roadrunner

Hundreds of customers went on a withdrawal spree after an Indian bank announced its revised KYC requirements. The bank’s action followed the decision by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to include the National Population Register letter as a valid KYC document for opening bank accounts. Customers are worried their funds could be frozen. Also read: Regulatory Roundup — New US Crypto Tax Bill, Central Banks Join Forces on Digital Currencies Customers on Withdrawal Spree Customers of the Central Bank of India’s Kayalpattinam branch in the state of Tamil Nadu have been on a “panic withdrawal” spree after the bank issued a notice in a local newspaper regarding its revised know-your-customer (KYC) requirements, local media reported on Jan. 23. The Central Bank of India, a government-owned bank, is one of the oldest and largest commercial banks in India. The notice, posted on Jan. 11, states that a letter from the National Population Register (NPR) will be made a valid document as part of the bank’s KYC process. Panic ensued as many people oppose the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the National Register of Citizens (NRC), as well as the NPR. Many customers reportedly said they are scared that their money could be blocked. An officer of the bank told NDTV on Wednesday that “Normally we would have a withdrawal of around 25 lakh [2.5 million] every day,” adding: Now this has shot up by six times. People are just leaving minimum balance in their accounts. The Indian Express reported on Thursday that soon after the notice, “Hundreds of customers in Kayalpattinam village, many of them belonging to the Muslim community, reached the bank branch to withdraw their money.” A bank official said similar reports are coming from branches in many places. According to the Siasat publication, the documents mentioned in the bank’s notice were the PAN card, passport, voter identity card, driving license, National Rural Employment Guarantee Act card, Aadhaar and NPR letter. The notice further states that the accounts of the persons who failed to submit documents would be frozen, but does not mention whether the customers have to submit all the documents or any one of them. Optional but Customers Won’t Listen Following mass withdrawals, the bank sent out another notice on Jan. 19 to clarify that the NPR letter is optional and customers can choose to submit it or other KYC documents. The bank further claims that its earlier announcement was a mistake. However, local media reported that confusion prevailed and customers continued their “cash withdrawal spree.” “We approached community leaders and Jamaat committees of Kayalpattinam to convince our customers as a large amount was withdrawn in less than three days,” an official of the bank told the Indian Express. “We do not even know if we could convince all customers and get them back to our branch.” Noting that most of the branch’s customers are Muslim and many of them have withdrawn almost their entire savings, he said: Customers were not listening to our words. The panic was so much that even community elders had to struggle to convince them. A government employee and customer of the bank told the news outlet that nearly all customers of the branch had panicked. She was quoted by the publication as saying: Since we had the experience of demonetisation that forced us to stand in the queue for so many days, every customer who was panicked reached the bank. Bank officials were helpless as they couldn’t convince us why RBI included NPR in the list before it is even updated in most states. According to local media, some customers withdrew due to the KYC notice confusion while others did it as a mark of protest against the NRC and the NPR. RBI’s Decision to Include NPR Letter for KYC The bank’s notice followed the decision by the RBI to include the NPR letter as a valid KYC document. According to the “Master Direction” for KYC posted on the RBI website, updated on Jan. 9, “‘Officially Valid Document’ (OVD) means the passport, the driving license, proof of possession of Aadhaar number, the Voter’s Identity Card issued by the Election Commission of India, job card issued by NREGA duly signed by an officer of the state government and letter issued by the National Population Register containing details of name and address.” Indians protesting NRC, NPR, NRIC, and CAB. The NPR is a register of “usual residents” of the country, which is defined as a person who has resided in a local area for the past six months or more or a person who intends to reside in that area for the next six months or more, explained India’s Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner. The NPR data was first collected in 2010 and it is to be done every 10 years. It is mandatory for every usual resident of India to register in the NPR. Some Muslim groups and parties like the Manithaneya Makkal Katchi (MMK) are up in arms over the new requirements, NDTV reported. “Many fear it is a move to normalize the submission of the NPR letter … Many protested outside the RBI blaming it for the confusion and have called for a boycott of the Central Bank of India for hasty implementation amid public protest.” Ahmed Shah, a lawyer who opposes the NPR, transferred his savings to a private bank. He told NDTV that he would close all accounts at the bank if this rule is implemented. He was quoted as saying, “We are not even accepting NPR and why should we even show it?” MMK founder Professor Jawahirullah led the NPR protests on Wednesday. He was quoted as saying: What we demand is RBI should withdraw this circular demanding NPR as one of the components of KYC as we fear in the next step NPR will be the only one document which they may need. What do you think about providing the NPR letter for KYC to open a bank account? Let us know in the comments section below. Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not an offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation, endorsement, or sponsorship of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Outlook India, and Biplov Bhuyan/Hindustan Times via Getty Images. Did you know you can buy and sell BCH privately using our noncustodial, peer-to-peer Local Bitcoin Cash trading platform? The local.Bitcoin.com marketplace has thousands of participants from all around the world trading BCH right now. And if you need a bitcoin wallet to securely store your coins, you can download one from us here. The post Panic Withdrawals at Indian Bank Over Alarming KYC Notice appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Many of the debates around block size in Bitcoin operate under the false premise that the question can even be properly answered by a central authority. But markets are better at deciding these questions and block sizes and fee costs should be worked out by miners and users, not development committees. Also read: How is Bitcoin Cash Different from Bitcoin Core? Price-fixing doesn’t work Dan Held writes in his latest Medium post: A decentralized economy complements the dispersed nature of information spread throughout society. Each company is an attempt to take the local knowledge that it has and create a good or service that ultimately is the correct capital allocation (aka profit). This is correct, which makes me think he must not understand the point he’s trying to make, because Held also argues that Bitcoin developers must impose production quotas on block space in order to maintain an ideal block size in Bitcoin and ensure miner profitability and network security. Price fixing like this breaks Bitcoin for the same reason any form of price-fixing doesn’t work. It distorts the local information economic actors have that would allow them to properly allocate their own capital and energy. This often leads to an overproduction of a particular economic good and an underproduction of another, or, bloat and shortages. In Bitcoin, the result of this central planning of block space are externalities like the mempool congestion of 2017 that effectively plunged BTC into a two-year dark age of stagnating prices and regressing merchant adoption. It was the predictable outcome of a tiny developer committee overprioritizing ‘security’ instead of letting the whole market work out exactly how much security is really needed to protect the network while allowing fees to remain low enough for users and merchants to continue using Bitcoin as peer-to-peer electronic cash. We Don’t Need to Know A market can work instead to govern block sizes and transaction fees better than a committee of developers. We don’t need to know the ideal block size or the ideal transaction fees in advance, or even worry about it, because the market will tell us. All that is necessary is to remove the arbitrary limits imposed by developers and to allow all the transactors on the network and all the miners to work out the cost of fees and the “ideal” size of the blocks themselves. This is how Bitcoin was designed, markets, not developer cartels making decisions for everyone on the network. And it is the reason Bitcoin Cash originally forked from BTC. It wasn’t simply block size as such, though they were certainly too small, it was the way block size was being centrally planned by developers instead of being decided by the real economic actors in the market. As Hayek wrote in “The Use of Knowledge in Society”: A centrally planned economy could never match the efficiency of the open market because what is known by a single agent is only a small fraction of the sum total of knowledge held by all members of society It works in Bitcoin like this. A. Miners want to make the most money off of fees possible while reducing risk and cost of doing business. B. Users want to get the cheapest and fastest deal on block space possible. C. Both parties know their own interests better than any developer could sitting outside of their exchange. If blocks are too big, miners might assume unnecessary cost and risk, or cause security or syncing issues with the broader market of businesses involved in Bitcoin running their own nodes. If blocks are too small, miners limit their profitability and the potential growth of the network. If fees are too low, miners can’t make money. If fees are too high, miners won’t make much money either because users will simply stop transacting. Somewhere in between the needs of the miner and the user, there is an answer to the ideal transaction fee and the ideal block size. Neither too big nor too small, neither too cheap nor too expensive. There may be some problems here and there, and the planner’s temptation is to try to predict those problems and stop them in advance, but this is the only way these questions can be decided if we want the network to scale globally. They cannot be decided by committees, Telegram chats, Reddit threads, Twitter arguments, or community polls, and attempts to centrally plan answers can lead to unintended consequences because they cannot possibly coordinate all of the local information independent economic actors in Bitcoin have. In BTC, for example, we can’t know the answer because the limits imposed by Core developers prevent this discovery process from happening. Until they are removed, BTC will continue to struggle growing, because artificial limits on scaling create artificial limits on demand potential. Leave it to the market. It knows better than us. Sound Economics The opportunity for an economically rational Bitcoin free from production quotas on block size, price-fixing on fees, and developer committees has never been better. Bitcoin Cash was created in 2017 to be that fork, and decision-makers in Bitcoin Cash should remember that an economically sound roadmap is as important as a technically sound one. They should resist the temptation to over-plan the economic activity of the network lest they create the same problems that plague the BTC branch of Bitcoin. They should allow a real market for block space and fees to develop. The fork of Bitcoin that wins mass adoption will be the one that recognizes that there is no ideal transaction fee and no ideal block size. There is only the market and economic actors in that market making rational, self-interested decisions. This article was originally published on Breaking Satoshi. Op-ed disclaimer: This is an Op-ed article. The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own. Bitcoin.com is not responsible for or liable for any content, accuracy or quality within the Op-ed article. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the content. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any information in this Op-ed article. Did you know you can buy and sell BCH privately using our noncustodial, peer-to-peer Local Bitcoin Cash trading platform? The local.Bitcoin.com marketplace has thousands of participants from all around the world trading BCH right now. And if you need a bitcoin wallet to securely store your coins, you can download one from us here. The post What Is the Ideal Block Size and Fee Cost? appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Giving red envelopes full of money to friends and family is a traditional way to celebrate the Lunar New Year in China and other Asian cultures. This year you can gift your loved ones bitcoin cash with a limited edition Red Envelope BCH paper wallet from Bitcoin.com. Also Read: Bitcoin Games Celebrates Lunar New Year 2020 With Introduction of Free Spins Say Happy Lunar New Year With Bitcoin Cash The Lunar New Year festivities will begin as a new moon appears on Saturday, 25th January 2020. To celebrate the holiday, Bitcoin.com has developed a limited-edition themed paper wallet for Asian BCH users to gift as a Red Envelope. If you are not familiar with this feature, a paper wallet is a physical way to store digital assets. You can load any amount of crypto on a wallet like that and whoever has the piece of paper with the private keys can easily redeem the funds. Once the wallet is made and you have sent funds to it, it is essentially like cash, so remember to take any precautions necessary to ensure it stays safe until needed. Generating a Red Envelope couldn’t be easier. Once you click on the ‘Create one’ button all you have to do is move the cursor around for a short while to create generate randomness and the service will quickly create a new wallet address for you. Then you simply select the Chinese New Year 2020 limited edition design, customize it as you see fit, print it out and that’s it: three simple steps and you’re good to go. To create your own limited-edition holiday themed bitcoin cash paper wallet to gift, click here. To load up the paper wallet with bitcoin cash, send the amount you would like to give to the public address by scanning the QR code with your wallet. If you don’t already own BCH to gift in your Red Envelope, you can get it easily through our website on Buy.Bitcoin.com. Alternatively, if you’re comfortable with more advanced trading platforms, you can also purchase it through our premier cryptocurrency trading platform Exchange.Bitcoin.com or directly from other traders like yourself on Local.Bitcoin.com. How to Redeem or Safely Store a Paper Wallet On the receiving side, redeeming bitcoin cash from a Red Envelope is quite easy. If they don’t already have one, they will need to download a crypto wallet that supports Bitcoin Cash and just use the app to scan the QR code of the private key on the Red Envelope. The funds can then be swept from the Red Envelope to the digital wallet. If they want to redeem the Red Envelope right away, they can either download the Bitcoin.com Wallet desktop app or the Electron Wallet desktop app. Alternatively, if they are not in a rush to redeem the Red Envelope, they can wait until we release a new version of the Bitcoin.com Wallet app for mobile which supports this function (coming soon). For anyone looking to load large amounts of money into their paper wallet, or just eager to learn more about the best way to protect their digital assets, our paper wallet portal provides instructions for attaining a high level of security. This entails downloading the generator and running it on a safe system that you trust without being connected to the internet. The paper wallet itself should be stored in a safe place, such as a safe deposit box or a room only the owner has access to, where it can’t be hurt by fire or flooding just as you would store fiat paper cash worth the same amount. What do you think about gifting the Bitcoin Cash Red Envelope for Chinese New Year? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Verify and track bitcoin cash transactions on our BCH Block Explorer, the best of its kind anywhere in the world. Also, keep up with your holdings, BCH and other coins, on our market charts at Bitcoin.com Markets, another original and free service from Bitcoin.com. The post Gift Bitcoin Cash for Chinese New Year With a Limited Edition Red Envelope Paper Wallet From Bitcoin.com appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Platforms offering debit cards that can be topped up with cryptocurrency have enjoyed growing popularity in the crypto community. They provide a payment solution for those who earn and own digital coins, enabling in-store and online crypto payments. Their expanding user base provides a snapshot of the kind of people who spend crypto on a daily basis and what they like to buy. Also read: Crypto Debit Card Targets Generation Z With a Promise of Financial Freedom Highly Educated, Overachieving Foodies Three European companies with crypto card products shared what they know about their users with news.Bitcoin.com. Madrid-based fintech startup 2gether provides banking services to residents of the Eurozone through its mobile app. The company issues a debit Visa linked to its wallet which supports about a dozen cryptocurrencies. Major ones such as BTC, BCH, ETH, and XRP account for over 90% of the platform’s crypto payments. Its customers can spend them like they would traditional currencies and also withdraw cash at ATMs through conversion to fiat. 2gether recently released statistical data profiling its crypto card users and their spending habits. The debit card allows holders to pay with cryptos and euros, which 37% and 63% do respectively. The everyday crypto user is a highly educated millennial male, shows the analysis of the spending behavior of more than 10,000 customers. The majority of cryptocurrency spenders, 56%, are between 26 and 45 years old and 77% of them are male. The most common professions among them are lawyers, accountants, and economists (15.64%), followed by students (11.20%), operators and transporters (9.82%), and senior executives and businessmen (8.82%), the company detailed this week. The study covers a period from April to December 2019 and 19 Eurozone countries where the crypto card is available. It’s mostly used at restaurants and hotels (32.71%), supermarkets and grocery stores (19.13%), and to pay communication bills (11.91%) and transport expenses (11.85%). On average, users spend €112.56 worth of cryptocurrency monthly and €132.65 in fiat. “In comparison with European consumption habits based on euros, the consumption at restaurants and on food receives fourth place in the ranking, with house supplies being the first expense,” 2gether noted, quoting information from Eurostat. CEO Ramon Ferraz further commented: It is extremely beneficial for us at 2gether to know exactly who our customer is and how they change every year. Our goal is to enable the mass adoption of cryptocurrency and enable users to spend crypto in their everyday life. This data we’ve compiled takes us one step closer to making our goal a reality in 2020. Bitsa is another European platform striving to provide an alternative to traditional banking. It offers prepaid Visa cards linked to a mobile wallet that can be topped up with cryptocurrencies like bitcoin cash among other payment options. BCH, BTC, LTC, DASH, XLM, XRP, and ZEC can be deposited and converted to euros to spend the balance in stores and online. The Bitsa cards come in virtual and plastic forms and there’s also a product targeting Europe’s Generation Z, Bitsa Young, which allows parents to order a card for their children and provide them with some financial freedom thanks to crypto. Although it issues its cards through the same partner, the Spanish regulated electronic money institution Pecunpay, Bitsa takes a different approach. The Monaco-based company tracks less card usage data and isn’t very keen on revealing what it knows for a good reason. “We don’t have it because it’s private and we take the privacy of our users very seriously,” CMO Roberta Quintiliano explained. Nevertheless, she was kind enough to pull the curtain a little bit for news.Bitcoin.com and share that the majority of Bitsa users, 74.5%, are aged between 25 and 44 years old and 75.8% are male. The majority of Bitsa card holders are people interested in technologies and mobile applications, she added. Groceries, Fast Food, Coffee and Travel A report on crypto card usage in Europe wouldn’t be complete without taking a look at the numbers gathered by a major player. U.K.-based Wirex has over 3 million registered users across 130 countries and has processed more than $3 billion in transactions to date. The platform allows users to spend leading cryptocurrencies such as BTC, LTC, ETH, and XRP among 10 digital coins. Around 60% of Wirex Visa card users are millennials, aged between 18 and 37, and approximately 39% are members of Generation X, between the ages of 38 and 53 years old, revealed Amelie Arras who is responsible for PR and media communications. An analysis conducted by Wirex in 2018 showed that people choose its platform for the convenience and versatility it offers and because it allows them to pay with either regular fiat currencies or cryptocurrencies. The service lets crypto enthusiasts exchange their digital currency in-app and spend it anywhere Visa is accepted. Arras also emphasized that “This is reflected in how people use Wirex. It’s particularly suited to those who frequently travel and who therefore want a single place to manage multiple currencies and get the best market rates when exchanging them.” Grocery stores, fast food outlets, coffee shops and travel are at the top of the spending charts for Wirex cards, with a split of roughly 25% online and 75% in-store. Around 80% of account deposits are made in cryptocurrency. The latest 2019 data available shows that 25% of all currency transactions, fiat and crypto, were recorded in the United Kingdom, followed by Italy with 13%, Spain and Germany with close to 10%, then France with 7%. Around 21% of all crypto to fiat exchanges were made in the U.K., followed by Italy with 14%, Spain and Germany with 10%, and France with 8%. At Wirex, BTC is the most traded coin, representing close to 70% of all crypto conversions, and almost 50% of all currencies, followed by the euro with 20% of all exchanges, then the British pound and ethereum – below 10%. The top five currencies frequently spent by Wirex users, historically and in 2019, are BTC, EUR, GBP, ETH and USD. What are your thoughts on the data provided by these crypto card issuers? Do you use a debit card that can be topped up with cryptocurrency? Tell us in the comments section below. Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not an offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation, endorsement, or sponsorship of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, 2gether. Do you need a reliable bitcoin mobile wallet to send, receive, and store your coins? Download one for free from us and then head to our Purchase Bitcoin page where you can quickly buy bitcoin with a credit card. The post Millennial and Male: 3 Crypto Card Issuers Profile Their Average User appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The porn industry is seen by many as a perfect fit for widespread cryptocurrency usage as it suffers from financial censorship far more than most businesses. When Paypal stopped servicing Pornhub models, the company hinted it might turn to digital currency as an alternative and now this has been accomplished with the Tether stablecoin USDT. Also Read: Pornhub Suggests Crypto Payments After Paypal Censors Model Payouts Pornhub Turns to Tether as Payment Method Pornhub, part of the Canada, Montreal-headquartered online adult entertainment conglomerate Mindgeek, has announced that they have added three new payout methods for their models including USDT. “Since PayPal’s decision to stop payouts to thousands of Models two months ago, we’ve been hustling to start the new year on a good note and offer you more options to make things a little easier,” the company’s support team explained in a blog post. The post explained the function of the stablecoin, to follow the price of the US dollar, and guided Pornhub models to download a Tron wallet to receive USDT payments. Tether’s USDT has been growing rapidly on the Tron network since the stablecoin expanded to the blockchain and TRC20 tethers made up almost 22% of the total supply of tokens as of the beginning of the year. Justin Sun, the founder of Tron, stated on social media: “If you’re on Pornhub, stop what you’re doing. USDT is now an option for models on Pornhub! Pornhub is using USDT-TRON to support models seeking payment solutions. This is a brilliant way to support the victims of centralized payment platforms like Paypal.” Besides this noble ambition, Sun seems to have a focus on expanding crypto payments in online video services as he also recently took control of live streaming platform Dlive. He said at the time “Think of how valuable live streaming content is already to centralized social media platforms who take ownership and advantage of their users’ hard work.” If you’re on @Pornhub, stop what you’re doing. #USDT is now an option for models on Pornhub! Pornhub is using USDT-TRON to support models seeking payment solutions. This is a brilliant way to support the victims of centralized payment platforms like PayPal. #TRON #TRX https://t.co/qwpMf0LgmS — Justin Sun (@justinsuntron) January 22, 2020 In November 2019, we reported that Paypal had blocked Pornhub payouts for the adult performers who use the site’s platform for a living. Back in 2018 Pornhub started to accept a few cryptocurrencies as payments from its users including verge, tron and horizen. “Here at Pornhub, as one of the most viewed websites in the world with over 90 million daily visitors, it’s important that we continue to expand our crypto payment options to align with our community’s growing payment preferences. Decentralized payment systems have continued to grow in popularity, and cryptocurrency adoption is exploding across a broad economic spectrum. Today, cryptocurrencies are especially viable in the adult entertainment industry because they are privacy-centric and incorporate more anonymity tools than traditional tender,” Corey Price, VP of Pornhub, said at the time. What do you think about Pornhub starting to pay its adult models using tether? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Verify and track bitcoin cash transactions on our BCH Block Explorer, the best of its kind anywhere in the world. Also, keep up with your holdings, BCH and other coins, on our market charts at Bitcoin.com Markets, another original and free service from Bitcoin.com. The post Paypal Pullout Prompts Pornhub to Add Tether as Payment Option for Its Adult Models appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

On Wednesday, Btc.top founder Jiang Zhuoer disclosed that five mining operations had plans to donate roughly $6 million in coinbase rewards (depending on market prices) to developers building Bitcoin Cash infrastructure. The news was met with mixed reviews as some of the specifics of the deal were scrutinized and the miner funding subject has been the topic of debate across the entire cryptosphere. On Jan. 23, Zhuoer discussed the developer fund idea in an Ask-Me-Anything (AMA) appearance on Reddit. Also Read: Bitcoin Cash Sees Mining Pool Shift and Hashrate Surpass 4 Exahash Bitcoin Cash Proponents Have Mixed Feelings About the Proposed Infrastructure Funding Plan In the world of cryptocurrency funding developers has always been a controversial subject no matter where the money comes from. There have been many attempts to fund blockchain infrastructure development using a variety of schemes like founders funds, pre-mines, corporate and community donations, and miners contributing a fraction of their block rewards. On Wednesday, Btc.top’s Jiang Zhuoer published a post that discussed miner contributions to development teams working on Bitcoin Cash and he noted that “12.5% of [the] BCH coinbase rewards to a fund that will support Bitcoin Cash infrastructure.” However, the post also noted that the miners participating would use a tactic called “orphaning.” If you haven’t read the post “Infrastructure Funding Plan for Bitcoin Cash,” you can check it out here. “To ensure participation and include subsidization from the whole pool of SHA-256 mining, miners will orphan BCH blocks that do not follow the plan,” Zhuoer said. “This is needed to avoid a tragedy of the commons,” he added. Additionally, another aspect of the plan that a few individuals took issue with was the aspect of a “Hong Kong corporation” being initiated to legally accept and disperse the developers’ funds. Jiang Zhuoer appeared in an Ask-Me-Anything (AMA) post on Reddit in order to answer some of the questions about the proposed developer funding arrangement. Btc.top Founder Jiang Zhuoer Answers Questions On Thursday, Zhuoer appeared in an Ask-Me-Anything (AMA) post on Reddit in order to answer some of the questions about the proposed arrangement. There are hundreds of questions and comments littered throughout the thread and Zhuoer managed to answer a few questions about the plan. When asked whether small pools would be exempt from donating, Zhuoer said that “all mined blocks need to be donated, [or] otherwise this will lead to the tragedy of the commons.” “Some form of opinion organization is necessary,” the Btc.top founder emphasized. The pool operator continued: Just like I said in the article, it is necessary ‘To cross the river by touching the stones.’ Miners donate to dev is necessary, but how to do it need to discuss and try. A few individuals believe this section of the Bitcoin white paper clearly defines miners organizing, voting and refusing to work with certain entities. Another Redditor on the r/btc post asked how the plan will succeed by orphaning blocks when currently there’s an unknown group of miners with a large portion of hashrate. The individual also asked if Zhuoer spoke with the development teams about the plan. “We have a lot of hashrate on BTC to make sure we can do it,” Zhuoer responded and added that the funds “would be used to pay for development contributions to full node implementations as well as other critical infrastructure.” A statement he previously made in the initial infrastructure funding plan announcement. I don’t understand the arguments against the BCH developer fund. – It’s not a tax. You’re free to mine on another chain. – It cannot be a power grab because carrels are unstable (and this one is even time-limited). – The Hong Kong company has all incentives in the world to be — Tobias Ruck (@TobiasRuck) January 23, 2020 Zhuoer stressed that models like corporate donations are “neither fair nor decentralized.” “Companies that donate money may interfere with [developers] in the long-term (eg: Blockstream & Core),” the miner underscored. “It’s the best way for [developers] to get donations from coins. It’s actually from [the] coin, not from [the] miner, we need all miners to donate fairly,” he added. My intuition is that not only will this cartel initiative go as planned, but that it will result in solid price gains for BCH and go down as one of the most important innovations in Bitcoin. Voluntary, time-constrained, free market solution to one of Bitcoin's greatest problems. https://t.co/RBhFbPYPCk — Ⓥin Ⓐrmani (@vinarmani) January 23, 2020 The Btc.top operator also said that as of right now there are no definite management rules, but that the fund would be “managed by [the] main pools and miners of BCH.” Zhuoer was also asked if the group had contemplated proposing these changes as a hard fork rather than a soft fork. “This is under consideration,” the BCH miner responded. Zhuoer was also asked about the Hong Kong corporation that plans to manage the funds and he said the miners will ensure transparency and the effective use of all funds. The proposed Infrastructure Funding Plan for BCH has the entire crypto community talking and sharing their opinions about the subject on Twitter and cryptocurrency forums. The pool operator also responded to people who said a “miner cartel” could form and lead to a hash war. “[A] miner won’t start a hash war to only get 12.5% more coins,” Zhuoer told the individual. During the end of Zhuoer’s commentary, he was asked if the plan was “set in stone” or if it was “still being discussed.” Zhuoer noted that “miners will donate [to developer] and this will not change — But [the] details may change.” Amaury Séchet Speaks on the Infrastructure Funding Plan On the same day as Jiang’s AMA on Reddit, Bitcoin Cash developer Amaury Séchet published a post about the funding subject on the read.cash platform. Séchet’s post notes that the funding idea is “great news” and the proposal was “a long time coming.” The software engineer stressed that the plan is “very interesting from a game theory perspective.” Bitcoin ABC developer Amaury Séchet. “As the system grows, economic specialization took place and this is forcing us to think about the incentives that these specialized groups have to cooperate with each other,” Séchet wrote. He also replied to the accusations that the infrastructure plan was a “tax” when in his opinion he would argue that it is not a compulsory contribution. The BCH developer continued: They are not forcing anyone to do anything. Other miners can mine another chain such as BTC, or even decide to mine a chain that will not fund the commons. What they cannot do is force Jiang to accept their block if they do so, or to force the market to value these blocks at a certain price, if at all. Jiang does not have this power either. In Séchet’s blog post he concludes that he is “enthusiastic” about the funding plan and hopes the proposal can “yield very beneficial results to Bitcoin Cash.” The engineer did stress however that the details of the funding arrangement must be done right. “I think the proposed setup would inspire more trust from the community than a faceless corporation, which seems to be the major concern,” Séchet conceded. “I predict that if this is done right, the impact on Bitcoin Cash can be fantastic and will result in benefits for all ecosystem participants.” If you are interested in reading Btc.top’s Jiang Zhuoer’s blog post about the funding in its entirety, you can find it here. And if you’d like to read Bitcoin ABC developer Amaury Séchet’s post about the subject, you can find it here. News.Bitcoin.com will surely be covering this story as it develops going forward. What do you think about BCH miners donating to Bitcoin Cash infrastructure development? Let us know what you think about this topic in the comments section below. Image credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Fair Use, Wiki Commons, Twitter, and the Bitcoin Cash logo. Do you want to maximize your Bitcoin Mining potential? Plug your own hardware into the world’s most profitable Bitcoin mining pool or get started without having to own hardware through one of our competitive Bitcoin cloud mining contracts. The post Bitcoin Cash Miner Jiang Zhuoer Answers Infrastructure Funding Questions appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Bitcoin Games is a provably fair online casino where you can play popular games using BTC and BCH. The platform is introducing a new feature and for its Lunar New Year 2020 promotion all players can get Red Envelopes packed with Free Spins. Also Read: Video Games Giant Ubisoft Is Looking for Blockchain Startups to Support Bitcoin Games Introduces Free Spins on Lunar New Year A new moon will appear on 25th January 2020, and with it, the Lunar New Year festivities will begin in Asia and across the world. According to the Chinese Zodiac, the main zodiac element of this year is Metal, and the animal sign is Rat. Hence 2020 will be the Year of the Metal Rat. While a significant portion of the world’s population celebrates the onset of the Lunar New Year, Bitcoin Games promises to bring a new source of joy for its community of players with the introduction of Free Spins. “It is said that in the Year of the Metal Rat, everyone has control of their own destiny provided you put in plenty of effort and play your cards right”, explained the lead developer of the platform. “The introduction of Free Spins on Bitcoin Games is the result of our efforts and hard work that has allowed us to bring this new feature for our community to fulfill their destiny. Bitcoin Games wishes everyone a good fortune!” To celebrate this accomplishment with the advent of the Lunar New Year at Games.Bitcoin.com, beginning 23rd January 2020 (00:00 GMT), all Bitcoin Games players can participate in the Lunar New Year 2020 promotion and get Red Envelopes packed with Free Spins simply by depositing and wagering on any of the Exclusives at games.bitcoin.com; namely Slots, Roulette or Keno. For more information please visit the promotion’s terms and conditions page on the website. Bitcoin Games is a provably fair online casino where you can play popular games using BTC and BCH. It offers a multitude of online casino games with the added security and transparency of the blockchain. What do you think about this Chinese New Year offer from Bitcoin Games? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Verify and track bitcoin cash transactions on our BCH Block Explorer, the best of its kind anywhere in the world. Also, keep up with your holdings, BCH and other coins, on our market charts at Bitcoin.com Markets, another original and free service from Bitcoin.com. The post Bitcoin Games Celebrates Lunar New Year 2020 With Introduction of Free Spins appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Bitcoin Cash developers actively participate in video meetings in order to discuss the ongoing development of the BCH ecosystem. BCH software engineers met for the first time in 2020 last Thursday to examine the May upgrade and specification work. Following the meeting, on January 23, BCH developers will sit down again to address practicable optimizations to the script language in Bitcoin Cash. Also read: Meet Nimbus, a Concept for Enhancing BCH Smart Contracts Bitcoin Cash Script Enhancements BCH developers plan to converse about improving the script language in Bitcoin Cash and discuss reasonable optimizations. Following the first Simple Ledger Protocol (SLP) developers meeting, BCH programmers met the next day for the first script meeting. The video conference was hosted by David R. Allen from thefutureofbitcoin.cash and developers such as Mark Lundeberg, Antony Zegers, Jason Dreyzehner, Rosco Kalis, Tobias Ruck, and Karol Trzeszczkowski were in attendance. On Thursday at 20:30 UTC (3:30 p.m. ET) another script meeting will be taking place to analyze the subject once again. According to the notes, programmers will speak about the Bitcoin Cash Script Roadmap, the opcode OP_Reversebytes, and “Mitra,” the project formerly known as Nimbus that was developed by Tobias Ruck. #BitcoinCash SCRIPT meeting no. 2 is taking place on Thursday January 23 at 20:30 UTC. On the agenda: #BCH Script Roadmap, OP_REVERSEBYTES, "Mitra" (formerly known as Nimbus) and more. Zoom link at https://t.co/jg54uZncpy pic.twitter.com/EVumqWjAur — Bitcoin Cash (@BitcoinCash) January 21, 2020 When Satoshi launched the Bitcoin network, the protocol came with a stack-based scripting programming language called script, which is used for transaction processing. Besides transaction processing, developers have found that they can leverage script to create complex contracts and decision-based transactions. Satoshi also implemented a list of operation codes (opcode) that can be used to specify a certain operation within the protocol. A slew of commands or functions were stored within early Bitcoin codebases, but a good number of opcodes were later removed. In May 2018, BCH developers not only increased the block size to 32MB, but they also improved the BCH scripting language by re-enabling a number of old Satoshi opcodes and expanded the network’s default data-carrier-size to 220 bytes. Immediately after the upgrade, BCH developers started leveraging the benefits as projects like memo.cash improved and BCHD developer Chris Pacia built the first tree signature on the Bitcoin Cash blockchain by utilizing the OP_Cat functionality. Some individuals believe the Bitcoin Cash scripting language will be beneficial to applications and allow for all types of BCH contracts, escrow systems, and decision-based transactions. In November 2018, the BCH chain upgraded once again and this time added functionality for the opcode OP_Checkdatasig (CDS) into the codebase. CDS has shown a plethora of capabilities and is used in certain arrangements like Bitcoin.com’s Local Bitcoin Cash escrow system. A number of BCH engineers believe that CDS will be extremely beneficial to Bitcoin scripting applications and be able to produce decentralized finance (defi) concepts like contracts, oracles, and other types of decision-based transaction schemes. Bitcoin ABC developer Mengerian has written a detailed analysis of OP_Checkdatasig. Mark Lundeberg wrote a proposed use case of CDS called “Pay To Identity.” Bitcoin Unlimited developer Andrew Stone’s “Bitcoin Scripting Applications: Decision Based Spending” gives a comprehensive look at how data and signatures can be verified in an autonomous manner. BCH Devs Will Discuss the Bitcoin Cash Script Roadmap, Opcodes, and Mitra During Thursday’s SLP developers meeting with host David R. Allen, software engineers will talk about the Bitcoin Cash Script Roadmap. Bitcoin ABC’s Mengerian published the roadmap on Github and it shows that the goal is to “provide a framework for organizing and evaluating potential consensus changes to the Bitcoin Cash script system.” Items listed on the roadmap include adding bigger integers, implementing OP_Mul, OP_Reversebytes, pushing items from the sighash preimage onto the stack, Reverse OP_Roll, a series of registers, and increase script size limit and opcode count limits. BCH developers Amaury Séchet and Mark Lundeberg also provided feedback and suggestions for the script roadmap. The Bitcoin Cash Script Roadmap notes that Mitra should be evaluated separately. Bitcoin Cash development meetings are open to all and attendees are welcome to ask questions via the video software’s Q&A function. News.Bitcoin.com readers who are interested in Bitcoin Cash script functions and the innovative concepts behind them can tune in to watch the meeting and ask questions at 3:30 p.m. ET. What do you think about the Bitcoin Cash script developers meeting and the BCH script roadmap? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Twitter, Pixabay, Fair Use, and Wiki Commons. Verify and track bitcoin cash transactions on our BCH Block Explorer, the best of its kind anywhere in the world. Also, keep up with your holdings, BCH, and other coins, on our market charts at Bitcoin.com Markets, another original and free service from Bitcoin.com. The post BCH Script Meeting Aims to Enhance the Programming Language in Bitcoin Cash appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

India’s supreme court heard the crypto case on Thursday, starting with the arguments by the counsel for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). After pointing out that the RBI ban only hurts crypto businesses but does not stop crypto trading, the court explained that “being an honest contributor to the blockchain is more profitable than trying to tamper with the chain.” Also read: Crypto vs RBI — 3 Days of Intense Supreme Court Hearings RBI in Hot Seat, Ban Can’t Stop Crypto The Indian supreme court resumed hearing the crypto vs. RBI case Thursday morning. Local news platform Crypto Kanoon reported from the courtroom that Shyam Divan, counsel for the central bank, picked up his arguments from the previous day. The counsel began by reading out the RBI’s reply to crypto exchanges’ representation and briefly explained about peer-to-peer exchanges operating in India and how crypto exchanges allow their users to transfer funds abroad. He claims that this exposes them to the risks associated with FEMA (Foreign Exchange Management Act), AML (anti-money laundering) and CFT (combating the financing of terrorism). The judge pointed out that the RBI circular only stopped banks from providing services to crypto exchanges but is unable to stop crypto trading. The counsel replied that it is up to the banks to identify crypto transactions and stop them. The judge quickly interrupted him, asking: “how would the bank know without conducting an investigation and knowing the source of transactions.” The counsel admitted that the measure is not so effective but insisted that it discourages crypto transactions. Crypto Kanoon described: Justice Nariman points a finger towards the exchanges’ counsel and says by this their business has come to end and the constituent i.e. trading of crypto is still active. RBI Circular Did Not Cause Crypto Price Drops While admitting that crypto trading is still active, the counsel made the claim that volumes have decreased. He then read from his brief about a sharp decline in crypto prices after the RBI circular was issued, which banned banks from providing services to crypto exchanges. The judge quickly interrupted him again, clarifying: If you see in 2017 the graph was going up and from 2018 it is globally declining. It is not because of your circular that prices are coming down. BTC price chart on Bitcoin.com The counsel conceded, admitting that “there may be various other factors and it may or may not be because of RBI circular,” Crypto Kanoon conveyed. After discussing among themselves, one of the judges elaborated: Being an honest contributor to the blockchain is more profitable than trying to tamper [with] the chain. The RBI counsel persevered, citing several other cases’ judgments to support his arguments. He even referred to the judgments which state that the scope of the court’s intervention is “limited when an expert committee like RBI has acted under its statutory power as it is an expert body for a particular domain.” After the lunch break, the RBI counsel continued his arguments, referring to more past judgments. They discussed the RBI’s power to regulate, which includes the power to prohibit. In concluding his arguments, the counsel insisted that the central bank has a statutory power to take the action it did. The RBI also said it has been cautioning crypto trading since 2013 and has kept a keen eye on the industry. IAMAI Responds to RBI’s Issues Next, the counsel for the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), Ashim Sood, took the center stage and made his rejoinder submissions. He began by referring to the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, claiming that the law does not prohibit using cryptocurrency as a medium of exchange. Nonetheless, he added that no one uses it for that purpose due to its volatility and explained crypto’s investment potential. The IAMAI counsel proceeded to discuss blockchain technology, using Ethereum as an example. He asserted that cryptocurrency is needed to maintain the efficiency of blockchains. Crypto Kanoon quoted him as saying: We don’t say that it is not possible to separate crypto from blockchain. But there is a valid and legitimate reason for both to go together. Crypto makes blockchain viable for certain uses. Sood then argued against the RBI having the authority to ban crypto, referencing a few past cases. “When RBI knows that there are legitimate uses of crypto. Then RBI should make a determination of those uses and not turn a blind eye by just citing illegitimate uses,” he said. Further, the IAMAI counsel emphasized that there is not a single finding that crypto is impacting the payment system in any manner, noting that it was not even mentioned in the report by the interministerial committee which drafted the draft bill to ban cryptocurrencies, except state-issued ones. Sood added that there is no merit in the claim that law enforcement agencies are unable to stop crimes involving cryptocurrencies. He proceeded to dissect the documents the RBI relied on one by one, showing the court that they are not sufficient for the central bank to take such measures. Sood also discredited the RBI’s terrorism financing argument, stating that it is part of the central bank’s kitchen-sink approach to stop crypto activities indirectly since it has no direct control over the sector. Sood then read out a few past judgments from other cases, mentioning that the RBI annual report states that the risk from cryptocurrency is negligible. He further noted that the RBI’s reply to a Right to Information (RTI) request revealed that the central bank formed no committee to study the issue prior to issuing the April circular. While the RBI claims to take action in the interest of consumers, the IAMAI counsel read out the interdisciplinary committee’s recommendations which do not mention market integrity, financial stability, payment system, credit system, or monetary policy. Sood will continue his arguments on Tuesday. Crypto Kanoon commented from the courtroom: It is a wonderful experience to witness a supreme court judge explaining facts about blockchain and advocating its immutability. It is more exciting to see a judge upholding Satoshi’s view. What do you think of the supreme court hearing today? Do you think the RBI ban will be lifted next week? Let us know in the comments section below. Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not an offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation, endorsement, or sponsorship of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article. Images courtesy of Shutterstock and Bitcoin.com. Did you know you can buy and sell BCH privately using our noncustodial, peer-to-peer Local Bitcoin Cash trading platform? The local.Bitcoin.com marketplace has thousands of participants from all around the world trading BCH right now. And if you need a bitcoin wallet to securely store your coins, you can download one from us here. The post Indian Supreme Court Warms Up to Crypto as RBI Defends Its Ban Power appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Blockstream reps have long been pushing for full implementation of the perpetually-delayed Lightning Network as the main solution for BTC scalability. With the recent announcement of “federated sidechain” Liquid’s integration with Btcpay, however, the tune seems to have changed. Past weeks have found Blockstream execs Adam Back and Samson Mow not only pushing Liquid hard, but going so far as to belittle Lightning, the once almost messianic layer-2 solution to Bitcoin Core’s scaling ills. Also Read: Researcher’s Scathing Lightning Network Analysis Finds Flaws Liquid and Lightning With last week’s announcement that Blockstream’s federated sidechains are now integrated with Btcpay, Liquid has been back in the limelight. What is striking some folks as odd, however, is the overtly promotional tone being taken by Blockstream reps in regard to Liquid and its pegged assets such as L-BTC, even at the cost of criticizing the Lightning Network — long touted by the very same people to be BTC’s main scaling solution. "don't use this" etc the reality is there are tradeoffs 1. Easier to lose via LN than LQ due to accidental close penalty 2. Offline during hostile close 3. LN Hot-wallet risk 4. Low value is less concern to many users. 5. LN retail freeze by LQ seems unlikely given small size. — Adam Back (@adam3us) January 17, 2020 Blockstream CEO Adam Back made sure to note on Twitter he wasn’t discouraging use of the Lightning Network (LN), just that there were “tradeoffs.” Back elaborated that bitcoin is “Easier to lose via LN than LQ due to accidental close penalty” and that LN goes “Offline during hostile close.” Blockstream CSO Samson Mow is of course also pushing Liquid adoption, and when asked about LQ being in competition with LN in a recent interview, he noted that hot wallet risk on LN meant that it can’t replace the utility of LQ. His carefully worded answer comes off almost as an advertisement for Liquid at the expense of Lightning, more than a general assessment of so-called competition. Further, if LN is supposed to be decentralized, it’s unclear how it could be “competing” in a business sense at all. Sidechain Sales and Emergency Keys Since Blockstream’s plan from early on has been to sell sidechains to big business, critics have long said that this incentivizes maintaining a status quo of small, congested blocks onchain. Of course this would run contrary to the idea of a decentralized, permissionless peer-to-peer cash system for anyone to use. “The Liquid sidechain provides a different set of trade-offs that allow privacy and rapid finality of asset transfer at the expense of being a permissioned network relying on trust of the functionaries,” the FAQ publication reads. These functionaries are the members of the Liquid federation which “allows transactions on Liquid to reach a state of finality faster and more reliably than those on the Bitcoin blockchain.” The 35-member federation takes turns proposing blocks “round-robin” style every minute and signing them. Should anything go wrong, the website affirms that “There are emergency keys that are able to access the bitcoin held by the network only if the network is down for an extended period of time.” In short, what concerns many in the crypto space is that for all the potential convenience of these settlement layers, the control of the assets ultimately lies offchain, with a trusted party. Liquid BTC and USDT as such are in the hands of Liquid and not the user. So, whether an individual, exchange or other business decides to wait for the 102 confirmations needed to peg-in to L-BTC, and test out the Liquid federated sidechain, or simply sit back and see how the Btcpay integration develops, one thing remains fairly certain: the loud sales of centralized crypto projects on Twitter will be up and running 24/7. And unlike Liquid, even members of the “general public” can peg-out of that, simply by closing the laptop. What are your thoughts on Liquid’s effort to scale BTC? Let us know in the comments section below. Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not an offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation, endorsement, or sponsorship of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article. Image credits: Shutterstock, fair use. Did you know you can buy and sell BCH privately using our noncustodial, peer-to-peer Local Bitcoin Cash trading platform? The local.Bitcoin.com marketplace has thousands of participants from all around the world trading BCH right now. And if you need a bitcoin wallet to securely store your coins, you can download one from us here. The post More BS on Lightning: Blockstream Pours Liquid on Thick appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In this roundup, we cover an exceptionally busy week for crypto regulations around the globe. We start our coverage with the U.S. Virtual Currency Tax Fairness Act of 2020, actions by the SEC, Ripple’s lawsuit, India’s supreme court hearings, Australia green-lighting a bitcoin retail fund, Thailand approving a new crypto exchange, and new crypto guidelines in Canada and Malaysia. We also cover the FATF’s progress to ensure countries implement its crypto standards, the regulatory developments in South Korea, China, Russia, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, and six central banks and the Bank for International Settlements collaborating on central bank digital currencies. Also read: Regulatory Roundup: EU-Wide Crypto Regulations, New Rules in Europe, US, Asia US Virtual Currency Tax Fairness Act of 2020 The U.S. made headlines last week when Representative Suzan K. DelBene introduced a bill on Jan. 16 “To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to exclude from gross income gain from disposition of virtual currency in a personal transaction.” H.R.5635 – Virtual Currency Tax Fairness Act of 2020 states: Gross income of an individual shall not include gain, by reason of changes in exchange rates, from the disposition of virtual currency in a personal transaction … The preceding sentence shall not apply if the gain which would otherwise be recognized on the transaction exceeds $200. As for the effective date, the bill proposes that the amendments apply to crypto transactions entered into after Dec. 31, 2019. Oklahoma’s Depository, SEC Onto IEOs, Ripple Lawsuit The U.S. state of Oklahoma has a new crypto bill. Senate Bill 1430, authored by Senator Nathan Dahm, was introduced on Jan. 15 to establish a “new type of financial institution to be a state-chartered financial institution and the central depository for virtual currency used by governmental agencies in this state.” The new financial institution will also provide financial and technical services to blockchain and crypto innovators as well as developers. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) took crypto-related actions this past week. On Jan. 14, the agency issued an Investor Alert on initial exchange offerings (IEOs). The notice came from the commission’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy. It explains various aspects of IEOs, including whether they comply with federal securities laws. “Be cautious if considering an investment in an IEO,” the notice states. “It is a red flag if the IEO and its participants, including the online trading platform, do not address or discuss the applicability of the federal securities laws.” In addition, the SEC said on Jan. 21 that it has reached agreements to settle with three defendants, including the former Riot Blockchain CEO. Meanwhile, a lawsuit against Ripple continues at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, the outcome of which may decide the fate of XRP. India’s Supreme Court Hearings The Indian supreme court has been actively hearing the crypto vs. RBI case over the past week. The court heard the case over three consecutive days last week as the counsel for the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) presented his arguments against the banking restrictions by the central bank. He explained that the RBI does not have the power to ban cryptocurrency, but taking away the bank accounts of crypto exchanges constitutes an “absolute ban.” The central bank argued that it did not ban cryptocurrencies. On Wednesday, Jan. 22, the court resumed hearing the case. The counsel for crypto exchanges presented his arguments against the banking restrictions. The RBI counsel also took center stage, arguing on behalf of the central bank. Meanwhile, a Center of Excellence in Blockchain Technology has been inaugurated by Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in Bengaluru. Canada’s New Guidance on How Securities Law Applies to Crypto The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) on Jan. 16 published Staff Notice 21-327 Guidance on the Application of Securities Legislation to Entities Facilitating the Trading of Crypto Assets. The aim of the notice is “to help these entities to determine situations where securities legislation may or may not apply.” The regulator detailed that, for example, “Securities legislation may apply to platforms that facilitate the buying and selling of crypto assets that are commodities, because the user’s contractual right to the crypto asset may itself constitute a derivative, a security or both.” However, it added: The relevant determination will depend on the facts and circumstances, including the obligations and intention to provide immediate delivery of the crypto asset. Australia Green-Lights Bitcoin Retail Fund The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) has reportedly approved micro-investment fintech company Raiz to operate a bitcoin retail fund. The company plans to launch the fund in the first half of this year. In December, it had $445 million in funds under management from 211,000 paying customers, out of the 300,000 users who opened an account. The fund is expected to invest 95% in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and 5% directly in bitcoin. Thailand Approves Crypto Exchange, Malaysia Issues New Token Regulation The Thai Securities and Exchange Commission has approved a new company to operate a digital asset exchange. According to the commission’s website, Zipmex is not yet operational but has been approved to offer both cryptocurrency and digital token trading. Headquartered in Singapore, Zipmex also has offices in Thailand, Australia, and Indonesia. In Malaysia, the Securities Commission Malaysia has issued guidelines on fundraising via token sales. All token offerings must now be conducted on approved initial exchange offering platforms, which must be registered with the commission. No offerings can take place until the law goes into effect. South Korea Mulls 20% Crypto Tax While Blockchain Projects Multiply South Korea has made headlines several times over the past week regarding its plans to tax crypto profits. The Ministry of Economy and Finance recently clarified that they cannot be taxed under the current law. Nonetheless, the country’s National Tax Service imposed a withholding tax of $69 million on Bithumb, one of the country’s largest crypto exchanges. Bithumb has filed a complaint with Tax Tribunal seeking to recoup the tax payment it already made. The ministry has also reiterated several times that it is reviewing the tax code so that crypto profits can be taxed. The country made headlines again on Jan. 20 when a government official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told the Korea Times: The finance ministry has not finalized its plan to tax cryptocurrencies. But, there is a possibility that the government may impose a 20% tax on cryptocurrencies. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Science and ICT is planning to provide a number of blockchain-based public services, Business Korea reported on Jan. 20. The ministry will allocate a budget of 16.1 billion won ($13,839,711) for blockchain R&D and resume preliminary feasibility studies. The ministry and the Korea Internet & Security Agency are preparing to launch pilot blockchain projects. Blockchain-based platforms for use in a number of areas have been mentioned, including evidence management, crop production and logistics management, a welfare benefit management, food safety data, chronic disease management, decentralized identity-based public service, self-driving reliability enhancement, toll payment, water supply quality management, and electric vehicle management system. China’s Communist Party Book A 200-page handbook on digital currency has been published by the publishing house of People’s Daily. Entitled “Digital Currency: A Reader for Cadres,” the book includes 23 articles on topics ranging from the basics of the concept to its impact on monetary systems and global finance. It is an addition to a series of guides for cadres covering a variety of subjects, including artificial intelligence and blockchain. The book contains articles by experts and scholars from central banks, including the People’s Bank of China, major commercial banks, and well-known research institutes. It explains and analyzes the nature, development, impact, opportunities, and challenges of digital currencies in detail. According to Bloomberg, its postscript describes that the articles selected “hope to help Party cadres deepen their understanding” of the technology. Venezuela Launching Crypto Casino In Venezuela, President Nicolas Maduro has continued to push the petro, his country’s so-called cryptocurrency which many are calling a scam. He announced on Jan. 17 that a casino will be opened at the Humboldt Hotel in Caracas where all bets must be placed in petros. He explained that people can exchange yuan, yen, dollars, euros and a number of other cryptocurrencies for petro tokens and gamble. UK to Pay £100K for Blockchain Analysis Tool The U.K. tax authority, HM Revenue & Customs, posted an open opportunity for contractors to create “cryptoasset blockchain analysis tools,” suitable for small and medium-sized enterprises. The notice states that the contract, worth £100,000, seeks: A tool that will support intelligence gathering methods to identify and cluster cryptoasset transactions into linked transactions and identify those linked to cryptoasset service providers. New Russian PM; Uzbekistan’s Exchange & Mining Pool The Russian Federation has a new prime minister, Mikhail Mishustin. The former head of the Russian tax agency has made comments about cryptocurrencies on multiple occasions. He made it clear he viewed digital currencies as financial instruments that should be taxed as such. Meanwhile, the Russian Direct Democracy Party plans to find solutions to numerous issues that concern the crypto space. New Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. Several recent crypto regulatory developments stem from Uzbekistan. The National Agency for Project Management (NAPM), a government body under the country’s president, revealed this week its 2020 plans for the regulation of crypto trading and the implementation of blockchain technologies. A mining pool has been proposed that will help consolidate the capacities of domestic and foreign miners at the national level. Moreover, a new presidential decree envisages the introduction of tax exemptions for crypto-related income. A recently published draft document incorporates proposals to establish a blockchain valley and licensing regime for cryptocurrency miners. The country has just launched its first licensed crypto exchange where miners can sell their mined coins. Global Efforts by 6 Central Banks, the BIS, OECD, FATF Six central banks and the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) have formed a group to share experience as they assess potential cases for central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) in their home jurisdictions. The central banks involved are the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank, the Sveriges Riksbank, and the Swiss National Bank. Co-chaired by Benoît Cœuré, the head of BIS Innovation Hub, and Bank of England Deputy Governor Jon Cunliffe, the group will work closely with relevant organizations such as the Financial Stability Board (FSB) and the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI). Its members will include senior representatives of the participating institutions. According to the Bank of England: The group will assess CBDC use cases; economic, functional and technical design choices, including cross-border interoperability; and the sharing of knowledge on emerging technologies. Earlier this week, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), with 36 member countries, formed a “high-level expert group” for blockchain, which includes executives of crypto companies. They will advise the organization on blockchain technology. Another intergovernmental organization that recently made efforts towards crypto oversight is the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). It recently held a supervisors’ forum to discuss the supervision of crypto assets and related service providers. This is the first time regulators and supervisors had the opportunity to discuss and share crypto supervisory knowledge and experience since the FATF issued its guidance on crypto assets in June last year. What do you think of the regulatory developments worldwide covered in this roundup? Let us know in the comments section below. Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not an offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation, endorsement, or sponsorship of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article. Images courtesy of Shutterstock and Foreign Policy. Did you know you can buy and sell BCH privately using our noncustodial, peer-to-peer Local Bitcoin Cash trading platform? The local.Bitcoin.com marketplace has thousands of participants from all around the world trading BCH right now. And if you need a bitcoin wallet to securely store your coins, you can download one from us here. The post Regulatory Roundup: New US Crypto Tax Bill, Central Banks Join Forces on Digital Currencies appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Remember Polkadot? It’s the multi-chain network that raised $145 million in 2017 and hasn’t been seen since. But unlike many of the blockchain projects from that era, Polkadot hasn’t taken the money and run. Its team, led by Ethereum founder Gavin Wood, has been beavering away at the ambitious task it set itself. Two and a half years on from, Polkadot is finally poised to launch. Can it live up to its promise, or is Polkadot arriving too late? Also read: Bitcoin Cash Miners Plan $6M Development Fund by Leveraging Block Rewards Ethereum Prepares to Face Its Final Challenger Filecoin, Dfinity, and Polkadot are the big three from the ICO era that have yet to ship. Only one of these is gunning for Ethereum’s crown, however. Polkadot aims to solve blockchain’s interoperability problem, as well as the governance problem, the forking problem, and a bunch of other commonly cited problems. Polkadot could easily be lumped in with all the other blockchains professing to magically solve these problems, but it shouldn’t be written off so quickly. For one thing, there’s the size of the war chest it’s had to play with over the last two years – $145 million buys you a whole lot of blockchain, even allowing for the $91 million that got lost in the Parity bug. And then there’s the team to consider: Polkadot boasts the talents of Ethereum co-founder Gavin Wood, Peter Czaban, the Technology Director of the Web3 Foundation, and Robert Habermeier, a Thiel Fellow who’s received funding to pursue scientific research into blockchains and cryptography. There’s a lot of brains behind Polkadot, then, but as anyone who’s been following the fate of VC-funded chains will know, it takes more than boffins to build a successful ecosystem. If Polkadot can’t create a thriving community of developers, users, and businesses eager to tap into its multi-chain network of networks, it will be dead on arrival. What Polkadot Is Building Polkadot will enable all kinds of assets to be transferred cross-chain to any of the blockchains housed within its capacious network. It promises high scalability because a shared set of validators will be used to secure transactions on multiple blockchains. New blockchains that join Polkadot can tap into this security model from the get-go. Polkadot’s governance model shares some similarities with Tezos, whereby network upgrades are proposed and voted in by the community. While most interoperability projects are focused on enabling assets to be swapped cross-chain, Polkadot goes further. It also enables data to be swapped in the same manner, and supports cross-chain computation. Use cases for Polkadot include smart contract chains, data curation networks, oracle chains, IoT, file storage and identity. Basically anything that you can currently do on blockchains you’ll be able to do within Polkadot’s blockchain network, with the added bonus of being able to move assets between chains seamlessly. The Bull and Bear Case for Polkadot Polkadot will launch sometime this year: the final nuts and bolts are being tightened now, including security audits and integration of its blockchain components. The project sees “2020 as the year where we can get the interior decorations done and start moving in. In real terms, this means a Polkadot network launch with a staged rollout of the various pieces of functionality, including governance, parachains, slot auctions, parathreads, XCMP and Spree.” The bull case for Polkadot prospering includes the extent of development work going on behind the scenes. 64 projects have received $4.4 million from the Web3 Foundation to build on Polkadot, and there’s a Polkadot Ecosystem Fund operating with the support of Polychain Capital. In his Crypto Theses for 2020, Messari’s Ryan Selkis ventured that “Ethereum will face legitimate smart contract platform competition during its transition, and the most credible early favorites to attract defectors are likely Cosmos and Polkadot.” This year, Ethereum will meet its toughest challenger yet in Polkadot He also projected that “For token projects that raised gobs of money at nosebleed valuations in 2017, things could get very ugly, very quickly once they start trading. It’s not even guaranteed Telegram, Filecoin, Dfinity, or Polkadot come to market in the new year, but if they do, I’d be surprised if they traded at anything close to their last priced rounds.” This is essentially the bear case for Polkadot: it may be launching too late to land a blow on Ethereum. EOS has failed in that respect, Tezos is still warming up, and Algorand and Hedera Hashgraph have created nothing but disgruntled bagholders at this stage. It won’t just be DOT token-holders who will be eagerly gearing up for Polkadot’s launch. The project presents the last credible challenge to Ethereum’s smart contract dominance, and thus the entire cryptosphere will be watching closely. While Polkadot isn’t looking to replace Ethereum – the networks will interconnect – the success of the former will inevitably draw market share and support from the latter. Will Eth’s network effects prove too great to surmount, or will Polkadot’s superior tech and team prevail? How well do you think Polkadot will perform? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Did you know you can verify any unconfirmed Bitcoin transaction with our Bitcoin Block Explorer tool? Simply complete a Bitcoin address search to view it on the blockchain. Plus, visit our Bitcoin Charts to see what’s happening in the industry. The post Polkadot Will Finally Launch This Year – But Is the Multi-Chain Network too Late to Catch Ethereum? appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A group of Bitcoin Cash mining pool operations have decided to help fund BCH infrastructure development. On January 22, Btc.top founder Jiang Zhuoer revealed that five mining pools are preparing a short-term developers donation plan. Miners from Btc.top, Bitcoin.com, Viabtc, Antpool, and Btc.com plan to give “12.5% of [the] BCH coinbase rewards to a fund that will support Bitcoin Cash infrastructure.” Also Read: Bitcoin Cash Sees Mining Pool Shift and Hashrate Surpass 4 Exahash Btc.top Founder Announces Bitcoin Cash Development Fund Lately, there’s been discussions regarding funding BCH infrastructure development. The BCH community raised money last summer to go toward various BCH development teams. Now, five BCH mining pools have decided to donate funds from their coinbase rewards to engineering teams working on infrastructure. Btc.top founder Jiang Zhuoer disclosed the news on Wednesday and noted that it is “is impossible for developers to develop for free for long-term.” However, he also highlighted that the “corporate donation mechanism has some significant problems.” Zhuoer’s example of corporate donations gone bad is Blockstream’s influence over Bitcoin Core’s development process “which has led to the centralization in BTC’s development,” the miner emphasized. Zhuoer’s blog post stresses that centralized development has hindered Satoshi’s plan. “Only a few companies have taken the commitment to bear the costs for the community development, while other members are free-riders, causing a typical tragedy of the commons,” Zhuoer remarked. Btc.top’s founder added: Therefore, although there is some controversy among miners for directing coinbase rewards to developers, it is undoubtedly a far better solution than a few corporate donors’ mechanism. 12.5% of BCH Coinbase Rewards for Six Months Zhuoer then detailed that mining pool operators Btc.top, Antpool, Btc.com, Viabtc, and Bitcoin.com are in the midst of preparing a “6-month short-term donation plan.” “This plan aims to provide sufficient funds for BCH developers to accelerate the BCH development before the upcoming bull market in 2020–2021/22,” Zhuoer said. “To provide this funding, we intend to direct 12.5% of BCH coinbase rewards to a fund that will support Bitcoin Cash infrastructure. “This funding will last for 6 months, and it will provide significant and much needed support to the Bitcoin Cash ecosystem.” The Btc.top founder also discussed the SHA256 mining ecosystem and the hash ratio between BTC and BCH and how things may proceed in the future. Additionally, Zhuoer talked about the estimated amount that could be raised depending on the price of BCH over time. “If we assume a current price of $300 per BCH, then donating 12.5% of the coinbase for a period of 180 days would total $6,075,000,” Zhuoer noted. “This plan provides a substantial sum that would have a positive impact on Bitcoin Cash and the cryptocurrency ecosystem.” The miner’s announcement also said that a “Hong Kong corporation” has been initiated to legally accept and disperse the developers’ funds. Zhuoer continued: The funds would be used to pay for development contributions to full node implementations as well as other critical infrastructure. The mining pool representatives who support the funding effort include Bitcoin.com’s Roger Ver, Antpool and Btc.com’s Jihan Wu, Btc.top’s Jiang Zhuoer, and Viabtc’s Haipo Yang. On Wednesday, BCH proponents discussed the funding news. “Sounds like a good solution to the issue of staying on track with what’s best for BCH,” one Redditor wrote on r/btc. “ I like the way they are doing these donations — Much love from a BCH user,” another crypto enthusiast remarked. Throughout the day and into the evening, the BCH funding topic has been trending online. Numerous crypto advocates debated the subject on Twitter and Reddit forums on Wednesday. What do you think about BCH miners donating to Bitcoin Cash infrastructure development? Let us know what you think about this topic in the comments section below. Image credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Fair Use, Wiki Commons, and the Bitcoin Cash logo. Do you want to maximize your Bitcoin Mining potential? Plug your own hardware into the world’s most profitable Bitcoin mining pool or get started without having to own hardware through one of our competitive Bitcoin cloud mining contracts. The post Bitcoin Cash Miners Plan $6M Development Fund by Leveraging Block Rewards appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The global markets company Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) has seen considerable demand since launching its options contracts in the wake of the firm’s bitcoin futures. On the first day of swaps, CME’s bitcoin options saw 55 contracts ($2.3 million). By the end of the week, the firm’s bitcoin options volume more than doubled with 122 contracts ($5.3 million) sold. Also read: Bitcoin Futures Hit 3-Month High in Frenetic Tuesday Trading CME Bitcoin Options See Steady Growth Regulated crypto derivatives products have seen strong demand and just recently the forex marketplace CME launched options on the firm’s bitcoin futures contracts. The foreign exchange company announced its bitcoin options offering in mid-September as CME executive Tim McCourt said there was “increasing client demand” for such products. McCourt also remarked that the options would provide “clients with additional flexibility to trade and hedge their bitcoin price risk.” Following the announcement, the ICE-owned Bakkt derivatives marketplace launched bitcoin options in the U.S., alongside opening cash-settled bitcoin futures in Asia. CME’s options started trading on January 13 and the marketplace saw a grand total of 55 options contracts or $2.3 million sold that day. As news.Bitcoin.com’s CME options report mentioned in November, each contract represents 5 BTC. The derivatives markets researchers from Skew.com have also recorded the options action on CME since the day the products launched. “Just added CME to our bitcoin options open interest radar,” the researchers tweeted. On January 17, Skew wrote that CME’s open interest for bitcoin futures was “up 100% since the start of the year.” Following the 55 contracts on opening day, CME bitcoin options saw 122 contracts worth $5.3 million on January 17. “[The] first week of CME options closed on a strong note with 610 bitcoin options trading on Friday,” Skew researchers noted on January 20. In addition to the strong CME options start, demand for crypto derivatives has been steadily climbing. A few days before CME launched the bitcoin options, Skew tweeted that global open interest in bitcoin derivatives has spiked 15% to roughly $3.5 billion on January 15. This includes institutional marketplaces like CME and Bakkt but also Okex, Deribit, Bitfinex, Ledgerx, FTX, Huobi, Kraken, Binance, and Bitmex. Bakkt’s Bitcoin Options Flounder and Retail Derivatives Volumes Skyrocket As CME records a steady climb from 55 contracts to 122 on January 17, open interest has also risen from 55 to 219. On January 21, the Twitter account Ecoinmetrics explained that Bakkt’s BTC futures were dealing with low trade volumes. “Low trading activity on the Bakkt futures,” the researchers detailed. “At the same time the Bakkt BTC options market is completely dead — Not looking very good when compared to the CME markets,” Ecoinmetrics added. With CME’s bitcoin derivatives products, the story is different. “Open interest is still high on BTC futures,” Ecoinmetrics explained the following day. “Slow increase in activity on the May’20/Jun’20 contracts after the halving — On the options side: 27 contracts traded and open interest climbing to 244 contracts.” There were 1,039 ($9.15 million) Bakkt bitcoin monthly futures traded on Tuesday. The volume is far less than the all-time high Bakkt saw on December 18, 2019, with 6,601 physically-settled monthly futures traded. At 10:20 a.m. EST on January 22, Bakkt’s volume is around 386 BTC. Despite the recent rise in CME-based bitcoin futures products, the volumes are still minuscule compared to the crypto derivatives giants who deal with retail customers. During the last week, Bakkt’s physically traded bitcoin futures volume has been much lighter but demand has grown since the product launched. CME and Bakkt have a long way to go before they catch up to the massive volumes Bitmex, Bitfinex, and Coinflex process on a daily basis. What do you think about the growing demand for CME Group’s cash-settled bitcoin options? What do you think about Bakkt volumes slowing down last week? Let us know what you think about the crypto derivatives industry in the comments section below. Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any ideas, software, bitcoin futures contracts, bitcoin options, crypto derivatives products, manufacturers, websites, concepts, content, goods or services mentioned in this article. Price articles and futures market updates are intended for informational purposes only and should not be considered as trading advice. Neither Bitcoin.com nor the author is responsible for any losses or gains, as the ultimate decision to conduct a trade is made by the reader. Image credits: Shutterstock, Skew Research, Bakkt Volume Bot, Fair Use, and Pixabay. Did you know you can verify any unconfirmed Bitcoin transaction with our Bitcoin Block Explorer tool? Simply complete a Bitcoin address search to view it on the blockchain. Plus, visit our Bitcoin Charts to see what’s happening in the industry. The post Demand for Crypto Derivatives Swells as CME’s Bitcoin Volume Rises appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Former bank employees have received bonuses worth millions of euros in an illegal trading scheme that also involved a tax lawyer, prosecutors in Frankfurt revealed this week. The case is part of multiple investigations carried out across Germany, the hardest hit country in a notorious tax fraud scandal known as the Cum-ex Files. Also read: European Banks Struggle With Low Interest Rates and Strict Regulations Frankfurt Fraud Costs Germany €389 Million The six bankers got 29.5 million euros (close to $33 million) in bonuses from the alleged fraud, German prosecutors said this past Monday. The staggering numbers, mentioned in the charges filed earlier this month against the bankers and the lawyer, were made public in an announcement by the Frankfurt Prosecutor’s Office which was quoted by Reuters. The prosecutors did not reveal the entities that employed the accused but according to sources quoted in the report, the individuals worked for Maple Bank. The Frankfurt-based financial institution collapsed in 2016 as a result of its involvement in cum-ex trades which were conducted between 2006 and 2009 and cost the state €389 million in lost taxes (more than $421M). Two of the bankers have been in custody since their detention in December 2019 following the investigation carried out by German authorities. The tax lawyer, Ulf Johannemann, who is a former partner at the law firm Freshfields, was arrested the previous month. He has been released on a 4 million euro bail, the news agency detailed. The case in Frankfurt, the Eurozone’s financial capital, is just one of a series of investigations in the Federal Republic into the large-scale tax scam. Participants in the fraud generated multiple tax reclaims from phantom dividends from mostly German companies. Officials insist that the scheme required intensive cooperation between big financial institutions, investors and legal experts to achieve its goals. The Cum-Ex Files The tax fraud in Frankfurt and other similar cases involving cum-ex deals were discovered by news organizations and tax authorities a decade later, sparking a heated debate in German society that led to the launch of a parliamentary inquiry. The government in Berlin has estimated that its losses amount to 5 billion euros but the damage may be even bigger. Although Germany is the hardest hit country, a number of other EU member states like France, Italy, Denmark, and Belgium have been affected by the massive fraud as well. It has been estimated that a network of bankers, brokers, asset managers, consultants, investors, and lawyers managed to extract public funds worth an estimated €55 billion (over $60 billion), exploiting a legal loophole in tax laws and in particular the German tax code. The cum-ex scheme involves the lending and trading of shares with (cum in Latin) and without (ex) dividend rights between multiple parties around the “record date,” an established quarterly date when companies determine who owns their stock and who is eligible to receive dividend. The numerous transactions make it hard for tax authorities to know who the current owner is. The rapid exchanging of shares, sold with-dividend just before record date but delivered without dividend right after, is aimed at allowing two parties to simultaneously claim ownership of the same stock, each of whom was entitled to a tax rebate and claimed refunds on taxes that had been paid only once. It was possible to implement the scheme partially because of the way the German tax system functions. The capital gains tax is automatically deducted from all dividend payments but dividends are taxed differently depending on the status of the receiving party. While private individuals owe 25% capital gains tax on their dividends, dividend income for corporate entities such as investment companies is added to all other income and charged with 15% corporation tax on the total annual profit. Thus, institutional investors could reclaim the capital gains tax that has already been deducted. What’s your opinion about the cum-ex fraudulent trading scheme in Europe? Share your thoughts on the scandal in the comments section below. Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not an offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation, endorsement, or sponsorship of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Do you need to track down a Bitcoin transaction? With our Bitcoin Explorer tool, you can search by transaction ID, address, or block hash to find specific details, and for a look at the broader crypto space explore our Bitcoin Charts tool. The post 6 Bankers Accused of Earning €30M in Bonuses From German Fraud, Tax Lawyer Out on €4M Bail appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

India’s supreme court spent all day on Wednesday hearing extensive arguments from both the counsel representing crypto exchanges and the central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The counsel for the central bank confirmed again that cryptocurrency is not banned in India, but still justifies the banking restrictions on the crypto industry. Also read: Crypto vs RBI — 3 Days of Intense Supreme Court Hearings All-Day Hearing at Supreme Court The Supreme Court of India resumed hearing the crypto vs. RBI case on Wednesday. Local news and regulatory analysis platform Crypto Kanoon reported that Nakul Dewan, the counsel representing a number of crypto exchanges, opened his arguments by countering the RBI’s claim that crypto has no intrinsic value. He argued that by the same logic fiat currency also has no value since gold backing has been removed. The counsel also gave an overview of how money was developed. While agreeing that there are risks, he read out a report outlining alternative measures to banking restrictions, emphasizing that crypto is not banned in India. Dewan proceeded to discuss the effects of the RBI ban, citing the government’s earlier statement that banning will reduce the ability of law enforcement agencies to monitor crypto activities. He explained to the judges how the crypto exchange business works, noting that the business is completely dependant on the banking channel. Dewan compared cryptocurrencies to airline miles which people could use and redeem for other services, adding that the RBI does not stop these similar arrangements. The court questioned if the two are really the same; the counsel insisted that both have the same economic nature. Crypto, Medium of Exchange, RBI’s Power to Ban Dewan told the court that “There are 2 things that a crypto does. Its creation is that of a ‘good’ by the work of validation. Another is the medium of exchange for the group of people who recognize value in it,” Crypto Kanoon conveyed. The judges responded by saying that if crypto is a medium of exchange then it must be controlled. The counsel argued that the legislature is aware that it can be used as a medium of exchange, but did not choose to pass any law. The counsel read out several judgments by various courts worldwide that crypto is not money, such as in the U.S. and Singapore. He discussed the definition of goods from the Indian Sale of Goods Act before bringing up the Banking Regulation Act to challenge the powers of the central bank to place a banking restriction on the crypto industry. In its response to the petitioners’ representation, the RBI wrote in one place that “technological innovations like VCs [virtual currencies] not to be encouraged,” according to the news portal. Dewan asserted that it is not within the RBI’s power to encourage or otherwise. The central bank’s response further states that “we are restricting you because you are convertible to legal tender at entry and exit levels.” The counsel told the court that this statement applies to all kinds of other schemes including airline miles. He referred to the Doctrine of Proportionality before concluding his arguments. RBI’s Turn to Present Arguments Next, Shyam Diwan opened his arguments on behalf of the central bank which claims to have acted with the input of other regulators and domestic needs. He referenced the view of the interministerial committee (IMC) which drafted the bill to ban cryptocurrencies. Crypto Kanoon quoted Diwan as saying: Our [RBI’s] purpose is to adopt nip in the bud approach in order to ensure that payment system is protected and other alternates are not allowed to pop up in the economy. And we are empowered by law for this. Diwan asserted that “Crypto could be a store of value or commodity, but we see it as a digital means of payment. Crypto ecosystem may affect the existing payment system and influence the economic policy,” the news platform also reported. “I am not a crime detector or a tax collector. But since I am the protector of monetary policy and the monitor of cross border transactions, it comes under my domain to restrict this in the interest of monetary policy,” the counsel added. The central bank has listed many risks associated with cryptocurrencies such as money laundering, tax evasion, and terrorist financing. The counsel also discussed the size of the crypto market and the history of cryptocurrency, including Satoshi Nakamoto, which the judges shared their knowledge. The RBI claims that “crypto payments take place in peer to peer system without an authorized agency which expose the user to the risk of having no legal recourse,” the news outlet noted. After the lunch break, Diwan read out some crypto-related announcements by the central bank and referred to the definition of virtual currencies, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) guidelines, and the challenges in dealing with cryptocurrencies for law enforcement. He mentioned terrorist financing and consumer protection issues, adding that growing crypto investments can lead to reduced bank reserves, Crypto Kanoon detailed. The counsel claims that even a small challenge may result in several adverse effects given the complexity of the financial market, citing an RBI Financial Stability report which explains the complexity of the monetary system. Diwan referred to the recommendations by the inter-disciplinary committee which previously issued a warning to crypto exchange users. The judge then asked about the Crypto Token Bill 2018 which was drafted based on the recommendations of the inter-disciplinary committee report dated 2017. The counsel revealed that the recommendations were not accepted and the interministerial committee was formed. Diwan further claims that the central bank conducted a detailed study before taking action. According to Crypto Kanoon, the counsel described: RBI recognizes that crypto is negligible today but it will undermine the formal payment system … For the total economy, it may be small but it has immense potential to impact the system including cross border capability. The judge asked whether virtual currencies are legal. The counsel clarified that “in India, VCs are not illegal and there is no ban in place. No prohibition.” However, the counsel insisted that the RBI has the power to maintain financial stability, referencing a few research papers, including the minutes of an IMC meeting which concluded that crypto should be banned. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) said during that meeting that the use of virtual currencies is “likely to grow and due to its nature, regulating it by a single regulator would not be feasible,” the news outlet detailed. Diwan proceeded to read out the IMC report, including the draft bill entitled “Banning of Cryptocurrency & Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill 2019.” However, it has been almost a year since this bill was drafted and submitted to the government, but it has yet to be introduced in parliament. The crypto community in India believes that this bill will not be introduced since it is flawed in many ways. The counsel also read from the report the use of initial coin offerings (ICOs) as an alternative to traditional financing methods for startups. The differences between fiat money and virtual currencies were also discussed. The RBI counsel is expected to continue his arguments on Thursday. What do you think of the supreme court hearing today? Do you think the court will lift the RBI ban tomorrow? Let us know in the comments section below. Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not an offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation, endorsement, or sponsorship of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Did you know you can buy and sell BCH privately using our noncustodial, peer-to-peer Local Bitcoin Cash trading platform? The local.Bitcoin.com marketplace has thousands of participants from all around the world trading BCH right now. And if you need a bitcoin wallet to securely store your coins, you can download one from us here. The post Crypto vs RBI: Exchange Counsel and RBI Take Center Stage at Supreme Court Today appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

After a spate of big names parting ways with the Libra Association late last year such as Paypal, Visa, Mastercard, and Ebay, British telecommunications giant Vodafone has become the latest to bid the ambitious digital asset project farewell. While Vodafone’s statement notes it does not rule out the possibility of working with Libra in the future, a statement issued Tuesday by the Libra Association confirms the exit. Also Read: EU Finance Ministers Place Defacto Ban on Libra Another Big Name Exits the Libra Association The Libra Association‘s membership continues to shrink as British telecommunications conglomerate Vodafone has become the latest to announce a split from the group. The Libra Association describes its role as working “to evolve and scale the network and reserve” of the planned Libra cryptocurrency. Despite publication of a signed charter in October last year, with Vodafone representation signing on, the group confirmed their departure Tuesday and noted in a statement: “We will continue to monitor the development of the Libra Association and do not rule out the possibility of future co-operation.” The association, which began with 28 founding members, is now down to 20 as Booking Holdings, Ebay, Mastercard, Mercado Pago, Paypal, Stripe, Visa and Vodafone have all exited. Vodafone is making the move to direct resources and attention to M-pesa, its own digital payments service. Some speculate Libra’s ongoing confrontations with government regulators and financial policymakers could also be an influencing factor in the decision. Libra Pushes Forward Despite Uncertainty Dante Disparte, the Libra Association’s head of policy and communication said in a statement issued to multiple media outlets: Although the makeup of the Association members may change over time, the design of Libra’s governance and technology ensures the Libra payment system will remain resilient. The Association is continuing the work to achieve a safe, transparent, and consumer-friendly implementation of the Libra payment system. Though the planned 2020 launch of the libra crypto is doubted by some — thanks in part to lack of specific mention in Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s recent “vision for the decade” social media post — the Libra Association pushes on. Libra also does not appear to be lacking interest from companies hoping to participate, with reports of a wait list of over 1,500 companies and plans to admit new members in 2020. The Libra project has been targeted from the outset by politicians and lawmakers, and even made fun of by influencers in the crypto space for not being a true crypto in the sense of decentralization and limited supply. Still, the saga stretches on into a brand new decade while the crypto community watches to see what unfolds. What are your thoughts on Vodafone exiting the Libra Association? Let us know in the comments section below. Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not an offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation, endorsement, or sponsorship of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article. Image credits: Shutterstock Did you know you can buy and sell BCH privately using our noncustodial, peer-to-peer Local Bitcoin Cash trading platform? The local.Bitcoin.com marketplace has thousands of participants from all around the world trading BCH right now. And if you need a bitcoin wallet to securely store your coins, you can download one from us here. The post Vodafone Becomes 8th Company to Exit Libra Association appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A new presidential decree in Uzbekistan envisages the introduction of tax exemptions for income obtained from operations involving crypto assets. The draft document published recently also incorporates proposals for the establishment of a blockchain valley and licensing regime for cryptocurrency miners. The country has just launched its first licensed crypto exchange. Also read: Uzbekistan to Create National Mining Pool, Launch Licensed Exchange Tax Free Crypto Operations The Central Asian Republic of Uzbekistan legalized cryptocurrency trading and introduced licensing for crypto exchanges with a decree signed by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev in the fall of 2018. An earlier decree issued by the head of state in the summer of that year laid the legal grounds for other related activities in order to develop the country’s digital economy. Uzbekistan now prepares to exempt income obtained in cryptocurrency operations from taxation. A draft-decree containing provisions to that effect has been published last week for public discussion. Furthermore, Presidential Decree ID-12538 “On the measures for further development of the circulation of crypto assets in the Republic of Uzbekistan,” excludes crypto transactions from the scope of the nation’s foreign currency regulations. The draft document details: Operations of legal entities and individuals related to the circulation of crypto assets, including those carried out by non-residents, are not objects of taxation, and income received from these operations is not included in the tax base for taxes and other obligatory payments. Earlier this month, the National Agency for Project Management (NAPM), a regulatory body responsible for the oversight of the digital economy including the crypto sector, announced its plans for 2020. One of the key priorities of the agency working under the presidency is to establish a “national mining pool” for all private miners who will enjoy preferential electricity rates. Also, all industrial-scale mining operations, according to the latest decree, will be subject to licensing starting from Feb. 1. The government in Tashkent also intends to create a regulatory sandbox for testing crypto technologies called Uzbekistan Blockchain Valley. Authorities want to allow entities involved in the development of new financial products and services to implement them and conduct experiments without violating applicable laws. The proposals for the establishment of the pool and the sandbox came from NAPM, the Central Bank of Uzbekistan, the Ministry of Development of Information Technologies and Communications, and the Ministry of Energy. Licensed Crypto Exchange Launched Uznex, Uzbekistan’s new digital asset trading platform, is operated by the Korean company Kobea Group. Its launch was announced Monday, Jan. 20 during an opening ceremony in Tashkent where the Korean Cultural Center hosted an international blockchain conference. The event gathered representatives of crypto companies from South Korea, Japan, and Singapore as well as officials from Uzbekistan’s ministries and government agencies, the country’s national information agency Uza reported. Kobea Group also opened its first office in the region. According to another report, by the local edition of Sputnik, Uzbekistan citizens will be allowed only to sell cryptocurrencies on Uznex.com, while foreign entities and nationals residing in the country will have full access to its services within the framework of the country’s legislation. For the time being, Uznex is the only cryptocurrency exchange operating legally in Uzbekistan and possibly in the whole region. The platform is now online and offers several trading pairs against bitcoin core (BTC) and the stablecoin tether (USDT). These include bitcoin cash (BCH) and ethereum (ETH). According to the announcement quoted by local media, Uznex should support several fiat options such as Uzbekistan’s national currency, the som (UZS), U.S. dollar (USD), and credit cards. However, the fiat payment and withdrawal methods are not currently available on the Uznex website, which is still in beta. The exchange will also serve global users in the future who want to invest in digital financial assets, make international transfers or need access to credit. The Korean operator intends to play an active role in Uzbekistan’s socio-economic life. Its plans include the establishment of blockchain departments in the country’s leading universities. Do you expect Uzbekistan to become a regional leader in the crypto space? Tell us what you think in the comments section below. Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not an offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation, endorsement, or sponsorship of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Uza. You can now purchase bitcoin without visiting a cryptocurrency exchange. Buy BTC and BCH directly from our trusted seller and, if you need a bitcoin wallet to securely store it, you can download one from us here. The post Uzbekistan Prepares Crypto Tax Exemptions, Launches Licensed Exchange appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

While people have watched the BTC network surpass 100 exahash per second (EH/s), Bitcoin Cash (BCH) has been steadily gathering hashrate as well. Since the November 15, 2018 blockchain split, which produced the Bitcoin SV (BSV) chain, BCH hashrate has jumped by more than 3x. Bitcoin cash is often more profitable to mine than BTC and during the last seven days, the BCH hashrate has averaged around 4EH/s. Also Read: Debate Ensues After 68% of BCH Hashrate Mined by Stealth Miners Bitcoin Cash Hashrate Climbs Over 4 Exahash per Second It’s been well over a year since BSV split off from the BCH network during the mid-November 2018 hash war. After a week or so, both chains saw hashrates drop below 1EH/s and there was a period of significant profitability changes between BTC and BCH miners. Since then, BCH miners have picked up the pace and are hashing far more than they did following the hash war aftermath. BCH hashrate on January 21, 2020. — Did you know you can earn BTC and BCH through Bitcoin Mining? If you already own hardware, connect it to our powerful Bitcoin mining pool. If not, you can easily get started through one of our flexible Bitcoin cloud mining contracts. On November 15, just before the split, there was more than 5EH/s hashing away at the BCH chain, but that plummeted to its lowest point on December 17, 2018. Today, according to multiple hashrate recording websites, the BCH hashrate spiked over 8EH/s three hours ago, as recorded by fork.lol. The Bitcoin Cash network’s average during the last week has been around 4EH/s. This means that from mid-December until now, BCH has seen a hashrate increase of more than three times the daily average. Fork.lol measures absolute hashrate in exahash per second using 12-hour averages. Three hours ago the BCH hashrate spiked to over 8EH/s. In fact, all three SHA256 networks have seen a hashrate rise since mid-December 2018. The BTC hashrate expanded from 32EH/s to this week’s 110EH/s average. Bitcoin SV (BSV) has also seen its network hashrate swell, as it jumped from 1EH/s to 3.3EH/s on January 21, 2020. Coin Dance also shows that BCH has been more profitable to mine in contrast to BTC for more than half of 2019. On January 21, 2020, it was approximately 3.5% more profitable to mine BCH over BTC. For instance, at 12:15 p.m. EST on Tuesday afternoon, “it is currently 3.50% more profitable to mine on the Bitcoin Cash blockchain,” Coin Dance data informs visitors. Since the recent price spike, BSV has been more profitable to mine against BTC. At the time of writing, “it is currently 11.80% more profitable to mine on the Bitcoin SV blockchain,” says the Coin Dance SV website. The BCH daily mining profitability against BTC shows it was more profitable to mine BCH for more than half of last year. Satoshi Probably Didn’t Envision Three Competing SHA256 Networks As the BCH network has seen a significant increase in hashrate, a large number of stealth miners have been hashing away at the network. News.Bitcoin.com reported on the topic in December 2019 and the trend has remained consistent. During the last week, BCH has had 49% of the network being hashed by unknown mining entities. In the last 24 hours, unknown miners captured roughly 57% of the network hashrate. BCH hashrate distribution has shifted a great deal in the last few months and the network has seen a number of stealth miners as well. Since we published that mining report, a mining operation called Taal has appeared on the Bitcoin Cash network. On January 10, a stealth miner who at one time signed BCH block coinbases as “fezi3*,” changed the block signature to “taal.com/fezi3*.” Taal is associated with Calvin Ayre’s Squire Mining Inc. rebrand and BSV backers Craig Wright and Jimmy Nguyen are advisors for Taal. The name Taal is also the name of a volcano that just erupted near one of Ayre’s island villas. Just prior to advertising onchain that it was mining BCH, Taal implemented a concept called Miner ID. The BCH network has jumped more than 3x since the blockchain split on November 15, 2018. Bitcoin SV (BSV) hashrate has increased by 2x since then. All Three Networks Will See a Reward Halving This Spring Alongside Taal, which captures 2% of BCH blocks today, there are nine other identified BCH pools mining the network. This includes Bitcoin.com, Prohashing, Okex, Huobi, Btc.com, Viabtc, Poolin, Antpool, and Btc.top. Seven of the known BCH mining pools today also mine the BTC chain. There are four BCH miners that mine the BSV chain and two of them mine on the BTC network. No one knows exactly why there’s a lot of stealth miners mining the BCH chain or why there’s been such a shift in mining pools. It’s anyone’s guess as to why BSV miners are mining the BCH chain as well and only the pool operators themselves know the moves they are making. Bitcoin SV hashrate distribution has changed a lot during the last few months and more than 45% of the hashrate is processed by unknown miners. In the last three days, unknown miners from BTC have dipped to around 3% of the network, but a few weeks prior, BTC had more than 20%. BSV’s hashrate also has a high concentration of stealth miners hashing away at the chain. At press time there’s around 55% of unknown hash processing the BSV chain during the last 24 hours. Despite the uncertainty of why pool operators are stealth mining and the shift in hashrate on all three networks, a number of speculators believe the changes are due to the upcoming halvings. All three SHA256 networks will see a block subsidy reward halving in the spring of 2020 and miners may be steadily preparing for this event. What do you think about the BCH network hashrate climbing more than 3x the number it held in mid-December 2018? What do you think about the changes and shifts between all three SHA256 networks with BTC and BSV included? Do you think these shifts have anything to do with the upcoming halvings? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. Image credits: Shutterstock, Coin Dance, Charts.Bitcoin.com, Fork.lol, Wiki Commons, Fair Use, and Pixabay. Do you want to maximize your Bitcoin Mining potential? Plug your own hardware into the world’s most profitable Bitcoin mining pool or get started without having to own hardware through one of our competitive Bitcoin cloud mining contracts. The post Bitcoin Cash Sees Mining Pool Shift and Hashrate Surpass 4 Exahash appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

There’s been a lot of buzz in the space recently about the importance of user experience. Kim Dotcom’s proclamation that “Mass utility is going to lead to mass adoption,” speaks to this. Peter Schiff’s bitcoin wallet fiasco, CZ’s claim that centralized exchanges are safer than private wallets, and promises of a still undependable Lightning Network as salvation all point to the same. As cashless payment systems proliferate around the globe, one thing becomes crystal clear: crypto doesn’t need a killer app – it is the killer app. Crypto needs better UX. Also Read: Bitcoin Cash Gets Significant Privacy Boost With Cashfusion Alpha Launch The Ongoing Quest for Crypto’s Killer App When it comes to the search for Bitcoin’s killer app, internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom has been on the hunt for years. Though his recent kind words about bitcoin cash and jarring reality check to the cryptosphere have ruffled feathers, his conversation with Tone Vays and Willy Woo nonetheless resounds: It’s nice to be a store of value, but if you really want to succeed in this game, you need to be the electronic cash … Right now only 2% of internet users have even been exposed to crypto. We are a niche, small piece of shit in the universe of business. Dotcom goes on to note that almost nobody knows or cares about the bickering and tribalism in the crypto space, but that users will naturally gravitate to “the currency that gives them the cheapest fees, the fastest transactions, the most reliability.” The entrepreneur adds that “currently, unfortunately, that is not bitcoin [BTC].” He noted the importance of many developments in the areas of privacy and security on the BCH network as well, to the uncomfortable fidgeting of his friends. UX Discussions Take Center Stage on Crypto Twitter Even for BTC maximalists and neutral parties in the everyday tribal feuds, Kim’s sentiments don’t go unrecognized. Monday’s “forgetful wallet” fiasco involving Peter Schiff generated not only humorous mockery, but also observations about the general usability of bitcoin wallets in the first place. After all, if Schiff can’t use it, your grandfather probably can’t either. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin also weighed in on the UX debate. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao took the opportunity to mock Schiff and leverage questionable UX to send more folks to exchanges, tweeting: “Many hardcore crypto ogs advocate storing your own keys. But the truth is, today most people are not able to secure a key even from themselves (losing it). A trusted centralized exchange is #SAFUer for most people. The numbers speak for themselves. Need to work on wallets.” Overlooking the fact CZ just called us all too stupid to hold our own private keys in a bid to drum up business, his comment on the state of crypto wallets does have merit. User experience in crypto is still very difficult, compared to the slick products everyday consumers are used to. Bitcoin ABC Lead Developer Amaury Sachet and Cointext CTO Vin Armani also sounded off on the topic, with Armani asserting that “Bitcoin’s UX is so far from ‘working,’ it’s laughable.” Sachet noted further down the thread: “This space value new shit rather that slick shit, so we get a ton of new shit and none of it is slick.” He continued: There is no secret, good UX require many iterations and nobody is going to do that if this is not valued. Though one might not agree with all the views of these entrepreneurs and devs, one thing stands out: they’re all seeing something wrong with the current state of bitcoin UX in general — this even across bitter lines of tribalist allegiance. Even Tone Vays thinks something needs to change. For him, salvation lies in the Lightning Network, a developing solution still so riddled with problems and plagued by constant delays that mentioning it in the same sentence as UX almost seems like a joke. Anarchy in the UX The world has gone from centrally controlled fiat money, routine privacy invasions, forced payments and usage to the realized possibility of completely permissionless exchange without a third party. For those who can remember sending or receiving their first bitcoin back in the day, the experience was almost spiritual for its clean mathematical simplicity. Crypto itself is the coolest ‘app’ there currently is in finance, hands down. Threat of state force notwithstanding (granted, that’s a big one), a clean and easy UX for crypto apps is really all that stands in the way of mass adoption. Easy, cashless payment systems with intuitive and simple user interfaces are already proliferating worldwide. This is what Japan fintech payments just in a 7 Eleven stores. You can see even with all these payments bitcoin is not here. pic.twitter.com/MTIQmYRsyw — TiENCHATHK (@tienchathk) January 18, 2020 When even those who could care less about ideas like economic sovereignty can shop online, buy a cheeseburger, interact with social media, or pay their utilities with crypto easily, a paradigm shift begins to occur. Obsolete institutions will become too top-heavy to stand without popular support. They’ll have to adapt or fall under their own weight. This further opens the door for more freedom-minded users to transact however they want with less risk. Ongoing privacy enhancements also bring greater fungibility and continued convenience to this process. So while there are a great many apps, crypto itself and an excellent UX are the real killer feature being sought. Enjoyable and efficient user experience is what keeps people using Apple products, coming back to Facebook even if they claim to “hate it,” or using Google search. We’ve got the tech. The next step is to show everybody just how killer it is. What do you think will be crypto’s “killer app”? Let us know in the comments section below. Op-ed disclaimer: This is an Op-ed article. The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own. Bitcoin.com is not responsible for or liable for any content, accuracy or quality within the Op-ed article. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the content. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any information in this Op-ed article. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, fair use. Want to create your own secure cold storage paper wallet? Check our tools section. You can also enjoy the easiest way to buy Bitcoin online with us. Download your free Bitcoin wallet and head to our Purchase Bitcoin page where you can buy BCH and BTC securely. The post Why User Experience Is Crypto’s True ‘Killer App’ appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

On January 17, the UK tax agency Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) published a job opportunity for a private contractor to design a cryptocurrency blockchain analysis tool. According to the listing, the contract is for one year and HMRC will pay the contractor $100,000 for software that can “identify and cluster crypto asset transactions.” Also read: Britain’s Tax Authority Updates Crypto Guidelines HMRC Wants a Blockchain Analysis Tool and Is Willing to Pay $100,000 Governments worldwide have been cracking down on cryptocurrency holders in order to make sure they are paying taxes. In the U.S., the country’s tax agency the IRS has initiated a broad stroke of tax enforcement against people who may own or at one time possessed cryptos. In the United Kingdom, HMRC has been following a similar path as the tax entity issued guidance for individual cryptocurrency holders in 2018 and then published more guidelines for businesses on November 1, 2019. HMRC’s updated crypto rules highlight the fact that they believe “individuals residing in the UK should file their tax obligations.” Despite the new guidelines toward cryptocurrency use, the tax authority’s rules are still not clearly defined and people still don’t understand their tax obligations. Nevertheless, just like the IRS and its confusing guidelines, HMRC plans to crackdown on tax evaders anyway. On Friday, a representative from England published an advertisement for HMRC looking for a software engineer to build a blockchain surveillance tool. According to the employment listing, the contractor can work from “any region” remotely. The contract runs from January 2020 to February 2021 and the value of the contract is $100,000. However, a group of voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) contractors cannot apply. Small to medium enterprises (SME) are allowed to apply for the position to build the official HMRC blockchain analysis tool. HMRC’s description states: Provision of a tool that will support intelligence-gathering methods to identify and cluster Crypto asset transactions into linked transactions and identify those linked to Crypto asset service providers. Governments Worldwide Aim to Combat Crypto Tax Evasion and Money Laundering The tool must also de-anonymize blockchain activities by cluster analysis and identify confidence ratings in clusters. The tool needs to provide an “attribution of a cluster/address to a known commercial entity (exchange) or a known service provider (mixing service, gambling service, dark market, etc).” The platform must be web-based and offer a visualization of blockchain analytics in order to identify crypto-using suspects and build intelligence. At minimum, the tool needs to support blockchains such as BTC, BCH, ETH, ETC, XRP, USDT, and LTC. HMRC’s job application emphasizes that the tax agency would love for the tool to analyze monero, dash, and zcash as well. The contractor must also provide secondary training so other government employees can learn how to utilize the blockchain analysis tool. The crypto contractor will be paid via HMRC’s dedicated payment portal Ariba. Additionally, the contractor applying for HMRC’s job has to fill out a lengthy security questionnaire as part of the blockchain tool proposal response. HMRC’s job application proposal cites that crypto assets are being used for “tax evasion and money laundering.” U.S. regulators, specifically Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), have been working with the IRS to tackle money laundering and tax evaders as well. In 2016, an affadavit revealed that HSI created a special task force to identify unlicensed bitcoin exchangers. Two years later, HSI published its 2019 fiscal year pre-solicitation documents which show the agency asked for money for blockchain analysis tools. “This proposal seeks applications of blockchain forensic analytics for newer cryptocurrencies, such as zcash and monero,” the solicitation letter explains. “Blockchain forensic analytics for the homeland security enterprise can help the DHS law enforcement and security operations across components as well as state and local law enforcement operations,” states page 21 of the DHS solicitation letter. “Private financial institutions can likewise benefit from such capabilities in enforcing “know your customer” and anti-money laundering compliance.” HMRC’s newly updated tax guidelines toward crypto-related activities note that most crypto asset operations are “taxable economic activity.” This includes cryptocurrency mining as well as buying, selling, and exchanging a digital asset for another type. Individuals and SMEs interested in HMRC’s blockchain analysis tool contract have until January 27 to submit a proposal alongside the security questionnaire. The UK tax agency’s employment listing shows that governments are actively searching for ways to de-anonymize crypto transactions. HMRC’s crypto analysis tool application underscores that the tax agency is there to make sure the collection of money pays for the UK’s public services. The contract proposal notes that the agency wants to “make it hard for the dishonest minority to cheat the system.” What do you think about Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs job listing looking for a contractor to build a blockchain surveillance tool? Let us know what you think about this topic in the comments section below. Image credits: Shutterstock, HMRC application, Fair Use, Wiki Commons, and Pixabay. Do you need a reliable bitcoin mobile wallet to send, receive, and store your coins? Download one for free from us and then head to our Purchase Bitcoin page where you can quickly buy bitcoin with a credit card. The post UK Tax Agency to Pay $100K for Blockchain Surveillance Software appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has confirmed that cryptocurrency is not banned in India. During the latest supreme court hearing of the crypto case, the central bank’s reply to the Internet and Mobile Association of India was read out in detail. The RBI clarified that it only fenced in the entities it regulates, such as banks, from risks associated with trading cryptocurrencies. Also read: Regulatory Roundup: EU-Wide Crypto Regulations, New Rules in Europe, US, Asia RBI Did Not Ban Crypto During a supreme court hearing last week, the counsel for the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), Ashim Sood, read out the answers provided by the central bank in response to the association’s representation in detail. The RBI was ordered by the supreme court to reply to each point made in the representation regarding the banking restrictions it placed on the crypto industry, including exchanges. The Economic Times reported that the RBI’s reply came as a 30-page document, which it has seen, elaborating: The Reserve Bank of India has said it had not banned cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin in India, but only ringfenced regulated entities like banks from risks associated with trading of such virtual instruments. The RBI clearly states in its reply to the IAMAI that it has not prohibited virtual currencies in the country, the publication reiterated. In the circular issued in April 2018, the central bank only directed the entities it regulates to stop providing services to persons or entities dealing in or settling cryptocurrencies. With the RBI’s confirmation, cryptocurrency is neither banned by the central bank nor the Indian government. In July last year, the government confirmed to Rajya Sabha, the upper house of India’s parliament, that cryptocurrency is not prohibited in the country. Other Suggestions by RBI The central bank justified its banking restrictions by claiming that crypto activities “pose reputational and financial risks along with other legal and operational risks,” the news outlet conveyed, adding that the RBI wrote in its affidavit: Any possible avenues which facilitate anonymous cross-border fund transfer have to be acted upon swiftly and stringently dealt with. It is an admitted fact that VCs [virtual currencies] have been used to purchase illegal and illicit goods ranging from guns and ammunition to drugs. However, the Indian government told Rajya Sabha in July last year that “Cryptocurrency can be used for secret and illegal activities, but there is no data to corroborate that it is primarily being used for such activities.” The central bank’s response to the IAMAI further reveals its discussion in early 2018 with the government regarding whether to regulate or ban cryptocurrencies, the publication noted. In addition to suggesting that initial coin offerings (ICOs) should be prohibited, the RBI said funds investing in cryptocurrencies should not be allowed to set up in India. The news outlet added that the central bank also proposed that the Foreign Exchange Management Act be amended to “prevent and track remittances for investment in virtual currencies made under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme.” Supreme Court Hearing to End Banking Restrictions Following the RBI’s April 2018 circular, banks closed the accounts of crypto exchanges, forcing some of them out of business. A number of crypto stakeholders immediately filed writ petitions over the banking restrictions which are being heard by the supreme court. The IAMAI represents a number of its crypto exchange members in court seeking to lift these restrictions. Last week, the supreme court resumed hearing the crypto case. During the three days of hearings, Sood presented extensive arguments in an attempt to convince the court to provide relief. He claims that by taking away the bank accounts of crypto exchanges, the central bank has de facto banned crypto activities. The court was scheduled to hear the case again on Tuesday but it was not called and is likely to be listed for Wednesday instead. Meanwhile, the Indian government is still deliberating on the draft bill which seeks to ban cryptocurrencies, except state-issued ones. The bill has not been introduced in parliament even though the government said it would be introduced by the end of last year. The delay has given the Indian crypto community hope that the government may decide to regulate the crypto industry instead of proceeding with the aforementioned draft bill. What do you think of the RBI saying it did not ban crypto? Let us know in the comments section below. Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not an offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation, endorsement, or sponsorship of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article. Images courtesy of Shutterstock and the India Times. Did you know you can buy and sell BCH privately using our noncustodial, peer-to-peer Local Bitcoin Cash trading platform? The local.Bitcoin.com marketplace has thousands of participants from all around the world trading BCH right now. And if you need a bitcoin wallet to securely store your coins, you can download one from us here. The post RBI Confirms Crypto Not Banned in India appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Consistently among the top digital assets in the world by market cap, Bitcoin Cash is accepted by most crypto service providers and the list just keeps growing. The latest platform to add BCH support is the popular crypto wallet with over 10 million downloads, Imtoken. Also Read: Bitcoin.com Partners With Mecon Cash, Enabling Withdrawal at ATMs Across South Korea Imtoken Now Offers a Bitcoin Cash Wallet The company operating the digital asset management tool Imtoken has announced today it has added bitcoin cash support to its multi-chain crypto wallet app following a cooperation agreement with Bitcoin.com. The new BCH wallet option will enable the millions of Imtoken users to make fast, cheap and reliable payments with all the numerous services and merchants that accept the popular cryptocurrency. Ben He, CEO of Imtoken, stated: “We are excited to support BCH as we have one common goal, which is to enable mobile payments. Payments in digital assets has seen a fair growth in recent years, and we are excited to offer our users – with BCH – a way for fast and cheaper payments.” As part of its mission to bring economic freedom to the world, Bitcoin.com is strongly promoting BCH adoption as peer-to-peer electronic money, as well as the development of the surrounding Simple Ledger Protocol tokens ecosystem, with all its business partners. Bitcoin.com CEO Stefan Rust commented: “Great to see Imtoken join the ever-rising activity around BCH as more companies want to take part in this community. With 10 million downloads Imtoken is responding to user demand for bitcoin cash. SLP support I’m sure will come soon as well.” Over 10 Million Wallet Downloads Founded in May 2016, Imtoken was designed to bridge the gap between blockchain technology and the general masses with a simple, secure yet powerful digital asset management tool. From its home market of China it soon expanded to millions of users from more than 200 countries, becoming known as the world’s most popular Ethereum wallet. In May 2018, Venture firm IDG Capital invested $10 million in the Series A funding round by Imtoken. The money raised then was said to help the wallet company fund an international expansion beyond its home market of China, as well as add support for new cryptos and tokens. In June 2018 Imtoken officially established the Singapore office as their global headquarters. The wallet app has already achieved over 10 million downloads around the world, with 8 million coming from China alone. It also enables users to access a decentralized value exchange and Dapp browsing in one place. Its development team strives to uphold impeccable security standards, without compromising on user interface and user experience design. BCH Wallet on the Imtoken App What do you think about Imtoken adding bitcoin cash support? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Verify and track bitcoin cash transactions on our BCH Block Explorer, the best of its kind anywhere in the world. Also, keep up with your holdings, BCH and other coins, on our market charts at Bitcoin.com Markets, another original and free service from Bitcoin.com. The post Popular Crypto Wallet Imtoken Adds Bitcoin Cash Support appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A Centre of Excellence in Blockchain Technology has been inaugurated by Indian Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in Bengaluru. It will facilitate various government departments in their blockchain work, leading to large scale deployment of blockchain applications. Also read: Regulatory Roundup: EU-Wide Crypto Regulations, New Rules in Europe, US, Asia New ‘Centre of Excellence in Blockchain Technology’ India’s Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (Meity) announced the inauguration of a Centre of Excellence in Blockchain Technology in Bengaluru by Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad on Saturday. Prasad is the Union Minister for Law & Justice, Communications and Meity. The event was attended by several dignitaries from the central and state governments. The center was set up by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) with the aim “to provide blockchain as a service and allowing all stakeholders to benefit from shared learning, experiences and resources.” The Indian government described the NIC as “a premier technology advisor and ICT solution provider to government at all levels.” The NIC works closely with the central government, state governments, UT administrations, districts and other government bodies, offering them a wide range of services. Speaking after inaugurating the center, Union Information Technology Minister Prasad said that India is witnessing digital transformation as most of the state governments are adopting technologies widely in their governance. He said that approximately 16,000 courts in India have been transformed into e-courts and technologies related to the Direct Benefit Transfer and e-scholarship developed by the NIC are already widely used. Prasad calls the NIC the “backbone of digital governance in India.” According to The Hindu news outlet: He [the minister] was particularly optimistic about applications of blockchain technology in primary education. He appealed to NIC to explore the potential of the new technology in improving the quality of government schools across the country. Union Minister Prasad reviewing the NIC’s initiatives at its headquarters. The Center’s Blockchain Work The Centre of Excellence in Blockchain Technology has developed blockchain-based proof of concepts for select government use cases in order to gain an understanding of the potential benefits afforded by this emerging technology, the announcement continues. “New and previously unforeseen applications of blockchain in the government are expected to enhance transparency, traceability, and trust in e-governance systems.” Among the sectors blockchain technology would aid the government, for example in providing trust and immutability, are health, finance, and agriculture. The announcement adds: The Centre of Excellence will facilitate the government departments in building proof of concepts for use of blockchain technology in different dimensions of governance leading to large scale deployment of some such applications. According to the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology’s annual report form 2018-19, centers of excellence are being set up across India. The goal is to “ensure India builds leadership in the emerging sectors,” including in areas of internet of things, blockchain, fintech, and artificial intelligence, the report details. The centers are set up in a collaborative approach by Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), a society established by Meity with the aim to encourage, promote, and boost the export of Indian software. Illustration of Meity’s Distributed Centre of Excellence for Blockchain Technology. Source: Meity Furthermore, the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Meity’s autonomous scientific society, has initiated efforts towards the establishment of a Distributed Centre of Excellence for Blockchain Technology. Under this initiative, a blockchain technology-based property registration management system has been designed and implemented, the ministry explained. Efforts have also been made towards integrating blockchain technology with existing applications. C-DAC has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Telangana state government to explore the use of blockchain technology. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has also been involved in a notable blockchain project. It announced a blockchain-based coffee e-marketplace in March 2019, citing that India is the only country in the world where all coffee is grown under shade, handpicked and sun dried. The marketplace is a pilot project to help integrate India’s farmers with markets in a transparent manner to realize a fair price for the coffee producer. What do you think of the Indian government’s blockchain efforts? Let us know in the comments section below. Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not an offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation, endorsement, or sponsorship of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article. Images courtesy of Shutterstock and the government of India. Did you know you can buy and sell BCH privately using our noncustodial, peer-to-peer Local Bitcoin Cash trading platform? The local.Bitcoin.com marketplace has thousands of participants from all around the world trading BCH right now. And if you need a bitcoin wallet to securely store your coins, you can download one from us here. The post Indian Minister Inaugurates Blockchain Center of Excellence in Bengaluru appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The number of stores that accept cryptocurrencies such as BTC and BCH is growing. But while such stores will accept bitcoin alongside existing fiat payments, a handful operate in reverse. These online shops are bitcoin only and they’ve no intention of accepting fiat currency – ever. Also read: How Is Bitcoin Cash Different From Bitcoin Core? Your Filthy Fiat’s No Good Here In a world where everyone used bitcoin, shopping would be much more private. There’d be no risk of card fraud, no credit scores, payment blacklisting, or geo-restrictions. We don’t inhabit that world, however, and probably never will. For bitcoiners curious as to what such a system would resemble, however, there’s a number of online stores that are proudly bitcoin only – and many more that accept BTC and BCH alongside fiat options. Here you can buy all manner of goods and services, but don’t bother reaching for your credit card at checkout. At these discerning stores, everything’s billed in satoshis. Buy Bitcoin’s Source Code at Pirate Hash “No fiat accepted” reads the footer of piratehash.com. The BTC-only store sells printed editions of Bitcoin’s alpha source code v0.01. It also stocks genesis block posters, with everything from the block header to the coinbase transaction neatly annotated. There’s also a BTC board game called Hodler of Last Resort which is billed as “coming soon,” but shoppers may blanche at the $1,000 price tag. A $50 P2PKH coinbase transaction poster is more affordable. Pirate Hash is a minimalist maximalist site. That is to say it combines an uncluttered design with bespoke items for hardcore bitcoiners. Checking out with BTCpayserver is a breeze, with the onchain transaction showing up in seconds. Fiat or crypto, all checkout experiences should be this seamless. Yours from piratehash.com Buy BTC Apparel at Bitcoin Tunnels Bitcointunnels.com sells clothing and wall art. The site is BTC/LN only, with checkout handled by bitcoin payment processor Open Node. Less refined than Pirate Hash, Bitcoin Tunnels is a shop for those who are newer to crypto, and wish to swear their allegiance with a ‘Proof of Work is the solution’ t-shirt or a ‘Stacking sats’ tee. More experienced bitcoiners may balk at broadcasting their beliefs to the world every time they step outside, but if you’re happy to be affiliated with crypto, Bitcoin Tunnels has got every inch of you covered. Some of the wares at 21X.io Buy Unique Bitcoin Art at 21X For bitcoiners seeking swag that’s less mainstream, 21X.io is worth a look. With such designs as “The sum of all scams” alongside an Ethereum poop emoji badge, 21X is decidedly maximalist in flavor, with most of its threads obliquely praising the cult of BTC. Prices are denominated in bitcoin, not dollars; for 0.21 BTC, for instance, you can obtain an original artwork depicting a row of Cold Card wallets and a topless woman. 21X ain’t subtle and it ain’t got time for “shitcoins,” which are anything bar BTC apparently. If its ethos aligns with yours, head on over and scope it out. Available from store.Bitcoin.com Buy Hardware Wallets and BCH Gear at Bitcoin.com Okay, so technically you can pay with fiat at store.Bitcoin.com, but why would you do that when you can pay with BCH or BTC? The quality of the designs at the Bitcoin.com shop is several notches higher than your average hobbyist store, and not all of the tees promote Bitcoin Cash – just most of them. The new “BCH not bombs” range will appeal to principled bitcoiners, while the hardware wallets will appeal to anyone seeking a safe place to stash their coins. It would be nice to pay for all your shopping in bitcoin, or to have the option at least. Until then, take comfort in the knowledge that if your bank ever bans you, bitcoin will keep you in clothing and quirky wall art. What other bitcoin-only stores do you know of? Let us know in the comments section below. Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not an offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation, endorsement, or sponsorship of any products, services, or companies. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Did you know you can verify any unconfirmed Bitcoin transaction with our Bitcoin Block Explorer tool? Simply complete a Bitcoin address search to view it on the blockchain. Plus, visit our Bitcoin Charts to see what’s happening in the industry. The post These Online Stores Are Bitcoin Only appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article