TL;DR: Welcome to In Case You Missed It (ICYMI), a daily crypto news update. Baidu launches Xuperchain, its new cryptocurrency. CoinDesk pumps market prices with mistaken 500 million USDT announcement. Former CEO and co-founder of Bitmain insists proposed layoffs are unnecessary. Telegram won’t include the TON wallets in their messaging app. Almost $300 million stolen from exchanges last year, and a presidential South Korean commission advises government to allow financial institutions to launch cryptocurrency-related products.



Baidu Launches Xuperchain, Its Own Cryptocurrency

Baidu, called by some the Chinese Google, launched its own cryptocurrency, called Xuperchain. Xuperchain has an original blockchain, and, according to its whitepaper, it can manage up to 10K operations per second, much more than traditional cryptocurrencies like BTC. The Baidu cryptocurrency appears to be part of China’s newfound emphasis on so-called blockchain technology as promoted last year by President Xi Jinping.

CoinDesk Reports Non-Existent 500 Million USDT Issuance

UPDATE: An earlier version of this article stated that the supply of $USDT had surged $500M in five minutes, based on data from @CoinMarketCap. However, archived versions of @Tether_to's treasury page show similar readings of supply for the past few days. https://t.co/u4gjBWMN2Y https://t.co/1IIV5e7d1J — CoinDesk (@coindesk) January 7, 2020

CoinDesk, the cryptocurrency news outlet, reported erroneously that Tether, the company behind the USDT stablecoin, had issued 500 million USDT, which according to some caused a pump in cryptocurrency prices some 5% across the board. According to a tweet from the outlet issued after the news, they clarified they took information from CoinMarketCap regarding the increase in the USD supply without checking stats from the archives which revealed a different time frame altogether.

Micree Zhan is Against Planned Layoffs at Bitmain

Micree Zhan, former CEO and co-founder of Bitmain, has reportedly come out against announced layoffs at the company. Current CEO Jihan Wu has been pushing for a streamline of the mining giant for a while, and it became a real source of struggle between the two men, leading to Zhan eventual ouster and recent legal challenge. Zhan explained his opposition to laying off half of Bitmain’s workforce prior to the upcoming Halvening. “To all employees of Bitmain: I am firmly opposed to layoffs! We don’t need to lay off people!” he declared via a post on the Chinese social media Weibo.

Telegram TON Wallet Won’t Be Integrated in Messaging Service

Telegram has declared they won’t pack their TON wallet bundled with the Telegram app, as they want the TON network to be a completely different stand-alone service. In a blog post, the company explained, “Telegram’s TON Wallet application is expected to be made available solely on a stand-alone basis and will not be integrated with the Telegram Messenger service.”

Almost $300 Million Lost From Exchange Hacks Last Year

Almost $300 million in losses was the aftermath of the major 12 hacks exchanges faced during 2019. Coinbene, a Singapore based exchange, was the victim of the biggest cryptocurrency heist last year, losing more than $100 million as a consequence. But not even Binance, the biggest exchange, was free of losing funds to hackers. The company lost 7,000 BTC in a security breach and faced accusations of leaked KYC user info.

Korean Commission Suggests Government Should Allow Launching Crypto-Related Products

The South Korean 4th Industrial Revolution Commission urged allowing financial institutions to launch their own cryptocurrency-related products, mimicking the evolution other countries had on the matter. “The Korean government has to gradually allow institutional investors to deal in crypto assets and promote over the counter (OTC) desks dedicated to institutional investors’ trade,” they stated, while also pointing out how the development of a national custody solution would be important to not depend on foreign development.

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