TL;DR: Welcome to In Case You Missed It (ICYMI), a daily crypto news update. Jack Dorsey to donate $1 billion to fund pandemic relief. Demand for cryptocurrency online courses increases. North Korea uses cryptocurrency to avoid sanctions, according to Chainalysis. Bitfarms announces layoffs due to coronavirus outbreak. Crypto.com introduces BCH soft staking, and Paxful launches gold payments for buying Bitcoin.

Jack Dorsey to Donate $1 Billion for Coronavirus Relief

I’m moving $1B of my Square equity (~28% of my wealth) to #startsmall LLC to fund global COVID-19 relief. After we disarm this pandemic, the focus will shift to girl’s health and education, and UBI. It will operate transparently, all flows tracked here: https://t.co/hVkUczDQmz — jack (@jack) April 7, 2020

Jack Dorsey, the founder and CEO of Twitter and Square, declared he will use $1 billion of his fortune to fund initiatives directed to support coronavirus relief efforts. Dorsey informed via Twitter he was moving 28% of his stake in Square to a new fund called StartSmall LLC, which will help to direct these efforts. “Why now? The needs are increasingly urgent, and I want to see the impact in my lifetime,” Dorsey concluded, hoping to inspire others to make donations to help fight the pandemic.

Demand for Online Crypto Courses Increases

The demand for online cryptocurrency educative courses has increased immensely with the rise of the coronavirus pandemic and people wanting to learn about how bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies work. Udemy and Coursera, two popular online academies, declared in an interview they experienced a rise in the number of people enrolling for these online courses of 400% for the former and 200% for the latter.

North Korea Uses Crypto to Avoid Sanctions

A recent webinar from blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis affirmed North Korea is using cryptocurrencies as part of their scheme for avoiding imposed sanctions. North Korea would be paying directly with crypto for goods explicitly forbidden by economic sanctions, and using newly minted coins as well as coins obtained through cybercriminal hacking and malware. The seminar concluded North Korea used crypto to complete the supply chain of exports like coal, textiles, seafood, and iron.

Bitfarms Crypto Mining Firm Announces Coronavirus Derived Layoffs

Bitfarms, a cryptocurrency mining firm based in Canada, announced a series of measures destined to protect the long term viability of the firm. This includes an unannounced number of layoffs due to the coronavirus outbreak and other actions that will “reduce overhead costs to ensure the company continues to be well-positioned to absorb short term economic changes.” Bitfarms joins companies like Bitcoin.com that have recently laid off staff as a consequence of the outbreak.

Crypto.com Introduces BCH Soft Staking

Crypto.com, the payment and cryptocurrency platform, introduced Bitcoin Cash in its soft staking platform, allowing users to gain interest on the amount of BCH held on their exchange. Users with BCH on the exchange will gain from 0.25% to 0.75% APR on their holdings by staking from 1 BCH up to $10,000, and paid daily in the same currency and with no minimum staking period. Bitcoin Cash is the last cryptocurrency added to their platform, along other 14 currencies including BTC, Ethereum, Tether, Litecoin, and Ripple.

Paxful Adds Gold Buying to P2P Exchange

Paxful, the popular P2P exchange, added the option of buying or selling BTC using gold as payment. The PR statement declares it was adopted by popular demand among traders on the platform. Ray Youssef, CEO of Paxful, said they “assessed the demand for buying and selling bitcoin with gold, and it’s surprisingly high.” Users looking to adopt this payment form will have to comply with the KYC and AML policies for transactions from $50 and up, and the physical delivery must be completed within 21 days of the purchase.

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