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The last six months has witnessed significant growth in the number of businesses and banks launching cryptocurrency custodial services. These solutions give institutional investors peace of mind that their assets are secure, insured, and under the care of a trusted third party, freeing them from responsibility for safeguarding their cryptocurrency. Also Read: Fidelity Launching Crypto Custody and Trading Services Recent Crypto Custodianship Launches The number of crypto custody solutions being launched is growing rapidly. These services are aimed at institutional investors such as hedge funds, family offices and market intermediaries. According to research by the Bank of New York Mellon, there is increasing demand in the market for a traditional, established custodian to provide secure storage of cryptocurrencies. For many it is the bridge that will support institutional capital moving into the cryptocurrency market. There have been reports of major banks testing and in some cases rolling out crypto custody solutions. Most recently, Swiss investment bank Vontobel launched the ‘Digital Asset Vault.’ The service allows Vontobel’s clients, which include over 100 banks and wealth managers, to issue instructions for the purchase, custody and transfer of digital assets integrated within their familiar banking infrastructure and regulated environment. The German stock exchange Börse Stuttgart has launched a custody service for digital assets. State Street, Fidelity and Coinbase also offer services. Regulation in the U.S. requires advisers to keep client funds with a qualified custodian. Across the pond, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has raised the issue that there is no harmonized definition of safekeeping and record-keeping for ownership of securities. This in turn makes it difficult to apply custodial requirements to a new asset class such as cryptocurrency. ESMA believes that greater clarity around the types of services and activities that may qualify as custodial under EU financial services rules, in a DLT framework, is needed. Custodial Services Are for Traditional Financial Banks Paul Puey, CEO of cryptocurrency wallet Edge, explained that while there has been a rapid increase in custody solutions, this trend has been limited to the traditional financial world of banks and funds that don’t leverage any of the utility and value of crypto. He said: “This would be akin to 1990s internet companies filing for telephone regulations to build VOIP solutions to replace phone carriers. Nothing very disruptive would come from that. Crypto is unique and powerful because custodians aren’t needed to hold digital value. We can replace institutional crypto investors with non-custodial apps that hold the money for users.” It can be argued, however, that custody services are critical to the efficient functioning of financial markets. As highlighted above by the SEC and ESMA, these often require regulation in order to protect investors from potential misappropriation of their assets. Michael Ou, CEO of Coolbitx, explained that regulatory factors will play a big role in driving compliance efforts of digital asset exchanges, particularly those in the U.S. or serving U.S. customers, saying: Custody providers face a simple fact: KYC/AML compliance is a major time and resource strain. In traditional finance, you will hardly see a single entity offering KYC/AML compliance, a large marketplace of buyers and sellers, custody, and all other services that a single exchange offers now. He explained that as the market matures, so does the division of labor within the market. Therefore it is far easier for exchanges to work with entities specializing in custody. According to Michael Ou, investors can expect to see custody solutions become a mainstream component of the cryptocurrency industry in the months and years ahead. What are your thoughts on the growth of crypto custody solutions? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Why Cryptocurrency Custody Solutions Are on the Rise appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

According to local media, a Swedish cryptocurrency trader is anticipating receiving a tax bill of approximately $1 million after conducting approximately $2.9 million worth of trades across tens of thousands of transactions made since 2014. The trader claims that the tax bill will equate to 300 percent of the profits he has earned rather than 30 percent due to failing to report the price that he paid for his cryptocurrency. Also Read: Airdrop Causes Exchange to Accidentally Send BTC to Customers Swedish Trader Faces $1 Million Tax Bill After Failing to Report Cost-Basis Swedish media has reported on Linus Dunker, a cryptocurrency trader who is expecting to receive a bill of roughly 8 million Swedish Kroner ($1 million) for tens of thousands of transactions made during the last five years. Dunker has described the anticipated tax demand as “absurd,” claiming that he will pay three times that which he profited from the trades. “I will pay 300 percent of the profit instead of 30 percent. It should not be legal,” he said. The expected hike in Dunker’s tax obligations results from the trader failing to report the price paid for the cryptocurrency he purchased, which he claimed was exchanged for cash. As such, Dunker is predicting that the tax agency will charge him at a zero-cost basis, in addition to being charged as a business activity rather than a personal activity, causing transactions incurring double the tax obligations. Trader Claims Tax Bill Will Equate to 300 Percent of Profits Recounting the day when several representatives of the Swedish Tax Agency came to his house, Dunker stated: “There were many in the stairs. I think it was four or five people.” According to media outlet Svt Nyheter, the representatives took notes on everything that he owned, including Dunker’s “car model, the summer cottage, the name of the dog Charlie, two TV sets and so on.” Dunker added that he had previously contacted the tax agency regarding his declaration but did not expect the agency to take such severe action against him. Control coordinator with the Swedish Tax Agency, Henrik Kisterud, noted that while the agency is not currently 100 percent certain as to Dunker’s obligations, it is very confident in the accuracy of its judgments pertaining to Dunker’s cryptocurrency activities. “We should not go here and say that we are 100 percent safe. But we think we have a good basis in these investigations where we have made judgments about business activities,” Kisterud said. What is your response to Dunker’s tax situation? Share your thoughts in the comments section below! Images courtesy of Shutterstock At Bitcoin.com there’s a bunch of free helpful services. For instance, have you seen our Tools page? You can even lookup the exchange rate for a transaction in the past. Or calculate the value of your current holdings. Or create a paper wallet. And much more. The post Swedish Trader Expects to Pay 300% of Crypto Profits to Tax Agency appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Tuesday’s installment of The Daily details new tools that are helping users safely navigate the cryptocurrency ecosystem. From making an informed decision about which exchanges to trust to tracking blockchain transactions with Enjinx, we cover a selection of developments from across the cryptosphere, before finishing with a trip to the darknet where KYC documents are allegedly up for sale. Also read: How to Buy Bitcoin Anonymously 100 Crypto Exchanges’ Security Assessed Over the last few months, Crypto Exchange Ranks (CER) has been shining a light on the practices of the exchanges tasked with protecting customer funds and fairly reporting trading volume and other metrics. While a good number of exchanges act ethically, there is a lot of unscrupulous operators out there. In its latest report, CER has applied a security score to the top 100 exchanges, ranking them for server security, user security, and an ongoing crowdsourced security assessment. The top 20 exchanges for security according to CER Just nine exchanges scored more than 8/10 in the report, with the top four comprising Kraken followed by Coinbase Pro, Binance, and Bitmex. Not surprisingly, the exchanges that received the lowest score were troubled by hacks during 2018. Bithumb, Coincheck, and Zaif all scored less than 5/10. Enjinx Launches New Block Explorer Enjinx has launched its new blockchain explorer. The tool, for interacting with the Ethereum network, is characterized by a clean and minimal design that sets it apart from traditional blockchain explorers. The Enjinx team is aiming to position its new resource in direct competition to Etherscan, the most popular explorer within the Ethereum ecosystem. Transactions, blocks, and ERC20 tokens can all be browsed, with the most popular Ethereum tokens ranked by 24-hour volume, price change, and market cap. Enjinx is now working on integrating Bitcoin Core, Litecoin, and Dogecoin explorers in a bid to become the go-to tool for cryptocurrency users seeking to query public blockchains. The project’s Ethereum explorer is also scheduled to be upgraded further to incorporate data on ERC1155 and ERC721 non-fungible tokens. Bitfinex Denies Security Breach After KYC Details Surface on Darknet Customers of several leading crypto exchanges have had their personal details leaked according to a darknet hacker. “ExploitDOT” claims to have the details of 100,000 crypto customers, including selfies, passport scans, and other identification documents. The allegedly stolen data is believed to originate from early 2018 and pertains to Binance, Bitfinex, Poloniex and Bittrex. Bitfinex has issued a denial that it has suffered a security breach, though given that the hack is thought to have come from a third party KYC processor, this doesn’t mean that Bitfinex users are unaffected. On darknet forum Dread, ExploitDOT insisted that his trove of documents was legitimate, writing “if you ever sent a KYC, chances are … your documents [are] in my dump,” adding that “the exchanges are completely denying the documents were took from them, whereas there is clearly docs with ‘Binance’, ‘Poloniex’ and such written on the paper.” While the veracity of the haul is debated, the story has reaffirmed to many in the crypto community something they have always known: enforced KYC makes everyone less secure. What are your thoughts on the stories in today’s news roundup? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post The Daily: 100 Exchanges’ Security Rated, Enjinx Block Explorer Launches appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A South Korean crypto exchange mistakenly sent its customers BTC and other cryptocurrencies due to an error during an airdrop. Some users immediately sold the coins, causing the prices of a number of cryptocurrencies on the exchange to sharply fall. The exchange said, however, that the majority of customers have agreed to return the assets. Also read: Indian Supreme Court Moves Crypto Hearing, Community Calls for Positive Regulations Airdrop Error South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Coinzest reportedly sent its customers BTC and other cryptocurrencies while trying to airdrop WGT tokens. The exchange posted a notice on its website that at approximately 18:30 p.m. Korean time on Jan. 18: The WGT token airdrop process caused a computer error that incorrectly reflected the deposit details of some customers’ assets … we took measures to immediately check the server to prevent any additional damage as a result of the sales and purchases of some misappropriated assets by some customers. The exchange’s computer program “allocated a particular cryptocurrency to the event,” Sedaily explained on Monday, noting that “Coinzest originally tried to airdrop 30,000 WGT coins, but accidentally entered data to airdrop other coins.” An official of the exchange said that about 400 members were supposed to receive WGT tokens, Hankyung publication reported, adding that other cryptocurrencies such as BTC and ETH were sent to members’ wallets. The news outlet elaborated that “about 10 members tried to sell about KRW 600 million worth [~$530,000] of cryptocurrencies or to withdraw money in Korean won even though they recognized the mistake of depositing money and computer errors. [Therefore] there has been a problem of rapid price decline.” The price of BTC and a number of other cryptocurrencies on Coinzest subsequently plummeted at about 7 p.m. Korean time on Jan. 18, with BTC’s price falling to 999,000 won (~$883) from over 4 million won. Prices of cryptocurrencies on Coinzest at about 6 p.m. Korean time on Jan. 18. Image credit: Blockinpress/Coinpan. Image credit: Sedaily Asking Customers to Return Assets After detecting the problem, Coinzest immediately halted trading and performed a server checkup, according to a notice on its website. It then resumed trading the next day. “The asset and transaction information was restored to 18:33:18 on the 18th, the last time a normal transaction occurred before the computer error occurred,” the exchange clarified. Hankyung detailed: Coinzest immediately contacted the customers and asked them to return their assets. The majority of the members promised to return [them]. Coinzest CEO Jeon Jong-hee was quoted by the publication as saying, “I am extremely sorry that I have caused an unexpected computational error to customers … I am very sorry for my customers.” He added that his exchange’s emergency response system will be strengthened to prevent the problem from recurring. An official of another cryptocurrency exchange commented that the fact that a staff’s mistake can lead to this error means “there is always a possibility of tampering with the exchange system,” Sedaily reported. He further asserted that the government will not be able to trust exchanges to manage transaction records. In April last year, another South Korean crypto exchange, Cashierest, suffered an internal system error that allowed its users to withdraw more coins than they requested. What do you think of Coinzest’s airdrop error? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Coinzest, Blockinpress, and Coinpan. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Airdrop Causes Exchange to Accidentally Send BTC to Customers appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Buying bitcoin is not a revolutionary act. Nor should it be. And yet the way statists, apparatchiks and politicians bang on, you’d think the mere act of acquiring digital currency was akin to receiving the keys to a pandora’s box in which lurks every illicit artifact known to man. One day, these dinosaurs will begrudgingly concede that buying bitcoin is no more seditious than buying a soda with a $20 bill. But until then, you’ll want to preserve your privacy when acquiring cryptocurrency. Also read: Wasabi’s Privacy-Focused BTC Wallet Aims to Make Bitcoin Fungible Again Buy Your Bitcoin, Keep Your Privacy The reasons why you might want to keep bitcoin ownership to yourself don’t require rehashing. Put simply, though, it’s no one’s damn business what you want to do with your money or how you wish to store your wealth. In the future, governmental scrutiny of bitcoin ownership will look as archaic and benighted as state intrusion into the religious or sexual preferences of its citizens. By the time that day comes, bitcoin may be worth a lot more than it is today. The steps you take to preserve your privacy in the present, therefore, may prove particularly precious in the future. Just think about 2011 bitcoiners who had no need to conceal their ownership at the time, only to find themselves sitting ducks once those bitcoins multiplied 3,000x by 2017. Anonymously buying bitcoin in small amounts is relatively easy, though getting your hands on larger quantities without having to jump through hoops can be harder. Just as it’s common practice to use fake personal details when signing into public wifi, the same can be done when buying bitcoin through ATMs and terminals such as the newly repurposed Coinstar machines. Doing so will require a burner phone or a secondary SIM card that isn’t tied to your real world identity. Alternatively, search for “receive SMS online” to find links to services that will provide you with a one-time number. Buying Bitcoin in Person In addition to BATMs, which can be used to buy a few hundred bucks’ worth of crypto at a time, P2P sites like Localbitcoins.com enable you to locate sellers in your area and meet them in person. Better still, if you have acquaintances who work in the cryptocurrency industry or mine crypto, you should be able to purchase bitcoin directly from them, since they’ll be obliged to periodically liquidate some of their coins for fiat to cover living expenses. Newly mined coins are particularly precious (which is why they’ve been known to fetch a premium on OTC markets) because they have no history associated with them. Purchasing bitcoin face-to-face (or face-to-ATM) brings its own risks, of course, particularly from a privacy perspective. If you would prefer it that no one knew of your business – not the miner you’re buying crypto from, nor the surveillance cameras watching you feed banknotes into the BATM in the 7/11 – you’d be better served transacting online. While this removes the ability to transact in cash, there are privacy gains to be made elsewhere. Anonymously Buying Bitcoin Online Finding a bitcoin marketplace that won’t KYC the hell out of you isn’t easy, but there is one platform that stands out from all the boot-licking exchanges willing to do the government’s bidding. Its name is Bisq, and what it lacks in liquidity and spot prices, it makes up for in privacy. The range of payment methods the P2P marketplace accepts is extensive: face-to-face is even an option, if you’re fortunate enough to live within range of a seller. Generally speaking, you’ll need to make payment using an e-wallet or bank transfer. While this entails certain compromises from a privacy perspective, it’s easy to disguise the nature of the transaction using a generic banking reference such as “Car” or “Video editing.” Just as Localbitcoins.com will connect you with sellers willing to meet face-to-face, it will link you online in a manner similar to Bisq. Once again, if paying by bank transfer, you can put whatever you like on the pay-in reference, as most sellers do, as putting “bitcoin” on a bank reference is asking for account suspension. (This will change one day, but by the time it does, banks will no longer be relevant and will be begging bitcoiners for business.) It’s easy to set up a Localbitcoins account using a private email account, such as Protonmail, and a fake social media account and burner number if you’re particularly cautious. Hodl Hodl is another P2P market where verification is optional rather than enforced. The number of available offers is low, but Hodl Hodl has a wider range of cryptocurrencies including XMR and EOS. Buy Privately Then Stay Private Anonymity measures shouldn’t end the moment you’ve bought bitcoin. It’s an ongoing mindset that calls for using privacy-centric wallets such as Wasabi, avoiding sending funds to exchanges that enforce KYC, and also avoiding address reuse. But those are all topics we’ll cover in one of our next “How To” guides. Like bitcoin itself, privacy is likely to become an increasingly precious commodity in the years to come. The steps you take now to preserve yours will pay future dividends. What other platforms do you recommend for buying bitcoin without KYC? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post How to Buy Bitcoin Anonymously appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Have you ever thought about creating a cryptocurrency giveaway during a hosted event? Now you can create your own crypto-based sweepstakes with Bitcoin.com’s event paper wallet generator. With Bitcoin.com’s Golden Ticket program and open source code, the software allows anyone to develop fantastic tickets funded with bitcoin cash (BCH). Also Read: Peer-to-Peer Trading Platform Bitquick Implements Bitcoin Cash Support Create Your Own Bitcoin Cash Giveaway With Bitcoin.com’s Golden Ticket Software At Bitcoin.com we love to spread cryptocurrency awareness. In order to further grow adoption in a fun way this month, we decided to publish the open source Bitcoin.com Golden Ticket repository which can be found on Github. The code allows anyone with a light knowledge of terminal command prompts to create amazing giveaway tickets loaded with BCH. The Golden Ticket platform allows the creator to choose a custom mnemonic language or Hierarchical Deterministic (HD) key creation. But it also generates HTML, pdf, and a spreadsheet mapping of the Cashddr format, Privkey, and index the swept status of each golden ticket. Alongside this, the giveaway ticket creators can redeem unswept BCH after a certain period of time. Spread adoption with Bitcoin.com’s Golden Ticket. Bitcoin.com’s Golden Ticket program requires the installation of Nodejs LTS version 8 and use of the computer’s terminal application to run command lines. After Nodejs has been added, the user simply clones the Golden Ticket Github repo and installs the dependencies. There are seven actions within the workflow, comprising generating a wallet, creating addresses, initiating a CSV, funding the mothership address, funding secondary addresses, generating stats, and lastly reclaiming the funds that were unswept. How to Create Custom Golden Tickets Bitcoin.com’s Golden Ticket app requires Nodejs and a little terminal prompt knowledge. The first thing to do is generate a 256-bit mnemonic and BIP44 BCH address by typing “npm run generate-wallet” into the terminal. After that, you will be prompted to choose a language out of the eight available. If you don’t enter a language, the Golden Ticket program will default to English. Following this choice, you should choose an HD path. If nothing custom is chosen, it will default to the BIP44 account of your mnemonic: m/44’/145’/0′. From here you can choose a custom name for the giveaway ticket event or choose to leave it as is and let the name default to “Golden Ticket.” After the name is chosen, it will write to the owner’s mnemonic, HD Path, and the mothership address. The address, called the mothership, is the address an individual or organization funds in order to fund all the other generated addresses. After running the command line “npm run create-addresses” the program will prompt the creator for an event name, HD Account and an address count. You can verify the addresses created by typing “npm run create-csv” and follow this step by funding the mothership address. Our Golden Ticket program shows the mothership’s written alphanumeric address alongside a QR code that’s easy to fund. After the wallet is loaded, simply type “npm run fund-addresses” to begin adding bitcoin cash to the satellite addresses tethered to the mothership. From here, the lotto tickets can be printed on paper or card material in order to hand out at an event. After the event finishes, you can simply run the Golden Ticket software and enter “npm run generate-stats” into the terminal to generate basic stats about the event’s tickets. If a lot of people in the crowd decided not to sweep the bitcoin cash into a mobile wallet or desktop client at home, the mothership can have funds sent back after a certain period of time. If the creator wishes, the custom giveaway tickets can have a disclaimer on them explaining there is a time frame for redemption. We gave away Golden Tickets loaded with BCH at the Libertycon 2019 event in Washington D.C. Giveaways generate a lot of excitement and we think funded tickets with the best peer-to-peer cash system in the world go hand in hand with cool events. Bitcoin.com recently gave out a ton of Golden Tickets to participants at Liberty Con 2019 in Washington D.C. and the initiative was a great success. If you want to learn how to make your very own bitcoin cash-funded Golden Tickets then check out our repository for more instructions on installation and funding. What do you think about Bitcoin.com’s Golden Ticket software? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. Image credits: Bitcoin.com, Twitter, David L. Wolper, Creative Commons, and Nodejs. Want to create your own secure cold storage paper wallet? Check our tools section. The post Host a BCH Giveaway With Bitcoin.com’s Golden Ticket Software appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Last year, Sindri Stefansson was arrested for his part in what has been described as the biggest heist Iceland has seen – over $2 million worth of Bitcoin mining equipment stolen in an operation that left police baffled. He has now been jailed for four and a half years along with his team of thieves. Also read: Iceland’s ‘Big Bitcoin Heist’: Suspects Charged With Over $2M in Stolen Mining Rigs ‘Big Bitcoin Heist’ Sindri Por Stefansson hit headlines last year after managing to escape from his jail cell following his arrest for stealing millions of dollars of mining equipment. Local media have since reported that he was sentenced to four-and-a-half years’ imprisonment last week. His six other partners in crime were jailed for a total of nine years and seven months. Advania, the mining company that the gear was stolen from, received over $200,000 in compensation. The crime, dubbed the ‘Big Bitcoin Heist’ by the media, saw the men steal over 600 mining computers from Advania. The equipment has yet to be recovered. Stefansson managed to escape from Sogn prison and board a flight to Stockholm at the international airport in Keflavik. According to police, he was using someone else’s passport. In an even stranger twist, Stefansson found himself on the same plane as the country’s prime minister while on the run. He was later arrested in Amsterdam. In an interview with the New York Times, Stefansson said he was looking at international flights on his phone – which weren’t prohibited in his prison – before he booked one and climbed out of his low-security jail cell window. After hitchhiking to Keflavik, he grabbed a plane from the country’s largest airport to Stockholm and from there got to Amsterdam via train, bus and taxi. Not the First Heist Stefansson’s case made headlines around the world because low-crime Iceland, with its population of little over 338,000, is a difficult place to be a fugitive – let alone flee from. In the heist, Stefansson and his crew were reportedly able to steal 225 fully functional Bitmain mining rigs with the help of an insider, and wore security uniforms as part of their deception. It wasn’t their first attempt to steal from bitcoin miners, either. In December 2017 the group had stolen 100 mining rigs from Algrim Consulting and later tried to steal from the Borealis Data Center (BDC), but were unable to get away with their haul after they set off an alarm. Police revealed the group also tried to steal from BDC Mines a couple of days later but again failed, though were successful at the Borgarnes mining facility. There was a further attempt at BDC Mines but alarms again foiled their plans. Iceland has become a hotspot for bitcoin and cryptocurrency mining due its large amount of renewable energy and cold weather which helps keeps computers cool. What do you think about the Icelandic mining thieves and their sentencing? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comment section below. Images via Shutterstock and the Reykjavík Metropolitan Police. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Mastermind Who Planned Iceland’s Biggest Bitcoin Heist Jailed for 4.5 Years appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A regulatory working group in South Africa, which includes the country’s central bank, has released a consultation paper on crypto assets this week. According to the document, all exchanges, wallet providers, Bitcoin ATMs and payment processors will have to register with the government in 2019. Also Read: Bitpay Reports Processing Over $1 Billion Transactions in 2018 Consultation Paper on Crypto Assets South Africa’s Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC), Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), National Treasury (NT), the South African Revenue Service (SARS), and the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) jointly released on Wednesday their consultation paper on crypto assets. The group was formed to review the state of cryptocurrency in the country under the Intergovernmental Fintech Working Group (IFWG) at the start of 2018. The paper includes background on the subject and provides the scope of the activities that have been assessed. It highlights the benefits and risks, as defined by the regulators, reviews the approaches taken by other jurisdictions, and presents recommendations for dealing with crypto assets from a local perspective. The South African public and impacted parties have been asked to provide comments on the document by Feb. 15, 2019, and the regulators promise that the input will help determine the way in which crypto assets will be regulated. Crypto Service Providers Will Have to Register The group recommends that crypto assets remain without legal tender status and not recognized as electronic money, but they won’t be banned for now. It proposes a regulatory framework to be developed in phases, starting with a registration process for crypto asset service providers. This could eventually lead to formal authorization as a licensed operator in South Africa. Registration will be required for all cryptocurrency trading platforms, vending machines (Bitcoin ATMs), wallet providers, custodial services and payment service providers. The paper also recommends that crypto asset service providers be required to comply with AML/CFT regulations under South Africa’s Financial Intelligence Centre Act. This means that the companies will have to conduct ongoing monitoring of their clients, keep records of their activities and file reports on suspicious and unusual transactions, including all cash transactions of 25,000 South African rand (around $1,900) and above. Details about the registration process will be published later and it is expected to be implemented in the first quarter of 2019. Is this development good for cryptocurrency users in South Africa? 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 Satoshi’s Pulse, another original and free service from Bitcoin.com. The post South Africa Wants to Mandate Registration of Crypto Service Providers appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Last year’s falling prices are not a good enough reason to “bury” cryptocurrencies, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said during a high-level economic conference. He believes Russia should carefully follow the developments around digital coins. Also read: Clickbait Media Uses Bitcoin and Russia to Pump Headlines Again Russia Should Watch Carefully Medvedev thinks the Russian Federation should watch the situation with cryptocurrencies, whose rates “showed extreme volatility” in an extremely bearish 2018. The value of some digital assets fell five-fold, the head of the Russian government noted during his appearance at the annual Gaidar economic forum. Quoted by Tass, he further elaborated: This, of course, is not a reason to bury them. As with any social phenomenon, any economic institute, there are both bright sides and dark sides. That’s why the Chairman of the Russian Council of Ministers says Russia should simply carefully follow what’s happening with cryptocurrencies. Digital financial assets, a term applied to cryptocurrencies in official Russian documents, remain unregulated in the country. However, Medvedev’s comments come just weeks before the lower house of the Russian parliament, the State Duma, is expected to review on second reading a package of draft laws aimed at establishing order in the crypto industry. Dmitry Medvedev, Prime Minister of Russia Three bills were voted on first reading in the Duma in last May – “On Digital Financial Assets,” “On Attracting Investments Using Investment Platforms,” and “On Digital Rights.” Their final adoption was postponed multiple times but is now among the priorities for the spring session of the house. The drafts are part of a long list of bills designed to regulate different aspects of the digital economy. ‘Why Regulate What We Don’t Understand’ The Gaidar forum is an international event which is held at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (Ranepa). Each year, it brings together economists, scientists, officials, political figures, and businessmen from around the world to discuss current trends in the socio-economic and political development of Russia. The country’s business environment and investment climate as well as the prospects for its integration in the global economy are some of the major topics of the conference. Herman Gref, CEO of Sberbank Russia does not need excessive regulation in the digital economy sector, said Sberbank CEO Herman Gref who was among this year’s participants in the forum. During a session devoted to digitalization, he pointed to the EU as bad example, noting that the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) directive has stopped progress in the fields of data technologies and artificial intelligence in Europe. Gref, who was Russia’s minister of economic development and trade between 2000 and 2007, also noted there’s no full understanding in the country about what should be regulated in the digital sphere. Quoted by Russian media, he emphasized: There is no need to hurry with regulation. It is not necessary to regulate what we still don’t fully see and understand. Тhe prominent Russian banker warned that overregulation could hurt the development of new technologies in his country. Gref also said he favors the approach adopted by China and the United States where, in his words, no tight regulation has been applied yet. During his speech, Gref called on the Russian government to refrain from introducing state monopolies in the development of new technologies and digital ecosystems. “Non-competitive models lead to non-competitiveness of any business model,” concluded the chief executive of the largest Russian bank, which is a state-owned company. What are your expectations about future Russian policy toward cryptocurrencies? Tell us in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Make sure you do not miss any important Bitcoin-related news! Follow our news feed any which way you prefer; via Twitter, Facebook, Telegram, RSS or email (scroll down to the bottom of this page to subscribe). We’ve got daily, weekly and quarterly summaries in newsletter form. Bitcoin never sleeps. Neither do we. The post No Reason to ‘Bury’ Cryptocurrencies, Russian PM Medvedev Says appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A lot has changed since our last markets update as digital asset prices have been consolidating after the cryptoconomy’s last big drop in value. The entire ecosystem’s market valuation has lost about $10 billion over the last week, but stronger global trade volumes have managed to keep values afloat at current prices as traders await the next big wave of movement. Also Read: Embracing Utility in 2019: Unreliable Crypto Networks Will Lose to Hyperbitcoinization A Strong Scent of Uncertainty In the Air Another week has passed in cryptocurrency land, during which most digital asset markets have been consolidating tightly into a downward triangular pattern. At the moment, the entire crypto economy of all 2,000+ assets is hovering at about $120 billion with around $15.6 billion worth of global trades. Currently, bitcoin core (BTC) prices are meandering just above $3,650 with a market capitalization of about $63.8 billion. BTC captures roughly $5.2 billion in trade volume but the asset is down 2.6% for the week. Top 10 cryptocurrency markets Jan. 17, 2019. The second largest market valuation belongs to ripple (XRP) this Thursday, as each coin is swapping for $0.32 per unit. This gives XRP a market cap of around $13.4 billion and the market’s 24-hour volume is about $418 million worth of global trades. Ethereum (ETH) is trading for $122 per coin on global spot markets with a $12.8 billion market valuation. The cryptocurrency is down 0.96% today and 6.4% for the week. Lastly, eos (EOS) is up 0.86% today as each coin is trading for $2.43 per unit. Eos has around $667 million worth of 24-hour trades and a market cap of about $2.2 billion. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Market Action Bitcoin cash (BCH) is trading for $132 per coin and has a market cap of about $2.3 billion this Thursday. BCH is currently up a hair at 1.02% during the last 24 hours, but the currency is down 4% for the week. The top five exchanges trading the most bitcoin cash today are Coinsuper (BCH/BTC), Huobi (BCH/USDT), P2pb2b (BCH/ETH), Dragonx (BCH/USDT), and Fatbtc (BCH/CNY). The dominating currency paired with BCH today is ETH as it captures 44.9% of trades. This is followed by USDT (29%), BTC (15.4%), USD (5.9%), EUR (1.7%), and JPY (1.5%). BCH is the seventh most traded coin by volume below XRP’s global volume and just above dash. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) market action seven-day chart on Jan. 17, 2019. BCH/USD Technical Indicators Looking at the four-hour charts on Bitstamp for BCH/USD shows there’s been a lot of changes since our last markets update. Things look more bearish, as the two Simple Moving Averages (SMA) have once again crossed hairs and the long-term 200 SMA is now above the 100 SMA trendline. This indicates that currently the path toward the least resistance is in favor of the bears. RSI levels are meandering in the indecisive middle range (~46.5) which is neither oversold nor overbought at press time. BCH/USD Bitstamp 4 hour. Jan. 17, 2019. Stochastic shows similar readings and the MACd indicates some downward pressure over the short term. Looking ahead at order books shows similar resistance between the current vantage point and $135 and even larger walls between that range and $155. If the bears remain in control then they will see pit stops and strong buying between now and $110. After breaking the psychological $100 level, BCH bears will likely see some bigger foundations. BCH/USD Bitstamp 4 hour. Jan. 17, 2019. Bollinger Bands are extremely tight. The Verdict: Continued Sideways Action and Indecisive Traders Traders are again wondering what will happen next with the ever-dynamic cryptocurrency markets. Some traders believe we’ve seen the mythical bottom and are betting long positions from here on out. However, bitcoin futures expiries from CME and Cboe suggest those traders are short on BTC’s upcoming price performance. BTC/USD shorts and longs on Bitfinex. Jan. 17, 2019. In contrast to futures prices, BTC/USD shorts on Bitfinex have dropped significantly and there are considerably less short positions than in the last three weeks. ETH/USD short positions are much lower than before as well with only 280,000 shorts. Civic CEO Vinny Lingham, who is sometimes referred to as the “Oracle” because of his past price predictions, explained in a recent interview that BTC will likely trade sideways for a few weeks. “The reality is it’ll probably trade sideways between $3,000 and $5,000 for another month or two while it’s trying to find which way to go,” Lingham said. “When it finds that direction, there’ll be a breakout or a breakdown,” the Civic founder added. His statement aligns with the view held by many traders and forecasters, who remain uncertain of the future of cryptocurrency prices, at least over the short term. Technical analysis, futures prices, shorts and longs, and other indicators will give traders some hints, but as with the world’s traditional markets, anything can happen. Where do you see the price of BCH, BTC and other coins heading from here? Let us know in the comments below. Disclaimer: Price articles and markets updates are intended for informational purposes only and should not to be considered as trading advice. Neither Bitcoin.comnor the author is responsible for any losses or gains, as the ultimate decision to conduct a trade is made by the reader. Always remember that only those in possession of the private keys are in control of the “money.” Images via Shutterstock, Trading View, Coinlib.io, Bitstamp, and Satoshi Pulse. Want to create your own secure cold storage paper wallet? Check our tools section. The post Markets Update: Crypto Prices Drift Sideways While Traders Remain Uncertain appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

International cryptocurrency payroll service provider Bitwage has announced that it has partnered with Texas-based Simply Efficient HR. The move will allow companies to pay W2 employee and payroll taxes in all 50 U.S. states, plus Puerto Rico, using BTC and ETH. Also Read: Bitpay Reports Processing Over $1 Billion Transactions in 2018 Bitwage and Simply Efficient Join Forces With Bitwage’s solution now out of beta, American employees are able to choose any percentage of their wage to be in USD or cryptocurrency. To participate, a company needs to sign up to Bitwage, reach out to support for Payroll & HR services to receive personalized account management from the Simply Efficient HR team, and then add the account on Bitwage. Simply Efficient HR invoices companies through Bitwage for USD needed to fund payroll taxes and employee payrolls and the company accepts invoice and fund payrolls in BTC or ETH. CEO of Bitwage Jonathan Chester commented: “As the leader in cryptocurrency payroll solutions, we are excited to continue to push the adoption of real use-cases within the industry. Together with Simplexity, we hope to close the financial loop within the cryptocurrency industry and continue to make bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies a part of everyday life.” Bridging the Gap to the Traditional Financial System The partnership has been live in beta mode since November, with its first customer the peer-to-peer exchange Paxful. “Bitwage bridges the gap between bitcoin and the traditional finance system,” Hayel Abbassi, Paxful Controller, said. “As a company that earns 100% of revenue in bitcoin, we are always looking for service providers who will accept digital currency. Paxful has a significantly sized team in the states and we need to pay them as employees on payroll, not as contractors. Bitwage has recently formed a partnership with a traditional payroll company who integrates into their platform to provide these services. Paxful simply sends bitcoin to an address, and our employees receive net checks with the proper federal and state taxes withheld.” W2 Tax Form According to the announcement, U.S. Bitwage clients are also able to pay for benefits such as health insurance, as well as HR compliance services. Companies around the world are able to use their crypto holdings to pay local vendors in the U.S., E.U., U.K., Brazil, Philippines, India, Mexico, Argentina and other regions. Would you be interested in settling payroll taxes with cryptocurrency? 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 Satoshi’s Pulse, another original and free service from Bitcoin.com. The post American Companies Can Now Settle Payroll Taxes In Cryptocurrency via Bitwage appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

As the maxim goes, bear markets are good for building out cryptocurrency infrastructure – or “buidling” as the meme of the meme goes. Thursday’s installment of The Daily is rich in examples of the sort of development work being undertaken across the industry. From dapp trackers to virtual worlds, there’s a little bit of everything in today’s news roundup. Also read: Bitpay Reports Processing Over $1 Billion Transactions in 2018 Blockchain VR World Beachhead Enters the Fray The blockchain-based virtual reality realm is getting crowded. Decentraland, which resides in the virtual metropolis of Genesis City, has got itself a competitor in the form of Beachhead City. BH2020VR, as it’s also known, aims to blur the line between gaming and roaming a virtual world of commerce and adventure. Income can be earned in-game through protecting the city or supplying defense weapons and other resources. Just as video games like Grand Theft Auto have a main storyline complemented by side missions and mini-games, Beachhead has a primary narrative running through it, but participants are at liberty to interact with the world in a multitude of ways. This includes participating in the cryptoconomy within BH2020VR, purchasing real estate, and upgrading virtual turf by incorporating theaters, shops, and cars including user-generated content. Virtual assets will be tradable within Beachhead as non-fungible tokens, with a tokenized rewards system making BH2020VR feel like the crypto world’s equivalent to The Sims. Dappradar Adds Crosschain Metrics Virtual worlds such as Decentraland and the forthcoming Beachhead are the sort of decentralized applications (dapps) that can be monitored at Dappradar.com. The popular Ethereum dapp tracker has just had an upgrade, allowing it to track onchain activity on the Tron and EOS protocols too. The site now boasts of having stats on 1,700 dapps including decentralized exchanges, crypto collectible marketplaces, and gambling dapps. According to Dappradar’s statistics, the top Tron and EOS dapps are seeing significantly more usage than their Ethereum counterparts in terms of the number of reported daily users. Predictably, betting dapps seem to be faring the best across all blockchains featured on Dappradar. Cryptohound Follows the Money Trail ORS Cryptohound, a blockchain analytics firm, has been sniffing around in the Ethereum network in a bid to identify the source of six “highly unusual transactions” that were spotted in December, comprising approximately 5 percent of the ETH supply. “We discovered that over 5.5m ETH were sent to 39 wallets after 313 transactions,” they explain. “All six wallets have the same portfolio which consists of more than 92% share of OMG tokens” plus 150,000 ETH each. Cryptohound’s investigative report then goes on to speculate over the identity of the entity behind the $500 million move. Demonstrating a practical application for blockchain forensics, a number of leading cryptocurrency exchanges have vowed to freeze funds stolen from Cryptopia. The hackers who infiltrated the New Zealand-based exchange earlier this week, before making off with several million dollars’ worth of ETH and tokens, have attempted to send their ill-gotten gains to Binance and Kucoin, prompting both platforms to freeze the accounts of the suspects. For anyone who cares about the Cryptopia hack, KuCoin will freeze any funds from Cryptopia. Please rest assured. — Michael Gan (@gan_chun) January 17, 2019 What are your thoughts on the stories in today’s news roundup? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock and Dappradar. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post The Daily: Crypto’s Latest VR World, New Blockchain Analytics Tools appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The case against the crypto banking ban by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was unexpectedly heard at the country’s supreme court on Thursday. However, senior advocates for the parties were reportedly absent, so a new date has been set and the crypto case will be “top of the list” on that date. Also read: Indian Supreme Court Moves Crypto Hearing, Community Calls for Positive Regulations Caught by Surprise The Indian supreme court was scheduled to hear the petitions against the crypto banking ban imposed by the country’s central bank, the RBI, on Tuesday after repeatedly postponing it last year. The case was finally heard on Thursday. However, according to Twitter account Crypto Kanoon, an Indian platform for blockchain regulatory news and analysis, the “crypto vs. RBI matter reached in the supreme court. As the matter was unexpected to reach, sr. advocates appearing for parties were not present.” The user continued to detail: Now it will come for hearing on 26th Feb on ‘top of the list’ i.e., it will be at serial no. 1 on the Cause List. After many postponements throughout the second half of last year, few expected the case to be heard this week. Quartz India talked to a lawyer representing some of the crypto exchanges who said on Monday that “The case … is unlikely to come up for hearing this entire week.” In November’s hearing, lawyers representing crypto exchanges asked the court for a full-day hearing “so that the case could be expedited,” the news outlet noted, adding that “Despite this, delays are expected.” RBI Ban and Crypto Regulation The RBI issued a circular on April 6 last year banning regulated financial institutions from providing services to customers and businesses dealing with cryptocurrencies. The ban took effect in July and crypto exchanges’ bank accounts were closed. A number of petitions have been filed with the court to lift the ban. Most crypto exchanges in India responded to the banking restriction by launching exchange-escrowed peer-to-peer (P2P) services which have reportedly gained popularity. One of the country’s largest exchanges, Zebpay, shut down its exchange operations in India due to the banking problem. Another major exchange, Unocoin, tried to launch fiat kiosks but ran into trouble with the law when officers mistook its first machine for an ATM that violates the RBI ban. Recently, there have also been reports of banks, such as Kotak Mahindra Bank and Digibank, closing the accounts of customers they found making crypto-related transactions. However, Indian crypto traders and users have reportedly found a way to bypass banks closing their accounts. Meanwhile, the regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies is being drafted by a panel headed by the country’s Secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs, Subhash Chandra Garg. Furthermore, the finance ministry recently updated Parliament on its crypto regulatory progress but said that there is no specific timeline for clear recommendations. What do you think of the Indian supreme court postponing the crypto case hearing? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock and the RBI. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Indian Supreme Court Pushes Crypto Case Against RBI to End of February appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Popular cryptocurrency payment processor Bitpay has released figures showing that the company maintained strong performance during 2018, despite the downturn in the market. For example, while other ventures had to downsize recently, Bitpay’s staff increased by 78 percent from the previous year. Also Read: Binance Launches Euro and Pound Fiat-to-Crypto Platform in Jersey B2B Business Grew Almost 255% YoY Bitpay has announced strong performance for the payment processing platform in 2018, after more than seven years in operation. During the year, the service reportedly processed over a $1 billion in payments for a second year and set a new record for transaction fee revenue by adding new customers. The company’s B2B operation also reportedly had a record year as it grew almost 255 percent from the previous year. “Bitpay’s B2B business continues to grow rapidly as our solution is cheaper and quicker than a bank wire from most regions of the world,” said Stephen Pair, co-founder and CEO. “To process over $1 billion for a second year in a row despite Bitcoin’s large price drop shows that Bitcoin is being used to solve real pain points around the world.” The company reports that its headcount has grown by 78 percent in 2018, with new hires in the fields of engineering, support, and compliance, bringing the total close to 80 employees. Bitpay also raised $40 million in Series B funding bringing its total raised capital to over $70 million. Over 1.5 Million BCH and BTC Wallets The Copay wallet, Bitpay wallet, and other wallets using the company’s Bitcore Wallet Service (BWS) have reportedly sent billions of dollars in value in BCH and BTC in 2018. In total, users have created over 1.5 million wallets to date using Bitpay and Copay. The company also reports it set a record for reducing payment error rates, with the dollar volume lost falling from over 8 percent (in December 2017) to well under 1 percent of its total dollar volume processed. “The adoption of support for Payment Protocol wallets has made a big difference for our merchants. Merchants are now able to easily accept Bitcoin payments in a simple easy way without any support issues. This was our biggest request by our enterprise merchants”, said Sean Rolland, Head of Product of Bitay. “Bitcoin has the network effect around the world and we are still extremely bullish on Bitcoin and the Bitcoin ecosystem,” he added. What do these figures show about the wider ecosystem in 2018? 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 Satoshi’s Pulse, another original and free service from Bitcoin.com. The post Bitpay Reports Processing Over $1 Billion Transactions in 2018 appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The Thai Ministry of Finance has rejected the last cryptocurrency exchange application it had been reviewing. The exchange, which has been ordered to close down business and return customer funds, is determined to stay operational. “Shutting down is not an option for us,” its chief strategy officer reportedly said. Also read: Indian Supreme Court Moves Crypto Hearing, Community Calls for Positive Regulations Coin Asset Exchange Rejected The Thai Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced on Monday the outcome of the latest cryptocurrency exchange application it had been reviewing. The country’s Ministry of Finance, under the recommendation of the SEC board, decided to reject the application of Coin Asset Co. Ltd. to operate a crypto exchange. The company has been allowed to operate in Thailand while its application was being reviewed. However, the SEC has notified the company of its rejection and ordered it to cease operations by Jan. 21. The regulator told the exchange’s CEO, Sivanus Yamdee, that the minimum processing time is four months should the exchange reapply for a license, the Bangkok Post reported on Wednesday. Yamdee said his company will meet with the SEC on Friday to discuss continuing crypto operations. The news outlet further quoted him as saying: We are seeking a way to keep our digital asset exchange operating as the business cycle is moving towards a peak … We are unable to endure such as long processing time. The business cycle is on the rise and there are costs for conducting daily business. It is not easy to maintain customer loyalty. With about 10,000 customers, the exchange’s 24-hour trading volume is approximately 91 million baht (~$2.87 million) at the time of this writing. In August last year, the exchange unveiled its own line of cryptocurrency automated teller machines (ATMs). It also lists Jfin coin, the country’s first initial coin offering launched by a subsidiary of a company listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand, Jay Mart Plc. Coin Asset’s new chief strategy officer, Arnon Saksri, was quoted by the Bangkok Post as saying: Ultimately, we want to be regulated … It will improve investor confidence and the legitimacy of our cryptocurrency businesses, but the SEC has to find the right way to do it … Shutting down is not an option for us. The Thai Ministry of Finance issued licenses to four cryptocurrency businesses on Jan. 8, three of which are exchanges and one is a broker-dealer. Reason for Denial According to the statement by the Thai SEC, the finance ministry cited “a major change to the company’s management … [which] affected the readiness of the company’s important work systems” as the reason for rejecting Coin Asset’s application. The commission detailed that “three out of four directors responsible for the [exchange’s] important work systems resigned.” The ministry elaborated: The company failed to meet the standards on work systems. For example, the systems for custody of client assets and know your customer (KYC) were inconsistent with the standards accepted by the [Thai] Anti-Money Laundering Office. The exchange maintains that its security system is safe, noting that it complies with ISO/IEC 27001:2013 international standard, Prachachat Turakij publication reported on Tuesday. Coin Asset added that its KYC process is linked to Thai banks, with comprehensive anti-money laundering measures. The finance ministry has allowed the company to keep operating until Jan. 21 “to ensure proper proceeding of related matters including notification to the clients regarding asset refunds or asset transfers to other digital asset operators according to the clients’ order,” the SEC emphasized. “Regarding clients’ assets under custody, the company is requested to transfer or return the assets according to the clients’ order and report the results of the matter to the SEC.” Following the commission’s announcement, Coin Asset informed its customers that they can continue to trade until Jan. 21 and have until Feb. 14 to withdraw funds. Do you think the Thai SEC will let Coin Asset remain open? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock and the Thai SEC. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Thai Crypto Exchange Determined to Stay Open After SEC Orders Shutdown appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

On Jan. 16, hardware wallet manufacturer Satoshilabs, the creator of the Trezor line of cryptocurrency devices, announced its latest partnership with the mechanical artistry and design company Gray. The luxury designer is well known for its mobile collections like Zyra and Alter Ego and the two companies have now released a “luxury” aerospace-grade titanium hardware wallet series called Corazon. Also Read: A Look at Some of the ‘Next Generation’ Bitcoin Mining Rigs Available Today Corazon: ‘Luxury’ Titanium-Grade Hardware Wallets The Singapore-based manufacturer that creates custom Apple and Android mobile phone cases, Gray International, has partnered with the cryptocurrency company Satoshilabs. On Wednesday, the two businesses revealed a luxury grade series of hardware wallets called Corazon. The new devices are CNC machined using aerospace grade titanium that can withstand far more damage than traditional plastic and aluminum devices. The Corazon wallets are based on the Trezor Core firmware used in the company’s Trezor model T series. Just like a model T, the unit comes with a USB connector (type C to type A) and two recovery seed cards. The new designer series Corazon model also serves as a password manager and a universal second-factor (U2F) token device as well. The Corazon series is way more expensive than your average Nano or Trezor One, and almost three times the price of the Model T depending on which flavor of Corazon is chosen. The cheapest model is the basic gray colored titanium model for $696 per unit. The Corazon Stealth model ($996) is a limited edition piece with only 500 available and has a black physical vapor deposition (PVD) coating. The Corazon Gold version ($1,496) is also limited but to only 100 models and the device has a gold PVD coat instead of black. “Each Corazon begins its life as a solid block of grade five aerospace titanium before being manufactured into its signature and attractive design,” explained Satoshilabs in an email to news.Bitcoin.com. “With special tamper-proof design, the device is impenetrable without compromising the external integrity — Audited by security researchers and verified by the stellar track record of Trezor, the Corazon’s technology is entirely open-source to be fully transparent, in line with Trezor security philosophy.” Expensive But Limited The new collaborative effort between Satoshilabs and Gray follows the recent Ledger Nano X launch on Jan. 6. The new model is similar to the old Nano’s case design but is bluetooth-enabled and can store up to 100 different digital assets. Gray explains on its website the Corazon release coincides with the 10th anniversary of Bitcoin’s creation. Each unit starts as a solid block of titanium and is then machined into a lightweight but strong hardware wallet. The limited edition models are finished to a degree “that is impossible to be replicated by hand” says Gray’s website. Cryptocurrency proponents can pre-order the Corazon models with either BTC or BCH via Bitpay, and the website takes traditional credit cards as well. This is not the first time Trezor has released limited edition models, as the firm has released metal aluminum grade versions of their wallet in the past. Last December the firm sold metallic chrome-looking models for 600 euros and there were only 300 made. Some people will likely disregard the new Corazon series on account of the price while others may see the wallets as a collectible. What do you think about the new Trezor Corazon series designed by the mechanical artistry and design company Gray International? Let us know what you think about these products in the comments section below. Disclaimer: Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the mentioned company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com and the author are 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. This editorial is for informational purposes only. Image credits: Trezor, Gray International, and Bitpay. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Trezor and Gray Release Corazon Series ‘Luxury’ Hardware Wallets appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

On Wednesday, cryptocurrency custodial service Bitgo and over-the-counter (OTC) brokerage house Genesis Global announced a partnership to provide fast and secure trades directly from Genesis’ cold storage solution. Essentially, institutional investors who store their assets with Bitgo will be able to access cryptocurrency quotes in a high-frequency fashion similar to acquiring stocks or equities from traditional market makers. Also Read: New Full Node Client ‘Bitcoin Verde’ Joins the BCH Ecosystem Bitgo Partners With Genesis Global Cryptocurrency custodial platform Bitgo is adding a new service for its institutional clientele. According to the company announcement on Jan. 16, the firm has partnered with OTC operation Genesis Global Trading by adding a seamless integration to its custodial program with the market maker’s cold storage reserves. Now Bitgo customers can buy and sell with Genesis directly for no additional fees and purchase assets such as bitcoin core (BTC), bitcoin cash (BCH), ethereum (ETH), litecoin (LTC), ripple (XRP), and zcash (ZEC). The Genesis OTC and loan service was granted a Bitlicense in the state of New York last May and has continued to expand into 2019. More recently, Genesis Global released a financial report in October for 2018’s third quarter that shows the lender provided $553 million worth of crypto-infused loans. In the company’s press statements, Bitgo CEO Mike Belshe indicates that he thinks custodial clients will appreciate access to the digital asset liquidity Genesis provides. Further, the executive explained during the announcement that because Genesis is a regulated U.S. institution, this builds confidence among institutional investors and high net worth individuals. “Some custodians are choosing to sacrifice security and safety by enabling fast withdrawals from cold-storage which makes their clients more susceptible to hacking, false instructions, and theft,” Belshe detailed. “Our partnership with Genesis, a FINRA and SEC regulated company, gives our clients access to liquidity through Genesis’ robust network of trading partners — And that solves the real problem which is the need to access liquidity – not the need to speed up withdrawals.” Clients can sell large amounts of bitcoins from Bitgo’s cold storage wallet and get a quote from Genesis. They can also get a quote to purchase a significant sum of BCH, ZEC, BTC, ETH, XRP, and LTC from its deep liquidity pools. Deep Liquidity for Institutional Clientele Interested in Cryptocurrencies With the new partnership, Bitgo’s clients can maintain all their assets with the firm’s Bitgo Trust Company and get real-time pricing for buy and sell orders. Traders can access Genesis assets without having to manage private keys as everything is custodian purpose-built. Moreover, clients will find that Genesis has deep liquidity and the service provides same day settlement via the Bitgo Trust account. Bitgo originally launched its new custodial suite last year in May and was further granted regulatory approval to provide cryptocurrency storage services to U.S. investors last September. Genesis CEO Michael Moro explained that Bitgo will continue to be a long-term partner and he has “a lot of confidence in their institutional offerings.” “We are an industry leader in digital currency trading and lending, and providing liquidity for companies like Bitgo is an important part of our value proposition,” the Genesis executive stated on Wednesday. Services directed at institutional clients have flourished in recent months and custodial offerings and OTC desks were a major focal point in 2018. OTC desks like Cumberland Mining and Circle Trades have seen significant upticks in this area over the last six months. For instance, Circle told its investors that its over-the-counter operations swapped a notional volume of $24 billion last year. Other well-known companies such as Coinbase, Etoro, Blockchain, and Hodl Hodl all announced the launch of OTC desks and custodial solutions for institutional investors. Bitgo’s Trust solution and Genesis hope institutional investors and high net worth individuals will be enticed by “deep pools of liquidity” and Bitgo’s popular security solutions. What do you think about the latest partnership between Bitgo and Genesis Global? Let us know what you think in the comments section below. Image Credits: Shutterstock, Bitgo, and Genesis Global Trading. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Custodial Bitgo Clients Can Now Access Genesis Global’s OTC Pools appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In the past week or so, a number of publications, including cryptocurrency websites, but also “reputable” mainstream outlets, have given stage to a “Kremlin economist” with a bold prediction – Russia will invest billions in bitcoin to tackle U.S. sanctions, possibly triggering a new bull run as early as next month. The claim was quoted in multiple reports, although never double-checked or substantiated. Also read: Russia Not Ready for the Petro, Proposes Plan to Aid Venezuela Without It Moscow Said to Dump Billions Into Bitcoin The statements came from Vladislav Ginko, a lecturer at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (Ranepa). Last week he told the Australian online edition Micky that new U.S. sanctions will push Moscow to diversify its cash reserves and there are limited options by which they can do so. One of them is to replace part of the $466 billion saved by the Central Bank of Russia with cryptocurrency. He insisted that Russia’s elite is also being forced to dump U.S. assets and currency and “invest hugely into bitcoins.” The expert economist stated categorically: U.S. sanctions may be mitigated only through Bitcoin use. Ginko further suggested that the first wave of significant Russian government investment into bitcoin, “worth billions of dollars,” could come within the next few weeks. “I believe that Russia will start diversifying its reserves with bitcoin in February, when the U.S. Congress will introduce new sanctions,” he said. The economist also shared his opinion that the Russian government is not against cryptocurrencies and noted that President Putin has referred to fintech as a key driver of the country’s economy. Toward the end of the interview, Vladislav Ginko admitted that much of his work recently has been focused on persuading Russian officials that bitcoin is the best way to alleviate the effects of tough U.S. sanctions and prove to various stakeholders of Russian society the need for investing central bank money into the “heavily oversold bitcoin.” Some ‘Exclusive’ Reports The report was promoted by the Australian media outlet as exclusive, although Ginko has been actively spreading his views and forecasts on social media and in conversations with many journalists. A number of other crypto and mainstream media outlets, including Fortune, have quoted Micky’s report. However, Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper has published its own article, posting additional information – again, unconfirmed by an official government source from Russia. The Russian expert is quoted as saying that Moscow is ready to invest as much as $10 billion in the world’s most popular cryptocurrency as part of its de-dollarization efforts and in order to prevent interruptions of U.S. dollar payments for Russian oil and gas. Another unverified claim by Ginko, which has been quoted by The Telegraph, is that the cryptocurrency industry now accounts for 8 percent of Russia’s GDP. In the meantime, Micky has come out with another article on the same topic, claiming to have obtained documents from Australian crypto OTC brokerage Lupo Toro reportedly showing “large and unusual increase in the volume of OTC bitcoin purchases placed by Russian nationals.” The so-called “Moscow Files” have been published under a title starting with “The Putin Pump?” Clickbaiting With Bitcoin Crypto prices did not see much pumping during a bearish 2018, but this didn’t diminish the spate of hyperbole-laden headlines. The cryptocurrency is a very convenient target for alarmists, attention-seekers, and clickbaiters. Bitcoin does not have a CEO and can’t complain about fake news, so the mainstream media simply doesn’t care about the actual facts. In this particular example, Russia’s Billions, Shift to Bitcoin, Ditching the Dollar, and Putin’s Pump have been an irresistible choice of words for many online editors. A reply to Barry Silbert’s tweet linking The Telegraph’s article sums it all up very well: This is what happens when journalism becomes shitposting. ANY PROOFS? What’s wrong with reporters these days? Russia does seek ways to decrease its dependency on the U.S. dollar. It has increased its holdings of the euro, Chinese yuan, Japanese yen, and has discussed the introduction of a common digital currency within the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and BRICS. But according to one real government official, Moscow is not looking at bitcoin. Elina Sidorenko, chair of the crypto working group in Russia’s parliament, recently noted that “there’s not a bit of common sense” in Ginko’s statements. “The Russian Federation, like any other country in the world, is simply not ready today to somehow combine its traditional financial system with cryptocurrencies … The implementation of this idea in the next at least 30 years is unlikely to be possible,” she commented. Sidorenko believes the only way to use digital assets at the state level would be to create an international cryptocurrency as a unit of account between countries. A convertible “cryptoruble” has its supporters in the Moscow corridors of power as well – it fits in Russia’s “Sovereign Democracy” concept better than any decentralized crypto. Another telling statement recently came from the chairman of the parliamentary Financial Markets Committee, Anatoly Aksakov. No one is going to ban Bitcoin in Russia, he said. His main concern was that if crypto holders are pushed against the wall by the state, they will revert back to investing in the U.S. dollar. The legislation on digital financial assets the State Duma is about to adopt on second reading in February will simply not mention cryptocurrency at all – a decision that reflects Putin’s own admission that “cryptocurrency is something that goes beyond national borders.” It seems that anyone who thinks Russia will fully embrace Bitcoin doesn’t know Russia very well, and anyone who thinks Russia will completely ban Bitcoin doesn’t know Russia enough. In the end, Russia may decide to treat Bitcoin like Snowden: we didn’t want you here but since you’ve come, you can stay and do your thing. And of course, we don’t want you to harm the interests of “our American partners.” ‘Misunderestimating’ Russia Misunderstanding, underestimating, and most often misinterpreting Russia remains a common mistake, as the following video humorously conveys: JUST IN: Vladimir Putin talks about cryptocurrency pic.twitter.com/eP85oNRVL9 — størm (@stormXBT) January 15, 2019 Sadly, the case of “Kremlin economist” Vladislav Ginko won’t be the last time that mainstream media is badly wrong about Russia – or about Bitcoin. Do you think Russia will invest in bitcoin, and if so, do you expect Moscow to officially admit it? Share your thoughts on the subject in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. OP-ed disclaimer: This is an Op-ed article. The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own. Bitcoin.com does not endorse nor support views, opinions or conclusions drawn in this post. 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. The post Clickbait Media Uses Bitcoin and Russia to Pump Headlines Again appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

European and British investors looking for a gateway to covert their fiat into cryptocurrency have just gotten another venue to trade on. Popular digital exchange Binance has launched a euro and pound fiat-to-crypto trading platform in the British Crown dependency of Jersey. Also Read: The Daily: New Platform to Offer Tokenized Securities, Ledgerx Launches Volatility Index Bridging the Crypto-Fiat Channel Malta-based cryptocurrency exchange Binance announced on Jan. 16 the official launch of Binance Jersey (Binance.je), a fiat-to-cryptocurrency platform for trading the euro (EUR) and British pound (GBP) with cryptos in Europe and the U.K. Trading pairs for the new exchange include BTC/GBP, ETH/GBP, BTC/EUR and ETH/EUR. Users will have to pass account verification procedures (KYC) to trade on the new GBP and EUR fiat exchange. “Expanding the cryptocurrency exchange markets with fiat currencies in the European region is opening new economic opportunities for Europeans as well as freedom from looming Brexit uncertainty where the pound and euro are also in concern,” said Wei Zhou, Binance CFO. “Through Binance Jersey, we want to help bridge the crypto-fiat channel for Europe and the U.K. as part of our global expansion to support broader cryptocurrency adoption.” The Other European Crypto Hub Similarly to Malta, Jersey has taken advantage of the slow pace larger European countries are taking to regulate the market, and established itself as an offshore hub for cryptocurrency ventures as well as ICOs. For this reason, Binance believes that Jersey will be a major driving force for increasing cryptocurrency use in the European market. In June 2018, the exchange developed a partnership with Digital Jersey to collaborate on initiatives supporting the growing ecosystem in Jersey. Binance Jersey is also part of a cooperative effort to promote growth on the island, such as developing local banking relationships and local talent. “Jersey has in place an existing legal and regulatory framework for cryptocurrency into which Binance Jersey easily fits,” said Zhou. “Jersey is an undisputed pioneer in blockchain development leveraged by this strong framework and talent pool. Binance Jersey hopes to increase Jersey’s competitive advantage in banking from other jurisdictions competing for cryptocurrency-related business as the island’s cryptocurrency regulation allows.” What do you think about this new fiat-to-crypto offering? 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 Satoshi’s Pulse, another original and free service from Bitcoin.com. The post Binance Launches Euro and Pound Fiat-to-Crypto Platform in Jersey appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In today’s chatter report, Chris Pacia reveals his BCH transaction using Avalanche on regtest finalized in just 185.822377 milliseconds. Also, Changpeng Zhao advocates storing crypto on reputable exchanges while Jesse Powell advises his followers to store crypto on hardware wallets. Lastly, Eric Wall proposes targeting children to spread crypto adoption. Also Read: Jason Cox Extends Open Invitation for Assistance With Development and Review of Bitcoin Cash Code Avalanche Regtest Results Recently, Openbazaar developer Chris Pacia was testing the pre-consensus implementation Avalanche on regtest. Pacia was optimistic when sharing his results, as his transaction finalized in just 185.822377 milliseconds. Chris Pacia: 2019-01-14 18:20:01.776 [INF] AVAL: Starting avalanche for tx 46db02b656673509670b5a952215015bebd4a97155022132d6cb206c046c6178 2019-01-14 18:20:01.963 [INF] AVAL: Avalanche finalized transaction 46db02b656673509670b5a952215015bebd4a97155022132d6cb206c046c6178 in 185.822377ms from btc In an attempt to lower expectations, lead developer of Bitcoin ABC Amaury Séchet explained that he does not believe that transactions will confirm at the same speed on mainnet, because a round trip around the earth via the internet typically takes 500-600 milliseconds. When asked by Reddit user “CatatonicAdenosine” if Pacia thinks the numbers will stay this low, Pacia said he doesn’t expect transactions to take more than one to two seconds to finalize. Pacia also stated that he plans to run pre-consensus mechanism Avalanche on mainnet in a few weeks and begin logging data. CZ’s Advice on Safe Crypto Storage Causes a Stir In response to Cryptopia exchange being hacked, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao proposed three different options for storing cryptocurrency safely. Many users were critical of Zhao’s proposal to store coins on “reputable” exchanges and raised eyebrows when Zhao criticized the practice of storing coins in noncustodial wallets. Store coins yourself. You fight hackers yourself, and guard from losing wallet yourself. Computer breaks, USBs gets lost. Store on an exchange. Only use the most reputable, proven secure, exchanges. Or move to DEX, disrupt ourselves. https://t.co/Ci4ux9I3VD — CZ Binance (@cz_binance) January 15, 2019 Zhao’s comments were in contrast to those of Kraken exchange CEO Jesse Powell, who advised users to store only the coins they plan to actively trade with, and no more, on exchanges. Powell also advised storing crypto on a Ledger or Trezor hardware wallet instead of an exchange. PLEASE do not store more coins on an exchange (including @krakenfx) than you need to actively trade. Use @LedgerHQ or @Trezor. DEXes are not a panacea — look at The DAO. Open source just means exploits will be discovered sooner (probably not by good guys). https://t.co/LmzhtCjpM0 — Jesse Powell (@jespow) January 16, 2019 Other cryptocurrency community members like developer David Shares also echoed Powell’s advice, advising users to store crypto in a wallet where they control their own private keys. Targeting Children For Crypto Adoption Cinnober cryptocurrency lead Eric Wall recently took to Twitter to argue that children should be a target for spreading future crypto adoption. While many in the cryptocurrency space believe that the future of crypto adoption lies with people living in emerging markets, Wall believes the focus should be on children, as they are an unbanked group that are more likely to adopt the technology. 1/ There's a lot of talk about crypto banking the unbanked (people living in emerging markets), but I think there's a larger (>2bn) unbanked group that is far more likely to adopt crypto in the near-term. An innovative, playful group who are great at using apps: Children. — Eric Wall (@ercwl) January 15, 2019 The 17-strong tweet-storm contains some compelling arguments on why children will integrate well with the crypto ecosystem. Wall believes that kids are more sophisticated when it comes to using social media apps because they explore the full functionality of them. They also are better at online marketing as they direct message all their friends instead of just uploading content like adults do. Also, kids today understand virtual goods and in-app purchases because of things like Fortnite V-bucks and WoW gold. Creating crypto-based apps that directly target children, Wall believes, will help to spread adoption and introduce the next generation to cryptocurrencies What do you think of Eric Wall’s hypothesis? Let us know in the comments below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Bitcoin.com offers up-to-the-minute charts on bitcoin price and other stats. Our feeds show the bitcoin price index in all three major currencies (USD, CNY, EUR). Also, if you want to dig deeper into how the bitcoin network is performing behind the scenes, check out the statistics page too. The post Chatter Report: Pacia Shows Avalanche Regtest Data, Powell Advocates Hardware Wallets appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In today’s edition of The Daily, we cover a number of stories that are of importance to cryptocurrency traders. A new trading platform is set to offer tokenized securities, Ledgerx releases a volatility benchmark based on U.S. BTC options, and the police investigate an exchange that suffered a significant security breach. Also Read: Bitwise Asset Management Files With SEC for New Bitcoin ETF A New Tokenized Securities Trading Platform Minsk, Belarus Currency.com, a company licensed in Belarus, has announced the launch of a new trading platform for tokenized securities. Starting with over 150 instruments, the company plans to issue over 10,000 tokens which will track the underlying prices of equities, indices and commodities. The service is in invite-only mode right now, but prospective clients can apply to be added to a waiting list. Users will be able to buy these tokens with cryptocurrencies, and will have the ability to trade them on margin. The tokenized securities platform will also be supplemented by a service for buying cryptocurrencies using fiat, storing them and making cross-crypto exchanges, as well as with a portfolio tracking app. Currency.com is said to be using the technology of Capital.com, its sister CFDs platform. The platform is said to implement Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures and verify all transactions with blockchain intelligence services such as Coinfirm, Elliptic and Chainalysis. Ivan Gowan, the CEO of the company, commented, “We are excited to be launching this revolutionary blockchain venture and providing crypto investors with a concrete option to diversify their portfolio by investing in traditional asset classes, without the pressure of exchanging cryptocurrencies into fiat money to do so. Currency.com is committed to providing users with superior security and fraud protection, and preventing any potential risks by leveraging the full traceability of blockchain transactions and adhering to the strictest regulatory standards set by Belarus’s Decree No. 8 ‘On the Development of the Digital Economy’.” Ledgerx Launches Benchmark Volatility Index The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index (VIX) Ledgerx, the CFTC regulated digital currency clearinghouse and options exchange, has announced the launch of Ledgerx Volatility Index (LXVX) a volatility estimate for BTC based on live U.S. options trading. The company says that the LXVX is designed to incorporate the level of fear and uncertainty in the crypto market, and thus can be thought of as the “bitcoin fear index”, in the same way the VIX is commonly referred to as the stock market fear index. “Having cleared half a billion in derivatives, we feel confident that the LXVX is the only credible indicator for future bitcoin volatility,” said Juthica Chou, the company’s co-founder and Chief Operating Officer. “The importance for a volatility estimate is a range of strikes and terms. Ledgerx has active options contracts from $2k to $50k in strikes, out to June 2020.” “One of the fascinating things about volatility indices is that they’re of interest to a lot of participants, even if they don’t trade the options directly. For example, if you are a large holder of bitcoin or a risk manager, you’d be very interested in how much the market expects bitcoin to move over the next month. To finally have an estimate of volatility for bitcoin is another step in the maturation of the market,” she added. NZ Police: We Didn’t Storm Cryptopia Exchange Christchurch, New Zealand-based Cryptopia is the latest exchange to get hit by hackers. After initially claiming the service was only taken down for “unscheduled maintenance” on Monday, the company revealed yesterday that it has “suffered a security breach which resulted in significant losses.” The New Zealand authorities updated the public today, Wednesday Jan. 16, that they are working with Cryptopia to establish what exactly happened, which seems to counter the fears of some commenters that the company pulled a $3.6 million exit scam. “Police are not yet in a position to say how much cryptocurrency is involved, other than it is a significant amount,” the investigative force stated.“A large team, including Canterbury CIB and specialist staff from the police High Tech Crime Unit, have been assigned to the case. There has been a visible police presence at the company’s Colombo Street headquarters throughout the day as police take the steps needed to progress the investigation. While police are unable to go into details about specific steps being taken at this stage, we can say that our focus includes commencing both a forensic digital investigation of the company and a physical scene examination at the building.” “We are dealing with a complex situation and we are unable to put a timeframe on how long the investigation may take. We are also aware of speculation in the online community about what might have occurred. It is too early for us to draw any conclusions and Police will keep an open mind on all possibilities while we gather the information we need. A priority for police is to identify and, if possible, recover missing funds for Cryptopia customers; however there are likely to be many challenges to achieving this. We would also like to make clear that Cryptopia are cooperating fully with the investigation team and a media report that police ‘stormed’ the building today is entirely incorrect.” What do you think about today’s news tidbits? 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 Satoshi’s Pulse, another original and free service from Bitcoin.com. The post The Daily: New Platform to Offer Tokenized Securities, Ledgerx Launches Volatility Index appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

After weeks of delays and hundreds of frustrated customer messages in its Telegram channel, HTC finally shipped its “blockchain phone” on Jan. 14. The HTC Exodus 1 promises an array of features for cryptocurrency users, but the manufacturer couldn’t keep its promise to ship the devices in December. With the phones finally rolled out, news.Bitcoin.com unboxed one of the semi-transparent devices and put it through its paces. Also read: These Developers Claim They Can Crack Any Hardware Wallet The Exodus 1 Is a Big Phone With Grand Aspirations There’s no mistaking the Exodus 1 when it slips out of its protective wrapping and into the palm of your hand. Even if you’ve hands like baseball mitts, you’ll struggle to operate this phone with one paw. Thankfully it’s got a feature called Edge Sense 2 which enables one-handed convenience by shrinking the visible screen when you double tap on the side of the phone. At 157 x 74 x 9.7 mm, 188 grams, and $750, the Android O-powered Exodus 1 is a phone that’s as hard on the pocket as it is on the wallet. For that $750, however (or rather its BTC, LTC, or ETH equivalent), you’re getting a whole lot of smartphone. Big phones come in big boxes While this review will focus on the cryptocurrency elements of the phone, we’ll start with the basics. Given that you’ll be using the Exodus 1 as a smartphone a lot more than you’ll be using it to send or receive crypto, it’s imperative that you can abide what it has to offer when compared to flagship Android phones such as the Goggle Pixel 3 ($799) or the Samsung Galaxy S9 ($720). The Exodus 1’s features include: 6.0” Quad HD+ display with 18:9 aspect ratio 3500mAh battery 12MP + 16MP main camera with high quality zoom 8MP+8MP dual front camera with natural bokeh 4k/60fps 3D audio recording quality Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor 6GB – DDR4x RAM 128GB storage The Exodus 1 has twice as much internal storage as the Galaxy S9, the same processor, and same resolution cameras. The Exodus 1’s battery is the same size as the larger S9+ and has the same 6GB of RAM, while both phones are of similar dimensions. Samsung’s S9 and S9+ are both 1.2mm slimmer than the HTC however. The Google Pixel 3 only has 4GB of RAM, a smaller battery and the same processor as the Exodus 1. The Pixel 3 does have some things in its favor though: its main camera, while lower resolution, is arguably better than the Exodus 1’s, it’s slimmer, at just 7.9mm, it has an eSIM, which some users may prefer, and runs a newer version of Android. Unboxing the Exodus 1 With the Exodus 1, you’re getting a phone that can match Samsung and Google’s leading models pound for pound in most areas. Aside from being a little bulkier, there’s not much between the handsets performance-wise. The question, then, is whether the HTC’s exclusive feature – a built-in cryptocurrency hardware wallet, with the key stored in a secure enclave – justifies choosing the Exodus 1. Take a Trip to Zion Zion crypto wallet Zion is the name of the wallet app that comes pre-loaded on the Exodus 1 and, while limited in functionality, it works just fine. It is beyond the scope of this reviewer to determine whether the “secure enclave,” separated from the rest of the phone’s operations, makes Zion more secure than the average crypto wallet app. “Theoretically” is the likeliest answer, though that’s probably a matter for the Wallet Fail team to resolve. The Zion wallet supports BTC, LTC, ETH, some ERC721 tokens, and ERC20s such as BAT, the latter the native token of the Brave browser, which also comes installed. Sending and receiving cryptocurrencies is easy, and the UX is reasonable. The collectibles section of the wallet is less scintillating though; import a Cryptokittie and all you’ll get is a small thumbnail of the cat, with no ability to view it full-screen or read its “cattributes.” It’s all very meh. From a privacy perspective, the Zion wallet isn’t great either. There’s no ability to create new addresses, for instance, so you’re stuck with the same three wallets for BTC, LTC, and ETH unless you chose to create an entirely new 12-word seed and install a fresh wallet. Crypto collectibles viewed in the Zion app The social recovery option, enabling you to select trusted friends to help restore the wallet in the event of phone loss, is a welcome touch. While this presents an additional attack vector, it’s a trade-off cryptocurrency users may be willing to make in return for having access to crypto on the go. There are clear drawbacks to owning a blockchain phone of course. The very fact that you have one suggests you have crypto stored on it, which instantly makes you a target. If you’re lazy and have enabled fingerprint access to your wallet, a physical attacker or law enforcement could gain entry without too much trouble. A Solid Phone That’s Likely to Get Better iPhone owners are unlikely to swoon over the Exodus 1, but if you’re an Android user who’s due an upgrade, the mere act of switching to a new handset running a current OS and that’s fully equipped with the latest spec makes the Exodus 1 a pleasure to use. Features such as squeeze force, which will open the camera or shrink the screen when you grip or tap the side of the phone, are very nifty. Edge Sense will also ensure the phone doesn’t time out when held in your hand, and the rear fingerprint sensor is responsive and well positioned. The biggest drawback to the Exodus 1 – the lackluster cryptocurrency wallet – could and likely will be improved through software updates. Even if advanced features were to be added, and the number of supported cryptocurrencies was to increase, however, you’re unlikely to hold much funds in the Zion wallet. Secure enclave or otherwise, it’s debatable whether the Exodus 1’s wallet is any more robust than the leading crypto wallet apps it’s competing against. The back of the Exodus 1 is fully transparent While a little industrial in places, the Exodus 1 is a significantly slicker device than Sirin Labs’ “Finney” blockchain phone and can stake a claim for being the leading smartphone in what is still a very small vertical. Whatever the fate of the Exodus 1, it’s likely this won’t be the last time we see a hardware manufacturer targeting the crypto crowd. In fact, with Samsung’s trademark filings suggesting it’s thinking of following suit, blockchain phones could soon go from being niche to the norm. What are your thoughts on the Exodus 1 phone? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Disclaimer: Bitcoin.com does not endorse nor support this product/service. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the mentioned 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 this article. The post Review: HTC’s Exodus 1 Is an Impressive Phone With a Basic Crypto Wallet appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Banks in India have been closing the accounts of customers they believe have made transactions involving cryptocurrencies. The majority of crypto users in the country, however, have reportedly found a way to avoid their accounts being closed by their banks which are complying with the crypto banking ban imposed by the country’s central bank. Also read: Indian Supreme Court Moves Crypto Hearing, Community Calls for Positive Regulations Avoiding Problems With Banks Reports of banks in India closing customer accounts with cryptocurrency-related transactions have been on the rise. Banks cite compliance with the circular issued by the country’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), that bans them from providing services to customers and businesses dealing with cryptocurrencies. A spokesperson for local cryptocurrency exchange Instashift told news.Bitcoin.com that banks have been closing the accounts of customers when they find any cryptocurrency-related words such as “bitcoin” in transaction remarks. He clarified that if a customer’s bank account “comes under scrutiny and the bank officers read the crypto keywords in remarks” then the bank account will be closed. The CEO of crypto exchange Wazirx, Nischal Shetty, shared with news.Bitcoin.com on Tuesday that the: Majority of the people understand not to enter such terms in the remarks. So simply avoiding entering anything related to crypto in the payment remarks is more than enough to avoid any problems from banks. There’s no other way for banks to know if a P2P transaction was done to transact in crypto. Other Indian crypto users agree with this strategy. Twitter user Cryptomaniac advised, “Use P2P without writing anything related to crypto in remarks. And don’t do heavy transactions.” P2P is the exchange-escrowed peer-to-peer style of trading which has been growing in popularity since the RBI ban. Most crypto exchanges in India offer this type of trading. Another Twitter user, Vivekmacha, agreed and wrote that “If we use P2P they can’t track us,” emphasizing the importance of not writing any crypto-related terms such as bitcoin or BTC in remarks when making transactions. The Instashift spokesperson explained that crypto users that have their bank accounts closed just “open a fresh account in another bank” and continue to trade without “using any crypto terms for transactions,” emphasizing: It’s easy to open a new account for a person in India & banks also welcome people to open accounts. He noted that “no matter how many accounts you open, all bank accounts get linked with your PAN card” which he said is similar to the social security number used in the U.S. More Banks Closing Accounts of Crypto Users Many banks in India have reportedly been closing customer accounts showing evidence of cryptocurrency transactions. Two major banks in the country — Kotak Mahindra Bank and Digibank — have recently gained more attention for doing so when Twitter user Indiancryptogirl posted letters she claimed to have received from them. Digibank is powered by DBS, a major Asian financial services group. “We have observed few transactions in your account with brokers / traders, dealing in virtual currencies,” the letter reads, adding: Since these types of transactions are not permitted in India, we are constrained to place a credit freeze in your account. Further as per the extant guidelines, we are required to exit such relationships where transactions with brokers / traders, dealing in virtual currencies are observed. A credit freeze, the bank explained, means that customers “will not be able to deposit any funds” into their accounts. The bank proceeded to inform that “Hence 30 days from the date of this communication your account will be closed by the bank.” Kotak Mahindra Bank and Digibank are not the only ones taking a hostile approach toward customer accounts showing crypto transactions. Twitter user Pushpendra Singh wrote, “So many Indian banks doing the same thing,” claiming that one of them is UCO Bank. Another Twitter user, Bluecrypto, said the “same happened with me and my HDFC account got closed.” Another bank with a similar policy is Standard Chartered bank which requires customers opening an account in India to agree to this statement: “I confirm that this account will not be used for settling transactions or dealing in virtual currencies, including but not limited to bitcoins.” However, Twitter user Yatharth Vashishth pointed out that banks are only following RBI’s order. “Kotak Bank is acting as per regulations by the RBI. All banks are instructed to shut accounts of all entities dealing in crypto. Not a big deal.” What do you think of how Indian crypto users respond to banks closing their accounts? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post How Indian Crypto Users Avoid Banks Closing Their Accounts appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

For the second time in a little over a month, Venezuela’s president Nicolas Maduro has hiked up the value of the national cryptocurrency, the petro, this time to 36,000 sovereign bolivars. The move has again been met with criticism. Also read: Russia Not Ready for the Petro, Proposes Plan to Aid Venezuela Without It ‘A New Monetary System’ President Nicolas Maduro introduced a “new monetary system” on Jan. 14 which included another increase in the country’s cryptocurrency and a higher minimum wage in a bid to combat the “criminal dollar.” As the country continues to struggle with the world’s highest inflation – around 2 million percent – the leader of the South American nation said the move would protect the national bolivar. “I want us to create a great alliance to produce and create new formulas of investment and financing,” Maduro told the Constituent Assembly in a video broadcast by local media. President Maduro said he would up the the minimum wage by 300 percent to 18,000 bolivars per month, around $6.70, and increase the value of the petro fourfold. His new monetary system will be based on the petro and he said he would stabilize the economy with his new measures. But this isn’t the first time President Maduro has made such pledges. In December he hiked up the price of the petro, with experts and civilians alike expressing their skepticism, while the minimum wage was raised a total of five times last year. There is still no sign of a crypto wallet for the petro, the links to download it don’t work, and the Venezuelan government still strives to sell the digital currency and issue certificates of purchase to buyers. Venezuelans, meanwhile, are still fleeing the country’s dire economic situation in the hundreds of thousands. The Reaction Previously, when Nicholas Maduro hiked up the value of the petro and increased the minimum wage, he was slammed. It was the same story on this occasion. Henkel Garcia, director of the Caracas consultancy Econometrica, wrote on Twitter: “The announcement will exacerbate both hyperinflation and economic downturn. The monetary restriction that continues, both for banking and for companies, is very dangerous.” He added: “They try and try to give the petro circulation. They ignore that the use of a coin is a voluntary act and in which confidence plays an essential role.” Asdrubal Oliveros, director of Ecoanalitica, a Caracas-based economic research organization, told news.Bitcoin.com: “There is no intention to rectify the direction of the economy so it will continue on its deteriorating path in 2019.” Elsewhere, the leader of the opposition, Juan Guaido, said: “Today, Nicolas Maduro mocks the Venezuelan people, once again, after taking economic measures that only bleed more in the pocket of Venezuelans,” adding: The Venezuelan economy does not improve with an increase of the salary. Other Venezuelans told news.Bitcoin.com that they had little faith in the petro improving the economy. One law student, Rafael Gutierrez, 23, opined: “It’s not even worth speaking about it. The whole thing is a sham – and the economy is doomed.” Fabian Camacho, a 28-year-old software developer and systems engineer, added: “No one has and no one ever will have faith in the petro, nor Maduro’s economic knowledge.” What do you think about President Maduro upping the value of the petro again? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock At Bitcoin.com there’s a bunch of free helpful services. For instance, have you seen our Tools page? You can even lookup the exchange rate for a transaction in the past. Or calculate the value of your current holdings. Or create a paper wallet. And much more. The post Venezuelan President Raises Petro’s Value Again in Bid to Create ‘New System’ appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

One of the Cashshuffle development team contributors, Josh Ellithorpe, revealed on Jan. 14 that the BCH-focused privacy shuffling protocol is near completion. The developers are planning to run a security audit on the code and have launched a fundraiser on the Bitbacker.io platform to help secure funding for the audit. Also read: Crypto Luminary Impersonation Scammers on Social Media Raked in Millions in 2018 Cashshuffle Crowdfunds Security Audit on Bitbacker.io The Cashshuffle protocol is an open source project being developed by the Electron Cash programmers and other well-known BCH developers. Cashshuffle is a client-server mixing application that allows servers to coordinate with users in order to shuffle bitcoin cash (BCH) UTXOs. After the coins are shuffled it is difficult for law enforcement and blockchain surveillance entities to track coin movements. News.Bitcoin.com has reported on the project’s roadmap on multiple occasions, and the project is nearing completion according to Cashshuffle contributor Josh Ellithorpe. A few hours ago, Ellithorpe launched a Bitbacker.io fundraiser to help raise BCH for the security check. So far there’s a slew of people who have donated $5-10 increments of BCH over the last 24 hours. “Getting ready for the Cashshuffle security audit from Kudelski Security — Can’t wait to finally release a mature privacy solution for BCH,” reads Ellithorpe’s fundraiser post. The Cashshuffle concept was first announced back in 2017 and has seen steady development since then. Initially, there was the pre-release version launch and people experimenting with the plugin for the BCH wallet Electron Cash. “Privacy and fungibility go hand in hand and are vital for cryptocurrency — free people living in a free society should have a right to privacy without fearing the state peering into their personal finances,” Electron Cash developer Jonald Fyookball told news.Bitcoin.com at the time. Once the funds are raised, Ellithorpe believes Kudelski’s audit may take anywhere between three weeks to a month to finish. The free and open source protocol has its own website, Cashshuffle.com, which hosts the current plugin repository, the Cashshuffle server specification, and other documentation. Cashshuffle and Protocols Like It Will Increase Privacy After the audit and a further code polish, the Cashshuffle protocol will likely become a default installation on the Electron Cash wallet, in contrast to the plugin available today, and it may see the light of day on mobile versions of the light client as well. The Cashshuffle team has been upfront about the project’s progress and development since the protocol’s plugin was launched. Last summer Ellithorpe and Fyookball detailed that Coinshuffle testing was going very well and they couldn’t wait to release it to the public. The Cashshuffle plugin. At the time developers were working on solving a critical issue with cryptocurrency-centric tumbling and shuffling platforms — liquidity. Cashshuffle engineers designed a proof-of-concept automated liquidity bot that could provide shuffles if insufficient participants are online. The team had also discussed developing some kind of incentivization program similar to the join market protocol. Further, because the shuffle platform is open source, the Cashshuffle protocol can be implemented into other BCH light clients like the Bitcoin.com Wallet. Lots of Bitcoin Cash community members were thrilled to hear about the fungibility concept getting closer to being finished. A few BCH supporters also commented on Ellithorpe’s Bitbacker page. “Love fungibility features and building onchain — Thank you guys, keep up the great work,” the anonymous person wrote, while donating $5 in BCH to the security audit fundraiser. What do you think about the Cashshuffle developers planning a security audit for the platform? Let us know what you think about this project in the comments section below. Images credits: Shutterstock, Electron Cash, Cashshuffle website. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Cashshuffle Developer Says Privacy Project Nears Completion appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article