Ethereum’s largest block explorer has launched a tool that will help users identify tainted ether addresses. The tool, ETHProtect, will trace tainted funds on the blockchain and identify addresses accordingly.

The Agricultural Bank of China has reportedly released a test app for the People’s Bank of China digital currency project. The app appears to only be available to whitelisted users.

Silicon Valley investment powerhouse Andreessen Horowitz is doubling down on the crypto space, raising $450 million for a new fund dedicated to it.

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• Etherscan Launches Tool to Help Users Identify Tainted Ether Addresses
• Chinese State-Owned Bank Releases Test App for PBoC’s Digital Currency
• Andreessen Horowitz Doubles Down on Crypto Raising $450 for New Fund

At the time of writing, bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $6,869.53 (1.15%) with a daily Top Tier volume of $2.24 bn. As for ether (ETH), it is trading at $159.93 (2.01%) with a daily Top Tier volume of $797.41 million. The MVIS CryptoCompare Digital Assets 10 Index is currently tracking at 2,480.28 (3.51%).

Etherscan Launches Tool to Help Users Identify Tainted Ether Addresses

Etherscan, one of the most popular block explorer for the Ethereum blockchain, has released a new tool meant to help users identify tainted addresses called ETHProtect.

The new tool traces tainted funds down to their origin and keeps track of them on the blockchain so users can know when they’re dealing with an address that has received funds from phishing schemes, hacks, scams, exploits, or suspected fraudulent activities.

The tool uses daily user reports on suspicious fraudulent activities that are reviewed by Etherscan’s security research analysts, to add new addresses to the system. The funds are then traced whenever they are moved on the blockchain, potentially stopping bad actors from concealing their origin.

Etherscan’s announcement adds:

“With an increasing number of scams, hacks and fraudulent activities, we aim to identify potential tainted addresses and to make available this information to all our end users.”

The Ethereum block explorer adds well-known project addresses are excluded from being identified as a false positive. Users can contact Etherscan is they believe they have been identified as a false positive as well.

Chinese State-Owned Bank Releases Test App for PBoC’s Digital Currency

The Agricultural Bank of China, one of the state-owned banking giants in the country, appears to have released a mobile test app supporting the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) digital currency project, known as DECP.

The app includes several features that appear to be related to the new digital currency, including a digital currency exchange, payments via a QR code, sending and receiving transactions by touching another users phone, and wallet management.

At press time, the app appears to only allow registrations from whitelisted users, as it’s likely still being tested by specific users before being released to the public. The app’s registration shows that it is being tested in the cities of Suzhou, Chengdu, Xiong’An, and Shenzhen.

Andreessen Horowitz Doubles Down on Crypto Raising $450 for New Fund

Silicon Valley investment powerhouse Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) is looking to raise $450 million for a second cryptocurrency-focused fund, according to a Financial Times report citing “two people briefed on the matter.”

According to the report, a16z could “finalise the new fund in about a week but has not yet placed a hard cap on its size.” Andreessen Horwitz already has a fund dedicated to the cryptocurrency space, which attracted $350 million in capital in mid-2018. It also operates a crypto school for entrepreneurs looking to get into the sector.

A16z has notably already invested in major firms in the cryptocurrency space, including Libra, Coinbase, Polychain, and others. These also include decentralized financial applications like Maker, Compound, and dYdX.

DANGER: Fed buying JUNK bonds!

By Martin D. Weiss, Founder of Weiss Ratings

The U.S. Fed Federal Reserve is making the most dangerous move since it was founded over a century ago: It’s buying junk bonds.

What’s equally alarming is that the Fed is also bailing out cities, states, money market funds and more,

It’s stunning. And it raises urgent questions for all investors:

Will the Fed actually be able to bail out the entire world?

To the degree that they fail, how many companies will go bankrupt?

And to the degree that they succeed, how badly will it gut the U.S. dollar?

Fortunately, there is one lone asset designed precisely for this situation: Bitcoin.

To counter the limitless supplies of government-created money, Satoshi made sure the supply of Bitcoin was immutably capped. And to counter the endless official manipulations of paper money, he ensured it could never be under the control of any central authority.

Today, investors are more alarmed than ever about what the Fed is doing. At the same time, they see how Bitcoin has matured, benefiting from official recognition by big banks and established exchanges like the NYSE.

So, they’re running to Bitcoin and a select group of other cryptocurrencies. What’s more, this demand surge is hitting precisely when new Bitcoin supplies are to be slashed in half in the Bitcoin Halving.

After the last Halving in 2016, Bitcoin soared 29-fold. This time, with a far larger demand surge underway, I’ll be surprised if the next rise is contained to “only” 10 times current price levels.

To learn when the next surge will begin, what to buy and what to avoid, sign up for our new crypto-investing presentation.

All It will go live this coming Tuesday, April 21 at 2 PM Eastern Time (7 pm GMT).

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