TL;DR: Welcome to In Case You Missed It (ICYMI), a daily crypto news update. US Marshals to auction 4,000+ Bitcoin. COSS announces being acquired by an unnamed investor. Lottery services PoolTogether raises $1 million. Zcash foundation releases 2019 Year-in-Review. Bitspark remittance service shuts down in Hong Kong, and Bitmain announces legal action against services diluting its brand.

US Marshals to Auction 4,000 Bitcoin

The US Marshals are preparing to auction more than 4,000 bitcoin later this month, worth more than $37 million, in the biggest cryptocurrency auction since 2018. The bitcoin to be auctioned comes from more than 50 administrative forfeitures in which the government has taken control of these assets. US Marshals divided the auction in 4 segments, each one selling 2,500, 1,000, 500, and then 40.54069820 bitcoin. Potential bidders will have to deposit $200,000 in advance of the auction which will be given back if the bid isn’t ultimately accepted.

COSS Exchange Announces Anonymous Acquisition

COSS, the Singaporean exchange that decided to run a platform update leaving user funds frozen for a month, announced it was acquired by an unidentified investors, according to a statement. The exchange reported what started as a funding round concluded as a full acquisition, and now they are completely owned by a new team making changes in the company’s structure. However, the announcement did not divulge anything about the more than $2 million the exchange still holds in clients’ funds, and many still think this could be an exit scam strategy.

Lottery Service PoolTogether Raises $1 Million

PoolTogether, a no loss lottery service run on top of the Ethereum platform, announced it raised $1 million in their latest round led by three companies: IDEO CoLab Ventures, ConsenSys, and DTC Capital. The objective behind this new investment round is to make the product more accessible to savers all over the world. The business model of PoolTogether is to get all savers to obtain earnings by putting their principals in together, and to give the compounded interest to a winner. PoolTogether also contributes to the funds with a part of the principal staked that does not enter the raffle.

Zcash Foundation Releases a Review of its 2019 Performance

It's here! ZF's annual "State of the Foundation" report, reviewing 2019 and looking forward to the rest of 2020: https://t.co/ISGbIpAW7T pic.twitter.com/aAZMQ46zQN — Zcash Foundation (@ZcashFoundation) January 31, 2020

The Zcash Foundation, one of the companies behind the development of Zcash, released “The State of the Zcash Foundation,” a report on the project’s achievements and setbacks. The document states while they “fell short on some important goals this year,” Zcash “finances have been strengthened by the community’s acceptance of a dev fund, but it doesn’t change that longer-term thinking is necessary for the Foundation’s sustainability.” The Zcash community recently approved 20% of its mining earnings for a development fund.

Bitspark Remittance Services Shuts Down in Hong Kong

Bitspark, a blockchain-based remittance service based in Hong Kong, announced its closure due to several factors, including the recent Coronavirus outbreak in Asia. Bitspark explained “due to internal restructuring that hasn’t worked out, and a decision taken by shareholders internally,” they made the decision to terminate their operations. Bitspark also pointed out while “the HK protests and now virus epidemic haven’t affected us much, it hasn’t helped either.” The company, however, previously reported a 400% MoM growth of its main product, Cash Point.

Bitmain Moves to Protect Against Fraudulent Use of its Brand

Bitmain statement regarding fraudulent websites. Read here (https://t.co/QJpMnohkkS) for more information. — BITMAIN [Not giving away ETH] (@BITMAINtech) February 4, 2020

Bitmain, the biggest cryptocurrency mining hardware manufacturer, released a statement clarifying the recent use of its brand by unauthorized sites. According to them, some sites have been using the Bitmain name to contact customers under false pretenses. “Our official website https://www.bitmain.com/ is the only official website of Bitmain. The two websites: bitmain.farm/register and antminersmining.com/ have no relationship with Bitmain,” they stated, and announced the adoption of legal means to protect the Bitmain brand to protect the interests of the company and their customers.

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