The most high-profile use of blockchain technology, which records information in ledgers distributed across many computers, is for cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. But there’s increasing interest in using the blockchain to record votes, too. The latest example can be found in the Swiss tax haven of Zug, which—in common with some other places in Switzerland—is keen to establish itself as a blockchain capital. Not only does the Zug municipality allow Bitcoin payments for services; it’s just...

A Goldman Sachs vice president used an overseas friend’s brokerage account to make $140,000 off illegal trades based on insider knowledge, according to charges lodged by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Thursday. Woojae “Steve” Jung worked in the bank’s New York and San Francisco offices. He apparently made those trades between 2015 and 2017, based on his access to confidential information about upcoming deals on which Goldman (gs, -1.43%) was advising. The companies whose...

Virgin Group founder Richard Branson is getting into the private equity game, becoming a star partner at a new fund managed by London-based Metric Capital. As reported by the Financial Times, the fund will try to raise €500 million ($599 million) from institutional investors in order to scoop up consumer businesses. According to the article, the fund will target companies—in areas such as luxury goods and food and beverage—where association with Branson will “give the company the potential to...

Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of the Ethereum blockchain and its associated cryptocurrency, does not want people throwing their life savings into virtual coins just yet. “Reminder: cryptocurrencies are still a new and hyper-volatile asset class, and could drop to near-zero at any time,” he tweeted this weekend. “Don’t put in more money than you can afford to lose. If you’re trying to figure out where to store your life savings, traditional assets are still your safest bet.” Buterin isn’t...

The U.K. banking group Lloyds has banned its customers from using their credit cards to buy bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The move comes just a couple days after U.S. banks—from Bank of America and J.P Morgan to Citigroup, Discover and Capital One—told their customers not to buy virtual coins on credit. “Across Lloyds Bank, Bank of Scotland, Halifax and MBNA, we do not accept credit card transactions involving the purchase of cryptocurrencies,” Lloyds Banking Group said in a...