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A Washington Western District Court judge has rejected petitioner William Zietzke’s appeal to stop the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from accessing his Bitstamp trade data. An IRS summons invoked Zietzke to file a petition to quash the tax agency’s investigation into his private accounts. Even though the presiding Judge John Coughenour believes the IRS summons is “overbroad,” he still denied Zietzke’s petition. Also read: IRS Dispels Crypto Tax Confusion Washington Judge Will Allow IRS to Summons Bitstamp Over a Customer’s Transactions in 2016 William Zietzke filed a motion to quash an IRS summons on June 27, 2019, and the Washington case was then in limbo up until November 25. Court filings detail that in 2016, Zietzke used the platform Turbo Tax and said he thought he made two major transactions by filing a capital gain for more than $100K. After the tax filing, he realized he made a mistake and amended the return. Only this time Zietzke claimed a $410 capital gain and the IRS countered the changes by initiating an audit into his financial affairs. Zietzke explained that the transactions did not occur in 2016 and he only realized his mistake after his accountant started helping him prepare for retirement. According to the filing on November 25, Zietzke claimed to have only used crypto services like Armory Wallet for his personal holdings and companies like Purse.io and Coinbase. Despite the admission, during the audit, the IRS discovered Zietzke also used the exchange Bitstamp. “The IRS learned that petitioner used Bitstamp to conduct at least one Bitcoin transaction in 2016. Upon learning of this transaction, the IRS issued a summons to Bitstamp,” the document details. Zietzke believes that the Bitstamp summons infringes on his Fourth Amendment rights and that he gave the IRS all that it needs for the investigation. However, even though Judge John Coughenour noted that the audit was “overbroad,” he decided he would deny Zietzke’s petition to quash. “Having considered the parties’ briefing and the relevant record, the court finds oral arguments unnecessary and denies the petitioner’s petition,” Coughenour said. “However, because the court finds the summons overbroad, the court orders the government to file a proposed amended summons that complies with this order. Until the court approves an amended summons, the court postpones ruling on the government’s motion to enforce,” the judge added. Zietzke v. the United States of America, case # 2:19-cv-01234 filed on June 27, 2019. Judge Coughenour Rules Cryptocurrencies Have Tax Consequences and Exchange Records Are Not Immune From Inspection In addition to the denial, Coughenour remarked that “as with many things in life, cryptocurrency transactions have tax consequences.” Coughenour underlined that in 2014 the tax agency in the U.S. set forth its position on those consequences using IRS Notice 2014-21, 2014-16. The IRS recently updated the tax compliance guidelines for US taxpayers, but as far as capital gains are concerned “virtual currency is treated as property and general tax principles applicable to property transactions apply to transactions using virtual currency.” The Washington judge further said if Zietzke plans to oppose the proposed amended summons, he’s got seven days from the government’s amended actions. “[The petitioner] may oppose the proposed amended summons only insofar as it requests information that is not relevant to the tax implications of transactions in 2016,” Coughenour declared. In 2019 the IRS ramped up tax enforcement against cryptocurrency owners. The latest judgment follows the IRS sending out letters to 10,000 Americans concerning cryptocurrency use and tax implications. Following the letters, the IRS also informed the public of a new draft for the latest 1040 tax form, which is used by more than 150 million American taxpayers. The latest court case involving Bitstamp transactions also reminds crypto supporters of when Coinbase was compelled by the U.S. tax agency to provide data on 13,000 customers. The cryptocurrency question on the draft Schedule 1- 1040 reads: “At any time during 2019, did you receive, sell, send, exchange, or otherwise acquire any financial interest in any virtual currency?” In February 2018, the well known speaker Andreas Antonopoulos tweeted that he was one of the 13,000 Coinbase users. “Received notice from Coinbase today, that my account is one of the 13,000 that they will have to turn over to the IRS under the court order,” Antonopoulos said at the time. “Not surprised, I knew I would be in that group. In case you were wondering, I’ve filed and paid taxes for my bitcoin income, gains/losses.” These broad investigations into crypto exchanges and customer data, reiterates the fact that governments have full access to global exchange trade logs by simply threatening criminal enforcement. With the Washington court judgment, Coughenour doesn’t believe Zietzke’s Fourth Amendment rights will be violated if the tax agency investigates his Bitstamp transactions. “Because Bitstamp’s records do not implicate the privacy concerns — [William Zietzke] lacks a legitimate expectation of privacy in those records,” Coughenour concluded. “Consequently, the IRS’s request for those records does not infringe upon the petitioner’s Fourth Amendment rights.” What do you think about the Washington judge denying the petition against the IRS audit? Let us know what you think in the comments section below. Image credits: Shutterstock, IRS logo, Pacer case # 2:19-cv-01234, Wiki Commons, Schedule 1- 1040, Pixabay, and 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 US Judge Denies Customer’s Plea to Quash IRS Bitstamp Inquiry appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Cryptocurrency is one of the top issues for the U.S. Treasury. Particularly, the Treasury is worried decentralized cryptocurrencies can shift some functions away from the government to the private sector and raise the issue of self-government, according to Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Justin Muzinich. Also read: US to Strictly Enforce Crypto Rules Similar to FATF Guidelines Power Shift, Self-Government Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Treasury Justin Muzinich discussed the Treasury’s priorities at the annual conference of the Bank Policy Institute (BPI) in New York last week. One area he focused on was payments, particularly cryptocurrencies. While acknowledging the value of innovation and welcoming efficiency improvements, he said: Decentralized privately-issued digital currencies are not simply a means of payment, but, depending on their structure, can shift some functions traditionally performed by government to the private sector. Muzinich added that “Digital currencies at scale raise not only concrete questions about money laundering, monetary policy, and other topics, but also very abstract questions about self-government.” The other topics he referred to included financial stability, user protection, and privacy. Due to these risks, the deputy secretary warned that those engaged in crypto markets should expect that “policymakers, in pursuing the public interest, will take a very hard look at these issues.” Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Treasury Justin Muzinich While the Financial Stability Board (FSB) does not consider cryptocurrency a financial stability risk at this time, the Federal Reserve said stablecoins are a risk to the country’s financial system in a report issued earlier this month. The Fed believes that “the possibility for a stablecoin payment network to quickly achieve global scale introduces important challenges and risks related to financial stability, monetary policy, safeguards against money laundering and terrorist financing, and consumer and investor protection.” Crypto Makes Enforcing Laws Difficult The deputy secretary also discussed crypto-related problems the Treasury faces under the existing regulatory framework. Talking about national security, he revealed that “One of the issues at the top of Treasury’s mind is that digital currencies can potentially be used to evade existing legal frameworks.” Some problem areas he mentioned were taxation, anti-money laundering (AML), and countering the financing of terrorism (CFT). “We recognize that there is no way to fully future-proof our regulatory system and tackling these policy challenges will require ongoing work,” Muzinich admitted. Emphasizing that the Treasury has made it clear that U.S. laws apply to both fiat and digital currencies, he noted: If a cryptocurrency allowing anonymous transactions were to grow to scale, enforcing laws that prevent crime and terrorist financing could be more difficult. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin Muzinich’s statement echoes several concerns raised by U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. At a White House press briefing in July, Mnuchin said that the Treasury had “serious concerns” regarding the growing misuse of digital assets. “Cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin, have been exploited to support billions of dollars of illicit activity like cybercrime, tax evasion, extortion, ransomware, illicit drugs, human trafficking. Many players have attempted to use cryptocurrencies to fund their malign behavior,” he told the press, adding: This is indeed a national security issue. Mnuchin also emphasized that crypto service providers must implement the same AML and CFT safeguards as traditional financial institutions. Furthermore, money transmitters must comply with relevant Bank Secrecy Act obligations and register with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (Fincen), which recently reiterated that it will strictly enforce AML rules on crypto service providers. Fincen’s rules are similar to the recommendations by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an intergovernmental AML watchdog. At the FATF plenary meeting in June, Mnuchin said the U.S. “will allow for proper use, but we will not tolerate the continued use for illicit activities.” He additionally revealed that he had “convened a working group with the Federal Reserve and other regulators to make sure we keep the use of digital assets for legitimate use only.” Do you think the U.S. government should worry about cryptocurrency? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, the Wall Street Journal, and Scmp. 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 US Government Worried Crypto Can Shift Power to Private Sector appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

After installing a bitcoin ATM at Miami International Airport, Bitstop installed cryptocurrency ATMs at five major malls in multiple U.S. states. The malls are operated by Simon Property Group, the biggest shopping mall operator in the country. Customers can buy bitcoin while doing their Black Friday and Christmas shopping. Also read: Crypto ATMs Proliferate – 6,000 Installed and Counting Bitcoin ATMs at Simon Malls Miami-based bitcoin ATM producer Bitstop announced on Tuesday that it has installed bitcoin ATMs at five major malls in the U.S. One is located in California at Carlsbad Premium Outlets, north of San Diego. Three are in Florida, at Miami International Mall, Sawgrass Mills in Sunrise, and The Avenues in Jacksonville. The last one is located in Mall of Georgia in Buford. A Bitstop representative told news.Bitcoin.com that the machines were installed last month. Bitstop CEO Andrew Barnard commented: With the strategic timing of this new installation of bitcoin ATMs at Simon Mall locations, customers can conveniently buy bitcoin while doing their Black Friday and Christmas holiday shopping. Sawgrass Mills in Sunrise, Florida. The five malls are operated by Simon Property Group, the biggest mall operator in the U.S. The S&P 100 company has malls in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. The group generated $5.7 billion in consolidated revenue last year. Over 130 Locations According to cryptocurrency ATM tracking website Coinatmradar, there are currently 6,053 cryptocurrency ATMs worldwide. A few days ago, the site listed only 6,007 crypto ATMs, as news.Bitcoin.com reported. The website ranks Bitstop among the top 10 crypto ATM operators. Its machines are one-way bitcoin ATMs allowing users to only buy BTC. Users need to have a valid ID card, mobile phone, and a bitcoin wallet to purchase BTC from the machines. Top crypto ATM operators by Coinatmradar. Users can search for a Bitstop ATM on the company’s website which also has a map with all of its bitcoin ATMs shown across multiple U.S. states. Many locations are gas stations and convenience stores. Prior to installing bitcoin ATMs at Simon malls, Bitstop installed one at an airport in Florida, the company announced on Oct. 15. “This is another series of marquee locations after our recent Bitstop bitcoin installation at the Miami International Airport back in October,” Barnard reiterated. “There are now over 130 convenient Bitstop bitcoin ATM locations across the country, with many more growing every month. We intend to expand our Bitstop network to include 500+ locations by the end of 2020.” What do you think of bitcoin ATMs installed at Simon malls? 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 as 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, Premium Outlets, and Simon Property Group. 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 Bitcoin ATMs Installed at 5 Major Malls in the US appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A regional lender has become the latest victim of the growing liquidity crunch in the world’s most populous country. Yingkou Coastal Bank, operating in the northeastern Chinese province of Liaoning, is the second institution within less than a month to see its financial stability threatened by frightened savers. That happens while small Chinese banks are becoming heavily reliant on their depositors’ money. Also read: Gold and Silver Follow Similar Trend to Bitcoin, React to News About China Cash and Officials Calm Down Savers The bank run at Yingkou followed rumors that it is in deep trouble, which quickly spread on the internet, according to the police. A Reuters report detailed that worried depositors gathered at the bank’s branches earlier this month seeking information about their savings. Large amounts of cash were piled behind counters at several of its offices. Local authorities intervened to calm down the situation and officials were dispatched to the bank’s main office in Yingkou. Notices were placed to assure account holders the institution had enough funds to continue normal operations. Similar measures were taken during a run at the Henan-based Yichuan Rural Commercial Bank in October. Urgent funding was provided, including by the People’s Bank of China, to keep that lender afloat. Three other regional banks have been saved by the Chinese government so far this year. Baoshang Bank, based in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, was seized by the PBOC in May. Bank of Jinzhou, which like Yingkou operates in Liaoning, was bailed out by three state-controlled asset managers this past summer. And in August, Heng Feng Bank also failed and was eventually nationalized. Small Banks Struggle With High Deposit and Low Lending Interest Rates The collapse of Baoshang Bank led to not only raised levels of depositor anxiety but also rising interbank interest rates. Borrowing from bigger banks has become too expensive for small and medium-sized institutions, whose reliance on deposits has increased dramatically. Deposits formed 58% of Yingkou’s funding in June and in order to contain the current crisis it had to raise its already high interest rates, from 4.2 to 4.4% on annual deposits. For comparison, China’s benchmark rate for a one-year deposit is only 1.75%. Other small banks have also increased their deposit interest rates. Meanwhile, Beijing has introduced government-mandated cuts in lending rates in a bid to stimulate Chinese companies to borrow more in a slowing economy. The need to attract savers and the obligation to lend cheaper capital have tremendously increased the pressure on these financial institutions. As a result, 586 of them have been classified as “high risk” in this year’s China Financial Stability Report which was published on Monday. As Bloomberg noted, that’s 13% of China’s 4,379 lenders. Over 10% of the institutions failed a stress test conducted by the PBOC in 2018. The report highlights the central bank’s concerns about “still abundant” risks that accumulated in the past few years and will be hard to eliminate in the near future. Some of these risks, according to the regulator, are related to global trade and liquidity uncertainty as well as debt in low income households in certain Chinese regions. PBOC talks about the need to counter the threats arising from “abnormal” market fluctuations which, as it insists, stem from external shocks. It also vows to intensify supervision on stock, bond, and foreign exchange markets to prevent the transfer of risks to other sectors. Do you think the problems of small Chinese banks will grow into a full-blown financial crisis? Share your expectations in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Do you want to keep an eye on moving cryptocurrency prices? Visit our Bitcoin Markets tool to get real-time price updates, and head over to our Blockchain Explorer tool to view all previous BCH and BTC transactions. The post Another Bank Run Highlights China’s Brewing Financial Crisis appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Bitcoin Games is now offering players to win some extra crypto and an HTC Exodus 1 smartphone, just in time for Black Friday. You can participate in the promotion by playing the site’s exclusive Slots, Roulette and Keno games, or any of the recently released slots and you stand a chance to win these prizes. Also Read: Cash Games Adds Dozens of New Options for You to Play Your Chance to Win a New Phone on Black Friday Bitcoin.com’s very own gaming platform has increased the rewards for the ongoing Games Stars Leaderboard promotion to celebrate Black Friday. The prize pool for the top 10 places has now been doubled to $2,000 on each of the Bitcoin Games and Bitcoin Cash Games. The top three players on each leaderboard will also receive a brand new HTC Exodus 1 smartphone. The head of Games commented: “Black Friday is when everyone is thinking about getting new electronics for a good price and what’s better than free?! So we are very happy to give an opportunity to all players to win an HTC Exodus 1.” The Exodus 1 is a flagship smartphone from the Taiwanese consumer electronic developer HTC. The device’s killer feature for cryptocurrency users is the Zion Vault, a digital asset wallet with an easy-to-use software interface integrated with onboard hardware security. This secure built-in wallet has been capable of conducting bitcoin cash transactions since September 2019, so users can now easily buy, receive, spend and store BCH on the phone without the risk of remote hacking. Please note that this new promotion is exclusive to Slots, Roulette, Keno, and the recently released new slot games. Check out the promotion pages for Bitcoin Games and Bitcoin Cash Games for the full terms and conditions that apply to the offer. Bitcoin.com’s online gaming platform has recently been releasing a whole range of new games, thanks to successful partnerships with leading companies in the industry. More than 50 new options have been added to the roster since early October, with even more on the way. The recently released games have been developed by popular providers from the online gaming industry such as Bgaming, Belatra, and Mr. Slotty. Many of the new options are based on game mechanics from that very popular casino attraction — the slot machine. The platform also offers a diverse range of other fun-to-play games and even has a stylized minesweeper for players to wager on. What do you think about the Black Friday promotion 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 Players Can Now Win an HTC Exodus 1 Phone on Bitcoin Games appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

During the last week, court documents stemming from the Kleiman v. Wright lawsuit show that the Kleiman estate is now pursuing roughly $658,581 for attorney fees and expenses. Additionally, self-proclaimed Bitcoin inventor Craig Wright has filed a motion to fight the sanctions imposed on half of his alleged BTC holdings and intellectual property. Also Read: Billion Dollar Bitcoin Lawsuit Continues as Craig Wright Breaks Settlement Kleiman Estate Is Seeking More Than $650K for Attorney Fees and Expenses The billion-dollar bitcoin lawsuit continues in Southern Florida as court documents filed this week show a fierce battle between the two parties. Weeks ago news.Bitcoin.com reported that the high profile Kleiman v. Wright case was seemingly headed toward a settlement. However, the Kleiman estate filed a court document that explained: “Craig could no longer finance the settlement and was “breaking” the non-binding settlement agreement.” Wright is being sued by Ira Kleiman, the brother of the now-deceased David Kleiman because the Kleiman family believes Wright interfered with David’s BTC assets and intellectual property. A motion filed on Wednesday, November 20 shows that the Kleiman estate and the law firm Roche Freedman LLP seeks $658,581 in attorney fees and expenses. The attorneys say these fees and expenses accrued during the attempt to get court orders imposed against Wright. Kleiman’s counsel is pursuing approximately $66,023 in expenses incurred during the compel process and roughly $592,558 in lawyer fees. Judge Beth Bloom has decided to have Magistrate Judge Reinhart look the motion over and also extended time for Wright’s objection filings. The plaintiffs’ attorneys Roche Freedman believe the $658,581 is based on “reasonable hourly rates” comparable law firms would charge for the work done so far. “[It is] an appropriate number of hours worked in light of the scope and extent of Craig’s deception and the amount at stake in this litigation,” the Kleiman estate’s filing reads. Wright Wants Sanctions Lifted and Produces an Address Showing BTC Transfers With Mike Hearn Filings submitted on Monday by Wright’s legal team, Rivero Mestre LLP, indicate that Wright wants the judge to lift the sanctions imposed against him. Rivero Mestre says that it is pretty much “impossible” for Wright to produce all his BTC addresses used before 2013. “A two-day evidentiary hearing yielded uncontroverted testimony and other evidence establishing that (1) it was impossible for Dr. Craig Wright to produce a complete list of all bitcoin that he mined nearly a decade ago, and (2) even though producing such a list was impossible, Dr. Wright had taken extraordinary steps to create a list of the most probable Bitcoin addresses that he had mined,” Rivero Mestre’s court filing underscored. According to Wright’s defense team, the order was a “judgment of liability without trial” and the attorneys believe Judge Reinhart doesn’t have the power over certain jurisdictions. Moreover, the Bitcoin security specialist Wizsec looked into claims Wright made toward ownership of a specific address that saw bitcoins being sent to former BTC developer Mike Hearn. “Craig Wright says he ‘definitely knows’ he mined these bitcoins and sent them to Mike Hearn, but anyone who spends more than five minutes Googling those historical transactions will realize this is actually Hearn’s address,” Wizsec wrote on November 26. The criticism against Wright’s claims continued as Wizsec declared: [The BTC address] held coins mined by Mike Hearn, not Satoshi. Hearn used them to return Satoshi’s gifted 50 BTC. This is trivial to piece together from their publicly available email exchanges. The Debate Over Stolen Bitcoins Members of the crypto community also discussed the resurgence of Wright talking about the alleged bonded courier and the so-called Tulip Trust. On Kleiman v. Wright filing document 311, the defense attorneys say: “At most the discovery ordered would have shown that bitcoin Dr. Wright had mined were moved from one pseudonymous public address to another pseudonymous public address. Even if plaintiffs knew the identity of Dave’s public addresses (they have failed to introduce any such evidence) and were able to strip away the pseudonymity, showing that [the] bitcoin Dr. Wright mined were later transferred into Dave’s public addresses would not show that Dr. Wright stole bitcoin from Dave — If anything, it would show that Dave stole bitcoin from Dr. Wright.” The filing notes that during the two-day evidentiary hearing, the plaintiffs failed to “demonstrate that a list of Dr. Wright’s mined Bitcoin addresses would have any connection to any allegation in their complaint.” Wright wants Reinhart’s order to be tossed out and it’s very likely that Judge Beth Bloom will preside over the next ruling. Court documents show that the Kleiman estate is attempting to hold a hearing on December 4, 2019. What do you think about the latest details in the ongoing Kleiman vs. Wright case? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. Image credits: Shutterstock, Wiki, Twitter, Pixabay, Ars Technica, Court Listener, and Pacer. 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 BTC or BCH with a credit card. The post Attorney Fees Stack up as Craig Wright Fights Court Order appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Recently, cryptocurrency advocates have been discussing the upcoming halvings set to happen on the BTC and BCH blockchains in six months or less. Since crypto prices have been heading southbound, the SHA256 consensus hashrate continues to remain relatively unfazed and data stemming from freshly minted coins shows miners have been stockpiling. Also Read: Iranian Grid Explains Electrical Costs Will Fluctuate for Bitcoin Miners Stockpiling Coins and Slight Miner Capitulation Digital currency markets dropped quite a bit in value last week as most coins lost 15-20%. People are hoping that the reward halving stemming from the BTC chain and BCH chain may propel prices higher as they have in the past. At the time of writing, there is roughly 169 days or a touch more than six months left until the BTC reward halving on May 15, 2020. In the world of cryptocurrencies, six months is still a good length of time for accumulation events to take place, but right now there are few signs of halving preparations. Before the market downturn, crypto enthusiasts predicted a miner capitulation would occur where operations would drop off the network. And during the next halving, both networks will see a miner’s subsidy reward cut from 12.5 coins to 6.25 in the spring months of 2020. BTC hashrate on November 27, 2019. From November 22 up until today, the BTC hashrate did see a swift drop from 111 exahash per second (EH/s) to 87 EH/s on November 27, losing 24 EH/s. The drop was noticeable to a few observers as BTC lost about 18 EH/s on November 25. Still, the hashrate has increased since then and the overall upward trend seems intact. The BCH hashrate has remained relatively unchanged as well, holding between 2.5 to 3.5 EH/s since October 28. There have been quite a few profitability variables this month between both chains and at the time of writing, it is between 0.5% to 4.7% more profitable to mine on the BCH chain according to Coin Dance statistics. Around two weeks ago, news.Bitcoin.com also reported on how there have been signs of divergences taking place between a miner’s fresh reward subsidy and the first time they are spent onchain. Data shows a great divergence taking place between a bitcoin core (BTC) miner’s freshly generated coins and the first time they are spent onchain. The analytical portal Bytetree shows the spread is much wider and holding much longer than prior data. Data shows that between November 22 to now on both the BCH and BTC chains, miners have been stockpiling coins after capturing the reward. Historically in the past months prior to the first two BTC reward halvings, miners started hoarding coins months or a year before the subsidy reduction. It is assumed that reward halvings are economically positive and the event forces demand to grow as the supply shrinks. Data from Bytetree also indicates a large divergence taking place between a bitcoin cash (BCH) miner’s freshly generated coins and the first time they are spent onchain. Reward Halving Interest Grows and Miners Finding Blocks Faster Than Usual Interest in the reward halving has grown and according to Google Trends, searches looking for the “bitcoin halving” have increased since August 25. Additionally, on November 25, Trustnodes published research that shows BTC miners have operated much faster this year, which has increased the overall number of blocks found annually. Google Trends data on the search “bitcoin halving” has increased since August 2019. “Miners are supposed to find 144 blocks a day, but for the past year they have found on average 147.64 blocks a day,” the study details. “That’s around 4 extra blocks a day, or 50 bitcoin a day at the base reward of 12.5 BTC, translating to 18,250 bitcoin worth around $132 million at the current price.” The research notes that if the network continues running quicker than usual, it may speed up the time between now and the BTC halving event. However, since news.Bitcoin.com’s last report on the reward reduction, data shows a loss of one day behind BTC halving day predictions set two weeks ago. Statistics also show that the BCH chain will undergo a reward halving on April 8, 2020, roughly a month before the BTC halving event. The halvening was priced in. Sorry to break it to you.#Bitcoin $BTC — The Last Polymath (@last_polymath) November 22, 2019 Despite the halvings for BTC and BCH being six months away, many crypto supporters are discussing the subject a lot on Twitter. “What’s your view on the bitcoin halving in May 2020 – bullish?” one person asked another digital currency enthusiast on Wednesday. “Obviously the rate of mining will decrease by 50%, but the pros historically seem to outweigh the cons,” he added. “I expect a large rise in BTC next year to above ATH (all-time high) — But for now I’d rather BTC remain in the $6,000-$8,000 range,” the crypto supporter responded. Other crypto pundits are “not sold on the idea that the halving will save” BTC from the current market downtrend. Scrolling through Twitter shows the platform is littered with these types of conversations about the halving because speculators believe it will not only impact the price of BTC and BCH, but also the cost of mining. It will have an impact on hashrate as well by influencing difficulty, mining fees, and the overall economics of both chains’ supply. One thing that’s for certain is that overall interest in the halving is widespread and continues to rise. What do you think will happen to the BCH and BTC chains after the 2020 halving? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Google Trends, Blockchain.com, Twitter, Pixabay, Bytetree, and Fair Use. 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 As Halving Interest Grows, Spectators Discuss Miner Hoards and Capitulation appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The operators of the cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex and the stablecoin Tether have notified users that they were hit with another class action lawsuit in U.S. courts over market manipulation allegations that the companies are trying to frame as mercenary and baseless. Also Read: Bitfinex Claims to Be Victim of Fraud After Crypto Capital President Arrested Tether Operators Face New Complaint in US Bitfinex has informed users that a class action complaint was filed against the exchange and Tether in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington on November 22, 2019. They say that the claims against them are without merit, and they strongly contest the “bogus research” that is used to support them. The two companies also call it a “copycat lawsuit” to the one filed against them in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on October 6, 2019. As we reported at the time, that first suit accused them of creating the “largest bubble in human history,” and with causing well over a trillion dollars in damages. “As we predicted last month, mercenary lawyers continue to try to use Bitfinex and Tether to obtain a payday,” the two companies said. “To be clear, there will be no nuisance settlements or settlements of any kind reached. Instead, all claims raised across both actions will be vigorously contested and ultimately disposed of in due course. Once they are, Bitfinex and Tether will fully evaluate their legal options against those bringing and promoting the baseless claims.” The companies also tried to get the support of the whole crypto community behind them by stating that “These absurd and groundless accusations are an attack on the growth, success and innovation of the entire digital token ecosystem, in which Bitfinex is proud to play a critical role. Meritless lawsuits like these are a continuing affront to the efforts and dedication of Bitfinex’s customers and all participants in the digital currency ecosystem. Our fight is the community’s fight.” Fraud and Market Manipulation Accusations The New York lawsuit accused the operators of Tether and Bitfinex of managing a sophisticated scheme to defraud investors, manipulate markets, and conceal illicit proceeds. According to the complaint, they commingled their corporate identities and customer funds while concealing their extensive cooperation. And they also allegedly lied to investors saying that the number of USDT tokens in circulation will always be the same as the amount of dollars in the companies’ bank accounts. This allegedly gave them the power to fake market demand for cryptocurrencies by just printing more USDT and using it to buy coins. The USDT operators are already well used to facing accusations that they are manipulating the cryptocurrency market. Over the years many critics have made similar claims about the issuance of the stablecoin and its correlation to price rises. Despite this, it remains the top dollar-pegged digital instrument. The biggest risk that Bitfinex and Tether face is likely to be action by U.S. authorities. Earlier this year the New York Attorney General’s (NYAG) office revealed that it has already taken aim at the stablecoin. It accused the companies of a cover-up to hide the loss of $850 million dollars of co-mingled client and corporate funds. The American investigators also demanded that Bitfinex turn over documents tied to Tether. What do you think about the new class action lawsuit against Bitfinex and 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 Bitfinex and Tether Receive Another Class Action Lawsuit in US Courts appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Authorities around the world are trying to stamp out online anonymity in various ways, sacrificing users’ privacy for alleged security. One of these ways is forcing digital asset exchanges to drop support for some cryptos, as European venue Bitbay is now the latest to do with monero. Also Read: Europol: Hardcore Criminals Are Shifting From Bitcoin to Monero, Zcash and Dash Bitbay Drops Monero Support European cryptocurrency exchange, Bitbay, has announced its decision to terminate support for the privacy-focused coin monero (XMR). The company will stop accepting deposits in XMR on 29 November, 2019 and the end of trading will take place on 19 February, 2020. All monero holders are asked to withdraw it from Bitbay by 20 May, 2020 at the latest. The given reason for the move is security concerns over monero’s anonymity features that might interfere with the company’s compliance with regulations. Founded in 2014 in Katowice, Poland, Bitbay is said to have over 200 employees and 800,000 users. In May 2018 the exchange moved to Malta and on November 1, 2019, Pinewood Estonia became the operator of the platform, with a license to operate the cryptocurrency exchange in Estonia. “Monero (XMR) can selectively utilize anonymity features among projects. This feature of XMR is a subject to end of transaction support,” the exchange explained to its users. “The decision was made to block the possibility of money laundering and inflow from external networks. Monero (and other cryptocurrencies with this specification) has been already delisted on other fiat-crypto exchanges for the same reason. As a licensed exchange, Bitbay has to follow the market standards. Compliance with market standards and regulations allows us to provide our clients with legal security and convenience of using the exchange, with the participation of a friendly banking system and the availability of payment operators.” Authorities Try to Stamp Out Online Anonymity Bitbay is only the latest digital assets trading company to shun away from privacy coins. Over the past two years, service providers all over the world have taken similar moves. The Japanese exchange Coincheck announced that it will stop dealing with monero, dash and zcash in March 2018, Coinbase removed zcash from its UK venue in August and Okex delisted a number of privacy-coins in Korea in September. Exchanges are forced to take these moves to keep their operating licenses and not get their accounts blocked by the banks. The reasons that the authorities, such as central bankers, Europol, and the FATF, usually give for singling out privacy-coins is that they can be used for money laundering, buying drugs, financing terror and other criminal activities. Privacy advocates, on the other hand, see it as a wider push to limit anonymity online that also includes banning encryption and demanding software companies implement back doors to spy on users. This is why they believe it is important to add privacy features to more popular cryptocurrencies. What do you think about Bitbay ending support for monero trading due to its anonymity features? 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 European Crypto Exchange Bitbay Ends Monero Trading due to Anonymity Features appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Nick Szabo is something of a legend in the crypto space, and for a good many reasons. Not least of which are his contributions to the development of Bitcoin, his early communications as a cypherpunk, and his continued influential input in economic, philosophical, political and crypto circles since. Perhaps most fascinating, however, are compelling facts surrounding his past and present which might be construed to present him as the creator of Bitcoin himself, Satoshi Nakamoto. Also Read: The Many Facts Pointing to Hal Being Satoshi A Cryptic Background Nice Szabo, self-described “Blockchain, cryptocurrency, and smart contracts pioneer,” was working on a cryptocurrency called bit gold before Bitcoin as we know it came into existence. The legal scholar and computer scientist hailing from America’s West Coast communicated regularly with early pioneers of modern cryptography and cypherpunks like Hal Finney and Wei Dai. Dai, also a University of Washington graduate in computer science from around the same time as Szabo, is similarly known for attempting to build his own digital currency prior to bitcoin, called “b-money.” Compared to some of the other figures central to Bitcoin’s inception, in some senses Szabo’s story is not as well documented. Some of these historical and informational gaps, viewed in conjunction with other highly compelling facts, have played their part in lending to the theory that Szabo may indeed be Satoshi. Interesting Szabo Stories Bit Gold Back in December 2005, Szabo published a post to his personal blog, Unenumerated, describing his idea for a digital currency unaffected by third parties, stating: “The problem, in a nutshell, is that our money currently depends on trust in a third party for its value. As many inflationary and hyperinflationary episodes during the 20th century demonstrated, this is not an ideal state of affairs.” Right away we see Szabo is concerned with weaknesses inherent to centralized monetary systems. He goes on to describe the proposed protocol in detail: My proposal for bit gold is based on computing a string of bits from a string of challenge bits, using functions called variously ‘client puzzle function,’ ‘proof of work function,’ or ‘secure benchmark function.’ After describing how bit gold would employ an “unforgeable chain,” Szabo cites Finney’s Reusable Proofs of Work (RPOW) system and concludes by reiterating the need for money not affected by inflation. Similarities to the concepts defined in the Bitcoin whitepaper are hard to miss. Not to mention the possible anti-central banking message hashed into the genesis block, and its prescient echoes found in Szabo’s concerns about inflation and trusted third parties. Szabo knows of the dangers of government very well, via his father who experienced the horrors of war and violent communist regime in the 1950’s. Altered Dates and No Satoshi Emails While the aforementioned bit gold blog post has a published date of Dec. 27, 2008, the post was actually published in 2005. Why Nick edited the date is a source of confusion and speculation for many. Further, the comment timestamps appear to have been updated to only show times, not dates. A permalink to the post verifying the date as 2005, and other details present highly compelling evidence, but no answers as to why Szabo might have done this. Many speculate he didn’t want his bit gold post to predate the Bitcoin whitepaper, in a bid to conceal his identity. Further, while there is a mention of Wei Dai’s b-money in the white paper, there is no mention of bit gold, though reportedly Dai told Satoshi about it in an email exchange. Some critics of this theory argue that Szabo and Satoshi were simply unaware of one another and/or their respective projects. Evidence of Szabo’s alleged editing of date formats in the comment section of his blog post on bit gold. Also interesting to note is that while Hal Finney, Wei Dai, and others have made their correspondence with Satoshi public, there are no known emails between Szabo and Satoshi, despite Nakamoto’s supposed awareness of bit gold. Relative Silence After Bitcoin’s Release, and a Strange Video Immediately after the Jan. 3, 2009 mining of Bitcoin’s genesis block one might have expected Szabo to take to his normally bustling blogging activity to talk about the project. Interestingly, Bitcoin is not mentioned until a May 7 post entitled “Liar-resistant government” that year. After 2009, Szabo’s blogging activity takes a significant dip, going from 25+ posts a year, to just a few sparse updates annually. Perhaps most intriguing, however, is his strange embedded video post the same month Bitcoin went live, depicting cars attempting to beat a traffic control mechanism at a red light. The post reads: “Trying to beat the protocol can get you in trouble.” Many take this post to be a reference to Bitcoin’s solution to the double-spend problem cryptographers and digital cash advocates had been struggling to solve for years, and which was now successfully addressed via Satoshi’s protocol. The Freudian Slip During a 2017 interview on The Tim Ferriss Show, Szabo stumbled on his words almost labeling himself as the creator of Bitcoin. Satoshi sleuths didn’t miss the slip, and theorized it could be a subconscious revelation of the truth. When host Tim Ferriss asks Szabo about larger blocks and second layer solutions, Szabo replies: I’d definitely go for a second layer, I mean, I designed Bitcoi … gold with two layers. The linguistic mishap could be nothing more than a meaningless accident, or it could point to something deeper. The crypto space may never know. What’s In a Name? Szabo is the son of a Hungarian native and he cites this lineage as part of what brought him to the crypto space, and to embrace a search for less violent solutions to money. “My father fought in the 1956 Hungarian revolution against the Soviet Union, and he along with many other people from communist societies that I’ve encountered have plenty of horror stories to tell about the oppression … So, if you had just been born and raised the the US, you might not have known as much about the potential for government to be abused,” he details in a 2018 interview. There’s an oft-cited email Satoshi sent to Hal Finney in which the Bitcoin creator remarks that he’s haphazardly generated an address with his initials, “NS.” As news.Bitcoin.com detailed in the previous installment of this series, some view these initials to simply stand for “Nakamoto Satoshi,” with the surname coming first in the Japanese style. Some have said the initials stand for Nick Szabo. What is less-often discussed is that Hungarian names are also given in the Eastern name order. The Mystery Remains As Hal Finney noted on the bitcointalk.org forum in 2013, “I had long been interested in cryptographic payment schemes. Plus I was lucky enough to meet and extensively correspond with both Wei Dai and Nick Szabo, generally acknowledged to have created ideas that would be realized with Bitcoin.” Strangely, this general acknowledgment never seems to have made its way to Nakamoto prior to the creation of Bitcoin or the penning of the whitepaper, at least in any way so significant as to justify a mention. Whatever the case may be, the hunt for the individual or individuals known as Satoshi Nakamoto rolls on, and Szabo continues to be at the center of riveting speculation. Who do you think is Satoshi? One person? Many? Let us know in the comments section below. Images credits: 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 “I Designed Bitcoi… Gold” – The Many Facts Pointing to Nick Being Satoshi appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A company has blazed a trail in Russia, successfully convincing the country’s tax agency to accept that its equity capital now includes cryptocurrency. The change in the ownership distribution has been registered after the firm filed a set of notarized documents confirming a new investment was made in digital coins, not fiat rubles. Also read: Belarusian Bank Gets the Go-Ahead to Service Crypto Investors Investor Buys 5% of Artel’s Equity Using Bitcoin At present, cryptocurrencies don’t have any legal status and are not regulated in Russia. Yet a company called Artel has managed to officially add bitcoin to its authorized equity capital. Not without giving the entity a hard time, the country’s Federal Tax Service eventually agreed to register the change in its status. According to experts consulted by the Russian business daily Kommersant, the case will not have an immediate effect on the treatment of cryptocurrencies by the state, but it will expand their legal use. Artel CEO Mikhail Uspensky told the newspaper the company was joined by an investor who added virtual currency to its equity capital. He bought 5% of the company with 0.1 BTC worth around 60,000 rubles (approx. $940) at the time of the deal. From that amount, 750 rubles in crypto covered the purchase of the investor’s share in the firm’s authorized capital and the rest of the money was transferred to Artel’s operating balance. Initially, the Russian tax agents rejected the company’s request but Uspensky and his team didn’t give up. They acquired an independent evaluation of the wallet holding the cryptocurrency from a third party specializing in the evaluation of different assets, a company called Veta, and prepared a full set of notarized documents including a protocol establishing the transfer of the wallet’s login details. This time the tax administration had nowhere to go but to accept the documents and register the change of ownership. “The procedure for company registrations in Russia is declarative,” explained Sarkis Darbinyan, lead legal expert at Roskomsvoboda. The NGO is fighting internet censorship and helping companies from the digital space, including crypto businesses, to overcome various legal challenges. “The law says that share capital can be paid with money, property or property rights. However, state bodies are afraid to deal with bitcoin and make any legally significant actions with it before the legislature adopts a clear position on cryptocurrencies,” Darbinyan told news.Bitcoin.com. Precedent in Russia, New Case in Europe The Russian legal expert emphasized that this is indeed the first time the country’s tax authority recognizes a capital deposit transaction in cryptocurrency. “In order for this form of investment to be recognized by the state and the transaction to be registered, it’s necessary to evaluate the e-wallet, issue an act of acceptance-transfer for its login and password, assure the documents at the notary and apply to the tax authorities for the registration of the changes in the share capital,” Sarkis Darbinyan detailed. He further commented: The possibility to deposit share capital in cryptocurrency undoubtedly has a great potential. This will allow the investment of virtual assets not only in the crypto economy, but also in other traditional non-digital sectors. According to Ilya Zharsky, managing partner at Veta, difficulties in such cases stem from the lack of a legal framework for cryptocurrencies in Russia. “When the legislative issues are resolved, the number of requests for cryptocurrency evaluation will increase. But for now, we are developing a new practice,” he noted. The law “On Digital Financial Assets,” the main bill in a package of laws dealing with matters related to the crypto space, has been postponed multiple times in the State Duma since last spring. In its latest redaction, the draft has reportedly dropped prior references to cryptocurrencies. Although Artel’s case is the first of its kind in the Russian Federation, there have been similar precedents in other European countries. In 2015, 45 bitcoins were added to the authorized capital of a company based in the Italian region of Tuscany, after the transaction was confirmed by an auditor and a tax law attorney, Kommersant reminded its readers. And according to Forklog, the Ukrainian law firm Axon Partners formed its share capital with bitcoins in 2016. Do you expect to see more cases of crypto being used to form the share capital of companies in the future? Let us know what you think on this subject in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. 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 Russian Tax Authority Registers Crypto as Part of a Company’s Capital appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

South Korea’s national policy committee has passed an amendment establishing a legal framework for cryptocurrencies. It requires crypto exchanges and service providers to register with the country’s financial regulator and comply with the recommendations set by the Financial Action Task Force. Also read: IRS Dispels Crypto Tax Confusion Committee Passes Bill On Tuesday, the South Korean National Assembly’s national policy committee passed an amendment to the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information, local media reported. Joongang Daily described on Wednesday that the bill “will establish a legal foundation for virtual currencies by categorizing them as digital assets,” adding that “Cryptocurrency is one step closer to being legitimate in Korea.” The country’s top financial regulator, the Financial Services Commission (FSC), explained that the legislative move will enhance the transparency of crypto transactions while fulfilling international standards. The FSC emphasized that it plans to actively prepare the enforcement decree and relevant notices after promulgation for the implementation of the proposed rules. The regulator will also gather industry comments as part of the preparation process. The bill still needs to be passed by the judiciary committee and on the main floor of the National Assembly, the news outlet clarified, adding that if passed it will go into effect one year later. Requirements and Obligations The bill imposes anti-money laundering obligations on cryptocurrency exchanges and service providers. While there are several crypto-related bills pending at the National Assembly, Hankyung publication noted that this bill is the closest to the recommendations issued by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an intergovernmental organization founded to develop policies to combat money laundering. The FATF issued new guidelines for crypto assets and related service providers in June. At the G20 leaders’ summit in Japan, all of the G20 countries, including South Korea, declared their commitment to applying the FATF crypto standards. The FSC explained on Wednesday that the bill requires crypto businesses to prevent money laundering and set ground rules for financial transactions, Joongang Daily also reported. “Under the new bill, all cryptocurrency-related businesses will be required to report to and register as digital asset businesses with the FSC’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).” Previously, the FIU indirectly regulated cryptocurrency exchanges through administrative guidance to banks. Hankyung elaborated: Violation of these reporting obligations can result in imprisonment of up to five years or fines of up to 50 million won [$42,517]. Joongang Daily additionally detailed that “Those failing to report, those failing to acquire an Information Security Management System (ISMS) certificate from state-owned Korea Internet and Security Agency (KISA), and those operating false-identity bank accounts will not be approved.” The South Korean government established the real-name system back in January last year. However, it is currently only used by the country’s top crypto exchanges: Bithumb, Upbit, Coinone, and Korbit. Banks have been reluctant to provide this service to other exchanges; they cited money laundering risk as the reason for denying service to smaller operators. The parliament and the FSC have agreed to set conditions for exchanges to use the real-name system. Furthermore, the news outlet conveyed on Wednesday: The businesses will be penalized if they fail to establish their own oversight systems meeting Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards. What do you think of South Korea passing this bill to regulate the crypto industry in line with FATF’s recommendations? Let us know in the comments section below. 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 South Korean Committee Passes Bill Enforcing FATF Crypto Rules appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

On Monday, Bitcoin ABC’s lead developer Amaury Séchet explained in a blog post that Bitcoin Cash will be getting its own formal specification from Bitcoin Verde programmer Joshua Green. Séchet noted that although a slew of developers have written documentation, “the existing state of affairs is poorly documented.” Green and his team writing a formal specification for Bitcoin Cash is “great news” to the software engineer. Also read: Privacy-Enhancing BCH Tool Cashfusion Begins Working Behind the Scenes Bitcoin ABC’s Amaury Séchet Discusses the Attempt to Create a Formal Bitcoin Cash Specification Bitcoin Cash will be getting a formal specification according to Bitcoin ABC’s lead developer Amaury Séchet. In the eyes of the development community, software specifications are extremely important for a variety of reasons including listing technical requirements and descriptions of a protocol’s behavior. Moreover, it can help other developers get acquainted with a project more easily and programmers can interact with the software in a frictionless manner. However, Séchet’s blog post highlights that the specification task can be daunting and current documentation has been written by individuals like Mark Lundeberg, Freetrader, Shammah Chancellor, Antony “Mengerian” Zegers, and he has contributed as well. Still, in Séchet’s opinion, “the existing state of affairs is poorly documented” and these authors are recognized “as major contributors” as far as infrastructure is concerned. Good new everyone! Thanks to @joshmgreen , Bitcoin Cash will get spec'ed !https://t.co/BxgP4UF1XF pic.twitter.com/XDyfp7HFIL — deadalǹ͔͜͡i͎̜͖͗̎͞x̛̳̠̤̥̦̉̊̕̕ (@deadalnix) November 26, 2019 Séchet underscored that major contributors already have to deal with designing the protocol, coordinating with the ecosystem, writing additional software, running tests, and be expected to write a specification for all of it. So Bitcoin Verde’s Josh Green has offered to have his team write a specification for Bitcoin Cash. This is great news to Séchet but he wants to remind people that there was a previous attempt by Nchain to write a formal specification. “Taking control of the specification, rather than contributing to pre-existing efforts, is a logical move for an attacker wanting to take advantage of a poorly funded infrastructure,” Séchet stressed. The Bitcoin ABC developer added: In order to make sure no act of manipulation takes place, it is vitally important for the community to ensure that the right people are involved. People who have proven, not only by their words, but by their actions and achievements, their commitment to Bitcoin Cash and its goal: peer to peer cash for the world, enabled by cheap, fast and reliable transactions. Bitcoin ABC’s lead developer Amaury Séchet. ‘Providing a Genuine Benefit to the Bitcoin Cash Community’ Séchet said that Green is a “good leader” for the formal specification task and has “proven to be professional.” However, Séchet further explained that Green’s “involvement is not enough” and he suggested two other members of the BCH community that should help. The programmer remarked that he thinks Chris Pacia from the node implementation BCHD and independent developer Mark Lundeberg would be a great help toward the specification project. Additionally, Séchet detailed that the specification “must use a license compatible with MIT,” but it also important that the specifications do not live in a “walled garden.” An example of a “walled garden” scenario is when the 1970s American telephone system manufacturer Bell controlled all the telecommunications media, applications, and content, essentially controlling the information being sent through all telecommunications infrastructure at the time. “No matter what the license is, a malicious actor could create a de facto capture by requiring the use of non-standard tools, for instance,” Séchet opined. An official spec for Bitcoin Cash is a big deal! It's great to see @deadalnix and ABC supporting@joshmgreen is a fantastic choice to lead the effort I certainly hope BCHD is represented on the team. @ChrisPacia or @zquestz would be valuable additionshttps://t.co/Yiw7uNAPp4 — Ⓥin Ⓐrmani (@vinarmani) November 26, 2019 Séchet’s blog post concluded that he supports the effort to establish a specification for Bitcoin Cash. He noted that the points he stressed were meant to ensure the specification project “provides a genuine benefit to the Bitcoin Cash community.” “I will be following progress with interest, and hope this project has great success,” the developer added. On the Reddit forum r/btc, BCH proponents indicated that they respected Séchet’s message, as the blog post was quite popular. “As Bitcoin Cash continues the whitepaper mission, this specification initiative is as brilliant as it is vital,” one person commented on the specification Reddit thread. “Not only is a Bitcoin Cash specification vital for coordinating mission-critical infrastructure that the world’s economy is one day expected to depend upon but it’s also brilliant in that Bitcoin Cash leadership is assumed and confirmed.” On Twitter, software developer Josh Ellithorpe said he would also be involved with the project. “Just for the record, I am involved — Josh Green contacted me the moment this initiative started to make sure I would be a part of it,” Ellithorpe said. What do you think about Bitcoin Cash getting a formal specification? What do you think about Amaury Séchet’s points about a formal BCH specification? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. Image credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons, Fair Use, Bitcoin Verde, Bitcoin ABC, and Twitter. 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 Devs Discuss Formal Specification Project for Bitcoin Cash appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Besides networking with the local community, bitcoin cash meetups are a great way to learn about the development of the cryptocurrency and the ecosystem from the people that make it happen. The upcoming Toronto meetup, for example, will feature new details about the expansion of the Bitcoin Cash House to Africa. Also Read: Bitcoin Cash House Launches Crypto Hub in Venezuela Toronto to Host Special Bitcoin Cash Meetup on Sunday A local group of bitcoin cash supporters from the most populous city in Canada, Toronto, is going to host a special meetup this upcoming Sunday, December 1. The event will take place at the Betty’s on King Dive Bar, starting at 4PM local time. The plan is for attendees to mingle, enjoy drinks and food and win some BCH swag, all while learning more about the cryptocurrency. You can sign up for the meetup here. In attendance at the Toronto event will be Bitcoin.com’s Matt Aaron, host of the Humans of Bitcoin podcast. He will make a special presentation about Bitcoin Cash House, the crypto education and adoption hub in Venezuela, and how the venture is expanding next to the African countries of Ghana, Zimbabwe and South Sudan. Matt Aaron commented about the upcoming bitcoin cash Toronto meetup: “Last week was the all-star meetup in London. Blockchain.com, Roger Ver, Nic Cary, Tobias Ruck. It was incredible. The Toronto meetup is going to be special in a different way. These are the community all stars. Chris Bridgman who leads the Bitcoin Cash meetup groups around the world, Hamza of the BCH charity Coins4clothes which also has a big announcement. And of course we’ll discuss Bitcoin Cash adoption in Venezuela and expansion into other countries with economic chaos including Zimbabwe and South Sudan. This meetup is about adoption for those who can most immediately benefit from Bitcoin Cash.” Physical Crypto Education Hubs in the Community The Bitcoin Cash House in Venezuela is an education hub in the city of Barquisimeto where local cryptocurrency advocates teach Venezuelans about the power of digital money. As we reported soon after its launch, some of the topics the Bitcoin Cash House will educate local people on include how to send money to friends and family anywhere in the world instantly, advantages of crypto over traditional money, how to store and spend crypto, how to protect assets against volatility with SLP tokens including the USDH stablecoin, and jobs in crypto as well as developer opportunities. The project is the brainchild of Roberto Garcia and is sponsored by Bitcoin.com and Sideshift.ai. Roberto Garcia speaks to a visitor at the Bitcoin Cash House in Venezuela Another one of the details that will be discussed by Matt Aaron is that the new website for the Venezuela Bitcoin Cash House, available at Casabitcoin.cash, will be built by volunteers from the University of Massachusetts’ Bitcoin and Blockchain Club. About the announcement in Toronto he added: “I’m going to present a framework that we have developed. How to open source an education hub that turns into a profitable enterprise for the local owner and spurs adoption of Bitcoin Cash.” Find or Create Your Own Bitcoin Cash Meetup Bitcoin cash meetups are a great way to meet fellow BCH supporters or just learn more about the cryptocurrency. The events are spreading globally, and one was just recently held for the first time in the city of Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. If you want to join a similar event, you’ll find many local bitcoin cash meetups available all over the world at Bitcoin.com’s Events page. You can use the map tool to zoom in on your area to see what meetups are available nearby, or just search the directory listing them by continents, countries, cities and so on. Great photos from the first #BitcoinCash meetup in #Dubai! Special thanks to @AnnaDecVentures for capturing the fun time! 😊🙌#BCHforEveryone $BCH pic.twitter.com/QTvo967tqT — Bitcoin Cash Meetups (@BCHmeetups) November 18, 2019 You can also create a new bitcoin cash meetup yourself. If you need help with this, on the same page you have the option to contact the Bitcoin.com team for support in setting up your new group and getting more people to join meetings based on their experience. There are also dedicated communication channels open for discussing with the community on both Telegram and Discord. An additional way to find bitcoin cash meetups or to see how successful ones are organized is to follow @BCHMeetups on Twitter. This profile routinely publishes posts on BCH gatherings happening in many different countries, information on where people can find meetups in their area, as well as pictures and stories from events that have already taken place. You can check out the existing bitcoin cash meetups across the globe here: South America: Acarigua, Portuguesa, Venezuela | Anzoategui, Venezuela | Bogotá, Bogota, Colombia | Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca, Colombia | Porlamar, Nueva Esparta, Venezuela | Recife – State of Pernambuco, Brazil | Rio de Janeiro, State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | São Paulo, State of São Paulo, Brazil | Indaiatuba, SP, Brazil | Venezuela | Acarigua, Portuguesa, Venezuela | Porlamar, Nueva Esparta, Venezuela | Anzoategui, Venezuela | Barquisimeto Metropolitan Area, Venezuela | Caracas, Capital District, Venezuela | Cumana, Sucre, Venezuela | Merida, Mérida, Venezuela North America: Albany, NY, USA | Boston, MA, USA | Denver, CO, USA | Gainesville, FL, USA | Orange County, CA, USA | Los Angeles, CA, USA | Mexico City, CDMX, Mexico | Montreal, QC, Canada | New Brunswick, NJ, USA | New Orleans, LA, USA | New York, NY, USA | Norfolk, VA, USA | Phoenix, AZ, USA | San Francisco, CA, USA | San Juan, Puerto Rico | San Pedro, Los Angeles, CA, USA | Toronto, ON, Canada | Vancouver, BC, Canada | Chicago, IL, USA | Laguna Beach, CA, USA | Miami Beach, FL, USA Europe: Amsterdam, Netherlands | Amsterdam, Netherlands | Barcelona, Spain | Benidorm, Alicante, Spain | Belgium | Berlin, Germany | Dublin, Ireland | Gijón, Asturias, Spain | Hamburg, Germany | London, UK | Madrid, Spain | Milan, Metropolitan City of Milan, Italy | Paris, France | Valencia, Spain | Zürich, Switzerland | Budapest, Hungary | Edinburgh, UK Asia: Bangkok, Thailand | Beijing, China | Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China | Hong Kong | Bengaluru, Karnataka, India | Be’er Sheva, Israel | Kobe, Hyogo, Japan | Osaka, Japan | Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam | Seoul, South Korea | Tokyo, Japan | Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel | Singapore Oceania: Christchurch, New Zealand | Brisbane QLD, Australia | Cairns QLD, Australia | Sydney NSW, Australia | North Queensland, QLD, Australia Africa: Johannesburg, South Africa | Kenya | East London, South Africa | Juba, South Sudan Other: 2701 Fairview Rd, Costa Mesa, CA 92626, USA | Ko Pha Ngan, Ko Pha-ngan District, Surat Thani 84280, Thailand | Waynesville, NC 28786, USA What do you think about Bitcoin Cash House expanding to African countries? 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 Cash House African Expansion to Feature in Toronto Meetup appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

On November 21, researchers from Hungary and Institute for Computer Science and Control published a critical examination of the Lightning Network, the protocol intended to amend BTC’s scalability issues. The researchers’ simulation findings indicate the Lightning Network is “economically irrational for the majority of the large routing nodes who currently hold the network together.” Also Read: Report: Lightning Network Still Way off Being Ready for Commercial Use Current Lightning Network Routing Is Not Economically Viable Many BTC supporters have long believed that the Lightning Network (LN) will be a solution to the Bitcoin blockchain’s scaling problems. Since then the LN protocol has yet to live up to the promises and the network has been plagued with issues. For instance, during the last week of October, one user lost 4 BTC after force-closing an LN channel using an older invalid state. In June, a bug was discovered by developers that allowed LN-based BTC to be spent that was not officially backed by legitimate BTC reserves. LN has been heralded by crypto proponents even though it has been heavily criticized for UX unfriendliness, centralization, and routing issues. Now another study details that the LN project is “economically irrational” while the network also has problems with privacy. The paper’s authors Ferenc Beres, Istvan Seres, and Andras Benczur work at the Institute for Computer Science and Control (SZTAKI) in Hungary alongside Eötvös Loránd and Szechenyi University. The researchers used a simulator that relies only on publicly available data of the LN framework such as capacity and network structure. The simulation also “generates transactions under assumptions” that the researchers attempted to validate based on information stemming from “LN node owners.” The findings estimate that data deriving from transaction fees shows the LN infrastructure is “economically irrational.” “Either traffic or transaction fees must increase by orders of magnitude to make payment routing economically viable,” the Hungarian researchers’ paper notes. “We give worst-case estimates for the potential fee increase by assuming strong price competition among the routers. We also estimate how current channel structures and pricing policies respond to a potential increase in traffic and show examples of nodes who are estimated to operate with economically feasible revenue.” “Figure 19: Average simulated daily routing income per transaction for some LN router entities as the function of the transaction value α.” Privacy Shortcomings of Lightning Network Operations The 21-page study also highlights there are privacy implications that are tethered to using the LN system. “Our second set of findings considers privacy — Even if transactions are onion routed, strong statistical evidence on payment source and destination can be inferred, as many transaction paths only consist of a single intermediary by the side effect of LN’s small-world nature,” the research paper emphasizes. “Based on our simulation experiments, we quantitatively characterize the privacy shortcomings of current LN operation, and propose a method to inject additional hops in routing paths to demonstrate how privacy can be strengthened with very little additional transactional cost.” The researchers have also published the team’s simulator on Github so others can review the study’s process. “Figure 24: Plausible deniability in LN. Alice can plausibly deny being the source of a payment. Similarly, a router cannot be sure whether Bob is the recipient of the payment or one of Bob’s neighbors.” The study concludes that the LN simulator provided two key insights. The first and foremost is that a majority of the participation of LN-based router nodes is “economically irrational with the present fee structure.” However, increased overall traffic volume over the network provides possible signs of sustainability. “By contrast, at the present level of usage, if routers start acting rationally, payment fees will rise significantly, which might harm one of LN’s core value propositions, namely, negligible fees,” the paper highlights. Lastly, the topological properties of the current LN framework make “a considerable fraction of payments easily de-anonymizable.” The proposed solution that the LN provides has been controversial since BTC’s transaction congestion and rising fees. More recently a few Lightning Network proponents have been cheering for higher network fees and those who hope forcefully pushing for LN adoption will be key to the network’s growth. To many skeptics, the current lack of growth, in-depth research papers like the one from Hungary, and seething critiques from business owners suggest that staunch supporters may wish to temper their expectations for the Lightning Network. If you want to read the researchers’ paper in its entirety you can check it out here. What do you think about the latest research paper that simulated the Lightning Network? Do you think LN will evolve enough to help support scaling in the future? Or do you agree with the researchers that the LN solution is economically irrational? 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 as 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. Image credits: Shutterstock and the research paper: “A Cryptoeconomic Traffic Analysis of Bitcoin’s Lightning Network.” 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 Another Research Paper Finds Flaws With the Lightning Network appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

On Monday, the cryptocurrency-accepting online travel agency and metasearch engine Travala announced a strategic partnership with the firm Booking.com. According to Travala the collaboration adds Booking.com’s accommodation listings to the Travala portal, adding 90,000 destinations to over 230 countries worldwide. Also read: With Christmas Approaching, Here Are Some Travel Sites Accepting Crypto Travala Partners With Accommodation Aggregator Booking.com During the last few years cryptocurrencies have been adopted by lots of companies, and crypto users can now spend their assets on all types of goods and services. The company Travala.com, launched in 2017, is an accommodation listings platform that covers a large selection of bookable places to stay like hotels, luxury resorts, apartments, hostels, and villas. Travala claims to offer prices that can be up to 40% cheaper than other prominent online booking platforms. Moreover, Travala accepts cryptocurrencies like bitcoin cash (BCH) for accommodation payments. Travala also accepts BTC, ETH, DASH, LTC, EOS, XLM, ADA, BNB, XMR, TRX, XRP, and the stablecoin DAI. On November 25, The firm’s CEO Matt Luczynski revealed that Travala has now partnered with the online travel aggregator Booking.com. Luczynski added: This partnership allows our users to access Booking.com’s accommodation listings, as well as the listings from several other leading travel suppliers, which is a fantastic use case for our own AVA token and another huge step towards mass cryptocurrency adoption. One of the Largest Crypto-Supporting Online Travel Agencies by Number of Bookable Hotels Booking.com is an accommodation listing aggregator founded in 1996 and the latest partnership brings an additional 90,000 destinations to over 230 countries worldwide to the Travala platform. Luczynski stressed that customers using Travala.com can pay for accommodations with the firm’s native token AVA plus 20 other popular cryptos. Users who leverage AVA will obtain exclusive discounts and loyalty rewards. Travala’s CEO says that Booking.com has noticed the value of making its properties available to the swelling cryptocurrency markets. “Such a move by Booking.com is a sign that we are close to seeing the industry’s acceptance of cryptocurrencies as a standard form of payment for travel bookings,” Travala’s announcement underlined. In recent years a variety of firms have introduced cryptocurrency-friendly online travel agencies to the public. In May, U.K.’s Corporate Traveller revealed that it accepts BTC and BCH for small to medium enterprises (SME) customers. Another startup called Cryptocribs provides a peer-to-peer short-term rental system that utilizes digital assets like bitcoin cash and ethereum for payments. With the holidays approaching, news.Bitcoin.com’s Lubomir Tassev described a slew of crypto supporting travel sites like Travala, Cheapair, Bitcoin.Travel, Travelbybit, Destinia, Greitai, and Airtreks. Still, the partnership with Booking.com makes Travala.com “one of the largest online travel agencies in the world by number of bookable hotels.” “Booking.com’s support for Travala.com illustrates the confidence it shares in this fledgling online travel agency and its commitment to supporting digital technology that helps take the friction out of travel,” Travala’s announcement concluded. What do you think about Travala’s partnership with Booking.com? Let us know what you think about this subject 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 as 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. Image credits: Shutterstock, Travala.com, and blog.travala.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 Travala Partners With Booking.com – 90,000 Crypto Accepting Destinations Added appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

With crypto prices moving after almost every positive or negative bit of news related to China, gold and silver markets have been reacting to such events as well. With some exceptions, the overall trend in their value has been negative since September. The prospects of both digital coins and precious metals seem to be more and more dependent on China’s growing influence. Also read: When Bitcoin Overtakes Gold – How High Can It Go? Prices of Precious Metals Decline Since September Gold and silver have had a hard time recently, not unlike cryptocurrencies. Their prices have been generally falling in the past few months. From a seasonal high of more than $1,550 an ounce in early September, gold has dropped to a little over $1,450 in late November, while silver is currently trading at less than $17 an ounce, down from $19.5 a couple of months ago. On Monday, gold prices dipped as much as 0.3% to $1,460.30 an ounce, while silver prices dropped 0.5% to $16.91 an ounce around 5:50 am New York time, the Trading Economics website reported. Both commodities reached their all-time highs in 2011, with silver exceeding $49.50 in April of that year and gold touching $1,920 in September. Crypto markets have also experienced a downward trend during the same period of this year. On Sept. 3, bitcoin core (BTC) was trading for almost $10,700 per coin, according to market data compiled by markets.Bitcoin.com. Since then, the price of the crypto with the largest cap has dropped to a low of below $6,600 on the first day of this week, a negative difference of over $4,000 in less than three months. Gold Falls With New Hopes for Trade Deal With China Various factors exert influence over the prices of precious metals and cryptocurrencies such as the global economic outlook which has been quite negative throughout the year, convincing investors to seek refuge in alternative stores of value. But in the last couple of months there’s been another factor, the growing weight of which is hard to ignore: China. Developments and news related to the People’s Republic have impacted the crypto space in the past few weeks. A speech by the Chinese President Xi Jinping last month, who emphasized that his country should gain an edge in blockchain, was received with enthusiasm by crypto investors. Their perception of it as a bullish statement pushed prices up, with bitcoin core crossing the $10,000 mark in the days after Xi’s Politburo address. Then the recent crackdown on crypto platforms showed that the People’s Republic of China isn’t going to embrace decentralized digital currencies. Crypto markets reacted to that news as well, shedding billions last week. In the case with gold and silver, another China-related development had a depressing effect on their prices. Not that the global economic forecasts have improved significantly, but hopes were raised last week for new negotiations with the Unites States to put an end to the looming trade war between the two powers. The U.S. Department of Commerce revealed it has begun issuing licenses for American companies to supply non-sensitive goods to the Chinese tech giant Huawei. The news has likely caused the subsequent fall of gold prices. On Wednesday, spot prices declined by 0.15% to $1,469.87 per ounce, having touched a two-week high of $1,478.80 earlier, CNBC reported. “The announcement seems to be the proximate trigger for gold’s stumble,” noted Tai Wong, head of base and precious metals derivatives trading at BMO, as quoted by the channel’s online edition. At the same time, silver lost 0.14% to $17.11 an ounce. Analysts believe that in the coming months the Trump administration will increase pressure on China to reach a new trade deal before the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Beijing, however, may choose to wait for the vote’s results before signing one. Do you think gold and silver react to China-related news like crypto markets? Share your opinion on the subject in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Trading Economics. Are you looking for a secure way to buy bitcoin online? Start by downloading your free bitcoin wallet from us and then head over to our Purchase Bitcoin page where you can easily buy BTC and BCH. The post Gold and Silver Follow Similar Trend to Bitcoin, React to News About China appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

It was recently reported that digital assets trading platform DX Exchange ceased operations and was looking for a way to exit the market via a merger or a sale. New details from Israel show that the exchange reportedly didn’t even have the cash flow to pay its suppliers and employees. Also Read: Crypto Winter Claims Another Victim as DX Exchange Closes New Details Emerge on DX Exchange Estonia-registered DX Exchange announced on November 3 that the platform was not allowing any more deposits from clients, trading was suspended and all open orders had been canceled. This was said to be done until a new buyer can be found for the company or it can merge with another exchange to reduce the high cost of running the business. “The cost of providing the required level of security, support and technology is not economically feasible on our own,” the company explained at the time. New media reports reveal just how bad the financial situation was for the trading venue, not being able to pay either its staff or suppliers. DX Exchange reportedly had dozens of software developers in an R&D center in Israel, employed via the local company CX Technologies Ltd. According to the new media reports, 78 former and current employees petitioned the Israeli court last month claiming that they had not received their wages since September 2019, with some of them not getting the benefits they were due for over two months. “In addition to the petition by employees, several Israeli suppliers have sued the company in the last six months for allegedly failing to pay its bills. These companies are White Hat Ltd., which provided cybersecurity services to DX Exchange, and Bee2see Dotan B.S. Solutions, which provided targeted marketing of potential customers using IBM’s Watson system. Malam Team, one of Israel’s largest IT companies, has also sued CX Technologies for allegedly failing to pay for servers the company supplied,” writes the Times of Israel. Nasdaq-Powered Tokenized Assets Exchange DX Exchange was only launched on Jan. 7, 2019. It accepted deposits in BCH, BTC, ETH, USDT, DASH, LTC, XRP, and a few other cryptocurrencies as well as traditional fiat payment options. It initially offered trading on the tokenized stocks of some of the biggest public companies in the world, such as Google, Facebook and Amazon. This had been achieved through an agreement with MPS Marketplace Securities Ltd., which issued tokens that represent stocks via smart contracts and held the real world stocks according to demand on the platform. The “digital stocks” were said to be backed 1:1 with the real-world stocks traded on conventional stock exchanges, like stablecoins backed by equities rather than fiat. Unlike traditional stock exchanges, this arrangement allowed the platform to offer its users the ability to trade on stocks 24/7. DX Exchange obtained operating licenses from the Estonian Financial Intelligence Unit and was backed by NFX, a seed and series A focused venture capital firm based in San Francisco. The regulated platform operated in full compliance with Mifid II (the latest EU financial regulations), which means it featured a robust AML/KYC process. Its partner, MPS Marketplace Securities Ltd. is a Cyprus-licensed financial company which provides liquidity solutions for the online trading market. The technology that powered DX Exchange was built on Nasdaq’s Financial Information exchange (FIX), a vendor-neutral standard message protocol that defines an electronic message exchange for communicating securities transactions between two parties. The platform also supported trading via an API, which means it was easily integrated with market makers, liquidity providers, algo traders, and hedge funds. In early March, it was reported that DX Exchange began offering trading on tokenized exchange-traded funds (ETFs), including Nasdaq-mirrored QQQ, S&Ps and SPY. Later that month, it was also revealed that the platform was starting to list security token offerings (STOs). Any security token could submit an application to be listed and needed to meet eligibility requirements for listing on the exchange. The potential issuers were evaluated according to their achievements, transparency, fundraising method, and management team. DX also required a legal opinion which supported the STO’s legitimacy, and performed background checks on the management team and directors. For each security token which was offered, a whitepaper explaining the conditions, economic benefits and risks was required. According to the Times of Israel, many of the Israeli employees of CX Technologies were former employees of binary options technology provider Spotoption. What do you think about DX Exchange reportedly not paying its employees and suppliers? 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 Bankrupt DX Exchange Reportedly Didn’t Pay Israeli Suppliers and Employees appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In the wake of recent price movements, doubts are beginning to crop up more and more around BTC maximalist circles. As focus shifts from Satoshi’s founding vision of the coin as cash to a mere digital gold to be saved and “cashed out” later, valid questions are indeed raised. Financial news outlets, advocates of other cryptos, and even holders of BTC themselves are wondering whether blaming every single price event on China is really an honest assessment, or if a basic lack of utility and development may also be at fault. Also Read: How Bitcoin Applies to The Sovereign Individual Thesis From Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash to Superficial Hype No level-headed crypto space inhabitant should be antithetical to any coin just to be a contrarian. Religious allegiance to any one crypto for its own sake is the flip side to that misguided approach. It seems that any voluntary association of market actors working on a project is a fair enough scenario, and any challenge to the violent, prevailing monetary-powers-that-be should be welcomed. Still, legions of zealous crypto denizens have forgotten what the bitcoin whitepaper says about bitcoin. Namely, that the “purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution.” Bitcoin's primary function is not "store of value" – that's a result of its primary function. Bitcoin is "fuck you money." For example: You want to seize my accounts? Fuck you. You don't want me to buy ______? Fuck you. You want to steal my wealth via inflation? Fuck you. — Jameson Lopp (@lopp) November 24, 2019 Recent reports of a supposed Binance office being raided in Shanghai, and the ensuing backlash and threat of lawsuit from CEO CZ, have the space aflame with frantic speculation. This should come as no surprise given China has been pointed to for years as one of the central factors influencing price movements in BTC, for better or for worse. There is undoubtedly truth to these claims. Chinese mining pools have been cited as controlling about 70% of Bitcoin’s collective hashrate. President Xi Jinping’s recent pro-blockchain rhetoric caused a surge in crypto interest as well as a reported rise in Chinese tech stocks. Ongoing trade tensions between the U.S. and China also come into play. All this said, for many, these factors are doing little more than feeding into the played out “number go up” meme, which says nothing about use cases as peer-to-peer cash or interesting developments on the network itself. These phenomena point to the corollary, “China affect number” meme, and little more. Mainstream Doubts and Hubris In a recent Forbes piece entitled “From Bitcoin To No Coin, Crypto World Under Pressure As Governments React,” author Mike O’Sullivan states: My own sense is that crypto currencies in general and bitcoin specifically are not safe havens. They have failed the purpose they were intended to fulfill in that they are not actively used as a means of exchange. Few retailers accept them, fewer consumers actively use them and transaction costs are still very high. Regarding BTC, O’Sullivan’s sense seems accurate. Core maximalists have been known to go so far as mocking those who wish to spend the coin. A stark contrast to the whitepaper’s description of a new form of decentralized cash. While open-minded and progressive development is readily championed on other networks (for example, recent collaboration between BCH and ETH camps to implement Ethereum Name Service, large funding events to build ecosystems and constant development of market solutions), BTC is still largely stuck clinging to this store of value (SOV) narrative and waiting on the full implementation of a perpetually delayed Lightning Network layer two payments solution. BTC network congestion and fees (a result of refusal to scale via a block size limit increase) have been presenting significant problems, causing many businesses to drop the coin as a payment option. Other networks attempting to scale and serve their participants with utility-based digital cryptos are summarily dismissed by the hubristic narrative. No, Bitcoin Is Not Dead Pinning down the core reason BTC (or any other crypto) is yet unable to fully compete with government fiat is not a straightforward task. The answer often has as much to do with government restrictions as it does with the tech itself. Also, with cultural narratives pushed by the mainstream media. After all, bitcoin has already “died” at least 378 times. For all BTC’s imperfections, it’s probably not deceased this time, either. For all its imperfections, a non-violence-backed, permissionless and borderless money with opportunity to make big gains still has advantages over the fiat racket. O’Sullivan’s personal prescription for the current price sickness is easier onboarding and more government regulation. “More thorough regulation, cleaner cross-border payment processes and more reliable identification mechanisms will be part of the workload of central banks and governments,” he writes. He further observes: “For many people the process of setting up a crypto wallet, and mentally translating crypto prices into everyday currencies is too demanding to bother with. This ‘ease of use’ is a cognitive barrier to entry and something that will take time for many to overcome, even Millennials.” Government certainly stands in the way of permissionless exchange and free market development, but it seems a stretch to imagine that using a simple wallet app or converting prices is too hard for most. What stands in the way of any sound fundamentals crypto is mostly violent political restrictions on free trade. Overcoming State Imposition Ever-constricting KYC and AML requirements attack basic human privacy. This, combined with draconian threats of policy enforcement attempts to make crypto a kind of high-tech “fiat lite” and not the permissionless money it was designed to be. The most efficient way to truly achieve bitcoinization is encouraging mass adoption by making it easy, lucrative and convenient, and then allowing people to comply with state mandates or not, as they please. BTC’s glaring issues of a cult-like community, economically misinformed adherence to SOV narratives, and problems with congestion and fees, are in a sense preliminary to any gripes about government. In another sense, however, these false narratives serve as a way to conveniently acquiesce to popular monetary culture and restrictive policy, without giving up the cocksure rhetoric and insecure posturing so common to maximalist conversation. If crypto is ever going to defeat — or even compete with — the behemoth that is fiat, these issues will have to be addressed before any real change can take place. What are your thoughts on BTC’s recent slump? 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. 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 Don’t Blame China: Why BTC Still Can’t Compete With Fiat appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The number of cryptocurrency ATMs installed worldwide has surpassed 6,000, nearly a 50% growth since the beginning of the year. The U.S. leads other countries with over 4,000 crypto ATMs, followed by Canada and the U.K. Several producers offer a range of machines for anyone wanting to get started in this line of business. Also read: Crypto Jobs on the Rise, Thousands Listed 6,007 Crypto ATMs Globally The number of cryptocurrency automated teller machines (ATMs) installed worldwide has grown substantially over the years. According to cryptocurrency ATM tracking website Coinatmradar, as of Nov. 25, there are currently 6,007 crypto ATMs located in 75 countries, which is 46% more than the 4,113 machines reported by the site on Jan. 1. In addition, the site lists 148,823 other similar services that allow people to buy and sell cryptocurrencies such as existing bank ATMs, mobile payment terminals, retail chains, and kiosks. In this category, Bitquick tops the list with 106,649 locations, followed by Bitnovo Teller with 8,809 locations. The former is a Boost VC company that operates a peer-to-peer trading platform launched in August 2013 and acquired by Athena Bitcoin in June 2016. The latter is a Spanish company that operates crypto ATMs as well as provides a service to buy and sell cryptocurrencies at teller locations. Its website claims that there are currently 39,311 Bitnovo points of sale and 670,761 transactions have been carried out successfully. The company launched the Bitsa prepaid Visa card in April and has so far issued 16,456 of them to customers, its website adds. 24nonstop, Flexepin Canada, Ibox, Flexepin Australia and the partnership of Coinme and Coinstar are also listed in this category. Crypto ATM stats by Coinatmradar as of Nov. 25. Places With the Most Crypto ATMs The countries with the most crypto ATMs are the U.S. with 4,120 locations, Canada with 733 locations, the U.K. with 295 locations, and Austria with 193 locations, according to Coinatmradar. In the U.S., 438 machines are found in Los Angeles, 273 in Chicago, 233 in Atlanta, and 212 in Miami. In Canada, 227 crypto ATMs are found in Toronto, 102 in Montreal, and 85 in Vancouver. Coinatmradar also offers the ability for users to search for crypto ATMs supporting particular coins: BTC, BCH, ETH, DASH, LTC, ZEC, XMR, and DOGE. Users can also restrict searches to one-way or two-way ATMs, with the latter allowing them to both sell and buy cryptocurrency. According to the site, 65% of all ATMs are buy-only whereas 34.9% are two-way. Coinatmradar’s map showing where crypto ATMs are. Starting a Crypto ATM Business There are 42 crypto ATM manufacturers and 563 operators in total, according to the tracking website. Two top manufacturers — General Bytes and Genesis Coin — together have produced over 60% of all crypto ATMs out there. Overall, 1,976 crypto ATMs or 32.5% of the total number installed worldwide are manufactured by General Bytes, and 1,878 machines or 30.9% are manufactured by Genesis Coin. The next most popular manufacturers are Lamassu with 504 machines, Bitaccess with 424 machines, and Coinsource with 304 machines. Crypto ATMs manufactured by Genesis Coin. For anyone looking to start generating income from crypto ATMs, there are several popular machines that can be purchased today. General Bytes offers several types of crypto ATMs starting at $3,249. Genesis Coin has three ATM products starting at $4,500. However, anyone interested in purchasing a crypto ATM should verify upfront any regulatory requirements for operating such a machine. Some countries, states, or cities require businesses to be licensed in order to operate crypto ATMs. What do you think of the growing popularity of crypto ATMs? Do you want to start a crypto ATM business? 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 as 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 Coinatmradar. 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 ATMs Proliferate – 6,000 Installed and Counting appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The consensus mechanism is a critical blockchain component, providing a non-partisan means of establishing agreement as to the network’s current state. But ever since Bitcoin emerged in 2008, its original consensus mechanism – Proof of Work (PoW) – has been emulated and iterated, paving the way for a series of alternative algorithms with their own unique characteristics. Also read: Libra Testnet Fails to Impress as New Legislation Looms From Proof of Work to Proof of Everything Given Bitcoin’s success, it’s no surprise that its protocol should have attracted imitators, some of whom have sought to refine it, and others to overhaul it entirely. Nevertheless, it’s ironic that there is a lack of, well, consensus when it comes to consensus mechanisms. Which option constitutes the most stable and efficient solution? It depends on who you ask. To understand the major differences between some of the main algorithms, let’s take a closer look at them in turn. Proof of Work was the original consensus mechanism used by Bitcoin and latterly implemented on the likes of Ethereum, Litecoin, and Dogecoin. PoW involves performing thousands of calculations per second to find the solution to a mathematical problem that is hard to solve but easy to verify. The Proof of Work system incentivizes miners by rewarding them with coins for each new block found. Although it remains an extremely fair and secure consensus mechanism, PoW has been criticized over the years. Much has been made, for its example, of its high energy and resource requirements: the computational power needed for miners to solve complex mathematical puzzles ahead of their peers is huge. Critics lose sight of the fact that this is a feature and not a bug: the difficulty of cheating Proof of Work is what makes it so robust, and why the Bitcoin network is so valuable. Even the most well funded adversary would struggle to obtain the hashpower necessary to control the network and double spend coins. Proof of Stake & Delegated Proof of Stake Marketed as the more environmentally-friendly option, Proof of Stake makes mining new blocks easier for holders of greater amounts of the native cryptocurrency. The logic is clear: if you hold more tokens, you have the highest stake in the network’s long-term success. Proof of Stake is set to power the upcoming Ethereum 2.0 upgrade, scheduled to go live during the first quarter of 2020, all going well. As with PoW, though, PoS is not without its critics. Some argue that affluent coin holders are more likely to mint blocks, leading to centralization, while others express alarm at the new attack vectors it introduces, including sybil attacks. Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) is different again, with users able to stake coins to democratically “elect” delegates tasked with producing blocks on the network and maintaining consensus rules. If these trusted witnesses fail in their duties, they can be voted out just like politicians. Conceived by Dan Larimer in 2014 and implemented on EOS, Tron, Bitshares and others, the DPoS algorithm is able to process more transactions per second (TPS) than its forebears – however there are downsides. Although the protocol is less energy-consumptive, it tends towards centralization, since decisions lay in the hands of a small core of holders. Proof of History Proof of History (PoH) is the creation of Solana, a high throughput blockchain that was initiated in 2018 and secured a $20M funding round led by Multicoin Capital. Proof of History enables network participants to reach consensus on time by using a Verifiable Delay Function, thereby avoiding “the longest chain” rule. While PoH serves as the network’s clock, TowerBFT is its watchtower, tasked with preventing malicious actors from cheating the time parameters. Any validator that votes for a certain block must wait for the next block to be produced, receiving confirmation from the Proof of History that “time has passed” before being entitled to vote again. With Solana, Proof of Stake determines the network rules, which are enforced with the aid of PoH, TBFT, and validators. Although Solana is intent on using PoH alongside proof of stake in its native blockchain, Proof of History has broader applications. It can be deployed on Proof of Work chains, for example, to enhance the accuracy of the existing consensus mechanism. Proof of Authority Proof of Authority (PoA) is a consensus mechanism that enables faster transactional throughput at the expense of decentralization trade-offs. With Proof of Authority, approved validators are tasked with verifying blocks. Because PoA is reputation-based, validators have incentives to act ethically and avoid having their reputation tarnished, which could result in them being replaced. Ethereum Express is one project using Proof of Authority, and claims to have achieved 1,000 transactions per block and a network capacity of 200 transactions per second (TPS) in tests involving Mining Express and a gambling company whose business model requires a high volume of onchain transactions. Ethereum Express is aiming to woo businesses deterred from building on Ethereum due to bottlenecks that have prevented it from scaling. Proof of Burn The brainchild of Iain Stewart, the Proof of Burn mechanism encourages users to burn – or make permanently unavailable – mined coins. In return, they are granted the right to add blocks in proportion to the coins that have been destroyed. The idea is that users burning their cryptocurrency are exhibiting a long-term commitment to the coin by being willing to accept a short-term loss. In other words, to invest. PoB is often dubbed PoW without the energy waste, with no high-grade mining hardware or computational resources required. Practical Byzantine Fault-Tolerance Yet another consensus mechanism that builds upon the foundations laid down by Proof of Work is the PBFT model. Of course, in application it is completely different – and believe it or not, the concept itself predates PoW by a good decade. Conceived in the late 90s to militate against the risk of malicious nodes undermining the network, the risk of centralization with PBFT is low (no mining pools like PoW, no colluding major stakeholders like PoS) and trust is entirely decoupled from asset ownership. A PBFT system operates on the principle that the maximum number of malicious nodes must not be greater than or equal to one-third of all nodes in the system. As the number of nodes increases, the system becomes more secure. Variants of PBFT are currently utilized by Hyperledger, Stellar and Ripple among others. No Easy Option Of course, the aforementioned mechanisms are not the only ones available. We can look to Proof of Identity, Proof of Elapsed Time and Proof of Importance, all of which have been deployed on various blockchains. To one degree or another, each endeavors to solve flaws in systems such as PoS or PoW. Proof of Elapsed Time, for example, determines mining rights and block winners according to a fair lottery system. In this protocol, every single node is equally likely to win. It was invented in 2016 by Intel, the Silicon Valley chip manufacturer, and is often used on permissioned blockchain networks. The Eternal PoW vs PoS Debate All of the consensus mechanisms described here, aside from Proof of Work, are designed for Proof of Stake. Some, such as Proof of History, can also be applied to PoW, but it too is primarily for PoS. As such, the debate over which methodology is best essentially comes down to PoW vs the PoS family. Because everyone has a dog in the fight, so to speak, the PoW and PoS camps are diametrically opposed. This phenomenon is best seen in the acrimony over Ethereum’s long-running plans to transition to a PoW/PoS hybrid model. “The PoW based-protocol is the most proven and successful model so far,” insists Dr. Long Fan, the founder of Conflux. “After all, what blockchain provides fundamentally is trust. Security and decentralization are the key to building trust in the beginning. PoS has many problems in terms of security and decentralization.” Bittorrent creator Bram Cohen is in agreement. In a tweetstorm on November 24, he took aim at Vitalik Buterin’s plans for Ethereum and asserted that “Proof of stake continues to be a bad idea. It starts with a fundamentally weakened security model and runs into a whole host of deep technical issues on top of that.” Cohen, it should be noted, has his own cryptocurrency project to push, Chia, which uses yet another algorithm, Proof of Space, which relies on validators demonstrating that they have spare disk space. Getting blockchain validators to reach consensus is relatively simple compared to getting their supporters to agree on which consensus mechanism is best. Do you think any consensus mechanism has improved on Proof of Work? 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 A History of Blockchain Consensus Mechanisms appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

This week Bitcoin Cash (BCH) proponents have been celebrating the fact that 187,212 BCH ($40 million) has been shuffled since the Cashshuffle platform launched in the last week of March. Moreover, on Saturday, Electron Cash developer Jonald Fyookball announced the highly anticipated Cashfusion protocol has been working behind the scenes using alpha software. Also read: Developer Creates Interwallet Transfer Plugin to Strengthen Bitcoin Cash Privacy BCH Privacy Strengthens: Cashfusion Beta Coming Soon In July, news.Bitcoin.com reported on how the protocol extension meant to enhance the Cashshuffle mixing application Cashfusion was getting a “whole lot better” according to Electron Cash (EC) developer Jonald Fyookball and independent software developer Mark Lundeberg. Cashshuffle is a bitcoin cash mixing platform that allows users to obfuscate the relationship between the owner’s old and new BCH addresses. At its inception, Cashshuffle offers a deeper anonymity set, but if a user mixes a bunch of coins and eventually consolidates them into one address, it can still leave behind some traces to the original owner. “With Cashfusion, the new scheme is not only more secure, but allows basically any number of inputs and outputs of any amounts — This means it can offer high levels of privacy with unlinkable coins,” Fyookball asserted at the time. A few months later on November 23, the EC programmer revealed that the Cashfusion framework has been working behind the scenes using alpha software and the beta software “is coming soon.” In addition to the announcement about Cashfusion, Fyookball left a transaction that showed the protocol had been used. “Fun fact: with 53 inputs and 38 outputs, there are over 10^82 combinations that would need to be dealt with to check for possible matches,” Fyookball explained on the Reddit forum r/btc. “10^80 is the estimated number of atoms in the observable universe — 10^82 is 100 times larger than that,” one person replied. The same day, software engineer Mark Lundeberg tweeted about another Cashfusion transaction. “This Cashfusion transaction has 78 Schnorr-signed inputs, a situation that’s ripe for doing batched signature validation — Full nodes can decide to adopt batching at their leisure, I’m hoping to see some do it over the next year,” Lundeberg said. The developer added: It’s worth emphasizing that the speedup from batch validation is modest, only ~2X in this case — That might take the validation time from, say, 4 ms down to 2 ms for this transaction. The bigger gains would be when we see 90%-Schnorr blocks, however, that is only a speedup benefit for new nodes joining the network, since only they will be in a situation where all of a block’s signatures can be batched. Fusion Fridays Other cryptocurrency advocates are looking forward to the beta Cashfusion launch. “It’s not enough to just rail against governments and companies spying on us — We need to support the people who are already making tools that help give us back our privacy — Cashfusion will launch soon, and I can’t wait to check it out,” remarked the host, film and TV producer Naomi Brockwell. Another person on Reddit stated: “I love how [Cashfusion] works with just moving small amounts of a few thousand satoshis. 0.0001 BCH, no problem. It’s just a side effect of what you are trying to show, but an important little detail proving why Bitcoin Cash is the fork that is doing it right.” Other BCH proponents noted how Karol Trzeszczkowski’s Interwallet Transfer plugin coupled with Cashfusion will also strengthen Bitcoin Cash privacy. So far, even before Cashfusion, the Cashshuffle protocol for EC has gained a lot of traction according to Acid Sploit’s stats page. Data shows that 187,212 BCH ($40 million) has been shuffled using the Cashshuffle mixer. Every week BCH participants shuffle together on “Shuffle Saturday” and after the community witnessed the Cashfusion transactions demonstrated by Fyookball and Lundeberg, a few BCH supporters called for a “Fusion Friday.” What do you think about the Cashfusion progression helping bolster BCH privacy? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. Image credits: Shutterstock, Github, Acid Sploit’s Cashshuffle Stats Twitter, and Pixabay. 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 Privacy-Enhancing BCH Tool Cashfusion Begins Working Behind the Scenes appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

News.Bitcoin.com has initiated a regular roundup of cryptocurrency regulatory developments around the world. For the first edition, we cover six U.S. regulators and India’s decisions on the supreme court hearing and crypto bill. We also cover China’s rekindled cleanup and Singapore’s derivatives trading proposal, along with the tax authority’s clarification of how GST applies to crypto transactions. Also read: Survey: 58% of German Banks Charge Negative Interest Rates China Rekindles 2017 Order On Nov. 22, the Shanghai Head Office of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) issued a notice regarding crypto oversight, sending the media wild with headlines of fresh Chinese crackdown. The notice was prompted by rising crypto activities as companies heavily promoted blockchain technology following bullish statements by President Xi Jinping. This notice is based on a standing order issued on Sept. 4, 2017, by seven regulators, including the PBOC, regarding a cleanup and rectification of cryptocurrency and initial coin offering (ICO) trading platforms. The Shanghai office carried out the requirements in this order and has been monitoring the sector to prevent closed exchanges resurfacing and new ones forming. Its efforts have intensified over the years as some providers set up servers overseas to serve Chinese residents, the central bank explained. The notice concludes that the PBOC’s Shanghai Head Office will continue to enforce the requirements outlined in the September 2017 notice, including closing down exchanges, and will continuously monitor crypto business activities within its jurisdiction. On Nov. 20, Sohu publication reported that 39 exchanges had been identified as breaking the rules and were visited by the authorities. The publication then reported on Nov. 22 that a crypto exchange called BISS was shut down and 10 people were arrested. US Spreads Oversight Across Regulators Several U.S. government agencies have clarified their positions regarding cryptocurrency over the past two weeks. One of the top concerns of the Department of the Treasury is the potential use of cryptocurrencies “to evade existing legal frameworks — like those governing taxation, anti-money laundering, and countering the financing of terrorism,” Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Justin Muzinich said on Nov. 21. He added that “if a cryptocurrency allowing anonymous transactions were to grow to scale, enforcing laws that prevent crime and terrorist financing could be more difficult.” His statement follows the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (Fincen) reiterating on Nov. 15 that AML requirements will be strictly enforced on crypto exchanges, particularly the “Travel” rule, similar to the recommendations by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). In the financial sector, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) wants “to make sure we create an environment where these markets have integrity and we’re able to regulate them and they’re able to innovate,” Chairman Heath P. Tarbert said on Nov. 20. He wants to see the U.S. lead in the crypto space. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), on the other hand, is still pondering whether to approve a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). On Nov. 18, it published in the Federal Register soliciting statements regarding the decision to disapprove the proposed rule change for Bitwise Bitcoin ETF filed by the NYSE Arca. The proposal was disapproved on Oct. 9 but on Oct. 15 the SEC notified the exchange that it is reviewing this decision. Statements can be submitted until Dec. 18. The disapproving order will remain in effect pending the review. The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) also made a few clarifications over the past two weeks regarding like-kind exchanges and airdrops, after its latest release of guidance documents raised some questions. Meanwhile, the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) has granted a charter under the state’s banking law to Fidelity Investments’ digital asset arm. This allows institutional investors and individuals in the state to store, purchase, sell, and transfer bitcoin with the firm. India Defers Crypto Issues Two major crypto regulatory issues in India have been postponed. On Nov. 18, the supreme court called the case challenging the banking restrictions by the central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), for hearing and postponed it to Jan. 14 at the request of the central bank. The banking ban went into effect in July last year and banks subsequently closed accounts of local crypto exchanges in India. The Indian government was also supposed to introduce the bill entitled “Banning of Cryptocurrency & Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill 2019” in the Winter session of Parliament, which runs from Nov. 18 to Dec. 13. However, on Nov. 15, the parliament published the agenda for the Winter session which does not include the crypto bill. Singapore Near Allowing Derivatives Trading, GST Update There were two regulatory developments in Singapore last week. Firstly, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) issued a consultation paper on Nov. 20 proposing to allow payment token derivatives to be traded on approved exchanges. The MAS cited interest from international institutional investors in payment tokens such as bitcoin and ether as the reason for its proposal. The regulator has invited interested parties to submit their comments by Dec. 20. Secondly, the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) published a guide on Nov. 19 explaining the GST (Goods and Services Tax) treatment of transactions involving “digital payment tokens.” These tokens include cryptocurrencies that function as a medium of exchange. “With effect from 1 Jan 2020, supplies of digital payment tokens will no longer be subject to GST,” the IRAS declared. ICYMI – Earlier This Month There were also some noteworthy regulatory developments earlier this month. The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) published an opt-in regulatory framework on Nov. 6 for crypto exchanges which allows them to voluntarily apply for a license. Over in the U.K., the British tax authority updated its crypto tax policies of crypto transactions on Nov. 1. The agency has provided two guides — one for individuals and the other for businesses. Lastly, Finland’s Financial Supervisory Authority (FIN-FSA) announced on Nov. 1 that it has granted registration to the country’s first five local crypto service providers, including Localbitcoins. What do you think of crypto regulatory developments around the world? Let us know in the comments section below. 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 Regulatory Roundup: China Rekindles Cleanup, US Widens Oversight, India Defers Decisions appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Three days ago, cryptocurrency markets were holding foundational support after coins plunged 2-14% and the entire cryptoconomy dropped below $200 billion. Crypto prices continued to slide in a bearish trend, and over the last 12 hours, the entire market valuation of all 3,000+ coins lost another $7 billion. However, after BTC dropped to a low of $6,529 per coin, digital currency markets bounced back, erasing most of the losses inflicted during the morning trading sessions. Also Read: Gocrypto SLP Token Starts Trading on Bitcoin.com Exchange BTC Markets Quickly Plunge Below $7K But Regain the Losses Hours Later Typically after a few days of bearish sentiment, cryptocurrencies rebound, gathering back some of the percentage losses or erasing them entirely. That’s not the case this Monday as digital asset values have continued to slide and today most coins are still down over the last seven days. BTC markets dropped below the $7K zone, touching a low of $6,529 on Bitstamp during the first hour of Monday morning (EST). BTC’s spot markets have around $4.39 billion in global trades today while the overall market cap is around $129 billion, with a dominance of around 66%. BTC has lost 0.26% in the last day and during the last seven days the coin has shed 15.5% in value. The top pairs with BTC include tether (75.59%), USD (8.89%), JPY (7.31%), QC (2.47%), EUR (1.78%), and KRW (1.62%). Behind BTC is ETH which still holds the second largest market cap as each coin is swapping for $146. The cryptocurrency is down 1.8% today and ETH has also lost more than 19% for the week. Lastly, tether (USDT) holds the fourth largest market position on November 25 and the stablecoin has a $4.11 billion dollar market valuation. Again this week, USDT is the most dominant stablecoin, capturing more than two-thirds of the global volume on Monday. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Market Action Bitcoin cash (BCH) has been coasting along, holding the fifth largest market valuation as each coin swaps for $209 today. BCH has an overall market cap of around $3.79 billion and global trade volume is about $760 million in 24-hour trades. The daily percentage is down today a hair at 0.03% and BCH has lost 20.5% during the course of the week. BCH is the seventh most traded coin on Monday just below litecoin (LTC) and above tron (TRX). At the time of publication, tether (USDT) captures 67.2% of all BCH trades. This is followed by BTC (16.78%), USD (10.97%), KRW (2.47%), ETH (0.89%), EUR (0.63%), and JPY (0.49%) pairs. BCH has some heavy resistance above the $250 range, and currently the $200 zone still shows decent foundational support. Despite the drop in price, BCH miners have not capitulated as the BCH hashrate has remained unscathed between 2.6 to 3.2 exahash per second (EH/s). A Purge Before the Bull? The last two weeks of sliding cryptocurrency prices have everyone attempting to predict which way the markets will move going forward. Speaking with the founding partner at Adamant Capital Tuur Demeester on Twitter, the trading veteran Peter Brandt believes a big drop in BTC prices will come before the next bull run. “Tuur, I think a prolonged journey below the line might be needed to thoroughly prepare BTC for the move to $50,000,” Brandt wrote. “The bulls must first be fully purged. When no bulls can be found on Twitter, then we will have a great buy signal.” Following Brandt’s prediction, Demeester replied: “Hey Peter, I think that a prolonged purge going forward is 100% a valid scenario and one that investors (including myself) must psychologically and strategically prepare for.” Brandt continued by forecasting his target price and detailed: “My target of $5,500 is not far below today’s low. But I think the surprise might be in the duration and nature of the market. I am thinking about a low in July 2020. That will wear out bulls quicker than a price correction.” Whale Sightings While crypto prices like BTC have been dragging downwards, cryptocurrency enthusiasts have been watching for whales. On Saturday, November 24, one whale moved 44,000 BTC ($314 million) in a single transaction according to the Twitter account Whale Alert. For months now digital currency proponents have been keeping their eyes focused on whale movements. In July, observers noticed multiple BTC movements above 40,000 BTC per transaction. Then on September 5, the biggest whale movement in quite some time saw 94,504 BTC move from an unknown wallet to another unknown wallet. 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 44,000 #BTC (310,280,282 USD) transferred from unknown wallet to unknown wallet Tx: https://t.co/GgIfMr9eMy — Whale Alert (@whale_alert) November 24, 2019 The 8-Day Plunge Market analysts have been observing BTC and crypto markets dropping every day during the last week. At 1 a.m. EST, BTC dropped to its six-month low, plunging to just above $6,500 on global exchanges on November 25. The chief analyst at Markets.com, Neil Wilson, explained that “the market is so opaque if not downright impenetrable” at the moment. “But it does seem that the China optimism has gone and the market has rolled over as a result. From a technical perspective we’ve blown out key support on the 61% Fib level of the big move up and now we may well see $5K before long ($5,400 is the next major Fib line and the last line of defence). If that is reached then we look to $3K again,” Wilson added. Other analysts believe the market is just uncertain at the moment because no one has found a catalyst. “There does not appear to be a single trigger for the sell-off, but it does come after a period of ongoing market uncertainty and we are seeing investors starting to look to the year-end and closing positions which they are unsure about,” Marcus Swanepoel, the CEO of the UK-based cryptocurrency platform Luno, said on Monday. Long Positions Begin to Climb Overall, cryptocurrency enthusiasts and traders do seem uncertain about the future of digital asset markets in the short term. Despite the 8-day downturn, BTC/USD and ETH/USD continue to gather steam before every big drop. The shorts trend has continued even though prices have been sliding but BTC/USD long positions are steadily climbing higher since November 22. BTC/USD long positions on Bitfinex on Monday 11/25/19. Right now many crypto traders are predicting price movements and some are simply praying they played their positions correctly. The long term technical analyst and trader Mr. Anderson on Twitter commented on the BTC/USD “Log-To-Linear Trend Line.” “BTC is trying to put up a fight at its linear jump off trend line that kicked off the bull market — As we can see she dumped upon losing the last log parabolic trendline and dumped straight to this linear trend line — Let the battle continue,” Anderson remarked. Where do you see the cryptocurrency markets heading from here? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. Disclaimer: Price articles and 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. Always remember that only those in possession of the private keys are in control of the “money.” Cryptocurrency prices referenced in this article were recorded at 9:30 a.m. EST on November 25, 2019. Images via Shutterstock, Trading View, Bitcoin.com Markets, Getty, Coinlib.io, Wiki Commons, and Pixabay. 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 Market Update: Uncertainty Strikes Crypto Traders After Week-Long Downtrend appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

On 25 November 2019, the Gocrypto (GOC) token will start trading on Bitcoin.com Exchange. The new SLP token enables merchants with physical or online stores to accept instant crypto payments from different digital wallets with millions of users and to receive settlement in their local fiat. Also Read: Crypto Payments Startup Eligma Raises €4 Million From Bitcoin.com and Pangea Blockchain Fund Gocrypto SLP Token Debut The native token of Eligma, formerly known as ELI, is now called the Gocrypto token (GOC) and its about to be listed on the Bitcoin.com Exchange following a successful migration to the Simple Ledger Protocol (SLP) token system on the bitcoin cash blockchain. The listing will enable millions of BCH community members to access the GOC token, which is one of the four cryptocurrencies that can be used for shopping at any of the more than 620 Gocrypto spots in several countries that accept the Bitcoin.com Wallet as well as the Elly app. Danish Chaudhry, COO of the Bitcoin.com Exchange, commented: “We are thrilled to partner with Eligma to make their token GoCrypto available on our exchange. Bitcoin.com Exchange and Eligma share the same vision of making crypto more accessible. The team behind GoCrypto has impressively onboarded hundreds of merchants to crypto, which makes us very excited for the future.” Bitcoin.com Exchange was launched earlier this year as an easy-to-use trading platform that offers world-class security and a powerful trading engine. The venue has a wide variety of trading pairs like litecoin (LTC), ripple (XRP), tron (TRX), zcash (ZEC) and denominated markets with base currencies such as tether (USDT), bitcoin cash (BCH), and bitcoin core (BTC). The platform employs institutional-grade encryption, two-factor authentication (2FA) and IP whitelisting to keep user accounts secure at all times. Gocrypto Goes Global Eligma helps businesses accept cryptocurrencies as payment in a way that they are familiar with, without being exposed to the volatility of the crypto markets or to the regulatory and tax uncertainty that currently exists when receiving crypto in many countries. The service is already used in Slovenia, Croatia and Turkey by hotels, shops, restaurants, sports facilities and a range of service providers, including for flight tickets, taxi rides and car rentals. The option for merchants to accept crypto in addition to fiat is also in development. On the shoppers’ side they just need to scan a purchase QR code with a digital wallet, select the desired cryptocurrency and confirm the transaction. Recently Eligma completed a €4 million funding round with participation from Bitcoin.com and Pangea Blockchain Fund to help with its global expansion plans. The availability of GOC at the trading platform will be instrumental in introducing the token to millions of new crypto users and communities which can help spread adoption of the system around the world. “Entering Exchange.Bitcoin.com with our brand new GoC token is not only a new chapter in the history of our native token, but also one of the landmarks of a world expansion of our GoCrypto payment solution,” Eligma CEO Dejan Roljic stated. “Bitcoin Cash is the most popular currency used by shoppers at GoCrypto spots, and we hope that the GoC token on the BCH blockchain will prove just as useful with its numerous advantages. GoCrypto is namely evolving into an international crypto payment scheme, connecting crypto users, wallets, merchants and cashier systems worldwide. It currently supports the Bitcoin.com Wallet and Elly, but we aim to open the door to other wallets in the near future.” What do you think about the Gocrypto SLP token trading on the Bitcoin.com Exchange? 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 Gocrypto SLP Token Starts Trading on Bitcoin.com Exchange appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article