roadrunner

Indian cryptocurrency exchange Wazirx is offering rewards for videos about how to buy bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies in India in all Indian languages, including Hindi, Tamil, Gujarati, Marathi, Kannada, Bengali, and Telugu. News.Bitcoin.com caught up with Wazirx CEO Nischal Shetty to find out how his program works. ‘How to Buy Crypto in India’ Videos in All Indian Languages Indian cryptocurrency exchange Wazirx announced Monday that it is offering rewards for videos teaching about cryptocurrency, specifically on the topic of how to buy bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in India. The exchange found that 90% of crypto explainer videos and blog posts are in English. While there are some in Hindi and a few in Tamil, the number of videos is “almost negligible in other languages.” News.Bitcoin.com caught up with Wazirx’s CEO, Nischal Shetty, to find out more about this initiative. He explained: We’re supporting all the Indian languages. Every language in India is important and more languages means more crypto adoption. Some of the examples of Indian languages are Hindi, Tamil, Gujarati, Marathi, Kannada, Bengali, Telugu etc. According to Worldatlas, the most widely spoken language in India is Hindi, with over 551 million speakers, followed by English with more than 125 million speakers. Other popular languages spoken by more than 50 million people in India are Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Kannada, and Gujarati. In addition, more than 10 million people in the country speak Odia, Malayalam, Punjabi, Assamese, and Maithili. “India is big on video. Video learning is growing at a tremendous pace. We believe that video would be the best platform to spread the right information about crypto in India,” Shetty elaborated. “While we could create videos ourselves, we believe in collaboration. Hence we decided it was best to support videos creators.” He also tweeted urging his followers to “Create videos in Indian languages so that everyone gets to learn and understand the crypto revolution.” Shetty confirmed that there are no length restrictions for the videos, emphasizing that “Different educators have different styles of explaining and we don’t want to constrain them.” He clarified that this is a pilot program and the first 25 such videos will be rewarded. “Based on response, we’re planning to expand this program to 1000 videos,” he further shared. To participate, “You just have to create a video explaining how to buy crypto in India. Once the video reaches 1000 views, you need to submit this form,” the CEO described. The producer whose video meets this requirement will be rewarded 700 WRX, Wazirx’s native exchange token. WRX is currently trading at $0.137719, making the reward amount approximately $100 or 7,530 INR. Shetty shared with news.Bitcoin.com on Wednesday: The campaign is growing fast. We’ve already seen over 10 submissions in different languages. The Indian crypto industry is growing despite the coronavirus pandemic and economic crisis following the extended lockdown. Crypto exchanges have seen their trading volumes and signups soar. Last week, a major Indian corporation, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), launched cryptocurrency trading solutions for banks. Before the covid-19 pandemic began crippling economies worldwide, the Indian crypto sector got a boost when the country’s supreme court quashed the crypto banking restriction by the central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Now the Indian government is deliberating on how cryptocurrency will be treated in the country. The RBI has further clarified that bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are legal and there is no ban on crypto exchanges, businesses, or traders in the country. Which language do you most want to see an explainer video in? Let us know in the comments section below. The post ‘How to Buy Bitcoin in India’: Crypto Exchange Offers Rewards for Videos in All Indian Languages appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Bank of England (BoE) Governor Andrew Bailey said Monday that the institution is still debating whether it should create a central bank digital currency (CBDC). Speaking at a webinar event, Andrew Bailey admits a CBDC will be a reality in the next few years. He, however, does not provide a time frame of when the discussions are expected end. The latest comments by the BoE appear to part of the bank’s continuing public statements reaffirming support for the creation of a digital version of the sterling. BOE is already part of a group of major central banks that have teamed up to study developing their digital currencies. A Bloomberg report quotes Bailey as he addresses students: We are looking at the question of, should we create a Bank of England digital currency. We’ll go on looking at it, as it does have huge implications on the nature of payments and society. Bailey, however, cautions that major progress will only be made when Covid-19 is “behind us.” Reacting to Bailey’s comments about BoE’s plans for CBDC is Konstantin Anissimov, executive director at Cex.io. He says such a CBDC has multiple potentially positive effects on the UK economy. “In addition to stability via the creation of a more diverse and resilient payments landscape, a CBDC could be used to build a more efficient cross-border payments system. This will substitute the current network that the Bank of England describes as “expensive, slow, and opaque,” explains Anissimov. Complementing physical banknotes, which have seen a declining usage since 2006, a CBDC could potentially “reduce the share of privately issued money in the economy” adds Anissimov. Before the outbreak of Covid-19—which itself has fueled an increased demand for cashless payment methods—several countries were working on or considering the development of a CBDC. A threat from privately issued stablecoins like Libra has seen many central banks joining the race to issue CBDCs. China and Sweden are leading while countries like the United States, which just like the UK, are still at the decision stage. In the meantime, an efficient cross-border payments system will become more crucial for the UK after the Brexit transition period ends. This transition, which is expected to end on January 1, 2021, is expected to change the country’s payments landscape says Anissimov. Do you agree that the UK is closer to issuing a CBDC? Tell us what you think in the comments section below. The post Bank of England Still Debating Creation of Central Bank Digital Currency, Says Bailey appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

About 60% of bitcoin investors are willing to hold their coins until they die if the price fails to breach the key $10,000 level. Now that’s according to a Twitter poll by Peter Schiff. The gold-bug asked bitcoin ‘hodlers’: “How much longer does the price of #Bitcoin have to stay below $10,000 before you will throw in the towel and sell?” With about 7 hours left for the poll to expire (at Press time), nearly 26,000 people have responded. At least 58% said they will hold the top crypto for as long as it matters, even if that means taking it to their graves. Another 15%, or 3,900 people, said it will be a year before they decide to sell. Around 14% of the respondents said they will ‘hodl’ for another three years and 13% for the next decade before opting to exit their positions. It seems unfathomable that anyone would willingly die holding onto dear bitcoin because the price stagnated below the psychological $10,000 threshold. Rather, it is more plausible that Schiff’s poll result illustrates the faith with which investors hold in regard to BTC, even as the price struggles. Bitcoin bulls have struggled to gain momentum since the Bitcoin network scheduled supply cut of May 11 – the event looked upon by many as a potential turning point for a bullish breakout. Previous such events have led to a major rally. Twice the price of BTC broke above $10,000 and twice it was rejected, at one point to as low as $8,600. Today, BTC is trading at $9,248, down 0.9% over the last 24 hours, according to markets.Bitcoin.com data. The immediate target is to break above $10,000 and stay there. Analysts consider this level as important for sparking BTC’s long-awaited price rally. According to Chainlysis, a crypto data analytics company, most BTC investors do not want sell their assets because they regard it as digital gold. Of the 18.6 million BTC mined as of June 2020, around 60% is held by entities – either people or businesses – that have never sold more than 25% of the bitcoin they’ve ever received. The firm says only 3.5 million bitcoin or 19% of total circulating supply is actively traded throughout the world. Another 20% of the existing bitcoin supply has not moved from its current set of addresses in five years or longer – what Chainalysis called “lost bitcoin”. What do you think about the result of Peter Schiff’s poll? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Survey: 60% of Bitcoin Investors Will Die With Their BTC If Price Stays Below $10,000 appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The world’s banking cartel will gather $18 billion in fees for facilitating the settlement of small business Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) relief loans leveraged during the Covid-19 pandemic. The $640 billion in PPP relief loans stem from the CARES Act and allegedly there’s only $130 billion left for Americans looking for funds. The Banks Will Acquire $18 Billion from Fees Simply by Processing PPP Loans A recent report from the Washington Center for Equitable Growth details that financial institutions will gather close to 3% of the aggregate total of $640 billion in PPP relief loans just for processing the funds. The Washington Center for Equitable Growth’s (WCEG) policy director, Amanda Fischer said that banks stand to make $18 billion from the CARES Act from standard processing fees. “If we did it through a public institution, there would be [more than] $140 billion left,” Fischer stressed on Tuesday. Fischer said that traditionally banks use the fees to cover the cost of risk provided that some of the loans turn out to be fraudulent. However, PPP loans stem from the government and the possibility of them accepting funky PPP loans is extremely low. “Basically it’s free money,” Fischer highlighted in her interview. Fischer also had shown that the fee processing is a nice lump sum of revenue for certain banks like JP Morgan Chase, which could acquire $864 million and New Jersey-based Cross River Bank stands to rake in $163 million. The CARES Act: The Perfect Example of the American Government’s Corruption During Times of Crisis The CARES Act has been controversial even before the bill was signed by Donald Trump when U.S. representative, Thomas Massie, told the public the stimulus bill bolsters a shroud of secrecy surrounding the Federal Reserve. The stimulus plan has also been under fire for incentivizing hospitals, as many hospitals, long term care centers, and nursing homes were facing budget issues well before the Covid-19 outbreak. A number of skeptics have accused hospitals and nursing homes of inflating the coronavirus death numbers. Not only do people blame the government for giving banks the opportunity to rake in $18 billion from processing fees alone, but many Americans also blame the government for overreacting during the coronavirus outbreak. The American government was responsible for closing down a number of small businesses nationwide, but also chose a number of monopolies like Walmart to remain open. Because the government chose favorites by deeming some businesses ‘essential’ and others ‘nonessential,’ a tidal wave of small American businesses are starting to fail or will go bankrupt in the near future and never return. ‘A Failure of Preparedness’ The bitcoiner Andrew D (@bitcoingoup) on Twitter explained the situation quite well on Tuesday. “Jeff Bezos is $75 billion dollars richer this year,” Andrew D tweeted. “Your local comic book shop owner just declared bankruptcy and permanently closed his business after 13 years in the community. Neither event was the result of free market activity; both the result of our government’s meddling.” He further added: We can no longer tolerate an expansionary monetary policy that benefits only the elite and continues to oppress the common man. We need to end the Fed. Enough is enough. A number of analysts believe the controversial CARES Act and the $18 billion raked in from fees will bolster cryptocurrencies and transform the “bank business model in the post-Covid-19 world.” Americans and citizens from all around the world are getting fed up with the poor central planning that aims to keep the elite in power. Even the International Monetary Fund (IMF) believes that financial inclusion is being ignored by the traditional banking system, and a form of inclusion stemming from digital financial services will be a game-changer. Amanda Fischer from WCEG noted during the end of her interview, the fact that banks have been allowed to reap $18 billion from relief programs means that central planners have no reliable infrastructure for people looking for quick access to money during times of crisis. “We should have invested in better systems,” Fischer said. “[It is] a failure of preparedness.” The Small Business Association (SBA), the entity that handles PPP relief programs, has been under fire for a long time for not being willing to change the infrastructure when it comes to accessing disaster relief funds. The banks making revenue off simply processing the PPP settlement are likely not complaining about the lack of changes. What do you think about banks standing to make $18 billion from processing PPP relief loans? Let us know what you think in the comments section below. The post Covid-19 Stimulus: Banks Will Gain $18 Billion in Fees for Processing PPP Relief Loans appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Data now shows that the aggregate market valuation for all the ERC20 tokens in existence has surpassed the market capitalization of Ethereum’s native coins. According to data, the net worth of the ERC20 token ecosystem is roughly $2.5 billion larger than the $26.7 billion Ethereum valuation. The cryptocurrency community has been discussing the aggregate market valuation for all the ERC20 tokens ever created versus the Ethereum market capitalization. For instance, the Defiant News contributor, Camila Russo, tweeted about how ERC20 tokens recorded on Etherscan surpassed the net worth of all the native ethereum (ETH) coins in circulation. “Looks like total ERC20 tokens market cap has surpassed ETH market cap,” Russo tweeted on July 13. She also shared a Google document that has been recording the market valuations of ERC20 tokens. “I think there was a Coin Metrics chart tracking this?” she asked her Twitter followers. Russo’s figures on Monday showed the combined market cap of all the ERC20 tokens was around $33 billion, while her ETH market cap measurement was $27 billion. Etherscan shows 275,311 Token Contracts found. Coin Metrics’ official Twitter account responded to Russo’s question and said “There sure is Camila Russo.” The researchers from Coin Metrics also shared the chart that was indeed tracking the aggregate worth of all the ERC20 tokens, in contrast to Ethereum’s market capitalization. The Coin Metrics data may not have all the ERC20 tokens listed within it’s aggregate compared to the Google document shared by Russo. According to Coin Metrics chart, the combined total of all the ERC20 market caps measured $29.2 billion, while Ethereum’s valuation is measured at $26.7 billion on July 13, 2020. After Russo shared the information, a number of cryptocurrency proponents discussed the matter. Using Coin Metrics data, the combined market cap of all the ERC20s plus Ethereum’s valuation would be $55.9 billion. The market valuation of BTC is $169 billion, which means the aggregate of both ETH and ERC20 economies is around $113 billion shy of catching up with BTC. In fact, the cumulative total of all the ERC20 tokens is extremely close to outpacing the third through the tenth-largest market positions combined. The ecosystem of ERC20 tokens, often leveraged in decentralized finance (defi) projects, is just $8.4 billion less than USDT, XRP, BCH, ADA, BSV, LTC, BNB, and LINK market caps together. Responding to Russo’s tweet, Jeff Dorman, from the investment management firm Arca said that “ETH vs ERC20 tokens can be compared to gold vs gold miners.” “Gold-mining stocks have very high betas to gold, so if you are bullish on gold, you’re often better off owning miner stocks. Similarly, owning high-beta ERC-20 tokens may be a better way to bet on ETH’s success.” What do you think about the aggregate market capitalization of all the ERC20 tokens in existence? Let us know what you think in the comments section below. The post Aggregate ERC20 Market Cap Outpaces Valuation of ETH in Circulation by $2 Billion appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A panel of experts is predicting the price of bitcoin will rise to $10,337 by September before adding a further $2,611 to end the year at $12,948. The findings are drawn from a Finder Cryptocurrency Predictions Report for July 2020 and the latest figure is roughly $2,500 less than the price predicted in the April report. In the report, 28 panellists drawn from academia, crypto research firms, and hedge funds are also asked to give their sentiments about bitcoin. Some 50% of those surveyed believe now is the best time to buy bitcoin. According to the findings, “half of the panellists (50%) thinks now is the time to buy, with a little under a third (32%) suggesting holding.” Only 18% say now is the best time to sell. Meanwhile, two of the panellists who share this buy sentiment argue their case in the same report. Kinetic Trading CEO David Wills, one of the two panellists, believes events sparked by the coronavirus pandemic have created the best scenario to buy. He said: I am a big follower of Plan B stock to flow analysis. This combined with the debasement of fiat currency in the wake of covid-19 is the perfect set-up for a bull run in the second half of the year. Echoing Willis’ sentiments is Coinmama CEO, Sagi Baksi, who “notes a few different factors at play.” Baksi points to the stock to flow model, the financial instability, as well as the printing of money by the US Federal Reserve. From these pointers, he concluded that now is the time to buy bitcoin. Gavin Smith, general partner at Panxora, is one of the few dissenting panellists. He thinks now is the best time to sell. While agreeing with the long-term inflation outlook, Smith does point out that the global economy has been hit by “a negative demand shock caused by covid-19.” This hit is a strong enough basis for a “short-term significant decline in the value of bitcoin as the deflationary demand shock filters through.” Smith’s prediction for the end of year value for bitcoin of $7,000 sharply contrasts with the panel’s average prediction. In the meantime, bitcoin’s value appears to have stabilized above $9,000 since the halving. It has only breached the $10,000 mark a few times despite some bullish predictions. Do you think bitcoin is currently trading at a discount? Tell us what you think in the comments section below. The post A Panel of Experts See Bitcoin Averaging $12,948 by Year End appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Army have requested information on web-based cryptocurrency tracking tools. The tools must enable U.S. government agencies worldwide to conduct in-depth investigations into the source of crypto transactions and provide multi-currency analysis from bitcoin to other top cryptocurrencies. US Government Wants to Track Crypto Transactions The U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Army have posted a request for information (RFI) entitled “cryptocurrency investigative web-based application.” The request was published on the U.S. government’s website on July 10. “All information submitted in response to this announcement is voluntary,” the notice states, adding that “The U.S. Army Contracting Command-New Jersey (CC-NJ) located at Fort Dix, NJ is surveying the market for potential contractors capable of providing one license for one user of a cloud, web based application capable of assisting law enforcement to identify and stop actors who are using cryptocurrencies for illicit activity such as fraud, extortion, and money laundering.” The request’s accompanying Statement of Work (SOW) describes that the contractor must provide “access to a reliable cryptocurrency investigation service, also referred to as a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution required for use in criminal investigations and the other missions conducted by the US Army Criminal Investigation Command (USACIDC).” The USACIDC is the premier Military Criminal Investigative Organization within the Department of Defense, responsible for conducting worldwide criminal investigations wherever there is a U.S. Army interest. The notice elaborates: Application must enables users to conduct in-depth investigation into the source of cryptocurrency transactions and provides multi-currency analysis from bitcoin to other top cryptocurrencies. The USACIDC’s Major Cybercrime Unit in Quantico, VA, will administer the service but users can be located anywhere in the U.S. and overseas. Intended users include those in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The service must be a tested product, without hardware or software to install. It must meet the SOW requirements, including providing “real-time bitcoin and other cryptocurrency transaction tracing” and “be able to spot transaction patterns and interactions with other entities.” The contract will be for one year with the option to extend four more years. Responses to the information request must be made by July 20. The Department of Defense’s request came after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Secret Service awarded a contract for blockchain analytics software to Coinbase, as news.Bitcoin.com reported. What do you think about the U.S. Army looking for crypto tracking tools? Let us know in the comments section below. The post US Army Requests Information on Tools to Track Cryptocurrency Transactions appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Close to a year ago last July, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) revealed it would be sending ‘soft letters’ to suspected American cryptocurrency owners advising them to pay their taxes. Now according to the Taxpayer Advocate Service, a subsidiary of the IRS, the soft letters undermined the rights and protections of American taxpayers. The advocacy group stressed that specifically IRS Letter 6173, essentially violated tenets within the Taxpayer Bill of Rights. The U.S. government has been cracking down on digital currency operations and users for a few years now. Last year, the American tax agency, the IRS, detailed it would be investigating a number of taxpayers who allegedly owned virtual assets like bitcoin, but didn’t pay the appropriate taxes. The announcement was initiated on July 26, 2019, when IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig explained that through compliance efforts, the IRS managed to collect over 10,000 names. Three types of soft letters were sent to the 10,000 American taxpayers by the end of August 2019. “Taxpayers should take these letters very seriously by reviewing their tax filings and when appropriate, amend past returns and pay back taxes, interest, and penalties,” IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig insisted. “The IRS is expanding our efforts involving virtual currency, including increased use of data analytics. We are focused on enforcing the law and helping taxpayers fully understand and meet their obligations.” However, Erin M. Collins, from the tax agency’s Taxpayer Advocate Service, recently published a letter on June 29, that notes the virtual currency soft letters violated the Taxpayer Bill of Rights. The letter from Collins claims that specifically, the Letter 6173 warnings undermined the rights and protections of American taxpayers. “It is the National Taxpayer Advocate’s position that these intrusive requests violate taxpayers’ rights and should not appear in any soft letters or communications outside the examination process,” explains the Taxpayer Advocate Service. The letter called “2021 Objectives Report to Congress” further notes: What is disturbing about soft Letter 6173 is that it specifically addresses taxpayers who believe they are compliant and imposes unreasonable burdens on them outside the protection of an examination. The IRS has stated that Letter 6173 is not an examination and therefore the IRS is not required to follow the examination guidance or provide taxpayers the rights afforded them in an examination. Yet, Letter 6173 fails to inform taxpayers that the letter is not part of an examination and as written appears to be a threat directed at taxpayers who believe they are compliant. The objectives report for 2021 highlights that Letter 6173 goes against the written principles documented within the Taxpayer Bill of Rights. One of the most fundamental rights written in the Taxpayer Bill of Rights is the right to privacy, which is protected in section 14 of the Constitution. The Taxpayer Advocate Service often identifies systemic problems that exist within the confines of the IRS infrastructure and enforcement methods. “The request for an explanation made outside the audit process burdens taxpayers who believe they are compliant and undermines their rights to be informed and to privacy, which includes the right to expect that any IRS inquiry will be no more intrusive than necessary,” the Taxpayer Advocate Service said. The 2021 objectives report concluded by highlighting: The taxpayer may find it necessary to hire representation to review his or her records to provide a complete response and then still be subject to an examination later, long after the taxpayer’s response, for which the taxpayer may again need representation. Letter 6173 is not consistent with the protections afforded taxpayers. The request for a sworn written statement should be removed from Letter 6173. Essentially, Collins and the Taxpayer Advocate Service plans to remedy this situation by the fiscal year 2021. The agency intends to work toward removing burdens imposed on taxpayers who believe they are compliant. The watchdog aims to work with the IRS by encouraging guidance and positive incentives for taxpayers who receive Letters 6173, 6174, and 6174-A. The Taxpayer Advocate Service hopes to “work with the IRS on future soft letters to eliminate burdens on taxpayers by protecting their rights.” What do you think about the 2021 objectives letter from the Taxpayer Advocate Service? Let us know what you think in the comments section below. The post Advocacy Group Claims IRS-Issued Crypto-Warning Letters Violated Taxpayer’s Rights appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Peer-to-peer (P2P) crypto exchange Paxful reported Tuesday 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. More than $182 million worth of bitcoin (BTC), on average, was traded on the platform every month between January and June this year, it said. 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 $4.6 billion trading volume for BTC since it started operations in 2015. The average amount per trade is currently fluctuating at $102 – more than twice the average five years ago, which was $45. According to a statement shared with news.Bitcoin.com, Paxful chief executive officer Ray Youssef said the P2P marketplace added, on average, one million users per year over the last four and half years, with 2020 on track for an additional two million sign-ups. Some 1.1 million new users joined the platform between January and June, compared to 480,000 that registered over the same period in 2019. Youssef attributed the growth in user numbers “to high inflation rates, weak national currencies, inadequate financial infrastructures, and growing economic uncertainty.” “We built Paxful to help the little guy and create wealth for those who need it most,” said the CEO. “There are people who live with restrictions and limitations we cannot imagine. For true financial inclusion to happen, it requires a free market for money transfers,” he added. Peer-to-peer exchanges have sometimes been associated with fraudulent activity. Paxful said it has reduced dispute levels to under 1%. The dispute rate for all the countries with a minimum of 1,000 trades averaged 0.025 in 2019 “and it took 56 trades before encountering a dispute,” it said. Competitor Localbitcoins said recently that 2019 revenue rose 10% to $29.6 million from $27 million the year before. For the year, operating income fell 6% to $19.9 million from $21.2 million a year earlier. The Finnish marketplace said about $2.8 billion in volume was traded from 15.6 million transactions. Localbitcoins added 1.46 million new users last year. What do you think about Paxful’s trading figures? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Emerging Markets Drive Paxful First Half 2020 Bitcoin Volume to $1.1 Billion appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

TimeCoinProtocol is a new project developed by TimeTicket leveraging blockchain technology to create a decentralized sharing economy platform. The solution is powered by the TimeCoin token (TMCN), an EOS-based native token used both for payments in decentralized apps built upon the protocol and for the allocation of rewards for platform supporters. TimeTicket’s parent company is Japanese tech group Globalway Inc, which has over 50 million users and is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Starting Point – TimeTicket, a Service With 250,000 Users TimeCoinProtocol will allow for users of sharing economy apps to migrate from service to service while keeping all their private data and hard earned reputations. This also makes it attractive for dApp developers to adopt, as it allows them to offer their services to a much larger pool of users attracted by the whole ecosystem of dApps than they can each get by themselves alone.The protocol is already being adopted for real services by the development team. The first two dApps of the many expected to use TMCN are TimeTicket and eSportStars. TimeTicket is a Japanese sharing economy marketplace with more than 250,000 registered users. The current marketplace functions as an intermediary between people who want to provide services by selling their own time and people who want to purchase these services from them. TimeTicket will use the TimeCoinProtocol to offer a new decentralized marketplace with direct peer-to-peer interactions and no intermediaries. The company raised more than $3 million USD from investors and its revenue has increased more than 20 fold over the last 3 years. New eSports Service eSportStars is a new service that will let esports players, streamers and fans easily find people to play with, buy and sell competition tickets and win TMCN tokens. Available in Japanese, English and Chinese, eSportStars will tap into the rapidly growing global esports market with the help of professional esports teams. Official groups already signed up to the service include: Japan’s first female professional esports team JapanKillerAngel which specializes in such games as PUBG and Valorant, GameWith which specializes in Fortnite and Super Smash Bros, and Japan’s most renowned Tekken players, TeamYAMASA. The developers of TimeCoinProtocol are planning on launching an Initial Exchange Offering (IEO) event for the TMCN token on BitForex. The schedule for the IEO will be announced soon by the exchange. Initial TMCN token supply is set at 100 millions. The TimeCoinProtocol team also plans to announce an activity where supporters such as community members can receive tokens based on their contributions to the project. The activity will be announced on the project’s Telegram channel so make sure to follow it for updates. To learn more about TimeCoinProtocol and follow the upcoming TMCN token sales go to www.timecoinprotocol.com and sign up for updates via email, Telegram or Twitter. This is a sponsored post. Learn more on how to reach our audience here. Read dislaimer below. The post Japanese Listed Company Globalway Plans to Build Sharing Economy Protocol and Launch IEO appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

During the last 30 and 90-day intervals, a number of altcoins have done much better than bitcoin, as far as price percentage increases are concerned. Last Thursday, the popular analyst Peter Brandt told his 360,000 followers that the price of ethereum saw a “significant breakout” against bitcoin. Moreover, a number of cryptocurrency proponents have been feverishly discussing a possible “altcoin season” coming in the near future. Veteran Analyst Peter Brandt Eyes an Ethereum Breakout Three days ago, the veteran trader and crypto analyst Peter Brandt explained that a recent ETH/BTC event could trigger some bullish ETH prices. “Significant breakout in ETH-BTC with target of .03276 BTC. Most alts should gain on Bitcoin in [the] near future,” Brandt tweeted to his followers. When someone asked Brandt about the crypto asset XRP, Brandt responded “higher.” Moreover, the bitcoin pundit Tuur Demeester also said he was “long” toward ether prices when he tweeted: ETH/BTC technicals are looking bullish so I’m long. (I still think ETH has extremely problematic fundamentals). ETH/BTC chart via Peter Brandt on Twitter. Of course, the subject of ETH spiking in price has sparked a number of discussions concerning “altcoin season,” a description of a period in time when crypto-assets other than BTC perform better than the top digital currency. Still, out of 5,700 coins mentioned on market cap aggregators, BTC has a dominance rating of around 62.5%. However, over the last 30 and 90 days, a number of other coins have outperformed BTC by a longshot. During the last 90 days, BTC is up over 35% but ETH has gained 52%. Another Analyst Stresses: ‘The Altcoin Party Will End Very Soon’ Cardano (ADA) has seen a whopping 271% increase during the last three months and coins like ren, fantom, kyber network, raiden network, and more are also up over 200%. Other notable forerunners during the last three months include CRO, VET, LEND, and ZRX. However, despite the massive increases in value for a number of coins other than BTC, some digital asset traders don’t envision an ongoing “altcoin party.” Just recently, the crypto analyst “Crypto Amsterdam” told his 15,000 Twitter followers that he thinks the “the Altcoin party will end very soon.” The analyst described a number of reasons as to why he believes the party will end. “Dominance weekly support, BTC ranges for 70+ days, BTC volatility at lows only seen 4 times since 2017, and these lows were followed up by 50-250% BTC moves. Q3 has been bearish historically,” the trader said on Friday. Do you expect an altcoin season or do you think the altcoin party will end soon? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post Altseason Imminent: ‘Most Altcoins Should Gain on Bitcoin Soon,’ Says Veteran Analyst appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Scammers raked-in $24 million in bitcoin during the first six months of 2020, according to a new report from crypto monitoring service Whale Alert. Cyber-thieves are finding it very easy to fool people of their bitcoin (BTC} because their schemes have become believably professional and aggressive, it said in a report published July 10. For example, one particularly successful scam made over $130,000 in a day “with nothing more than a one page website, a bitcoin address and a decent amount of Youtube advertising.” Another pocketed more than $1.5 million over six months by promoting a fake digital assets exchange with an “amateurish website riddled with spelling errors.” Whale Alert says it collected and analyzed “hundreds of thousands” of data from reports, websites and bitcoin addresses using their new blockchain crime reporting, tracking and analysis tool, Scam Alert. The outfit, famous for tracking large-scale bitcoin transactions, concluded that “crypto crime pays. A lot.” And that’s largely because the business is risk-free, meaning perpetrators have an extremely low chance of getting caught. According to the report, scammers made off with $38 million worth of BTC in the last four years, excluding Ponzi schemes. By the end of 2020, Whale Alert estimates that scammers will make $50 million in annual revenue – a 2,000% increase since 2017. There are dozens of different types of scams such as sextortions, fake exchanges, fake initial coin offerings, bitcoin recovery and video scams. But the most prominent type of scam at the moment is the giveaway, said Whale Alert. The giveaway scam uses the identities of celebrities like Elon Musk or a well known exchange to lure people into sending their bitcoin, with help from Youtube advertising. Such schemes can net between a few thousand and $300,000 “depending on the skill and effort put in by the scammers.” Whale Alert said the improved methodology suggests that “entire professional teams” may be behind some of the most successful of the scams. “One thing is very clear: whatever is being done right now to stop these criminals is not enough and if we don’t act as a community, the reputation of blockchain might not be able to recover in the long run,” it warned. What do you think about the rising number of bitcoin scams? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Youtube Helps Scammers Steal $130,000 in Bitcoin From Investors Daily: Report appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Weiss Ratings has outlined key reasons why investors should be bullish about bitcoin, seeing a “ferocious rally” with the price of the cryptocurrency expected to hit $70,000 next year. In addition, the Federal Reserve’s massive money-printing and institutional investments into cryptocurrencies add to the bullishness. Why Weiss Ratings Is Bullish on Bitcoin Weiss Ratings analysts Bruce Ng and Juan Villaverde explained last week why investors should be bullish about bitcoin despite some sideways consolidations. Weiss Ratings currently ranks bitcoin first among all cryptocurrencies overall. One of the three key reasons why the analysts are bullish about bitcoin stems from a price prediction based on the stock-to-flow analysis (S2F). The popular forecasting model “now points to a ferocious rally over the next 12 months or so,” they wrote. Ng and Villaverde described that “S2F is based on the common-sense notion that the scarcer a commodity is, the more valuable it becomes,” adding that scarcity is measured by circulating supply. For example, Gold has an S2F of 62, which is “the number of years of current production required to match global above-ground holdings,” they clarified. After the May Bitcoin halving, 6.25 new bitcoins are being created every 10 minutes, meaning “it would take an estimated 56 years for new mintage to match Bitcoin’s circulating supply,” they continued. “Notice how close that is to the S2F number for gold, which makes sense because bitcoin is fast becoming a major rival to gold as a safe-haven investment.” The analysts added that “previous S2F predictions line up quite well with bitcoin’s actual price performance,” as seen in the chart above, elaborating: Now, based on the history of the halving, current S2F analysis says bitcoin should reach $70,000 by — sometime around mid-2021 … Even if it turns out to be only half right, you could still triple your money. The other two reasons Weiss Ratings’ analysts highlighted were “QE infinity” and institutional money flowing into cryptocurrencies. The covid-19 pandemic environment has pushed the Federal Reserve to print $2.9 trillion in new paper money in just 13 weeks, or about $22 million a minute, the analysts detailed. “By any measure, this is corruption of money on an industrial scale,” they exclaimed, predicting that investors will pour money into bitcoin and gold “as a safe haven when they lose confidence in paper money.” Billionaire investor Mike Novogratz has also been saying that central banks printing record amount of money is the best environment for bitcoin. The last major factor Ng and Villaverde focused on was the increasing interest in cryptocurrency among institutional investors, such as by Paul Tudor Jones who invested about $210 million of his own money into bitcoin. Grayscale Investments has been adding bitcoin to its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust faster than the rate of new coins being mined and recently, venture capitalist Andreessen Horowitz raised half a billion dollars to invest in crypto startups. The analysts opined: The sheer weight of institutional-sized money flows into a small market like bitcoin can have truly explosive effects. Are you bullish on bitcoin? Let us know in the comments section below. The post ‘Ferocious Rally’: Weiss Ratings Bullish on Bitcoin, Price to Hit $70K Next Year appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Stablecoin issuer Tether has blacklisted 40 Ethereum addresses holding millions of dollars of the tether cryptocurrency, 24 of which were banned this year. This finding follows the Centre Consortium taking a similar action due to a request by law enforcement. Tether Frozen in 40 Addresses Tether has banned 40 Ethereum addresses holding millions of dollars of the stablecoin USDT, according to an analysis by Ethereum researcher Philippe Castonguay who shared his findings on Dune Analytics. Banned addresses cannot receive or send the cryptocurrency. The 40 addresses “have been banned from using USDT on Ethereum as of now,” Castonguay explained. According to the researcher, one address was frozen in 2017, eight in 2018, seven in 2019, and 24 in 2020 so far. At press time, the latest address on his list was banned on Friday. Philippe Castonguay’s Dune Analytics dashboard showing 40 banned Ethereum addresses. “Tether routinely assists law enforcement in their investigations,” Stuart Hoegner, general counsel at Bitfinex, Tether’s sister company, told The Block. “Through the freeze address feature, Tether has been able to help users and exchanges to save and recover tens of millions of dollars stolen from them by hackers.” The publication added that its analysis shows that $5.51 million worth of USDT is held in addresses blacklisted this year. Tether is not the only one freezing its coin. This week, the Centre Consortium blacklisted an address with $100,000 worth of the USDC stablecoin in response to a request from law enforcement. Castonguay made a similar Dune Analytics dashboard to keep track of addresses banned from using USDC, which so far only includes one address. Meanwhile, the New York Supreme Court’s Appellate Division ruled on Thursday that State Attorney General Letitia James can continue her investigations into entities behind tether. Bitfinex and Tether are also involved in another ongoing lawsuit. What do you think about Tether’s action? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Tether Freezes Millions of Dollars USDT in 40 Addresses Amid Regulatory Pressure appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Coinbase is selling its blockchain analytics software to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Secret Service. Following criticisms from the crypto community, CEO Brian Armstrong defended Coinbase’s position. Coinbase Selling Analytics Software to US Government Public records on the U.S. government’s websites reveal that the San Francisco-based crypto exchange Coinbase has signed a contract with the U.S. government for its blockchain analytics software. The records were first spotted by The Block. The contract, awarded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), was signed on May 9. It went into effect the next day with a tentative end date of May 11, 2024. The obligated amount is currently $49,000 and the potential award amount is $183,750. The contracting agency is the U.S. Secret Service, a federal agency that investigates monetary crimes such as fraud and counterfeiting; it was transferred from the Department of the Treasury to the Department of Homeland Security on March 1, 2003. Coinbase’s contract with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Secret Service for its blockchain analytics software. Source: U.S. government’s website. Following the news of Coinbase selling its analytics software to the U.S. Secret Service, many people took to Twitter to criticize the company’s action, with some urging others to “delete Coinbase,” saying that the company is “bad for bitcoin and crypto.” Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong quickly defended his company’s decision. “Blockchain analytics software is nothing new – has been around a long time – it uses publicly available data to try and track crypto transactions – usually to catch bad actors,” he tweeted. Armstrong proceeded to explain that his company started off by using some of the existing blockchain analytics services out there. “This worked out ok, but the issue with it was that we don’t like sharing data with third parties when we can avoid it, and they didn’t support all the features/chains we needed. So we realized at some point we would need to bring this capability in house,” the CEO described, elaborating: It’s expensive to build this capability, and we want to recoup costs. There is an existing market for blockchain analytics software, so we sell it to a handful of folks as well. It also helps us build relationships with law enforcement which is important to growing crypto. Last month, it was reported that Coinbase wanted to sell its analytics software to two other U.S. government agencies: the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Meanwhile, the company is reportedly planning an initial public offering (IPO) in the U.S. What do you think about Coinbase selling its analytics software to the government? Let us know in the comments section below. The post US Dept of Homeland Security Buys Analytics Software From Coinbase appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

For many years now physical bitcoins have been a very popular trend, but one specific type called the Casascius physical bitcoin collection has intrigued people for years. Last December, someone redeemed a 100 BTC Casascius bar and since then 560 Casascius coins worth $5.1 million have been redeemed. As of today, there are only 20,901 Casascius coins or bars left in the world, with roughly $424 million worth of bitcoins loaded on them. Bitcoin’s believe it or not can have nostalgic value, especially when they are tethered to a physical bitcoin. During the last decade, numerous manufacturers have created physical bitcoins that have been loaded with the digital currency. Most all of these types of coins are collector’s items, as the physical attributes can give the cryptocurrency numismatic value. One of the most popular physical bitcoin creators was Mike Caldwell who issued the Casascius physical bitcoin collection from 2011 to 2013. Unfortunately, the U.S. government shut down Caldwell’s operation by telling him he could no longer load the physical coins with real digital bitcoin. However, during Caldwell’s tenure of making the Casascius physical bitcoin collection, he minted close to 90,000 BTC in various denominations. On July 12, 2020, there’s only 45,760 active BTC held on Casascius physical coins or bars in existence, as there were roughly 46,320 active BTC coins in December 2019. That means at today’s BTC/USD exchange rates out of the 560 coins redeemed, $5.1 million in BTC was spent. Out of the 20,901 active Casascius bars and coins in existence, there are 45,760 active BTC (over $424 million) held on those physical products. Moreover, the $424 million only covers the BTC loaded on the coins, as each minted product also has bitcoin cash (BCH) and bitcoinsv (BSV) in each coin or bar as well. Last December when news.Bitcoin.com reported on the 100 BTC gold bar that was redeemed on the 23rd, it was the last 100 BTC peeled since then. So far the highest increment peeled between December and now, was a few 25 BTC coins. At the time of writing, there are still 48- 100 BTC bars that have not been spent, leaving $44.4 million left (100 BTC bars) unspent to-date. Caldwell also minted a number of 1,000 BTC bars and so far, most of those have been redeemed. The series one 1,000 BTC bar data shows that 87% have been redeemed. The series two Casascius bars only stored 500 BTC and every single one of those bars have been peeled. Mike Caldwell minted both coins and bars during the manufacturing period between 2011 and 2013. Although some individuals are lucky enough to own the series one 1,000 BTC Casascius coins minted in 2011. Only six were manufactured and there are four coins left, and that means only 33.33% of the BTC has been spent so far. It could be possible that due to the size of these coins being much smaller (28.6mm) than the bars (80mm x 40mm x 6mm), a few may have been lost. In the Casascius collection, there are a lot more physical coins with smaller increments between 0.5 BTC to 25 BTC. As mentioned above, Casascius coins have given bitcoiners a lot of nostalgia, and lots of these coins have gathered numismatic value that far exceeds the BTC value stored on the coin. As of July 12, 2020, there’s approximately 45,764 BTC still active in the Casascius physical bitcoin collection. For instance, on Ebay there’s two Casascius coins selling for far more than the original BTC value. One example shows a rare 2011- 1 BTC physical Casascius coin selling for $101,000. Another seller on the eBay auction website wants $25k for his 2013- fully funded 1 BTC Casascius coin. There are not that many Casascius coins on eBay, but there’s a whole lot more coins from manufacturers like Denarium and BTCC Mint. Caldwell did make a number of unloaded Casascius bitcoins that contain no real digital currency value, and those trinkets sell for $25 a pop. People can follow the redemption cycle of Casascius bitcoins on Twitter by following the bot called Casascius Coin Tracker (@Casasciusbot). When news.Bitcoin.com reported on the 100 BTC bar peel, it was the largest month between now and then for redemptions with 172 coins peeled. In mid-March 54 coins were redeemed and so far only 14 Casascius coins have been peeled in July. Of course, the biggest month in a long while was December 2017, when the public witnessed 1,172 redeemed Casascius coins. As 560 Casascius coins worth $5.1 million have been redeemed since December 2019, it shows that these physical bitcoins are becoming rarer by the day. It’s likely that as scarcity continues to take hold of these loaded physical bitcoins, they will always be worth more than the original digital load value. What do you think about the number of Casascius coins left in existence? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post $424 Million and Numismatic Value: There’s Only 20,000 Casascius Physical Bitcoins Left Unspent appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A group representing about 20,000 investors in Helbiz Inc has filed a motion seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against the company. Investors want a motion granted to stop the company from destroying smart contracts that supports Helbiz Inc.’s ERC20, a token also known as Helbizcoin (HBZ). The application was filed on 6 July 2020. According to a motion filed at United States District Court Southern District of New York, the plaintiff, Ryan Barron, and other investors accuse the defendant, Salvatore Palella of fraud. Palella is the “main owner” of Helbiz Inc. Investors state that there are three main issues of why the court needs to grant the motion. First, the investors’ counsel argues it is “tortuous” to destroy the computer code that allows the coins to exist. Helbiz Inc “sold these coins and transferred ownership to them (investors)” and it would be a “trespass to and conversion of personal property” (at a minimum) to destroy their functionality. Secondly, investors say the threatened destruction of personal property is a well-established basis for an injunction, and particularly so here because the contract, “once destroyed, can never be restored.” Investors allege that the ERC20 token, which has seen its value drop by 99%, was part of an elaborate pump and dump scheme orchestrated by Palella and Helbiz Inc. It is on the third issue that investors say they expect the Palella to mount a challenge. In their motion, investors argue that by filing an opposing motion to an earlier filing suggests Palella’s willingness to defend himself. Investors had approached the court for a letter seeking expedited discovery of the defendants’ control over the coin. Palella’s opposition also supports investors’ claims that the defendant is trying to distance himself from Helbiz Inc so that he avoids liability. Court records also show Palella arguing that “non-party HBZ Systems PTE LTD (‘HBZ Systems’) [is] the company that controls the computer code for the smart contracts at issue.” Palella further argues that “HBZ Systems is a Singaporean company that is beyond this Court’s jurisdiction.” Concluding its opposition to the plaintiff’s filing, the Pallela’s counsel states that the initial coin offering (ICO) for HelbizCoin “raised only 1,804.45 ethereum, which is the equivalent of approximately $1.56 million.” This last statement by Pallela’s counsel suggests he is trying to insinuate to the court that this is an unimportant case. Still, investors point to the existence of an interview Palella had with an online cryptocurrency news magazine. Investors say Palella’s statements in that interview shows that he controls the coin and not some third party. In 2017, during the ICO boom, Palella began promoting Helbizcoin (HBZ) and its associated blockchain platform as a peer-to-peer solution to reinvent the ride-sharing economy. Capitalizing on the frenzy over crowd-sharing businesses and crypto, Palella raised nearly $40 million from small investors reports quote him saying at the time. Investors believe their case has strong merits and an injunction must be granted. Do you think winning the court injunction will improve the chances of investors recovering their funds? Tell us what you think in the comments section below. The post 20,000 Helbizcoin Investors Accuse Company of Trying to Destroy Evidence, Seek Court Injunction appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Zimbabwe’s deteriorating economic situation is forcing authorities to sign off on some desperate and controversial decisions. This includes the abrupt suspension of mobile money in the country as well as the recent designation of Zimswitch as a mandatory national payment switch. Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Suspends Mobile Money Service Owned by banks, Zimswitch is the current payments switch to the same financial institutions. This designation has been made to, ostensibly, enable interoperability between financial services providers. In a notice to the public Thursday, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) says all financial services providers including mobile money operators (MMO) must connect to this national payment switch. The country’s largest MMO, Ecocash appears to be the target of this move by RBZ. Over the years, Ecocash has routinely been accused of frustrating efforts to enable interoperability between MMOs among a slew of charges. Fighting Mobile Money Monopoly Ecocash’s critics say the MMO does this to preserve its monopoly, a status it gained after investing heavily in building its infrastructure. Ecocash inevitably became the most dominant MMO, a fact confirmed by findings of a survey conducted by the local telecoms regulator. According to the findings, Ecocash accounts for more than 94% of all mobile money payments. Furthermore, a study by the RBZ itself, reveals that mobile money dominates national retail payments, accounting for 80% of all such payments. Inevitably, Ecocash’s dominant position has long been a source of tension with regulators and now government. Yet despite the threats and directives, Ecocash has steadfastly refused to be cowed into relinquishing its dominant position. However, the country’s accelerated economic decline, as well as the hyperinflation environment, is reportedly creating tension and paranoia in corridors of power. Some commentators point the surprising decision to suspend mobile money transactions as an example of this paranoia. As expected, Ecocash dared the government by refusing to abide by the suspension order. Ecocash argued that the government official making announcement erred as he did not consult with the RBZ before going public. The shortlived stand-off ended when the RBZ finally issued a statement wherein it regurgitates the government position. Ecocash: Zimbabwe’s Economic Bogeyman Now both government and RBZ sing from the same hymn book when it comes Ecocash. They accuse Ecocash of fueling activities on the “illegal” foreign currency black market. Ecocash is also accused of running a Ponzi scheme. Somehow, Ecocash has become the Zimbabwe economy’s bogeyman. The designation of Zimswitch as the payments switch for all financial services providers appears to show a determination by authorities to check Ecocash’s influence. By gaining indirect control of the popular MMO, authorities hope they will also be able to rein in influential foreign currency dealers. Ultimately, killing the black market for foreign currency appears to be the objective. However, it is doubtful if this objective can be realised through the use of such heavy-handed tactics. Ecocash may be out of legal options to fight back this time but that may not be the case for shadowy foreign currency dealers. Dealers and now ordinary citizens seem to have found another option that does not include Ecocash. This option is bitcoin. Faced with stringent foreign exchange regulations some Zimbabweans are switching to bitcoin when making payments across borders. Bitcoin is faster and not subject to normal regulations. The Growing Use of Bitcoin Still, others now prefer storing their funds in the form of bitcoin because they have absolute control. The government cannot control or suspend cryptocurrency as it has done with Ecocash. Bitcoin is also immune to local inflation which, according to John Hopkins Economics professor, Steve Hanke, now exceeds 1000% per annum. Some foreign nationals are now also using bitcoin when remitting funds back to their home countries. Finally, joining this crypto community is the much-maligned foreign currency traders. Traders are tapping into the growing demand for bitcoin. In 2018, perhaps sensing a threat posed by cryptocurrencies, the RBZ directed banks to end support for all cryptocurrency-related businesses. This directive resulted in the shut down of Golix, a cryptocurrency exchange. Yet, in spite of all this, bitcoin trading and its use as means of payment continues to grow. Traders and buyers of bitcoin now use social media messaging apps and other channels to initiate transactions. Unfortunately for the government and RBZ, they are not positioned to determine the exact level of bitcoin trading or penetration. This is partly due to the directive against the only formal institutions that can generate such data. The order that outlaws cryptocurrency exchanges remain in force. Furthermore, the peer to peer nature and anonymity of transactions means authorities will never know the true volumes of transactions. Social Media Messaging Apps as Cryptocurrency Exchange Platforms Nevertheless, there is still a way one can gain some insights into this trade. A simple perusal of posts or adverts found in many crypto related social media chat groups can provide clues. In some of the posts seen by this writer, sellers offer amounts often not exceeding $100. With the restrictions and suspension of certain mobile money services, trades are now mainly settled in hard currency. From the adverts, it’s customary for sellers of bitcoin to charge a premium ranging from 5% to 10%, in addition to the agreed price. In the meantime, many buyers are looking for bitcoin that exceeds $100. Looking at a few media channels one trader stands out. The trader, who we shall not name, normally posts advertisements every morning. In the advertisements, she sets terms and conditions, usually the minimum bitcoin (BTC) they are selling and their premium rate. Speaking to this writer, the trader says business has been booming as of late. She claims to now sell bitcoin worth $50,000 each day. She attributes this to the growing uncertainty and control of the economy by the government. Zimbabwe’s growing bitcoin trading activities suggest authorities may be losing the battle to win confidence and trust. It seems as conditions get worse more will seek to understand this newly found escape route. Do you think more Zimbabweans will switch to bitcoin as the economic situation gets worse? Let us know in the comments section below The post Zimbabwe’s Battle To Control Currency Inadvertently Boosts Bitcoin Profile appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

As money developed and people opted to place it in secured storage, banks started issuing banknotes which represented a client’s deposit at the bank and the promise to redeem each note for the amount of gold it represented at a 100% reserve rate. **The following essay was written by Christophe Cieters and published on March 3, 2016. “Monopoly Money” was originally published on the website notbeinggoverned.com, and is reprinted here on Bitcoin.com for historical preservation. The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own. Bitcoin.com is not responsible for or liable for any opinions, content, accuracy or quality within the historical editorial.** Market exchange rates of the coins were defined by their metal content. The market exchange rate of the notes was defined by the default risk of the issuer (risk-adjusted demand). These notes began to circulate more and more. They still represented the gold, and people still redeemed them for gold, but banks noticed that some gold always remained in the vaults. The bankers started loaning out some of the “dormant gold? for their own profit and at the risk of their depositors, thereby creating more claims (banknotes) than they had gold in their vaults. This meant a less than 100% reserve rate (which the State did not stop and in fact even sanctioned, encouraged and institutionalized as this meant that the State could borrow more money in the shadows of finance, beyond the comprehension of most of the citizenry). The State constantly needs more money for wars, corruption, and vote-buying and ultimately enforces Legal Tender laws. The State takes over the reserve banks (taking control of the gold present in them and the dictating of reserve rates) and declares a single legal tender which replaces all other notes (others become forbidden), issued by the central bank. The notes still represent the fractionally reserved gold, and people can still redeem them for gold (as long as not too many people do so at once). However, as the notes themselves (as opposed to the metal coins) become legal tender and usage becomes enforced by the State, they are less often redeemed. Fractional reserve banking becomes institutionalized at a less than 100% reserve rate. Market exchange rate of the notes no longer defined by default risk of the issuer (now the State) but by the mere dictate of the State, where every citizen is forced to accept the note, regardless of metal content underlying it (thereby negating the default risk of single banks, but also masking the systemic risk which remains the same!), at least within the same monetary union. Exchange rates still play between different LT’s but gold is indirectly “removed? from the market and the legal tender notes become the center of the monetary system. Now, as people got used to the legal tender notes and were no longer frequently redeeming them for gold, the State – over time – started to reduce the amount of gold for which they could be traded in at the central bank. This went largely unnoticed by the general public, which came to view the notes themselves as money (secure in the belief that because it was regulated, the State was looking after their best interests). This opened the door for the State to gradually print more and more notes at lower and lower underlying gold amounts, on top of those notes that were already being created out of nothing through fractional reserve banking, as these could not be refused by citizens under legal tender law which forcefully monopolizes the issuing of currency. Though gold and silver have been freely used as money for millennia (with the first gold coins originating around 550 BC in modern Turkey), over time States have instituted several forms of formal “gold standards? (which de jure tied the standard economic unit of account to a fixed amount of gold and / or silver). Though similar local endeavours (with similar outcomes) had been undertaken since the introduction of gold coinage, in modern times, “England adopted a de facto gold standard in 1717 […] and formally adopted the gold standard in 1819. The United States, though formally on a bimetallic (gold and silver) standard, switched to gold de facto in 1834 and de jure in 1900 when Congress passed the Gold Standard Act. In 1834, the United States fixed the price of gold at $20.67 per ounce, where it remained until 1933. Other major countries joined the gold standard in the 1870s. The period from 1880 to 1914 is known as the classical gold standard. During that time, the majority of countries adhered (in varying degrees) to gold. It was also a period of unprecedented economic growth with relatively free trade in goods, labor, and capital? (Bordo, 2002). Deflation was rampant as economic growth outpaced gold production, and this was key to the successful economic climate. The different currencies like the mark, pound or dollar, were at the time just different terms for certain weights of gold. Exchange rates were “fixed? as everyone was using the same money, namely gold. Consequently, international trade and cooperation increased during this period. The classical gold standard was however a fractional gold standard (i.e. allowing fractional reserve banking and masking it behind State sanctioning) and, consequently, inherently dangerously unstable. Banks did not hold one hundred percent reserves – their deposits and notes were not 100% backed by physical gold in their vaults. They (and their depositors) were always confronted with the threat of losing reserves to bad loans and being unable to redeem deposits during bank runs. Gold did still put a natural limit on how much money could be spent by the State (at some point the State’s gold could run out). But as war is one of the State’s most costly endeavors, “it is no coincidence that the century of total war coincided with the century of central banking? (Paul, 2009). The gold standard broke down during World War I (barring people from converting their banknotes into gold, until the gold standard was again briefly reinstated from 1925 to 1933). “In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt nationalized gold owned by private [US] citizens and abrogated contracts in which payment was specified in gold. Between 1946 and 1971, countries operated under the Bretton Woods system. Under this further modification of the gold standard, most countries settled their international balances in U.S. dollars, but the U.S. government promised to redeem other central banks’ holdings of dollars for gold at a fixed rate of thirty-five dollars per ounce. Persistent U.S. balance-of-payments deficits steadily reduced U.S. gold reserves, however, reducing confidence in the ability of the United States to redeem its currency in gold,?” in effect threatening to trigger an international bank run. “Finally, on August 15, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon announced that the United States would no longer redeem currency for gold,? thus robbing the entire world of their reserves. “This was the final step in abandoning the [modern] gold standard? (Bordo, 2002). In other words, from the start of the gold standard, the amount of gold in which the standard unit of account represented was constantly scaled down (debased), just as it had always been in similar systems before. In 1971, the central bank notes became “unbacked? by any commodity whatsoever and now only had value because the State said so. Crucially, what actually happened was a theft of the underlying gold. The banknotes thus became what is known as fiat money. Fiat money (all of the world’s current official currencies, including EUR, USD, GBP, CHF, JPY, CNY, BRL, RUB, INR, etc.) is not linked to commodities in any way. It is paper, base metal coins, and digital entries in a computer system. The only thing supporting it is the propaganda, the coercive apparatus of the State, and the rampant economic illiteracy of the general public. Now, States were no longer constricted by any limitation due to an underlying backing in gold or other commodities. Gold no longer enforced discipline on politicians and States could start printing money as they saw fit, for all intents and purposes in unlimited amounts. Interest rates (the price of money) were then no longer determined by the markets, but dictated by the State as it sees fit. In essence, the underlying “commodity? of a national fiat currency became the coercively subjugated current and future population which it supposedly represents. So, if there is no commodity (except human slave labor and coercive State control) backing today’s fiat currencies, how do central (national) banks create them? There is much to be said for the sentiment that “it is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning?. The mechanic is so simple that it is hard to believe, and yet, it is what it is. As we have seen throughout this book, the State is in constant need of currency to make up for its corruption and wasteful inefficiencies. In order to cover its continuous shortfalls, the State gives out “bonds,?” financial instruments which are basically debt certificates. When you buy a bond, you pay for example 100 Units for it. In return, the bond originator promises to pay you back the 100 Units in a few years’ time, plus interest at specified intervals in between. When the State emits bonds, they get bought by the banks (who are at present all coercively tied into the national bank systems of the countries in which they operate). The bond is a liability for the State (as it represents a debt), but for the bank, it is an asset (as it represents a claim). In order to get fiat currency themselves, the banks in turn “sell,?” these bonds to the national (central) reserve banks, in return for fiat currency (in the form of cash banknotes, or today in the form of digital figures on a reserve account). But how does the national central bank get the fiat currency to buy those bonds and bring the fiat currency into circulation? Consider the following words from an instructional booklet published by the US national bank, the Federal Reserve, aptly titled “Putting It Simply?: “when you or I write a check there must be sufficient funds in our account to cover the check, but when the Federal Reserve writes a check there is no bank deposit on which that check is drawn. When the Federal Reserve writes a check, it is creating money? (FRBB, 1984). The above paragraph is worth rereading for good measure. The central banks indeed create “money? ex nihilo. When a central bank buys a bond, it puts the bond on its balance sheet as an asset, just like the regular banks did when they first acquired bonds from the State. On the liability side of its balance sheet, the central bank simply puts “reserves,?” of the banks from which it “purchased,?” the bonds. The banks in return get “reserves,?” (fiat currency) on their asset side, which in turn allows them to create multiple times more money through fractional reserve banking as we have seen earlier. This has some direct implications (and many more indirect ones, as we will soon discover). Firstly, the creation of fiat currency (i.e. without any commodity backing) is basically nothing more than an accounting entry by a central bank. Secondly, we come to see that today, in the global system of fiat currencies, all money is debt, and debt is money – with human beings and their labor as collateral, held accountable for debts which they did not themselves agree to, to be extracted of their wealth at gunpoint through every imaginable kind of taxation guaranteed by the coercive apparatus of the State. Thirdly, the fiat currency system is inherently unstable as more bonds will have to be created to pay the interest on the previous ones, and so on. At some point, only hyperinflation or debt default can follow, and as history shows, it is usually a combination of both. But by the time that happens, the fiat currency has been used by the parasitic classes of the State and its beneficiaries to rob others of their savings and their assets. Which brings us to our fourth point: When fiat currency is created, it robs every citizen (who is coercively forced to use the fiat currency in his daily transactions) of some of his or her savings and purchasing power. Take the following example: Assume that there exists a market with only one egg which is for sale and only one unit of currency, which can be used to buy the egg (the currency would have no other uses as there are no other goods or services in this hypothetical situation). When the State (through issuing bonds – debt with the citizenry as collateral – directly or indirectly to its central bank) or the “private,?” banks of today (through fractional reserve banking) create currency out of nothing, an additional unit of currency is created and added into the system. However, this does not mean that there are now all of a sudden two eggs available for sale (compare this to a commodity-backed currency, where a banknote – or a gold or silver coin, etc. – represents a physical commodity of value). The result, in effect, is that there are now two units of fiat currency in existence, but still only one egg. In other words, all that happened is that the price of the egg simply doubled to two units of currency. This is what is called inflation. But, and this is crucial, when we expand this situation to the whole of available goods and services, it is very hard (nigh impossible) for the population to estimate how much fiat currency is being created by central banks and by the State-sanctioned fractional reserve banking. As a result, those who are aware of the currency creation (and are the first to get their hands on it), namely the State, the banks and their accomplices, can buy goods and services at pre-inflation prices with this new fiat currency which was all of a sudden created out of nothing. Other people are not aware of the fact that the price of the egg just doubled (neither is the seller, and neither is the person who saved one unit of currency to be able to buy an egg when he pleases). As a result, all participants get tricked and robbed at the expense of the State and the banks. The sellers sell for less than the adjusted prices which will result after the sale, and the savers are robbed of their purchasing power just the same. Through the system of buying and selling bonds, the central banks, at the direction of the State, can affect the price of these bonds (as they have unlimited funds to do so, at least as long as the public accepts the fiat currency as having value because the State says so). The price of the bond correlates with the interest it yields in comparison with the interest rates of new bonds being created. By buying and selling new and existing bonds, their interest rates (which serve as a basis for all interest rates across the system, being officially – though of course not really – “risk-free,?” due to State backing) can be manipulated by the central banks. This brings us to the final part of this Chapter, where all of the above comes together to shed a light on one of the most destructive forces of the modern world, created by the Statist system of fiat currencies and fractional reserve banking: the “business cycle,?” (though, as we will see, actual “business,?” in a free market sense has nothing to do with it whatsoever). What do you think about Christophe Cieters editorial called “Monopoly Money?” Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post Christophe Cieters: Monopoly Money appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

About 150 mountain bikers will compete at this year’s edition of the Munga MTB race in South Africa. The race will commence in the first week of December. The top three finishers in each category will share the 1.5 bitcoin in prize money. The Bitstamp sponsored race was launched in 2015. Bikers from South Africa, as well as those from around the world, will take part in the event. Alex Harris is the director of the Munga MTB. At last year’s event, the prize money was 1.5 bitcoin that was divided into three categories; men, women and the development category. The third category features non-white bikers. Each category is awarded 0.5 bitcoin that will be split between the top three finishers. According to Harris, the prize money for this year’s race has not changed. The Munga MTB race runs over a little more than 1000 kilometres through the semi-desert karoo, and there are 5 race villages where riders can rest, eat and get mechanical assistance. There are also several water points placed between 60 and 90 kilometres apart. Harris explains that it was Bitstamp that approached them with the idea of “using bitcoin as prize money.” Consequently, the prize money at the time was “converted into the equivalent in bitcoin.” Meanwhile, Harris also explains the process of distributing the prize money to winners. He says since the South Africa Reserve Bank (SARB) has not formulated cryptocurrency regulations, the 1.5 bitcoin “goes to a Munga Bitstamp account.” The prize winners can “elect to hold onto to their bitcoin, or instruct us to sell.” If winners choose the latter, an exact amount of the South African Rand currency gets transferred from the Munga to their account. What do you think about Munga’s idea of giving bike racers bitcoin as prize money? Tell us your thoughts in the comment section below. The post Bitcoin Prize For Winners Of South Africa Mountain Bike Race appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The Japanese online securities company Monex has revealed the launch of cryptocurrency-based contract-for-difference (CFD) services that went live on Wednesday. The new derivatives products offered by Monex will include bitcoin, XRP, ether, and bitcoin cash pairs with 2x leverage. Japanese digital currency exchanges are getting into leverage products as the firm Monex has revealed a derivatives product otherwise known as a contract-for-difference (CFD) service. Basically a CFD acts as the net difference depiction of either losses or gains that stem from the trading of specific assets. CFDs are popular investment vehicles in the world of derivatives and they are also well known in crypto markets. Monex now offers 2x leverage for ETH, BTC, BCH, and XRP against the yen as markets opened on July 8, 2020. Monex Group is also well known for acquiring the exchange Coincheck which still sees consistent volume to this day. Because Monex Group is offering crypto-based derivatives, Monex had to register with Japanese regulators as a Financial Instrument Business. “Crypto-asset-related OTC derivatives transactions were included under the Act to protect customers and create risk management regulations for financial instruments business operators,” Monex revealed in an issued statement. The company added: Since the birth of the Bitcoin, the crypto-asset market has grown steadily, and the number of cryptocurrencies and crypto-asset derivative transactions are increasing. With the expansion of transaction categories under the amendments to the above-mentioned Act, Monex has decided to begin offering crypto-asset CFD services. The Monex crypto-based CFDs are available all day long for trading and every day of the year. Traders, however, need to register for a Monex general brokerage account which can be done using the Monex Trader Crypto app. The Monex issued CFDs can be traded via the app but the user also needs to register for a CFD account. Last summer, the exchange Liquid launched contract-for-difference (CFD) services using cryptocurrencies with 100x leverage. When the product first launched, Liquid’s Chief Product Officer of Liquid, Mario Gomez Lozada, explained the exchange launched the CFDs due to “rising demand.” Of course, the new offering by Monex is much less leverage with only 2x as opposed to 100x. The CFD services provided by Monex will stem from Monex Inc, Kabucom Securities, Rakuten Securities, Matsui Securities, and SBI Securities. What do you think about Monex offering crypto-based derivatives for 2x leverage? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post Japanese Broker Monex Launches Crypto-Based CFDs With 2x Leverage appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The popular digital currency trading platform, Bitfinex must deal with the New York Office of the Attorney General (NYAG) over the alleged hiding of over $800 million in client and corporate funds. The NY state Supreme Court’s Appellate Division overruled an appeal on Thursday, after the company put forth the argument that tether (USDT) was not a security or traditional commodity. Last year in April, New York prosecutors alleged that Bitfinex lost $850 million of co-mingled customer and corporate funds. The charges stemmed from accusations coming from the NYAG and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Recently the case was heard by the NY State Supreme Court’s Appellate Division, and the company attempted to claim that tether (USDT) was not a type of commodity or security. Basically, if tether wasn’t a commodity or security, then the court and the NYAG would have zero jurisdiction over the companies involved. Additionally, Bitfinex attempted to argue that because the company was not a U.S.-based firm, NY jurisdiction would also not apply. Essentially, when news.Bitcoin.com reported on the subject in May 2019, the NYAG demanded that Bitfinex must show transparency by turning over documents tied to the firm Tether. With the jurisdiction arguments used in the appeals court, Bitfinex claimed that the NY officials had no authority over documents. However, since the appeals court rejected the claims that argued against jurisdiction, Bitfinex must now answer to the allegations stemming from New York State. “The trial court properly rejected the attempts by respondents to limit petitioner’s lawful authority to protect New York residents,” the latest ruling notes. In an email to the financial columnist, Jaspreet Kalra, Bitfinex’s General Counsel Stuart Hoegner said: “We will respect the court’s order. We have no further comment on this matter at this time.” New York Attorney General Letitia James was thrilled with the decision against Bitfinex. “Today’s decision validates our office’s ability to use its broad and comprehensive investigative powers to protect New Yorkers,” James told the press this week. “Not even virtual currencies are above the law. We are pleased with the court’s decision, and will continue to protect the interest of investors in the marketplace,” she added. Bitfinex, the parent company Ifinex, and Tether Limited are also involved in another ongoing lawsuit as well. What do you think about Bitfinex having to face allegations for the loss of over $800 million? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post Bitfinex Must Face New York’s Accusations Over the Loss of $850M in Co-Mingled Funds appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The billionaire investor Michael Novogratz recently detailed in an interview that he thinks global investors should hold more gold in their portfolios and own less bitcoin. Novogratz’s statements follow his recent advice last month when he said investors should “watch gold and bitcoin.” Michael Novogratz is a well known investor and was a hedge fund manager at the investment firm Fortress Investment Group for years. Now Novogratz is a big believer in digital currencies and in 2017 he told the press that 20% of his net worth was in bitcoin (BTC) and ethereum (ETH). Novogratz is also known for his price predictions and in December 2017 he forecasted the bear market prices. The investor now leads the company Galaxy Digital Holdings Ltd., and he continues to make price predictions. Galaxy Digital founder and billionaire investor Michael Novogratz. On June 1, Novogratz tweeted to his 142,000 Twitter followers that people should “Watch gold vs bitcoin” and “if that chart breaks higher it will turbo boost bitcoin.” Now after the first week of July has ended and BTC prices have been hovering just above the $9k zone, Novogratz told the public they should hold more gold than bitcoin on CNBC’s Fast Money published on July 8. “My sense is that bitcoin way outperforms gold, but I would tell people to have a lot less bitcoin than they have gold, just because of the volatility,” Novogratz said during the Fast Money interview. The Galaxy Digital founder further added: Bitcoin is still hard to buy. If it was easier to buy, it would be a lot higher. And there are more and more people making it easier to buy: funds being set up, custodies being done, at one point we’ll get an ETF. The spot price per troy ounce of .999 fine gold on July 9, 2020. Today, on July 10, 2020, the price per ounce is hovering around $1,804 per ounce. Gold has been on a tear lately and the price per ounce of .999 fine gold has jumped above the $1,800 per ounce zone. On July 9, the price per ounce was up over 13% and touched $1,811 per ounce during the mid-afternoon trading sessions. At the time of publication, the price of gold is down lower as spot markets show that one ounce is swapping for $1,804. The well known gold bug Peter Schiff loves the fact that gold is above the $1,800 range and he just amassed a quarter of a million Twitter followers on Thursday. However, Schiff says that most people are not paying attention to gold’s run-up. “This is the most unloved gold bull market I’ve ever seen,” Schiff tweeted. “Since the end of 2015, the price of gold has risen by over 70%, exceeding the gain in the S&P 500 by about 40%. Despite this performance and the best fundamentals [and] chart pattern in history, investors still prefer stocks.” Unlike the billionaire investor Michael Novogratz, Peter Schiff still has an extreme distaste for cryptocurrencies. “Bitcoin owners are extremely bullish and almost every article I read predicts that Bitcoin is on the verge of an explosive rally,” Schiff recently wrote. “Yet despite this optimism Bitcoin has been rangebound below $10K for [three] months. If bitcoin can’t rally now despite amazing fundamentals, when will it?” Max Keiser said on July 10, that he invited Peter Schiff back on the Keiser Report show to discuss “PPP, gold, and maybe bitcoin.” “But his views already very well known, don’t need to rehash, IMO,” Keiser tweeted. What do you think about Michael Novogratz telling the public to own more gold than bitcoin? Let us know what you think in the comments section below. The post Bitcoin Bull Mike Novogratz Says to Hold More Gold Than Bitcoin appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A Romanian man admitted Thursday to conspiring to engage in wire fraud and selling unregistered securities linked to Bitclub Network, a cryptocurrency mining Ponzi scheme worth at least $722 million. Silviu Catalin Balaci, 35, a Romanian citizen appeared before U.S. District Judge Claire C. Cecchi. Balaci pleaded guilty to a superseding information charging him with one count of a dual-object conspiracy to commit wire fraud and to offer and sell unregistered securities. The Romanian was arrested in Germany and the court proceedings against him were conducted via video conferencing. He and four co-defendants – Matthew Brent Goettsche, Russ Albert Medlin, Jobadiah Sinclair Weeks, and Joseph Frank Abel – were charged previously by indictment in December 2019 in connection with the scheme. According to a statement issued by U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito, Bitclub Network solicited money from investors in exchange for shares of purported cryptocurrency mining pools. Investors were rewarded for recruiting new investors into a scheme that was operational between April 2014 and December 2019. Balaci assisted Goettsche and Medlin in creating and operating the Bitclub Network and served as a programmer for the Ponzi scheme. Court statements show that Bitclub Network would target “dumb” investors, referred to them as “sheep.” Balaci and the co-defendants plotted that they would be “building this whole model on the backs of idiots.” While Bitclub Network told investors that they could invest in three different bitcoin mining pools. However, Balaci admits that at no point during the conspiracy was “he aware of the Bitclub Network operating three separate bitcoin mining pools.” In order to mask the conspiracy, Balaci changed the figures displayed as bitcoin mining earnings to make it appear that the Bitclub Network was earning more than what was actually being mined. Balaci claims he did this at the behest of Gottsche. For example, in February 2015, Goettsche directed Balaci to “bump up the daily mining earnings starting today by 60%,” to which Balaci warned “that is not sustainable, that is ponzi teritori [sic] and fast cash-out ponzi . . . but sure.” In connection with his plea, Balaci confirmed that during the course of the scheme, the Bitclub Network took at least $722 million worth of bitcoin from investors. Meanwhile, Balaci pleaded guilty to charges that carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000, or twice the pecuniary gain to the defendant or loss to the victims. A sentencing date has not been set. In December 2019, the US Department of Justice announced the arrest of Goettsche and Weeks on similar charges while Medlin, the fourth co-defendant was arrested in Indonesia in June this. Meanwhile, the US government is asking victims of the Ponzi scheme to visit its website if they are keen to find more information. Do you think the arrest of Balaci will finally help victims recover their investments? Let us know in the comments section below The post Romanian Programmer Admits Conspiring to Create $722M Bitclub Ponzi Scheme appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The Shariah Advisory Council of Malaysia’s securities commission has advised that it is permissible to invest and trade cryptocurrencies on registered crypto exchanges. About 60% of the country’s population are Muslims, many of whom have been reluctant to trade crypto in fear that it might not be Sharia-compliant. Shariah-Compliant Crypto Trading The Shariah Advisory Council of the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) reportedly revealed its position on cryptocurrency trading in the country at the Invest Malaysia 2020 event this week. SC chairman Datuk Syed Zaid Albar was quoted by the Edge Markets as saying during a teleconference panel session on Tuesday: The SC Shariah Advisory Council has resolved that in principle, it is permissible to invest and trade in digital currencies and tokens on registered digital asset exchanges. He added: “This is a really ground-breaking resolution by the SAC (Shariah Advisory Council) that could spur greater development and investment in digital assets … Once the resolution is finalised, we will issue further details.” The Shariah Advisory Council was established with the endorsement of the Malaysian Ministry of Finance in 1996. Its mandate, according to the SC website, is “to ensure that the implementation of the Islamic capital market complied with Shariah principles. Its scope of jurisdiction is to advise the commission on all matters related to the comprehensive development of the Islamic capital market and to function as a reference centre for all Islamic capital market issues.” The Securities Commission of Malaysia’s Shariah Advisory Council has allowed cryptocurrency investing and trading on regulated crypto exchanges. Malaysia currently has three approved exchanges. Malaysia is a multiracial country with a current population of approximately 32 million, about 60% (19.43 million) of which are Muslims, the Islamic Tourism Centre of Malaysia described, adding that Islam is constitutionally the country’s official religion. “The Shariah Law in Malaysia is only applicable to Muslims and is used to resolve conflicts relating to creed and family matters,” the center noted. Malaysia’s Cryptocurrency Regulation Malaysia’s securities commission, Suruhanjaya Sekuriti Malaysia, started regulating the country’s cryptocurrency industry on Jan. 15 last year, when “the Capital Markets and Services (Prescription of Securities) (Digital Currency and Digital Token) Order 2019” went into effect. So far, three cryptocurrency exchanges have been approved to operate in the country: Luno Malaysia, Sinegy Technologies, and Tokenize Technology. Several studies have been conducted to establish whether cryptocurrency trading is Sharia-compliant. News.Bitcoin.com previously reported that a research paper declares bitcoin compliant with Shariah law. There are also cryptocurrency exchanges that specialize in being Shariah compliant. Japanese digital media giant Okwave Inc. recently concluded joint research on Shariah-compliant digital coins in collaboration with Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). Emphasizing that cryptocurrency adoption is growing worldwide, the company commented in January: Statistics show that cryptocurrency usage in Muslim countries are amongst the lowest worldwide, which is attributed to their reluctance in legitimizing cryptocurrencies for fear that they are not compliant with Islamic law. What do you think about the Malaysian Shariah Advisory Council’s decision on cryptocurrency? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Shariah Council Permits Cryptocurrency Investing and Trading appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article