roadrunner

On July 1, 2020, the partner of Polynexus Capital, Andrew Steinwold, detailed that the sales of blockchain-powered non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are about to cross the $100 million mark. The popularity of NFTs has grown massive since 2017, as blockchain cards, collectibles, digital artwork, virtual land parcels, and extensible virtual game items have become all the rage. Blockchain-Fueled Non-Fungible Token Assets Close to $100M in Sales Andrew Steinwold the managing partner at Polynexus Capital is a big believer in non-fungible token (NFT) solutions built using blockchain technology. NFTs have been around for years and the first mention of NFT technology stemmed from the Mastercoin white paper in 2012. Over the years, news.Bitcoin.com has reported on a number of blockchain projects that leverage NFT solutions like Counterparty’s Rare Pepe trading cards, Spells of Genesis cards, Cryptokitties, extensible game items and rewards, and many more unique concepts. Decentraland where NFT-based parcels of land and extensible items are sold. In a recent post written on the blog called “Bankless,” Steinwold notes that the NFT sales have amassed close to a $100 million worth of lifetime trade volume. The data stems from the web portal nonfungible.com, which gives a comprehensive overview of the NFT ecosystem. Steinwold thinks that the $100 million mark is just the start of the NFT evolution and the economy will grow much bigger going forward. “I believe NFTs will be a trillion-dollar market someday,” Steinwold stressed. “That means $999.9 billion in future opportunities. We’re just .01% of the way in.” Steinwold added: We’ve talked about redemption NFTs in the past. We’ve learned about NFTs across gaming, art, culture, collectibles, and domains. But we’ve never zoomed out to look at the market as a whole. What are the categories? collectibles, gaming, worlds, art, culture. Which categories are winning? Volumes, value, [and] projects. Nonfungible.com stats show that as of July 5, 2020, the total sales of NFTs is around $96.1 million so far. Close to 20,000 Opensea Wallets and $2.5M in Monthly NFT Trade Volume Steinwold’s data shows there are 18,552 wallets on Opensea and there is $2.5 million in global NFT trade volume on a monthly basis. As of June 5, 2020, the total lifetime trade volume of NFTs is around $96.1 million so far. The average price is around $20.90 per NFT according to nonfungible.com and Steinwold’s statistics. The NFT projects n0wear and cryptopunks. “With December 2017 as our starting point, the NFT market has only been around for ~2.5 years, an extremely small amount of time compared to bitcoin (11 years) or traditional markets (hundreds of years),” Steinwold highlighted. “While monthly trade volumes are low at roughly $2M per month, the NFT market has seen a steady increase over time.” Steinwold says the aforementioned data shows just how early it is when it comes to NFT technology. “The above stats show just how early we are in a market that one day could be worth trillions of dollars — Of course, that trillion-dollar figure will only be reached once there’s a functioning metaverse, but I strongly believe we are headed in that direction,” Steinwold said. The Polynexus Capital partner further stated: Perhaps the most shocking statistic is the number of wallets on Opensea: about 18,500 wallets have either purchased or sold an NFT. Since Opensea is the dominant NFT marketplace, this metric should give us a rough indication of the current number of NFT users overall. Some of the projects Steinwold mentions include NFT ideas like Cryptopunks, Cryptokitties, Avastars, Gods Unchained, Axie Infinity, My Crypto Heroes, Crypto Space Commanders, Decentraland, Cryptovoxels, Somnium Space, The Sandbox, Async Art, Superrare, Nifty Gateway, Knownorigin, Makersplace, n0wear, Zora, and Foundation. Steinwold also mentions the possibilities of “ticketing for events, property titles, [and] digital identity” concepts. Rare pepe and Spells of Genesis trading cards were one of the earliest versions of colorful and artistic versions of NFT technology. A number of blockchains provide NFT technology but the most dominant is Ethereum by a long shot. Other blockchains like Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) can also be leveraged to created NFTs. In August 2019, the Simple Ledger Protocol (SLP) developer, James Cramer, announced the launch of the Electron Cash SLP version 3.5, which allowed the creation of non-fungible tokens that can be grouped together by a single ID. News.Bitcoin.com has published a step-by-step walkthrough on how to create non-fungible assets and collectible tokens with Bitcoin Cash. The Growth of the Metaverse Is a Very Big Deal Moreover, Forbes published an editorial on the coming of the metaverse on July 5 and exclaimed that “it’s a very big deal.” Columnist Cathy Hackl writes that today’s foundations concerning the metaverse are being built as we speak. “Today, the metaverse is a shared virtual space where people are represented by digital avatars (think Ready Player One),” Hackl writes. She adds: The virtual world constantly grows and evolves based on the decisions and actions of the society within it. Eventually, people will be able to enter the metaverse, completely virtually (i.e. with virtual reality) or interact with parts of it in their physical space with the help of augmented and mixed reality. NFTs are going to be a big part of this growth according to Steinwold, and the innovations are just getting started. “When comparing these physical uses to gamers doing some new behavior in a virtual environment, the pace of innovation is often much higher in the digital world,” Steinwold’s observation concludes. “Going forward, I expect more differentiated NFT categories to arise and NFT market activity to increase dramatically.” What do you think about the non-fungible token economy sales coming close to reaching $100 million so far? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post The Tokenized Metaverse: Non-Fungible Token Sales to Surpass $100 Million appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

More than 700,000 Expedia Group hotels and accommodations are now available via crypto-friendly travel booking platform Travala. Bookings can be paid with more than 30 cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin. Despite covid-19, Travala saw a 170% increase in booking revenue from its 2 million properties in 230 countries. Travel With Crypto via Expedia and Travala Cryptocurrency-friendly travel booking platform Travala announced on Monday that more than 700,000 Expedia Group hotels and accommodations are now available on its website. Users can pay for their bookings with more than 30 cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, in addition to traditional payments. This is possible due to a new partnership between Expedia Partner Solutions (EPS) and Travala.com. Expedia launched EPS Rapid in 2018 to give travel companies access to its portfolio of over 700,000 properties with over 35 property types in more than 35,000 destinations worldwide. Travala.com was founded in 2017 and currently provides access to more than 2 million hotels and accommodations in 230 countries. Travala wrote: Powered by EPS’s versatile API, Rapid, more than 700,000 Expedia Group hotels and accommodations are now available via Travala.com. On the site, travelers can book trips using more than 30 forms of cryptocurrency. Among the cryptocurrencies accepted on Travala.com are BTC, BCH, ETH, BNB, and AVA, Travala’s native coin. Expedia used to accept BTC on its own website. However, the company dropped the cryptocurrency payment option in June 2018. Noting that “cryptocurrency adoption [is] on the rise,” Travala CEO Juan Otero said: “we want to ensure our users have payment choice and transparent pricing for every trip booked. EPS Rapid is the best API product in the travel industry and this partnership unlocks greater accommodation choice and availability for our users, including 4- and 5-star hotels in top destinations.” On Saturday, Travala announced that AVA has been added to the Travelbybit point of sale (POS) system so it can now be used for purchases at over 500 merchants across Australia. Travala began offering Booking.com’s accommodation listings on its platform in November last year and merged with Travalbybit with backing from Binance in May. In its June report, published on July 1, Travala revealed that its overall booking revenue for June was $184,296, an increase of over 170% from the previous month. Moreover, 59% of the total bookings were paid with cryptocurrencies in June, 21% of which were paid with bitcoin. Otero said Monday, “Our latest month-on-month data shows consumer confidence and the desire for travel is returning, with an 81% increase in room nights booked and website traffic up 50% week-on-week.” What do you think about paying for Expedia hotels with crypto via Travala? Let us know in the comments section below. The post 700,000 Expedia Hotels Can Now Be Paid With Cryptocurrencies via Travala appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Blockchain entrepreneur and former Disney child actor, Brock Pierce, is running for President of the United States this election. Pierce announced he was running during America’s Independence Day celebration on July 4, the same day Kanye West revealed his candidacy. Pierce is an advocate of technology and cryptocurrencies and he wholeheartedly believes “entrepreneurs are essential to the rebuilding of this nation.” On July 4, 2020, Brock Pierce, the child actor who starred in the classic Disney film the “Mighty Ducks” is running for President of the United States this election. Pierce is also a serial entrepreneur who shook up the virtual gaming industry as a young adult, and has continued his career bolstering cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. News.Bitcoin.com spoke with Pierce in a private conversation back in September 2015. At the time Pierce told our newsdesk: Satoshi gave us a gift but Bitcoin Stakeholders must continue to nurture and develop it. Disruptive technologies like the Internet and Bitcoin don’t get un-invented. Bitcoin entrepreneur Brock Pierce announced he was joining the U.S. presidential election on July 4, 2020. In Pierce’s 2020 presidential candidacy announcement video, he explains that he is a “staunch supporter of entrepreneurs and small businesses, he understands what it takes to build a business from the ground up.” Pierce says that Americans need to embrace a future filled with technological advancements and says he can help guide the country toward 21st-century technology practices. The serial entrepreneur explains that he was a child actor as well and notes that he isn’t a “perfect” human and that his “battle scars” have given him fortitude. The U.S. presidential candidate also leverages discussions involving Covid-19 and the recent protests held in nearly every city across the nation. Pierce wants Americans to “convene” and says mantras like “we are all in this together,” “make every voice count” and “Brock the vote.” The crypto venture capitalist explains his recent philanthropy in Peurto Rico and his website mentions his involvement with “the Bitcoin Foundation and co-founder of EOS Alliance, Block.one, Blockchain Capital, Tether, and Mastercoin.” Of course, cryptocurrency supporters will enjoy the fact that Pierce bolsters digital currency solutions and blockchain technology. Kanye West, the billion-dollar hip hop artist who is also running for president in 2020 is also considered bitcoin-friendly and has tweeted about the decentralized currency in the past. The Libertarian candidate Jo Jorgensen is also pro-bitcoin as well, and news.Bitcoin.com recently talked with the first female Libertarian nominee. She said she would do away with certain legal tender laws, bolster cryptocurrency innovation, and free Ross Ulbricht as well. Cryptocurrency supporters also have John McAfee and Adam Kokesh too, and both of those 2020 candidates support cryptocurrencies on a greater level than Trump or Biden. The presidential incumbent Donald Trump has only mentioned bitcoin in a couple of tweets and has yet to address the subject on any realistic level. The presumptive Democrat candidate Joe Biden also hasn’t addressed digital currencies at all during his campaign. The only other pro-bitcoin candidate was Andrew Yang who dropped out a few months back, after his support was significantly lacking. What do you think about Brock Pierce running for president in 2020? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post Bitcoin Entrepreneur Brock Pierce Joins the 2020 US Presidential Election appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Seba, a Switzerland based bank, is proposing a Bitcoin valuation model that places its fair value at $10,670. At this price, the model suggests Bitcoin is trading at a significant discount, at just above $9,100. In a blog posting this past Thursday, Seba says the model’s estimate relies on the same concepts as other valuation models. It draws comparisons with the FX space. “In the FX space, for instance, Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) and Uncovered Interest Rate Parity (UIP), two models based on sound concepts, provide estimates challenged by empirical evidence,” the blog post points out. Yet, in spite of lacking empirical support, such currency valuation models “shape and form the basis of investors’” understanding of the FX market. Furthermore, the models help explain where currency “value originates in a fiat money world” where none of the currencies have “intrinsic value.” Seba tries to contrasts the findings of its model valuation with well-known Bitcoin valuation models. As the blog posting further claims, other valuation models place the network’s value between 0 and $100 trillion. This is a vast range that does not provide insight, alludes Seba. Nevertheless, Seba does admit the limitations of its own models. It notes that the models’ estimates for other cryptocurrencies remain inconclusive. The financial institution’s first of two models is built around four key concepts. These are key characteristics of blockchains (network and immutability) and cryptocurrencies (monetary policy and currency type). According to the Seba, the valuation model estimates are cognizant of the most sensitive variables, namely the number of users and monetary policy. On the other hand, “the immutability and Gresham parameters have lower price elasticity.” It further notes that “for immutability, the calibrated hash rate is a large number, its level impacts price level.” In the meantime, the second proposed model compares the exchange rates of cryptocurrencies within the cryptocurrency space. It is based on a no-arbitrage condition (mining parity). According to it, miners should expect the same profit when mining comparable cryptocurrencies in terms of consensus algorithms. The bank asserts there is empirical evidence that strongly supports the existence of mining parity. Since May 2020, the month of halving, Bitcoin has only gone above the $10,000 mark once, on 2 June according to Coinmarketcap. The price has oscillated between the 9000 and 10000 range for the past two months. This price range is also just above the maximum observed Bitcoin miner’s break-even price. What do you think about SEBA’s Bitcoin valuation? Share your view in the comment section below. The post A New Price Valuation Model Says $10,670 Fair Value For Bitcoin appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

An international law enforcement team has brought down an encrypted phone network with 60,000 users worldwide. The platform was one of the largest providers of encrypted communications, widely used by organized crime groups. UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA), Europol, Eurojust, and several other authorities announced on Thursday that they have infiltrated and taken down an encrypted phone platform widely used by organized crime groups worldwide. Encrochat is “an encrypted phone network widely used by criminal networks,” Europol described. It “was one of the largest providers of encrypted communications,” the NCA added, asserting that “an international law enforcement team cracked the company’s encryption.” The NCA elaborated: There were 60,000 users worldwide and around 10,000 users in the UK – the sole use was for coordinating and planning the distribution of illicit commodities, money laundering and plotting to kill rival criminals. International law enforcement agencies have been collaborating to target Encrochat and other encrypted criminal communication platforms since 2016. “Over the last months, the joint investigation made it possible to intercept, share and analyse millions of messages that were exchanged between criminals to plan serious crimes,” the law enforcement team’s press release details. In the U.K., the operation is called Venetic and it is “the biggest and most significant operation of its kind in the UK,” the NCA wrote, adding that “Entire organised crime groups [were] dismantled during Operation Venetic with 746 arrests, and £54m [$67 million] criminal cash, 77 firearms and over two tonnes of drugs seized so far.” According to law enforcement, Encrochat realized the platform had been penetrated on June 13. The company then sent a message to its users urging them to throw away their handsets. The Encrochat servers have now been shut down. The Encrochat phones have pre-loaded apps for instant messaging, the ability to make VOIP calls and a kill code which wipes them remotely. They cost around £1,500 for a six-month contract, the NCA added. What do you think about how law enforcement brought down Encrochat? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Encryption Crackdown: Private Phone Network With 60,000 Users Dismantled by Law Enforcement appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A new docuseries called “Open Source Money” recently aired on July 4 and premiered on the Discovery Science channel. The new show gave millions of Discovery viewers information concerning bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, initial coin offerings, and blockchain technology. The cryptocurrency-focused show airing on Discovery will continue this summer with a number of episodes broadcasting once a week. “Open Source Money” is the name of a new docuseries that aired on Saturday and premiered on the Discovery Science channel and the on-demand television provider Philo. The new series gives viewers insight into the cryptocurrency ecosystem by talking with a number of digital currency experts and luminaries like Brock Pierce and Charles Hoskinson. The focus of the story is mainly about the Dragonchain (DRGN) initial coin offering (ICO) and how the project’s creators had to deal with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Dragonchain was also initially developed in 2014 at the Walt Disney Company branch in Seattle, but since 2016, the project and Disney severed relationships. The series “Open Source Money” was produced by the firm Vision Tree and the company raised $1 million via a variety of cryptocurrencies for filming. The episodes feature Dragonchain’s issues with the SEC when the U.S. regulators deemed the project an “unlicensed security.” The episodes also feature the Chamber of Digital Commerce founder Perianne Boring, the notorious John McAfee, and Celsius Network’s Alex Mashinsky. Reports say that Patrick Byrne will also star in one of the five parts filmed for the series. Despite the fact that the filmmakers follow the Dragonchain creators around for a bit, the first episode also acts as a Bitcoin 101 lesson. The show’s theme also focuses on the current regulatory attitude toward cryptocurrencies in the United States. The show will air on Discovery Science and Philo at 10 a.m. ET every Saturday until the finale. Discovery is an extremely popular channel with an 81 million U.S. network audience and six million in Canada. Outside the U.S., 2019 data shows that the Discovery network has well over 450 million viewers worldwide. Discovery Science is a subset of the official Discovery network of channels and can be found in most locations worldwide. The San Francisco-based and Mark Cuban-backed on-demand streaming network, Philo has roughly 50,000 subscribers. “Each episode highlights major contributors in the cryptocurrency revolution, including notable figures Patrick Byrne, Brock Pierce, Joe Roets, and companies the likes of Disney, Facebook, and more,” explains the “Open Source Money” website. The website’s welcome page adds: Overall humanity is at a crossroads and the future of money as we know it will be transformed by Blockchain and the new internet of Value. The only question is, where will the US stand in the Space Race of our generation when the dust settles? The website also notes that there’s a “provably fair 500,000 DRGN giveaway” and viewers need to find clues each week in order to win. According to the “Open Source Money” docuseries web portal, after each episode the clues can be used to find the elusive treasure. This week’s question has a number of keywords and numbers that the viewer must choose in order to participate in the contest. Words and numbers featured this week included: “1776, Pizza, Nascar, Cheesballs, Disney, Ramen, Beaxy, Hyundai, Seattle, or Avacodo Toast.” After each episode, a weekly prize winner will be selected,” explains the docuseries producers. “All correct answers, from the start of the contest, are entered into the Grand Prize drawing.” The “Open Source Money” trailer can be seen below, while Philo and Discovery Science subscribers can watch from those channels. What do you think about the “Open Source Money” docuseries? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Cryptocurrency-Focused Docuseries Airs to Millions of Viewers via the Discovery Science Channel appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The Nation of Cuba is dealing with a national food crisis, as Venezuela has stopped offering aid to the small island nation. Moreover, the coronavirus outbreak has caused a shortage of cash couriers called “mules” and everyday items are becoming scarcer. Amid the crisis, a number of Cubans are resorting to leveraging cryptocurrencies like bitcoin to curb inflationary pressure, and the country’s first peer-to-peer bitcoin exchange Qbita launched last April. The Covid-19 pandemic has ravaged the Cuban economy just like it has throughout the globe. However, Cuba has been hit much harder because of the country’s socialist regime. Cuba is located in the northern Caribbean region and the state adheres to Communism and central planning. This gives the government an authoritarian position over the entire Cuban work force and the country’s means of production. Leadership is quite tricky in Cuba, as Miguel Díaz-Canel is the President of the nation, but the people follow the rule of Raúl Castro’s guidelines. Raúl Castro is the official first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, and to this day, the first secretary is the most powerful leader in Cuba. The post-Covid-19 economy in Cuba is not looking good as Venezuela has stopped offering the island nation support. The Cuban Communist Party has told all Cubans to start growing food in every empty space they own. The country also is suffering from the lack of “Mules” or “Mulas” who deliver cash and products to the island from other countries. The country’s dealings with the coronavirus outbreak caused the island significant hardship and just recently, Venezuela has stopped offering the country assistance. The Venezuelan government used to be a lifeline for Cubans when it came to financial assistance. The lack of help from Venezuela invoked the Communist Party to tell all Cuban residents to grow as much food as they can in order to survive. “Cuba can and must develop its program of municipal self-sustainability definitively and with urgency, in the face of the obsessive and tightened U.S. blockade and the food crisis COVID-19 will leave,” José Ramón Machado Ventura, deputy leader of the Cuban Communist Party, recently told the media. This April, Italian-Cuban entrepreneur Mario Mazzola launched Qbita, which is a peer-to-peer trading platform. In addition to the possible food crisis, Cubans have been seeing a shortage of “mules.” “Mules,” otherwise known as “Mulas,” are not delivering much-needed goods and cash to Cubans. There’s an estimated 50,000 Cubans who consider themselves Mules, and they travel all around the world to bring cash and certain products. Mules account for close to half of the cash remittances in Cuba as well. Since Covid-19, however, Mules are now scarcer than the products and cash, as the outbreak has pretty much halted the Mule supply chain. In order to curb the economic turmoil, a number of Cubans are resorting to bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies. For instance, there are traders on the platform Localbitcoins stemming from Havana and Holguín. Mario Mazzola has detailed that peer-to-peer marketplaces like Paxful and Localbitcoins have been hard for Cubans to leverage. Paxful allegedly geo-blocks Cubans due to U.S. sanctions and Localbitcoins has KYC issues, according to Mazzola. A trader from San José de las Lajas sells bitcoin cash (BCH) with “no limits” for Western Union payments on the peer-to-peer exchange Local.Bitcoin.com. Further, a number of reports over the last two years show that a number of Cubans have been seeking out cryptocurrency solutions. In September 2019, Reuters reported on Cuban residents “skirting U.S. sanctions by flocking to cryptocurrency, in order to shop online and send funds.” There is also a popular Telegram channel with thousands of Cubans called “Cubacripto,” where citizens gather to trade or discuss digital assets. On April 23, 2020, Italian-Cuban entrepreneur, Mario Mazzola launched the country’s first peer-to-peer Bitcoin (BTC) exchange qbita.org. Mazzola has detailed that Cubans find the platform Localbitcoin’s Know Your Customer (KYC) rules too strict, and Paxful geo-blocks citizens from Cuba. Last April, Mazzola discussed the qbita launch with Decrypt.co columnist Jose Antonio Lanz. “I think that in the future we’re going to see fewer people coming to crypto just to make some easy money,” Mazzola explained during the interview. “We’re going to see more people using Bitcoin for its true purpose: the freedom to move money and to have total control of your funds.” Do you think cryptocurrencies like bitcoin can help with remittances and shortages? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post Food and Cash Shortages Push Cubans Toward Permissionless Cryptocurrencies appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Kanye West announced on Independence Day that he is running for president of the United States in 2020, taking on Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden. Responding to the bitcoin-friendly singer with 21 Grammy Awards, Tesla and Spacex CEO Elon Musk said West has his full support. Kanye West Running for President 2020 Kanye West is one of the world’s best-selling musicians, with over 140 million records sold worldwide. He announced on July 4 via Twitter that he is running for president in 2020. The pro-bitcoin singer tweeted: “We must now realize the promise of America by trusting God, unifying our vision and building our future. I am running for president of the United States.” At press time, his tweet has more than 78.8K comments, 438.5K retweets, and 890.8K likes. Among people who have offered him support is Tesla and Spacex CEO Elon Musk, who tweeted in response to the singer’s announcement: “You have my full support.” West’s wife, Kim Kardashian West, tweeted an American flag emoji in response to her husband’s declaration. However, it is not clear how serious West is about running for president in 2020, with some calling his tweet a marketing stunt. ABC News pointed out that it is possible that West is hoping to get “a little publicity for his upcoming album, ‘God’s Country,’ and its first single, ‘Wash Us in the Blood,’ which was released earlier this week.” West has won 21 Grammy awards, making him “one of the top Grammy winners in history, and is tied with Jay Z as the highest-decorated hip-hop artist,” according to Grammy’s website. West and his wife are acquaintances of President Donald Trump and the pair have visited the White House multiple times. West has made several pro-Trump comments in the past. In 2018, he tweeted: “You don’t have to agree with Trump but the mob can’t make me not love him … He is my brother.” However, Kardashian West reportedly clarified that her husband “just happens to like Donald Trump’s personality but doesn’t know about the politics.” Kayne West with President Donald Trump. Kayne West was often seen wearing the red “Make America Great Again” hat in 2018, indicating his support for Trump. However, his wife said he just liked Trump’s personality. Saturday’s announcement was not the first time West has talked about running for president. He said in 2015 that he would run for president in 2020 and made a similar statement in January and November last year for the 2024 presidential race. In the cryptosphere, bitcoiners are happy that West may be running for president this year. The bitcoin-friendly singer said in an interview with TMZ in 2018: “When I saw Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill, that’s the moment when I wanted to use bitcoin.” In the same year, Kim Kardashian West received a Kialara physical bitcoin. A Twitter user opined: “Kanye West becomes the first potential United States presidential nominee to understand that bitcoin is money.” Soon after West’s announcement, Brock Pierce also tweeted that he is running for president of the United States this year. ABC News explained that West would have to run as an independent and acquire the necessary signatures to get on November’s ballot. While voters can still write him in, the deadline for filing has already passed for some states, including Indiana, Maine, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, and Texas. Do you want Kanye West to become the U.S. president? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Bitcoin-Friendly Kanye West Running for US President 2020, Taking on Donald Trump and Joe Biden appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A Fifth Circuit panel of judges recently ruled that Fourth Amendment rights do not apply to cryptocurrency transaction data that stems from an exchange. The U.S. court ruled against the defendant, Richard Gratkowski, who attempted to leverage the Fourth Amendment in an appeal. According to the ruling of a three-judge panel from the Fifth Circuit courts, the American government’s Fourth Amendment does not apply to bitcoin transactions used in a crime if they stem from virtual currency exchanges. Richard Gratkowski was charged with allegedly making payments to a child pornography website, and sent bitcoin (BTC) to the web portal via his Coinbase account. Now the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) searched Gratkowski and found illicit materials at his home and they subpoenaed Coinbase for transaction records. However, Gratkowski appealed the case and said that his bitcoin transaction history deserves to be protected by the Fourth Amendment. Specifically, Gratkowski leveraged the 2018 Supreme Court ruling from Carpenter v. the United States. That particular case deemed cellphone data was personal and protected by Fourth Amendment protections. However, Judge Catharina Haynes used an old Supreme Court decision from 1939 called the United States v. Miller. That particular ruling said that bank records are not protected by the Fourth Amendment. Judge Haynes ruled: Coinbase is a financial institution, a virtual currency exchange, that provides Bitcoin users with a method for transferring bitcoin. The main difference between Coinbase and traditional banks, which were at issue in Miller, is that Coinbase deals with virtual currency while traditional banks deal with physical currency. The other two judges agreed with Haynes, and the court noted that unlike cellphone data, bitcoin transactions are not “an intimate window into a person’s life.” The panel also highlighted that cryptocurrency transaction data was not a “pervasive or insistent part of daily life.” Of course, even though the case is controversial, bitcoiners are unsure of how the case will affect other U.S. lawsuits going forward. Traditionally in America, decisions that are tied to the Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals, typically become formalized standards or law. Other judges will leverage the decision made during Gratkowski’s appeal process. Founded in 1891, the Fifth Circuit is one of 13 American courts of appeals, and the branch is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals presides over Texas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Now if other U.S. judges make contradictory rulings then this particular decision could be appealed again someday, and the weight of the three-judge panel decision may be tested. For now, and from the Fifth Circuit’s perspective, bitcoin data stemming from a virtual exchange like Coinbase is not protected by the Fourth Amendment. Going forward, bitcoiners will simply have to wait for more court rulings that are similar to see if this decision holds water for an extended duration of time. What do you think about the Fifth Circuit decision in the Gratkowski appeal? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post 4th Amendment Does Not Protect Bitcoin Data, US Fifth Circuit Court Rules appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A global bitcoin scam has reportedly leaked personal data of about 250,000 people from more than 20 countries. The majority of the compromised data were of people in the U.K., Australia, South Africa, and the U.S. This bitcoin scam operates under several different names. Investors’ Personal Data Leaked A global threat hunting and intelligence company, Group IB, revealed this week that it has “discovered thousands of personal records of users from over 20 countries of the world exposed in a targeted multi-stage bitcoin scam.” The Singapore-based company said that it found 248,926 sets of unique personally identifiable information, elaborating: The analysis of the exposed phone country codes showed that most of the victims were from the UK (147,610), followed by Australia (82,263), South Africa (4,149), the US (4,147), Singapore (3,499), Malaysia (2,491), Spain (2,420), and other countries. At least six active domains featuring the same bitcoin investment platform were identified, the company described. The scheme operates under different names, such as Crypto Cash, Bitcoin Rejoin, Bitcoin Supreme, and Banking on Blockchain. Group IB’s analysts added that this new scheme resembles the Bitcoin Evolution scam. An illustration of how this “personalized bitcoin investment scam” works. Source: Group IB The company also explained how this bitcoin scam works. Firstly, a potential investor receives an SMS text message. Scammers sometimes send out phishing messages using the name of a recognized media outlet as the sender. Every message contained a unique short link that takes the investor to a website “which already demonstrates their personal data, such as the phone number, first or/and last name, and sometimes an email address, and used for redirects to fake websites masquerading as a local media outlet,” the intelligence company detailed. “The experts believe that the personal information info could have been obtained by fraudsters through a separate fraudulent scheme or simply bought from a third party.” The content displayed often depends on the targeted crypto investor’s location, such as major news outlets in the investor’s country. The scam websites feature fake interviews of famous people, articles, news, and comments attributed to local celebrities. They allege that famous people made a fortune using the new cryptocurrency investment platform. One example is Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, used by Bitcoin Evolution as news.Bitcoin.com previously reported. “All the fake pages discovered are almost identical in terms of design, but the URL and the page code are unique every time and contain users’ personal records. If a victim decides to click any link in the article, they are taken to a bitcoin investment platform website, where their data, contained in the URL, would already be pre-filled in the registration form without a user’s consent. Later a victim would be asked to add to their account balance in BTC,” the researchers detailed. Bleepingcomputer noted that “targets can create an account and activate it for a modest fee of 0.03 BTC [$274].” According to the intelligence company, the source of the leak has not been established but the information has been provided to relevant authorities in the affected countries. What do you think about this bitcoin scam leaking people’s personal data? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Personal Data of 250,000 People From 20 Countries Leaked by Bitcoin Scam appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has a new president as Germany took over the presidency from China. The intergovernmental organization also highlighted the need for more guidance on cryptocurrencies as many countries have not yet fully implemented its revised crypto standards. Another review has also been announced. Germany Now Leads FATF The FATF has a new president, Dr. Marcus Pleyer of Germany, who succeeded Xiangmin Liu of China. Pleyer serves as Deputy Director General in Germany’s Ministry of Finance. His two-year term as the president of the anti-money laundering watchdog began on June 1. Pleyer presented his objectives at the lastest FATF virtual plenary, which took place on June 24 and published on Wednesday. Regarding the organization’s “new standards on virtual assets,” he declared: “The German Presidency intends to build on this work, focusing on the opportunities that technology can offer, by launching an initiative to monitor risks and explore opportunities.” Compared to China, Germany is much more crypto-friendly; the country began regulating the industry early this year and at least 40 banks in the country have reportedly expressed interest in offering crypto services. At the plenary, the FATF also revealed the outcome of the 12-month review it conducted on how each country implemented its new cryptocurrency standards. Overall, “both the public and private sectors have made progress in implementing the revised FATF standards, in particular in the development of technological solutions to enable the implementation of the ‘travel rule’ for VASPs [virtual asset service providers],” the intergovernmental organization detailed. While insisting that there is currently no need for revised standards on crypto assets, the FATF “did highlight the need for further guidance on virtual assets and VASPs.” The FATF believes, “This will help members of the FATF global network, many of whom have not yet fully implemented the revised standards, to make the necessary progress,” noting: The FATF will continue its enhanced monitoring of virtual assets and VASPs by undertaking a second 12 month review by June 2021. The subject of stablecoins was also discussed at the plenary, “particularly those that have the potential to be mass-adopted,” often referred to by regulators as “global stablecoins.” An example of a global stablecoin is the cryptocurrency libra, originally proposed by social media giant Facebook. The FATF has prepared a report on global stablecoins for the G20 as requested. The anti-money laundering watchdog believes that global stablecoins “could potentially cause a shift in the virtual asset ecosystem and have implications for money laundering and terrorist financing risks.” The FATF further confirmed that its crypto standards apply to stablecoins and no amendments to the standards are required at this time. Nonetheless, it recognizes that “this is a rapidly evolving area and that it is essential to continue to closely monitor the ML/TF [money laundering/terrorism financing] risks of so-called stablecoins, including anonymous peer-to-peer transactions via unhosted wallets.” What do you think about the FATF imposing its standards on the crypto industry? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Germany Takes Over FATF Presidency With New Guidance on Crypto Standards appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

More than 2,500 merchants in Austria can accept three types of cryptocurrencies via the payment processor Salamantex. The company explained that the system was tested with a number of select A1 5Gi network shops. Since the Covid-19 outbreak, contactless payments have been trending more so than they ever were before. There are a number of traditional services that remove cash from the equation, but cryptocurrencies also provide the same ends except the means are decentralized. This week the Austrian payment processor Salamantex announced that 2,500 merchants in the country will be able to support three different crypto assets via the system. The three supported assets include ethereum (ETH) dash (DASH) and bitcoin (BTC). “Owners of [cryptocurrencies like] bitcoin and dash can be excited. From this summer on, they can spend their coins at more than 2,500 merchants using [the] A1 Payment service – provided the merchant has activated the feature,” Salamantex wrote. The Salamantex team also mentioned how Austrians really like cash, but Covid-19 has changed that trend a great deal. Before the coronavirus outbreak, Austrians were extremely proud of cash and this was reflected in a large poll during the parliamentary election in late September 2019. One young Austrian woman interviewed during the poll said she liked cash because “you don’t leave a trace.” “Although Austria is traditionally a country with a high affinity for cash, the last few months have led to a mind shift after people were called upon by the government and retailers to primarily switch to cashless payment transactions as far as possible,” the Salamantex announcement detailed. The company added: With the integration of the Salamantex service software into the complete A1 payment package, Austrian retailers can now offer another payment option and thereby accept common cryptocurrencies. Crypto assets have seen wider adoption in recent weeks, as news.Bitcoin.com recently reported on the Australia Post providing bitcoin (BTC) purchases via Bitcoin.com.au. Further, Centrapay revealed 2,000 Coca-Cola brand vending machines in Australia and New Zealand that now support BTC payments. Salamantex COO, Markus Pejacsevich is trying to usher in the same type of crypto payment adoption in Austria. “Our goal is to make paying with digital currencies at the checkout as easy and natural as we have been used to with credit cards for decades,” Pejacsevich said. “The acceptance of cryptocurrencies opens up new affluent customer groups and enables merchants to position themselves as pioneers in their industry.” What do you think about the crypto payment accessibility for 2,500 Austrian merchants via Salamantex? Let us know what you think in the comments section below. The post Over 2,500 Austrian Merchants Can Now Accept Cryptocurrency Payments appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Governments of the Industrial World, you weary giants of flesh and steel, I come from Cyberspace, the new home of Mind. On behalf of the future, I ask you of the past to leave us alone. You are not welcome among us. You have no sovereignty where we gather. The following letter was published publicly on the internet on February 8, 1996. John Perry Barlow founded the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and wrote the letter of declaration in response to the U.S. Telecommunications Act of 1996. Barlow’s “A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace” 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 article. We have no elected government, nor are we likely to have one, so I address you with no greater authority than that with which liberty itself always speaks. I declare the global social space we are building to be naturally independent of the tyrannies you seek to impose on us. You have no moral right to rule us nor do you possess any methods of enforcement we have true reason to fear. Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. You have neither solicited nor received ours. We did not invite you. You do not know us, nor do you know our world. Cyberspace does not lie within your borders. Do not think that you can build it, as though it were a public construction project. You cannot. It is an act of nature and it grows itself through our collective actions. You have not engaged in our great and gathering conversation, nor did you create the wealth of our marketplaces. You do not know our culture, our ethics, or the unwritten codes that already provide our society more order than could be obtained by any of your impositions. You claim there are problems among us that you need to solve. You use this claim as an excuse to invade our precincts. Many of these problems don’t exist. Where there are real conflicts, where there are wrongs, we will identify them and address them by our means. We are forming our own Social Contract. This governance will arise according to the conditions of our world, not yours. Our world is different. Cyberspace consists of transactions, relationships, and thought itself, arrayed like a standing wave in the web of our communications. Ours is a world that is both everywhere and nowhere, but it is not where bodies live. We are creating a world that all may enter without privilege or prejudice accorded by race, economic power, military force, or station of birth. We are creating a world where anyone, anywhere may express his or her beliefs, no matter how singular, without fear of being coerced into silence or conformity. Your legal concepts of property, expression, identity, movement, and context do not apply to us. They are all based on matter, and there is no matter here. Our identities have no bodies, so, unlike you, we cannot obtain order by physical coercion. We believe that from ethics, enlightened self-interest, and the commonweal, our governance will emerge. Our identities may be distributed across many of your jurisdictions. The only law that all our constituent cultures would generally recognize is the Golden Rule. We hope we will be able to build our particular solutions on that basis. But we cannot accept the solutions you are attempting to impose. In the United States, you have today created a law, the Telecommunications Reform Act, which repudiates your own Constitution and insults the dreams of Jefferson, Washington, Mill, Madison, DeToqueville, and Brandeis. These dreams must now be born anew in us. You are terrified of your own children, since they are natives in a world where you will always be immigrants. Because you fear them, you entrust your bureaucracies with the parental responsibilities you are too cowardly to confront yourselves. In our world, all the sentiments and expressions of humanity, from the debasing to the angelic, are parts of a seamless whole, the global conversation of bits. We cannot separate the air that chokes from the air upon which wings beat. In China, Germany, France, Russia, Singapore, Italy, and the United States, you are trying to ward off the virus of liberty by erecting guard posts at the frontiers of Cyberspace. These may keep out the contagion for a small time, but they will not work in a world that will soon be blanketed in bit-bearing media. Your increasingly obsolete information industries would perpetuate themselves by proposing laws, in America and elsewhere, that claim to own speech itself throughout the world. These laws would declare ideas to be another industrial product, no more noble than pig iron. In our world, whatever the human mind may create can be reproduced and distributed infinitely at no cost. The global conveyance of thought no longer requires your factories to accomplish. These increasingly hostile and colonial measures place us in the same position as those previous lovers of freedom and self-determination who had to reject the authorities of distant, uninformed powers. We must declare our virtual selves immune to your sovereignty, even as we continue to consent to your rule over our bodies. We will spread ourselves across the Planet so that no one can arrest our thoughts. We will create a civilization of the Mind in Cyberspace. May it be more humane and fair than the world your governments have made before. Davos, Switzerland John Perry Barlow, February 8, 1996 What do you think about John Perry Barlow’s Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace? Let us know in the comments section below. The post John Perry Barlow: A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The United States tax agency has published a request for information pertaining to privacy-centric cryptocurrencies and technologies that obfuscate crypto transactions. The IRS-CI Cyber Crimes Unit request is also asking for information in relation to “layer two offchain protocol networks, sidechains, and the Schnorr Signature algorithm.” A recently published IRS-CI Cyber Crimes Unit request that’s available for public viewing is requesting information from “industry partners” in regards to crypto assets that leverage privacy techniques and other types of protocols that hide transaction data. The Request for Information (RFI) was published on June 30, 2020, and the RFI is dubbed “Pilot IRS Cryptocurrency Tracing.” The IRS-CI request states: This RFI is associated with a pilot IRS Criminal Investigation Division (CI) program. CI Cyber Crimes is requesting information about systems that will allow developers and testers to conduct investigative research of distributed ledger transactions involving privacy cryptocurrency coins. The privacy-centric crypto tokens mentioned in the IRS-CI request include “monero (XMR), zcash (ZEC), dash (DASH), grin (GRIN), komodo (KMD), verge (XVG), and horizon (ZEN). Alongside this, the IRS wants data concerning offchain networks and sidechains like “Lightning Network (LN), Raiden Network, Celer Network, Plasma, Omisego,” and coins that have integrated the Schnorr Signature algorithm like bitcoin cash (BCH). The United States tax agency says the entity currently has little knowledge of these protocols and is looking to build its expertise. The IRS would also like to leverage applications that allow them to investigate these privacy tools and coins. “Acquiring applications to allow an investigation to more easily trace privacy coins and other protocols that provide anonymity to illicit actors would allow investigations to be more effective, as well as facilitate a higher level of deterrence by making it harder to conceal criminal activity. It also provides an investigative efficiency that is currently limited,” the IRS request notes. Similarly, there are only a “few investigative resources” that allow investigators to intercept or trace transactions involving “Layer 2 network protocol transactions [and] sidechain ledgers.” Including “distributed ledgers that are adopting signature algorithms that provide privacy to illicit actors.” The IRS notes in the request that the use of privacy coins and offchain/sidchain networks are “becoming more popular for general use.” But also the tax agency is “seeing an increase in use by illicit actors.” What do you think about the recently published IRS-CI Cyber Crimes Unit request? Let us know in the comments section below. The post The IRS Investigation Division Is Requesting Information About Privacy-Centric Cryptocurrencies appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

According to a number of crypto prediction markets and futures, Trump will still win the election in 123 days, but his chances have lessened a great deal. No matter who wins, however, the large sums of money flowing into these wager platforms indicate that people love to bet on election outcomes. It’s been roughly four months since the start of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States and it has shaken the country to its core. How the government dealt with the Covid-19 situation is an extremely controversial subject and many Americans have lost respect for U.S. President Donald Trump since the crisis. American citizens always argue about politics and the two-party system and the 2020 election cycle is no different for many U.S. citizens. At the time of publication, the public knows that the incumbent President, Donald Trump, will presumptively be presented as the leader in 52 days. The public is also aware that former Vice President for the Obama administration, Joe Biden, will also likely be presented as the Democrats leader at the national convention in 45 days. A lot of people think that the two choices from the Democrat and Republican parties are horrible this election cycle but many Americans are not aware of third-party candidates. The FTX futures contract called “TRUMP” is the only prediction market that shows Donald Trump might not win. His chances changed a great deal since the first week of February, and the FTX market today shows a 40% chance of winning. Wagers on Betfair and Augur, however, show that Trump is clearly in the lead as far as betting is concerned. During the first week of February, news.Bitcoin.com reported on cryptocurrency futures and prediction markets which indicated at the time that Trump will win the U.S. 2020 presidential election. That week in February, a token called TRUMP was released in order to represent a futures agreement. Basically TRUMP is a futures contract on FTX,” the exchange FTX noted. “[The token] expires to $1 if Donald Trump wins the 2020 US presidential general election, and $0 otherwise.” At that time, the trading platform FTX had shown the futures token was swapping for $0.62 per coin. That price per token means that Donald Trump had a 62% chance of winning the 2020 election. Now, after the Covid-19 fiasco, the FTX futures token based on Donald Trump is trading for much less. At the time of publication, TRUMP is swapping for $0.40 per token which means traders think that Trump could lose the 2020 election. There is also a great number of people betting on the 2020 election via Betfair. Betfair is a popular betting platform and users who want to leverage bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrency payments need to use the Neteller option. Looking at the Betfair stats for the “USA – Presidential Election 2020 – Next President” wagers shows Trump has better odds than Biden. There’s roughly, $43,000+ in wagers on the Betfair website at the time of publication and Biden and Trump are the top two choices. Data from the web portal predictions.global shows the prediction marketplace Augur and the future 2020 election outcome predictions stemming from that platform. During the last few weeks, people are still not sure that Joe Biden will be the Democratic party nominee. Despite the fact that Biden has 2,144 delegates people still think it is questionable. The Augur prediction market thinks there’s a 25% chance it could be someone else other than the presumptive Democratic nominee. The same question is asked about Donald Trump being the Republican nominee and the wisdom of the crowd is 95% sure it will be Trump. Similarly to our last report on cryptocurrency futures and prediction markets betting on the 2020 election, the Augur-based prediction market question called “Will Donald J. Trump be elected and inaugurated as President of the United States” is the same. Currently, 55% of Augur’s wisdom of the crowd says that Trump will win and be inaugurated. Augur shows other questions that could make it difficult for Trump if the predictions come to fruition. One question asks if Trump will be impeached before the end of his first term and 50% of the answers think yes. Another question asks if the House of Representatives would impeach Trump and 44% think that the group could. Augur stats also show that 29% of the prediction marketplace users think Kamala Harris could be the Democratic party nominee for President in the 2020 election. What do you think about the cryptocurrency futures and prediction markets betting on the 2020 election? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Despite Covid-19 Negativity, Crypto Prediction Markets Say Trump Wins the 2020 Election appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Arcane Crypto, a Norway-based investment company, said Thursday that it is planning to go public through a reverse takeover by Vertical Ventures, a publicly traded Swedish firm. Vertical Ventures will buy Arcane Crypto for $33 million by issuing over 6.6 billion new shares. Each share cost $0.005 or half a cent, according to a statement released by the company on July 2. Once the merger is completed, Arcane, which operates Arcane Research, will be listed on Nasdaq First North Growth Market, where Vertical Ventures currently trades. Owners of Arcane will own 92.5% of the shares in the merged entity while the remainder goes to Vertical Ventures. Both companies have signed a letter of intent pending finalization of the transaction, which is expected to be completed in the second half of 2020. Shareholders and Nasdaq North will have to approve the deal first. Torbjørn Bull Jenssen, chief executive officer of Arcane Crypto, said listing creates “massive potential” and “interesting opportunities” for the digital asset firm. “By going public we will expand our toolbox and position our self for further growth. In addition, our ecosystem approach and infrastructure focus will benefit from the opening up to a wider investor Base, ” said Jenssen. A reverse takeover or reverse merger involves the acquisition of a public company by a private company. Some private firms prefer this route of going public because it eliminates the long and complex process of stock exchange listing associated with an initial public offering. Arcane is made up of six business units, including cryptocurrency payment technology, crypto and digital assets liquidity provision, crypto-fiat exchange as well as a hedge fund. Shares of Vertical Ventures soared by as much as 50% as the reverse merger news filtered through on Thursday, but the stock is down 13.8% in early morning trading Friday. What do you think about Arcane Crypto’s listing plans? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Investment Firm Arcane Crypto to Go Public via $33 Million Reverse Merger appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A number of cryptocurrency proponents have been discussing the stablecoin DAI this week, as the DAI allegedly held on the Compound platform is much larger than what is recorded in circulation. At press time, Compound statistics show there’s $523 million worth of DAI held in reserves, while the web portal daistats.com shows there’s only 160 million DAI in circulation. There seems to be another mystery in the world of decentralized finance (defi) again as the crypto community is now discussing the stablecoin DAI and the algorithmic money market protocol Compound. Essentially, the Compound platform allows users to earn interest or borrow assets against collateral by leveraging a myriad of crypto assets. The platform is a well known tool and the stablecoin DAI is the most popular asset on the market today. According to stats on the compound. finance markets detail page, there is $523 million worth of DAI held in reserves. In fact, the market overview of the compound.finance total supply is $1.3 billion to-date. That specific data metric includes all the tokens that are leveraged on the Compound platform. However, looking at the website daistats.com shows there is only 160 million DAI in circulation. This has caused many defi proponents and the crypto community, in general, to start theorizing on why there is more DAI allegedly held in reserves on Compound, than what’s ostensibly minted in the real world. A number of people on Twitter started making fun of defi projects and specifically criticized Compound, DAI, and Maker proponents. In the official Maker Chat governance channel, one individual said: “This whole thing is just a little frustrating — Compound is not being a good actor right now.” Other’s discussed whether or not there is a major issue with farmers, farming yields, and market makers. Just recently, the Compound project introduced a new governance proposal that affected “yield farming.” On Twitter, some people discussed an ostensible issuance loophole that could grow the DAI held on Compound infinitely, while others didn’t believe it was possible. “This doesn’t seem [like a] possible/error. I don’t believe you can borrow DAI against a collateral of DAI…can you?” an individual asked. One person responded: “Yeah you can, check out Instadapp. You can do it easily via the [Compound Finance] UI if you buy cToken of w/e too.” Another person confirmed the fact that it is entirely possible to borrow DAI against a collateral of DAI. Whatever the case may be, in the defi world there is trouble in paradise once again. In the Maker governance chat, some people thought that simply changing the interest rate lower on another stablecoin like USDC would solve the issues Compound is dealing with at the moment. However, some people thought that a decision like that would be tricky and cause yield farmers to move to other assets. “I mean what is a few hundred million DAI backed by a few hundred million worth of cDAI between friends,” another individual discussing the DAI/Compound situation remarked. A concerned individual on Twitter wrote: “DAI will skyrocket above peg – that means the debt value will increase accordingly, [and] that’s dangerous for my collateralization. Many farmers will get rekt on Compound.” What do you think about the discrepancy between DAI in circulation and what’s held on Compound? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Trouble in Defi Paradise: Compound-Issued DAI Surpasses DAI in Circulation appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The UK is denying Nicolas Maduro access to Venezuela’s gold worth about $1 billion, stored at the Bank of England. The UK High Court has ruled that the country does not recognize Maduro as president of Venezuela, blocking him from accessing the much-needed gold. England Denies Maduro Access to Venezuela’s Gold Nicolas Maduro’s attempt to access his country’s gold stored at the Bank of England has been dealt a blow as the U.K. High Court ruled against him on Thursday, blocking his government’s access to $1 billion in gold reserves. The gold has been claimed by both Maduro and his rival, Juan Guaidó, who declared himself acting president of Venezuela last year. The Maduro government said the gold would help Venezuela cope with the coronavirus pandemic. However, Guaido alleges that Maduro would use the gold for corrupt purposes, asking the Bank of England not to hand over the gold to the Maduro government. Venezuela’s central bank, Banco Central de Venezuela (BCV), had sued the Bank of England to gain access to the gold. According to its website, Britain’s central bank holds around 400,000 bars of gold, worth over £200 billion ($249 billion). Caught in the middle of two rival claims for the gold, the Bank of England asked the High Court to rule on whom the U.K. government recognizes as the Venezuelan president — Maduro or Guaidó. The court said Thursday that the U.K. had “unequivocally recognised opposition leader Juan Guaidó as president,” the BBC reported and quoted Judge Nigel Teare as saying: Her Majesty’s government does recognise Mr Guaidó in the capacity of the constitutional interim president of Venezuela and, it must follow, does not recognise Mr Maduro as the constitutional interim president of Venezuela. The judge added that there was “no room for recognition of Mr Guaidó as de jure president and of Mr Maduro as de facto president.” A lawyer for the Venezuelan central bank had argued that even though the U.K. government did not approve of the Maduro government, it still recognized it de facto. Lawyer Sarosh Zaiwalla commented, “It is very rare for a case of such international legal importance to be decided by reference to legal questions alone without taking into account the facts on the ground.” The Central Bank of Venezuela tweeted on Thursday: The BCV will immediately appeal the absurd and unusual decision of an English court that seeks to deprive the Venezuelan people of the gold so urgently needed to face covid-19. What do you think about the UK blocking Maduro’s access to Venezuela’s gold? Let us know in the comments section below. The post UK Court Denies Maduro Access to $1 Billion of Venezuela’s Gold appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Twitter and Square CEO, Jack Dorsey recently said “Africa will define the future (especially the Bitcoin one!)” But was he right? Crypto in Africa on the Rise Sad to be leaving the continent…for now. Africa will define the future (especially the bitcoin one!). Not sure where yet, but I’ll be living here for 3-6 months mid 2020. Grateful I was able to experience a small part. 🌍 pic.twitter.com/9VqgbhCXWd — jack (@jack) November 27, 2019 Earlier this year, Luno published The State of Crypto in Africa report in collaboration with Arcane Research. This was an attempt to understand where the future for crypto in Africa is headed. In this summary, we’ll highlight some of the key aspects of the research, including the catalysts for crypto adoption in Africa, obstacles to be overcome, and the latest trends. Crypto in Africa Despite being an incredibly diverse continent, African nations often share key similarities, ranging from socio-economic issues to a significant lack of infrastructure. The use of cryptocurrencies around the world has, to date, largely centred on investment, speculation and trading. This is not true of Africa, where applications for crypto and the scope of challenges it could help overcome vary far more. This makes it a fertile breeding ground for crypto. As the report notes that “Africa is one of, if not the most promising region for the adoption of cryptocurrencies. This is due to its unique combination of economic and demographic trends. While the overall adoption is relatively low, the potential is enormous, the growth is rapid, and the development is likely to become defining for the cryptocurrency industry going forward.” However, there’s currently a polarity to crypto adoption in Africa. On the one hand, researchers have identified high ownership rates in certain countries. Google Trend data indicates Uganda, Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya and Ghana all rank in the top 10 on the topic of cryptocurrency, which demonstrates the growing interest therein. South Africa actually ranked third-highest worldwide at 13% with Nigeria ranking 5th (11%) in a survey about crypto ownership. In terms of crypto infrastructure, though, it’s lagging behind. There’s still a distinct lack of nodes, mining operations and supporting merchants. Of the 10,267 Bitcoin nodes worldwide, just 20 (0.2%) are located in Africa. Furthermore, research from CoinShares indicates there’s almost no meaningful Bitcoin mining activity across Africa. Trading trends Trading volumes across non-P2P (peer to peer) exchanges indicate there is generally less than $10 million in daily trading volume across African currency pairs. Luno contributes to the majority of this volume. On the other hand, Africa accounts for a comparatively much larger share of the P2P trading market. Trading across Africa now accounts for more than 14% of LocalBitcoins’ and Paxful’s global weekly trading volumes, with activity focused in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa. These volumes have seen a significant boost in 2020, surpassing $10 million in weekly volume across the two platforms. Catalysts for adoption Africa’s underdeveloped crypto infrastructure aside, there are a number of major catalysts that could be conducive to widespread adoption over the next decade. Many of these are unique to the African continent, showcasing a remarkable opportunity for projects that are able to leverage the potential. Economic landscape: high inflation and financial instability The majority of African nations suffer from high inflation rates – historically much higher than the global average. This drastically undermines purchasing power and the potential for wealth-gain. Bitcoin’s inherently disinflationary monetary model and decentralised governance therefore poses an attractive alternative. In the same vein, many African countries suffer from depreciating and often volatile national currencies. For example, the South African Rand (ZAR) has lost over 50% of its value against the US Dollar, while also being one of the most volatile FX currencies. Political instability and capital control Most African nations suffer from vast political instability which exacerbates inflation and currency volatility. Data from the World Bank gives just nine of the 53 African nations with a positive score on the political instability index. Furthermore, 2019 registered the highest amount of civil conflicts since 1946. This type of vulnerability has an adverse knock-on effect on issues like forced migration, GDP collapse, and wealth confiscation. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are unique in that they combine the wealth preservation properties of hard assets, like gold and land, with the portability of digital currency, combined with an unparalleled degree of censorship resistance. These properties, in combination, make cryptocurrencies the ideal antidote to political chaos. Financial infrastructure The majority of Africa is underserved by traditional financial services. The number of commercial banks per 100,000 adults is 61% lower across Sub-Saharan Africa than the global average. As of 2018, 66% of those living in Sub-Saharan Africa had no access to a traditional bank account. Inadequate banking services and limited access inhibit entrepreneurship, business growth, lending and saving. These all work to drastically undermine economic development. Cryptocurrencies and decentralised finance (DeFi) are poised to take on the challenge of providing individuals with a safe place to store and interact with their money. Costly remittances and cross-border payments Cryptocurrencies offer a much easier and often cheaper alternative to remittance payments. Remittances below $200 to Sub-Saharan countries cost an average of about 9% compared to the global average of 6.8%. These exorbitant costs are a combination of an inefficient uncompetitive banking market and a reliance on legacy financial communications systems, such as SWIFT. Remittances are extremely important in Sub-Saharan Africa and make up a key component of economic income. It’s estimated that over 25 million people are expats from Sub-Saharan Africa as of 2017. This group remitted more than $48 billion in 2019. Digital and mobile trends Despite improvements to traditional finance infrastructure, more exponential growth would require significant investments. With almost 60% of the Sub-Saharan population living in rural areas, mobile and digital solutions are far more equipped to tackle issues to access. Unlike other regions, many African nations have leapfrogged traditional finance entirely, going straight to mobile banking. This trend is ideally suited to cryptocurrency adoption. Mobile payments M-Pesa’s success serves as one of the best examples of the growing dominance of mobile finance. Having debuted in 2007, it now has over 37 million active users, processing 11 billion transactions per year. 21% of Sub-Saharan Africans now use a mobile money service, with more users of mobile accounts than traditional bank accounts. A huge downside to mobile money services, though, is the hefty price tag with an average of 2% of a transaction’s total value. Crypto, on the other hand, offers far more competitive fees. Unlike mobile money solutions, which are generally operable on basic devices, most cryptocurrency wallets only work on smartphones. Even though Sub-Saharan Africa lags behind the global average in terms of smartphone usage, the adoption rate is rapidly growing. While there were 250 million smartphone connections in 2017, accounting for 34% of total phone connections, this is projected to increase to 690 million in 2025, with smartphones accounting for 67% of phone connections Obstacles to overcome Along with the powerful catalysts expected to drive crypto adoption, there are a number of major challenges to be overcome. Some of the most prevalent are inadequate internet coverage, competition from mobile money services and hostility from governments. Inadequate internet coverage Unlike mobile money services, most cryptocurrency wallets require internet connectivity to send and receive transactions. Only 39.9% of the African population have some form of internet access, compared to 62.9% across the rest of the globe. Seven African countries have internet penetration rates below 10%. A UN report recently estimated that a staggering $100 billion of further investment over the next 10 years to increase coverage to a reasonable standard. The lack of coverage can be attributed to a lack of infrastructure and resulting high costs. Sub-standard electricity supplies are additional contributing factors. Many African countries have dispersed populations, often with low average incomes, which means there’s less financial incentive for companies to invest in infrastructure development. This results in a vicious cycle of poor connectivity and economic underdevelopment. As a result, telecoms operators monopolise and collude on pricing, undermining African citizens. Across the continent, 1GB of data on average costs 7.12% of a person’s monthly salary, reaching as high as 20% in some nations. Satellites as a solution Over the past few years, the satellite industry has grown tremendously. Companies like SpaceX, Amazon, Viasat and OneWeb are building low-orbit satellite mega-constellations that aim to provide high-speed internet across the globe. These will be particularly handy in rural and remote regions. Sending BTC without internet There’s also an increasing focus on the transmission of crypto payments without internet connectivity. To date, Blockstream has been the pioneer in this area, creating a satellite network with global coverage that broadcasts the Bitcoin network for free. Blockstream joined forces with another decentralised communications company, goTenna, which allows users to transmit transactions without internet via its mesh network. It’s expected that satellite internet could compete with more traditional methods in the coming years. Poor electricity coverage Beyond internet connectivity issues, poor electricity coverage presents another roadblock. A jaw-dropping 57% of the population across the Sub-Saharan region still lacks access to electricity. Competition from mobile money providers The success mobile money services have enjoyed in Africa is a double-edged sword to crypto adoption. Adoption may struggle in the face of such dominance due to the business moats and network effects that have developed. However, these services have made users more comfortable with and accustomed to digital and mobile payment solutions, which could pave the way for alternative and more cost-effective solutions like cryptocurrency wallets. While mobile money services rely on a centralised business model to operate, extracting fees and revenue from customers, cryptocurrencies can compete with increased functionality minus the negligible costs. Although Bitcoin and Ethereum blockchains may not be as competitive, other options like Ripple, Bitcoin Cash and Stellar can offer on-chain transactions for far less. Second-layer solutions like the Lightning Network also have the potential to offer almost-free transactions. Mobile money solutions have an advantage in the breadth of services they offer (yield on deposits, insurance and loans) but developments in the DeFI space should allow crypto services some market share. Resistance from regulators The largest short-term hindrance for cryptocurrencies is unfavourable action from lawmakers and regulators. The legality of Bitcoin and other crypto varies significantly across Africa, with over 60% of African governments yet to clarify their position. North African countries have taken the most hostile positions, with Alergia, Libya and Morocco having all issued bans against the use of cryptocurrencies. The most common position, though, is one of caution. Countries like Kenya, Ghana and Zambia have advised discretion without actively banning them. Luno’s exchange Luno appears to be the most popular centralised exchange platform with over 4 million customers. Launched in 2013, Luno has regional African hubs in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Lagos and processes approximately $4.5 million per day on average in 2020, mostly in the South African market. This is reflected in the overview of Luno’s fiat-to-crypto volume, where 75% of the trading volume has been in South African Rand (ZAR) so far this year. Not only are the African countries dominating on Luno’s platform, a large portion of the users are also based in these countries (75%). Looking to the future By looking at cryptocurrencies not as an investment vehicle but as a global means of payment, it’s clear Africa is poised to embrace crypto as a solution to many of the persistent issues the continent faces. Most, if not all, obstacles to mass adoption can and will be overcome following investment in infrastructure and the creation of tangible applications that address issues unique to the African continent. Education is an incredibly important aspect of the cryptocurrency space. If any new technology is to be adopted, users need to be empowered with the knowledge to make sound financial decisions for themselves. While the technological and economic benefits are there, without direct action and a firm grasp on the potentials, regulators and citizens alike won’t be equipped to adopt crypto in any meaningful way. This is a sponsored post. Learn more on how to reach our audience here. Read dislaimer below. The post Crypto Use-Cases in Africa on the Rise, According to Luno appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A Russian district court has dismissed bitcoin theft as a crime since cryptocurrency is not regulated in Russia and there is no legal status for bitcoin. The accused were found guilty, sentenced to prison, and ordered to return only the fiat money stolen — not cryptocurrencies. St. Petersburg’s Petrogradsky District Court has announced the verdict in a theft case involving bitcoin filed in December, the joint press service of the judicial system of St. Petersburg announced on Tuesday. The two accused, Peter Piron and Yevgeny Prigozhin, disguised as officers of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) in 2018, forced the plaintiff to transfer cash and cryptocurrencies to them. Under the threat of torture, the cryptocurrency owner transferred five million rubles and cryptocurrencies, including 99.7035 bitcoins. The BTC was worth more than 48 million rubles ($680,640) based on the exchange rate on June 3, 2018, the court announcement details. Currently, this amount of BTC is worth about $908,024. The other cryptocurrencies amounted to approximately 7 million rubles, bringing the total loss suffered by the plaintiff to more than 60 million rubles. The victim sought the return of all properties stolen. The court admitted that cryptocurrencies were transferred to the accused under threat. However, citing information from the central bank, the Bank of Russia, and the criminal code, the court concluded: Cryptocurrency [theft] is not a crime against property. Due to the lack of legal status, it is not possible to recognize it as an object of civil law. “This type of virtual money does not fall into any category and is not a recognized means of payment in the territory of the Russian Federation. The legislator has assigned it to surrogates of funds,” the court added. Prigozhin was sentenced to eight years and Prion 10 years in a maximum-security prison. They have also been ordered to return the five million rubles, but the cryptocurrencies worth 55 million rubles at the time of the theft were excluded from the verdict. Russia still has no cryptocurrency regulation even though a bill on digital financial assets was submitted to the State Duma back in March 2018. Recently, a bill was proposed to outlaw cryptocurrencies with a jail term, but several ministries do not support this bill. What do you think about this Russian court’s decision regarding crypto? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Russian Court: Bitcoin Theft Not a Crime appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The bitcoin ASIC mining rig manufacturer, Ebang International Holdings, was recently listed on Nasdaq last Friday on June 26. Ebang is now the second mining rig manufacturer to have a U.S. initial public offering (IPO) by selling company shares. Since the initial sale on opening day, Ebang’s Nasdaq-listed “EBON” is down 11.5%. So far, the Nasdaq shares dubbed “EBON” haven’t changed too much in price and since the IPO launch. This week Ebang also revealed it is launching an offshore crypto exchange later this year. The firm Ebang International Holdings is an ASIC mining rig manufacturer that specializes in fabricating bitcoin miners. Last Friday, on June 26, the company joined its mining rig manufacturing competitor Canaan on the Nasdaq stock exchange. The launch of NASDAQ: EBON on Friday, saw 19.3 million shares offered and the firm raised $101 million. On June 26, at 12 p.m. ET, EBON stocks on Nasdaq opened at $4.85 and by 4 p.m. ET, it was up to $5. However, since then EBON is currently trading at $4.29 on July 2, 2020, suffering a loss of -11.5% since the opening price on Friday. At the time of publication, 24-hour stats show the price of EBON is up 0.33% on Thursday. So far Ebang is doing much better than Canaan Creative’s initial IPO run, which saw the company raise less on opening day selling only $90 million. Canaan (NASDAQ: CAN) initially sold for $8.99 and today it is trading for $1.88. This means since Canaan launched on CAN on November 21, the Nasdaq listing lost -79% since opening day. Of course, Ebang’s IPO is much newer and Canaan’s stock has been listed on Nasdaq for months. Despite the fact that both ASIC mining manufacturers are listed on Nasdaq, Ebang wholeheartedly thinks they are separate from the competition. “According to public information disclosed by Canaan Inc., its key development direction is focusing on [artificial intelligence] AI,” an Ebang representative told the press this week. “Although we are peers in bitcoin mining machine industry, Ebang focuses on the blockchain industry chain, integrating the digital economy industrial ecosystem,” the representative added. Additionally, Ebang says it plans to create more revenue by launching an offshore exchange. Ebang’s chief financial officer (CFO), Chen Lei, told Bloomberg that the exchange will likely double the company’s revenue. Chen said that the company, at the very least, expects to hit that target by 2022. Moreover, the CFO explained that Ebang is going to draw in sales from other nation-states. The interview with Chen Lei highlights that 90% of Ebang sales stem from mainland China, while the rest are being sold in other countries. What do you think about Ebang’s IPO launch last Friday and the exchange announcement? Let us know what you think in the comments section below. The post Mining Company Ebang’s Stock Listed on Nasdaq Down 11%, Firm Plans to Launch Offshore Exchange appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A recent report from ZUBR Research explains that by 2028, retail demand for bitcoin will exceed the new supply. The report highlights that in eight years as Bitcoin’s supply rate decreases “retail size addresses [will] begin to eat up all the new supply alone.” Even the next halving in 2024 could see retail accounting for acquiring 50% of the bitcoins in circulation. Not too long ago, cryptocurrency proponents witnessed the Bitcoin (BTC) network’s third halving, which cut the block reward by 50% on May 11, 2020. Just before the third BTC halving, the active supply issuance or inflation rate was around 3.8%. Today that number is steadily dropping and at the time of publication, BTC’s inflation rate is 3.51%. On June 29, a research report published by ZUBR Research details that in eight years, retail demand will outshine the rate of issuance by a long shot. The study called “Retail Investors Steady in Physical Bitcoin Snatch-Up” explains how the BTC network has entered the “next reward era.” “With 90% of all Bitcoins already mined, the remaining supply is estimated to take nearly 120 years to come to market,” ZUBR wrote. “This figure – the remaining 10% taking another 120 years – shows just how scarce the cryptocurrency already.” In time one of the great burdens will be liquidity and “physical Bitcoins become harder to come by.” The researcher’s findings also indicate that Covid-19 gave crypto proponents a glimpse at some potential scenarios. ZUBR Research also discussed the question of whether Bitcoin is a better version of gold or not. The study says that investors will have to weigh this decision as “demand has moved in decline for gold further extending that gap available on the market” during the Covid-19 crisis. “No doubt, Bitcoin saw strong demand in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The demand was similarly witnessed for gold,” the report highlights. ZUBR researchers add: There is a very critical difference to gold, however. Bitcoin supply constraints will not be a result caused by black swan events (such as the global COVID-19 lockdown that shut-in mines), but the permanent perpetual nature of the store-of-value cryptocurrency that is designed to cut off new supply. The study notes that the researchers leveraged data from the analytics firm Chainalysis. ZUBR predicts that retail demand will continue to grow this year and by 2028 the demand will be far greater than issuance. Just like with gold markets, the demand for bitcoin while remaining scarce could send the price of BTC sky high. The next halving will sill a lot of retail and investor demand but the fifth halving will be uncontrollable buying pressure. “Extrapolating future demand at this pace points to a very dramatic shift in 2028 when Bitcoin’s supply rate further decreases and these retail size addresses begin to eat up all the new supply alone,” ZUBR estimates. “By the time the next reward era comes around in 2024, retail could potentially account for eating up over 50% of the physical supply,” the researchers added. The paper concludes by stressing: With retail [investors] gunning hard, these supply constraints might come sooner rather than later should growth in demand from smaller investors remain as steady as it has in the past half-decade. What do you think about the theory that retail demand will outshine bitcoin issuance in eight years? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post Demand for Bitcoin Will See a Dramatic Shift in 8 Years – Retail Addresses to Eat up Entire New Supply appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

During the last few days, a number of cryptocurrency supporters have been discussing Paul Sztorc’s Drivechain project, also referred to as “Drivenet.” The Drivechain project has been a work in progress for years now, and just recently Sztorc published a new version of the Drivenet software. On June 29, the Bitcoin proponent John Light tweeted “Running Drivenet” on Twitter, letting the public know about the application’s “important benefits.” During the last five years scaling concepts, offchain networks like Lightning, and sidechains have been both hot and controversial topics. This week, a number of bitcoiners have been discussing Paul Sztorc’s Drivechain and the platform Drivenet. The Bitcoin supporter, John Light, tweeted about Drivenet on Wednesday. Similarly to Hal Finney’s 2009 tweet that said: “Running Bitcoin,” Light tweeted: Running drivenet — John Light (@lightcoin) June 29, 2020 Light detailed how he synced the platform and obtained testnet tokens from a faucet. He then sent some coins to a sidechain and after syncing up his sidechain node, the deposit confirmed. Following the confirmed deposit, Light decided to send some coins to a second sidechain, which also confirmed. “This is where the magic happens: withdrawing funds from the sidechain back to the mainchain,” Light wrote. “My withdrawal [transaction] has been included in a bundle of sidechain [transactions] waiting to get transferred to the specified addresses on the mainchain. If mainchain miners ‘upvote’ this bundle in 140 of the next 300 blocks, the transfer will complete. Currently at 27/140 upvotes required. Mainchain status: Spent. [The] Sidechain withdrawal went through. Thank you testnet miners for not censoring or stealing my coins,” Light tweeted. The Bitcoin proponent further tweeted: To recap: I sent some testnet coins from a modified bitcoin testnet to a Drivechain-based sidechain. I sent some sidecoins to myself. I withdrew the sidecoins back to my mainchain address for a full round trip. This is very exciting to me. When Drivechain mainnet? Drivechain has been a popular project for quite some time, and many developers have been working in stealth mode messing around with the Drivenet software. The developers have a lively Telegram chat channel, where Sztorc and many others test and discuss the Drivechain project. Sztorc released a new version of Drivenet on June 23, 2020. “A new version Drivenet. (Mainchain v33, Sidechain v06) has been released,” Sztorc tweeted. “Sidechain mining now just involves clicking a button, there’s also a really nice “Withdrawal Explorer” GUI now, [and] tons of UX and sidechain withdrawal-logic improvements.” People who are interested in Drivechain can read about the project’s specifications and accompanying literature at the project’s web portal drivechain.info. After John Light told his 8,900 Twitter followers that he was running Drivenet, an individual asked Light “What sorts of use cases and benefits do you foresee for Drivechain as opposed to Lightning?” Light responded and said that’s a “good question.” “[In my opinion] Drivechains have three important benefits vs [Lightning Network]: No hot wallet requirement, no channel limitations, and not constrained in functionality by mainchain consensus rules. One use case I am excited to see is a zcash-like fully encrypted sidechain using Drivechain,” Light said. During the last few months, bitcoiners have noticed that Ethereum has dominated as Bitcoin’s (BTC) main sidechain. Despite trust model debates, there is no denying Ethereum’s current role and the number of synthetic bitcoins being transferred and stored within the chain. Additionally, the federated sidechain deployed by Blockstream has been a controversial topic in recent days too. The reason for the contention about Bloskstream’s Liquid sidechain, is because the founder of the Summa project, James Prestwich, explained on Twitter that the emergency 2-of-3 controlled 870 bitcoin “violates Liquid’s security model.” What do you think about the Drivechain project? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post ‘Running Drivenet:’ Bitcoin Proponent Discusses the Benefits of Drivechain Versus Lightning Network appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Peer-to-peer (P2P) crypto exchange Localbitcoins has reported that 2019 revenue rose 10% to $29.6 million from $27 million a year ago. For the year, operating income fell 6% to $19.9 million from $21.2 million the year before. Localbitcoins did not provide detail about net profit. 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, it stated. But stricter know-your-customer (KYC) requirements implemented in the last half of the year drove away some customers, both new and existing. During the review period, the P2P exchange noted that the number of active users on the platform totaled 913,000. Chief executive officer Sebastian Sonntag commented: 2019 was an invaluable learning experience for us, as we implemented anti-money laundering and know-your-customer regulations…undesired activity was driven away from the platform and the implementation of KYC itself was a challenging process. Sonntag expects that new users will continue joining the exchange in 2020. So far this year, new daily sign-ups have climbed 50% to 6,000 currently. In January, the figure averaged 4,000. Localbitcoins has this year given up market share to competitor Paxful. According to data from Useful Tulips, Paxful became the top P2P exchange by trade volume last month, with about $25 million worth of bitcoin traded on the platform every week. What do you think about Localbitcoins’ 2019 earnings? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Localbitcoins 2019 Revenue Rises 10% to $29.6 Million Amid Increased Paxful Competition appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Governments in nearly 100 countries have been sharing offshore bank account information in an effort to crack down on tax evasion. Their “Automatic exchange of information” has led to uncovering 10 trillion euros ($11 trillion) in offshore assets in 84 million bank accounts. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said on Tuesday that the international community continues making progress against offshore tax evasion. The group revealed: Nearly 100 countries carried out automatic exchange of information in 2019, enabling their tax authorities to obtain data on 84 million financial accounts held offshore by their residents, covering total assets of EUR 10 trillion. Governments began sharing offshore bank information in 2018, the OECD noted, adding that information on 47 million bank accounts was exchanged at that time, representing 5 trillion euros. The significant growth from 5 trillion to 10 trillion euros this year “stems from an increase in the number of jurisdictions receiving information as well as a wider scope of information exchanged,” the Paris-based international organization explained. OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría believes that “Automatic exchange of information is a game-changer,” adding that “The discovery of previously hidden accounts thanks to automatic exchange of information has and will lead to billions in additional tax revenues.” The Tax Justice Network has estimated that governments lose $189 billion a year from $21–32 trillion in offshore accounts of private wealth while the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates tax evasion to be approximately $12 trillion a year globally. The June edition of the Crypto Research Report lists “offshore deposits” among the main use cases of cryptocurrencies, echoing the finding outlined a report prepared by the Satis Group. The Satis report estimates: Cryptocurrencies will penetrate approximately 91% of the offshore deposits market during the next decade. The group further estimated that the offshore deposit market will grow “because of capital controls, national debt, unpopular fiscal policy, and debasement of national fiat currencies.” What do you think about governments sharing bank information? Let us know in the comments section below. The post $11 Trillion Offshore Assets Uncovered After 100 Countries Share Information on 84 Million Bank Accounts appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article