roadrunner

The Indian Ministry of Finance has reportedly proposed an amnesty program for citizens holding unreported gold. The government plans to ask people to declare all their gold stashes to tax authorities and pay levies. The proposition has been made to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. New Gold Amnesty Program Proposed India’s Ministry of Finance is considering “an amnesty program for residents with illicit stash of gold,” Bloomberg reported Thursday, noting that the proposal is part of “an effort to crack down on tax evasion” and reduce India’s “dependence on imports.” Citing people with knowledge of the matter, the publication detailed: Under the proposition made to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the government plans to ask people with unaccounted holdings of the metal to declare it to tax authorities and pay levies. The proposal is at an early stage and the authorities are currently seeking feedback from concerned officials, the news outlet added. The Indian government discussed a similar program last year aimed at uncovering lakhs of crores of black money in the form of undeclared gold. However, the tax office denied any plans for amnesty at the time. In addition, the country’s top court has ruled that Indians cannot claim absolute amnesty since such programs could penalize honest taxpayers. The media reported in October last year that the government was planning to ask people to pay tax on the entire value of gold that had been acquired without a receipt, and the tax rate would be around 30%. “The idea of the scheme is good but its effective implementation is difficult,” an analyst told IANS publication at the time. “It would be hard to push people to declare if they have lost almost a third of the value.” Moreover, many people have accumulated gold over time, including by inheritance without a receipt or purchase record. Some people also fear that after declaring, tax officials may harass them further. This happened after the last two income declaration schemes (IDS) when hundreds of thousands of SMS messages were sent by tax officials seeking more information, such as income sources, from cash depositors during the time of demonetization. In addition, Prime Minister Modi unveiled three programs in 2015 in an effort to tap about 25,000 tons of gold held by Indian households and institutions. However, the programs failed to generate interest, Bloomberg conveyed, adding that people did not want to part with their gold and some feared being penalized by tax authorities. Gold hit record highs last week as investors seek safe-haven assets due to rising concerns of the coronavirus pandemic, the weak U.S. dollar, and low-interest rates. A global “liquidity pump” will further keep the price of gold and bitcoin rising, says billionaire investor Michael Novogratz. Goldman Sachs also warned that the dollar could lose its status as the world’s reserve currency, increasing its 12-month gold forecast to $2,300 an ounce. Do you think Indians will declare their undocumented gold? Let us know in the comments section below. The post India Proposes Amnesty for Citizens Holding Unreported Gold appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Russia’s bill to regulate cryptocurrencies has been signed into law by President Vladimir Putin. The new law gives legal status to cryptocurrency but prohibits its use as a means of payment. Russian Crypto Bill Signed Into Law Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law Friday the bill that regulates digital financial asset (DFA) transactions, Russian media RIA Novosti reported. It was approved by the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, on July 22 and by the Federation Council on July 24. The law will come into force on Jan. 1, 2021. The law gives a definition to digital currency, stating that it “is recognized as an aggregate of electronic data capable of being accepted as the payment means, not being the monetary unit of the Russian Federation or a foreign state, and as investments,” Russian news agency TASS described. “The digital currency cannot be used at the same time to pay for any goods and services.” Meanwhile, the law sets forth that digital financial assets “are digital rights comprising money claims, ability to exercise rights under negotiable securities, rights to participate in equity of a non-public stock company and right to claim transfer of negotiable securities set in a resolution on the DFA issue,” TASS noted. These assets can be sold, purchased, exchanged, and pledged. However, they cannot be used as a means of payment. Russian banks and exchanges can become exchange operators of digital financial assets provided that they register with the central bank, the Bank of Russia. The publication elaborated: The central bank is vested with the authority to maintain the register of information systems and the register of operators of digital financial assets exchange and supervise the business of information system operators. Individuals and legal entities in Russia will only be able to challenge cryptocurrency transactions in court if they have declared these transactions and their possession of cryptocurrency, RIA Novosti detailed. A number of cryptocurrency-related terms were excluded in the final bill after the second reading, such as “token” and “mining.” Anatoly Aksakov, head of the State Duma Committee on the Financial Market, told the news outlet that more detailed cryptocurrency regulation will be in another bill, which may be adopted in the autumn session. The bill that Putin signed into law is posted on the Russian government’s official internet-portal of legal information and can be found here. What do you think about Russia’s crypto law? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Putin Signs Law Giving Cryptocurrency Legal Status in Russia appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The Northern California District Court finds that claims against Ripple Labs and its token made by two investors cannot be proven. The legal dispute, which began in May 2018, pitted Ripple Labs including CEO Brad Garlinghouse and disgruntled investors. According to a report, the discontented investors wanted the court to determine whether the “native token XRP is, or is not a security by legal definition.” The investors insist that “Ripple should have made a formal application to the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) for their cryptocurrency XRP to become a security.” Ripple is “adamant of the latter” and has maintained it is innocent of any legal wrong-doing throughout the proceedings. According to court findings published online by Law360, the court made the following verdict: The court found that the lead plaintiff failed to provide the necessary evidence in the courtroom to support multiple claims regarding XRP’s non-security status, Brad Garlinghouse’s personal holdings and monetary intentions, XRP’s sale strategy, as well as the company’s software products. The court file concludes that “all of these accusations were ‘purported misstatements.’” The Northern California District Court also said the plaintiff “failed to offer the factual allegations needed to show that Ripple and Mr. Garlinghouse’s statements were false when made”. For its part, Ripple’s legal team had argued that all outstanding fraud claims were “unsupported leaps of logic.” In June 2019, Ripple’s legal team applied for a court dismissal of the claims. In an unrelated matter, Moneygram reports it received $8.8 million net benefits from Ripple. The global remittance agency says the market development fees, which totaled $15.1 million is “partially offset by related transaction and trading expenses of $6.3 million.” In its 2019 annual report, Moneygram defines the market development fees as the compensation for providing liquidity to Ripple’s On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) network Ripple, which completed the acquisition of a stake in Moneygram in 2019, has so far paid Moneygram $43 million to provide liquidity for its ODL network. Meanwhile, Whale Alert reported August 1, 2020, that 500,000,000 XRP tokens with a USD value of $134,917,611 had been unlocked at Ripple Escrow wallet. XRP recently regained its position as the third-largest digital currency by market capitalization after the token gained 10% in 24 hours. At the time of publication, the token was trading at $0.27. What does the court ruling mean for Ripple and its XRP token? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below. The post US Court Dismisses Claims Against XRP: Report Shows Ripple Paid Moneygram $15.1M in Q2 appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Zeus Capital LLP has released a new report reiterating its earlier stance that Chainlink is a giant pump and dump scheme. This new report comes after the little known asset management and research firm took flak for attacking Chainlink’s token in an earlier report. In what it now terms part 1 of its exposé, Zeus Capital LLP asserts in the latest report that the over 140 partnerships announced by Chainlink so far are an exaggeration. The asset management firm contends the project has been created to enrich the founders. In the report, Zeus Capital LLP questions the announced game-changing partnerships with “technology giants, such as Google, Oracle, and T-Systems.” Unmasking Chainlink’s alleged modus operandi, Zeus Capital LLP claims it starts with “a large company showcasing some of their products (usually via a blog post) and casually mentioning Chainlink as a theoretical intermediary in delivering the product to blockchain clients.” Zeus Capital LLP, which some Twitter users have linked to Nexo Finance, admits that Chainlink’s core proposition is to connect APIs with blockchains and “so a pretty good number of legacy players can easily be involved.” Still, Zeus Capital LLP contends that the infrastructure supporting Chainlink is overhyping the project as well as overstating the partners’ eagerness to proceed. “Smartcontract and the people behind Chainlink are taking it from there, loudly announcing how a big tech company’s name is eager to do business with them,” argues Zeus Capital LLP. This is done to shore up the price of Link. To support this claim, Zeus Capital LLP gives an example “when Chainlink announced the ‘integration’ with Google, the price was USD 1.19 per Link.” However, when Google tweeted about the same a few hours later, “the price skyrocketed to USD 1.93, up by a staggering 62% in less than 24 hours.” Zeus Capital LLP further argues that Chainlink’s team has engineered a state-of-the-art self-fulfilling scheme. It allows them “to maintain full control over the price and dump as many tokens to their true believers as they wish while keeping them happy.” At the time of writing, Link traded at USD 7.64 – just enough to make it the 10th most capitalized token ahead of EOS. Meanwhile, Zeus Capital LLP’s list of allegations against Chainlink includes pay-for-play schemes, a plethora of integrations with “dead” projects as well as “outright lies about the size and type of the relationships.” The asset management firm also accuses industry-leading outlets of “deliberately or unintentionally playing their role in the process.” However, despite detailing Chainlink’s alleged fraud scheme, Zeus Capital LLP itself stands accused of spreading fear, doubt, and uncertainty (FUD) in the market in order to short and make a financial gain. A statement by Zeus Capital LLP in its latest report, boldly states that “the current tokenomics and lack of commercial applications cannot justify Link’s price.” Based on this assessment, Zeus Capital LLP “is recommending short-selling Link with a target price of 7 US cents.” On Twitter, Chainlink supporters are fighting back against Zeus’ prediction by encouraging peers to buy Link tokens this weekend. Meanwhile, Nexo Finance, which has been linked to the exposé, has reportedly distanced itself from Zeus Capital LLP. As one of the latest organizations to partner Chainlink, Nexo Finance said in a Telegram channel statement that it is being targeted because its “staff is well versed with the Chainlink subject and because its OTC desks deal in Link.” In another twist, a UK based investment bank which shares a similar name with Zeus Capital LLP has disassociated itself from the asset management firm. In a statement, the investment bank said the following: For the avoidance of doubt we would like to state that Zeus Capital Limited has not produced or published research on this subject and has no relationship or affiliation with Zeus Capital LLP whatsoever. It not clear how the two share the same name although Zeus Capital LLP’s website lists Hong Kong as its main contact office. What do you think about these Zeus claims? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below. The post Accused of Spreading FUD Zeus Capital Doubles Down on Chainlink Pump and Dump Claims appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Bitcoin and a great number of other cryptocurrencies are electronic versions of currency. Many people falsely assume that crypto proponents are for a cashless society and this is certainly not the case. If we removed the central banks’ printing fiasco and the inflationary practices from cash, we all know that cash is great for anonymity and fungibility. But the nation-states and central banking cabal are in charge of the fiat game and the monetary system today does come with serious manipulation and inflation. Most crypto supporters, just because they support an electronic currency, do not support the removal of cash money. But there is little anyone can do to stop the government from going cashless. Now we all know that cash is great (besides the inflationary aspects), but we also know that cryptocurrencies are even better. Crypto transactions like bitcoin (BTC) do not have to be electronic every time someone transacts. With cryptos like bitcoin, we can create all kinds of bearer bond instruments. A digital asset can be hidden in mnemonic phrase and most seeds are based on 12, 18, or 24-word phrases that are tied to their private key(s). The use of mnemonics, or ‘memoria technica,’ is derived from the era of the ancient Greeks when Aristotle and Plato philosophized about certain types of logic. The photo below is a depiction of the Knuckle mnemonic, which represents the number of days in each month of the Gregorian Calendar. Any amount of crypto, like a billion dollars worth of crypto assets, for instance, can be stored in a mnemonic. This means you can keep a billion dollars hidden in a book, or even by memory if you have a decent photographic memory. Bitcoin can be printed on paper, metal, plastic, and people can create all types of cash instruments. Individuals also store mnemonic seed words using metal devices in order to protect funds from water and fire damage. Paper wallets like trash can be ruined by water and fire. Now just like gold, a bundle of cash can be quite cumbersome to carry. You cannot travel lightly with a billion dollars worth of cash in a few bags. You also have to be vigilant, protective, and someone can take your bundles of cash like a mugger or even law enforcement. For instance, the U.S. agency Homeland Security seized $2 billion in cash from travelers during the course of six years at U.S. airports. But think about what I just said. You can store any amount of money on a piece of paper. On a small square of aluminum. You can write down 12-words on a piece of paper and hand a family member tens of thousands of dollars— no questions asked. Paper wallets can be created with most crypto assets like bitcoin (BTC), ethereum (ETH), bitcoin cash (BCH), monero (XMR), and litecoin (LTC). No need for the duffle bags of loot, you can simply leverage a mnemonic or a piece of paper. Hiding crypto is extremely easy and someone can even do it by leveraging steganographic tools. Literally hiding a million dollars in plain sight. Steganography is the art of concealing images, messages, files, or videos. The practice of obscuring messages in this fashion was first recorded in 440 BC. So in many ways, cryptocurrencies are an advanced form of cash and you are just not aware of all the possibilities if you think crypto people are “anti-cash.” This is simply not true. To a great degree, digital currencies are simply a better form of money and many people just haven’t figured that out yet. And that’s ok we have plenty of time to teach and they have plenty of time to listen. But it’s simply not true that crypto advocates are helping the global elite create a cashless society. Digital currency supporters can create all kinds of free market-based cash instruments with ease. What do you think about the fact that cryptocurrency supporters can easily create bearer bond instruments? Let us know in the comments below. The post Dispelling the Myth That Bitcoin Proponents Want a Cashless Society appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

CWT, one of the biggest travel companies in the U.S., this week paid $4.5 million in bitcoin to hackers who infiltrated the firm’s computer system, stealing sensitive corporate data. It is unclear whether customer information was also compromised. Reuters reported that the bitcoin wallet owned by the cyber thieves received 414 BTC on July 28 as payment for the ransom. At current prices, the ransom would be worth more than $4.8 million. According to the report, the attackers infected CWT’s computer network with a ransomware called Ragnar Locker, which encrypted the entire system, making it accessible only to the hackers. The criminals claimed to have disabled 30,000 computers, but the company later said this figure was exaggerated, while confirming the cyber-attack which forced it to shut down its systems. “We can confirm that after temporarily shutting down our systems as a precautionary measure, our systems are back online and the incident has now ceased,” Reuters quoted CWT as saying. “While the investigation is at an early stage, we have no indication that personally identifiable information/customer and traveller information has been compromised.” In their ransom note, the hackers claimed to have stolen two terabytes of CWT data, including billing files, financial reports, security documents and personal data belonging to employees, such as email addresses and salary information. They also claimed to have “information about your clients such as AXA Equitable, Abbot Laboratories, AIG, Amazon, Boston Scientific, Facebook, J&J, SONOCO, Estee Lauder and many others,” according to a tweet by Jameswt, the cybersecurity expert who discovered the CWT breach. Per the Reuters report, the company said it had immediately informed U.S. law enforcement and European data protection authorities. The hackers initially demanded $10 million worth of bitcoin to restore CWT’s files and delete all the stolen data, but the firm, severely hit by the new coronavirus, could only settle for $4.5 million. CWT, formerly known as Carlson Wagonlit Travel, is the fifth largest travel firm in the U.S. The company, which says it provides services to 33% of companies on the S&P 500 stock index, posted revenues of $1.5 billion in 2019. Ransomware attacks are reportedly costing businesses billions of dollars each year, in blackmail payments. What do you think about CWT paying the $4.5 million ransom? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Big Travel Firm CWT Pays $4.5 Million Bitcoin Ransom to Hackers appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Major Chinese banks have taken measures to prevent customers from buying gold, platinum, palladium, and other precious metal-related products through them. The Shanghai Gold Exchange also says it may take necessary measures to curb gold trading to “protect investors.” Chinese Banks and Regulators to ‘Cool Gold Rush’ Chinese regulators and major banks are taking measures to curb the trading of gold and other precious metals by investors in order “to cool [the] gold rush,” Reuters reported Wednesday. Gold prices hit record highs this week as investors look for safe-haven assets amid worries of rising coronavirus cases, the sinking U.S. dollar, low-interest rates, and increasing tension between the U.S. and China. Starting Friday, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the country’s biggest lender, has barred customers from opening new trading positions for platinum, palladium and index products linked to precious metals. For ICBC, precious metals include gold, silver, palladium, platinum. Transactions can be made in various currencies, including the RMB and U.S. dollars. A reporter called the bank to inquire about the reason for this prohibition. The bank’s customer service said it was for the safety and protection of customers due to heavy price fluctuations of these assets recently and “the need to control risks.” Two other Big Four Chinese banks have made a similar move. Agricultural Bank of China said it recently suspended new gold-related businesses. Meanwhile, Bank of China (BOC) said it has halted new account openings for platinum and palladium trading. The Shanghai Gold Exchange is also seeing high levels of gold and silver holdings. The exchange said this week that it would take risk-control measures to protect investors if warranted. Moreover, the Shanghai Futures Exchange, where gold and silver futures contracts are traded, has urged “its members to strengthen risk-management efforts and invest rationally,” the news outlet conveyed. Chinese investors also actively trade gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The assets under management of Huaan Gold ETF, Asia’s biggest gold ETF, has increased more than 68% to over 11.8 billion yuan ($1.69 billion) since the end of last year. Frank Hao, a Shanghai-based analyst with Hywin Wealth Management, was quoted by Reuters as saying: “Gold remains a niche investment in China due to limited investment channels … Investors mainly rely on purchasing paper gold products at commercial banks as a way to counteract risks.” Chinese regulators are wary of the risks associated with speculating in commodity prices after some 6,000 clients of the state-owned Bank of China tried to buy on a dip in crude prices in April, using a crude oil futures product known as Yuan You Bao. However, the values kept plunging well past zero, catching investors off-guard. Bank of China settled Yuan You Bao at minus $37.63 per barrel and later agreed to settle with more than half of its customers facing losses, taking about a 7 billion yuan hit. Most banks soon halted sales of the products after the catastrophic losses at Bank of China. Sources told Caixin publication that more than 100,000 Chinese retail investors flooded into the market though paper crude products and never expected prices to fall below zero. With the price of gold reaching all-time highs this week, people are speculating that $2,000 is not far away. Goldman Sachs recently revised its 12-month gold forecast to $2,300 an ounce. Some others are predicting even higher prices for gold. Despite regulatory efforts to clamp down gold trading, Hao believes: If the gold price rises past $2,000, some more hot money will certainly flow into the market, and some investors will divert their stock investments to gold. Recently, the gold market was shaken when it was discovered that about 83 tons of fake gold bars had been used as collateral for loans worth 20 billion yuan from 14 financial institutions in China. What do you think about Chinese banks stopping customers from buying gold? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Major Chinese Banks Bar Customers From Buying Gold, Precious Metals appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Members of the Ethereum Classic team reported that the network suffered a reorganization (reorg) today. The blockchain network is asking service providers to halt deposits while it carries out maintenance of the chain. The latest event follows a similar attack in January 2019, which led to some exchanges taking pre-emptive action. Both Ethereum Classic (ETC) and one of the founders have since put out a statement acknowledging this event which they term a chain split. ETC suffered a reorganization (reorg) of approximately 3,693 ETC blocks which occurred at block 10,904,146. According to a report by Ethereum Classic team members, “there was about 3000 block-insertion by a miner who was mining (either offline or there total difficulty could have exceeded current network difficulty while they were honestly mining) for about 12 hours on Core-Geth.” In a short prognosis of the chain split, Ethereum Classic developers say it has identified the offending miner. The network maintainers added they doubt any major double-spend attacks occurred. Even though the miner was identified, it is uncertain whether or not it was a malicious 51% attack that caused the reorg. Developer James Wo claims it was “not a 51% attack” and stressed “a miner went offline and was using old client software.” In the diagnosis, Ethereum Classic developers said: It could be that the offending miner has lost access to internet access for a while when mining, which led to a 12 hour mining period and about 3,000 blocks inserted. On the first 2,000 blocks, there was 1 miner and a total of 5 transactions. It also seems that the offending miner has uncled their own blocks by how fast they were mining. The offending miner used the address 0x75d1e5477f1fdaad6e0e3d433ab69b08c482f14e. Ethereum Classic team members also provided a timeline of the events. Commenting on the possible impact of the chain split, Ethereum Classic members say “any transactions during that time are possibly not mined in the order they were intended to have been mined in.” The ETC devs add, “the about 3,000 blocks had a mean of 0 transactions mined, and any transactions that aren’t mined will be re-submitted to the mempool during a re-org.” Ethereum Classic team members are advising miners to “continue mining the chain as-is (chain is currently following the heaviest work which includes the about 3,000 blocks inserted). This is the recommended option as the chain is following proof-of-work (PoW) with the longest chain as intended.” In 2019, Coinbase detected a deep chain reorganization of the Ethereum Classic blockchain, which included a double spend. The exchange immediately ceased interactions with the blockchain. This time around, the Ethereum Classic team members have taken the pre-emptive step of advising exchanges to halt deposits and withdrawals until investigations are complete. A 51% attack is a potential attack on a blockchain network, where a single entity or organization is able to control the majority of the hash rate, potentially causing network disruption. In such a scenario, the attacker would have enough mining power to intentionally exclude or modify the ordering of transactions. What do you think of the latest attack on Ethereum Classic? Share your thoughts in the comments section. The post Single Miner Reorgs Ethereum Classic – Devs Report a Chain Split appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Three years ago at approximately 2:14 p.m. ET, the first Bitcoin Cash blocks were mined. That day, block 478,558 was the last common block found, and six hours later Viabtc mined the first Bitcoin Cash block (nr 478,559). The course of history was changed ever since this point, as the scaling debate took the dispute to a whole new level. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) proponents are celebrating the third anniversary of the chain split that took place three years ago on August 1st. The peer-to-peer electronic cash system has come a long way since then and many proponents have appreciated the project’s accomplishments. Moreover, a free market currency like BCH is needed more than ever because governments and central banks worldwide have wreaked havoc on the world’s monetary system. On August 1, 2017, cryptocurrency advocates everywhere were glued to their monitors when the first BCH block (nr 478,559) was mined by the mining pool Viabtc. The China-based mining pool also found the next block 478,560 shortly after. When the chain split that afternoon on August 1, the BCH chain was equipped with 8MB blocks. In fact, the first BCH block was 1915175 Bytes or 1.9 MB in size, holding 6,985 transactions. Viabtc also left a message in the block’s coinbase parameter which said: Welcome to the world, Shuya Yang! By August 2, the BCH market was the third-largest by capitalization and for both blockchains, the transition was smooth. Since then there’s been a number of development improvements over the years. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) market cap on August 2, 2017. Bitcoin Cash now has Schnorr signature capabilities, a 32MB block capacity, faster re-spending of unconfirmed transactions, re-enabled old Satoshi opcodes, and more. The digital currency is supported by nearly every major wallet, a myriad of crypto exchanges, and there are thousands of merchants who accept BCH worldwide. Bitcoin Cash also has a robust mixing technology called Cashfusion, which just completed its security audit. Moreover, BCH also has a resilient and easy to use tokenization system called the Simple Ledger Protocol (SLP). And to top it all off, for the last three years, Bitcoin Cash proponents have been a boisterous bunch of peer-to-peer electronic cash enthusiasts. This anniversary a number of BCH developers, enthusiasts, business executives, and miners will be celebrating the momentous occasion. At 7 a.m. ET, an online conference being held called “BCH Scaling for the Globe: Bitcoin Cash 2020 ForkDay Celebration” will be streaming with a variety of Bitcoin Cash influencers. The BCH Meetup group in Bangkok will be hosting a special celebration, and BCH proponent, Hayden Otto, is hosting the first slot of the Bitcoin Cash third anniversary live stream organized by @Bitcoincashcity and @Satoshiangels. C. Edward Kelso (@Cryptokelso) will be having a “post-Pomp interview” with Bitcoin.com’s Roger Ver, Edge Wallet’s Paul Puey, and software engineer Josh Ellithorpe (@zquestz). The Bitcoin Cash Games casino platform launched a $3k leaderboard tournament to celebrate the third BCH anniversary as well. Additionally, on the BCH-fueled blogging platform read.cash, a number of supporters have been sharing their perspectives on the BCH fork, and people have been discussing the anniversary on the Reddit forum r/btc as well. Overall it should be a lively day of celebrations and memories as BCH fans are always a vibrant flock. What do you think about the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) third anniversary? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post Block 478,559: Bitcoin Cash Fans Worldwide Celebrate the Cryptocurrency’s 3rd Anniversary appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Crypto exchange Coinbase said Friday that it is reviewing 19 cryptocurrencies for possible listing. These new assets are: Ampleforth, Band Protocol, Balancer, Blockstack, Curve, Fetch.ai, Flexacoin, Helium, Hedera Hashgraph, Kava, Melon, Ocean Protocol, Paxos Gold, Reserve Rights, tBTC, The Graph, Theta, Uma, and Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC). Coinbase said the review process includes “significant technical and compliance review and may be subject to regulatory approval in some jurisdictions.” There’s no guarantee that crypto assets under review will gain automatic listing. “[Our] goal is to offer support for all assets that meet our technical standards and which comply with applicable laws,” said the U.S. exchange, in a blog post. “As per our listing process, we will add new assets on a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction basis, subject to applicable review and authorizations. The omission of assets from this publication does not disqualify any such asset from active review and potential listing,” it added. Coinbase, which boasts over 35 million users worldwide, indicated that it would continue to evaluate more digital assets, and with time it expects to support “at least 90% of the aggregate market cap of all digital assets in circulation.” In June, the exchange revealed that it was exploring the addition of 18 crypto assets, including Comp, Aave, Aragon, and Bancor. Assets that eventually get listed on Coinbase have tended to see sharp increases in their prices – as happened with Makerdao’s MKR in May or Compound’s Comp in June – but the relationship, known as the “Coinbase Effect”, isn’t always linear. Comp surged by as much as 300% in the run-up to and after the Coinbase listing. At the time of writing, most of the assets that Coinbase has announced for review are going up. For example, Melon is up more than 26%, Flexacoin 4.5%, and Reserve rights 2.4%, according to data from markets.Bitcoin.com. What do you think about new assets getting listed on Coinbase? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Coinbase Reviewing 19 Crypto Assets for Listing, Including Wrapped Bitcoin and Paxos Gold appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

On Friday a 17-year-old Tampa teenager was arrested in Florida for allegedly being the “mastermind” behind the July 15 Twitter hack that saw a great number of high profile accounts compromised. The hack also netted roughly $120,000 worth of bitcoins by leading unknowing individuals to doubler scams. The suspect Graham Clark has been charged with over 30 felonies and was taken into custody by the FBI, Secret Service, and Florida law enforcement. On July 15, there was a massive Twitter hack where a large number of Twitter accounts were breached. The accounts belonging to many well known people included Barack Obama, Apple, Google, Joe Biden, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and Jeff Bezos. The accounts then tweeted about a bitcoin (BTC) ‘giveaway’ or doubler scam and the hacker raked in $120,000 worth of BTC in one day. The public also found out that 1,000 individuals had access to an internal tool that gives someone ‘God Mode’ powers. It was also found out that someone on the inside working with Twitter was paid for the access and people had fears about compromised direct messages. The New York Times explained the insider was called “Kirk” and he allegedly sold the internal tool to various hackers who told on him after the incident. Photo of Graham Clark via WFLA’s Ryan Hughes. In addition to Clark, federal agents also arrested 19-year-old Mason Sheppard from the United Kingdom and 22-year-old Nima Fazeli from Orlando, Florida. After the arrest, Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren told the local Florida news outlet WFLA that “massive fraud was orchestrated right here in our backyard, and we will not stand for that.” Graham Clark faces charges like fraudulent use of personal information with a multitude of victims, organized fraud charges, a number of counts of fraudulent use of personal information, a great deal of communications fraud charges as well. “These crimes were perpetrated using the names of famous people and celebrities, but they’re not the primary victims here. This ‘Bit-Con’ was designed to steal money from regular Americans from all over the country, including here in Florida,” Warren stressed to the press. U.S. law enforcement says that Clark is one of three suspects involved with the Twitter hack but he is allegedly the “mastermind” behind the ordeal. Police have also arrested 19-year-old Mason Sheppard from the United Kingdom and 22-year-old Nima Fazeli from Orlando, Florida. It is unknown what will happen with the bitcoins acquired from the July 15 Twitter hack, but one report published by Elliptic, said a fraction of the coins were mixed with a bitcoin tumbling wallet. What do you think about the arrest of the alleged Twitter hack mastermind? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post Federal Agents Arrest Suspected 17-Year-Old Twitter Hack ‘Mastermind’ in Florida appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) intends to award a fixed-price contract on a single source basis to Ciphertrace. The SEC is awarding the contract to the blockchain monitoring company as it plans focus on BNB coin, as well as other tokens on the Binance’s DEX. The BNB token has multiple forms of utility and powers the Binance Ecosystem as its underlying gas. The U.S. regulator says it has chosen Ciphertrace because “its products are the only known blockchain forensics and risk intelligence tool that can support the Binance coin (BNB) and all tokens on the Binance network.” This follows a determination by the contracting officer “that Ciphertrace Inc is the only source that can reasonably meet the SEC’s requirement in accordance with FAR Part 13.106-1(b).” According to the SEC notice, “the period of performance for the contract is anticipated to be one year with four one year option periods and the total value of the contract shall be below the Simplified Acquisition Threshold.” The SEC intends to award a contract to Ciphertrace on or before July 31, 2020. The regulator adds, “this notice is not a competitive request for proposals. A competition solicitation will not be issued.” Still, the U.S. watchdog stresses the “government will give consideration to interested parties that identify their interest and capability to respond to the requirement or submit proposals by the response date of the notice.” Meanwhile, the SEC’s announcement follows an announcement by Ciphertrace last November stating support for Binance Chain. In a press release, Ciphertrace said at the time this support would enable developers, investors, and regulators to browse the Binance Chain blockchain, identify high-risk addresses and set controls to protect decentralized applications (DApps), exchanges or other cryptocurrency-based applications. Ciphertrace support was expected to “enable Binance Chain to provide institutional-grade anti-money laundering (AML) controls and transparency.” At the time of the announcement, Binance said the partnership would encourage greater community involvement, developer participation, and public interest in Binance Chain. What does the award of this contract mean for Binance? Share your thoughts in the comments section below The post US Regulator Zeroes in on Binance Chain as SEC Awards Monitoring Contract to Ciphertrace appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

During the last few weeks, gold has skyrocketed in value over the concerns fueled by the faltering global economy. Despite the fact that gold has always been a safe-haven, many investors are looking to bitcoin because they fear central banks will dilute the market or even confiscate the gold. Prior to Covid-19, central banks purchased massive amounts of gold and alongside this, a number of countries are having serious issues repatriating their gold reserves. This has caused investors worldwide to question gold over crypto assets. There’s no doubt that gold has been on a tear, but many people have concerns about the precious metal being a solid safe-haven due to a number of factors. In recent years, investors have found cryptocurrencies like bitcoin (BTC) have a number of benefits that gold cannot offer. At the time of publication, one troy ounce of .999 fine gold is trading for $1,963 and many investors believe the price is headed higher. But some of the biggest issues with gold, in comparison to crypto assets, is the problem with storage. A few hundred thousand dollars worth of gold held by a single individual isn’t not as easy as say storing $300,000 worth of BTC. An individual has to secure the precious metal by hiding it and leveraging a safe, and oftentimes people with that much gold have a third-party store it for them. Safes and added custodial security create extra costs to investing in gold and storing the metal with a third party means you have to trust them. The gold custodian could get robbed or a government entity could seize the metal leaving all the investors high and dry. Moreover, governments have been known to seize peoples gold. One of the most famous instances of this type of event occurred in 1933, when American President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) invoked the Emergency Banking Act. At that time, FDR also issued Executive order 6102 which forbade the hoarding of gold certificates, bullion, and gold coins. American President Franklin D. Roosevelt signing Executive order 6102. According to FDR, the move to seize American gold stashes was meant to stimulate economic growth during the Great Depression. On April 5, 1933, FDR signed Executive order 6102, and citizens were mandated to take their bars, coins, and certificates to the Fed. They were paid $20.67 per ounce and after the Emergency Banking Act was lifted, FDR raised the price to $35 per ounce. Many people wholeheartedly believe that this “could never happen again” but the reason why it did happen was so FDR and the banking cartel could strike 40% off the dollar and bolster the economy. The reason it could happen again is because the USD has been declining in value for years. On July 30, 2020, the USD’s trade-weighted index dropped to a two-year low against a basket of other fiat currencies. The U.S. government could easily invoke another executive order against gold in order to keep the reserve currency of the world afloat. Furthermore, back in 1933, FDR had government entities conduct a nationwide search for gold coin, bullion, and certificates as part of the government’s “confiscation policy.” The U.S. dollar dropped to a two-year low on Thursday with values not seen since May 2018. There are a few high-profile U.S. gold confiscation enforcement that the American press covered at the time. For instance, the federal government seized double eagles worth $12.5 million at the time from an investor who was holding the coins for a Switzerland-based firm. Another individual was charged when he tried to withdraw 5,000 ounces of gold worth $9.6 million today. Banks holding gold would notify government entities if someone was withdrawing gold and the man with the 5,000 ounces was greeted by federal agents that day. In addition to the U.S., other countries like China and Japan have had cases where gold smuggling is common and governments seize people’s gold. Gold investors are also scared about the massive amounts of precious metal central banks have held in reserve and many suspect they could dilute the market. There are a number of central banks doing shady things with gold reserves and some of them are not allowing other countries to withdraw. Many countries have tried to repatriate their gold, but have had significant issues from central banks. Venezuela, the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, India, and Bangladesh all have had problems attempting to repatriate their gold. The countries holding these reserves could weaken the value of gold, by simply selling off massive amounts during times of economic distress. Statistics show that the U.S. is the largest holder of gold reserves and the country is followed by Germany, the International Monetary Fund, Italy, France, Russia, China, Switzerland, Japan, India, the Netherlands, and the European Union. In April, financial columnist David Fickling said that it was possible central banks could sell these reserves in an emergency. This happened during the 2007-2008 economic crisis as gold was supposed to be a safe haven after the 2007 Bear Stearns emergency bailout, but central banks dumped gold to provide liquidity. Gold has been a safe haven asset for centuries, but crypto assets are far more portable and they require far less security. A person can easily send a million dollars worth of ethereum (ETH) or bitcoin cash (BCH) to anyone in the world in a matter of no time. Moving a million dollars worth of gold is not as easy. It would be much harder to seize people’s digital currencies as well, as a million dollars can simply be hidden in a twelve-word mnemonic phrase. Just the other day, news.Bitcoin.com’s financial columnist, Jeffrey Gogo, reported on how the gold bull Dennis Gartman is moving out of gold, because the market has become “too crowded.” An individual can store a million dollars in bitcoin without paying custodial costs and do so in a noncustodial fashion. Even central banks who are attempting to repatriate their gold reserves, would have been in much better shape if they leveraged crypto assets over gold reserves. There is no doubt that gold will continue to be thought of as a safe-haven asset, but there is also no doubt that crypto-assets offer people significant advantages over precious metals like gold. What do you think about gold’s issues? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post As Gold Touches New Highs Investors Face Storage Issues, Market Dilution, Threat of Seizures appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Chinese authorities have reportedly arrested 109 people in connection with the Plustoken Ponzi scheme. Twenty-seven of them are allegedly the scheme’s masterminds and 82 are key members. The Plustoken scammers have swindled funds worth about $5.7 billion from more than 2 million investors. Plustoken Scammers Arrested Under the command of China’s Ministry of Public Security, the country’s principal police and security authority, Chinese police have taken down Plustoken, a major multinational pyramid scheme using cryptocurrencies, local news outlet CLS reported on Thursday. The Plustoken scheme has lured in more than 2 million investors who joined on over 3,000 levels. It has swindled funds worth more than 40 billion yuan (approximately $5.7 billion) from the victims. The police have arrested all 27 alleged masterminds and 82 key members of the scheme. “The arrest completely destroyed this huge multinational MLM organization network entrenched at home and abroad,” the publication noted. “Based in China, Plustoken presented itself as a cryptocurrency wallet that would reward users with high rates of return if they purchased the wallet’s associated PLUS cryptocurrency tokens with bitcoin or ethereum,” Chainalysis described. The scammers claimed those returns would be generated by exchange profit, mining income, and referral benefits. In addition, the token would be listed on several exchanges. In June, six people connected to the scam were arrested. However, “the stolen funds have continued to move through wallets and be cashed out through independent OTC brokers operating mostly on the Huobi platform, showing that one or more of the scammers are still at large,” according to the blockchain analytics firm. Over time, the Plustoken scammers have moved a large number of cryptocurrencies, including BTC and ETH, prompting concerns that they may cash out enough of their ill-gotten gains to move the market prices of bitcoin and ether. For example, they moved 789,534 ETH in June, 13,000 BTC to bitcoin mixers in March and almost 12,000 BTC in February. What do you think about the police taking down the Plustoken scam? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Chinese Police Take Down $6 Billion Plustoken Ponzi, Arrest 109 People appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

London, Friday 31st July 2020 – The pTokens project has today launched the pNetwork DAO, giving holders of the governance token $PNT the opportunity to help govern and influence the future of the DeFi cross-chain solution. pTokens make every cryptocurrency compatible with every blockchain, such as pBTC, which enables Bitcoin holders to explore Ethereum and EOS DeFi without having to sell or trade their crypto. The community-run pNetwork DAO is the first major step towards decentralising the system. PNT holders who stake their tokens in the DAO will be able to vote on different proposals regarding the development of the pTokens solution and make key governance decisions as a community. Active voters receive competitive interest rates for their participation, receiving 42% APR interest on their stake during the first year, and 21% APR interest the following year. This reward incentive is designed to give back to the founding community and help the pNetwork grow while in its initial stages. Up to 28,350,000 $PNT tokens are dedicated to this initiative, which are generated through an inflation mechanism. The PNT governance token is already held by more than 7,500 blockchain addresses, establishing a broad and diverse community of token holders. In June, the main development team proactively reduced their token share by burning over 28 million company-managed tokens. This was to ensure that majority control of the project would be distributed among the wider community upon launch, rather than in the hands of the team. “A diverse and collaborative user community is an essential component of any decentralized project. The pNetwork DAO is an important way for our project to honour its decentralized commitment, and ensure that the governance of the network as it grows is shaped and influenced directly by its everyday users,” says Bertani. pTokens recently announced the launch of its new yield farming programme, Steroids. The programme will coincide with the launch of the DAO and run for a period of one month. It enables all PNT token holders to receive rewards by adding liquidity to the Uniswap V2 PNT/USDT liquidity pool. Holders will receive up to 10% monthly interest as a reward. Users can increase their earning potential based on how much, and for how long they supply liquidity for. As Steroids can also function as an app within the pNetwork DAO, this also enables the UniV2 pool tokens to be staked directly within the DAO, combining the Steroids rewards with pNetwork DAO voting rights. The total supply for $PNT is just below 60 million, with almost 30 million already locked within the pNetwork DAO, reducing the circulating supply by half. This includes the company treasury and team-owned tokens, as well as the reserve dedicated to the Eidoo Card cashback program. The $PNT community has already staked approximately 5 million tokens through the Eidoo Card program and Eidoo Staking Accounts initiative of December 2019. These hundreds of early supporters will serve as the pNetwork’s inaugural community base, and now have the possibility to gain extra rewards on their initial stake by voting in the DAO. Learn more about how you can join the pNetwork DAO here. About pNetwork As the underlying architecture for pTokens, the interoperability solution for decentralized finance, the pNetwork provides the foundation for a truly decentralized system. Secured by Multi Party Computations and Trusted Computing, anyone is invited to join as a pNetwork validator to help secure and shape the future of pTokens project.The pNetwork DAO is run by a transparent governance process and is open for anyone to join. The main development team behind the pNetwork is Provable Things, founded in 2016 in London. Provable uses cutting-edge decentralized technologies to provide services for modern DApps. The first Provable product to launch has become the longest-running blockchain oracle service industry-wide. Contact Email Address hello@p.network Supporting Link https://p.network This is a press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release. The post pTokens project launches pNetwork DAO with staking rewards of 42% APR interest appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The Indian government has confirmed in a Right to Information (RTI) reply that the inter-ministerial committee’s cryptocurrency bill is “awaiting approval of the government.” The bill is currently being examined by various ministries. Indian Government’s Confirmation The government of India has been sitting on a cryptocurrency draft bill since it was submitted to the finance ministry early last year. Entitled “Banning of Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2019,” the document was drafted by an inter-ministerial committee headed by former Finance and Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg. While no formal announcement regarding the progress of the bill has been made, some media reports suggest that consultation has begun on this bill. To establish the veracity of this news, lawyer Mohammed Danish, co-founder of Crypto Kanoon, filed an RTI application with the Department of Economic Affairs. In its short reply dated July 13, the Department of economic affairs wrote: “The government has set up inter-ministerial committee (IMC) for examining the issues of cryptocurrencies under the chairmanship of Secretary (EA).” The letter continues: The report of the IMC on VCs [virtual currencies] has since been submitted by its members, but is awaiting approval of the government. The report and bill now be examined by the government through inter-ministerial consultation by moving a cabinet note in due course. Danish explained to Coinpedia publication on Wednesday that “The present bill contemplates a blanket ban on everything related to cryptocurrencies.” He added that the IMC proposal “prescribes punishments for every activity from mining, holding, advertising, promoting, buying, selling to providing exchange services … If this bill is converted into law in the present form, then no sector can survive.” However, he highlighted that the DEA used the word “government” in its RTI reply to refer to the Ministry of Finance, and not “Parliament” or “Cabinet Secretariat.” This “means that this crypto bill does not conform to the satisfaction of the finance ministry,” the Crypto Kanoon co-founder opined. In addition, he emphasized that it is “unclear and quite pre-mature” to predict what the Ministry of Finance will do, including whether substantial changes will be made to the bill to reject the idea of a complete ban on cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin. Nonetheless, “it seems that the Ministry of Finance does not want to proceed with this crypto bill for parliamentary clearance in the present form,” Danish believes, elaborating: If the govt. decides to pass a law banning crypto, this law can be challenged by crypto business, traders, or enthusiasts based on various rights available to them under the Constitution. Specifically, Danish pointed out that “They can challenge this law before the supreme court under Article 32 and before high courts under Article 226 of the Constitution.” Do you think the Indian government will ban crypto? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Indian Government Confirms Crypto Bill Is ‘Awaiting Approval’ appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Bitcoin trading is growing in Russia. That’s despite attempts by the government to make it difficult for investors to do so. For years, Russian lawmakers have blown hot and cold over cryptocurrency regulation, creating an atmosphere that has often left the entire digital asset industry in the country on tenterhooks. According to Paxful, Russian users joining the peer-to-peer bitcoin (BTC) exchange have increased by 350% over the last 12 months. New registrations have swelled to record highs month-on-month since the new coronavirus outbreak in March. The exchange said it is now seeing an average monthly trading volume of $4 million in the Eastern European country, compared to other P2P platforms. For payment, Russians prefer to use gift cards, online wallets, bank transfers, and credit or debit cards, it stated in a statement shared with news.Bitcoin.com. Anton Kozlov, Paxful’s Manager for the Russian market, said: Crisis aside, Russia has always had a monolithic banking system that is dominated by a few players, and the sentiment we get is that Russians are increasingly looking to find alternative ways to grow their earnings and participate in the financial market. Bitcoin within the P2P context allows them much more freedom to do so – and our data is proving it. A new law passed on July 22 prohibits the use of bitcoin to pay for goods and services, but grants legal recognition to cryptocurrencies. Such clarity may help drive further growth of the Russian digital asset market. Russia is reportedly the largest P2P bitcoin trading market in Europe, but a lot of the trading takes place on Localbitcoins, with a volume of about $32 million changing hands this month, according to data from Useful Tulips. For the same period, the research firm puts Paxful’s BTC trading volume in Russia at just $405,000 – a figure that contradicts the one issued by the exchange itself as cited elsewhere in this report. Paxful said earlier this July that its bitcoin trading volumes climbed 35% to $1.1 billion during the first six months of 2020 compared to $817 million a year ago. The growing U.S. exchange revealed that more than $182 million worth of BTC, on average, was traded on the platform every month between January and June this year. Nigeria, U.S., Ghana, India, and Kenya led the growth, with emerging markets rising fastest. To date, Paxful has accumulated 4.5 million users and reached a total of $4.6 billion trading volume for BTC since it started operations in 2015. What do you think about Russia’s growing bitcoin trading activity? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Bitcoin Trading Is Booming in Uncertain Russia, With 350% Spike in New Users on Paxful appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

When it comes to Switzerland, first of all, people have associations with first-class chocolate, delicious cheese, the most precise watches, multi-purpose knives and, of course, a safe place to keep money. New Way of Holding Assets in Switzerland Since the dawn of time Switzerland has been a banking paradise attracting more and more people, who want to keep their money in the country. With the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies, Switzerland has decided to enter the list of advanced countries, taking an extremely friendly position regarding digital currencies because of their great potential. It can be considered the most favourable jurisdiction for blockchain-oriented businesses at the moment. It is all caused by advanced legislation, quite low tax rates, high standard level of privacy and a developed banking industry. One of the country’s administrative centres in Zug even has its own ‘crypto valley’, named Crypto Valley Association, which task is to create the most modern blockchain-ecosystems. Zug is a home for many companies in the cryptocurrency industry, fintech and blockchain startups, popular organizations including, for example, the Tezos Foundation (ticker XTZ). The headquarters of the world’s second cryptocurrency Ethereum is also located there. The administrative centre attracts an increasing number of tech startups, making it one of the best locations for doing business with digital currencies. The only disadvantage is a costly and time-consuming creation process of the companies’ legal infrastructure. Ethereum blockchain is one of the most popular blockchain applications and protocols implemented in Switzerland. Ethereum is a public platform that includes an open source blockchain-based distributed computing ledger and smart contract functionality. The network is implemented as a single decentralized computing machine that works being supplemented simultaneously with the help of millions of devices around the world. Now Simba.Storage has joined the race to achieve the best quality in doing business in this country. Industries in Switzerland investing in blockchain. Switzerland not only supports cryptocurrency organizations providing them with all the necessary comfortable conditions, but also actively invests in new technologies within the country. It is interesting that in Switzerland almost every bank offers to open a cryptocurrency account or link your wallet to your account. In many cantons (‘Swiss states’ similar to those in the USA), BTC, ETH, USDT and other cryptocurrencies are accepted for payment for goods and services, it is even possible to pay phone and Internet bills, taxes and government payments. The banking sector invests in one of the most important blockchain protocols, the R3 Corda platform, which improves the trade finance process. Swiss banks are very interested in integrating blockchain innovations into their business models, forging partnerships with blockchain development companies and acquiring such companies (including crowdfunding platforms). The majority of banks, including the private ones, have created their own inner innovation departments to follow new technological developments. For the companies in the FMCG industry, one of the most important projects is the Komgo blockchain. This platform facilitates standby letters of credit and discounting of receivables and KYC (customer identification) procedures. These are just a few examples of blockchain implementation options in Switzerland. DLT or a distributed ledger technology is also used in real estate, insurance, supply chain management and government agencies dealing with digital signatures in many companies in the country. How cryptocurrencies are defined and regulated in Switzerland. Switzerland does not have a large number of special laws applicable to cryptocurrencies, but there is a fairly large number of documents regulating the definition of certain specific digital assets by their ownership (utility, security, payment, stable), in addition, there are two guides on initial coin offering and initial token offering (ICO and ITO), which were issued by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), the main regulatory body that carefully analyses all projects on the market, and for this reason, it takes a long time to get a license. Thus, Simba.Storage is not an exception. Trading platforms and cryptocurrency exchanges must comply with certain rules and are subject to money laundering laws. Such platforms must necessarily identify a buyer of the tokens, a beneficial owner of the tokens (if different from the buyer) and ensure that the funds, used to purchase the tokens, are not the proceeds of a crime. Holding assets in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Storing funds in Switzerland has always been associated with reliability, security and anonymity. This fact especially attracted people who had really large funds and did not want to disclose information about it. It is important to pay attention to the fact, that these are not innovative technologies which guarantee the safety of your funds, but actually how developed and rich the country is in all areas. The same applies to Liechtenstein, as this microstate borders with Switzerland and the border is almost invisible, which is quite typical for Europe. The national currency of this country is the Swiss Franc. An unblemished reputation and a high level of anonymity together with a highly developed financial sector provide a similar confidence in money storage in the country as well as in Switzerland. Companies that are registered in Liechtenstein are able to open accounts not only in local banks, but also in the banks of Switzerland. This is one of the reason why Simba.Storage places its cold storage in this country. Let’s consider just a few aspects that significantly influence the choice of where to store money: The Swiss have one of the richest privacy cultures in the world and the first bank secrecy law dates back to 1713. The current data protection laws are one of the strictest in the world; Switzerland is ranked first position in the world for competitiveness and productivity which are key drivers of economic growth and the quality of life; Switzerland has the world’s leading infrastructure in the fields of energy, transport, telecommunications, financial services, education, healthcare, environment, safety and technological innovations; Switzerland implements sound economic policies, including a strong currency with by far the highest gold reserves per capita among other countries and the world’s highest GDP per capita. That is why, together with Simba, you will get a Swiss bank in your pocket. The list goes on, but the above mentioned factors already show that it is not the country, where high-rank officials from law enforcement agencies, interested in your funds, will decide to ‘borrow’ your funds and ‘temporarily isolate you’ from society due to a questionable reason. Besides, when talking about Switzerland and Liechtenstein, naturally there are no thoughts about criminals who can break into a bank wearing masks, or about hackers who can get an access to your digital assets. Together with the development of modern technologies in these countries, the storage of cryptocurrencies can now also be classified as areas in which they have succeeded and become leaders. Swiss-based digital asset vaults offer the highest degree of protection and guarantee that your funds are safe and secure. For example, Simba.Storage based in Switzerland and Lichtenstein offer cold storage services to customers storing Bitcoins on hardware wallets that are completely protected from hacking. Modern customer identification technologies (KYC) will allow to restore access to users’ funds remotely, in case they accidentally lose their login information. Also, all customers of this storage, in exchange for the bitcoins kept for storage, receive SIMBA stablecoins (token of the ERC-20 standard), backed by BTC (1 SIMBA = 1 satoshi). These tokens can be used for everyday payments, and they are an additional safety guarantee of your Bitcoins. Such an approach to storage can be called a standard and taking it as an example, one can judge by other cryptocurrency storages. Website – https://simba.storage Telegram – https://t.me/simbastorage This is a sponsored post. Learn more on how to reach our audience here. Read disclaimer below. The post Stablecoin Cold Storage Backed by Satoshis – Simba is a New Way of Holding Assets in Switzerland appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Fidelity Digital Assets (FDA) quotes Satoshi Nakamoto in its latest investment thesis report. The thesis is part of a series of reports examining the perspectives driving interest and investment in bitcoin. FDA is affiliated with Fidelity through parent company Fidelity Management & Research (FMR). One of the largest financial services corporations in the world, Fidelity has an estimated $7 trillion worth of assets under management (AUM). Commenting on its findings, FDA says it has learned that investors view bitcoin as an aspirational store of value while also noting the limited knowledge about the same by stakeholders. Additionally, FDA observes that the current investor “rationale for establishing exposure now” is premised on a belief that bitcoin “will be a much larger market if it is widely used as a store of value in the future.” This optimistic investor perception fits well with a famous Satoshi’s quote which FDA includes in this bitcoin investment thesis. Satoshi wrote: It might make sense just to get some in case it catches on. If enough people think the same way, that becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Current investors in bitcoin are hopeful the coin will ultimately attain the objective of becoming a store of value despite present volatility concerns. As the investment thesis further explains, over time, “volatility should continue to decline relative to current levels as narratives converge.” Meanwhile, investors interviewed by FDA as part of this thesis believe the next wave of awareness and adoption could be driven by external factors, such as unprecedented levels of intervention by central banks and governments. Longer-term tailwinds that could fuel adoption include the use of bitcoin to preserve wealth amid “slow and steady” inflation and the “looming generational wealth transfer to millennials, who view bitcoin more favourably than other demographics.” How significant is the reference to Satoshi by Fidelity Digital Assets? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. The post Fidelity Digital Assets Quotes Bitcoin Creator Satoshi Nakamoto in Latest Investment Thesis appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Gold bull Dennis Gartman is moving out of gold because the market has become “too crowded.” In an interview with Bloomberg on Thursday, Gartman said he was “social distancing” from the precious metal until such a time when the price falls to around $1,775. “Too many people all of a sudden are involved in the gold market,” he complained. “There’s only one position everybody has and that’s long…people have to be taken out of that trade.” Back in April, the popular gold investor told everyone “now is the time to buy gold.” Today, Gartman feels the market is overcrowded. “I couldn’t get too many people interested in gold…two and three years ago but now it’s on the front pages of every report that you see,” said Gartman, adding, “at this point in gold I’m neutral.” The price of gold closed at a record high of nearly $1,960 per ounce on July 28, as trading volumes surged. Some traders are reported to be switching their futures contracts for physical gold, potentially risking creating imbalances in the market. Both gold and bitcoin, two assets considered as safe haven, have risen sharply over the last few days amid increased stimulus spending from governments throughout the world. Bitcoin, which has been likened to “digital gold”, reached an 11-month high of about $11,400 on Tuesday. The top cryptocurrency might become an attractive option for those investors – like Gartman – looking for alternative safe havens or to diversify risk. In the interview, Gartman also stated that falling stock market prices – which he feels are already expensive anyway – could trigger the next sell-off in gold. “For the past several months they’ve been moving in conventional with each other … as gold goes up so have stocks … that consistency between the two shall continue for a lot longer … so if stocks start to tumble you’ll get a correlative sell-off in the gold market,” he said. What do you think about Dennis Gartman exiting gold? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Bitcoin an Option, as Dennis Gartman Says He’s Exiting ‘Crowded’ Gold Market appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

To celebrate the third anniversary of Bitcoin Cash, the world-class gaming platform Bitcoin Cash Games is launching a leaderboard tournament worth $3k. On August 1, the Bitcoin Cash community will be celebrating the network’s third anniversary and the project has come a long way since 2017. Bitcoin cash (BCH) has garnered widespread attention, it’s the fifth-largest market by valuation, and developers have completed a number of beneficial upgrades over the last few years. BCH has solidified itself as the go-to cryptocurrency for a reliable peer-to-peer electronic cash system. At Bitcoin Cash Games we want to celebrate the third BCH anniversary so our gaming casino is launching a leaderboard with a total of $3,000 for you to win. Anyone can participate in this special promotion by playing any of these exclusive games available on the casino: Exclusive Slots, Keno and Roulette. Then the top 15 players will get a bonus reward at the end of the Bitcoin Cash Games promotion. The more a player bets, the higher their ranking will be on the leaderboard. Moreover, we launched a social campaign where you can claim a $10 bonus through the casino’s official Twitter. Bitcoin Cash Games brings yet another opportunity for players to engage in online entertainment and win big jackpots using BCH as its primary currency. Our gaming portal has always hosted a broad array of provably fair gaming for cryptocurrency enthusiasts who like to play for high stakes recreation. It is an online gaming platform where players can engage in all their favorite casino games without worrying about KYC or upper limits on deposits. Furthermore, BCH withdrawals are always done in a safe and secure digital environment. We think that you will find our platform is the ultimate destination for classic casino gaming — with a BCH twist. At Bitcoin Cash Games our gaming portal offers free spins, exciting promotions, cashback, and regular bonuses. So what are you waiting for? Check out Bitcoin Cash Games today. What do you think about Bitcoin Cash Games launching a $3,000 leaderboard tournament to celebrate the third Bitcoin Cash anniversary? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Bitcoin Cash Games Launches $3K Leaderboard Tournament to Celebrate the 3rd BCH Anniversary appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Central banks worldwide have injected further stimulus into the economy, as European Union (EU) leaders recently approved a $2.1 trillion budget, the Bank of England boosted stimulus injections in mid-June, and the Federal Reserve announced on Wednesday that it would keep lending until the end of the year. Meanwhile, bank indexes show that financial institutions based in the UK, Japan, and the EU are about to break support levels that have held up since the mid-eighties. The global economy looks bleak and the world’s central banks are trying really hard to keep the monetary system from breaking even further. This week, members of the U.S. Federal Reserve met for a two day Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting to discuss the U.S. economy. Fed chair Jerome Powell told the press that the “pace of recovery looks like it has slowed” During the two-day FOMC event, Powell and the committee decided to keep the benchmark lending rate unchanged, at near zero. In addition to this move, the Federal Reserve also said that it plans to continue lending to private financial institutions until the end of the year. The lending was supposed to halt in September, but the committee is keeping the money flowing. Further, the Federal Reserve doesn’t think that the benchmark lending rate will be changed until the year 2022. “The coronavirus outbreak is causing tremendous human and economic hardship across the United States and around the world,” a statement from the Federal Open Market Committee explained. “Following sharp declines, economic activity and employment have picked up somewhat in recent months but remain well below their levels at the beginning of the year.” Following the meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday, the U.S. Commerce Department published the worst gross domestic product (GDP) report ever. The GDP shrank by 32.9% during the second quarter of 2020 according to the report. The chief economist at IHS Markit, Nariman Behravesh, called the report “horrific” and said: “We’ve never seen anything quite like it.” Analysts believe the decline was largely fueled by a lack of summer consumer spending and economists expect a disastrous economic fallout in the winter. In addition to the Federal Reserve, central banks worldwide are distributing stimulus injections like water. News.Bitcoin.com recently reported on the $2.1 trillion budget approved by the European Union, and the Bank of England (BoE) added an additional £100 billion ($131.2 billion) in asset purchases on June 18. BoE also revealed that the monetary policy committee plans to boost the central bank’s asset purchase program to £745 billion. In mid-July, the Bank of Japan (BoJ) decided to keep the country’s benchmark lending rate at -0.1% for Japanese banks that collaborate with the BoJ. Japan’s central bank also plans to keep the monetary policy stimulus going strong and Japanese leaders blame the economic challenges on the novel coronavirus. Global Macro Investor and Real Vision Group’s Raoul Pal believes that the central bank’s moves worldwide will continue to bolster investments like gold and bitcoin. UK Bank Index, photo via Real Vision Group’s Raoul Pal. Pal said on Thursday that the UK and Japanese banks are about to break significant support levels that held for decades. “Another reminder to not lose sight of the big picture,” Pal tweeted. “UK banks are about to break the only support since the start of the index in 1986. EU banks had a small re-test of the cliff of death and new all-time lows most likely await. Japanese banks are rolling back down and will probably fall to all-time lows (below 1983).” The Global Macro Investor continued by adding: This is one of the reasons the central banks are rushing to create digital currencies – it gives them the ability to run a banking system without banks, should they need it. U.S. banks don’t look like they are going to avoid a sharp fall in their share process either, but the U.S. banks look in better shape currently than the others. Statistics show that the U.S. dollar plummeted to a two-year low on Thursday after the Bureau of Labor Statistics released unemployment data. The U.S. saw it’s second-consecutive week of increased unemployment claims and the $600 benefit insurance ends this week for millions of Americans. The U.S. dollar dropped to lows not seen since 2018 on Thursday according to the currency’s trade-weighted index. The USD index against a basket of fiat dropped from 93.42 to 92.82 on July 30. It is the weakest the American dollar has been since May 2018, and a number of analysts have concerns about the currency’s future. Over the last two days, the Federal Reserve cited difficulties with unemployment levels and the liveliness of the U.S. economic system in general. On Thursday, it was revealed that the U.S. saw 1.43 million new unemployment claims for the week. Collectively there are more than 54 million Americans that have filed claims, according to seasonally-adjusted data stemming from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. “It is definitely a bit more cautious and dovish, and basically tells the market they’re not going to raise interest rates any time soon,” Kathy Lien, managing director at BK Asset Management in New York stressed on Thursday. “In an environment where the market is dumping dollars, it’s another excuse to drive it lower.” A great number of global investors have said that the central bank’s stimulus and interest rate moves worldwide will continue to cushion precious metals and cryptocurrency markets. Bitcoin (BTC) has been hovering just above the $11k zone, while gold is trading for $1,957 per troy ounce of the fine metal. Do you think the rounds of fiscal stimulus will bolster bitcoin and precious metal markets? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Stimulus Is Failing: Global Banks to Break Support Levels, US Dollar Plummets to 2-Year Low appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Crypto startup Diginex has launched a cryptocurrency exchange ahead of its Nasdaq listing which has already been approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The new exchange is based in Singapore where Diginex has applied for a license. Diginex Set to List on Nasdaq A cryptocurrency exchange operator, Diginex, is set to list on the Nasdaq exchange in September, Diginex CEO Richard Byworth confirmed to Reuters on Wednesday. The listing is expected to be made through a $300 million reverse merger with the acquisition of 8i Enterprises Acquisition Corp., a Nasdaq-listed company. Citing Byworth, the publication conveyed: The deal has already received SEC approval … the effective listing date should be in mid- to late September. Diginex said on Thursday that it has launched a cryptocurrency exchange in Singapore where it has applied for a license, even though much of its business is in Hong Kong. The new platform, Equos.io, offers cryptocurrency spot trading and complex derivatives products. Singapore has recently tightened its oversight of the crypto industry. The country’s new payments rules require cryptocurrency companies to be licensed. Reuters detailed that over 150 cryptocurrency companies that were previously operating in Singapore, including Diginex, have had to apply for licenses by July 28. The strict regulation aims to comply with the standards set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). This week, Japanese crypto exchange Liquid delisted 29 cryptocurrencies in order to comply with Singapore’s new crypto requirements, as news.Bitcoin.com recently reported. Hong Kong has an opt-in licensing regime for cryptocurrency exchanges but does not allow the trading of derivatives products. Its top markets regulator said cryptocurrency futures contracts may be illegal, Byworth explained, adding that “Singapore was a bit more flexible in the way that they were thinking about things.” What do you think about Diginex’s Nasdaq listing? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Crypto Exchange Operator Diginex to List on Nasdaq in September appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The number of bitcoin held on exchanges has touched a 12-month low, as bitcoin exchange balances have reached levels not seen since June 2019. According to onchain statistics, there’s more than 2.6 million BTC held on global trading platforms worldwide. Data from a number of sources show that the bitcoin (BTC) held on exchanges has dropped to a low not seen in over a year. This statistic gives crypto proponents bullish optimism, as the last time BTC exchange balances were this low the price of bitcoin (BTC) jumped very close to the $13k range last summer. As of July 30, 2020, according to Glassnode’s “Exchange Balance vs. Bitcoin: Price” stats, there are 2.6 million BTC on global exchanges. The number of bitcoins held on exchanges did see a brief low during the market rout on March 12, otherwise known as ‘Black Thursday.’ News.Bitcoin.com’s collected data had shown in April that crypto exchanges saw bitcoin reserves drop by 70% since that day in mid-March. In mid-May more than $220M in BTC was withdrawn from crypto trading platforms worldwide since the third halving. The cryptocurrency data and analytics company Arcane Research tweeted that the low number of BTC held on exchanges means investors prefer to hold rather than sell. “BTC deposits at major exchanges have dropped significantly since April and are currently at the low-levels of May 2019,” Arcane noted. “This suggests that more users prefer to store their BTC in private wallets, which may lead to a lower selling pressure in the upcoming months.” However, other speculators think that the funds are funneling into alternative crypto assets rather than bitcoin (BTC). “Probably also reflective of the ability for people to buy alts directly from fiat, rather than first through BTC,” one individual replied to Arcane’s recent tweet. For instance, market data shows that while BTC is up 19% during the last month, money flowing into ETH pushed the price up by over 40% in the last 30-days. XRP’s 30-day stats show gains over 38% and bitcoin cash (BCH) jumped 27% last month. Today on July 30, the top five exchanges with the largest number of BTC reserves include Coinbase, Huobi, Binance, Bitfinex, and Okex. Just recently, the San Francisco-based exchange Coinbase was responsible for 1 million BTC worth of reserves and today the trading platform only has 944,000 BTC according to the Bituniverse “Exchange Balance Rank” metric. What do you think about the low number of bitcoins held collectively on global exchanges today? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments below. The post Bitcoin Exchange Reserves Drop to a 12-Month Low Fueling Bullish Optimism appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

U.S. investment bank Oppenheimer’s analyst says gold is “extended” and has “run up a bit,” bringing attention to bitcoin instead. He sees the cryptocurrency reversing its downtrend from the $20K peak, benefiting from the dollar’s weakness. Oppenheimer Analyst on Bitcoin vs Gold Ari Wald, head of technical analysis at Oppenheimer, a major American investment bank and financial services company, “highlighted” bitcoin this week on CNBC’s program Trading Nation entitled “Gold vs. Bitcoin.” He explained: “We’ve been recommending gold as a way to play the expansion of the Fed’s balance sheet … It’s actually the high momentum commodity, it ranks highest above all commodities out there in terms of momentum.” While pointing out that gold is “extended” and has “run up a bit,” the analyst affirmed, “We do recommend sticking with it.” Nonetheless, he added: I think it’s worthwhile to highlight bitcoin instead which isn’t as extended … Bitcoin is reversing its downtrend dating back to its 2017 peak. If you are a long-term holder, this is the type of action you’d like to see. Bitcoin is currently trading at about $10,970, having risen 17% this week and 54% this year. Its price is still well below its December 2017 peak of nearly $20,000. Wald noted that the cryptocurrency’s recent breakout is setting up for more gains ahead and bitcoin’s long-term trendline suggests it has plenty of room to run. Meanwhile, the price of gold has hit record highs this week, rallying 8% this month and 28% this year. Both gold and bitcoin are benefiting from the weakness of the U.S. dollar, Wald continued. Michael Binger, president of Gradient Investments, concurred with Wald about the dollar but he favors gold over bitcoin. Binger opined: “Between the two I would really lean on the gold side here. When you think about it, it is really a Goldilocks environment for gold investors right now. I mean, you have a weak U.S. dollar, you have negative real interest rates. All of this is based on the prospect of rising inflation.” While agreeing with the Oppenheimer analyst that bitcoin is a momentum play, Binger still believes that it is not a “valid currency yet.” What do you think about the Oppenheimer analyst’s view? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Major Investment Bank Oppenheimer Bullish on Bitcoin, Highlights Instead of Gold appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article