TL;DR: Welcome to In Case You Missed It (ICYMI), a daily crypto news update. Microsoft will use blockchain to democratize machine learning. US tax agency, the IRS, has sent warning letters to 10K+ cryptocurrency holders. Up from illness, Justin Sun attends Tron Influencer Day party. Lolli partners with Safeway to offer 3.5% bitcoin cashback. FBI investigates Long Island Iced Tea Blockchain for possible insider trading, and Abra blocks some cryptocurrencies to US users.



US Tax Agency Sent Warning Letters to Thousands of Cryptocurrency Holders

The US tax agency, Internal Revenue Service (IRS), is pointing its sights toward cryptocurrency holders, sending something like 10,000 warning letters. According to an article from The Wall Street Journal, the letters warn crypto users they might have broken federal law, but the agency doesn’t specify in which way or what laws. IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig stated that “taxpayers should take these letters very seriously by reviewing their tax filings and when appropriate, amend past returns and pay back taxes, interest and penalties.”

Microsoft to Use Blockchain in Democratizing Machine Learning

Microsoft, the worldwide software leader, announced they will be using blockchain to make machine learning models more accessible to people and organizations needing them. With blockchain, Microsoft envisions a learning environment where “people will be able to easily and cost-effectively run machine learning models with technology they already have.” In its implementation, these models are smart contracts, and can be accessed (and updated) cheaply, spending less than a dollar doing so on the Ethereum blockchain.

Justin Sun Attends Influencer Party in SF Even With Kidney Stones

#Tron party with @justinsuntron & @CryptoWendyO It’s been a fun trip. I’ve got a lot of cool stuff for the channel coming soon. pic.twitter.com/toejAdeOdC — ₿it₿oy (@Bitboy_Hodl) July 26, 2019

Justin Sun, the CEO and founder of Tron, was seen attending an influencer party in celebration of a year since Tron acquired file-sharing company BitTorrent. Sun told public media he would not be able to attend the well-hyped lunch with the “Oracle of Omaha” Warren Buffett due to medical reasons, most specifically kidney stones.

Lolli Partners With Safeway to Get Bitcoin Cashback

Lolli, an online reward app that lets customers earn bitcoin while shopping, partnered with Safeway, an important grocery store. With this alliance, Lolli users will earn 3.5% of every purchase as a direct bitcoin transaction cashback. The CEO and co-founder of Lolli, Alex Adelman, declared: “I’m excited to now offer Safeway, a top food retailer, as another option for our users to earn bitcoin. Hopefully, this will give people the ability to get involved in holding and owning bitcoin — perhaps for the first time.”

FBI Investigating Long Island Iced Tea Blockchain Turnaround

The FBI is currently investigating the strange (and surprising) change of name of Long Island Iced Tea Corp to Long Blockchain, a subtle change that might have caused the company go up more than 300% back in 2017. According to an investigation, the company might be behind a “pump and dump” scheme aiming to get quick revenue by raising attention. The company has since been delisted from Nasdaq and is awaiting the results of this investigation.

Abra Blocks Some Cryptocurrencies to US Residents

Abra, a cryptocurrency wallet service, will restrict access for US users to some cryptocurrencies, citing regulatory uncertainty as the primary reason for this action. As of August 29, Abra’s US users won’t be able to transact or hold QTUM, BTG, EOS, OMG, SNT, and will only be able to use Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). The startup declared that “operating in the United States has become increasingly complex and challenging.”

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