roadrunner

Cryptocurrency traders on Bisq are using Revolut to buy and sell bitcoin without the need for KYC/AML. The decentralized, peer-to-peer marketplace allows anyone to buy or sell cryptocurrency via a range of payment processors and traditional banking services. With Localbitcoins now a twisted nightmare of KYC, privacy-conscious traders have few platforms to which they can turn. But in Bisq, they appear to have found a solution of sorts. Also read: The Bank of Google Wants Your Spending Data Trading Bitcoin Without the Awkward Questions Unlike services such as Localbitcoins or buy.Bitcoin.com which work in-browser, Bisq requires users to first download the application before buying and selling crypto, with Windows, Mac and Linux systems all supported. A popular method of purchasing BTC on Bisq (formerly Bitsquare) is with Revolut, with many users opting for the virtual banking service on account of its speed and convenience. Although quick and easy at the initial point of use, there are potential pitfalls to relying on Revolut. As early as last year, Bisq issued a warning regarding the service and its suitability for avoiding unwanted attention. As the Bisq twitter account stated: “Payment methods based on traditional finance systems are going to require KYC at some level, sooner or later. Revolut is not special in this regard.” It’s not just KYC/AML which poses problems either: a number of users have complained that after repeated transactions on Bisq, Revolut has suspended their accounts, leading to weeks of uncertainty and added complications. Revolut itself, it should be noted, requires KYC in order to obtain an account, and is not an anonymous or pseudonymous service. most obvious with revolut, there are countless reports of accounts being blocked following a bisq transaction. Our guess is the messages in the transactions doesn't seem normal (who would send some random string as a message?) and some accounts take weeks to get unblocked — nodl (@nodl_it) March 27, 2019 A Little Privacy Please Since the onboarding process at centralized exchanges and the obligatory intrusion of KYC remains a bone of contention for many, bitcoiners continue to seek out dependable decentralized alternatives. The development team behind Bisq describe it as “pure P2P infrastructure” built on the Tor network and using local wallets with no custodial accounts. Bisq does not require the user to provide a name, email ID, or verification, so it ticks all the boxes for anyone who takes their privacy seriously. The decentralized exchange also offers a large number of fiat currencies with which users can onboard including the US dollar, Canadian dollar, Australian dollar, Euro, British pound and Russian rouble. That said, for all its benefits, there are still limitations to using the decentralized exchange, including higher spot prices, which means the platform won’t suit everyone. Perhaps one of the bigger issues at this time is liquidity, although Bisq is hardly the only decentralized exchange that has struggled in this regard. Trade volumes remain relatively low and the amount of bitcoin a new user can purchase is initially limited to just 0.01 BTC. This increases over time, with accounts maturing after 60 days, but some payment methods retain restrictions in any case. Bank-based payments are limited to 0.25 BTC for instance, while Perfectmoney and Alipay allow purchases of 1 BTC. It’s clear that Bisq are extremely safety conscious and mistrust many of the most popular fiat payment processors, especially those that offer chargeback facilities. Part of their efforts to mitigate ongoing risks include a deposit and arbitration system which adds another layer of security for traders. Options for traders who have tired of Localbitcoins.com and its kowtowing to onerous compliance regulations are thin on the ground, but there is an outlet for bitcoin cash proponents. Local.Bitcoin.com enables anonymous P2P transactions, providing a private way to buy and sell bitcoin cash. Between it and Bisq, there is at least a mechanism for exercising one’s right to purchase cryptocurrency without enduring the data-breach-waiting-to-happen that is KYC. What other pro-privacy exchanges do you recommend? 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 Bitcoin Traders Are Finding Creative Ways to Avoid KYC appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

This week members of the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) community donated funds to Eatbch South Sudan volunteer Thiong Deng so he could spread the word about the benefits of BCH at the Young African Leaders Summit. According to Deng, his journey to Uganda and Ghana has been fully funded which includes flight, hotel, visa costs, and a ticket to the event. Also Read: The Bank of Google Wants Your Spending Data Eatbch South Sudan Volunteer Heads to the Young African Leaders Summit Eatbch is easily recognized as the Bitcoin Cash community’s most favorite charity because the nonprofit organization has been using BCH to help people throughout Venezuela and South Sudan. People can follow Eatbch on Twitter and see how the “peer-to-peer electronic cash-to-food system” feeds families and children in need regularly. Just recently, the nonprofit published a new website called eatbch.org that shows the tremendous work being done in South Sudan and Venezuela. Moreover, the website’s visitors can donate bitcoin cash directly to the effort so people can help others experiencing economic hardships and difficult times. Last September, news.Bitcoin.com reported on Eatbch South Sudan leader Emmanuel Lobijo, who was invited to attend the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Action Summit. Lobijo joined Greta Thunberg and many other activists at the UN’s event in New York. The Eatbch South Sudan leader explained how BCH can “bridge access to the world” and how the charitable organization is using bitcoin cash to fight water wars, drought, and famine in the African country. This week members of the BCH community funded Eatbch South Sudan volunteer Thiong Micheal Deng’s trip so he could attend the Young African Leaders Summit in Ghana. On November 13 and 14, BCH proponents on Twitter and Reddit asked the community to help fund Deng’s trip. “Can we get Thiong, an Eatbch South Sudan representative to the Young African Leaders Summit? He still needs $800 dollars of funding,” one Reddit post asked. Deng disclosed all the anticipated expenses for the trip to the Young African Leaders Summit and thanked the community for the “generous donations” but he still had $835 left to raise. BCH Community Funds Travel Expenses to Ghana On Twitter, software engineer Josh Ellithorpe (who designed the eatbch.org website) also asked BCH supporters to help fund Deng’s travels. “This is the last day to get Thiong (an Eatbch South Sudan representative) to the Young African Leaders Summit,” Ellithorpe tweeted. “Let’s support him in spreading the word about Bitcoin Cash and the excellent work of Eatbch.” After a few BCH proponents made requests to the community, Deng managed to get the funds needed to embark on the trip. “Thanks, Bitcoin cash community,” Deng said. “[You] have set up my journey to Uganda — 18-hour bus drive — then flight to Ghana for the conference. BCH you made it happen — thanks for the love.” The BCH community members who helped fund the trip and the work being done by Eatbch at large demonstrates how passionate BCH proponents are about peer-to-peer cash. The work Eatbch does each and every day showcases how decentralized, borderless cryptocurrencies can truly revolutionize the global economy. What do you think about the BCH community funding Thiong Deng’s trip? What do you think about the nonprofit Eatbch’s efforts and activism in Venezuela and South Sudan? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. Image credits: Shutterstock, eatbch.org, and Twitter. 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 Bitcoin Cash Community Funds Eatbch Trip to Ghana appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The multinational technology giant Google has plans to get into the banking industry according to multiple reports that reveal the firm intends to work with Stanford Federal Credit Union and Citigroup. However, analysts assert that Google is not jumping into banking for revenue purposes and the move is simply an acquisition of more customer data. Also Read: Banks Stopped Walmart Bank – Now the Retail Giant Hits Back With Crypto Google Bank One of the ‘Big Four’ technology companies, Google LLC, plans to launch checking accounts through a partnership with Citigroup, Stanford Federal Credit Union, and a number of other financial partners. The secret project has a code name called ‘Cache,’ according to sources stemming from the Wall Street Journal. However, people using the Google-backed checking accounts might not know the internet-related services company is behind the financial products. The checking accounts will still feature branding from the likes of financial incumbents such as Citibank and Google will only work behind the scenes. Google executive Caesar Sengupta explained: Our approach is going to be to partner deeply with banks and the financial system — It may be the slightly longer path, but it’s more sustainable. The move by Google follows the recent partnership between Apple and Goldman Sachs that produced the Apple Card product. Many speculators believe Google is planning to enter the fray of banking in order to stay competitive with the other three heavyweights Facebook, Amazon, and Apple. In a note to clients this week, Wells Fargo’s analyst Brian Fitzgerald said that Google is more interested in obtaining data. “Google is likely entering into these partnerships to increase its insights into consumer purchase behavior and consumer finances more broadly,” Fitzgerald said. At the moment, a lot of the giant tech firms are laser-focused on financial technology and Facebook’s Calibra project is a testament to the trend. “Google is primarily focused on data to feed its core ad business, and less so on acting as a full-fledged bank,” CB Insights senior intelligence analyst Arieh Levi remarked. Another Extension of Surveillance Capitalism Since the news went viral the ‘Bank of Google’ discussion has a lot of people wondering if Google will be privy to everyone’s finance behavior. Combing personal data like spending habits is just another extension of surveillance capitalism in the opinion of many skeptics. But Google believes the strategy is good for the internet in general. “If we can help more people do more stuff in a digital way online, it’s good for the internet and good for us,” Sengupta stressed to the Wall Street Journal. “Of course they plan to leave the nitty-gritty details to the traditional finance folks. All Google is really interested in is your financial data and for that I’m sure they’ll be willing to slap a kickass GUI and possibly a bit of value add as far as fees and rates are concerned,” Mati Greenspan, senior market analyst at Etoro explained in a note to investors about Google announcing “intentions to get deeper into financial services.” ”Facebook, Google, Amazon, Apple, they all just want to be like Tencent who’s been dominating Chinese payments for nearly a decade. In fact, the earnings report from Tencent today seemed to contain just as much valuable insight into the Chinese consumer than it did the actual company,” Greenspan added. Many people believe massive tech firms like Apple and Google becoming financial behemoths is not out of the question, despite the kickback these companies receive from governments. However, the retail giant Walmart had its banking intentions stopped by financial institutions lobbying politicians. A few years later, Walmart is now exploring cryptocurrency concepts. To digital currency advocates, the Google checking account news is just one more sign of the surveillance state growing larger, which in turn could push people toward decentralized cryptocurrencies. What do you think about Google’s ambitions toward being a bank? Do you think with big tech companies like Apple, Facebook, Amazon, and Google getting into financial services will drive more people toward decentralized cryptocurrencies? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below. Image credits: Shutterstock, The Intercept, Pixabay, Wiki Commons, Google Logo, Fair Use. Do you want to dig deeper into Bitcoin? Explore past and present cryptocurrency prices through our Bitcoin Markets tool and head to our Blockchain Explorer to view specific transactions, addresses, and blocks. The post The Bank of Google Wants Your Spending Data appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

For various reasons, a growing number of nations are experiencing the rapid development of cashless society. Paper money may become extinct in some countries in the not-so-distant future. Prompted by the spread of private and decentralized cryptocurrencies and the threat of losing control over their monetary policies, more and more governments are now working to create central bank issued digital currencies to replace banknotes and coins. China has joined the campaign against cash, although not at the expense of centralized monetary power. Also read: Japan Pushes Cashless Agenda by Rewarding Non-Cash Payments After Tax Hike China to Trial ‘Large-Scale Cash Management’ In a move that many consider part of Beijing’s plans to introduce a digital version of the national fiat, the yuan, the People’s Bank of China (PBOS) has revealed plans to implement pilot programs aimed at exerting greater control over cash transactions. According to a notice issued by the central bank, the trials will be conducted in three Chinese regions, the provinces of Hebei and Zhejiang and Shenzhen City, within the next two years. In a report addressing fears that the initiative will restrict public access to cash, the state-run news agency Xinhua explained that despite the rapid development of non-cash payment platforms in recent years, the total amount of cash in circulation has remained at a stable level while large-volume cash transactions have in fact continued to grow. Besides, these have been concentrating in specific areas, groups of people and periods, arguably lowering the overall efficiency of cash flow. PBOS shares its own reasons to implement the new control mechanism. Large amounts of cash are widely used in China, the bank points out, and they are exploited in criminal activities such as corruption, tax evasion and money laundering. The regulator will impose stricter supervision and introduce reporting requirements for cash operations over certain thresholds – 500,000 yuan (approx. $70,000) for public accounts, and for private accounts – 100,000 yuan in Hebei province, 300,000 yuan in Zhejiang province, and 200,000 yuan in Shenzhen. “Under the requirements of large-scale cash management, banks need to deepen their understanding of current customers, strengthen risk warning and information communication for customers who are prone to generate large cash transactions, and guide them to use non-cash payment tools,” the Chinese central bank demands. It also proposes the establishment of a special registration system for large cash withdrawals, emphasizing that as long as a bank customer fulfills their obligations under the applicable rules, access to large sums of cash will not be restricted. Other developed countries have already adopted regulations to increase control over cash flows and China is now trying catch up. After the new system is tested in the three regions, it is expected to form the basis of a long-term large-scale cash management mechanism. According to the Xinhua report, Beijing’s main motive is to “promote the concept of rational use of cash.” But the new focus on increased oversight over cash transactions may also be related to the plan to issue a digital yuan, one of the main purposes of which is to exert greater control over financial transactions. Is This the End of Paper Cash? In the digital age, a walk away from cash sounds like a natural development. There is now a race between state actors, corporations, and communities to issue digital currencies that will replace paper notes and metal coins. There’s a lot of politics, geopolitics, macro- and microeconomics involved in the deepening competition to build the cashless society. If you visit a country like Sweden, you’ll realize it has already been created to a large extent. You’ll need a mobile app or a bank card far more often than banknotes to pay in stores. Consumer transactions with non-cash methods reach almost 60%. In fact, a number of bank branches in the country don’t accept or process cash deposits and withdrawals. Cash is disappearing in the Nordic nation, an article published recently by the Guardian noted. The piece describes Britain’s own rapid departure from paper money as well. The amount of Swedish cash in circulation has dropped from 80 billion to 58 billion kronor in the last four years, a reduction of over 27%. During the same period, ATM withdrawals fell by more than half. Meanwhile, in the U.K. cash transactions declined by over 50% between 2008 and 2018. Even Japan, where almost 80% of people use cash every day, is now promoting cashless payments, as news.Bitcoin.com reported this week. But not all types of cashless relations are in the best interest of states and governments are starting to realize that. Paper money has certain advantages for ordinary people, like better privacy for the holder, that governments don’t mind getting rid of, which to a large extent explains the initial push to create cashless societies. A banknote is a contract in ink and paper between the issuer, a central bank, and the bearer, a citizen or a resident. In modern cashless societies these contracts are replaced by contracts between people and companies, on the one hand, and third parties such as commercial banks and payment processors, on the other. When bank branches and stores in Sweden reject government issued bills that’s is a problem for the Swedish state and its sovereignty over money. The threat is even greater in the case with currencies issued by corporations such as Facebook or Alipay, for example, where government money will not be part of the contract at all. It’s not surprising then that a growing number of states are trying to create their own digital currencies. Sweden’s Riksbank has been working on an e-krona for some time, which will be a central bank digital currency (CBDC). While the Bank of England has previously stated it is not planning to issue one, a couple of months ago Governor Mark Carney suggested that a network of CBDCs could unite to create a new “Synthetic Hegemonic Currency”. This sounds realistic as according to a study conducted by the Bank of International Settlements (BIS), 70% of 63 polled central banks are exploring the issue of CBDCs. Now as China is vowing to become the first nation with a digital fiat, pressure has been mounting on the U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank to create a digital dollar and a digital euro. While paper notes and metal coins still have an appeal because of their physical qualities, since the invention of fiat money part of the subject of the contract they represent has been lost. Sterling in the name of the British currency doesn’t refer to a silver alloy anymore and this isn’t going to change with the introduction of its digital version. Money based on other contracts, such as with corporate entities and third parties, certainly comes with many disclaimers as well. That creates a real window of opportunity for permissionless decentralized cryptocurrencies, now when societies are going cashless, and a recently conducted survey showed that almost a tenth of Chinese students already own crypto. To use digital cash in financial interactions with others, you neither need a contract, nor a third party. What’s your prediction about the outcome of the race between various digital currencies to replace paper money? Share your thoughts on the subject 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. 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 Global Trend Against Cash Intensifies as China Joins the Squeeze appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The largest bank in Canada by market capitalization, Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), is reportedly opening a cryptocurrency exchange. Patents have been discovered that reveal some of the technology the RBC may implement, which could be used to bring digital currency trading to the bank’s 16 million clients. Also read: Bankers Start to Recognize Bitcoin’s Role in Financial Evolution The Royal Bank of Canada May Launch a Crypto Exchange A report stemming from the publication The Logic claims that the RBC is currently exploring the construction of a digital currency trading platform. Columnist Zane Schwartz wrote on November 11 that the bank will give customers the ability to invest and trade cryptocurrencies like BTC and ETH. The report reveals RBC is interested in creating funds with a basket of digital currencies as well. “The bank is also looking into letting customers open bank accounts containing cryptocurrency,” Schwartz wrote. If the crypto trading platform comes to fruition then the Canadian bank will be the first financial institution in the country to offer such services. At the last World Economic Forum in Davos, the Royal Bank of Canada’s CEO, David McKay, told the public that the financial institution aims to leverage distributed ledger technology. “We’re experimenting with taking an asset and breaking it into smaller pieces and registering that in a decentralised register called blockchain. You can take an asset or even a company and create a unit on a decentralised blockchain and then sell that into the marketplace,” McKay said during a panel discussion. Speaking with Schwartz, RBC spokesperson Jean Francois Thibault explained that the Canadian financial institution “like many other organizations, files patent applications to ensure proprietary ideas and concepts are protected.” Thibault would not confirm to Schwartz whether or not the RBC would be constructing a new trading platform for cryptocurrencies. #RBC, the largest Canadian bank that banned its clients from buying #Bitcoin, could now become the first bank in the country to launch a #cryptocurrency exchange. Nice!#BTC #altcoins — Weiss Crypto Ratings (@WeissCrypto) November 12, 2019 RBC’s Wealth Management Says the Possibilities of Cryptocurrencies Are Undeniable Four new patents have been found that pertain to a crypto exchange, and RBC has roughly 27 blockchain-based patents in its portfolio. “In some situations, cryptographic asset transactions may take time to be confirmed, and/or may not be compatible or supported by merchant systems or point-of-sale devices,” an RBC trading platform patent states. “To individual users, managing cryptographic keys and transacting with different cryptographic assets can be a challenge,” the patent further emphasizes. A while back, RBC’s wealth management service published a report outlining the benefits and risks tethered to digital currencies. As early as 2015, the RBC expressed interest in blockchain and McKay explained that the technology was a “quantum innovation.” “It is a brand-new technology, and what do we really know about it? How cyber-secure is it? We are going to learn a lot more about it,” McKay told the publication American Banker. “Given what is at stake, it is not something you can rush to market with and fix as you go. You want it to work.” Royal Bank of Canada patent CA 3038757: A system and method for handling crypto-asset transactions. Alongside this, RBC’s wealth management arm also published a report called “Bitcoin and beyond: Five things to know about cryptocurrency.” The RBC study notes there are plenty of risks associated with decentralized blockchain assets, but in the long run “the possibilities of cryptocurrencies are undeniable.” What do you think about the Royal Bank of Canada possibly building a cryptocurrency trading platform for customers? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. Image credits: Shutterstock, RBC, Wiki Commons, and Fair Use. How could our Bitcoin Block Explorer tool help you? Use the handy Bitcoin address search bar to track down transactions on both the BCH and BTC blockchain and, for even more industry insights, visit our in-depth Bitcoin Charts. The post Royal Bank of Canada Patents Point to Crypto Exchange Launch appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

You wouldn’t think there was much to improve about cryptocurrency wallets. Save for a few UX improvements here and there, what’s to reinvent? A surprising amount, it turns out. This year has seen a resurgence in wallet investment and innovation, with VCs throwing funds at startups intent on reinventing the humble wallet. Also read: Bitcoin.com Wallet App Marks Over Five Million Wallets Created There’s More Than One Way to Make a Wallet At its core, a cryptocurrency wallet is simply software for aggregating public keys you possess and signing transactions with their corresponding private keys. The software is merely the lipstick applied to make this process more pleasurable. And yet, much like lipstick, wallets come in many colors and flavors, with the industry conjuring new variants every year, each promising to be more secure, seamless, feature-rich and long-lasting than its predecessor. 2019 has witnessed something of a renaissance in wallet development, spawning a diverse array of hardware and software solutions and attracting serious investment. This week, Bitski revealed it had secured $1.8 million in seed funding from VCs including Galaxy Digital and Coinbase Ventures. Its wallet, it promises, is the first to be designed for mainstream adoption, by eliminating the normal barriers to setup. Bitski’s solution requires only an email address and password, and is designed to be integrated into applications by developers. It’s an ETH-only wallet, and Bitski have yet to find a way for users to fund their accounts within the wallet without using a third party. In other words, there’s work to be done in realizing the startup’s goal of achieving mainstream adoption, but that’s where the seed funding will come into play. Next year, its much-vaunted wallet should look much more consumer-ready. The Evolution of Mobile Wallets In terms of mobile wallet development, the dominant trend this year has been multicoinery: existing wallets broadening the number of chains and coins they accommodate. Coin Wallet, for example, has expanded its range of supported cryptocurrencies, which now include BCH, BNB, DASH, and DOGE, as well as ERC20 tokens. A similar trend can be seen with mobile wallets such as the Binance-owned Trust Wallet and Exodus, which also offers a popular desktop client and provides Trezor integration. While some wallet developers have been intent on reinventing the wheel, and introducing as many features as possible, others have taken the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach. This includes the Bitcoin.com Wallet which has just surpassed 5 million downloads. Rather than succumb to multicoinery, the wallet only supports BCH and BTC, but development has not been at a standstill; rather, it’s focused on enhancing the wallet’s core functionality, including adding the ability to purchase bitcoin with credit card. There are also plans to introduce support for SLP tokens in the near future, so that they can be managed directly within the wallet. Multisig Wallets Keep Multiplying Another subset of wallet design that’s seen significant attention this year is multisig, primarily for BTC. The ability to enable X-of-Y multi-signature spending has been available with bitcoin for years, but it’s not been easy for laypersons to set up and manage, leading to low adoption of multisig. As wallet developers have turned their attention to improving the user-friendliness and speed of setup for multisig wallets, however, significant leaps have been made. Casa Casa has expanded its suite of multisig services to include a 3-of-6 known as Casa Covenant that serves as a digital inheritance tool. The company explains: “This [sixth] key is activated after clients start the inheritance planning process with Casa, and it’s held by a client’s estate lawyer. In a scenario where the client passes away, the following keys can be used for fund recovery: Estate lawyer key. Casa Recovery Key.Safety Deposit Box Key.” A more versatile bitcoin multisig is being developed by Unchained Capital. Caravan is a noncustodial multisig which is open source and can be configured to allow multiple users to control a single wallet address. Alternatively, a single user can retain all of the keys required to access the wallet and safely store them in separate places. Caravan can integrate with existing hardware and software wallets, bringing multisig functionality to bitcoiners without the need to abandon their existing wallet solutions. With new hardware wallets being regularly released, and existing stalwarts such as Coldcard being revamped, the wallet development arms race is showing no signs of abating. Better custody options for cryptocurrency users, making it easier to store, manage, and secure funds, is vital in achieving greater ownership of digital assets and reducing reliance on third parties. Which cryptocurrency wallets do you recommend and why? Let us know in the comments section below. Disclaimer: Bitcoin.com does not endorse or support claims made by any parties in this article. None of the information in this article is intended as investment advice, as 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 Bitcoin.com nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Did you know you can verify any unconfirmed Bitcoin transaction with our Bitcoin Block Explorer tool? Simply complete a Bitcoin address search to view it on the blockchain. Plus, visit our Bitcoin Charts to see what’s happening in the industry. The post The Crypto Companies Reinventing the Wallet appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The 2019 National Proceeds of Crime Conference (NPOCC) held in Brisbane, Australia from November 13-15 addressed “Globalisation and Digitisation of the Criminal Economy,” and featured 200+ delegates hearing from representatives of organizations such as the Australian Federal Police, Singapore and New Zealand police, United States Department of Justice, and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission. The conference set out to address how to better seize criminal profits and face challenges to law enforcement presented by the darknet and cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. Also Read: FBI Says Bitcoin Concern Is Getting ‘Bigger and Bigger’ Addressing Crypto Crime Justine Gough, Acting Assistant Commissioner for the Australian Federal Police (AFP), stated that “Advances in technology, like cryptocurrency and encrypted communications have changed the way criminals acquire and hide their assets” and that “Seizing and removing the profits of crime is one of the most effective capabilities we have in impacting organised criminal networks.” The international conference, which aimed to address such topics as “the Darknet, trends in money laundering, collaboration in investigations; evidence collection in an age of cloud-based data and the monetisation of cybercrime” focused on how relevant organizations respond to crime in an age where cryptography and digital assets like bitcoin have enabled greater efficiency in skirting law enforcement. The push echoes recent sentiment from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) whose director Christopher Wray claimed problems presented by such technologies are getting “bigger and bigger.” Money Laundering and the Darknet Since the takedown of infamous darknet marketplace Silk Road in 2013, bitcoin and crypto have been in the mainstream media spotlight, and in the sights of law enforcement and financial regulators worldwide when it comes to money laundering and illegal activities. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has claimed that bitcoin and crypto are a “risk to the financial system” while pushing back against the idea that the world reserve U.S. dollar is used comparably. “I don’t think it’s been successfully done with cash. I’ll push back on that. We’re going to make sure that bitcoin doesn’t become the equivalent of Swiss-numbered bank accounts,” Mnuchin stated in July. AFP Acting Assistant Commissioner Gough says of the NPOCC: We are honoured to have representatives from law enforcement, government departments and private enterprise … share their insights and to collaborate on how we respond to emerging technologies like cryptocurrency. The response has already been swift and formidable. From numerous arrests of those transacting and trading in crypto — both criminal and non-criminal elements alike — to powerful tax agencies like the IRS issuing thousands of warning letters to potential crypto non-filers and money launderers, it’s clear law enforcement worldwide means business. The question of what kind of similar enterprise in trafficking, money laundering and tax evasion is being done with the almighty USD remains noticeably off the table, however. Worldwide Enforcement Efforts It will be interesting to hear the conclusions of this week’s Brisbane conference, and to see what developments proceed from the talks on monetization of cybercrime via crypto. Already global policymakers and joint enforcement initiatives such as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement (J5) are working to broaden the intelligence and enforcement dragnet for targeting unauthorized and permissionless financial activity worldwide. As the NPOCC’s problematic “Digitisation of the Criminal Economy” continues, the crypto space can expect even more scrutiny and heightened KYC/AML compliance measures in 2020. What are your thoughts on the NPOCC conference? Let us know in the comments section below. Image credits: Shutterstock. Did you know you can buy and sell BCH privately using our noncustodial, peer-to-peer Local Bitcoin Cash trading platform? The Local.Bitcoin.com marketplace has thousands of participants from all around the world trading BCH right now. And if you need a bitcoin wallet to securely store your coins, you can download one from us here. The post International Law Enforcement Conference Addresses Crypto and the ‘Criminal Economy’ appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The Bitcoin Cash network has successfully upgraded the latest ruleset changes to the protocol. The BCH blockchain now features the enforcement of minimal pushdata in script which will make a majority of BCH network transactions non-malleable. Moreover, as an extension to last May’s Schnorr upgrade, the opcode OP_Checkmultisig(verify) will now feature Schnorr signature support. Also Read: QE Infinity: 37 Central Banks Participate in Stimulus and Easing Practices Bitcoin Cash Successfully Removes the Final BIP62 Malleability Vector and Extends Schnorr Signatures Every six months the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) network upgrades in order to galvanize the BCH roadmap that aims to scale peer-to-peer electronic cash to the masses. BCH protocol developers strive to provide high-level technical direction with every completed upgrade. So far, software engineers have raised the block size to 32MB, re-enabled the Satoshi opcodes, implemented OP_Checkdatasig, added Canonical Transaction Ordering (CTOR), and the foundations of Schnorr signature support. Bitcoin Cash Network Upgrade 2019-11-15: The new BCH network rules have been activated. Now waiting for the first block (height 609136) to be mined.#BCHForEveryone #KeepCalmAndP2P — bch 'make Bitcoin cash again' protocol upgrade (@btcfork) November 15, 2019 There are 20 platform and protocol developments completed according to statistics from Coin Dance. Scheduled upgrades on the BCH chain are meant to enhance scaling and overall reliability of the main network. The latest additions to the BCH chain include a fix that will make most transactions on the BCH network non-malleable. The enforcement of minimal pushdata in script (Minimaldata rule) makes the malleability of transactions near impossible, including all P2PKH transactions. Years ago, several sources of malleability were known to developers and many of them were improved upon with the introduction of bip-0062. The Minimaldata rule change removes the final malleability vector after the upgrade on Friday. In addition to making the transactions on the BCH network non-malleable, Schnorr signature support will extend to OP_Checkmultisig(verify) which means all signature checking operations will support Schnorr signatures. The November 15 upgrade specifications state: OP_Checkmultisig and OP_Checkmultisigverify will be upgraded to accept Schnorr signatures in a way that increases verification efficiency and is compatible with batch verification. Mark B. Lundeberg (left) and Collin Enstad (right). Bitcoin Cash Community Celebrates Another Successful Upgrade After the upgrade, the BCH community celebrated the latest protocol changes. For instance, Collin Enstad hosted a live stream of the event and discussed the upgrade with software developer Mark B. Lundeberg. The upgrade went live on the BCH network at block height 609135, which was mined by the mining operation Antpool. The new Bitcoin Cash network rules have now been activated! https://t.co/8msEvvC9FA — Bitcoin Info (@bitcoininfo) November 15, 2019 According to monitoring sites like Coin Dance and Fork Monitor, the upgrade went quite smoothly with no issues. Not too long after BCH block 609136 was processed by Btc.com after Antpool’s block, it ensured that all the new rules have been applied. “Bitcoin ABC 0.19.0 considers block height 609136 invalid,” the data website Fork Monitor explains. “This block was mined by BTC.com and it was first seen and accepted as valid by Bitcoin ABC 0.20.6.” Bitcoin Cash developers have continuously pushed innovation and development to new heights and the November 2019 upgrade is no different. BCH fans will wait another six months for the next upgrade and news.Bitcoin.com will be there every step of the way to inform our readers about the next ruleset changes. What do you think about the Bitcoin Cash network implementing two new features following another successful upgrade? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. Image credits: Shutterstock, Coin Dance, Youtube, and Twitter. 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 Bitcoin Cash Upgrade Complete: 2 New Protocol Changes Added appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The Indian government previously told the supreme court that the country’s cryptocurrency bill may be introduced in the Winter session of parliament. However, the crypto bill is not included in the agenda published by Lok Sabha, the lower house of India’s parliament. This gives the community a sigh of relief as many have been campaigning to convince the government to reevaluate the bill. Also read: Indian Supreme Court Postpones Crypto Case to November, New Date Confirmed ‘Great News’ – Crypto Bill Delayed The government of India has been deliberating on a draft bill entitled “Banning of Cryptocurrency & Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill 2019.” The government told the country’s supreme court in August that this bill may be introduced in the Winter session of parliament. However, Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian parliament, published the agenda for the Winter session on Thursday which does not include the cryptocurrency bill. Sohail Merchant, CEO of local crypto exchange Pocketbits, remarked on Friday: Draft bill for banning of crypto is not on the agenda for [the] parliament Winter session. Relief for now, but use this time to come together and present our case to the regulators. The Indian parliament building. The Winter session starts on Nov. 18 and ends on Dec. 13. Nischal Shetty, CEO of Wazirx crypto exchange, tweeted: “Great news for the crypto ecosystem of India. The draft crypto banning bill will not be included in the upcoming parliament session of November 2019. Great to see [the] Indian government not rushing into this. They’re listening.” The bill to ban all cryptocurrencies except state-issued ones was drafted by an interministerial committee (IMC) headed by former Secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs Subhash Chandra Garg. It was submitted to the Ministry of Finance in February and made public in July. Following the government’s indication that it planned to introduce this bill in the Winter session of parliament, the supreme court postponed hearing all writ petitions relating to the country’s crypto policies to January next year. Community Forming One Voice Since the bill was made public, the Indian crypto community has been tirelessly campaigning for the government to reconsider the recommendations, emphasizing that the bill is flawed. Pocketbits’ CEO also urged all stakeholders in the crypto industry to “Forget competition/ego & echo our thoughts with a single voice.” A number of crypto stakeholders gathered earlier this month at an event called “Unwind With Crypto.” It was hosted by local crypto exchange Coindcx. The exchange described that the goal of the meeting was to “bring all the important stakeholders in the crypto industry together and build a stronger global community.” Noting that “The event was attended by the pioneers of the crypto and the blockchain industry who have taken India’s crypto competence to the global stage,” the exchange revealed that attendees included representatives from Crypto Kanoon, Matic Network, Marlin Protocol, Woodstock Fund, Cashaa, Hard Fork, as well as top exchanges including Wazirx and Delta. Attendees of Coindcx’s Unwind With Crypto event. Crypto Kanoon’s Kashif Raza commented, “It is unfortunate that despite our community’s utmost efforts, the central bank still seems confused regarding the widespread power of crypto assets.” “The members attending committed to having a larger discussion and engage more in the weeks to come,” Coindcx CEO Sumit Gupta told news.Bitcoin.com. “A set of more meetings have been planned to decide the modus operandi. Another event that we are planning is around engaging with the journalists in the finance and business domain to present a fair picture.” Confirming that the next meeting is scheduled for December, he elaborated: All members present committed time for more such meetings and a lot of backdoor meetings are already underway. Meanwhile, Shetty has been running a social media campaign calling for positive crypto regulation which he started 379 days ago. Furthermore, the supreme court is scheduled to hear the writ petitions challenging the banking restrictions by the central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), on Nov. 19. When do you think the Indian government will introduce a crypto bill? Do you think the Indian crypto community will be able to convince the government to not ban cryptocurrencies? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Lok Sabha, and Coindcx. Did you know you can buy and sell BCH privately using our noncustodial, peer-to-peer Local Bitcoin Cash trading platform? The local.Bitcoin.com marketplace has thousands of participants from all around the world trading BCH right now. And if you need a bitcoin wallet to securely store your coins, you can download one from us here. The post Indian Government Delays Introducing Cryptocurrency Bill appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Japan’s recent October sales tax increase took the rate from 8% to 10%, the previous such hike occurring in April of 2014, when the rate was raised from 5%. The increase is accompanied this time around by new government policy which rewards cashless payments by allowing merchants to provide effective “cash back” of up to 5% on purchases. Also Read: Popular Smartphone Apps Are Adding Crypto Capabilities More Japanese Are Going Cashless Japan loves cash. With paper and coin payments still accounting for close to half of all private final consumption expenditures as of 2017, and a rich history of stuffing yen into mattresses and home safes — especially in light of the country’s relatively recent foray into the world of negative interest rates — the land of the rising sun is undoubtedly cash-enamored. That said, e-money, mobile payment systems, and recently crypto exchange apps continue to pop up at an increasing rate in the paradoxically tech-savvy and old-fashioned culture. In similar spirit, the government is now offering effective tax discounts to those consumers who turn their back on traditional paper and coin in favor of cashless systems, of up to 5%. The approach so far seems to be taking effect for Japanese policymakers, whose official aim is to double a previous cashless payment ratio of 18% to 40% by 2027. A recent survey by Japanese news outlet Mainichi Shimbun found that: Some 20% of respondents to a recent Mainichi Shimbun survey said they have either started using cashless payments or are considering using such payment methods, after the government introduced a point reward system to counter the negative economic effects of the recent sales tax hike from 8% to 10%. While Mainichi Shimbun points to countering negative economic effects as rationale for the push, the basic agenda has been on the table for awhile, with purported justifications ranging from increased tourism (in part due to easier use of foreign credit and debit cards), to the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) pushing for Japan’s embrace of new financial technologies and the “fourth industrial revolution.” METI released its report “Cashless Vision” in 2017 citing improved transparency and accurate tax collection, labor shortages and population decline. As Nikkei Asian Review detailed prior to the recent tax hike, “METI has adopted, among its countermeasures [against a new recession], a nine-month long campaign to give consumers refunds, in the form of points, if they shop at one of half a million selected stores using one of the 40 approved electronic money payment systems.” A sign at a Japanese convenience store in Niigata prefecture notifies customers they can receive point rewards of 2% on cashless purchases. Consequences of the Push While the tech-savvy consumer and cryptocurrency enthusiast may be understandably optimistic about the move, some are asking pointed questions regarding potential consequences for business owners and spenders alike. Small, cash-only businesses that may wish to avoid adoption and processing fees for various cashless methods could find themselves in a pinch in coming years. Especially if METI achieves its ultimate objective of raising cashless settlement to “the world’s highest level” in the future. Further, merchants in Japan are receiving promotional material packages to promote the push, raising concern with some taxpayers. A small business owner in Nagano Prefecture told news.Bitcoin.com that there are “loads of plastified, non-recyclable stickers, signs and stuff plus loads of leaflets and booklets, too. Probably cost the taxpayer more money than … they might save by using a card rather than cash.” Finally, the payment systems can have very serious security issues as evidenced by 7-Eleven’s 7pay suffering a ¥38 million (~$350,000) hack in July, resulting in unauthorized payments, leaked customer data, and ultimately the demise of the program. Potential for Crypto Adoption As Japanese authorities seek to mimic the likes of Sweden and other dominantly cashless economies, crypto is coming along for the ride. Both e-commerce giant Rakuten and popular messaging service Line now have apps for trading and acquiring cryptocurrencies which are effectively linked to their cashless and mobile payment services R Pay and Line Pay. This, coupled with notable crypto adoption via merchants and the proliferation of active local communities and trading groups in Japan, has some viewing the cashless push as bullish for bitcoin regardless of policy or motive. What are your thoughts on Japan’s push to go cashless? Let us know in the comments section below. Image credits: Shutterstock, Ned Snowman, 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 Japan Pushes Cashless Agenda by Rewarding Non-Cash Payments After Tax Hike appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The German economy, the largest and most influential in Europe, narrowly missed falling into recession last quarter. But with quarterly GDP growth averaging a little over 0% since the third quarter of last year, the Old Continent’s economic powerhouse is facing stagnation. Also read: Germany’s Financial Crisis Invokes 5-Year Rent Freeze Dodging Recession by a Hair With a seasonally adjusted 0.1% gross domestic product (GDP) growth in Q3 over the previous quarter, the German economy has surprised analysts who expected it to shrink by 0.1%. The good news comes on top of a revised estimate for Q2, from 0.2 to 0.1% contraction. In Europe, the generally accepted definition of a recession refers to two consecutive quarters of negative growth, measured on a quarter-on-quarter basis. About the same time last year, Germany barely escaped recession when its GDP fell by 0.2% in the third quarter but then stopped at exactly 0% in the fourth. According to the country’s official statistics, increased spending by German consumers and the government has helped the economy stay afloat this time. Between July and September, both household and government expenditure rose, the Federal Statistical Office Destatis announced. The agency also noted that exports have increased, despite continuing trade tensions, while imports pretty much remained at the levels from the previous quarter. At the same time, construction registered positive indicators. All this was just enough to compensate for the lower German industry figures. Any positive developments in Germany inevitably affect the rest of Europe. The Eurozone, the area of the monetary union of 19 EU member states, grew by 0.2% in Q3, according to Eurostat. This growth equals the one in the second quarter of 2019 but is still weaker than the growth recorded during the first three months of the year, 0.4%. China is a different story, however, one that overshadows the modest German recovery. The ongoing trade war with the U.S. is taking a toll on the People’s Republic and the Chinese economy continues to slow down. China’s fixed-asset investment growth was only 5.2% year-on-year in the first 10 months of 2019, the National Bureau of Statistics announced Thursday quoted by Xinhua. The indicator, which reflects capital spent on infrastructure, property, and machinery, is at a record low level. Meanwhile, investment in the private sector increased 4.4% in October, or 0.3 percentage points less than during the first nine months, which suggests that Chinese companies are more reluctant to make new investments. Industrial production rose 4.7% year-on-year last month, compared to 5.8% in September. Yearly growth in retail sales was 7.2% in October, a 16-year low. Stagnation Still an Issue Germany’s narrow escape from recession is not a reason for too much optimism. With an annual growth of only 0.5% in Q3, the German economy is effectively stagnating. Since the third quarter of last year, GDP growth has been averaging around 0.1% quarter-on-quarter. And after maintaining the lowest unemployment rate in the past four decades for the better part of this year, at 3.1 – 3.2%, unemployment in October has been estimated to reach 5%. According to Carsten Brzeski, chief economist at ING Germany, the country’s economy “can still be divided into two worlds: the depressive world and the happy-go-lucky one. In the depressive world, there are very few signs of an imminent bottoming or recovery of the manufacturing sector since the summer of 2018. The sector is facing and will continue to face cyclical challenges, as ongoing trade conflicts, Brexit uncertainty and slower Chinese growth, along with structural challenges, disrupt the automotive industry,” he predicted in an article published by the Dutch banking giant. “In the happy-go-lucky world, private consumption remains solid on the back of low inflation, low interest rates and a still-strong labour market. The construction sector keeps on booming and the government is also inserting some fiscal stimulus,” Brzeski added, quoted by the Guardian. “The main question, however, is how long the happy-go-lucky world can resist the negative impact from the depressive world. The latest developments suggest that the protective shield has started to crumble,” the expert warned. Do you think Germany will enter into recession in 2020? Share your expectations about the future of Europe’s largest economy in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. 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 Germany Barely Avoids Recession, Economy Remains Stagnated appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Throughout the course of 2019, Iran’s government and the country’s energy officials have been creating new guidelines for bitcoin miners setting up data facilities in the oil-rich nation. On Wednesday, Mostafa Rajabi, a spokesperson for Iran’s Energy Ministry, described a new price model for mining operations and prices per kilowatt-hour (kWh) will fluctuate during certain months. Also Read: Iranians Defy Warning and Share Pictures of Bitcoin Mining in Mosque Iran’s Energy Ministry Plans to Pay Anyone Who Exposes Illegal Bitcoin Mining Operations There’s been a lot of reports over the last year detailing how mining operations have migrated to Iran for cheap electricity. After the initial migration, the Iranian government and the country’s power supplier noticed a lot of energy was being used by crypto mining facilities. Following a government announcement about illegal miners, pictures were shared online that showed bitcoin miners housed inside a mosque. Spokesperson for Tavanir (Iranian power grid) Mostafa Rajabi. On November 13, Iran’s Energy Ministry spokesperson Mostafa Rajabi explained the country’s new guidelines for mining operations during an interview with IRIB News. Rajabi told the press that anyone who identifies illegal bitcoin operations to the government will be rewarded. Rajabi emphasized that people who expose these facilities will be paid 20% of the recovery damage stolen from the electrical grid. Fluctuating Electrical Prices Iran’s Energy Ministry will also prohibit mining digital assets after the peak hours of consumption surpass a threshold of 300 hours annually. During the interview, Rajabi also noted how much bitcoin miners would be charged using the average price for the export of electricity in Iran. During some points of the year, miners could be charged $0.08 per kWh (9,650 rials) and during the cold months of the year, miners would only be charged $0.04 per kWh. However, during the summer months when electricity is used the most in Iran, electrical prices could quadruple to $0.16 per kWh, Rajabi noted. Rajabi disclosed that the new mining rules were initiated when Iran’s summer electrical demand jumped by 7%. A Bitcoin mining facility in the desert outside of Tehran. Last June, Iranian law enforcement officials reportedly confiscated 1,000 bitcoin miners from two facilities. This was followed by a bill that was ratified two months later stating that cryptocurrency mining in Iran would be considered a legitimate business. During Rajabi’s interview, he told IRIB News that Iran will help operations that create their own power plants with government incentives. Mining operations that utilize renewable energy sources would be also rewarded, Rajabi stressed. What do you think about the situation in Iran in regard to bitcoin miners? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. Image credits: Shutterstock, Wiki Commons, Fair Use, and Pixabay. 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 Iranian Grid Explains Electrical Costs Will Fluctuate for Bitcoin Miners appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Instant cryptocurrency exchange Changelly will start to use digital asset rates from Bitcoin.com’s trading platform. This will ensure better prices for Changelly users and help increase the reach of all SLP tokens that are exclusively listed on Bitcoin.com Exchange. Also Read: Universal Protocol Alliance to List Mega-Utility Token on Bitcoin.com Exchange Changelly to Use Rates From Bitcoin.com Exchange Bitcoin.com Exchange has announced a new strategic partnership with instant cryptocurrency platform Changelly. The integration of the services will allow Changelly users to gain access to the market rates provided by Bitcoin.com Exchange, wherein Changelly will act as a broker between the exchange and its own users. Changelly’s API will pick up rates from the Bitcoin.com Exchange platform and provide them in real-time directly to its users so they can buy crypto and instantaneously swap between different cryptocurrencies at the best rates available. The integration with Changelly will also help increase the reach for all SLP tokens that are exclusively listed on Bitcoin.com Exchange. The Simple Ledger Protocol (SLP) is a system built on the Bitcoin Cash network for creating tokens in a permissionless manner. It has helped the development of an ecosystem for BCH that replicates the variety of ERC20 tokens on the Ethereum network. SLP tokens can easily be created, traded, and managed on the Bitcoin Cash blockchain within seconds, with minuscule costs for each transaction. Support for SLP tokens will also soon be added to the official Bitcoin.com Wallet. “I am pleased to announce our newest partnership with exchange.Bitcoin.com. The Bitcoin.com community is one I have always been a very big fan of, and now our customers will have much better access to bitcoin cash and SLP projects with the launch of their new exchange,” stated Changelly CEO Eric Benz. “Providing the community with the most efficient means to purchase and swap crypto is our goal and mission above all else, and with exchange.Bitcoin.com we are continuing to fulfill our mission by making our services easier for our user-base, and effectively more wide-reaching.” Changelly has been operating as an instant cryptocurrency exchange service since 2015 and offers access to more than 150 cryptocurrencies on the market. Its website attracts over a million visitors monthly and the platform offers an official mobile app as well as an API which dozens of crypto businesses use to add the instant swap feature to their services. Bitcoin.com Exchange was launched on Sep. 2 as an easy-to-use trading platform that offers world-class security and a powerful trading engine. New Token Listings on Bitcoin.com Exchange Bitcoin.com Exchange is set to offer trading on Sideshift.ai’s native SAI token on Friday November 15 at 11:00AM CET. The Sideshift platform is powered by SAI that exists simultaneously as an ERC20, a token on the liquid platform as well as an SLP token. According to the listing announcement, the total token supply amounts to 210 million SAI and no further tokens will ever be minted. Currently, SAI is used to pay up to 50% of revenue back to affiliates. In the future, Sideshift is considering implementing further value-enhancing activities like a buyback and burn, paying stakeholders in SAI, and implementing merchant discounts. Sideshift has created a system where users can switch between more than 20 different cryptocurrencies and anyone with an access code can start swapping immediately. It came to prominence back when Shapeshift introduced a mandatory membership program. The service is also fully integrated with the Bitcoin.com Wallet which today achieved a major milestone with over 5 million wallets created since the app launched just a little over two years ago. It was also recently announced that Bitcoin.com Exchange will provide an initial exchange listing to support an interoperable mega-utility token backed by the Universal Protocol Alliance, the Universal Protocol Token (UPT). The new UPT token is expected to be on listed Nov. 20, 2019, and will be available for trading by non-U.S. persons only. What do you think about Changelly using rates from Bitcoin.com Exchange and the new listings on the platform? 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 Instant Crypto Exchange Changelly Secures Access to SLP Tokens appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

On November 14, the leading adult video sharing site on the internet, Pornhub, revealed that payment processor Paypal has blocked the company’s live performer payouts. In a blog post written on Thursday, Pornhub recommended alternative payments like writing a check or using the digital currency verge. Also read: Walk Like Nakamoto: 7 Anonymous Personalities in the Crypto Space Paypal Blocks Pornhub’s Live Performer Payouts — Crypto Advocates Suggest Accepting More Digital Currencies The adult entertainment web portal Pornhub is having issues with the payment processor Paypal. Pornhub has revealed Paypal has blocked model payouts for live performers who leverage the site’s platform. The company announced the issues using Twitter and a blog post that describes what payment methods are offered for live models. “Our currently available payment methods are Paxum, check, verge cryptocurrency and direct deposit,” explains Pornhub’s post. The adult site also explains in the notice that in order to accept verge (XVG), models need to obtain an XVG accepting wallet. On Twitter Pornhub wrote: Urgent: Paypal has stopped all Pornhub model payouts. If you had PayPal as your payout method please change to direct deposit/SEPA, or payment by check in your settings. After the Twitter announcement and blog post, the price of XVG saw a small rise in value but the cryptocurrency is down 2.5% today and 9.4% for the week. In response to Pornhub’s Twitter post, many crypto community members used the opportunity to ask the company to accept more digital currencies like BCH, BTC, and ETH. One BCH supporter wrote: “Bitcoin Cash is there to help you and your customers.” “All models should contact Brenna Sparks to help them accept crypto payments,” another person tweeted. For years now many cryptocurrency advocates have proposed that the adult industry combines forces with the crypto industry. Last spring Pornhub started accepting XVG but also told the public it would also accept ZEC and TRX. Since adding verge to the payment support list, reports detailed last year that only 1% of purchases are made using XVG and the other alternatives (ZEC, TRX) are not yet supported. Financial Incumbents Have Been Blocking the Adult Industry for Years — Censorship-Resistant Money Is Needed Paypal and other major credit card companies have been blocking sex workers and applications that help them get paid for years now. In 2014, the porn star Teal Conrad was banned from Paypal immediately after a slew of other adult industry stars were also barred from using financial institutions like Chase. A few users on Twitter mentioned that Pornhub should have fought harder against SESTA/FOSTA, a U.S. Senate and House bill that became law on April 11, 2018. “Gee, if only Pornhub used their massive budget to lobby against SESTA/FOSTA and fight for credit card companies to stop putting pressure on apps to ban sex workers maybe this wouldn’t have happened,” a user replied to Pornhub’s Paypal blockade tweet on Thursday. Digital currency advocates have been slowly penetrating the adult industry to a degree and a few porn stars have promoted crypto on various occasions as well. According to a market research report created by the adult film studio Vogov, around 470 adult video sites have exposure to digital currencies. In the overall scheme of the massively lucrative porn industry, that doesn’t even scratch the surface. As more pressure from financial incumbents rises against the adult industry, the friction may push other leading firms and performers toward censorship-resistant cryptocurrencies. What do you think about Paypal blocking Pornhub’s live performer payouts? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. Image credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Pornhub, and Twitter. You can now easily buy Bitcoin with a credit card. Visit our Purchase Bitcoin page where you can buy BCH and BTC securely, and keep your coins secure by storing them in our free Bitcoin mobile wallet. The post Pornhub Suggests Crypto Payments After Paypal Censors Model Payouts appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The Attorney General of the U.S. state of Ohio has assessed the state’s crypto program and concluded that it is a legal violation of state law. The state’s former treasurer skirted the law to launch a website that allowed 23 types of tax payments in cryptocurrency ahead of other states. Also read: US State of Ohio Accepts Bitcoin for 23 Types of Taxes Ohio’s Crypto Program Violates State Law The U.S. state of Ohio made headlines last year when it began accepting cryptocurrencies for 23 types of tax payments. The crypto program was launched by former Treasurer Josh Mandel before he left office. He set up the Ohiocrypto.com website, operated by the treasurer, to allow tax payments in cryptocurrencies through Bitpay. In January, Mandel was succeeded by Robert Sprague as the state treasurer. Last month, an internal review raised some legal issues regarding the Ohiocrypto website and the State Board of Deposit proceeded to request the opinion of Attorney General Dave Yost regarding whether Ohiocrypto.com is a financial transaction device subject to the requirement of R.C. 113.40. Sprague shut down the state’s crypto program pending Yost’s opinion. Ohiocrypto.com on Nov. 14. After evaluation, Yost wrote a letter to Sprague on Nov. 5 declaring his legal assessment of the situation. Noting that “No other statute gives the treasurer authority to use Ohiocrypto.com to collect state taxes,” Yost wrote: I conclude that Ohiocrypto.com is a financial transaction device, and that it cannot be used without first being approved by the Board of Deposit. This means the treasurer must obtain approval from the State Board of Deposit before using the website to collect state taxes. The deposit board has three members: the treasurer who also serves as the chairman of the board, Auditor of State Keith Faber, and Yost. With the attorney general’s legal opinion, the board will now decide what to do about the program. However, at press time, no meeting has been scheduled to discuss this matter. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost The Associated Press reported on Wednesday that “Republican Attorney General Dave Yost found then-Treasurer Josh Mandel skirted state law when he launched the Ohiocrypto.com website last year for business tax payments.” The publication added that Dave O’Neil, a spokesman for Yost’s office, clarified that “the opinion on Ohiocrypto.com was advisory in nature, so it would not be appropriate to refer it to law enforcement, despite the finding of a legal violation.” Paying Ohio Taxes Via Bitpay When former Treasurer Mandel launched the crypto program in November last year, he said that Ohio was the first state to accept tax payments via cryptocurrency and that it would help the state become a leader in embracing blockchain technology. However, the program did not take off. Sprague recently revealed that, in the 10 months that the website operated, fewer than 10 businesses chose to pay their taxes using cryptocurrency. Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague Yost explained in his letter that taxpayers wanting to pay in cryptocurrency on Ohiocrypto.com did not pay the treasury directly and at no point did the state treasury actually hold digital coins. Yost, who became Ohio’s 51st Attorney General in January after serving as the 32nd Auditor of State, detailed: The former treasurer contracted with a third-party company, Bitpay Inc., to process the payments. The taxpayer paid Bitpay in cryptocurrency. Bitpay settled the payment, converted the payment to U.S. dollars, and then paid the treasurer in U.S. dollars. He added that Bitpay charged a fee for its service which was passed on to taxpayers, noting that payments were ultimately settled using an automated clearing house process between Bitpay and a bank account maintained by the treasurer. What do you think of Ohio’s crypto program and the state attorney general’s assessment? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock and the state of Ohio. 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 Ohio Crypto Program Hits a Snag, Attorney General Finds It Illegal appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The Indian government has added new educational courses teaching cryptocurrency and blockchain technology to the public and law enforcement officers. Amid regulatory uncertainty and banking restrictions, cryptocurrency and blockchain technology remain important topics of study in India. Also read: Indian Supreme Court Postpones Crypto Case to November, New Date Confirmed New Course on Crypto and Blockchain A new course entitled “Introduction to Blockchain Technology and Applications” has been added to Swayam, a learning platform initiated by the Indian government’s Ministry of Human Resource Development. This eight–week, AICTE-approved course for undergraduates is scheduled to run from Feb. 24 to April 17, 2020, with the exam date set for April 25. The course is taught by professor Sandeep Shukla of the Indian Institute of Technology (ITT) Kanpur. ITT Kanpur Professor Sandeep Shukla Students will learn the basics of blockchain technology and cryptographic concepts, including hashing and public key cryptosystems. The course will also go over private vs. public blockchains and their use cases, the Bitcoin blockchain specifically, how to mine it, and bitcoin’s use in micropayments. Ethereum, smart contracts, IOTA, mining consensus, Hyperledger, and Corda will also be covered. “The course is free to enroll and learn from. But if you want a certificate, you have to register and write the proctored exam conducted by us in person at any of the designated exam centers. The exam is optional for a fee of Rs 1000/- (rupees one thousand only),” its information page on Swayam details. Swayam previously offered a course on the subject of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology entitled “Blockchain Architecture Design and Use Cases” which ran from July 29 to Oct. 18, as news.Bitcoin.com previously reported. In January next year, the platform will also offer another course called “Cryptography and Network Security” which briefly touches on the subject of bitcoin and cryptocurrency. Police Officers Also Get New Course Meanwhile, a new course has been introduced by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy to educate high ranking officers on cryptocurrency. The five-day course entitled “Advance Course on Cyber Crime, Dark Web & Investigation of Cryptocurrencies” is scheduled to take place on Dec. 16-20. The course is for the Indian Police Service (IPS) officers of the rank of Additional Superintendent of Police to Inspector General of Police. It replaces the previously planned two-day course entitled “Investigation of Cases Involving Cryptocurrencies” which was supposed to take place in September but was canceled. The academy explained that “Due to administrative reasons, this course is now merged with a 5 day course on ‘Advance Cyber Crime investigation’ scheduled to be held from 16th to 20th December 2019.” Among the new course’s objectives are the introduction to “various kinds of cryptocurrencies that are available on the internet,” the “working of the blockchain technology,” and “The legal challenges that are faced by various officers in investigating a crime involving cryptocurrencies and digital wallets.” Another two-day course on “Dark Web & Cryptocurrency” is planned for February next year. A course at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy. The academy trains IPS officers “who have been selected through an All India based Civil Services Examination,” the institute’s website describes. The IPS cadre is controlled by the Home Ministry of the Government of India and officers of this service can only be appointed and removed by an order of the President of India. “The trained officers will be posted as Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) in their respective states under whom the other sub-ranks of [the] police force will be working.” Earlier this year, a national cyber forensic lab was set up for cryptocurrency to help law enforcement officers as a number of high-profile crimes involving digital coins have emerged. This week, the country’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) booked its own officer for extorting money from a businessman in a crypto-related case. What do you think of the crypto courses for the public and the police? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock and the Indian government. Did you know you can buy and sell BCH privately using our noncustodial, peer-to-peer Local Bitcoin Cash trading platform? The local.Bitcoin.com marketplace has thousands of participants from all around the world trading BCH right now. And if you need a bitcoin wallet to securely store your coins, you can download one from us here. The post Indian Government Programs Add New Crypto Courses appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

This is a paid press release, which contains forward looking statements, and should be treated as advertising or promotional material. Bitcoin.com is not responsible for or liable for any content, accuracy or quality within the press release. The BitOrb Exchange has successfully secured its funding round, raising a total of USD 6.4m. The round was led by the W-Rex Algo Trading Platform a product of the Wota Group. Additionally, the Wota Group will act as a strategic partner and help the BitOrb Exchange grow its network of traders, user acquisition and advise on other key strategic decisions. THE STRATEGIC SYNERGY BETWEEN THE COMPANIES BitOrb is an innovative cryptocurrency derivatives exchange that is built for all levels of traders. The exchange is built completely in memory allowing for micro-second latency for higher frequency trading. The exchange also introduces a never seen before feature “The Orchestrator”, which is an inbuilt automated trading strategy maker allowing traders to create customized trading strategies using key trading indicators. The Wota Group is a cryptocurrency fund that has been involved in programmatic trading of crypto currencies since 2017. W-Rex is the latest product of the Wota Group, which is a programmatic trading platform with impressive growth since January 2018. WREX 3-Layered Algorithm System “has never recorded a loss in a typical month from January 2018 when we completed our beta testing,” said Jeffrey Ong, the CEO and founder of the Wota Group and the W-rex Platform. He added “BitOrb is an exciting project for us because of the synergies involved between our company and a cryptocurrency derivatives trading platform. BitOrb introduces an exchange which is fresh and I believe that they have the potential to be a top player in the crypto exchange space and they have the right team to achieve this. Hence we see this as a strategic partnership which will be extremely beneficial to both parties” The BitOrb Exchange has been under development since July 2018 and the current test version of the exchange can be viewed beta.BitOrb.com. The BitOrb Exchange is due for release in December 2019. The funds raised during this round will be used for user acquisition, enhancements to the product, ramping up of the operations, marketing and compliance with statutory requirements. BitOrb aims to be a fair and transparent exchange and will allocate a portion of the funds to ensure compliance with regulatory bodies in all of its jurisdictions where applicable. Lim-Hoong Teng, the CEO of the BitOrb Exchange also added “When we began raising funds in late 2018, we knew it was going to be a very challenging environment to raise funds. However, although the cryptocurrency market was completely bearish, the team continued to develop the exchange. It took us many months to get the funding we needed and by having an investor onboard like the Wota Group, the future is brighter and the potential greater.” He continued to say “Our traders and token holders are of the utmost importance to us at BitOrb. We are pleased to announce that this recent partnership with the Wota Group will propel us into the future.” The current fundraising round will end in November, and those who missed out can still grab this opportunity www.BitOrb.com Contact Email Address elina.nasution@bitorb.com Supporting Link https://www.bitorb.com This is a paid press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release. The post BitOrb Exchange Raises $6.4 Million appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The Bitcoin.com Wallet has now achieved a major milestone with over 5 million wallets created since the app launched just a little over two years ago. An upcoming version of the digital wallet app will add SLP token support and additional features. Also Read: Video: Bitcoin Cash Lets You Buy Equity Over the Counter at a Bar Bitcoin.com Wallet Continues to Grow Bitcoin.com today marks more than five million wallets created with the company’s official wallet app. The Bitcoin.com Wallet was launched back in August 2017 and quickly gained a large following. The fast growth in adoption has continued this year, despite the challenging market, as a million new wallets have been created since May when the app marked four million wallets created. “This is a key milestone in our mission to provide customers with safe and secure crypto transaction services. Few would have predicted that we’d manage 5 million wallets created in little over two years, but our community has grown rapidly due to increased awareness of digital tokens and our wallet’s ever-expanding features,” stated Stefan Rust, CEO of Bitcoin.com. “In the years ahead, we are confident that millions more will open new wallets with us, many of them new to crypto who are choosing Bitcoin.com wallets to be their first crypto wallet.” wallet.Bitcoin.com The wallet allows users to send, receive, and store bitcoin cash (BCH) and bitcoin core (BTC) in a noncustodial fashion. Users also have the ability to purchase both cryptocurrencies within the wallet directly with a credit or debit card so they don’t have to deal with depositing money on any exchanges. The popular app is available for mobile devices running both Apple iOS and Google Android operating systems, and there are also desktop versions for Mac, Windows and Linux if you need them. You can check out all the versions available at wallet.Bitcoin.com and create a new wallet for yourself. Important New Features in Upcoming Versions While the wallet is growing fast, the developers are not resting on their laurels and continue to design new features to add to make it even better. An upcoming version of the app will give the wallet a complete overhaul with built-in SLP token support as well as improved design and user experience to make spending and managing your digital funds even easier. Another feature they are working on is threshold spending, a function that lets you simply scan a payment QR code and if the amount requested is lower than your safety threshold it automatically signs and send the funds without the need for any additional input. The wallet developers are also working to release an API that will empower engineers and third parties to build more tools and services that integrate easier with the wallet and its users. “Our entire team at Bitcoin.com is excited to cross the 5 million wallet mark. We’re proud to see people from all over the world using cryptocurrency in their daily lives,” commented Corbin Fraser, Group Product Manager, Mobile Services at Bitcoin.com. “Our wallet team have been hard at work on new features and are excited to release a complete overhaul to the Bitcoin.com Wallet with some amazing new features to help grow the cryptocurrency ecosystem and onboard the next 50 Million wallet users to peer to peer electronic cash.” If you are not familiar with the term, the Simple Ledger Protocol (SLP) is a token system for the Bitcoin Cash network allowing anyone to create tokens in a permissionless manner. It has helped the development of an ecosystem for BCH that replicates the variety of ERC-20 tokens on the ETH network. SLP tokens can easily be created, traded, and managed on the Bitcoin Cash blockchain within seconds, while costing the users only fractions of a penny for each transaction. Using the SLP explorer Simpleledger.info shows that 5,760 tokens have already been created and more than 4,590 SLP-based token burns took place since the project started. What do you think about the Bitcoin.com Wallet app achieving more than five million wallets created? 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.com Wallet App Marks Over Five Million Wallets Created appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The new Zimbabwe dollar has hit the streets, with banks beginning to issue the paper currency Tuesday. The ‘Zimdollar,’ existing earlier this year as coins, e-balances, the RTGS dollar, and bond notes, was returned to in June as a replacement for the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system implemented in February. While the development represents the currency’s return after 10 years of absence, hyperinflation continues to wrack the country, and many residents are unhappy with the ‘drip feed’ issuance system of much needed cash. Also Read: ‘Zimdollar’ Reboot: Bitcoin Fills Liquidity Gaps as New Zimbabwe Currency Flounders A Complicated Evolution After abandoning the Zimbabwe dollar due to hyperinflation back in 2009, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) adopted an international currency basket to stabilize the situation. From there, a RTGS (Real Time Gross Settlement) system was adopted in February this year, with the RTGS dollar set to be at 1:1 parity with the USD. As dollarization of the Zimbabwean economy meant that many residents were protecting their savings via foreign currencies at the time, the flip to RTGS was seen by some as an unethical move by the RBZ, which would pulverize the local value of these commonly held assets. Fast forward to last June, and the RTGS is bid farewell, coupled with a new ban on local transactions in foreign currencies including USD. The Zimdollar was reinstated in digital form. It also was now meant to encompass coinage, RTGS and bond notes, effectively “swallowing” these previous systems. Harare man displays newly issued two dollar banknotes. Source: iol.co.za Back to Paper Tuesday’s rollout of the new paper and coinage was preceded by reported delays and long lines of people waiting to grab their allotted shares. According to local media, the Governor of the RBZ, John Mangudya, says that the cash injection will be implemented gradually, leaving some Zimbabweans frustrated. A teacher who had withdrawn her money stated: They are giving us 300 [~$20] dollars per week. The money does not last even a day. Alternative means of storing and protecting value have come under pressure from the nation’s government whose president maintains that “You were not getting money from the banks, but on Monday (tomorrow) we are going to inject more money in the banks until we reach a level where you lose appetite to go and get cash from EcoCash.” Mobile Payment Services, Foreign Currencies, and Bitcoin Mobile cash services such as Ecocash have been the preferred system for many residents of the country to get their hands on hard to come by cash, resulting in premiums and reported charges of up to 50%. The government recently banned such mobile services citing the welfare of the people, only to cause a massive popular uproar, resulting in a lift on the ban just days later — albeit with new limits on transactions. Regional news outlet itwebafrica.com reports that “Latest figures by the Zimbabwean central bank show mobile money accounting for 85% in transaction volumes for the half year period to June 2019.” With inflation still a serious factor (sitting currently at around 300%), cash still running short and issues with infrastructure and unemployment yet troubling the economy, high premiums are preferred to no money at all, as alternative means of value preservation (even if illegal or gray market in nature) continue to be sought after. A professor of business studies at the University of Zimbabwe maintains: What it means is that we will probably have more cash around to feed the black market for currency. Free market rates and artificially set government exchange rates often diverge significantly as Zimbabweans seek to save their hard-earned value from rampant inflation by alternative means of transacting and saving. In the past this has been done by way of foreign currencies and crypto (currently not legal for banks to process) and Zimbabwe could soon see a spike in such activity should the rollout of the new Zimdollar not be everything politicians and central bankers promise. What are your thoughts on the new Zimbabwe dollar? Let us know in the comments section below. Image credits: Shutterstock, fair use. Did you know you can buy and sell BCH privately using our noncustodial, peer-to-peer Local Bitcoin Cash trading platform? The Local.Bitcoin.com marketplace has thousands of participants from all around the world trading BCH right now. And if you need a bitcoin wallet to securely store your coins, you can download one from us here. The post ‘Zimdollars’ Issued for First Time in Ten Years Amidst Continued Hyperinflation appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Human attention is a finite resource: we awake each day with it replenished, only for it to seep away through work, leisure, and time frittered idly browsing the web while circumventing ads. Recognizing the scarcity of maintaining human interest, attention economists have devised incentivized systems powered by crypto assets. These reward engagement and turn idle clicks into profitable browsing. Also read: 2 New Blog Sites That Allow Users to Earn Cryptocurrencies Blocktv and Brave Are Spearheading the Attention Economy Scarcity doesn’t just apply to crypto assets that come with a finite supply: human attention is equally scarce. As such, it must be preserved in order to prevent brain drain and information overload. Digital media companies seeking to capture the attention of their audience face a dilemma, therefore: how do you get an audience to give up a moment of their precious time for your content? For companies such as Brave and Blocktv, the answer lies in attention tokens: digital assets that reward you for watching. The model that Brave has successfully pioneered with its privacy-oriented web browser is now being adopted by Blocktv, the media startup dedicated to covering the cryptoconomy. The emphasis is on streamlining the process by which users interact with content and ads, with the aim of advantaging content creators, advertisers and consumers. The Israeli company is listing 20% of its BLTV tokens on Bittrex on November 21, though there will not be an initial exchange offering: the token will simply be added to the market. Through tokenization “we can connect advertisers to viewers and content creators while retaining editorial oversight over the journalistic product,” explains Blocktv COO Noa Tamir. “Advertisers may spend for placements using the token, of which a share will be distributed to viewers who can prove they’ve spent the time watching the ads.” With advertisers engaged in a highly competitive arms race for user attention, projects such as Blocktv and Brave are advantageous for publishers and consumers. Rewards are granted to users for their attention (the quantity of ads they view) while advertisers benefit from captive, rather than passive, interest which manifests in higher click-through and conversion rates. The term “attention economy” might have been coined by Davenport & Beck in 2001, but the tokenized projects of today pitch themselves at a savvier, more data-conscious consumer who understands that their attention is now at a premium. Brave Browser Gathers Momentum Perhaps the best-known blockchain project in this field is Brave, the speedy pro-privacy web browser which lets users block ads and trackers – or choose to opt in. Brave comes with its own proprietary utility token, Basic Attention Token (BAT), which users and publishers can accrue depending on content engagement levels. Brave surpassed 5.5 million active monthly users at the turn of 2019 – up from a million a year earlier. What’s more, over 28,000 verified publishers have signed on. Clearly Brave is making good progress, both in terms of browser installs and adoption of its attention-based ads system. The Tor Project has just become a Brave Ads Grants recipient, for example, claiming $10,000 in free advertisements each month – and Brave users can now seamlessly tip Tor within the browser. Not the Only Show in Town Anther project to embrace a token-based rewards model is Verasity. While Brave focuses on general web browsing, Verasity is all about video. The Verasity model is pretty simple: after watching 80% of a video, a trophy icon appears on screen and the viewer clicks it to claim their VRA tokens, which can be used to purchase stream codes or game mods. (The Verawallet.tv crypto wallet lives within the video player.) As well as video, Verasity is working with mobile gaming publishers to create apps which work off the same principle. Because it has been integrated with major video players such as Youtube, Vimeo and Twitch, Verasity’s tech is available to over 2 million video publishers with 550 million users and 110 billion monthly views. It’s been three years since William Mougayar boldly claimed that cryptocurrency would refuel the attention economy with value. If the number of projects springing to life is any indication, his assertion may yet prove accurate. Certainly it remains the goal of attention-rewarding projects like Brave: to overhaul irritating, repetitive ads and sluggish page loads, and replace them with optimized ads with an incentive component. Ultimately though, it’ll be advertisers, content creators and, most vitally, users who have the final say. Would you accept tokens for viewing adverts? 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 How Crypto Assets Are Capturing the Attention Economy appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Software engineer Tobias Ruck has revealed a project he’s been working on that allows a smart card to produce valid BCH signatures. Ruck tweeted about his experiment to the crypto community and Bitcoin Cash proponents showed their excitement about the future of offline payments. Also read: Walk Like Nakamoto: 7 Anonymous Personalities in the Crypto Space Harnessing Offline Bitcoin Cash Payments For quite some time the developer Tobias Ruck has been experimenting and developing concepts that help bolster the BCH ecosystem. News.Bitcoin.com reported on Ruck last year when the programmer demonstrated how an onchain game of chess is possible. After the opcode OP_Checkdatasig was implemented to the BCH chain, Ruck designed a chess game with the new feature. This spring, as the Simple Ledger Protocol matured, Ruck unveiled an onchain SLP token auction console. More recently, Ruck published a video about a new transaction version for the BCH chain called Nimbus. According to Ruck’s demonstration, the transaction version could unleash sophisticated smart contract potential on the BCH network. Moreover, it’s possible a cryptocurrency stablecoin like Dai could be created on the BCH network. Throughout the video, Ruck stresses several times that the Nimbus concept required a rule-set protocol change. During the second week of October, Ruck showed the community he was experimenting with protocols that facilitate offline transactions. That week the programmer published another demo that showcased a bitcoin cash wallet tool called be.cash. Essentially, the concept provides individuals with the ability to send and sign a transaction without internet service. Then on November 11, the programmer tweeted that he developed “a smart card that produces valid Bitcoin Cash signatures.” “Who would love to pay with a card — to a phone? Tap took less than a second. Imagine trying to set up shop accepting cards and all you need to do is install an app on your phone,” Ruck stated. The software engineer emphasized that his concept was “still very much unpolished. I still have to make the app build and send the transactions, but once finished — it‘s going to be huge — When scaled up, smart cards could literally be $1 each,” he added. HOLY SATOSHI! 😱😱 I did it! A smart card that produces valid #BitcoinCash signatures. Who would love to pay with a card—to a phone?? Tap took less than a second!👟👏 Imagine trying to set up shop accepting cards and all you need to do is install an app on your phone. 💪 pic.twitter.com/ielKlcPvDA — Tobias Ruck (@TobiasRuck) November 11, 2019 The Quest for Instantaneous, Offline, and Frictionless Transactions Ruck’s announcement was celebrated on Twitter, gathering a lot of comments and over 400 likes. On November 11, the front page of the Reddit forum r/btc was also scattered with threads about the smart card that could produce valid BCH signatures. “Use case extends far past payments — How about transparent access records? To doors, to accounts, to events, to anything,” blockchain developer Chris Troutner wrote in response to Ruck’s tweet. “Pay attention to the community that values utility the most,” Bitcoin ABC developer Amaury Sechet tweeted. Cointext CTO and founder Vin Armani stressed on Twitter that all of the great concepts being produced these days are due to great innovation tethered to the features at the protocol level. “The latest and greatest innovations in BCH are all possible because new capabilities have been added into the protocol, before we developers needed them,” Armani said while re-tweeting Ruck’s smart card demo. “That’s a signal of good decision-making.” Armani added: This is a brand new way of doing transactions. Something totally novel. For technical details, please check out Tobias Ruck’s further demos/documentation at be.cash. BCH developers working on the protocol level have been working relentlessly to bolster the Bitcoin Cash roadmap. Third-party application programmers have also been working with the BCH blockchain and Simple Ledger Protocol day and night creating new and innovative ideas. While some of the concepts never materialize, the concepts can still be left on the shelf for another software engineer to try. For many BCH proponents, zero-confirmation transactions and offline transactions have been a holy grail of sorts. The quest continues because users want payments to be as fast as handing someone cash or the few seconds it takes to swipe a credit card. Ruck’s latest smart card concept may help further this goal. What do you think about the smart card concept that produces valid BCH signatures? Do you think Ruck’s idea is innovative? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. Image credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Indiana Jones, Fair Use, Wiki Commons, and Twitter. Are you a Bitcoin developer? You can create your own Bitcoin Cash app with the Bitbox and Badger Wallet SDKs, get started with BCH tokens through the SLP SDK, and build your knowledge base with our Bitcoin Cash developer guides. The post Developer Demos Smart Card That Produces Bitcoin Cash Signatures appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

As Dubai is renowned as an international business and financial hub it should be no surprise it has a dedicated community of cryptocurrency supporters. On Saturday the residents of the city are coming together to learn about bitcoin cash and party, together with Bitcoin.com COO Mate Tokay. If you are in the area that day, make sure not to miss this meetup. Also Read: Universal Protocol Alliance to List Mega-Utility Token on Bitcoin.com Exchange First Bitcoin Cash Meetup in Dubai Bitcoin Cash Dubai, a local group for electronic cash supporters from the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, is going to host its first meetup this Saturday, November 16. The event will take place at The Garden at McGettian’s in Bonnington Jumeirah Lakes Towers, starting at 7PM local time. The plan is for attendees to learn about bitcoin cash, while also enjoying a game of pool, lounging in the outdoor beer garden or dancing to music from top international bands. You can sign up for the meetup here. In attendance at the Dubai event will be Bitcoin.com’s Chief Operating Officer Mate Tokay. The UAE has aspirations for Dubai to become one of the foremost international hubs for finance, so it must keep up with the rapid technological changes taking place across the world such as the digital asset revolution. In April 2018, the government launched the Emirates Blockchain Strategy 2021, a plan that aims to capitalize on the technology to transform 50% of government transactions. And in September 2018, the securities and commodities regulator in the UAE approved a plan to adopt comprehensive regulations for crowdfunding through the issuance of blockchain-based securities tokens. “Dubai is looking to a big player in blockchain going forward and we at the bitcoin cash community will be at the forefront,” commented one of the upcoming meetup organizers. How to Find or Create Your Own Bitcoin Cash Meetup The Bitcoin.com team recently attended a bitcoin cash meetup in London to sample some of the nightlife the British capital has to offer. A video with highlights from the event showcases how BCH is used by to make payments for everything from beers to equity in the brewery that makes them. 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. 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 the first bitcoin cash meetup in Dubai? 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 Dubai to Host City’s First Bitcoin Cash Meetup on Saturday appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

During the last few years, cryptocurrency enthusiasts have explored blogging and content publishing websites that are powered by digital currencies. Recently, two new publishing websites that utilize cryptocurrencies have been gathering traction. The crypto powered blogging platform Publish 0x pays users to read content and blog using 11 different digital assets. The website Read.cash is a Bitcoin Cash-centric platform that lets people write articles with videos and images in order to earn BCH. Also read: Walk Like Nakamoto: 7 Anonymous Personalities in the Crypto Space Read.cash: A Bitcoin Cash-Powered Blogging Platform Blogging sites are very popular and many believe content publishing and cryptocurrencies go hand in hand. There have been platforms like Yours, Steemit, Mamby, Sola, and Honestcash but so far among the myriad of attempts, none of the publishing portals have gained the momentum captured by incumbent blogging sites. Read.cash launched three weeks ago. This week news.Bitcoin.com looked at two relatively new content publishing portals that allow users to be rewarded in digital currencies by participating. The first is Read.cash, a blogging platform that was revealed a few weeks ago and has quickly become a favorite among BCH proponents. The project’s creator notes that Read.cash was just recently launched and there are still a few features coming in the future according to the platform’s roadmap. “If you are a writer or creator of any kind – write an article about something interesting, add images and video — Anyone who upvotes your post will send you bitcoin cash to your online wallet and you can use it to buy stuff,” the Read.cash website FAQ explains. The message adds: If you are a reader, you can support the authors you like by sending them money via the upvote button. 90% goes to the author, 10% goes to read.cash to support the development and promotion of the platform. Signing up for Read.cash is easy and after registering, a bitcoin cash wallet is created in your browser. The creators of the project “prefer to stay anonymous for now” and private keys are kept in the user’s browser only. “The upvote payments are done peer-to-peer on Bitcoin Cash blockchain,” the blogging site’s creators detail. Alongside this, newcomers to the website can peruse through the list of guides that explain how people can format posts with images and videos. Looking at the blogging site’s main feed shows that BCH fans are using the platform regularly with posts covering a lot of different subjects. Publish 0x: A Crypto-Agnostic Publishing Platform Open to Select Authors Another blogging website that rewards users in BCH and 10 other digital currencies is the platform Publish 0x. Essentially the publishing application lets people earn crypto for creating, reading and watching content. Currently, the “earn by blogging” aspect of Publish 0x is still in beta and to become a publisher users will need to gain an invite. Publish 0x supports a variety of different digital assets like BTC, BCH, BNB, BAT, and LTC. According to the Publish 0x team, the platform paid out $14,500 in digital currencies in October and within that pool of funds, 32 BCH was dispersed. According to the user FAQ, when tipping, both the reader and author earn crypto and tips are free for both types of users as well. The creators stress on the website that “Publish0x is not trying to become a social network.” Instead, the focus is aimed at producing quality content and Publish0x “is a publishing platform open to select approved authors.” “Other ‘crypto blogging’ platforms are powered by their own token only,” the Publish0x website FAQ emphasizes. “[These platforms] claim to be decentralized when really the balance of power lies with the founders and the biggest holders of their own token. We will be crypto agnostic.” Just like digital currencies, in time publishing platforms that allow users to be rewarded will change the way blogging sites work. Blogs and content publishing platforms bring people together and for readers and writers, it alleviates some of the stresses tied to real life. Instead of centralized institutions like Facebook or Medium profiting from user content, crypto-powered blogs and social media empower the community. Publish0x and Read.cash are two different platforms that provide people with the ability to earn crypto for providing quality content. If a user’s content is valuable, digital currency-powered blogs can provide them with the unique opportunity to directly monetize content. What do you think about the Read.cash and Publish0x blogging platforms? 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, solicitation or a recommendation, endorsement, or sponsorship of any products, websites, software, services, or companies mentioned. 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, Read.cash, and Publish0x. 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 2 New Blog Sites That Allow Users to Earn Cryptocurrencies appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

SEBA Bank is now fully operational with a range of services to bridge the gap between the crypto world and traditional banking. Licensed in Switzerland, the bank’s crypto services include asset management, trading, custody, and financing. Its wallet app, e-banking, and card enable customers to convert between cryptocurrencies and traditional investments such as stocks, bonds, and foreign exchange. Also read: Crypto-Friendly Silvergate Bank IPO Debuts on NYSE SEBA Bank Now Fully Operational Headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, SEBA Bank AG announced on Tuesday that it is now fully operational and has started onboarding customers in Switzerland. Formerly called SEBA Crypto AG, the bank obtained a banking and securities dealer license from the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) in August and began testing its products with a selected group of customers. Noting that Swiss clients can now officially open an account, the bank elaborated: As a bank licensed by a reputed supervisory authority, it can offer a comprehensive range of services in the field of digital assets and cryptocurrencies, as well as in traditional banking. With the aim of building a bridge between the traditional banking world and the new crypto world, the bank is offering a range of integrated services in the areas of asset management, trading, custody, and financing. “SEBA customers can invest in both traditional and digital assets, store them, trade them and take out loans – now via an integrated interface,” the bank described. “Regulation is crucial for the protection of investors – the idea of an integrated and supervised bank with focus on digital assets arose from the growing demand for investment alternatives and the increasing affinity for technology and process engineering.” In its Tuesday announcement, the bank further revealed that it plans to offer services to “clients from selected foreign jurisdictions” in December. Crypto Services Offered Founded in April last year, the bank raised CHF 100 million (~$100.7 million) from investors five months later to build a licensed bank and securities dealer. According to its website, the bank has partnered with Julius Bar, Finstar, Smarttrade Technologies, Geissbuhler Weber & Partner, Loomis International, Jaeksoft Sarl, and BPC. Its services are aimed at professional investors, family offices, banks, asset managers, and blockchain companies. In addition to custody storage, trading and liquidity management, asset and wealth management, and transaction banking, the bank has been developing tokenization solutions that “will help clients to issue and manage financial assets on multiple blockchain protocols and connect them to investors in an easy and cost-effective way.” The bank plans to offer the tokenization of fiat, precious metals, as well as alternative assets including real estate, commodities, and art. It will also help companies with security token offerings. “The tokenisation of investment products, real assets, rights and primary financing constitutes another mainstay,” SEBA reiterated. Other services include e-banking, a wallet app, and a card; they allow customers to manage BTC, ETH, ETC, LTC, and XLM, and convert them into traditional investments and vice versa online. The traditional asset classes offered include equities, bonds, and foreign exchange. According to the bank, its card can be used at 42 million points of sale worldwide. “The SEBA card represents an important step towards the mass introduction of cryptocurrencies,” CEO Guido Bühler remarked. What do you think of SEBA Bank’s crypto services? Do you think the crypto industry needs more licensed banks like SEBA? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock and SEBA Bank. 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 Swiss Crypto Bank SEBA Launches With Range of Services appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

It was a milestone that Bitcoin loyalists had long anticipated. Nevertheless, a toast was in order the day BTC reached parity with the US dollar. February 9, 2011 was the historic date, and over on the Bitcointalk forum, talk inevitably turned to what this meant for the nascent cryptocurrency. Also read: Bitcoin History Part 19: Wikileaks and the Hornet’s Nest ‘It’s Gonna Be Another Wild Ride’ This was the prediction by forum member ‘jimbobway,’ who had opened a thread entitled “Parity Party!!!” on January 11, 2011. USD parity was still some weeks away, but the writing was on the wall. Years on, the subsequent discussion makes for interesting reading, presenting a snapshot of views from the small but hardcore Bitcoin community. Needless to say, perception varied. One take, from forum member FatherMcGruder, was that “meaningful parity” would only occur when “the number of bitcoins in circulation equals the value of the US dollars in circulation. If that happened today, 1 BTC would trade for about 390,000 US, I think.” Hal Finney Hal Finney, meanwhile, seemed cognizant that he and his cohorts were witnessing something monumental: “We are really lucky to be in at the beginning of a possibly explosive new phenomenon. Considering the odds against money-tripling investments, Bitcoin looks like a good place for a percentage of your portfolio.” “Possibly explosive” was correct. Not only would Bitcoin hit $1 a month later, but by June it would surge to $31.91. Dissenting Voices at the Party It should be noted that not every forum member was popping champagne. One person seeking to temper expectations was Bitcoin developer Mike Hearn, who pondered: “The question is really – will it stay above dollar parity or not?” Another thoughtful take came from a forum newbie going by the name Veltas. While some members might have regarded him as an importunate party-pooper, his honest assessment was laced with insight: These are all meaningless (especially USD parity). Bitcoin’s worth as much as [we] want it to be and until we get that very simple idea into our heads, we’re not going to be able to comprehend when we really should be celebrating. For one thing I guarantee that it will continue soaring up and won’t stop at USD parity, or GBP parity. Nope, it’s gonna continue for a very long time. “The only good thing about this is your current BTCs are worth much more than they were before, well done; you’re all slightly richer. The bad news is I bet your bottom dollar you don’t have the share of BTC you want yet, and although you never will, it’s going to be harder to get BTC with inflation. “This is all really simple stuff, BTC parity with USD is about as special as BTC’s birthday; celebrate it if you will but don’t take any heed. And yes, “the number of bitcoins in circulation equals the value of the US dollars in circulation” is also not special, since that is down to the value behind the money and even then it all boils down to which one’s more stable. So again, stop trying to find value in numbers that mean very little and can help us with not very much.” What Dollar Parity Really Meant While Hearn and Veltas made interesting points, enthusiastic forum members could be forgiven for making a song and dance about the news. The fact is, just two years after launching, the open source, peer-to-peer cryptocurrency had gone from having no value whatsoever to being on par with the US dollar, the largest reserve currency on the planet. Six years later, it would trade at parity with an ounce of gold. So much for an “abstract form of money.” Veltas didn’t stop dropping truth bombs, incidentally, taking umbrage with a user who suggested Bitcoin might become mainstream: “If the government attempts to regulate it (which is inevitable after being mainstream for long enough) then attempting to convert bitcoin into goods and such would be taxable. If the government thinks Bitcoin is a mainstream commodity they can tax on it, because in any trade you stand to gain and anything you gain that the government recognises is taxable.” Back then, the IRS was still figuring out what to do with Bitcoin. Of course, in recent years the agency has repeatedly asserted that virtual currency transactions are taxable by law, and that those who fail to report their crypto income may incur penalties and interest. Veltas’ “Please not mainstream” plea very much aligned with early BTC adopters, who wanted to keep the government out. Interestingly, the Bitcointalk thread went cold on February 10, 2011, only to be revived on April 12, 2015, when member ‘americanpegasus’ had a chuckle about Hal “getting all hot and bothered about the price of bitcoins tripling and hitting a full dollar … Rest in peace, sweet prince. What parity comes next? When the total value of bitcoins exceeds gold? M1? Global Product?” The current generation of bitcoiners look forward to having those conversations in the years to come. Bitcoin History is a multipart series from news.Bitcoin.com charting pivotal moments in the evolution of the world’s first and finest cryptocurrency. Read part 19 here. 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 Bitcoin History Part 20: BTC Reaches $1 appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article