Inshorts

Bitcoin payment service company Coincheck partnered with Mitsuwa Industry to allow Bitcoin users in Japan to pay utility bills with bitcoin. As an initial partnership, Coincheck will start a collaboration with E-net Systems Co, Ltd. a subsidiary company of Mitsuwa Industry to provide payment of electric bills with bitcoin.

Payza, a global payment platform, announced that qualified online businesses and merchants in Europe are eligible for the No Monthly Fee Payza Business account to process Visa and MasterCard payments with rates starting at 2.9%. Approved Payza Business account holders will also be able to accept direct Payza e-wallet, Bitcoin and Interac Online payments at low cost, without any monthly, maintenance or account setup fees.

Coinbase announced the launch of weekly buy/sell limits on Coinbase in addition to daily trade limits. This allows users to come back less frequently and purchase larger amounts. Weekly limits are now available for users in United States, Canada, Singapore, and Australia.

On Thursday, the founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, reportedabout the network being attacked with a transaction spam attack that repeatedly called the EXTCODESIZE opcode.

He said: “The result of this was a ~2-3x reduction in the rate of block creation while the attack was taking place; there was NO consensus failure (ie. network fork) and neither the network nor any client at any point fully halted. The attack has since, as of the time of this writing, mostly halted, and the network has for the time being recovered.

Roger Ver, a digital currency investor, was reported to be suing Hong Kong website operator OKEX Fintech Company for US$570,000 for breaking their agreement. 

Ver claimed he entered into a contract with OKEX on December 15, 2014, in which the local firm agreed to manage and operate bitcoin.com on Ver’s behalf through the domain name Okcoin.com.

Node40, a financial technology startup focused on governance, announced its launch from beta. Node40 uses an intricate network of computer hardware and software to help Dash investors turn their digital wealth into a passive revenue stream while enhancing the Dash network’s security.

ShapeShift.io announced an API integration with Wirex, a leading provider of debit cards for digital currency, to allow Wirex users to fund their cards with Ethereum, Monero, Litecoin and dozens of other leading blockchain assets instantly.

IBM and China UnionPay credit card company partnered on the project to create a blockchain-based system for trading loyalty points.

Coinsecure, the Indian Bitcoin company, announced a partnership with OKLink to offer Blockchain technology powered remittance services in India. The newly launched OKLink is part of OKCoin's initiative to provide a digital assets and blockchain based global transaction settlement system.