roadrunner

Popular BCH and BTC wallet joins Foundation for Interwallet Operability (FIO) to improve crypto usability across blockchains DENVER, CO — 16 July 2019: Bitcoin.com wallet, the official wallet of Bitcoin.com, has joined the Foundation for Interwallet Operability (FIO) in a move that will assist the wave of new users who are expected to join cryptocurrency markets as a result of June’s recent coin and token price increase. As the newest member of the FIO, Bitcoin.com wallet joins a consortium of 23 other leading companies in the crypto ecosystem, including Binance’s Trust Wallet, BRD Wallet, ShapeShift, MyCrypto, Edge Wallet and Coinomi Wallet. The FIO Protocol is a decentralized service layer that enables several major usability features across any blockchain, token or coin. This includes functionality that puts an end to the need for a 64-character gibberish alphanumeric string to transfer crypto, integrated request for payment workflow that virtually eliminates errors when sending crypto and standardized metadata that provides context for the purpose of a transaction. Future roadmap items include subscription billing, multi-signature routing for security and cross-wallet data visibility. “Crypto usability is still one of the biggest challenges the industry has to solve and our new relationship with the FIO is all about trying to find a solution to this big issue, ” said Stefan Rust, Global Head of Business Development of Bitcoin.com. “With prices rising once again, we’re likely to see more and more new entrants everyday. Therefore, we should be trying to ensure crypto is as easy as possible to use, which is why we have joined this consortium of leading companies already involved in the FIO.” One of the main attacks that the FIO Protocol can help deflect is a keylogger attack, where the hacker can covertly monitor and record keystrokes. In addition, the FIO Protocol can be used to send public addresses in a more secure way than via email or text, eliminating the risk of man in the middle attacks. A usability survey conducted by the FIO found that 75% of crypto users are less than completely confident when they send blockchain tokens and coins, and more than half experienced problems with transactions during 2018. “Our research tells us that even those users who consider themselves comfortable with crypto are still not completely confident things will go as planned when engaging in blockchain transactions. We need to ensure they and all the new entrants we expect to see have a user experience across all blockchains that is easy and accurate, which is why it’s fantastic to have such a popular wallet as Bitcoin.com join the consortium and help us fulfill our mission for crypto usability,” commented David Gold, Founder and CEO of Dapix, the team behind the protocol’s development. The addition of Bitcoin.com wallet to the FIO consortium comes after ChangeNOW joined in June and Enjin Wallet joined in April. FIO sits alongside all other blockchains, providing a decentralized layer of messaging, communication and workflow about the sending of value on those blockchains. FIO does not send crypto value—it makes the sending of value on any blockchain better. Additionally, FIO is not a wallet—it enables all wallets to be safer and more user-friendly. Crypto wallets, exchanges and payment processors can learn more about the Foundation, as well as the benefits of becoming a member, by visiting https://fio.foundation/. -ends- For further information, please see: FIO Protocol PR Contact: Frances Wells Cryptoland PR US: 866–586–5603 UK: +44 020 3908 5686 frances@cryptolandpr.com About FIO Protocol: The Foundation for Interwallet Operability (FIO) is a consortium of leading wallets, exchange, and crypto payment processors supporting the FIO Protocol — a decentralized Service Layer that removes the risk, complexity, and inconvenience of sending and receiving tokens and coins identically across every blockchain. The FIO Protocol is not a wallet and does not compete with other blockchains, rather, it makes the user experience better across every wallet and every blockchain. To learn more visit: https://fio.foundation/ The post PR: Bitcoin.com Wallet Joins Blockchain Consortium FIO appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A draft cryptocurrency bill for India has been leaked in full, but details of the bill have raised some questions. News.Bitcoin.com talked to a number of experts in the field who shared their analyses of the bill’s content and its implications on the Indian crypto industry. Also read: G20 Leaders Issue Declaration on Crypto Assets – A Look at Their Commitments A Complete Draft Bill Surfaces The draft cryptocurrency bill, which has been causing quite a stir within the Indian crypto community, has surfaced in its entirety. Varun Sethi, founder of Blockchain Lawyer, shared on Monday the document entitled Banning of Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill 2019. News.Bitcoin.com previously provided a preliminary analysis of this rumored bill after Bloombergquint and The Economic Times made outrageous claims about it. India is currently deliberating on the regulatory framework for cryptocurrency. An interministerial committee headed by Finance Secretary and Secretary of Economic Affairs Subhash Chandra Garg was tasked with studying all aspects of cryptocurrency and recommending crypto regulation for India. Garg said last month that his committee’s report was ready to be submitted to the finance minister for approval. Important: Bill Is Unofficial and RBI Denies Involvement Before paying much attention to this bill, there are several important points to note. First and foremost, this bill was not announced by the Indian government so its veracity is in dispute. Advocate Mohammed Danish, co-founder of Crypto Kanoon, an Indian platform for blockchain and crypto regulatory news and analysis, told news.Bitcoin.com: This document cannot be claimed as the final recommendation of the expert committee to the Ministry of Finance. The document contains no mark of authentication on it nor it has come out from any official source. Another important observation is that at least one of the regulators listed on this bill has denied its involvement. The last page of the bill provides a list of “appropriate regulators,” namely the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India, the Pension Fund Regulatory Development Authority, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), “and any other appropriate regulator as may be notified by the central government.” However, in its reply to a Right to Information (RTI) request filed by Sethi, the RBI stated last month that it did not have any knowledge of this bill. In addition, the central bank confirmed that it neither proposed a ban on crypto assets nor had knowledge of any other government departments doing so. After sharing a copy of the bill, Sethi asserted Monday: This looks like a very very rough draft of a proposed bill … [it might be] just a random discussion paper and it may not actually become [a] bill in the same manner and mode in which this has been stated. Draft Bill Far From Becoming Law, Plenty of Changes Expected Nischal Shetty, CEO of local crypto exchange Wazirx, immediately tweeted in response to the leaked bill. He advised everyone not to panic until a bill becomes law. “This crypto bill has not been introduced in [the] current Parliament session,” he emphasized. “This looks like a rough draft, plenty of changes to come.” Shetty has been running a Twitter campaign calling for the Indian government to introduce positive regulation for cryptocurrency. He explained to news.Bitcoin.com that “The Monsoon session of Parliament will not be discussing this bill, which means now we need to see if it gets discussed in the next parliament session which might be in December,” adding: Regardless, there are many bills pending to be discussed in Parliament so there’s low likelihood of this bill being heard. The CEO opined: “If this is a real draft then it’s a very regressive approach to new technology. I’m certain our lawmakers will question and amend it such that the ban applies on money laundering and not on entrepreneurship or public participation.” Sumit Gupta, CEO of local crypto exchange Coindcx, said to news.Bitcoin.com that “I am not sure if the government will actually go ahead and implement this, given the recent discussions Prime Minister Narendra Modi and our Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had at the G20 summit in Japan.” India, along with other G20 nations, declared its commitment last month to applying the crypto standards set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Sitharaman and other G2 finance ministers and central bank governors also jointly declared their commitments to applying the FATF crypto standards. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Gupta believes that “If this becomes a law, this would be one of the biggest mistakes by the Indian government.” He described, “We will see blockchain startups moving out of the country, proficient blockchain developers moving abroad or working only on foreign projects,” adding: At a global level, the industry will keep on growing, innovation will keep on happening, and India will lose out its technological edge, just because the government is not ready to understand this technology well. Advocate Danish believes that “based on the language of the document coupled with other information based on earlier filed RTIs, it can be safely assumed that it may be that document which the committee has recommended.” Positive and Surprising Aspects of the Bill Sethi noticed some positive and surprising aspects of the bill. Firstly, according to the bill, cryptocurrency “means any information or code or number or token not being part of any official digital currency, generated through cryptographic means or otherwise, providing a digital representation of value which is exchange with or without consideration, with the promise or representation of having inherent value in any business activity which may involve risk of loss or an expectation of profits or income, or functions as a store of value or a unit of account and includes its use in any financial transaction or investment, but not limited to, investment schemes.” Surprised that this definition includes “any information,” Sethi pointed out how this bill’s definition of crypto is “massively different from the interpretation” of other countries. As an example, he explained that if he encrypted a message to tell his friend that it is raining in Delhi and his friend decided to cancel his business trip based on this message, that piece of information would be considered cryptocurrency based on this bill’s definition. Secondly, he also noticed that the bill allows cryptocurrency to be used for research purposes. He raised the question of what if all developers declare that their crypto projects are for research purposes. Moreover, if a college professor issues tokens for research purposes, Sethi questioned whether the professor would be allowed to sell the tokens and if anyone would be allowed to buy them. Professor A. Damodaran of the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore shared some thoughts with news.Bitcoin.com regarding the aforementioned bill. He remarked, “It is narrowly scoped. By design, the bill is meant to strengthen India’s Payment and Settlements Act 2007 and attack money laundering. Crypto tokens (including ICOs) which are assets/ securities are out of the ambit of this Bill,” elaborating: The good news is that the bill does not prevent crypto tokens from being used as a development instrument to help India’s unbanked population, most of whom are poverty ridden. About the Rumored Draft Bill The draft bill has six main parts. Part 1 introduces the bill, states that it applies to all of India, and defines 18 terms including cryptocurrency, digital rupee, distributed ledger technology, foreign digital currency, investment schemes, miner, mining, and the RBI. Part 2 outlines the activities prohibited. Part 3 addresses the regulation of the digital rupee and foreign digital currency, as well as prohibition on various uses of cryptocurrency. It also describes offenses and penalties. Part 4 details the powers of the investigating authority while Part 5 talks about the penalties and proceedings. The last part of the bill covers miscellaneous items such as “protection of action taken in good faith.” The bill also proposes to amend the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002, and also provides a list of five appropriate regulators, as previously mentioned. Proposed Prohibitions and Offenses Advocate Danish further told news.Bitcoin.com: “Now coming to the provisions of the bill, the definition clause attempts to transgress than what is actually required which is giving rise to confusion in understanding the terms like ‘cryptocurrency’ and ‘distributed ledger technology’ among others. The bill prescribes punishment of fine/jail term of up to 10 years for even buying, selling and storing of cryptocurrency. The bill not just cracks down on industry players but it also gives a shock to influencers by prescribing jail term up to 7 years for soliciting or inducing participation for use of cryptocurrency.” He noted: By making some of offences cognizable and non-bailable, this bill conveys a clear message about the policy of zero tolerance. Danish continued: “I must say that for implementing such a special legislation, the administration/ investigating agency must be well equipped. And I don’t think the decision of Home Ministry to provide special training to the police officials in September is a coincidence.” The advocate is referring to the cryptocurrency course by the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy for high-ranking officers, as news.Bitcoin.com previously reported. Regarding the content of the bill, Chapter 5 deals with “prohibition on use of cryptocurrency,” which excludes “digital rupee, or any foreign digital currency recognized as foreign currency in India.” Section 7 of this chapter explains that “Cryptocurrency shall not be used as legal tender or currency at any place in India … No person shall directly or indirectly use cryptocurrency in any manner, including as – (a) a medium of exchange; and/or (b) a store of value; and/or (c) a unit of account.” Section 8 of this chapter states that “No person shall directly or indirectly use cryptocurrency” for the activities subsequently spelled out. The activities are “as a payment system; buy or sell or store cryptocurrency; provide cryptocurrency related services to consumers or investors which includes registering, trading, settling, clearing or other services; trade cryptocurrency with Indian currency or any foreign currency; issue cryptocurrency related financial products; as a basis of credit; issue cryptocurrency as a means of raising funds; and/or as a means for investment.” Chapter 6 of the bill lists offenses: “Whoever directly or indirectly mines, generates, holds, sells, deals in, transfers, disposes of or issues cryptocurrency or any combination thereof with an intent to use it for any of the purposes mentioned in [Section 7 and 8] … shall be punishable with fine as may be prescribed by the central government in the First Schedule or with imprisonment which shall not be less than one year but which may extend up to ten years, or both.” News.Bitcoin.com has previously provided some analysis of this bill. Helping Indian Government Understand Crypto Sethi explained to news.Bitcoin.com that this bill presents an opportunity to talk to the government about cryptocurrency. Noting that most of the bill “looks as if crypto is a crime on [the] same terms as child pornography or kidnapping,” he reiterated that “a more democratic conversation is needed with the government to make them understand what the real matter is,” suggesting: Things like the results we got from the signature campaign shall now become more relevant … we can use it to talk to the government now. Last month, Sethi started a campaign on Change.org for the government to start regulating the crypto industry. He now urges stakeholders to “ramp up efforts” to engage with the government to help them understand. Akshay Aggarwal, Blocumen Studios CEO and co-founder of Blockchained India, shared with news.Bitcoin.com that “It is sad to see that after witnessing the largest industry consultation drive in India, the government didn’t pay any heed to the recommendations of the industry stakeholders.” Blockchained India recently hosted a conference called India Dapp Fest, after organizing a series of roadshow town halls for anyone to voice their regulatory suggestions. Nonetheless, he maintains: There is still time that the Indian government takes an open outlook towards ensuring that the young entrepreneurs grab opportunities that this paradigm shift presents. The Indian government has not given a timeframe for when the recommended crypto regulation will be made public. However, the country’s supreme court is scheduled to hear the crypto case on July 23. The court is expected to address the writ petitions against the banking restriction imposed by the central bank. The RBI issued a circular in April last year banning regulated entities from providing services to crypto businesses. The court may also follow up on its request made in February for the government to submit the crypto regulatory report from the Garg committee within four weeks. However, the case was postponed and the court has yet to follow up on this request. What do you think of this draft bill? Do you think it’s legitimate? Do you think the Indian government will pass this bill as is? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock and India Today. Are you feeling lucky? Visit our official Bitcoin casino where you can play BCH slots, BCH poker, and many more BCH games. Every game has a progressive Bitcoin Cash jackpot to be won! The post Complete Indian Draft Crypto Bill Leaked – Experts Weigh In appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Another week has passed for the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) community and as usual, there’s been a bunch of announcements and developments. BCH supporters this week saw the release of a multi-party onchain escrow system, Ethereum cofounder Vitalik Buterin discussed using the BCH chain as a data layer, and more BCH-accepting merchants were onboarded. Also Read: Crypto Terminals Offer Venezuelans a Bridge to Economic Prosperity The cryptocurrency ecosystem is filled with new applications and developments nearly every day and many announcements stem from the BCH community. Last week we mentioned the first exchange-traded product (ETP) tracking the performance of bitcoin cash, Jonathan Toomim’s scaling benchmark, and how the rising transaction volume on the BCH blockchain makes the network one of the most valuable chains according to the founder of Ryan Research, Peter Ryan. Since then there’s been a slew of new announcements and developments within the BCH environment. Multi-Party Onchain Escrow Transactions Using OP_Checkdatasig On July 12, the cofounder of Cointext, Vin Armani, announced the release of “Jeton Lib,” a Bitcore library extension that provides users with the ability to create multi-party onchain escrow transactions using OP_Checkdatasig. “I want to see more people experimenting with BCH power,” Armani stated during the release announcement. According to the Jeton Lib documentation on Github, it explains that the BCH protocol has a unique script functionality that’s not available on other Bitcoin forks like the opcode OP_Checkdatasig. Jeton Lib was designed by Vin Armani, the CEO of Cointext. “This functionality allows Bitcoin Cash users to participate in onchain, noncustodial escrow transactions and more,” Jeton Lib’s readme summary details. Developer Chris Troutner called the work a “game changer” and mentioned how the BCH peer-to-peer marketplace Local.Bitcoin.com uses OP_Checkdatasig for secure escrow transactions. Armani wholeheartedly believes that noncustodial escrow is a very big deal when it comes to the crypto industry. On Twitter Armani insisted: Non-Custodial Escrow — This is the biggest immediate win in my opinion. Local.Bitcoin.com has implemented the first crack at this. In its final form, this will be totally peer to peer and done 100% from mobile wallets. This allows prediction markets of all types — Disruptive. Onboarding More Merchants This past week, North Carolina resident and BCH supporter Laura Young onboarded a new BCH merchant in her region. The local tea house called Sipsum in Maggie Valley, NC now accepts BCH for services and goods thanks to Young’s persistence. “I just onboarded a new merchant to BCH today — Congratulations Sipsum in Maggie Valley, NC welcome to economic freedom,” Young said on Twitter. Electron Cash founder Jonald Fyookball complimented Young’s work and said: “Great job Laura — Adoption is everything.” “That means a lot coming from you, thank you,” Young responded. Laura Young onboarding the Sipsum tea house in Maggie Valley, NC. On July 10, Bitcoin.com’s podcast host Matt Aaron revealed the first florist in Canada to accept bitcoin cash. “If you are in Quebec, order some flowers for your loved ones with BCH,” Aaron tweeted to his followers. BCH fans can visit the L’atelier Floral’s website to shop for flowers, join flower workshops and order floral design services. Moreover, on the Reddit forum r/btc, the BCH supporter u/Neonwasteland explained that the website Acceptbitcoin.cash now has 1116 online merchants listed in a “Merchant Monday” post. “There are 1294 brick-and-mortar merchants listed on Marco Coino, which is 43 more than last week,” u/Neonwasteland noted. “And you can find 1128 merchants of all types on Green Pages, which is 1 more than last week.” Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin Discusses Using the Bitcoin Cash Network for a Data Layer In a Ethresear.ch (research blog) post, Ethereum cofounder Vitalik Buterin proposed using the Bitcoin Cash network as a short-term data availability layer for Ethereum. In the long term, Buterin details that scaling the Ethereum network may require testing data throughput using an alternative blockchain. Ethereum cofounder Vitalik Buterin discusses using BCH as a data layer. “Particularly [blockchains] that have lower transaction fees per byte than Ethereum, as the data layer — Bitcoin Cash arguably fits the bill perfectly for a few reasons.” Buterin listed four specific reasons as to why the BCH chain may fit the bill as a secondary data layer which includes: High data throughput (32 MB per 600 sec = 53333 bytes per sec, compared to ethereum ~8kb per sec which is already being used by applications) Very low fees (whereas BTC would be prohibitively expensive) We already have all the machinery we need to verify Bitcoin Cash blocks inside of ethereum thanks to http://btcrelay.org/; we just need to repoint it to the BCH chain and turn it back on. Verifying BCH blocks is also quite cheap compared to eg. ETC blocks The BCH community seems to be friendly to people using their chain for whatever they want as long as they pay the tx fees (eg. https://memo.cash) Cashshuffle Blasts Through More Than 100,000 BCH Shuffled Since March 27, the bitcoin cash shuffling application Cashshuffle has mixed 101,718 BCH according to statistics. That’s a whopping $31.9 million dollars (at the time of publication) shuffled by participants using the bitcoin cash mixing protocol. On Twitter and BCH-centric forums, Cashshuffle fans were thrilled with the milestone on July 15. BCH proponent and developer @Acidsploit said on Twitter: “We just blasted through 100,000 BCH shuffled — More bitcoin cash made fungible every day thanks to Cashshuffle. Get started now at Cashshuffle.com, because what you do with your money is your business — Cashshuffle helps keep it that way.” On the Reddit forum r/btc, Electron Cash developer and Cashshuffle engineer, Jonald Fyookball, was delighted with the news and stated: That’s quite a milestone — This proves Cashshuffle is indeed a highly used solution, not a nerd-only curiosity. And I think we surpassed Wasabi for total coins shuffled. A Recurring Payment Plugin for Electron Cash Designed for Noncustodial Patronate On July 14, software developer Karol Trzeszczkowski launched a new plugin for the Electron Cash wallet that enables recurring payments in a noncustodial fashion. After the Patreon-like application Bitbacker project went silent, Trzeszczkowski explained that the crypto community suspected it was an exit scam. Trzeszczkowski told r/btc forum participants that he was inspired by the Bitbacker situation and designed a covenant-based smart contract solution called Mecenas. The open source tool operates from the Electron Cash wallet and lets you establish a direct mecenas-protege relationship with others, Trzeszczkowski stated. “Mecenas was created as a solution for bitcoin patronate exit scam risk. The plugin creates and manages a contract that shifts the responsibility for making the transaction from the sender to the receiver with time and value restriction,” the project’s Github documentation details. Mecena was designed by Karol Trzeszczkowski the creator of Last Will and Licho Vault. Trzeszczkowski is also the creator of Last Will, a smart contract program for the inheritance of bitcoin cash. The Last Will protocol is also an Electron Cash plugin, but allows users to create and manage BCH endowments. The Mecenas covenant-based smart contract system is done onchain, in a noncustodial manner, and is permissionless by design. “The contract is defined by a special address that is cryptographically determined by the contract itself,” the Mecenas document reads. Trzeszczkowski revealed that he’s also mentioned the project to the CEO of Honest.cash and the creator of Cashies.org as well to discuss the possibility of integrating Mecenas in the future for a patronate bitcoin cash service. Bitcoin Cash Developers Public Meeting #12 On July 11, the 12th Bitcoin Cash Development video meeting for 2019 took place in order to discuss plans for the upcoming November 2019 Upgrade. Developers who participated in the meeting include Amaury Séchet, Jason B. Cox, Antony Zegers, Mark Lundeberg, Emil Oldenburg, and Andrea Suisani. Bitcoin Cash proponents interested in reading the draft specification summary for the next upgrade can review it now. Upgrade features proposed include enabling Schnorr signatures for OP_Checkmultisig(Verify), implementing a minimal push and minimal number encoding rules in Script, enforcing NULLDUMMY and changing the rule that limits signature operations in script. During the meeting, the developers also discussed the upgrade’s timeline and asked people to review the code before the feature freeze on August 15, 2019. Draft specifications are up for review at Bitcoincash.org and during the meeting, programmers conversed about what needs to be done in order to remove the 25 chained transaction limit as well. A Steadfast Focus Toward Infrastructure Growth and Merchant Adoption It was a busy week for BCH fans and it’s hard for everyone to keep track of all the different announcements and developments. Meanwhile, BCH market prices have dipped in value over the last seven days as well. At the current market value between $310 – 325, BCH has lost 22% over the course of the week. However, most digital assets are down by 10-40% this week depending on the coin, as the overall cryptoconomy’s market valuation has plummeted to $284 billion. Despite the price downturn, BCH supporters still show a lot of optimism in contrast to other crypto communities. The latest developments revealed this week indicate passionate proponents have continued to bolster BCH infrastructure growth and merchant adoption instead of focusing in on market speculation. What do you think about all the developments within the Bitcoin Cash ecosystem? Let us know what you think in the comments section below. Disclaimer: This editorial is intended for informational purposes only. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the mentioned companies or any of their affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com or the author 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 this article. Image credits: Shutterstock, Github, Hifromlaura1, Twitter, Pixabay, and Ethresear.ch. Want to create your own secure cold storage paper wallet? Check our tools section. You can also enjoy the easiest way to buy Bitcoin online with us. Download your free Bitcoin wallet and head to our Purchase Bitcoin page where you can buy BCH and BTC securely. The post Bitcoin Cash Update: Multi-Party Escrow, Vitalik Suggests BCH as Data Layer for ETH appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The U.S. Treasury Department has just issued an urgent letter requesting a lift on the debt ceiling, warning Congress of imminent financial collision in September as federal cash is running out. Though this scenario has played out many times before, it takes on special significance now in light of president Trump’s recent comments about bitcoin, saying it was created from “thin air,” and a congressional warning to Facebook regarding their Libra project. After all, to raise the debt ceiling and keep paying bills with borrowed USD is creating value out of thin air as well. Intrinsic value is nowhere to be found here. Not surprising when it comes to fiat perhaps, but diamonds and gold don’t make the cut, either. Fiat: The Biggest Ponzi Scheme There Is In Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s July 12 letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, he states: “Based on updated projections, there is a scenario in which we run out of cash in early September, before Congress reconvenes” Speaking of cash, contrary to popular belief, the Federal Reserve doesn’t actually print any paper money. That’s what the treasury does, and this practice isn’t all that remarkable anymore, comparatively speaking. As it stands today, only about 11% of the money supply in the U.S. exists as physical money. Though estimates on exact amounts vary, the vast majority is created digitally, and debited or credited to banks via Fed implemented policy. What this means is that the current system is literally one of centrally controlled digital assets. The whole thing is really a debt spiral of sorts, where the creator of the credit and debt (the U.S. government) essentially borrows from itself while the budget and national debt continue to increase for taxpayers. A raised debt ceiling only exacerbates the situation, long term. Clearly, there is no plan to ever pay off these debts, or become solvent. That’s where you, your children, and your children’s children—and on and on—come in. Where Does Value Come From? If money can be created out of “thin air” as such, how can it have any real value? Some claim that cash should be backed by gold, and this is solid reasoning. Gold here on planet earth is a limited commodity, so the precious metal can’t be “printed” ad infinitum. As such it’s a safeguard against inflation. A much more sensible approach than simply firing up the old fiat printing presses and burning down the town, devaluing the dollar even more. But even gold is plagued by this singularly troubling, controversial question: what gives it value? Gold’s ‘Intrinsic’ Value and the Diamond-Water Paradox The “Diamond-Water Paradox” is a compelling thought experiment challenging popular economic misconceptions. Many have viewed—and continue to view—money through Keynesian or even (outside economic circles) Labor Theory-colored lenses. To the Keynesian and “Modern Monetary” mind, debt itself is a go-to tool in times of debt crisis, as evidenced now by the pleas to raise the ceiling in Washington. To the labor theory view (“I spent five hours on that paper, I should have gotten an A!”) time and effort equate to objective value. To get to the paradox: Economically speaking, nothing has intrinsic value. How much value does a pile of diamonds have to someone stranded in the desert, about to die of thirst? Imagine a table there in the merciless, dry scorching heat, where you can either choose diamonds (and certain death), or a life-giving drink of cool, clear water. Almost everyone (with a will to live) will choose water for a simple reason: value is not intrinsic. It is created from the market atmosphere of a given situation at a given time, as observed by a given market actor (in this case, the person dying of thirst). Get this individual back to civilization, where there is plenty of water, and they will most likely choose the diamonds. Further, if there were multiple tables of water and diamonds in the desert (remember only one can be chosen), the market actor will consume the water first and begin to stockpile it, until its marginal utility has been exhausted. Diminishing returns (a heavy backpack and no more thirst) mean that soon the diamonds will be the best choice now that survival is likely, and their exchange value back in civilization is high. Beethoven and Bitcoin: Unquantifiably Priceless Gold and other resources do meet the criteria for being sound money, but they are all worthless without a market to value them. If suddenly nobody had any interest in gold, its value would plummet to zero, and even the number “zero” itself would become meaningless. This notwithstanding many individuals, even in official government positions, continue to argue that some things like gold or the USD have a kind of inherent value, where others don’t. Though quality is often recognized in a sense that seems universal (very few people will, for example, say that Beethoven’s symphonies are garbage and of low quality or value) in economics, one is forced to recognize this critical limitation. So while gold might be argued by some to have some kind of mystical “intrinsic value,” or Beethoven’s music might be said to be quantifiably “better,” it’s a moot point, ultimately. It all depends on the market actor and context. Crypto: Full of ‘Thin Air,’ But Not Lacking Value Governments fail miserably in attempting to “force-fit” rigid economic templates like raising the “debt ceiling” or setting arbitrary interest rates. They engage in synthetic interference regardless of individuals and their market action, when ultimately it is these market actors creating the actual value and price signals for the economy in the first place. Whomever Satoshi Nakamoto may be, he or she was fed up with this fiscal lunacy, and pitched a new idea to the world. The new idea gained currency (quite literally). As people began to value it in concert, a market was created. What Mnuchin and his friends at the treasury should really be worried about is the faulty, destined-to-fail monetary system they’re riding on, and not so much debt ceilings, or any other such meaningless policy in the context of pyramid-scheme fiat. The Situation Truly Is Urgent, But Not Because of a Debt Ceiling As it stands, the Treasury Department is sending urgent letters to Congress. The House of Representatives is sending urgent letters to Facebook. And Fed Chairman Jerome Powell says that Libra needs to be approved by regulatory bodies before moving forward any further. Because, of course, it’s urgently important. All in the name of not letting a voluntary monetary system overtake a violent one. If one were visiting this planet as an alien, it might seem as if humans were being ruled by the violently, economically inept. Debt ceiling adjustment squabbles would look like the least of the world’s problems, or at least to be expected, when the name of the game in the first place is to create credit out of thin air, and saddle it to the backs of the debt-serfs when it implodes. What do you think about Mnuchin’s letter to Congress? Let us know in the comments section below. OP-ed disclaimer: This is an Op-ed article. The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own. Bitcoin.com is not responsible for or liable for any content, accuracy or quality within the Op-ed article. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the content. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any information in this Op-ed article. Images courtesy of Shutterstock 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 Diamonds and the Treasury Debt Ceiling: Why Nothing Has ‘Intrinsic Value’ in Economics appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

By John Yearwood Cred Correspondent Amid a dramatic Bitcoin bull run, two of the most influential names in the blockchain finance industry have launched a platform to expand global lending and earning on investments in cryptocurrency. The partnership between Bitcoin.com and Cred allows Bitcoin.com customers to earn up to 10 percent interest on Bitcoin and six percent on Bitcoin Cash invested with Cred, the companies said. Customers with investments over $25,000 have been benefiting from the partnership for the last few months but it opens to all users, regardless of investment size, on July 15, 2019. “We’re thrilled to offer Bitcoin.com customers the opportunity to earn interest on their digital assets,” said Dan Schatt, co-founder and president of Cred, a Silicon Valley-based decentralized global lending platform that facilitates open access to credit anywhere and anytime. A major feature of the program is that interest will be offered in a customer’s choice of Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash or Cred’s LBA Token. This new offering is a departure from only earning interest in USD and is based on community feedback asking for more interest options. It gives customers more freedom when it comes to reinvesting earned interest, Schatt said. “Customers benefit by receiving the full upside on the amount of crypto they originally committed,” he said. Bitcoin has surged by double digits this year, with the coin at one point pricing above $13,000 before retreating. Bitcoin.com, based in Tokyo but with offices around the world, is the leading source for Bitcoin information with more than four million Bitcoin wallets. “At Bitcoin.com, we believe borrowing and earning services like Cred are a natural next step for Bitcoin wallet holders and will be very attractive to users of Bitcoin Cash,” said Roger Ver, CEO of Bitcoin.com. “In Cred, we have found a like-minded partner who shares our vision and brings significant experience and a solid track record in offering reliable, secure crypto-backed lending and borrowing services to the crypto community.” Cred, founded by former executives of PayPal and Goldman Sachs, has taken numerous steps to ensure that its investments are safe. The company, which has secured more than $300 million in lending capital, has implemented the industry’s most comprehensive set of risk management, information security, and insurance protections, Schatt said. “Crypto is still in many ways the Wild West when it comes to the fundamental safeguards most of us have come to expect when ensuring the protection of financial assets,” Schatt said. “Cred is on a mission to dramatically improve that. If the worst happens and Cred loses customer funds, customers deserve certainty that they will be made whole.” The new program comes as the decentralized finance industry gets a boost from Facebook, which announced last month that it plans to introduce a Libra coin next year. The coin faces regulatory hurdles but experts predict it’s poised to transform the industry, which has a current market cap in the hundreds of billions of dollars. The U.S. Congress will discuss Facebook’s plans in hearings this week. Bitcoin.com customers will be required to make a six-month commitment to benefit from the partnership. They will have the option to roll over assets for additional periods if they wish. Those who stake their investments with Cred’s LBA token will enjoy the best interest rates and the option for early withdrawal at no penalty before the six-month term. Investments in the program will be used to help increase crypto lending globally, including with retail investors and money managers who have a well-established track record on a fully collateralized and guaranteed basis, Cred officials said. “It’s important to note that Cred does not lend to short-sellers,” said Meghan Gardler, director of marketing at Cred. “These are two strong companies coming together to offer Bitcoin Cash holders a secure opportunity to diversify their investments, which will benefit business owners and others around the world seeking access to capital.” Press Inquiries: Cred: meghan@mycred.io Bitcoin.com: editor@bitcoin.com Supporting Link https://earn.mycred.io/bitcoin The post PR: Cred and Bitcoin.com Join Forces to Boost Crypto Lending appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Businesses around the world continue to adopt bitcoin cash as a payment method and an exchange adds support for trading BCH. Watch these and other developments discussed in this week’s video update hosted by Roger Ver on Bitcoin.com’s Youtube channel. Also Read: Win 2019 Rugby World Cup Tickets When You Play at Games.Bitcoin.com Bitcoin Cash Adoption Grows Around the World In the weekly video update, Bitcoin.com CEO Roger Ver talks about some of the work that is happening to onboard new merchants to BCH around the world, from Venezuela to Japan. He also discusses technological developments happening in the Bitcoin Cash ecosystem and planned celebrations for the August 1 anniversary. Plus, watch the video to the end to see Roger’s response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s crypto tweetstorm. There are currently over 1,250 merchants accepting BCH listed on Marco Coino and about 2,000 ATMs around the world. For Japan, www.bitcoin.jp/merchants has a list of BCH-accepting merchants with location details, contact info, pictures and more. Singapore-based cryptocurrency trading platform Liquid has announced the addition of a new BCH/USDC trading pair, allowing its users to accept bitcoin cash or to trade it for the stablecoin. Exchange users will also soon be able to connect their accounts to the Bitcoin Cash Register app and receive USDC directly. This is a simple point-of-sale (PoS) app from Bitcoin.com that allows any business to accept BCH payments. Bitcoin Cash Register lets merchants choose from over 150 fiat currencies, and cash out customers wanting to pay in BCH in a non-custodial manner, without any registration. The app is available for iOS and Android devices and has surpassed 10,000 installs on the Google Play store. Local.Bitcoin.com Referral Competition Bitcoin.com is giving you the chance to win $1,500 to spend on flight tickets to the destination of your choice, $500 to spend on the mobile phone of your choice, and one of eight $100 Amazon gift vouchers. Sign up at Local.Bitcoin.com and share your unique referral code for a chance to win. The more referrals you make, the higher your chances of winning. Follow our Twitter channel @BitcoinCom for more details. Since its launch on June 4, Local.Bitcoin.com has grown to over 27,000 users and facilitated the trading of more than $300,000 in total volume. The peer-to-peer marketplace allows users to trade bitcoin cash anonymously and without any KYC. It lets traders choose from a range of payment methods, with the most popular being bank transfer at 35%, Paypal 11%, Alipay 12%, Venmo 6%, cash in person 6%, UPI (India) 5%, cash deposit 5% and gift cards at 5%. Make sure to subscribe to the Bitcoin.com Youtube channel and leave a comment on the latest video. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Verify and track bitcoin cash transactions on our BCH Block Explorer, the best of its kind anywhere in the world. Also, keep up with your holdings, BCH and other coins, on our market charts at Bitcoin.com Markets, another original and free service from Bitcoin.com. The post Bitcoin Cash Merchant Adoption Grows and Exchange Supports BCH in the Weekly Video Update appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Facebook’s digital currency plans have caused concern among bureaucrats worldwide and members of the U.S. government seem fearful of a giant tech establishing itself as a financial institution. Prior to the U.S. congressional hearings and the upcoming G7 finance meeting, a U.S. discussion draft bill, the Keep Big Tech Out of Finance Act, hopes to stop large tech corporations from “maintaining, or operating a digital asset.” Also read: How 10 Countries Respond to Facebook’s Libra Cryptocurrency Members of Congress Want to Keep Big Tech Out of Finance Immediately after Facebook disclosed that it plans to launch a new digital currency called Libra, politicians around the world began to complain. Currently Facebook’s subsidiary startup Calibra faces the upcoming U.S. Senate Banking Committee on July 16, the House Financial Services Committee on July 17, as well as the G7 Finance Ministers meeting in Chantilly, France on July 17-18. Prior to these hearings on Thursday, President Donald Trump said on Twitter that “Facebook Libra’s ‘virtual currency’ will have little standing or dependability,” adding: If Facebook and other companies want to become a bank, they must seek a new banking charter and become subject to all banking regulations, just like other banks, both national and international. Facebook aims to launch Libra and the Calibra digital currency wallet in 2020. The following day, a U.S. draft discussion bill discovered by the publication The Block shows that U.S. leaders may take action against Facebook’s digital currency attempt. The Keep Big Tech Out of Finance Act would be a law enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives to rein in big tech forays into the financial field. “A bill to prohibit large platform utilities from being a financial institution or being affiliated with a person that is a financial institution, and for other purposes,” explains the discussion bill’s header. “A large platform utility may not establish, maintain, or operate a digital asset that is intended to be widely used as a medium of exchange, a unit of account, store of value, or any other similar function, as defined by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System,” the bill details. The House of Representatives discussion draft also warns of harsh penalties for big tech firms that disobey the congressional statute if it gets enacted into law. The draft bill states: Any large platform utility or financial institution that violates subsection (a) or (b) shall be subject to a fine of not more than $1,000,000 per each day of such violation, in an action brought by the appropriate Federal financial regulator. According to The Block’s source who is familiar with the matter, the discussion draft has been making rounds within the House Financial Services Committee. The latest discussion bill follows the House of Democrats request that Facebook stops developing Libra until Congress researches the risks involved. Skeptics Believe Libra Will be Centralized and Privacy-Invasive House Democrats are requesting Facebook halt development of its proposed cryptocurrency project Libra. Alongside this, congressional leaders want the company to stop developing its digital wallet Calibra until Congress and regulators have time to investigate the possible risks it poses to the global financial system. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), the chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, wrote a letter with other members of Congress asking Facebook to pause operations. Senator Sherrod Brown, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, emphasized in a statement: Facebook is already too big and too powerful, and it has used that power to exploit users’ data without protecting their privacy. We cannot allow Facebook to run a risky new cryptocurrency out of a Swiss bank account without oversight. There’s no doubt that Facebook’s proposed digital asset scares U.S. leaders as some of them wholeheartedly believe: “[Libra] could pose systemic risks that endanger the U.S. and global financial stability.” Mihai Alisie, cofounder of Ethereum, thinks Facebook is trying to dupe financial regulators by pushing a centralized digital currency into the economy. Alisie explained in an interview that the social media giant is claiming the new coin will not be centrally controlled, but he thinks they are misleading regulators and the general public with these promises. “[Facebook plans] to mislead the regulators who have learned in the last few years that blockchain is not something that can easily be regulated … It should be treated as an entity trying to create a centralized currency,” Alisie insisted. “This has implications on so many areas, from the economic to the political to the technological to surveillance and data privacy — [Facebook] is actively manipulating the behavior of people on a global scale.” Blow to "Bitcoin" as Fed warns about Libra??? There is no fv[https://t.co/YiE1amUjdk — John McAfee (@officialmcafee) July 13, 2019 There are some pretty alarming tactics that Facebook uses to track the website’s visitors. Many people believe that adding a digital asset into the mix with 2.38 billion active Facebook users is dangerous. For instance, Edin Jusupovic, a programmer and CSIS certified cybersecurity researcher, demonstrated on July 10 how Facebook embeds tracking data inside photos you download. Jusupovic called his findings a “shocking level of tracking” and asserted that Facebook could “potentially track photos outside of their own platform with a disturbing level of precision about who originally uploaded the photo (and much more).” To many Libra skeptics, privacy-invasive tactics like Jusupovic’s example beg the question: If Facebook can track pictures with extreme precision then what stops them from tracking a digital currency’s movements in the same manner? A photo of metadata that tracks photos after they’ve been downloaded from Facebook. The Possibility of Stimulating Fedcoin Libra’s attempt also follows other large blockchain projects and crypto consortiums like Hyperledger, R3, and the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance which have yet to produce any meaningful products. Facebook’s digital currency is aiming to be a stablecoin backed by U.S. dollars, but a few people are skeptical of how long the backing will last. Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz foresees the possibility of Libra dropping the USD peg at some point in the future. Despite the fear U.S. government officials and worldwide leaders have toward Libra, some pundits believe the project could spark a Federal Reserve-backed cryptocurrency. Stanford Law professor Joseph Grundfest thinks it would be quite ironic if the U.S. government copied Libra’s solution if it becomes successful. [It would be a] delicious irony if Facebook’s Libra proposal stimulates the United States government to develop functionality that operates like Libra, backed by U.S. dollar deposits, but operated by the U.S. government. The drafted discussion bill involving the House Financial Services Committee indicates that certain bureaucrats are determined to stop big tech companies before they even start a crypto project. If the act were to become law, a fine of $1 million per day for starting a digital currency project would make any corporation think twice. What do you think about the discussion draft bill floating around the House Financial Services Committee? Why do you think the U.S. government wants to keep big tech out of finance? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. Image credits: Shutterstock, Scribd/the Block, Twitter, Edin Jusupovic, Facebook, and Libra. Are you feeling lucky? Visit our official Bitcoin casino where you can play BCH slots, BCH poker, and many more BCH games. Every game has a progressive Bitcoin Cash jackpot to be won! The post How the US ‘Keep Big Tech Out of Finance’ Draft Bill Targets Facebook’s Libra 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. Abu Dhabi-based crypto asset exchange, Matrix Exchange announced on July 12 that it has received an In-Principle Approval (IPA) from by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) to operate as a crypto asset exchange and custodian in ADGM. The United Arab Emirates keeps embracing and regulating blockchain & crypto assets into its financial system. ADGM was first in the Middle East and Africa region to establish and launch a fully operational and regulated crypto-asset framework and regime in June 2018. The ADGM business friendly and well-regulated ecosystem continues to attract more and global digital assets investors, blockchain technology companies and other related financial institutions to the UAE. With digital assets becoming popular alternative investments, compliance is increasingly significant for investors and customers. “The IPA is an important milestone. Subject to regulatory approvals by the FSRA, Matrix Exchange aims to be a recognized regulated crypto asset exchange in the Middle East. It gives us the legitimacy to provide compliant, secure and reliable digital asset transactions for users when we are fully operational.” Matrix Exchange Chairman James Wo said. With a particular focus on the UAE market, Matrix Exchange is also dedicated to establishing a world-class regulated exchange for international investors. Matrix Exchange is sponsored by Digital Finance Group (DFG), which operates investments in both primary and secondary markets. DFG’s blockchain private equity fund has invested in excellent companies including Circle, LedgerX and more. DFG also provides support for ETC & ETH infrastructure projects, manages AToken (light wallet), BIKA (cryptocurrency market & info platform) and more. Contact Email Address lixingchen@dfg.group Supporting Link https://matrix.co/ 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 PR: Matrix Exchange Receives Approval From Abu Dhabi Global Market appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Arley Lozano, founder of the cryptocurrency based startup Panda Group, recently explained how his firm is spreading cryptocurrency adoption throughout Colombia and Venezuela. Panda Group has deployed 10 hybrid cryptocurrency point-of-sale (PoS) terminals that also act as automated teller machines (ATM). Four of the machines are situated near the border of Venezuela, giving refugees from the country and Colombian citizens access to cryptocurrencies like BCH, DAI, and BTC. Also read: South African Payment Gateway Drops BTC Over Fees and Network Congestion Spreading Crypto Adoption Throughout Colombia and Into Venezuela In January, news.Bitcoin.com reported on Panda Group installing a hybrid PoS terminal that also works as a digital currency dispensing automated teller machine (ATM). At the time the machine was dubbed the “Exeler,” but since then the product has been rebranded as Pandabtm. Panda Group’s founder Arley Lozano said his team so far has installed 10 Pandabtms around Colombia and four machines are on the border of Venezuela in Cucuta city. The machines can be located on Coinatmradar.com and devices installed near the border are meant to help Venezuelan refugees who cross the Simon Bolivar International Bridge every day. Simon Bolivar International Bridge. Panda Group emphasized that the machines process VES (Venezuela soberanía bolívar ) and COP (Colombian pesos). The devices allow anyone to process payments through the Xpay.cash payment system, which provides users with the ability to avoid fiat currency volatility. The machines process sales using a digital asset like bitcoin cash (BCH) or visitors can also purchase coins from the Pandabtm. Lozano told news.Bitcoin.com that the company has 15,000 users and three new partnerships. Panda Group is collaborating with Cobru, Gracon, and Pagos Inteligentes. Panda Group’s founder explained that the new alliances are meant to bolster true cryptocurrency adoption throughout Latin America. Opening Operations in Our Own House In addition to the Pandabtm installations, Lozano said that Panda Group’s trading platform Panda.exchange is allowing all Colombians to deposit and withdraw COP. On July 15, accounts will be able to trade 113 different cryptocurrencies and tokens against the local tender. The founder said that this is the first time the door has opened in his country as the team, based in Colombia, have previously worked throughout Panama, Europe, and Portugal. The founder of the cryptocurrency based startup Panda Group, Arley Lozano, showing off a Pandabtm. “Panda Group is a Colombian and Venezuelan company that started its operations almost three years ago with the hope of opening our operations in Colombia and generating true Latin American adoption. However, thanks to the slowness and fears we ended up operating outside of Colombia, in regions like Panama and Portugal,” Lozano explained, adding: Now we come to open operations in our own house and we hope that the Colombian government and the local banks see us as allies. Panda Group wants to encourage the true education of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies and heal the wounds caused by Ponzis and pyramid schemes that plagued Colombia. Pandabtm locations. Pushing the Orange Economy to the Blockchain Lozano insisted that Panda Group wants the country’s citizens to know what true blockchain innovation and cryptocurrency solutions are. He noted that the Panda team is filled with passionate and talented individuals willing to work hard for that goal. The Panda Group founder detailed that Latin America was an “orange economy” filled with cultural and creative entrepreneurs. Between the Panda Group team, the Panda.exchange, Ccoins.io, Pandabtm, and Xpay, his crew is ready to take the “orange economy to the blockchain level.” Lozano commented further: We will help all the individuals who want to learn what cryptocurrency technology is or assist them in buying their first digital currency using one of our many services where you can buy BCH, BTC, and more. Pandabtm locations situated near the Venezuelan border according to Coinatmradar.com. The demand for digital assets in Colombia exceeds many other Latin American countries and the region is second to Brazil in terms of adoption. In fact, Rodolfo Andragnes, executive director of NGO Bitcoin Argentina, explained that there is clamor surrounding bitcoin and its “popularity has been impressive considering that it’s been only ten years and hundreds of new cryptocurrencies have been created.” “Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Venezuela, and Colombia are the countries with the highest activity and growth in the use of cryptocurrencies throughout Latin America,” Andragnes said in June. “Colombia has great potential and more and more people see the benefits of Bitcoin,” the NGO Bitcoin Argentina executive explained . Situated in Bogata, Lozano agrees that Colombia is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to digital asset usage and overall activity in Latin America. Cell phone shop owner showing off his Pandabtm in La Parada mall. One of the Pandabtm machines located in Cucuta near the Simon Bolivar International Bridge is aimed at helping Venezuelan refugees escape the hardships of their stricken economy. The 300-meter-long bridge spans the Táchira River which covers the Colombian and Venezuelan border. Cucuta is an access point for many Venezuelans seeking safety from the country’s economic crisis. The Simon Bolivar International Bridge sees a lot of foot traffic as Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro closed the bridge to vehicular traffic. “Thousands of Venezuelans cross the bridge,” Lozano told news.Bitcoin.com. “No cars are allowed to cross the bridge and only people can cross taking basic stuff like medicine, food, and supplies. They pass through to buy food and some of them are crossing to reach Peru or Ecuador. They pass and sometimes stay a few days — Some pass to work and return home in the night.” A great number of Venezuela’s refugees pass through Cucuta, crossing the Simon Bolivar International Bridge. The Pandabtm positioned across the Táchira River is in Villa del Rosario City which sees vast numbers of Venezuelan travelers daily. Lozano is pleased with the strides Panda Group has been making and concluded that the company’s goals include increasing cryptocurrency ease of use and spreading economic prosperity. The Panda Group founder added: Our products are designed so that even our grandparents can use them and we are always thinking of our Venezuelan brothers and sisters. What do you think about what Panda Group has been doing in Colombia and Venezuela? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. Image credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Arley Lozano, Coinatmradar.com, and Panda Group. Now live, Markets.Bitcoin.com: A comprehensive, real-time listing of the cryptocurrency market. View prices, charts, transaction volumes, and more for the top 500 cryptocurrencies trading today. The post Crypto Terminals Offer Venezuelans a Bridge to Economic Prosperity appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

On July 12, South African payment gateway service Payfast announced the company is dropping bitcoin core (BTC) payments due to network congestion and high fees. Payfast emphasized that BTC has a number of limitations and design flaws which makes it an “impractical substitute for cash.” Also read: G20 Leaders Issue Declaration on Crypto Assets – A Look at Their Commitments Network Congestion and High Transaction Fees Force Payfast to Drop BTC Support According to a blog post written by Payfast, one of South Africa’s largest online payment gateways, BTC payments will no longer be processed after July 20, 2019. Payfast is a popular service provider with more than 80,000 registered merchants and was founded in 2007 by Jonathan Smit and Andy Higgins. The company blogpost details that unfortunately the company has found numerous limitations and “design flaws unique to Bitcoin that make it an impractical substitute for cash.” This includes high transaction fees and long confirmation times for Payfast customers. The company explained that it had tried various ways to mitigate the issues at hand, but had found that the underlying problem stems from the root of BTC’s fundamentals. In a blog post published on July 12, 2019, the South African payment processor Payfast informed its customers it would be removing bitcoin core (BTC) from its payment options on July 20. “The resultant poor user experience has led us to re-evaluate bitcoin as a payment method on our platform and a decision has been taken to discontinue support for bitcoin from midnight 20 July 2019,” Payfast wrote. The company further said that BTC once held the promise of a “global currency that would allow a faster, cheaper, and easier way to move money on the Internet,” but this never came to fruition. “Our aim was to enable that promise for our buyers and merchants, and to support this alternative to traditional payment methods,” Payfast highlighted. The South African company had partnered with the local cryptocurrency exchange Luno to provide an intermediary between a buyer’s BTC wallet and the Payfast service. @PayFast Bitcoin Cash is the same version of Bitcoin that used to be fast, cheap and reliable. Bitpay supports it. — ₿ Mike (@libertarianbit) July 12, 2019 Payfast remarked that buyers always paid the BTC amount, while sellers would receive a rand payment to their accounts. Luno also “locked the Bitcoin to ZAR exchange rate for a 10 minute window,” similarly to many cryptocurrency invoice solutions. For instance, the Atlanta-based Bitpay’s invoices last 14 minutes. However, if the person’s BTC transaction did not confirm within Luno’s invoice window, the payment was unsuccessful and a refund would be due. The Payfast blog post noted: As Bitcoin has grown in popularity, it has become increasingly difficult for the network to sufficiently confirm transactions within the 10 minute time limit. Since the network isn’t able to handle the volume of instructions at the speed required, the majority of Bitcoin transactions on the Payfast platform ended up being unsuccessful. A Tragic Trend of Lost Businesses Making HODL the Only Option As the news spread across social media, some people said they had expected the announcement, while others were surprised and even a bit salty toward Payfast. Bitcoin ABC developer Amaury Séchet (Deadalnix) said on Twitter that “the tragedy continues — One more payment processor dropping bitcoin.” “Payfast, you might want to consider switching to bitcoin cash instead. You are experiencing exactly why the fork happened,” Séchet added. One South African business owner asks Payfast to examine bitcoin cash (BCH) as a payment option after Séchet said the company should “consider switching to bitcoin cash instead.” However, well known member of the Monero (XMR) community Riccardo Spagni‏ said the blog post was a “Garbage article from Payfast on why they’re removing bitcoin support — Sounds like they have no clue how Bitcoin works.” One person replied to Spagni’s criticism and said that it was not polite to blame and name call Payfast engineers. “If the tech does not meet their needs, they can move to better solutions,” he explained. Payfast’s blog post further sparked a number of BCH supporters to vocalize that there was a solution available right now for Payfast and that the company should try bitcoin cash instead. “I have made zero payments with BTC in the past 3 years, but dozens with BCH with no issues and paying pennies in fees,” a BCH supporter chimed in after Payfast made the announcement. “If you add BCH you will have my business.” This isn’t the first time bitcoin core (BTC) payments have been plagued with complaints about high fees and transaction congestion. There have been many well known companies that have dropped BTC support for these very reasons. Back in the summer of 2018 the brothers Patrick and John Collison, the cofounders of Stripe, explained why the company decided to drop BTC. In December 2017, BTC transaction fees would average between $30-60 per transaction for the median transaction size of 226 bytes. At the time a slew of merchants and online retailers dropped BTC support due to the high fees and network congestion. The Collison brothers questioned the BTC community and told them they faced a fork in the road where architects of the software chose to optimize BTC to be a form of “digital gold or a store of value.” “At the time we made our decision, it was trending towards being a digital store of value,” Patrick told the press. He wished the BTC crowd the best going forward and insisted that “if it starts increasing [in use] again as a payment method, then sure, great, we’ll go back and we’ll add [BTC].” In 2017, some companies who previously accepted BTC for years switched to bitcoin cash (BCH) payments after Core developers provided Segregated Witness and recommended businesses batch transactions which never alleviated the problem. Many other companies have dropped BTC support over the years almost immediately after BTC transaction fees started to spike infeasibly and became unpredictable. Businesses such as Expedia, Dell Computers, Steam Games, Reddit, Fiverr, and Paypal stopped supporting BTC. Moreover, many startups that were once looking to use BTC in applications also ditched the cryptocurrency network for alternative blockchains with cheaper transaction fees. Payfast eliminating BTC was also big news on Reddit forums and many crypto supporters sarcastically called the company’s move a “big win for BTC maximalists.” One Reddit user chortled: Thank god all these wasteful use cases are being eliminated so that HODL is the only option for people which will ensure that moon lambos are handed out to all the Bitcoin Maxis by next halvening. What do you think about Payfast dropping BTC support because of network congestion and high transaction fees? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. Image credits: Shutterstock, Payfast, and Twitter. Are you feeling lucky? Visit our official Bitcoin casino where you can play BCH slots, BCH poker, and many more BCH games. Every game has a progressive Bitcoin Cash jackpot to be won! The post South African Payment Gateway Drops BTC Over Fees and Network Congestion appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

This week, the world’s largest exchange by trading volume, Binance, launched margin trading. In doing so, it made the elite group of exchanges that offer crypto derivatives less exclusive than it once was. Binance, Kucoin, and Bitmax have all rolled out margin products this year, in a bid to give market leaders Bitmex and Deribit a run for their money. Also read: Miners Flock to Iran Where Bitcoin Mining Is Set to Be Sanctioned Binance Leverages Margin to Woo the Bitmex Brigade To celebrate its second birthday, Binance has been rolling out a flurry of new products and announcements this week. Chairman CZ has been even more active on Twitter than usual, providing teasers of what’s to come and revealing events such as the introduction of fiat-crypto pairs for Binance Singapore. Today, the exchange launched its margin trading platform, allowing it to go head to head with Bitmex, the home of 100x leverage on BTC and other leading crypto assets. “With margin trading being one of the most requested services from our community, this is a testament to the large market demand from retail and institutional traders alike and its promising possibilities in the future,” said Binance co-founder Yi He. CZ echoed this sentiment, speaking of it as being “another step in providing an inclusive cryptocurrency trading platform catering to the needs of both advanced institutional traders and retail traders under the same roof.” Binance launched as a retail-focused cryptocurrency exchange, but as the broader industry narrative has shifted towards onboarding institutional clients, companies have adjusted their strategy accordingly. Bitmex, registered in the Seychelles, requires no KYC and is thus unsuited to institutional clients, who require greater regulatory and custodial assurances. Binance is hoping to not only capture a share of the retail market for margin trading, but to establish itself as a leading institutional exchange for derivatives. It will face stiff competition on both fronts, however, with the retail market having become particularly crowded. Everyone’s on Margin Kucoin beat Binance to the punch for margin trading by three days, launching its Kumex platform on July 8. It is still in public beta, however, and offers leveraged perpetual BTC contracts with up to 20x leverage. Its XBT perpetual contract takes a volume-weighted average price for BTC from six exchanges. During the three-week beta launch period, demo BTC is available for trading to allow users to familiarize themselves with the platform. To stimulate trading activity during this period, 10,000 KCS – Kucoin’s native token – will be given away. Thereafter, 50% of the net revenue from Kumex will be distributed to KCS token holders. Okex is also trying to gain a share of the lucrative margin market. In February, it expanded its margin products by adding four new pairs, allowing traders to long or short BSV, QTUM, DASH, and NEO against BTC or USDT with up to 3x leverage, with BCH, ETC, ETH, and XRP already supported. The exchange also offers a BTC perpetual swap with up to 100x leverage. Other exchanges that offer margin trading include Etoro, Prime XBT, and Kraken. They’ll soon be joined by forthcoming BTC and ETH futures exchange Digitex, which promises to deliver up to 100x leverage and onchain settlement. The High Cost of Margin Trading Margin trading on Binance was already available in beta, but is now fully rolled out, with a dedicated margin wallet that supports BTC, ETH, XRP, BNB, TRX, and USDT. Traders simply transfer assets from their main account to their margin account to get started. The exchange has been at pains to emphasize the need for careful risk management when trading with leverage, however, since sudden and extreme price swings, which are synonymous with crypto assets, can result in liquidation. XBTUSD perp swap open interest is now in the 3 comma club. Welcome to the 2019 bull fucking market YeeHaw! pic.twitter.com/rLhKRIn83d — Arthur Hayes (@CryptoHayes) June 26, 2019 Bitmex CEO Arthur Hayes is known for his unsympathetic attitude, which is all part of the experience when you’re trading on one of the world’s most unforgiving exchanges. “Man of the people” CZ is obliged to cut a more compassionate figure, however, and won’t be caught gloating at rekt traders. In an AMA on July 11, CZ revealed that 10,000 traders signed up for Binance margin in the first day and $15M in trades was placed. Want to try your hand at margin trading or even just see what it's all about? Learn how Margin Trading on #Binance works with @BinanceAcademy’s guide: #TradingEvolved #LeverageYourKnowledge https://t.co/YuufPADewO — Binance (@binance) July 12, 2019 With margin trading now just a couple of clicks away, a wave of Binance users will be exposed to its high octane thrills and perils in the weeks to come. The odds of institutional investors onboarding in their droves seems remote at this time though. In addition to its huge user base, Binance boasts a more stable trading engine than Bitmex, which is prone to crashing at peak times, and Binance’s user-friendly interface is more attractive to beginners. But with $3.6 billion of derivatives traded on Bitmex in the last 24 hours, it remains the runaway market leader by some distance. Binance, in comparison, reported a volume of $1.6 billion in the same period. Binance has already beaten Coinbase and Bitstamp to become the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange. Bitmex is now next on its hit list, as it seeks to claim the derivatives crown. What are your thoughts on Binance introducing margin trading? 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 Binance Adds Margin as Exchange Competition Heats Up appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The Thai Securities and Exchange Commission has approved four new crypto business operators to legally operate in the country. In addition to licensing a new crypto exchange, the government has officially approved the country’s first three digital token portals. Meanwhile, new rules, conditions, and procedures have been introduced for digital asset businesses. Also read: G20 Leaders Issue Declaration on Crypto Assets – A Look at Their Commitments Digital Asset Business Operators Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has officially approved four new digital asset business operators. Under the country’s current regulatory framework for digital assets, which covers both cryptocurrency and digital tokens, a company can apply for a license to operate an exchange, a broker, or a dealer for cryptocurrency, digital tokens, or both. Separate licenses are required for cryptocurrency and digital tokens. Among the four new digital asset business operators is Bitherb Co. Ltd. The company has received four licenses from the Thai SEC — one for providing a crypto exchange service, one for a digital token exchange service, one for a crypto brokerage service, and one for a digital token brokerage service. According to the commission’s website, the company has not begun operations. Bitherb Co. Ltd. is a subsidiary of Japanese public company Remixpoint, which operates a regulated Japanese crypto exchange, Bitpoint Japan. It is co-founded by Asia Herb Association Bangkok Co. Ltd. Remixpoint revealed in February that it had obtained four licenses from the Thai SEC but the subsidiary had not been added to the SEC’s list of approved digital asset business operators at the time since its system still needed to be inspected and validated by the regulator. A representative of Bitpoint Japan told news.Bitcoin.com at the time that Bitherb “will begin to operate after [the] SEC inspects the company within 180 days after license acquisition (by July 30th, 2019).” Bitherb is now listed on the SEC website as an approved digital asset business operator. Including Bitherb, Thailand now has four digital asset exchanges, all of which have been approved for both cryptocurrency and digital tokens. Three of them — Bitkub Online Co. Ltd. (Bitkub), Bitcoin Co. Ltd. (BX), and Satang Corporation (Satang Pro) — were approved in January. Another digital asset operator that has been approved by the Thai SEC is Coins TH. This company was approved in January to operate as a broker and a dealer for cryptocurrency. First 3 Licensed ICO Portals Unveiled Local media reported in March that the Thai SEC had approved the country’s first portal for initial coin offerings (ICOs). However, the commission neither made an official announcement about the approval nor disclosed the name of the portal it supposedly approved until now. The country’s first three SEC-approved ICO portals have now been added to the commission’s website. They are Longroot (Thailand) Co. Ltd. (Longroot), T-box (Thailand) Co. Ltd. (T-box), and SE Digital Co. Ltd. (SE Digital). According to the regulator, none of them have started operations. Further, the latter two companies still need to have their systems inspected and validated by the SEC before they can begin operations. ICO portals are an integral part of Thailand’s regulatory framework for digital tokens. To sell tokens to the public, the seller must obtain approval from the SEC and the tokens must be sold through an SEC-approved ICO portal. Thailand now has three ICO portals, but no ICO issuer has been approved so far. In addition, the Thai SEC maintains two lists of “website, tokens, and coins the SEC has advised the public to be careful with any investment solicitations of such entities,” the commission detailed. The first list is for “digital tokens which have not applied or granted approval for offerings.” It comprises 21 names including Onecoin by OFC coin​, ​​DB token, ICO by Adventure Hostel Bangkok​, and ​Muay Thai coin. The other list is for “persons and websites relating to digital assets which have not been licensed.” There are currently 18 entries on the list, including ​Q Exchange​, a joint venture between Thai and South Korean companies. Follow-Up Crypto Regulation The Thai government’s Fiscal Policy Office has published the SEC’s follow-up regulation entitled “Rules, Conditions, and Procedures for Digital Asset Businesses.” It will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2020. Among the rules set forth in this document is the capital requirements for digital asset businesses. For example, operators holding customer assets must generally maintain daily liquid capital of at least 15 million baht [~$485,572] and at least 5% of the customer’s asset value. The percentage requirement is lower if some of the assets are kept in cold storage. Digital asset exchanges that do not hold customer assets must maintain capital of at least 5 million baht. Thailand enacted two royal decrees to regulate crypto assets on May 14 last year — the Royal Decree on the Digital Asset Businesses B.E. 2561 and the Royal Decree of the Amendment to the Revenue Code. The latter imposes levies on income derived from cryptocurrency and digital tokens. Prior to any token offerings, the issuers must obtain approval from the SEC and “the registration statement and draft prospectus shall be filed with the SEC office,” the government explained. In March, the Thai SEC announced that four cryptocurrencies had been approved: BTC, ETH, XRP, and XLM. They can be legally used for investments in ICOs and as base trading pairs against other cryptocurrencies. This list replaces the previous one announced in June last year. However, approval does not make these coins legal tender, the regulator clarified. Sunisa Thamphiban, Assistant Director of the Legal and Development Department at the Thai SEC, emphasized at a public seminar on July 11 that “the Digital Asset Act” aims to “supervise the middleman that will act as an intermediary in the exchange of digital assets.” She elaborated that they must comply with all of the requirements set by the SEC and the Office of the Anti-Money Laundering Committee in order to “prevent the use of digital assets for money laundering.” What do you think of the way Thailand regulates cryptocurrency? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Are you feeling lucky? Visit our official Bitcoin casino where you can play BCH slots, BCH poker, and many more BCH games. 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Cryptocurrency taxation is a subject that concerns a growing number of users, traders and investors. An area that creates a lot of confusion among taxpayers is the application of VAT, or the value-added tax most countries levy on the sales of goods and services. Georgia has become the latest nation to free crypto-fiat transactions from VAT, a decision that affirms Bitcoin’s status as a currency. The same has already happened in many other jurisdictions, despite the absence of comprehensive regulations. Also read: Money Laundering Scandals Bring Court Charges and Record Job Cuts to Euro Banks VAT-Free Crypto Exchange, No Income Tax for Traders Traders of digital coins, both companies and individuals, will not owe VAT to the government in Tbilisi. That’s according to a newly adopted bill aimed at regulating the taxation of entities that trade or mine cryptocurrencies. The law was recently signed by Georgia’s finance minister Nodar Khaduri and entered into force at the end of June. The document provides a legal definition for decentralized digital money: Cryptocurrencies are digital assets that are exchanged electronically and based on a decentralized network. Their exchange does not require a reliable intermediary and they are managed using distributed ledger technology. From now on, residents of the South Caucasian republic exchanging coins to local or foreign fiat currency will not be obliged to pay the value-added tax. Furthermore, private citizens who conduct such transactions will also be spared from income tax. Khaduri stressed that the national currency, the Georgian lari, will remain the only legal tender in the country and using cryptocurrencies for payments will not be allowed. But that’s valid for any foreign currency as well. Mining companies will have to pay VAT unless they are registered abroad. Georgia, which offers abundant and cheap electrical energy generated by its many hydropower plants, has become a regional mining hotspot over the past few years. Now many companies from the industry are likely to relocate their official headquarters to offshore zones while maintaining their operations in the Caucasus. Europe Considers Bitcoin a Currency for VAT Purposes So far, European countries have been trying to regulate cryptocurrencies almost in a decentralized manner. Bitcoin is often treated differently by tax authorities in various EU member states and elsewhere on the continent. Germany, for example, considers the purchase of digital assets an investment but capital gains tax is due only if the coins are held for less than a year. For many practical purposes, the United Kingdom treats cryptos like foreign currencies. Residents of Bitcoin-friendly Switzerland are expected to pay income and profit tax on their digital cash holdings. Estonia applies capital gains tax on the profit from crypto investments while Slovenia does not tax the gains of individual cryptocurrency traders. Generally, purchases and sales of cryptocurrency are not subject to VAT taxation in Europe, which is the birth place of the value-added tax. Financial regulators and revenue services in most countries often refer to a decision by the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) which ruled in 2015 that services for the exchange of bitcoin with any traditional fiat currency are exempt from VAT. Despite the absence of a common European approach towards cryptocurrencies in terms of VAT taxation, the topic has been discussed by the VAT Committee of the European Commission on several occasions. Different proposals on the treatment of digital assets for VAT purposes have been reviewed by the advisory body which provides clarifications on EU’s VAT Directive. These proposals include the classification of Bitcoin as currency, electronic money, negotiable instrument, security, or digital product. Since the ECJ ruling, the case for accepting bitcoin as a currency has been gaining ground in the light of applicable VAT regulations. In essence, the court decided that the exchange between virtual and traditional currency constitutes the supply of services which are exempt from VAT under Article 135(1)(e) of the VAT Directive. VAT Is the Cash Cow of Many Governments Value-added tax (VAT) is a widely implemented indirect tax based on the increase in value of a product or service until it reaches the market. It is collected by retailers from end users and, in most cases, in the jurisdiction where these products and services are consumed. It’s usually a flat rate charged on the final value of the sold goods or provided services. VAT is an important income source for many governments around the world. Well over 160 nations employ the tax and in certain countries like France it accounts for around half of the state budget receipts. It is generally considered fairer than the sales tax used in the U.S., for example, which can potentially be charged on itself as it is applied at each stage of production and distribution. Wrapping one’s head around extensive VAT regulations can be a difficult task for many businesses and those in the crypto industry are no exception. But companies need to do so, as when they are registered under VAT laws they are entitled to apply for tax credit for the VAT amounts paid on the value of the materials and services used during production. The mechanism presents an opportunity to get some money back from the government. Crypto-Related Services Pose a Challenge to VAT Rules The ECJ ruling led to the issuance of additional interpretations by the VAT Committee that have no legal effect but can nevertheless be used as a reference by national authorities dealing with matters related to the VAT treatment of cryptocurrencies. One of them suggests that no VAT should be charged on the value of the digital coins themselves when they are used as a means of payment. VAT is due, however, on the value of goods and services purchased with cryptocurrency. Their supply should be treated in the same way as taxable supplies of goods and services paid with fiat currencies. The taxable amount in such transactions should be the one received by the supplier. And if it is denominated in cryptocurrency, the tax should be paid on the equivalent expressed in the national currency of the respective EU member state at the time of the transaction. Although these suggestions, detailed in a recently published article by PWC Cyprus, provide many answers pertaining to the VAT treatment of crypto transactions, important questions remain unanswered. And these are actually very hard to answer. For example, how do you define the appropriate exchange rate when reporting the value of a crypto transaction in fiat money? According to the VAT Directive, if bitcoin is viewed as a foreign currency that could be either the latest rate recorded on “the most representative exchange market” of the member state or the latest official exchange rate published by the European Central Bank (ECB). The VAT Committee provides a third option as well: “the open market value of the virtual currency, determined under the responsibility of the taxpayer.” Neither of these alternatives, however, are directly applicable to cryptocurrencies without more questions. First of all, there’s no central bank publishing a daily spot price for bitcoin. Second, cryptos are often exchanged on a global platform that may not necessarily be the most representative for a particular country. And third, how do you determine the abstract “open market value” of a volatile digital asset without selling it? Other aspects of VAT taxation in the case of cryptocurrency transactions that the VAT Committee has attempted to clarify include the provision of wallet and exchange services as well as the verification of crypto transactions through mining. For instance, free wallet services are exempt from taxation but the advisory body believes that when providers charge fees, they should fall within the scope of VAT, just like Swift services offered by traditional banks. As for exchange services, they are exempt from VAT when the supplier buys and sells the coins as a principle owner. But where a platform acts as an intermediary between buyers and sellers and charges a fee for their access to its virtual marketplace, these services are subject to VAT. Things are much more complicated with crypto mining. On the one hand, until miners are rewarded with newly minted coins, transaction fees are in principle paid voluntarily. That means they are still outside the scope of VAT. On the other hand, fees are paid in most cases anyway, as wallets usually have them as a default option and users are not willing to wait too long for their transaction to be processed. Currently, the European Commission’s VAT Committee supports the view that mining is an “essential activity for the actual transfer of funds,” which is closely related to the supply of digital coins and is not a support service. Hence, crypto transaction fees should not be subject to VAT. What’s your opinion about the applicability of the VAT regime in regards to crypto-related transactions? Share your thoughts on the subject in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Do you need a reliable Bitcoin mobile wallet to send, receive, and store your coins? Download one for free from us and then head to our Purchase Bitcoin page where you can quickly buy Bitcoin with a credit card. The post Georgia Exempts Bitcoin From VAT to Become the Next Country to Affirm Its Currency Status appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

According to regional reports, the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) is planning to allow licensed cryptocurrency mining as long as operations are charged for electricity based on the price of export. The CBI governor, Abdol Nasser Hemmati, explained that mined cryptocurrencies should flow back into the Iranian economy. Also read: Bitcoin Miner Recounts Struggle to Obtain Cheap Iranian Power Chinese Miners Negotiate With Iranian Leaders to Set Up Mining Operations in the Free Trade Zones In December 2018, there were reports of miners stemming from China, Spain, Ukraine, Armenia, and France to mine bitcoin in the oil-rich nation of Iran. The Middle Eastern country has extremely cheap electricity rates, and in April there were even more stories of Chinese miners heading to Iran for extremely affordable electric prices at $0.006 per kilowatt-hour (KWh). Then, at the end of June, the spokesperson for Tavanir, an Iranian state-operated grid entity, said that electrical consumption had spiked by 7% in comparison to the previous year. Tavanir executive Mostafa Rajabi Mashhad further blamed illicit cryptocurrency mining operations for the country’s increased electrical consumption. Rajabi told the press that other Iranian provinces were having difficulties due to the mass electrical consumption and emphasized that “illegal bitcoin miners will be identified and their electricity will be cut.” Spokesperson for Tavanir, Mostafa Rajabi Mashhad. Following Rajabi’s statements, bitcoin miners defied his warning and Iranians shared pictures of a bitcoin mining mosque. The regional publication Iran Daily reported that there were roughly 100 unauthorized bitcoin mining sites located in various provinces. The Tabnak website claims 1,000 bitcoin mining machines were seized by Iranian law enforcement on June 28. “Two of these bitcoin farms have been identified, with a consumption of one megawatt,” a Tavanir official, Arash Navab, told state television. Bitcoin mining has become a very popular vehicle to escape sanctions across many provinces in Iran. “Everyone’s talking about Bitcoin and how to get it,” said Mahsa Alimardani, an Iranian native and researcher at the Oxford Internet Institute noted to regional reporters. Then on July 10, Mohammad Sharqi, managing director of Iran Blockchain Association, told the local press that Chinese digital currency miners have asked Iranian officials to let them set up facilities in the country. Official discussions have been initiated and miners would like to operate in the Iranian free trade zones in Anzali, Kish Island, Qeshm Island, Chabahar, Arvand, and Aras. “The Chinese have made requests through official channels for cryptocurrency mining in the free zones,” Sharqi explained to the media. CBI’s deputy governor for new technologies, Nasser Hakimi, explained the same day that the local anti-money laundering authority had concerns with virtual currency trading. Sharqi thinks the stories of extreme electrical consumption have been exaggerated. Despite government warnings, according to an Iranian electrical industry spokesman, there are more than 148,000 machines in the country. Mining that crypto! 1000 #Bitcoin mining machines seized by authorities in Yazd, #Iran pic.twitter.com/sDYPFPhYiK — RT (@RT_com) June 29, 2019 Central Bank of Iran Governor: ‘Bitcoin Mining Will Be Authorized if Miners Pay Export Prices for Electricity and Help Feed Funds Back Into the Iranian Economy’ Abdol Nasser Hemmati, the CBI governor, explained on July 10 that the government will authorize bitcoin mining in Iran even though Iranian bureaucrats have not finished regulating cryptocurrency trade. There are two caveats to the deal, Hemmati told the press, which will have to be followed strictly if mining operations are initiated in Iran. “Mining of the international digital currencies should be done based on the price of electricity for export,” Hemmati expounded. “What’s more important is that these mined currencies should be fed back to the national economic cycle,” the CBI governor added. Abdol Nasser Hemmati, the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) governor. Hemmati warned the CBI would not tolerate a cryptocurrency that affects the price of the Iranian rial or gold. Reports also detail that Iranian law enforcement have already started to bust operations using factories, mosques, and utility service areas that benefit from extremely cheap electricity rates. At the export rate that’s charged to neighboring countries, bitcoin miners would have to pay $0.07 to $0.10 per KWh. The news outlet Presstv reports that the utility service area rates in Iran can be as low as $0.05 per watt. Electricity prices in Iran can be even lower in places like greenhouses and mosques for $0.006 per KWh as long as mosque leaders don’t mind breaking fatwa against the use of their subsidized electricity. Iranian Leader Claims U.S. Congress, Donald Trump and Sanctions Have Been Hindering Iran’s Cryptocurrency Progress Even at $0.13 per KWh, there are more than 40 SHA-256 machines that are still very profitable at today’s BTC prices. In some countries, electricity is higher or even double $0.13 per KWh so Iran’s power prices are quite affordable even with the export rate tacked on. Saeed Zarandi, the Iranian assistant minister of industry, trade and supply revealed to the press that the U.S. has been hindering Iran’s cryptocurrency progress. Saeed Zarandi the Iranian assistant minister of industry, trade and supply explained that the U.S. and its newly imposed sanctions against Iran have curbed the country’s cryptocurrency progress. The U.S. and Iran have been in deep conflict over the last few weeks. Zarandi said that the U.S. Congress under the Trump administration has been harsh toward the country. Iran and the U.S. have been at odds again lately as the country’s military shot down an American drone and told the press it was in Iran’s no-fly zone. The U.S. and President Donald Trump claim the aircraft was in international airspace and not in Iran’s territory. Since then many observers have been worried that the U.S. may spark a war with Iran or vice versa. Zarandi asserted that members of the U.S. Congress believe cryptocurrencies could be used in Iran to avoid sanctions. One specific set of sanctions called the Blocking Iran Illicit Finance Act is comprised of rules that make it hard for international companies to do business with Iranian financial institutions. H. R. 7321 details the expansion of prohibitions on correspondent accounts or payable-through accounts for foreign financial institutions. This includes banks that facilitate transactions or provide financial services for Iranian financial institutions. H. R. 7321 also displays a set of three rules to follow when it comes to Iranian-based digital currencies. Sanctions with respect to foreign persons that engage in significant transactions for the sale, supply, or transfer to Iran of significant goods or services used in connection with the development of Iranian digital currency. Sanctions with respect to foreign persons that conduct or facilitate significant transactions related to the purchase or sale of Iranian digital currency or maintain significant amounts in Iranian digital currency. Report on the progress of the Government of Iran in creating a sovereign cryptocurrency. The latest rules against an Iranian digital currency also follow the U.S. imposed sanctions against cryptocurrencies from Venezuela and more recently Cuba. Moreover, in November 2018 the American government convinced Swift to cut Iran off from the global financial system which pushed Iranian college students toward cryptocurrency to pay for books and online tuition. Furthermore, reports from regional news outlets in China claim that Iranian cryptocurrency miners have been scrambling to buy mining rigs from the mainland. With the CBI green-lighting bitcoin mining in the country, the inflow of funds could give Iran an edge over the imposed U.S. sanctions. With rules like the Blocking Iran Illicit Finance Act and major payment processors like Swift cutting Iranian banks off, the country may be forced to use a borderless currency. What do you think about Iran’s central bank planning to approve authorized bitcoin mining in the country as long as miners pay export prices for electricity? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. Image credits: Shutterstock, Presstv, Iran Daily, Tabnak, and Pixabay. Now live, Markets.Bitcoin.com: A comprehensive, real-time listing of the cryptocurrency market. View prices, charts, transaction volumes, and more for the top 500 cryptocurrencies trading today. The post Miners Flock to Iran Where Bitcoin Mining Is Set to Be Sanctioned appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

P2P bitcoin trade is surging in Zimbabwe via mobile exchange platforms like Ecocash, despite recent government efforts to curb the use of competing currencies locally. As of June 24, the reinstated Zimbabwe dollar (formerly RTGS dollar) is now the only recognized currency in the economically embattled southern African country. Finance minister Mthuli Ncube sees the move as a way to pull in the reins on re-dollarization, and implement greater controls and stability. Others see the new currency as a disastrous decision paving the way for continued hyperinflation. Also read: The Cryptocurrency Projects Pursuing a Path to Decentralization A two-dollar Zimbabwean bond note. The RTGS Dollar Since abandoning the astronomically hyper-inflated Zimbabwe dollar in 2009, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe had switched to an international currency basket in an attempt to stabilize the economy. In February of this year, central bank chief John Mangudya announced the implementation of the RTGS (Real Time Gross Settlement) dollar, a new currency pitched as being at 1:1 parity with the USD. Although the move to RTGS was ostensibly to provide greater balance to the economy, and restore Zimbabwean economic sovereignty, not everyone accepted this move as sound, or even as being well-intentioned. Many Zimbabweans have significant savings and hedges in the form of U.S. dollars, and the sudden move was a severe economic blow. According to Zimbabwe opposition leader Nelson Chamisa: The monetary policy statement is a disaster that will erode livelihoods, plunge the nation into darkness and uncertainty. Zimbabwe dollars after hyperinflation. Zimbabwe Dollar: A New Version of an Old Currency Now the RTGS dollar is old news, and as of late June, a revamped version of the Zimbabwe dollar has returned, effectively replacing and swallowing the RTGS. In a bold move by the central bank and government, local transactions in United States dollars, British pounds, and other currencies are now banned. Comprising the Zimbabwe dollar are coins, e-balances, the RTGS dollar, and bond notes which were first introduced in 2016. In an official statement on June 24th finance minister Ncube verified: The British pound, United States Dollar, South African rand, Botswana pula and any other foreign currency whatsoever shall no longer be legal tender alongside the Zimbabwe dollar in any transactions in Zimbabwe. Speculation as to why officials made this decision varies, but there is a general consensus among local economists that the move’s aim is to stop re-dollarization of the economy, with some even claiming the clampdown is mostly political, and being done for other reasons. But the USD and other foreign currencies are not the only ones affected by the reboot. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies (having already been made illegal in 2017) are experiencing increased demand in view of the new policy. Bitcoin Trading Stays Peer-to-peer, Liquidating Dollars Though settlement of local transactions with anything other than the new Zimbabwe dollar is illegal, P2P exchange of competing currencies is still possible thanks to popular trading platforms like Zimbabwean service Ecocash and localbitcoins.com. Many news outlets ran with this idea and claimed earlier this month that bitcoin was trading for over $75K in Zimbabwe on popular trading platform localbitcoins.com. While a couple prices were in this range temporarily, the phenomenon was most likely a reflection of the now locally destroyed value of the USD. That said, in the absence of established, legal exchanges, the black market value of U.S. dollars remains lucrative and viable. According to one local news agency, what has been observed in recent weeks is an attempt to liquidate USD via exchange for bitcoin. Utilizing channels like Paypal and Western Union, Zimbabweans are attempting to preserve as much value as possible in these volatile times. Indeed, there seem to be practically two economies now: the one still tied to the USD as world reserve currency, and the newly imposed Zimbabwe dollar model. While black markets exist everywhere, in struggling economic contexts like this, alternative markets exert a much more profound influence. Two Economies Side by Side Prior to the reemergence of the “Zimdollar” and the RTGS, the government had introduced a system of bond notes and coins back in 2016, supposedly pegged to the USD. This plan failed as unemployment, lack of exports, and a shortage of physical cash created a lucrative black market where USD held greater value than the assets supposedly pegged to it. Many economists and Zimbabwe residents alike are skeptical of the new financial policy, citing that a mere change in name does not denote real economic movement or progress. When one pizza can cost half the salary of a government teacher, that’s not surprising. Some are even declaring Ncube’s unilateral decree illegal. According to Harare-based lawyer Godfrey Mupanga: Amending a principal legislation is a primary law-making power that can only be exercised by parliament. This sudden move by the state which effectively creates a synthetic economy not tied to organic price signals could create new risks. The momentum being gained by black and gray market channels, as well as liquidation efforts via online payment platforms, is illustrative of the conflict. Withdrawal of Foreign Currencies, Global Trend Toward Liquidity At present, individuals may withdraw up to U.S. $1K per day in cash from foreign accounts in the country. Companies must request special permission if they wish to do so. According to Mangudya, business and individuals in Zimbabwe currently hold around $1.3B in these foreign accounts. As liquidity gaps are filled by alternative currencies and markets worldwide, governments and their respective central banks continue unilateral economic regulation in efforts to stave off financial difficulties. Though some economists predict that the new Zimbabwe dollar will fail, others maintain that USD debt can be honored. The issue is, of course, which market’s rate will be chosen. Zimbabwe’s new policy has continued to encourage market actors to secure value outside of official, state-sanctioned means. Globally, similar movements continue on a larger scale as certain national economies seek to move away from the U.S. dollar. Even in nations with relatively developed and established systems, individuals are seeking to hedge their bets via crypto and foreign money. This global, organic movement toward liquidity seems to be reflected in Zimbabwe, in spite of state regulation. What are your views on the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s decision to reinstitute the Zimbabwe dollar? Let us know in the comments section below. Image credits: Shutterstock, Fair use 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 ‘Zimdollar’ Reboot: Bitcoin Fills Liquidity Gaps as New Zimbabwe Currency Flounders appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Are you a cryptocurrency user and rugby fan who’s always dreamed of going to the World Cup? Here’s your chance to win tickets to the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan, including flights and accommodation, in an exclusive competition at Games.Bitcoin.com. Also Read: Bitcoin Cash ETP Lists on Leading Swiss Stock Exchange SIX How to Enter Games.Bitcoin.com’s New Giveaway Games.Bitcoin.com is giving away prizes including admission to the upcoming 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan. The first couple of winners will receive a prize package that includes VIP hospitality tickets to the event’s quarter-final match, accommodation for three nights in a central Tokyo hotel, and $1,000 to purchase flight tickets from anywhere in the world to the land of the rising sun. The remaining top 16 places in the giveaway contest will also win nice prizes such as an official Japan 2019 World Cup rugby ball and jerseys as well as gaming credits. 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At the same time, the platform offers two-factor authentication, password protected accounts and a dedicated customer support team. The site supports playing with bitcoin core (BTC) on games.bitcoin.com and with bitcoin cash (BCH) on the separate cashgames.bitcoin.com domain. Besides the two websites, you can also download a mobile app for Android devices and play on the go wherever you are, as well as use the same account on the website and the mobile app. The entertainment section operates with transparency, showing the current house edge for all games and the expected returns to players. It also provides all of the information you need to verify that each game is fair and in no way manipulated so you can play with confidence. Check out the Provably Fair section in the ‘About’ tab of the game you are playing for more technical details. The platform also provides a referral program that requires no registration and lets you earn up to 25% of the house edge on all bets made by people you direct to the site, with no top limit on how much you can earn. To join the referral program, all you have to do is visit the referral page and your account will be automatically set up. There you can find your unique referral link and banners in many shapes and sizes to share. The same page can also be used to track your earnings and referral statistics. Are you excited about the opportunity to win tickets to the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan? 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 Win 2019 Rugby World Cup Tickets When You Play at Games.Bitcoin.com appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Donald Trump has taken to Twitter yet again, and this time he’s talking about bitcoin and the superiority of the United States dollar. Bashing lack of regulation and potential for criminal activity inherent to crypto, Trump claims the U.S. fiat will always be the strongest currency in the world. As empirical evidence goes, however, it’s USD that’s really in need of moral and economic scrutiny. Also read: How 10 Countries Respond to Facebook’s Libra Cryptocurrency Donald Trump Battles Bitcoin On July 11, U.S. President Donald Trump went into full rant mode on Twitter, taking swipes at Bitcoin, Libra and cryptocurrencies in general, claiming they are “not money” and “based on thin air.” In addition to supplying the internet with a shining gem of mathematical, economic, and historical ineptitude, the president took things one step further, claiming that: Unregulated Crypto Assets can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade and other illegal activity. Of course, he’s right. Unregulated crypto assets really can facilitate bad things. What makes his three-part proclamation so problematic, though, is that he closes it out by praising the strength and dominance of the U.S. dollar in pulsating, Orwellian tone: “It is by far the most dominant currency anywhere in the World, and it will always stay that way. It is called the United States Dollar!” But when we examine the actual nature of the USD versus bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, all the blustery rhetoric seems to lose its force, and the picture that remains is one of striking—if not tragic—clarity. What Does the US Dollar Finance? Yes, crypto finances bad things and good things. Yes, fiat does the same. The almighty U.S. dollar is used to buy bread, iPhones, and throw birthday parties. It is also used to dismember infants in foreign lands, blasting them to bloody pieces with bombs, traffic illegal drugs, kidnap all manner of non-violent individuals, and keep billions impoverished, enslaved, and fearful. A butterknife can butter bread. A butterknife can kill someone. What is Trump’s argument, then? If the implicit claim is that bitcoin and crypto are more dangerous than the dollar empirically, then history, mathematics, and the science of economics can set the record straight here. Blood Money The United States has been at war for 226 years of its 243-year existence. Perpetual warfare remains the reality today. A testament to this is the story of Cpl. Joseph Maciel, killed at age 20 in Afghanistan, who was only three years old when the conflict was set in motion in 2001. As sad as this is, it’s anecdotal, admittedly. But the numbers ultimately tell the same tragic story as Joseph’s. Since 2001, wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, have cost at least half a million human lives, and over half of these deaths have been non-combatants—civilians. Of course this does not take into account drone bombings and battle in Yemen, Syria, Somalia, Libya, and elsewhere. These numbers also do not account for indirect deaths. According to a study by the Co-Director of the Costs of War Project at Brown University, Neta C. Crawford: Because of limits in reporting, the numbers of people killed in the United States post-9/11 wars, tallied in this chart, are an undercount … In addition, this tally does not include “indirect deaths.” Indirect harm occurs when wars’ destruction leads to long term, “indirect,” consequences for people’s health in war zones, for example because of loss of access to food, water, health facilities, electricity or other infrastructure. The Cost of War in US Dollars As of November 2018, U.S. taxpayers have been forced to pay $5.9T to support war in the Middle East and Asia since 2001. The inflation-adjusted cost of military conflict since World War I is estimated by the Congressional Research Service to be over $5.6T. With numbers this astronomical, and a war machine that continues to grow cancerously, it is difficult to get a feel for the sheer amount of state-sanctioned economic power being leveraged here by the United States Federal Government. It’s no problem, either, if the money supply runs low. According to Trump: This is the United States government. First of all, you never have to default because you print the money. Don’t worry about the resultant devalued currency. It is also important to ignore the repeating pattern of systematic U.S. violence against any leader or nation attempting to distance itself from the USD as a reserve currency. Libya, Iraq, and now Iran are examples of what happens when Trump’s “most dominant currency anywhere in the World” is challenged. The Violent, Volatile and Drugged Out USD The following is a only a short overview of some of the illicit activity the USD has facilitated over the years: The U.S. dollar funded Operation Paperclip, which brought Nazi leaders to America after World War II and gave them jobs in the U.S. government. The dollar was used by the U.S. government itself to fund drug trafficking, rape, kidnapping, and violence which was wrought upon innocent individuals by Contra forces in Nicaragua in the late 1980s. In 2003, $6.6B of United States dollars were strapped to pallets and airlifted to Iraq to provide aid, and were simply lost by the U.S. government, in likely the largest international cash airlift in history. The United States dollar funds the production of weaponry whose use results in depleted uranium birth defects so grotesque and tragic they are difficult to look at without feeling nauseous. The U.S. dollar was used to bail out a hyper-fraudulent company against the will of taxpayers to the tune of $700B in the 2008 Goldman Sachs case. The United States government preferred a $1.9B fine over actual criminal prosecution in 2012, when mega bank HSBC admitted to extremely lax oversight, effectively allowing narcotics traffickers, terrorists, and a Mexican drug cartel to launder over $800M in drug money. In spite of strict banking regulations prohibiting this, HSBC kept its license. The dollar is used to pay the salaries of police across the country who managed to surpass actual burglars in the amount of property they stole, and terrorists in the amount of people they killed, in 2015 and 2017, respectively. The United States dollar is to this day used to fund the military’s drone program (which is no longer required to report civilian casualties thanks to an executive order issued by the president) which has murdered at least 769 civilians and 253 children (these are extremely conservative estimates) since its inception. The U.S. dollar today continues its decades-long steady and rapid devaluation. An item purchased around the time of the Federal Reserve’s creation in 1913 for $1 would now cost over $25. This list goes on and on. For as long as it has existed, the United States dollar has leveraged violence to stifle competing currencies, fund war, murder, rape, extortion, kidnapping, theft, terrorism, human trafficking, slavery, medical malpractice, child sexual abuse, illegal drugs and more with relative impunity, thanks to its “regulators.” If this is the result of banking charters and regulation, a hands-off approach might be a better consideration for Donald Trump. Bitcoin or USD – Which Dominates Illicit Markets? Though the data varies wildly, when it all comes down to it, bitcoin and crypto are no competition for the USD and its fiat counterparts for funding violent, criminal activity. The government itself backs this finding up. Just two years ago, then-U.S. Department of the Treasury officer Jennifer Fowler said: Although virtual currencies are used for illicit transactions, the volume is small compared to the volume of illicit activity through traditional financial services. More recent research backs up these findings, and from a global perspective, where total annual market volume for illegal drugs is estimated to be around $400B, even the most generous estimates put all illicit BTC transactions (not just drug-related) at around $72B. The clear winner here then, when it comes to financing violent and criminal activity, is USD and the fiat racket. Gun Money vs. Peaceful Money The president’s Twitter tantrum is telling, and has sparked a momentous, flash explosion of internet commentary. All of this boils down to something rather simple, though. The real difference between USD and bitcoin is easy: one is backed by guns, and the other isn’t. One is forced upon its users under threat of violence and ultimately death if refused, and the other isn’t. If you choose not to use bitcoin or crypto, nobody cares. But should you try to use money that doesn’t hail from the printers of the glorious Federal Reserve, or attempt to spend USD in a manner that isn’t approved, you can be caged. And if you resist being caged, you may be killed. This is a government handing paper garbage to someone, and creating value out of “thin air” by putting a pistol to their head to force “adoption.” If this isn’t creating value “based on thin air,” I don’t know what is, Mr. President. This isn’t how bitcoin works. This isn’t how any sane, ethical, or moral system works. What are your thoughts on Trump’s statements? Let us know in the comments section below. OP-ed disclaimer: This is an Op-ed article. The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own. Bitcoin.com is not responsible for or liable for any content, accuracy or quality within the Op-ed article. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the content. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any information in this Op-ed article. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Fair Use 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 What Are Dollars Used for, President Trump? – The Gun Money Known as USD appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The cryptosphere was rubbing its hands with glee when U.S. president Donald Trump fired off a typically cantankerous tweetstorm on June 11 in which he took aim at Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies and Libra. Bitcoiners relished the sudden attention directed towards their sphere from the president’s 62 million-strong Twitter account, but took issue with the veracity of his claims. Here are 10 of the best replies. Also read: Expert Witness in Satoshi Case Claims Dr Wright’s Documents Were Doctored Trump Tweetstorm Sparks a Thunderous Response “I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air,” began Donald Trump, never one to mince his words or check his facts before hitting send. “Unregulated Crypto Assets can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade and other illegal activity.” He went on to pillory Facebook’s Libra currency, asserting that a banking charter is required to engage in money transmission. Then came the kicker, draped in the stars and stripes and dispatched on the wings of a bald eagle: We have only one real currency in the USA, and it is stronger than ever, both dependable and reliable. It is by far the most dominant currency anywhere in the World, and it will always stay that way. It is called the United States Dollar! As several million people were exposed to Bitcoin for the first time, 15,000 who were already familiar with the benefits of cryptocurrency took to Twitter and set President Trump right on a few matters. ‘Cryptocurrency Is Used by Criminals’ To counter the second of Trump’s misleading claims (the first being that the value of bitcoin is based on ‘thin air’), one user directed the president towards a series of images dispelling the notion that cryptocurrency is crims’ currency of choice: Others attacked the U.S. dollar’s diminishing value against bitcoin by linking to usdsat.com. And then there were those who targeted broader issues, such as America’s role in causing global instability through phony drug wars, unwarranted drone attacks, dragnet surveillance and operating a de facto financial cartel. Many bitcoiners, however, were simply content in the knowledge that ‘the virus’ was spreading, and tomorrow millions would awaken with their curiosity piqued by Bitcoin’s capabilities. As Nic Carter, addressing the tribalistic battleground that is crypto Twitter, put it, “For one glorious moment we were united.” Real time responses to #TrumpTweetsBitcoin. What are your thoughts on Donald Trump’s Bitcoin assertions? 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 The Best Responses to Donald Trump’s Claim That Bitcoin Is Backed by ‘Thin Air’ appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The Kleiman v. Wright case continues this week and a slew of new evidence has been submitted to the Southern District of Florida courthouse. A supplemental affidavit stemming from the Kleiman estate’s expert witness, Dr. Matthew Edman, indicates that documents submitted to the court as evidence were “modified” and “backdated.” Also Read: Bitcoin Cash Scaling Benchmarks, Brewdog, and Rising Transaction Volume Plaintiff’s Analysis of Documents Shows David Kleiman’s PGP Signature Was Created Almost a Year After He Died A transcript of an affidavit was recently submitted to the Kleiman v. Wright (9:18-cv-80176) court case, which shows that an expert witness found many flaws within certain documents filed in the case. The billion-dollar bitcoin lawsuit is one of the most high profile court cases in the U.S. because it involves 1 million BTC and self-proclaimed ‘Bitcoin inventor’ Craig Wright. Since December 2015, the crypto community has endured Wright’s repeated claims to be Satoshi Nakamoto. However, nearly every claim and every so-called proof Wright has provided has been debunked by researchers, cryptographers, and the greater crypto community. Many of the refutations against Wright’s story accuse him of providing backdated documents and proofs that have been modified at a later date. From the very beginning of Wright’s entrance into the community, his story has been suspected of being a falsified tale or hoax. On December 9, 2015, Vice reporter Sarah Jeong detailed that the “PGP keys referenced in stories naming Craig Wright as the creator of Bitcoin were probably falsely backdated.” The set of keys that were reportedly “backdated and point to a hoax” according to Vice reporter Sarah Jeong, Motherboard staff writer Jordan Pearson, and Bitcoin Core developer Greg Maxwell. Fast forward to today and Craig Wright is being sued by Ira Kleiman, the brother of the now deceased David Kleiman, for allegedly interfering with David’s bitcoin assets and intellectual property after he died. The first filing shows the value of the assets the Kleiman family thinks David was screwed out of is around $5.1 billion before punitive or treble damages. This week, an affidavit was submitted to the court that shows the testimony of the Kleiman estate’s witness, Dr. Matthew Edman, a cryptography expert. As other have mentioned, Bitmessage wasn't even publicly available until November 12th 2012. Furthermore, the only visible address is a v4 address (as it begins with 2c) and those didn't even exist until about mid-2013. — Peter Šurda (@PeterSurda) July 4, 2019 According to Edman’s resume submitted to the court, he has a deep knowledge of digital forensics, applied cryptography, Shamir’s Secret Sharing Scheme, and cryptocurrencies. Edman’s testimony examines an email that was submitted to the court as “Exhibit A.” Edman declares under penalty of perjury that he believes Exhibit A was likely created from an email Wright sent to himself on or about April 16, 2014. The document was then “converted to a PDF and modified to appear to have been sent from ‘Dave Kleiman’ to Uyen Nguyen on or about December 20, 2012.” The expert’s testimony further states: I also determined that Exhibit A contained a PGP signature allegedly created by Dave Kleiman on or about March 12, 2014 – almost a year after he died. A Trend of Modifications Edman states that he analyzed Exhibit A previously and further analysis and forensic artifacts contained within the PDF itself bolster his opinion. The digital forensics expert said that he also examined “Exhibit F” and concluded that the document was “created by further modifying Exhibit A to make it appear as if Exhibit F is actually a separate email sent from Dave Kleiman to Uyen Nguyen.” “In my opinion, it is simply another revision to the PDF created from an email the defendant sent to himself on or about April 16, 2014,” Edman emphasized in his testimony. The witness’s affidavit declares that both Exhibit A and Exhibit F appear to be emails sent from David to Uyen Nguyen back in 2012, but “manipulations of a PDF created from an email” indicate that Wright sent it to himself in the spring of 2014. Edman noted that he understands that Exhibit A was withdrawn from the court because Wright could not “verify the date of that email exchange,” but to his knowledge Exhibit F was not withdrawn. Edman goes on to explain that the metadata tied to the first exhibit’s PDF shows that it was created on or about April 17, 2014. The creator used the Acrobat PDF Maker 11 for Microsoft Outlook and Edman highlights that the computer’s time zone was consistent with Sydney, Australia (UTC+10) and then modified again five minutes later. Further analysis of the internal contents and structure of the document identified specific portions of the PDF were edited and revised. He further determined that Exhibit F was also comprised of modifications to the date field and revisions to the body of the document as well. Speaking on Exhibit A’s analysis Kleiman’s expert witness explained: I identified a “TouchUp_TextEdit” marked-content point in the PDF file associated with Exhibit A which indicated that the text associated with the “From:”, “To:”, and “Date:” fields at the top of Exhibit A were edited. The crypto community has not been kind about the latest documents and Edman’s affidavit has been shared widely across social media mocking Wright. The attorney Stephen Palley who often comments on cryptocurrency related lawsuits stated “you can’t really attack [Edman’s] credentials and the analysis looks sound.” “You have to show an alternative explanation — they should settle,” Palley added. The public will still hear from Wright’s expert witnesses which include Brett Roberson, Kevin Madura, and Nchain’s CTO Steve Shadders. In addition to the court case drama last week, news.Bitcoin.com reported that Martti Malmi said on Twitter that he might take action against Wright for accusing him of starting the “Silk Road, Hydra and a number of other darker websites.” “Taking a closer look to the transcript, Craig Wright is accusing me and Theymos of soliciting drug trade, assassinations, terrorism and child porn — That is too much to be ignored,” Malmi told the public. Following the accusations against Malmi, the owner of Bitcointalk.org, Theymos, also refuted Wright’s court claims against him stemming from the June 28 transcript. “I was made a forum admin in 2011 after Satoshi left,” Theymos insisted. “I never had any interaction with CSW — CSW’s whole shtick is to just lie constantly,” the forum moderator conceded. “He’s so brazen about it that some people think, ‘there must be some truth there,’ but really it’s 100% nonsense.” What do you think about the Kleiman v. Wright lawsuit involving billions of dollars worth of bitcoin? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. Image credits: Shutterstock, Courtlistener, Twitter, Florida Case Kleiman v. Wright (9:18-cv-80176), Vice, and Pixabay. Are you feeling lucky? Visit our official Bitcoin casino where you can play BCH slots, BCH poker, and many more BCH games. Every game has a progressive Bitcoin Cash jackpot to be won! The post Expert Witness in Satoshi Case Claims Dr Wright’s Documents Were Doctored appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Last year news.Bitcoin.com spoke with the cofounder of Bitkan, Fang Yu, about the company’s K-Site project, which acts as a decentralized media outlet, micro-blog and forum with rewards. Just recently, Bitkan spoke with news.Bitcoin.com about K-Site’s growth and how the platform’s BCH community raised funds for the Bitcoin Cash Development Fund. Bitkan highlighted that the BCH community is one of the most active on the K-Site platform. Bitkan believes open source development is very important and that companies and individuals within the community should support development of innovative blockchain and cryptocurrency solutions. Also read: Tip Twitch Livestreamers With BCH Using the New Tipbitcoin.cash App Bitkan Loves Bitcoin Bitkan.com is a well-known company based in Asia that has millions of users utilizing its one-stop services like smart trading, which aggregates the liquidity of main exchanges, market, news, K-Site community, and wallet. K-Site offers videos, articles, a micro-blog, forums and more while rewarding users with its native token KAN, and other digital assets like BCH. The micro-communities are designed so crypto users can focus on the ecosystem’s actual business instead of a community built on artificial demand. This week Bitkan spoke with news.Bitcoin.com and provided an update on its smart trading function and how the Bitcoin Cash community used the K-Site to donate to the Bitcoin Cash Development Fund. Users of Bitkan’s K-Site Provide Support for the BCH Ecosystem News.Bitcoin.com (BC): Bitkan recently donated to the Bitcoin Cash Development Fund. Can you tell the community why Bitkan decided to back BCH development? Bitkan (BK): This donation for BCH is not Bitkan’s official act, but an activity initiated by the BCH community within the K-Site community. K-Site is one of the most active communities, especially in China. Compared with other monotonous communities, K-Site is more comprehensive and dynamic and always remains neutral. The donation sponsored by BCH community officials attracted many users who are interested in supporting Bitcoin Cash and providing more capital support for the BCH ecosystem in general. The Bitcoin Cash Development Fund aims to raise 1600 BCH by August 1, 2019. BC: How can funding blockchain development help bolster the BCH ecosystem? From the perspective of the cryptocurrency and blockchain community, BCH is an important community. We are always willing to support the development of blockchain tech and cryptocurrency solutions. Since there are many different types of coins, only continuous trials can promote the positive development of the entire cryptocurrency and blockchain initiative. Otherwise, without sponsorship, it will be difficult for the community to survive, therefore, providing capital support is essential for the development of a robust community. BC: Do you think it’s important that corporations and community members support BCH development? They are both important. Aside from good technical support, the support from backup communities for a project is also important, because communities can have different views. What’s more, in a peer-to-peer network, each node is characterized by a high degree of autonomy. The nodes can freely connect with each other to form a new connection union and the effect between nodes can build a nonlinear causal relationship through the network. This open, flat and equal organizational structure allows each community member to become a small but independent contributor to participate in the development of the blockchain project. BC: How is funding developers useful to businesses providing BCH infrastructure and tools? The positive development of the community promotes the development of coin trials and a variety of applications in different fields. The development of applications can further promote the prosperity of the entire cryptocurrency and blockchain ecosystem in order to benefit the enterprise. Since the development of the industry can affect the development of enterprises, the enterprise should build a mutual assistance relationship with the community. Only with mutual help can the industry bolster the positive development of blockchain and cryptocurrency solutions. BC: Bitkan’s cofounder Fang Yu explained at the 2018 Satoshi’s Vision Conference in Japan that the company would use BCH as an option for K-Site’s payments. Does this still hold true today? Yes, K-Site is still supporting the BCH reward payment. The K-Site has supported and rewarded coin communities like KAN, BCH, ETH, USDT, BTC, TRX, QTUM, ELF, HC, ONT, LTC, etc. With BCH being one of the reward payment options, it is also supported by an official community group chat, red packet distribution, money transfer, and other functions. BC: Can you tell us how the K-site is doing? There are more than 100,000 active users in K-Site every day. K-Site has attracted numerous KOLs to express their opinions in communities, and its exclusive reward system and dividend distribution principle can help to find quality content for users. The BCH community is also one of the most active. BCH Features No Congestion, Low Fees and Other Functions That Continuously Attract More Users BC: How can the Chinese community benefit from a permissionless electronic cash system? As a peer to peer cash system, the most important application is still the payment application aspect. That is one of the most important reasons why Bitcoin Cash was born. The BCH network features a macroblock, no congestion, low cost, and convenient to pay solution, which is also one of the important reasons why bitcoin cash is popular among buyers. Mini-reward or micropayments have always been one of the most major applications in the cryptocurrency space, which is also widely popular in the community. Because BCH features no congestion, low fees, and other ease-of-use functions, it is continuously attracting more users. Likewise, users from the Chinese community also benefit from it. BC: From Bitkan’s perspective, how does the Chinese community currently feel about Bitcoin Cash? The Chinese community is an open and inclusive community and so is the K-Site. At Bitkan, there is a very active Chinese community of BCH supporters. Bitkan always supports different opinions expressed throughout the K-Site community. For the community, BCH applies the macroblock and Schnorr digital signature scheme, making the development concept of community progressive and closer to reality. BC: Can you tell us about the recent improvements to the Bitkan app and wallet? In May 2019, Bitkan launched another important trading function called “Bitkan Smart Trade.” Different from other exchange platforms, Bitkan Smart Trade aggregates the liquidity of major exchanges including Binance, Huobi Global and Okex. The aggregation system can automatically place orders with better prices among multiple exchanges and also to make trading faster for users. BitKan changes the world by providing Smart Trade technology to provide users with the fastest trades at the best price.#BitKan#HuobiPrime #Blockchainchangesworld@Livio_huobi @HuobiGlobal — BitKan (@BitKanOfficial) May 16, 2019 Founded in November 2012, Bitkan can be regarded as the first application to support a BCH wallet and a BCH over-the-counter (OTC) function. Bitkan has been a stable, security-centric operation with six years of experience with millions of global users. Bitkan has provided one-stop crypto asset investment services including market quotation, global information, content community wallet service and smart trading exchange for more than 5,000,000 users in around 170 countries by supporting roughly 90% of the existing cryptocurrencies in the world. BC: What’s the most important feature Bitkan thinks is necessary for the mass adoption of bitcoin cash? There are three features. First of all, BCH was created because of BTC’s fork. Compared to other cryptocurrencies, BCH owners are more decentralized, which avoids the problem of over-centralization. Secondly, BCH is the large capacity version of BTC, so it can be transferred faster with lower transaction fees. Last but not least, there is the payment function. BCH has also been developed with the function of smart contracts and more applications with strong scalability. What do you think about the K-Site Bitcoin Cash community donating funds to the Bitcoin Cash Development Fund? Let us know your thoughts on this subject in the comments section below. Image credits: Shutterstock, Bitkan, K-Site, and Pixabay. Are you feeling lucky? Visit our official Bitcoin casino where you can play BCH slots, BCH poker, and many more BCH games. Every game has a progressive Bitcoin Cash jackpot to be won! The post Bitcoin Cash Community on Bitkan’s K-Site Raises Funds for BCH Development appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Decentralization over time is an ethos that many crypto projects espouse. To date, however, few have completed this journey. Talking the talk is easy, but when it comes down to it, only a handful of projects are bold enough to walk the walk and willingly entrust their fate to the community. Also read: How 10 Countries Respond to Facebook’s Libra Cryptocurrency The Road to Decentralization Is Littered With Good Intentions Decentralization today evokes the “blockchain, not bitcoin” mantra of 2016: a popular concept, but with few real-world success stories to cite. Even Facebook, in its 26-page technical paper for Libra, has gotten on the decentralization bandwagon, outlining a “roadmap for the shift toward a permissionless system.” “I’m pretty sure this would be the first time a distributed network transitioned from permissioned to permissionless,” noted Jameson Lopp. Long before Facebook took an interest in the lingua franca of cryptocurrency, numerous projects within the ecosystem expressed the desire to distribute control over time. Today, projects as diverse as Icon, Iota, Digitex and Digibyte are intent on pursuing various implementations of this goal. To understand the extent to which it’s possible to decentralize a project, it’s first necessary to understand why. What is it about decentralization that’s so sexy in the eyes of so many within the cryptosphere? Ultimately, it all comes back to Bitcoin. There are many things that Bitcoin got right from day one, from its fair launch to its absence of a formal team that could be subpoenaed or cowed into submission. As Anthony Pompliano put it, the day Congress ordered Facebook to halt development of Libra, “Wait till Congress finds out they can’t send letters to Bitcoin.” Decentralization was and still is the killer feature. Icon Treads the Path to Greater Decentralization Blockchain network Icon is currently on a mission to achieve optimum decentralization, a quest that’s described as a “core principle” of its governance model. To achieve this, Icon is assigning responsibility for overseeing node environments to a series of candidates who are elected by the community. Each node operator is tasked with maintaining consensus on the network, verifying transactions and participating in governance, including voting on policy proposals. Through assigning control to a distributed community, Icon aims to connect independent blockchains without the need for intermediaries. In September, 100 Public Representatives (P-Reps) will be elected by the community to facilitate the transition to a decentralized model. Forthcoming crypto futures exchange Digitex, meanwhile, has pledged to transfer ownership and governance rights to a decentralized autonomous organization on October 1, with token-holders given a say on treasury management and key operational decisions. Other projects that have committed to becoming more decentralized over time include art provenance protocol Codex, and Iota, which in May committed to ditching the most controversial part of its architecture – a centralized coordinator. It will be 2020 before this is implemented, however, at which point network stability and security should be maintainable without the coordinator. Although reaching this milestone will not make Iota decentralized, by any reasonable definition, there is a case for stating that it makes sense for crypto projects to start out highly centralized. In “Centralize, then Decentralize,” Arjun Balaji of crypto investment firm Paradigm writes: The common criticism with 2nd or 3rd-wave crypto projects … that they’re inferior to natively cypherpunk projects (e.g. Bitcoin, Monero) due to their “centralization” is ignorant of reality. It’s next to impossible to simultaneously build new types of distributed networks while optimizing for decentralization from early on. From Central Control to Community Stewardship Most projects today don’t have the luxury of operating under pseudonyms or issuing coins over time through mining. With the notable exception of Grin, every major project in the post-ICO era has been subject to rules pertaining to money transmission, KYC/AML, taxation and a glut of others. While these projects will always be dependent upon a centralized team to lead business development and technical improvements, there is scope for the underlying protocol to decentralize over time. This prevents the project from being monopolized by a handful of powerful actors. It may also ensure that the protocol’s token is deemed a utility rather than a security, under certain circumstances, paving the way for wider listing on crypto exchanges, including those that fall under the purview of the SEC. The ongoing decentralization of crypto projects can be measured across three main criteria: Incentives: A truly decentralized protocol must have incentives aligned between network participants to support collaboration for mutual benefit. This requires trust, and the only way this can be maintained is by eliminating a central authority that presents a single point of failure. As Placeholder VC’s investment thesis explains, “Cryptonetworks alleviate [lack of trust] by decentralizing power structures and distributing most of the value to the users in a way that better aligns incentives.” Community: There should be no entry barriers to participating in the network, with users, miners, developers, stakers and other entities granted permissionless access. Consensus: There must be agreement on the current status of the network, and any changes made to it, including transactions and account balances, as well as technical changes to the protocol itself. It’s a Scale, Not a Switch There is no such thing as 100% decentralization. Even “full decentralized” projects such as Bitcoin have points of failure and potential attack vectors that a determined and well-funded actor could seek to exploit. The ability for projects to execute “continue to be important, but so is selecting teams led by founders whose commitment to the promise of decentralization is far greater than their desire to make money,” assert Placeholder VC. The current crop of projects assigning more control to the community aren’t trying to become the next Bitcoin. Rather, they recognize that the benefits of a distributed and leaderless network outweigh the advantages to be had from entrusting key decisions to a centralized cartel. So far, in the short history of cryptocurrency, the market has judged decentralized projects with strong fundamentals kindly. Today’s projects, pursuing a similar course, are hoping to be judged equally favorably. Do you think it’s possible for a cryptocurrency project to effectively decentralize over time? 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 The Cryptocurrency Projects Pursuing a Path to Decentralization appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Traveling is getting easier with the wider spread of cryptocurrencies. They can often prove more convenient than fiat money in cross-border payments, transfers and transactions. If you plan to visit the African continent, you can now use the services of a travel agency called Riddell Travel that’s willing to accept bitcoin cash for its services. Also read: Decorate Your Car Dashboard With Trim Kits You Can Buy With BCH South African Tour Company Accepts BCH Payments Riddell Travel is a family-owned business that organizes tours in South Africa, where it’s based, as well as in other countries in the region like Kenya and Tanzania. These are popular destinations as they offer lots of opportunities to visit exotic places for tourism and recreation. According to its website, the travel agency currently offers several prearranged packages you can take advantage of. As part of the East Coast, City of Gold & The Cape tour you’ll be able to visit Johannesburg, the largest city in the Republic of South Africa. You’ll also have the chance to spend two days at a game lodge with drives on 4×4 safari vehicles in some of the country’s world-famous nature reserves such as the Kruger National Park, travel to Durban and enjoy beautiful Cape Town. Another offer advertised as The Diamonds of South Africa adds two nights at a 4 or 5-star hotel in the Sun City resort and even more adventure activities. And the Best of Africa tour will take you to the Kenyan capital Nairobi, the Serengeti National Park and the Zanzibar Archipelago in Tanzania. With Riddell Travel you can also create your own unique itinerary for a journey tailored to your budget. The travel agency will help you with the arrangements if you plan to visit other African countries like Botswana and Namibia or if you wish to spend some time in off-shore destinations such as the island of Mauritius and the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean. The South African tour company is part of a growing community of businesses and merchants around the world accepting bitcoin cash for their products and services. For customer convenience, its website is available in multiple languages including German, Russian, Chinese, and Persian. For more tips on how to travel the world with bitcoin cash (BCH), check out the travel guide we published recently. News.Bitcoin.com will also help you to find other tourist destinations where you can spend your electronic cash. Have you used BCH to pay for your travels? What other tour agencies accepting bitcoin cash would you recommend? Tell us in the comments section below. Disclaimer: Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to third party companies or any of their 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 third party content, goods or services mentioned in this article. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Do you need a reliable Bitcoin mobile wallet to send, receive, and store your coins? Download one for free from us and then head to our Purchase Bitcoin page where you can quickly buy BCH and BTC with a credit card. The post Riddell Travel Will Help You Arrange Your African Tour With BCH appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Since leaked information regarding India’s cryptocurrency bill emerged, there have been constant discussions about what it entails. Four different government bodies have been asked about their involvement in the drafting of the bill. South Korea went through a similar situation, causing confusion to the public. Also read: Indian Cryptocurrency Regulation Is Ready, Official Confirms RTIs Filed Seeking Answers Since local media started reporting on the leaked information of India’s unannounced cryptocurrency bill, numerous discussions have ensued over what it entails. A number of Right to Information (RTI) applications have been filed regarding the proposed regulation and, so far, four different government bodies have replied. They are from the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), and the Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority (IEPFA) under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA). These RTI applications were filed in response to media reports of a draft bill entitled “Banning of Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill 2019,” which two major Indian news outlets, The Economic Times and Bloombergquint, reported on. News.Bitcoin.com recently provided a preliminary analysis of the bill’s leaked content. Background – Who Is Actually Drafting the Bill The Indian Ministry of Finance has explained several times that an interministerial committee under the chairmanship of Subhash Chandra Garg, Secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs and Finance Secretary, had been constituted with representatives from concerned departments to consider all aspects of cryptocurrency. The committee would then produce a report with recommendations for the country’s regulatory framework for cryptocurrency. India’s Finance Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg. Replying to questions from Lok Sabha on Dec. 28 last year, the Ministry of Finance detailed: The committee, with representation from Meity [Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology], RBI, SEBI [Securities and Exchange Board of India], and CBDT [Central Board of Direct Taxes] is working to develop a framework for regulating cryptocurrencies. Suggestions Include Banning and Regulating The Garg committee received numerous recommendations regarding what should be in the cryptocurrency bill. In the Finance Ministry’s summary report of its key activities for the calendar year 2018, published at the end of March, the ministry revealed: Various options for treating virtual currencies and crypto assets including banning/ regulating are being examined by the committee. The Anti-Crypto Camp The news of the ban recommendation has spread far and wide. One government body in particular, the IEPFA, has been vocal about its anti-crypto views. The Economic Times quoted the IEPFA’s CEO on April 26 as saying: “When it comes to investor protection, the IEPFA has to take a stand against certain things … We think that cryptocurrency is a Ponzi scheme and it should be banned.” On June 17, local news outlet Coin Crunch India reported that it had received a reply to an RTI application filed with the IEPFA by its founder, Naimish Sanghvi, regarding the department’s plan to ban cryptocurrency. The IEPFA confirmed that “A meeting on this subject was held under the chairmanship of CEO, IEPF Authority on 24.01.2019 with all concerned i.e. Department of Economic Affairs, CBDT, CBIC [Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs] and MCA,” adding: It was unanimously decided in the meeting that Department of Revenue and Department of Economic Affairs may immediately take steps to completely ban sale, purchase and issuance of all forms and types of cryptocurrencies. In the meeting, it was discussed that it has features of Ponzi scheme. The Economic Times, which reported on this meeting three months after it took place, noted that the MCA raised several crypto-related concerns “in its feedback to the Department of Economic Affairs.” This suggests that the IEPFA’s proposal was among a number of recommendations which the Garg committee received. The Pro-Crypto Camp While the alleged Indian crypto ban proposal has received much attention, it was not the only recommendation that the Garg committee considered, as explained in the finance ministry’s summary report. A number of government departments are in favor of regulating cryptocurrency. For example, policymakers gathered at Blockchain Summit India in February where cryptocurrency regulation was discussed. Among participants were the Department of Science and Technology, the State Government of Uttar Pradesh, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the Ministry of Law and Justice, the Ministry of Human Resources Development, and the Department of Information Technology. “The summit is targeted towards enabling Indian government and ministries to speed up the process of developing a flourished blockchain and cryptocurrency ecosystem,” the summit’s website describes. At the event, policymakers discussed how to “speed up the process of regulating cryptocurrency,” Janina Lowisz, Marketing VP at Cashaa, the event’s fintech partner, told news.Bitcoin.com. An announcement was made at the end of the summit stating that “The regulation is planned to be implemented by end of financial tenure.” Last week, Indian government-backed educational platform Swayam started listing a course on cryptocurrency and blockchain which was previously offered through the NPTEL website. This 12-week undergraduate course entitled “Blockchain Architecture Design and Use Cases” will run from July 29 to Oct. 18. RBI Distancing Itself From Ban Proposal The RBI is part of the Garg committee which drafted the long-awaited Indian cryptocurrency bill, so it is a natural conclusion that the central bank would be informed of any decisions made by the committee. The RBI is currently recognized globally as the sole regulator for crypto assets in India, as outlined by the Financial Stability Board in its report to the G20. However, in its reply to an RTI application filed by Varun Sethi, founder of Blockchain Lawyer, the central bank claimed that it did not have any knowledge of the aforementioned bill. This RTI reply was received on June 4. The RBI stated that it did not receive a copy of this draft bill, which The Economic Times claims had been “circulated to relevant government departments,” or any written correspondence from other ministerial departments or the central government officially about this bill. It also never sent out an official communication to other departments on this matter. Moreover, the RBI said “no” to the question of whether it had conducted an “internal meeting in this matter to discuss, deliberate and decide the plan of action ahead of how to ban cryptocurrencies and regulate official currency bill.” Sethi proceeded to ask: “Did RBI also endorse to any other government department, the same idea of [a] complete ban on sale, purchase and issuance of all types of cryptocurrencies.” The central bank replied “no.” The bank added that it did not receive “any written communication / copy of such endorsement from any other government department in this matter.” Regarding the claim made by The Economic Times that “A number of government departments including the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) and the Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority (IEPFA) have endorsed the idea of a complete ban on the ‘sale, purchase and issuance of all types of cryptocurrency,'” the RBI emphasized: RBI did not receive any communication in this regard from the above mentioned government departments. The IEPFA did not name the RBI as one of the participants in its January meeting, according to its reply to Sanghvi’s RTI application. This could explain why the central bank denied any knowledge of or involvement in the proposal resulting from the IEPFA meeting. Two Other RTI Replies Two other RTI applications were filed regarding the above-mentioned bill. One was a second RTI filed by Sanghvi — this time with the DEA. “On May 20, 2019 DEA rejected the RTI application citing ‘Section 8(1)(i)’ as the reason for rejection,” he shared. Section 8(1)(i) of The RTI Act 2005 states that “the decisions of the Council of Ministers, the reasons thereof, and the material on the basis of which the decisions were taken shall be made public after the decision has been taken, and the matter is complete, or over … those matters which come under the exemptions specified in this section shall not be disclosed.” The Economic Times article was clear that the IEPFA submitted its feedback to the DEA. However, as the Ministry of Finance confirmed in its report, there were various options considered by the Garg committee, including banning and regulating. The other RTI application was filed with the IRDAI by journalist Ashish Bhatnagar. He cited the Bloombergquint article which claims that the government may constitute a separate board to monitor crypto transactions consisting of representatives from various ministries such as the IRDAI, the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority, the RBI, and the SEBI. Bhatnagar asked if the IRDAI had been part of the committee drafting the cryptocurrency regulation. The response he received was “No information available.” A Lesson From Korea It is not uncommon for government departments to disagree with one another. A classic example is what happened in South Korea last year when a government department announced, without consulting other departments, a plan to ban cryptocurrency trading and shut down crypto exchanges. South Korean Justice Minister Park Sang-ki told reporters on Jan. 11 last year that his ministry was “preparing a bill to ban cryptocurrency trading through its exchanges,” many news outlets reported. Following his announcement, over $100 billion was wiped off global cryptocurrency markets. However, Kim Dong-yeon, the South Korean Minister of Economy and Finance and Deputy Prime Minister at the time, told reporters the following day that “The issue of banning exchanges that the justice minister talked about yesterday is a proposal by the Justice Ministry.” On the contrary, he revealed that “discussion was underway on how the government could reasonably regulate cryptocurrency trading,” adding: A balanced perspective is necessary because blockchain technology has high relevance with many industries such as security and logistics. The Korean government took the justice minister’s action seriously. President Moon Jae-in quickly issued a statement declaring that Park’s remarks were “not a finalized decision,” which needed to be coordinated with other government ministries. South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in. This matter was scrutinized in the Korean National Assembly many times. In February, Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon said in the National Assembly: The closing of [cryptocurrency] exchanges is not a serious consideration … It is one of the many possibilities. Park soon stated publicly: “I apologize for the confusion.” Lee subsequently pushed for the government to implement a code of conduct to avoid similar problems occurring in the future. “Each agency should take necessary measures, such as supplementing the code of conduct for employees in charge of virtual currency issues,” the prime minister suggested. Today, more than a year later, South Korea has neither banned cryptocurrency trading nor shut down local crypto exchanges, and the Korean government continues to discuss better crypto regulation. Influence From Other Countries The Indian Ministry of Finance also revealed in its summary report that the Department of Revenue had been working with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on its guidance on crypto assets. The report reads: Department of Revenue has been actively involved in the working papers being developed by the FATF on various issues (such as virtual currency, proliferation financing among) which will act as guidance for the member countries. The FATF is expected to release this new guidance on June 21 at the completion of its plenary week which is going on right now. Recently, India’s new finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, attended the G20 Finance Minister and Central Bank Governors Meeting in Fukuoka, Japan, where crypto regulation was discussed. India, along with other G20 countries, has reaffirmed its support for the FATF’s recommendations. G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting in Japan on June 8-9. India will also participate in the G20 summit on June 28-29 in Japan, a country where cryptocurrency is welcome and legal as a means of payment. Japan has legalized 19 crypto exchanges and over 140 companies have expressed interest in market entry, the country’s top financial regulator told news.Bitcoin.com. Recently, big players have entered the space including Yahoo Japan which launched its own crypto exchange and Rakuten, the country’s e-commerce giant. Time to Make a Difference, Finance Minister Is Listening While Garg himself has reportedly said that the report containing the recommended crypto regulation is ready to be submitted to the finance minister, a bill has not been introduced or approved. Any draft bill will have to go through many approval steps before it becomes law. India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Sitharaman, who succeeded Arun Jaitley, tweeted on June 5: Grateful for every thought/idea that’s being shared by scholars, economists and enthusiasts through print, electronic, and on social media. I read many of them; also, my team carefully collates them for me. Value every bit. Thanks. Please keep them coming. The Indian crypto community has been tweeting to Sitharaman and other lawmakers for positive crypto regulation. Nischal Shetty, CEO of local crypto exchange Wazirx, started his “India Wants Crypto” social media campaign about 230 days ago which has been increasingly gaining support from the community. “The objective of this campaign is to be heard by our lawmakers. India needs to be at the forefront of the crypto revolution,” he wrote. Furthermore, a petition has been started on Change.org for the government to accelerate the implementation of the crypto regulation and dispel rumors surrounding the matter. At the time of writing, over 2,300 have signed. Meanwhile, the Indian supreme court is expected to hear about the report from the Garg committee as well as address the banking restriction by the central bank on July 23. The G20 summit will take place on June 28 and 29 while the FATF is set to release its new guidance for crypto assets on June 21. How do you think India will finally regulate cryptocurrency? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, the Times, the Japanese government, and the Indian government. Are you feeling lucky? Visit our official Bitcoin casino where you can play BCH slots, BCH poker, and many more BCH games. Every game has a progressive Bitcoin Cash jackpot to be won! The post Indian Government Shed Light on Proposed Crypto Regulation 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. Security for digital assets: Investors, exchanges, custodians Hacking is a front and center issue for digital asset exchanges. Especially given its worrying year-over-year increases, from US$152mn in 2016 to US$950mn in 2018. Our current year 2019 has already posted over US$1bn in lost assets due to hacking, which puts security as a paramount consideration for digital asset markets to continue growing and maturing. Security for investors Investors store digital assets in hot and cold wallets. As a brief recap, a hot wallet is connected to the Internet and is largely used like a conventional checking account – for day to day transactions and transfers. Only the amounts needed for such uses are stored there, as its visibility on the Internet makes it the most prone to hacking; and indeed, all of the hacking previously mentioned happened to assets being stored in hot wallets on exchanges. A cold wallet is disconnected from the Internet and is the digital equivalent of a savings account; such is where the majority of an investor’s assets are held. It is safer and more secure than a hot wallet. Because of the inherent vulnerabilities of hot wallets, investors are advised to balance them with cold wallets for the storing of their assets. But cold wallets also have vulnerabilities – for example, the private key, which is needed for all transactions, might be lost; or the holder of a private key may be otherwise coerced into giving it up through threats of various kinds. Enter the role of next-generation exchanges like ANXONE, which have designed best-in-class security measures to protect investor’s assets and safeguard against hacking. Features include highly secure vaults, hot and cold wallet storage, multi-layer security protocols for both hardware and software, and a governance framework built by a team of seasoned security technologists. Security for exchanges The large-scale hacks of the past few years are evidence that hackers have become increasingly sophisticated. It is thus imperative for exchanges to be uncompromising in their approach to security. Exchange technology providers like ANXONE have a ready solution for those wishing to set up and operate an exchange for trading digital assets. Although their exchange solution covers all essential pillars – liquidity, performance, compliance, and security – its approach to security is particularly noteworthy, due to it being designed specifically for the needs of institutional investors. And because such investors require rigorous security assurances, ANXONE has had to design their solution to deliver unparalleled controls for preventing hacks and other threat vectors. The emergence of custody Parallel to improvements of exchange security has been the emergence and growth of digital asset custody solutions, which are being hailed as a turning point for the token economy. Seen as a necessary prerequisite for institutional investors to enter digital asset markets and as a general advancement in security, custody is promising greater protection for investors’ assets. ANXONE has developed and launched a one-stop, professional-grade custody solution to do just that. Its features include security infrastructure built in DoD-certified (Department of Defence) faraday cages and operated from top tier data centers; customized wallet solutions, which include the ability for clients to conduct frozen-wallet-only fund transfers and the option to integrate with industrial wallet solutions or manage their own cold storage systems; crime insurance, offered through a panel of London-based, third-party insurers arranged by AON; and a platform that is regularly updated in terms of its supported tokens, technology, processes, and security protocols. About ANXONE Solutions ANXONE Solutions is an industry pioneer and provider of blockchain technologies with a growing suite of products and services. Our digital asset exchange solution enables you to build a branded exchange and deploy it within 30 days. We manage end-to-end development, configuration and implementation of your turnkey platform, so you can focus on launching and growing your business. Our custody solution is the first to be insured and audited in Asia, and covers hot and cold wallets. It is a proprietary solution designed to meet the full range of custodial needs – digital security, physical security, process security, insurance, customized wallet solutions, and more – for trading in digital assets. To learn more, visit ANXONE website or contact sales@anxone.io. Contact Email Address rafael@cryptocoin.news Supporting Link https://anxone.io/turn-key-solution?&utm_source=Bitcoin.com&utm_medium=advertorial&utm_campaign=SolutionsJun&utm_content=Security 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 PR: Anxone Provides Multi-Layer Security For Crypto Storage appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In the last two years, a Cambrian explosion of cryptocurrency exchanges has given traders a plethora of options. This cornucopia of choice has not resulted in a corresponding increase in quality, however. Most of the platforms that emerged in 2018 have struggled to gain traction, with tier one exchanges increasing their market share and the long tail leaving the also-rans to fight over the crumbs. In 2019, a new crop of crypto exchanges seem determined to learn from the mistakes of their predecessors. This year, differentiation is everything. Also read: These Are 2019’s Biggest Cryptocurrency Winners and Losers so Far Collaboration and Differentiation Are This Year’s Exchange Trends Two seemingly opposing trends are emerging in the crypto exchange landscape. The first of these, as recently reported, has seen crypto exchanges list one another’s native tokens in a quid pro quo arrangement. Bitfinex has added a number of rival exchange tokens, while Kucoin bit the bullet this week and listed BNB. The prospects of Binance returning the favor and listing KCS seem unlikely, though CZ was swift to congratulate Kucoin on its decision, describing it as a “very smart move” that will “attract BNB traders and holders, especially users we had not been able to service.” Exchanges need good projects. How many exchanges can afford to not have access to Binance Chain tokens/projects? If you are going to support it sooner or later, then sooner is better. — CZ Binance (@cz_binance) June 19, 2019 While some exchanges have been cosying up to the competition, others have pulled in the opposite direction, seeking to distinguish themselves from their rivals through introducing new features and services, and deploying token models that do more than simply ape BNB. It’s taken time to germinate, but exchanges are starting to realize that mindlessly mimicking the market leaders is not a recipe for success. Cryptocurrency exchanges that are willing to innovate stand a better chance of grabbing enough market share to last the course. Coinsbit Exchange Adds New Features Coinsbit is introducing a number of novel services that will help to distinguish the exchange from the competition. A P2P lending service will enable microfinance, with users able to lend and borrow money via the Coinsbit platform. Borrowers are not obliged to produce their credit history, and can obtain finance while maintaining their privacy. The exchange is also planning an invest box service, which remunerates users who deposit cryptocurrency in the form of interest paid on various coins. Digitex Tries a Different Token Model Digitex is trying an unusual token model. The forthcoming futures exchange promises a zero-fee system subsidized by a low inflationary model in which new tokens can be minted with the approval of existing DGTX token owners. The platform’s CEO, Adam Todd, explained to news.Bitcoin.com how this model “allows us to operate sustainably without ever charging any transaction fees on any trades … allowing our traders to pursue high volume trading strategies with very low profit margins that are not viable on fee charging exchanges.” He added: This creates highly liquid markets where the most active traders are encouraged to create liquidity instead of being penalized by commissions. On top of that, by not constantly draining liquidity from the exchange in the form of trading fees, traders on our exchange have a much higher chance of winning because that money is instead available to be won by other traders. Other exchanges, seeking to find their niche, include Bilaxy, which, together with the likes of Bitmax, is attracting a reputation for listing new tokens first. In the last 24 hours, the two platforms succeeded in listing algorand ahead of Binance, Kucoin and Coinbase Custody. With cryptocurrency prices surging again, renewed public interest will incentivize the creation of yet more crypto exchanges. Most won’t gain enough traction to make a dent in the market. The ones that survive will demonstrate that they are capable of doing more than copying the market leaders. What’s your favorite exchange for trading? 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 Competition Is Forcing Cryptocurrency Exchanges to Get Creative appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article