming licensed banks to fill the gap between digital assets and mainstream financials.

though the first month of the year is not over yet.

Earlier today, Ethereum broke above its 2018 all-time high over $1,430 and topped a new ATH across major exchanges after climbing back to its peak of three years ago.

According to analyst Naeem Aslam, who writes for Forbes, the second biggest crypto coin has demonstrated a 91 percent rise year-to-date.

Back on Jan. 3, ETH was changing hands in the $780 area but, since then, it has overcome the $1,000 mark. Now, it has topped a new all-time high above $1,439 across major exchanges.

The previous historical peak reached by ETH in 2018 amounted to $1,432.

Data shared by the Glassnode analytics firm shows that open interest in Ethereum futures on major exchanges (Binance, Kraken, BitMEX, Deribity, Huobi, etc.) has spiked to a new all-time high of $4.5 billion.

This shows an inflow of funds into ETH from financial institutions. Speaking of ETH futures, major crypto derivatives platform CME Group and the first to launch BTC futures in December 2017 (together with CBOE), has recently announced the approaching launch of ETH futures on Feb. 8.

As a reminder, CME is the number one exchange that offers crypto trading products to financial institutions.

Retail investors are also flowing into Ethereum. According to data shared by Glassnode, the number of wallets holding 0.01 ETH and more has been growing at a quick pace.

been actively diversifying their crypto portfolios recently.

During the discussion, Mr. Held referred to an article that states that, according to the NYDIG CEO, Bitcoin is the only asset preferred by institutional investors.

The recently appointed chief executive of Grayscale Investments, Michael Sonnenshein, pointed out that the situation with institutional customers in his company is a little different.

Sonnenshein tweeted that Grayscale's clients have been actively diversifying their crypto portfolios and mentioned Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Ethereum (ETH) in particular as coins that financial institutions are going for apart from Bitcoin.

Can't say we're having entirely the same experience at Grayscale. Certainly most investors' first taste of #crypto is #bitcoin, but have increasingly been seeing a push for diversification within the asset class from our institutions.

Kraken's growth lead believes that, most likely, investors are choosing these coins, aside from Bitcoin, for arbitrage trading reasons.

A partner at Castle Island Ventures, Nic Carter, has published an article sharing the reasons likely to power the current Bitcoin rally after its major decline between early 2018 and late 2020.

Some of them have already been voiced before by other top cryptocurrency figures.

Among these reasons are: the fact that professional investors now have no risk in acquiring Bitcoin, financial institutions have rushed in to lay their hands on Bitcoin — the aforementioned Grayscale is the biggest hedge fund to allow institutions do that — the OCC allows banks to store private keys for crypto for their customers, the fact that a lot of people are worried about possible USD devaluation due to massive QE measures and the appearance of a new "Bitcoin evangelist," Michael Saylor.

Last year, the publicly traded MicroStrategy giant spearheaded by Saylor invested a whopping $475 million in Bitcoin to protect its cash reserves.

After that, the company raised $650 million from investors for investing into Bitcoin and bought more BTC.

The company's share price rose after the first Bitcoin acquisition was made from around $117 per share to $578 at press time.

Polkadot excessive weekly excessive with rises exceeding 90% – Latest Info, Breaking Info, Prime Info Headlines

Key info:

Avalanche’s price has elevated 280% throughout the ultimate month.

Since its launch on the end of 2020, Polkadot has appreciated by larger than 300%.

All through the week of January 10 to 17, 2021 the market displays ups and downs. A overwhelming majority of altcoins are declining in prices, whereas only a few experience improvement exceeding 90%, in step with Coin Study Up statistics.

Basically probably the most appreciated cryptocurrencies in these seven days are led by Avalanche (AVAX), asserting a model new node configuration assist agency; and Polkadot (DOT), which this week managed to climb to fourth place by market capitalization.

The guidelines of crypto property for the week is completed with Cardano (ADA), which advances its interoperability plans with Litecoin; and Waves (WAVES), which organizes a shopping for and promoting opponents and presents prizes. The very best closes with Zcash (ZEC), which is advancing throughout the strategy of implementing a model new model of its protocol.

The price of Bitcoin, for its half, this week underwent a serious correction that launched its price once more to the $ 30,000 range. On frequent BTC expert an 11% drop in seven days. No matter this, the cryptocurrency resumes its upward sample, as soon as extra touching USD 40,000 by January 14.

On these ups and downs, CriptoNoticias revealed the statements of the director of strategy of CoinShares, Meltem Demirors. He talked about in an interview that although volatility and cyclical actions in bitcoin are anticipated to proceed, the sample will proceed to rise this 12 months. “Simply because there is not enough bitcoin to meet the massive demand.”

Ether (ETH), nevertheless, will also be down. his frequent decline was 7%. The price of the Ethereum cryptocurrency ranged between $ 926 and $ 1,347.

Of their weekly report, Coin Metrics talked about the have an effect on of the asset sell-off on the prices of every ETH and BTC. He cited the actual case of Ethereum futures contracts which have been settled between January 9-11. “Long and short positions were liquidated due to large losses,” the report talked about.

Like plenty of the market, totally different associated cryptocurrencies moreover misplaced value. That’s the case of Litecoin (LTC), which fell 19.2%; and Ethereum fundamental (ETC), which was down spherical 12%.

Basically probably the most emblematic case is XRP, which depreciated by 16%This week the cryptocurrency misplaced the fourth place it occupied throughout the excessive by market capitalization. This as a consequence of the approved points that Ripple has been going by way of since ultimate December.

Avalanche is a decentralized software program neighborhood whose experience permits the implementation of enterprise blockchains (public or private), and interoperates with totally different platforms. The mission was launched in September 2020, co-founded by Emin Gün Sirer, a professor at Cornell Faculty, throughout the US It ensures to create one other ecosystem for dApps.

This week they launched on their Twitter account the discharge of a model new software program program model (AvalancheGo v1.1.3), together with a model new assist for node web internet hosting. The data was launched on January 15 and 16, coinciding with a serious rise throughout the price of the native token AVAX. On frequent, the advance is estimated at 92% in seven days.

In accordance to what’s indicated throughout the tweet, with the model new model patches have been launched to boost effectivity, for which the exchange is actually useful. Concurrently, established an alliance with Ankr, a startup that gives infrastructure for the implementation of blockchain nodes with entry to the Web3. This with a view to rising the size of the neighborhood.

Within the meantime, the price of AVAX was hovering between $ 5 and $ 14 over the course of the week. Ava Labs, the lead developer behind the protocol, is backed by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Initialized Capital, and Polychain Capital, amongst totally different funding firms. The market capitalization of AVAX is $ 981 million and the day-to-day commerce amount is $ 340 million, on the time of writing.

Very similar to Avalanche, the Polkadot mission was launched throughout the ultimate quarter of 2020. It’s a brand new decentralized protocol for the interconnection between personal and non-private blockchains. This January 12, they launched the start of parachains registration throughout the Polkadot verify neighborhood (Rococo V1). These are parachains or small blockchain networks that may be included into the ecosystem.

On this context, the price of DOT began to rise steadily from the date of the announcement. The cryptocurrency was throughout the weekly excessive with a median rise of 80%.

That exact same day, the Plasm Group group, with infrastructure for Web3, joined as Polkadot’s first parachain. “We have successfully connected Plasm to Rococo V1 as Parachain,” the tweet reads, stating that the target is to alter into an official Parachain by the highest of 2021 and assemble a dApps hub in Polkadot.

In step with what the media publishes, that’s merely certainly one of many causes behind the rise in DOT, whose price ranged between $ 7.18 and $ 19.24 for the week.

Some analysts take into account that every Polkadot and Avalanche would possibly develop into surrogate networks, given Ethereum’s scalability points. Inside the quick future, DOT rose to fourth place throughout the excessive cryptocurrencies, by capitalization market, displacing Ripple’s XRP from that place. DOT’s market capitalization is $ 15,112 million and 24-hour shopping for and promoting amount is $ 7.18 billion.

IOHK CEO and Cardano mission co-founder Charles Hoskinson confirmed this week that he’s in preliminary talks with the Litecoin group. to assemble a bridge that permits interaction between every blockchain networks.

The information was launched through a digital meeting with the group. This, whereas the ADA cryptocurrency is positioned throughout the excessive of the cryptocurrencies of the week with an advance of 22%.

Hoskinson shared alongside together with his followers part of the weather that he’ll deal with with Charlie Lee and David Schwartz, directors of the Litecoin group, in what may very properly be thought-about as a possible integration bridge between LTC and ADA. The proposal seems be in its early ranges, with a view to starting the exploration of communication between every protocols.

Furthermore, the Cardano Foundation promotes group participation with proposals to boost its ecosystem through the Catalyst Enterprise. ADA’s value elevated significantly from January 16, to reach a peak of USD 0.3816 on the 17th. On the time of writing, the market capitalization is USD 11.86 billion and its day-to-day commerce amount is USD 4.75 billion.

On January 15, Waves launched the launch of the NSBT (Neutrino System Base Token) token, based mostly totally on the Neutrino protocol, on the platform of Swop.fi, a decentralized exchange that operates on the AMM (computerized market maker) model.

Neutrino is Waves’ cross-platform mission for the creation of stablecoins. The information was shared by Sasha Ivanov, founding father of Waves, on Twitter. The present to the group is to staking NSBT for income in USDN, a international cash pegged 1: 1 to the US buck and backed by Waves.

All through the framework of this announcement, WAVES began to increase in price, with a serious improve for this January 17. On frequent, the cryptocurrency appreciated by 20% in these seven days.

Furthermore, this week the mix between Chainlink Group and Waves was reported. The teams plan that between the two platforms clear transfers of USDN and LINK tokens. “The Chainlink network will provide regular, on-demand verifications of the reserves that support the USDN on the multiple blockchain networks where it is issued,” the weblog publish says.

WAVES market capitalization is $ 803.5 million and day-to-day commerce amount is $ 428.6 million.

The Electrical Coin Agency (ECC), the company behind the occasion of Zcash (ZEC), launched the ZIP 224 enchancment proposal as part of its plan for the activation of Halo 2, a model new software program program that they hope to activate throughout the subsequent exchange of the online. The proposal revolves throughout the elimination of the trusted setup system throughout the strategy of validating private transactions.

Shortly after this announcement, the value of ZEC has been rising, reaching a peak of USD 119.56 for January 13. On frequent, the cryptocurrency appreciated 11% these seven days.

As reported by CriptoNoticias, the builders hope that with the approval of this proposal the probabilities of assaults on the neighborhood could be diminished, whereas present bigger assurance on the integrity of the ZEC present. The idea is to implement a model new shielded take care of format, using a model new cryptographic assemble that received’t require the trusted setup.

In numerous information related to the cryptocurrency, it was moreover realized that the Bitnovo exchange, in Spain, diminished by 50% the commissions to buy ZEC, Monero and Dash. This generally is a guess on privateness cash, at a time when totally different platforms take away them from their exchange lists.

On the time of writing, ZEC’s market capitalization is $ 1.11 billion and day-to-day commerce amount is $ 953.7 million.

a long-term move past the $640 mark. On the 18th of January, the BCH price moved above the $500 mark before a return to the $492 mark.

Bitcoin Cash stands at $497.57 at the time of writing. The highest price for the cryptocurrency in the past 24 hours was recorded at $509.52, while the price dropped to a low of $469.16 on the 18th of January. The BCH price suffered fluctuations between $472 and $492 before crossing the $500 mark.

15 technicals show a buy indication while nine are neutral and four are giving out a sell signal. Out of the 11 oscillators, we see two at the selling point, one at the buy position, and eight at the neutral indication. Out of the 17 moving averages, 14 favor a buy signal while one is neutral and two are at the sell indication.

Bitcoin Cash is testing the Bollinger bands midline and this is being tested on the 1D time frame. An increase can be observed in the expansion, which depicts an increase in price volatility. The cryptocurrency should see sideways movement on the short time frames for now.

Trading View analyst Master Shark’s Bitcoin Cash price predicts the breakout of a long triangle pattern. The analyst expects the price to move across the $637 mark.

The cryptocurrency moved above the triangle pattern in December 2020, with a retest of the broken trend line. The trade volume continuously increased since the Q3 of 2020. The Bitcoin Cash price prediction suggests a push towards the $637 level right after the price moves past this short accumulation zone above the broken trend line. The next targets for the cryptocurrency will lie at $666, $942, and then $1771 in the long-term. If it comes into play, this idea will result in a good payday for Bitcoin Cash hodlers.

Analyst Boss Mode Trader highlighted a breakout from the descending triangle pattern as well. The analyst expects the price to move above the $511 resistance, following a brief price correction and then a long run towards the $647 mark. The Bitcoin Cash price prediction puts the cryptocurrency in a big ascending channel, with a long-term target at the main channel’s top.

Analyst Hyper Boy has also come up with a triangle pattern on the BCH/USD charts. The analyst marked the breakout of the triangle formation in this Bitcoin Cash price prediction, and they expect a target price of $646 following the breakout in the long-term. Hyper Boy suggests traders continue hodling on the BCHUSD pair for 2021. The stop-loss for the trade setup is placed short of the $400 mark.

The Trading View analyst De GRAM believes that the BCH price will rise above the $560 level after bouncing off the bottom of an up-channel. The price currently rides the lower boundary of the ascending channel in this Bitcoin Cash price prediction.

move. On the 18th of January, the cryptocurrency’s price dropped to the $154 level.

At the time of writing, the XMR price stands at $154.620. The cryptocurrency currently has a market rank of 15 with a capitalization of $2,742,737,686. The daily high for the alt was $160.79, with the daily low at $150.75 for the 18th of January. The XMR price descended on the 18th of January and suffered from price fluctuations between $152 to $156.

The market sentiment shows that out of 28 technicals, nine are for a buy position, while nine stands neutral and 10 indicate a sell signal. Eight out of 11 oscillators are neutral and two stand in favor of a buying indication, while 1 is for a selling indication. The moving averages depict a neutral market sentiment with seven at the buying indication, one at neutral, and nine at the sell indication.

Across the 1D time frame, we see that the midline has been acting as support for the XMR price over the last few days. As the cryptocurrency continues to test the midline, there is a chance to slip below this range with a new target price near the lower Bollinger band at $126. The Bollinger bands also depict an increase in expansion.

Trading View analyst The Cryer is certain that XMR price will rise towards $299 after moving long. The cryptocurrency was expected to have its price dropped to $153 before this ascension. On the 18th of January, the price descended towards the $153 level.

Per this Monero price prediction, the best buying position – in green – lies between $100 to $150. This shows that the price is in a good buying zone at the moment, with a long position target towards $300. The idea shows a big descending triangle that the cryptocurrency broke towards the upside in Q4 2020. The price is expected to go long following the retest after the breakout.

Analyst Eralp Buy Ukaslan believes that the cryptocurrency will head towards the $135 level in a short position. We can see an ascending trend line in this Monero price prediction, below the flat support level at $135.1. The ascending trend line should provide enough support for the cryptocurrency to halt its bearish descent if it retests the $135 mark during the short-term trade.

price movements were rocky, while the Ethereum price predictions don’t offer much clarity.

The 24-hour high for Ethereum was recorded at $1,268, while the 24-hour low was recorded at $1,169. At the time of writing, Ethereum is priced at $1,193. The cryptocurrency’s price saw a decrease of 2.96 percent while the market capitalization amounts to $136.725 Billion, and the traded volume amounts to $29.258 Billion.

Out of the 28 technical indicators for Ethereum, 15 stand at the buy position, while nine are neutral and four are at the sell position. Eight of the total oscillators are neutral, with one sell and two buy indications. Out of the 17 moving averages, 13 are at a buy position with only one neutral indication and three sell indications. The market sentiment appears to continue to be bullish for Ethereum.

Analyst Vince Prince has identified the cryptocurrency operating on a steep upward trend line in his Ethereum price prediction. Per the analyst, Ethereum has also developed a triangle on the upward trend line. A break out from the triangle formation will confirm the future bullish or bearish divergence of the cryptocurrency.

The analyst furthers that Ethereum is operating in a coherent wave count inside the triangle, having completed wave A and B successfully. At wave C, Ethereum will reach a decisive zone.

A downwards break out from the trend line at wave C will invalidate all bullish momentum of the cryptocurrency. If fallen, Ethereum can be expected to have a pullback towards the EMA-30; in red, the now-support would then act as resistance. Breaking this resistance will indicate the overtaking of bullish pressures towards $1400. If the support fails, Ethereum can find support at the second ascending trend line near $1050.

In his Ethereum price prediction, Prince furthers that if Ethereum has an upward break out, it will enter a growth continuation zone to move towards the all-time high.

The year 2020 has not only seen a cryptocurrency bull run but an accompanying DeFi explosion as well. Massive adoption of DeFi reported in various partnerships with corporate giants has resulted in the Total Value Locked in DeFi to attain new highs. The DeFi hype would mean good things for Ethereum but not when competitors are after the queen’s throne.

Ethereum’s competitor Near Protocol (NEAR) has reported gains of 106 percent as the DeFi hype grew. Near Protocol is a relatively newer platform launched only in 2020, and it incorporates the Sharding technique that Ethereum has planned to include in its Eth2 upgrade. A few months after its launch, NEAR reported significant activity on the mainnet with some good applications live on the platform. Although being new, NEAR is gaining popularity that may soon rival that of the queen’s. The question arises, is the queen’s throne in danger?

However, concerns with the governance of the Near Protocol have arisen. A majority of the NEAR tokens are in the hands of a select few, who need not obey rules and regulations. These concerns, coupled with Ethereum’s established position, indicate that NEAR may not be able to pose a threat to the queen.

Security Agency or KISA granted the information security management system (ISMS) certification to the digital asset platform. Huobi Korea will now be able to make use of a comprehensive management system through the certification for managing the physical security and safety of customers’ data, assets and information. 

On 3 November 2020, the Financial Services Commission (FCA) of South Korea issued a Special Payment Act that requires crypto entities to comply better with Know Your Customer and anti-money laundering policies. 

From March 2021 onward, if the ‘Enforcement Decree’ of the Special Payment Act takes effect, it will mandate all “virtual asset services providers” to reveal their clients’ real names after they cross check this data with their social security numbers.

Reports stated that these new requirements would infringe on existing regulations, which originally stated that such entities cannot legally ask their customers to provide social security numbers.

Nevertheless, the crypto exchange has been a step ahead as this new certification, which will allow Huobi Korea to ensure compliance with the new regulation in South Korea. ISMS certification will provide the platform with technical information to better protect and manage customer assets and information.  

According to an official statement, Huobi Korea said that the platform is now “the first” global virtual asset exchange to be certified by ISMS. It further claimed that the certification is highly evaluated for its safety and excellence.

Meanwhile, the parent company, Huobi had been working on its expansion plans last year. On 27 November 2020, an independent trading platform licensed under the Huobi brand, Huobi Labuan, launched in Malaysia. The crypto-exchange for the local market is fully regulated and offers trading services for both spot and derivatives markets.

Will DEXs outdo centralized exchanges in 2021?

Polkadot, Cosmos, VeChain Price Analysis: 18 January

Alisha is a full-time journalist at AMBCrypto. Her interests lie in blockchain technology, crypto-crimes, and market developments in Africa and the United States

of the platform’s server. The incident caused a lot of financial and technical damages for the exchange, and it has instructed users to proceed with applications for fund repayment. Sadly, Livecoin would become the first popular cryptocurrency exchange to close operations this year.

As Cryptopolitan reported in December, an unidentified hacker(s) gained control of the exchange’s server, causing the Livecoin team to lose control of the platform. The attacker manipulated the exchange’s infrastructure and inflated the price of cryptocurrencies trading on the platform. The total money lost to the hackers wasn’t confirmed; however, it was estimated the exchange lost over $16 million based on its daily trading volume.

After several attempts to recover control of the platform, the exchange said it has decided to close the business as ”It is not possible to restore the work.” The collection of the applications for fund repayments is currently ongoing until March 17. The users have been instructed to send their identifying document to a new email address, “verification@livecoin.news.” The funds will be repaid to a user when only if the identity has been confirmed.

Meanwhile, the team will continue to run investigations on the matter to help identify the intruders. Livecoin also mentioned the increasing number of fake groups on different social media platforms. The exchange warned users to avoid joining or sending relevant information on these groups to avoid deception. 

Notably, the crypto industry is still in its nascent stage, where trust and asset security are very much important for mainstream adoption. Cases of scams and hacks scare people away from using cryptocurrency, therefore, threatening the growth of the cryptocurrency market. While exchanges are expected to tighten up their security measures, users can also avoid losses by using offline wallets.

according to a report on Monday by the Australian Financial Review. The cryptocurrency trader, Allan Flynn, alleged that the banks unlawfully closed his accounts, which consequently affected his exchange operations. Following the proceedings made against the two banks, Flynn is seeking compensation for damages incurred amid the banks’ systematic discrimination.

Per the report, Flynn operates a Bitcoin exchange with about 450 customers. Despite the platform being registered with the country’s financial intelligence agency, AUSTRAC, running the services has been challenging, as his accounts were allegedly closed by several banks operating in the country, including Bendigo Bank, ING, and others. For this reason, the crypto trader switched to opening another account with Westpac and ANZ for his Bitcoin exchange.

These accounts were allegedly closed immediately Flynn informed the banks that the accounts would be used to facilitate transactions with cryptocurrencies. “How am I supposed to run a lawful business if I can’t get a bank account?” Flynn said. According to the report, the bank said the account was closed because Flynn was “under investigation for cryptocurrency fraud.” The spokesperson for ANZ made it known that they don’t prohibit customers from dealing with cryptocurrencies. However, they don’t support businesses that issue or facilitate transactions involving digital currencies.

The Bitcoin exchange operator seeks about $192,000 (AUS$250,000) in compensation for the damages his business incurred due to the banned accounts. When Flynn reported the previous cases to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority, he was given $192 (AUS$250) as compensation, which he hasn’t even received. “It’s pathetic. I’d just lost my business, and they offered me $250 for stress and inconvenience.”

The current proceedings involving Westpac and ANZ were filed with the country’s ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal. The hearing is scheduled to hold in the next two months. The spokesperson for ANZ says the bank is ready to defend the accusation.