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This is a paid press release, which contains forward looking statements, and should be treated as advertising or promotional material. Bitcoin.com is not responsible for or liable for any content, accuracy or quality within the press release. As per the reports, Bitex has launched its cryptocurrency in worldwide cryptocurrency exchanges, coin namely XBX which is now accessible for trading. So now it’s the right time to change your coins which you don’t need into XBX. As cryptocurrency is the evolving aspect of future payments, Bitex is offering you a solution to facilitate your daily requirements. The coin-XBX will be used as a utility token, received as a fee for all the transactions. In order to receive a Bitex card, you must process KYC and get registered with an account by going to https://bitexpay.cards/my-account/. You can pay through cryptocurrency to receive debit cards for the same. XBX trading is open now, and you can begin trading at IDAX-a crypto exchange , Right BTC-a crypto exchange and soon to be launched in addition to this, the trading will start at other platforms counting 17 cryptocurrency exchanges world wide. The dates are as following — Right BTC- January 11,Coinlim – January 13th, Bit Pay- January 21st, P2PB2B-January 31st, Coin Tiger- February 4th, Dobi Trade- February 7th, EZBITEX download and registration- February 14th, Bit Forex- February 28th, and EZBITEX exchange launch- March 1st . For other latest updates and releases, refer to official websites of Xnews and Bitex. Initially, Bitex has conducted an initial coin offering of XBX and had a total supply of 300,000,000 XBX. The Pre-ICO token price is 0.5$ and the cost of one token of XBX was $0.7to $1.0 at the end of the token sale. By this time, Bitex has distributed over 65% of XBX through the sale of licenses for the EZBitex platform software to its authorized partners over 8 countries and BitexPay Cards to over 7000 users worldwide. XBX will be considered as a crypto credit standard in the blockchain ecosystem. XBX offers protected liquidity with sophisticated security using blockchain on ERC20 protocol. The technology is strongly compliant with KYC and AML procedures that ensure 100% anonymity and privacy for the users of the coin. More information can be found at https://ico.bitex.global/. COMMUNITY IMPACT MEETS GLOBAL EFFICIENCY – THE FIRST LOCALLY-EMBEDDED, YET GLOBAL, CRYPTO-BANK Contact Email Address contact@bitex.global Supporting Link https://ico.bitex.global/ This is a paid press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release. The post PR: Bitex Global Launches XBX on Global Exchanges appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

An Indian bank is reportedly forcing customers to agree that they “will not deal with any transactions related to cryptocurrency including bitcoins” when signing up for an account. In addition, there are reports of banks blocking accounts of their existing customers if they are found to have made crypto-related transactions. Also read: Indian Supreme Court Moves Crypto Hearing, Community Calls for Positive Regulations Account Opening Agreement Amid banking restrictions imposed by India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), a major bank in the country, is reportedly asking customers to declare that they will not deal with any cryptocurrency transactions. Twitter user Indiancryptogirl, “@Desicryptohodlr,” tweeted a screenshot of Kotak Mahindra Bank’s account opening agreement on Tuesday. One of the items customers must agree to reads: “I hereby declare that I will not deal with any transactions related to cryptocurrency including bitcoins. I also understand and agree that the bank reserves all right to close my account without further intimation in case I am found to undertake such transactions.” Indiancryptogirl told news.Bitcoin.com: Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited is one of the largest Indian banks. They have started to show this notice on account creation since past 1 month. This message comes as a ‘one last check’ before account creation and the cryptocurrency tickbox cannot be skipped or unchecked. As a result, to create an account with the bank, we have to agree to the message. Else we cannot begin any online banking service with the bank. In addition, she said that the bank has been sending emails and SMS messages over the past six months notifying customers regarding its cryptocurrency policy. This follows the circular issued by the RBI prohibiting banks from providing services to crypto businesses. However, she described that in the past month they have gone a step further and “have started forcefully obligating users to accept their notice while opening a new account with them.” Enforcing RBI Regulations Kotak Mahindra Bank also displays a similar message on their ATMs. Twitter user “@Vivekmacha” tweeted an image of the notice. It says: “Virtual currencies (VCs) are not legal tender and do not have any regulatory permission or protection in India. We request you not to make transactions involving any VCs from any of your account/s. For any such transactions, the bank shall be acting in accordance with the regulatory guidelines which include closing your account without further intimation.” According to Indiancryptogirl, “Many other banks have been sharing such communication on email and SMS since April 2018 with all their customers.” The official website of Kotak Mahindra Bank also states that all of its branches carry a notice stating that the bank has disallowed “credit, debit, or prepaid cards for purchasing or trading in bitcoins, cryptocurrencies, or virtual currencies.” The notice continues: If the bank were to receive instructions from the authorities, it would have to close any account that transacts in virtual currencies, possibly without any intimation, and would not be able to provide assistance in case of any losses incurred due to such dealings. A spokesperson for Indian exchange Instashift explained to news.Bitcoin.com that Kotak Mahindra Bank is “a non-nationalized private bank so they have to certainly adhere to all RBI regulations, else their banking licence would be ceased.” Banks like Kotak Mahindra are taking extreme precaution “about how their customers are using their system so that they don’t come under any RBI scrutiny in the future,” he elaborated. Furthermore, the spokesperson noted that, based on his experience, banks “are keeping an eye on everyone’s account and checking the remarks of a transaction.” They are “strictly adhering to the RBI directions and blocking accounts which they feel are being used to trade cryptocurrency,” he added. If customer accounts come “under scrutiny and the bank officers read the crypto keywords in remarks,” the accounts “would definitely get blocked.” Nonetheless, he emphasized: But as per law, it’s the individual’s choice what to do with his hard earned money and the RBI has not banned cryptocurrency. What do you think of Kotak Mahindra Bank forcing customers to agree to their anti-crypto policy? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Twitter, @Vivekmacha, @Desicryptohodlr, Financial Express, and Kotak Mahindra Bank. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Indian Bank Forcing Customers to Agree to Anti-Cryptocurrency Policy appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Over six months ago, Bitcoin.com launched a dedicated development page for programmers working on the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) network. More recently, our web portal further added the literature “Mastering Bitcoin Cash,” a comprehensive overview of BCH basics and technical operation of the protocol. In order to ring in the New Year, Bitcoin.com has added a dedicated Bitdb node and explorer this week that can query the BCH chain. Also Read: Nick Szabo: Central Banks May Turn to Cryptocurrency Reserves Over Gold Bitcoin.com Adds Dedicated Bitdb Node for the Bitcoin Cash Network Over the last year, Bitcoin.com has been spreading adoption with our wallet that’s seen more than 3.3 million wallets created and our BCH faucet which has given away free BCH to over 100,000 people. In addition to telling the masses about the best money in the world, Bitcoin.com wants to see Bitcoin Cash infrastructure and development flourish. In order to help the ecosystem, we launched Developer.bitcoin.com last year. The web portal offers programmers a Bitbox SDK, REST, GUI, and Cloud platforms that can help them scale and deploy software on top of the BCH chain. Moreover, this week on Jan. 7, Bitcoin.com launched a dedicated Bitdb node for developers and users interested in parsing the BCH chain for data. “Bitdb has proven to be a useful part of the Bitcoin Cash ecosystem and today we’re very happy to announce Bitcoin.com’s dedicated BCH Bitdb node,” BCH developer Gabriel Cardona announced on Monday. “We also have a testnet node in preview,” the developer added. Cardona further stated: We’re committed to maintaining this project in the Bitcoin Cash ecosystem. Thanks to Unwriter for a great open source project and thanks to Spend BCH for all the work getting this live. Bitdb microservice API endpoint – make HTTP requests to your Bitdb node. Query Data and Build Killer BCH Applications The Bitdb protocol is an autonomous database that can crawl, index, and query the blockchain. The project was launched by the prolific programmer Unwriter, alongside the multitude of other applications the developer built last year. The open source project allows anyone to parse the chain for all kinds of information and can specifically query data like OP_Return transactions. Bitdb stores every bitcoin cash transaction in a uniformed format allowing a simple MongoDB query that can be useful for all types of ideas. A few developers have already used Unwriter’s Bitdb for certain applications. For instance, the Poster.cash platform uses Unwriter’s Bitdb and Bitsocket, which provided the creator with the ability to develop a “serverless Memo implementation.” Bitdb query web UI makes use of the API endpoint to render the query UI. Adding Bitdb to Bitcoin.com’s suite of developer resources helps bolster the Bitcoin Cash network’s infrastructure, alongside all the other tools and introductory guides to certain frameworks. Researchers and developers who plan to get started building and studying the BCH chain can also utilize this handy list of programming resources. The comprehensive catalog includes tools and documentation for Bitbox, the Simple Ledger Protocol (SLP), Wormhole, a token creation web app, Cash-ID, and the Badger Wallet. With Unwriter’s innovative creation Bitdb helping developers parse the chain and build innovative BCH applications, we think hosting a mainnet and testnet Bitdb node on Bitcoin.com is a great addition to our growing development suite. What do you think about our Bitdb node? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. Images via Shutterstock, Github, and the Bitcoin.com Bitdb web node and API. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Query the Bitcoin Cash Blockchain With Bitcoin.com’s Dedicated Bitdb Node appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

On Thursday, Bloxroute Labs announced a partnership with the China-based mining operation Rawpool Group and global video communication software firm Yeecall. Both Rawpool and Yeecall plan to be the first cryptocurrency businesses to adopt Bloxroute’s product, dubbed the Blockchain Distribution Network version one. Also Read: Nick Szabo: Central Banks May Turn to Cryptocurrency Reserves Over Gold Bloxroute Labs Gathers Two Partners Bloxroute is a company that claims it can provide blockchain networks with better efficiency by propagating blocks in a neutral manner. According to the Bloxroute whitepaper, the Blockchain Distribution Network (BDN) cannot favor specific nodes. Bloxroute claims the BDN deployment will enable participating nodes to maintain consensus by remaining provably neutral even when mining thousands of onchain transactions per second. On Jan. 10, the company announced it has partnered with the Chinese organization Rawpool Group and the developers of Yee Chain in order to begin node deployment in February. According to the announcement, the Bloxroute API will support both Ethereum and Bitcoin gateways. “Rawpool and Yee Chain will be among the first adopters of the Bloxroute BDN version one available for deployment in Q1 and will participate in the first testing of the Bloxroute BDN scheduled for February,” explained Bloxroute Labs. “This test will be followed by a large-scale test in March that will include many miners and users.” ‘Faster Than Any Other Peer’ When version one of the Bloxroute BDN releases, the product will be a fully operational network with 15 nodes across five continents, the startup detailed. Further, the development team hopes to continue scaling and deploy 30-50 nodes by Q3 2019. The company believes the BDN tests in March will attract more mining pools. Bloxroute claims the company’s product is the “only layer zero scalability solution that solves the scalability problem at its core.” The software’s whitepaper asserts that mass use of the BDN network will provide network participants with the ability to propagate blocks and receive transactions “faster than any other peer.” During the announcement on Thursday, the startup explained that the mining operation Rawpool will see similar results. “This partnership is not only a large step towards scaling blockchains but also will allow Rawpool to immediately hear about and send blocks faster,” Bloxroute stated. Bloxroute’s New Partners Are BCH Friendly Bloxroute’s product will be usable by any single node and does not require majority adoption. The whitepaper claims the protocol that runs underneath the consensus layer could allow for 100 transactions per second (TPS) in contrast to Bitcoin Core’s 3 TPS. The BDN might be best suited for Bitcoin Cash (BCH) miners as Bloxroute does not require any fees or any protocol change except for increasing the block size parameter. Further, last September Rawpool was the largest BCH mining pool, and in an interview at the time, founder and chief executive of Rawpool Group David Li emphasized that he liked testing large blocks. Last year, on Sept. 11, Rawpool also published an objective evaluation of the original topological transaction ordering rule (TTOR) and canonical transaction ordering (CTOR). Yee Chain has also been friendly toward the BCH ecosystem when its Yee Wallet product developers partnered with the Bitcoin Cash Association and airdropped small fractions of BCH to its users. What do you think about Bloxroute’s partnership with the mining operation Rawpool and Yee Chain? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. Images credits: Shutterstock, Bloxroute, Rawpool, and Pixabay. The Bitcoin universe is vast. So is Bitcoin.com. Check our Wiki, where you can learn everything you were afraid to ask. Or read our news coverage to stay up to date on the latest. Or delve into statistics on our helpful tools page. The post Block Propagation Startup Bloxroute Partners With Mining Operation Rawpool appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

China is coming down hard on blockchain companies, even though the government appears to favor blockchain over cryptocurrency. The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) announced new regulations on Jan. 10 that will compel blockchain platforms to eliminate “undesirable” content while giving authorities access to private stored data and to check the identity of users. Also read: Bitcoin Goes on Sale in 24 French Tobacco Stores ‘Rules to Promote Healthy Development of Blockchain Industry’ China’s Blockchain Information Service Management Regulations, which come into force on February 15, will “promote the healthy development of blockchain technology and related services,” CAC claimed in a press release. It said the rules are built to “safeguard national security and social public interests, [and] protect the legitimate rights and interests of citizens.” China has clamped down on virtual currencies since 2017 when the government outlawed initial coin offerings and prevented domestic cryptocurrency exchanges from operating within the Asian country’s economy. But its government appears to tolerate distributed ledger technology on account of its many uses outside of the cryptocurrency realm. Industries such as oil, shipping, and agriculture are starting to show interest in blockchain, the technology which underpins crypto assets like bitcoin. Stringent Registration Requirements for Users Blockchain companies will now be required to register users with their actual names and national identity or mobile number while eliminating content that Beijing deems unfavorable. Companies are expected to “immediately release” stored data that the state regards as a threat to or contravening existing national laws. The new regulations state: The blockchain information service provider shall implement the responsibility for information content security management, and establish and improve management systems such as user registration, information review, emergency response, and security protection … If the user does not perform real identity authentication, the blockchain information service provider shall not provide related services. Companies will also be required to report to the government any new updates to their product range and to “accept social supervision” while adhering to strict registration requirements. Entities found to be in violation of the rules could be subject to fines or prosecution, the CAC said. Fines range between 5,000 yuan and 30,000 yuan ($700 to $4,400). The CAC claims in its new regulations that it is working to reinforce the blockchain industry. It says it intends to “strengthen industry self-discipline, improve industry standards,” and to guide blockchain platforms “to promote industry credit evaluation system construction,” among other things. What do you think about the new rules guiding the operation of blockchain companies in China? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post China Announces New Regulations for Blockchain Companies to ‘Promote Healthy Development’ appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Bitwise Asset Management is the latest American financial firm to seek regulatory permission for launching a bitcoin ETF. The company thinks it should succeed in getting the SEC’s approval, which all other applicants have failed to do so far, by utilizing a new model for the instrument. Also Read: UK Crypto Ventures Raised Over $255 Million VC Funding in 2018 Bitwise Bitcoin ETF Trust Bitwise Asset Management, a provider of a number of crypto index funds, announced on Thursday, Jan. 10 that it has filed an initial registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a proposed new physically held BTC exchange-traded fund (ETF). The company believes its proposed ETF is different from previously filed proposals in that it will rely on regulated third party custodians to hold its physical coins, and in that it is based on a large number of cryptocurrency exchanges representing the majority of currently verifiable trading. The company is said to have spent 2018 researching the concerns the SEC raised about the crypto market including the quality of the trading ecosystem, the reliability of pricing, the strength of the arbitrage function, and the robustness of custody. “We believe the crypto trading ecosystem has evolved in significant ways in the past year,” stated John Hyland, Global Head of Exchange-Traded Funds for Bitwise. “Having a regulated bank or trust company hold physical assets of a fund has been the standard under U.S. fund regulation for the last 80 years, and we believe that is now possible with bitcoin.” An ETF Will Trade on NYSE Arca in 2019 According to Bitwise, the proposed listing exchange, NYSE Arca, Inc. (NYSE), will file an application to list shares of the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF under a ticker symbol that will be determined at a later date. The company expects the NYSE to file a so-called Rule 19b-4 request with the SEC in the coming days requesting necessary rule changes in order to allow the ETF to list once the registration statement is declared effective by the SEC. “While there can be no assurance that the 19b-4 application will be granted or the SEC will review and ultimately accelerate the registration statement, we are optimistic that 2019 should be the year that a bitcoin ETF launches,” said Hyland. As news.Bitcoin.com recently reported, while companies have been struggling to gain the SEC’s approval so far, fund providers are now arguing there is sufficient market liquidity for such an ETF to be launched in 2019. Is the SEC likely to approve this new ETF? 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 Bitwise Asset Management Files With SEC for New Bitcoin ETF appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

For years, bitcoin exchange traded funds (ETFs) have been struggling to get off the ground and receive approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Passive fund providers are now arguing there is sufficient market liquidity for a bitcoin ETF to be launched in 2019. Also read: SEC Wants Second Look at Nine Bitcoin ETFs ETFs to Top $9 Trillion by 2022 ETFs are becoming a large part of the investment landscape. Research firm ETFGI predicts that in 2020, ETFs and ETPs listed in Europe will reach $1.1 trillion. Morgan Stanley forecasts global ETF assets to top $9 trillion by 2022. As interest in these products grows, regulators have been addressing structural vulnerabilities. Research conducted by broker and asset manager Charles Schwab shows the millennial generation is increasingly choosing to invest in ETFs accessed by apps. It could be a game-changer when – or if – the SEC approves a bitcoin ETF. There have been a number of applications submitted over the years. The most recent ones include Proshares, which had two proposals for a bitcoin ETF, both based on bitcoin futures contracts. There was also the Vaneck-Solidx proposal which is based on a physical-backed bitcoin ETF. Before an ETF is approved to trade on one of the U.S.’s major exchanges, there is a number of factors which need to be considered. Bitcoin Market Cap Stands at $72 Billion Last year, Blockforce Capital launched blockchain ETFs in the form of BLCN and the world’s first Chinese blockchain ETF, BCNA. Eric Ervin, CEO of Blockforce Capital, told news.Bitcoin.com the current market environment has the ability to support an ETF for two primary reasons. “First, [BTC] has a market cap of $72 billion,” he explained. “While this is small in comparison to many blue-chip stocks, there are a number of ETFs currently on the market that are focused on esoteric assets. For example, iShares’ IWC ETF focuses on micro-cap stocks, and has almost $900 million in assets. Collectively, the underlying stocks have a market cap of about $450 billion. That number dwarfs bitcoin’s market cap, but when looking at the underlying assets’ liquidity, there are significant volume constraints.” Ervin explained that 40 percent of the IWC fund comprises holdings that are greater than 50 percent of the average 30-day volume. This is because most are micro-caps, and are also only listed on U.S. exchanges. Ervin highlights that in comparison, BTC’s 24-hour trading volume is about $5.3 billion, and trades on multiple exchanges around the world, allowing global investors to add liquidity to the marketplace. Exchange Arbitrage Is a Growing Business As the market develops, participants are becoming more sophisticated and exchange arbitrage is a growing business. Ervin said: “Exchange arbitrage – buying bitcoin on exchange A and selling on exchange B to take advantage of small price inefficiencies – is a growing business as many traditional market players enter the space because returns from arbitrage are considered ‘risk free’ as the strategy has no directional exposure.” When the Blockforce Capital team started arbitraging prices at the beginning of summer 2018, they were averaging around 75 bps profit per trade. “That number has dwindled and the number of opportunities have gone down considerably, due to increased competition. These market participants add liquidity to the marketplace because if an exchange’s price of [BTC] deviates from the global mean, market participants will arbitrage the price back in line with the global average,” explained Ervin. He concludes that this factor, coupled with an expanding derivative, futures, and swap market, adds liquidity and makes it much more difficult for the price of a globally traded asset to be manipulated, adding: We could make the case that an ETF holding a substantial amount of a micro-cap stock’s daily volume would have a higher impact on the price than a globally traded asset. Scandinavia Leads Market With Bitcoin ETNs As the SEC continues to agonize over whether to approve a bitcoin ETF, it is worth taking a look at other crypto financial products such as Sweden’s bitcoin exchange-traded note (ETN). In May 2015, XBT Provider AB announced the authorization of Bitcoin Tracker One, the first bitcoin-based security available on a regulated exchange. Laurent Kssis, the CEO of XBT Provider, a Coinshares company, said that to put things in perspective, a so-called ‘physical’ bitcoin ETF simply asks for money upfront to buy the underlying asset physically. “In this way, a bitcoin ETF provides quick exposure to the underlying asset, but this also means the market needs to be liquid enough to support any new demand for the underlying asset – in this case, bitcoin. There is a key operational question that regulators and investors alike need answered before approval of a bitcoin ETF,” explained Kssis. The good news is there are prior proxies in the market to study. Kssis said in his experience of operating the BTC and ETH trackers on Nasdaq Stockholm – notes which are hedged by buying the underlying asset (BTC 1:1) – he has so far been able to keep up with demand while maintaining an accurate price over the last three and a half years without any liquidity issues and being the sole liquidity provider. “Put differently, even during the height of 2017, the underlying bitcoin market remained liquid enough to absorb new demand as we bought bitcoin to physically hedge the bitcoin trackers,” added Kssis. Nasdaq volume of all issuers on Dec. 7 2017. According to XBT Provider, during 2017, when BTC traded at $20,000, the group was able to source ample liquidity. “My takeaway from 2017: even with substantial demand driving AUM well above $1 billion, the market demonstrated that delta-one security desks were able to source ample liquidity in the market to operate similar products to a proposed bitcoin 1:1 physical bitcoin ETF. A futures market will simply enhance that liquidity that is already available,” said Kssis. If Crypto Trading Picks up Expect More Launches Other products available in the market include Greyscale Bitcoin Investment Trust (OTC:GBTC) which trades over the counter and the Amun Crypto Basket Index (SIX:HODL) which launched in November 2018 on Switzerland’s Zurich-based SIX Exchange. According to Lars Seier Christensen, chairman of Concordium and founder of Saxo Bank, if trading picks up we can expect more launches. He said: “If the primary cryptocurrency exchange market continues to be in trouble, there will be little appetite for launching new trading vehicles. On the other hand, if trading picks back up, it is quite likely that we will see a slew of new initiatives being launched — perhaps even some that have already been planned and gone through due diligence but where the offering party have been waiting for a better time to launch.” Do you think the SEC will approve a bitcoin ETF in 2019? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock and XBT Provider. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Fund Providers Insist There’s Enough Market Liquidity for a Bitcoin ETF appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The blockchain-powered blogging platform Steemit is being accused of centralization and censorship. On Jan. 7, 2019, the hacker group The Dark Overlord had its account banned from Steemit by a developer known as ‘Jredbeard’ for violating the company’s terms of service agreement. Also Read: Developer Releases Cash-DB, a Terab Project Fork for the BCH Network Steemit Bans 9/11 Whistleblower Account On Dec. 21, 2018, a hacker group known as the Dark Overlords threatened to dump classified insurance files that are allegedly related to the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center buildings. The hackers told the public that the files were taken from major global insurers like Lloyds of London and Hiscox Group. The Dark Overlord’s announcement also included a demand for $2 million in bitcoins for a 10GB archive of files, according to the Pastebin post, which has since been scrubbed from the Internet. According to the publication Motherboard and a spokesperson for the law firm Hiscox Group, the files were stolen and likely did pertain to the 9/11 attacks. Since the group distributed this information across the web and made international headlines, The Dark Overlord’s social media accounts were targeted and the hacker group was deplatformed from sites like Reddit and Twitter. After the wide range of censorship, on Jan. 2 The Dark Overlord explained in another Pastebin announcement that they would be dumping the data on the Steem blockchain. The Dark Overlord’s message on Pastebin explains the group planned on using the Steem blockchain before the account was banned on Jan. 7. However, it seems publishing classified 9/11 data is not looked upon favorably by those who run Steemit. On Jan. 7, 2019, the Steemit Github repository shows the developer known as ‘Jredbeard’ appended the account ‘thedarkoverlord’ to the protocol’s ‘GDPRUserList.js’ section. Essentially this means the account was banned from using the website for violating Steemit’s terms of service (ToS) agreement. The action has also infuriated some members of the Steemit community as posts about the subject can be seen on the project’s Reddit page r/steemit. One particular post exclaimed: Steemit has censored the account of the Dark Overlords!! What was the point, Steemit? Cryptocurrency enthusiasts upset over the account ban on the Steemit website. Uncensorable Blockchain Platforms Exist Memo.cash is an uncensorable platform like Twitter. Interestingly enough, some Steemit proponents defended the action and explained how The Dark Overlord account was only banned from the official Steemit website, noting that the group’s posts could still be seen on alternative sites like Busy.org. Moreover, other cryptocurrency community members discussed other blockchain services that would help The Dark Overlord dump the data in a truly immutable fashion. The hacker group could hypothetically utilize platforms like Memo.cash and Bitcoinfiles.com to communicate to the public and dump classified files without the risk of takedown. For instance, Memo acts like Twitter but every action is recorded into the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) blockchain. The posts cannot be taken down after they are etched into the BCH chain and one individual even started recording every verse in the King James Bible into the blockchain. Another example of a tool that could help whistleblowers is the Bitcoinfiles protocol developed by the BCH programmers James Cramer, Attila Aros, and Hapticpilot. Users can upload and download files from the platform Bitcoinfiles which tethers uploads to the BCH chain and IPFS. Bitcoinfiles is a file-sharing platform that allows anyone to upload any type of media file to both the Inter-Planetary File System (IPFS) protocol and the Bitcoin Cash blockchain. Once the files are recorded into the chain they can be shared widely and found easily using a blockchain explorer or queried on the Bitdb network. There is no developer or arbitrary individual who can delete the files once they are appended to the network and IPFS files tied to the BCH chain can be shared with anyone in the world using a simple URI. Over the last year, deplatforming and censorship have continued to increase, but cryptocurrency and blockchain advocates believe it should not happen on their turf. It is obvious that centralized entities on the web will persist and suppress dissident voices and whistleblowers. As a result, blockchain applications that fight against this behavior will be welcomed with open arms by those who cherish the ability to speak freely. What do you think about the hacker group The Dark Overlord being removed from the Steemit website? What media sharing platforms would you recommend that record immutable data onchain? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. Images via Shutterstock, Memo.cash, Bitcoinfiles.com, and Steemit. At Bitcoin.com there’s a bunch of free helpful services. For instance, have you seen our Tools page? You can even look up 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 Immutability Questioned After Steemit Blog Bans 9/11 Blackmailer’s Account appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The European Banking Authority (EBA), a regulatory agency of the European Union, has published its assessment into the application of EU law to crypto assets. The agency, which is headquartered in London, recommends that the European Commission tables a response to the risks regulators associate with the field such as money laundering. Also Read: FBI Agents Raid Tech Campus Over Unauthorized Crypto Trading Crypto Activity Is Outside Scope of EU Banking Rules In the report released on Jan. 9, the EBA examines the application of current EU banking, payments, e-money and anti-money laundering laws to crypto assets, wallet providers and trading platforms, as well as the related activities of credit institutions, investment firms, payment institutions and electronic money institutions. It determines that the current relatively low level of such activity in the EU does not create a risk for financial stability. However, the agency also found that activities involving crypto assets typically fall outside the scope of EU banking, payments and electronic money regulation. It believes this raises risks for consumers that are not addressed at EU level. The report further details that, as a result of the development of national level responses, regulatory differences between European countries are starting to emerge. It fears these present risks to the level playing field the union is supposed to maintain between its members. The banking agency also sees a need for a review of EU anti-money laundering legislation. More Monitoring of Institutions’ Activities Following the findings of the report, the EBA has advised the European Commission to make a comprehensive cost/benefit analysis to determine what action is required at the EU level at this stage. The agency also advises the commission to note the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force from October 2018, and to take steps to promote consistency in the accounting treatment of crypto assets. The banking regulator also plans a number of steps to take in 2019 in order to enhance the monitoring of institutions’ activities and consumer-facing disclosure practices. The agency’s Executive Director, Adam Farkas, commented: “The EBA’s warnings to consumers and institutions on virtual currencies remain valid. The EBA calls on the European Commission to assess whether regulatory action is needed to achieve a common EU approach to crypto assets. The EBA continues to monitor market developments from a prudential and consumer perspective.” What are your thoughts on the European Banking Authority’s reports into crypto asset regulation? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, EBA. 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 Banking Agency Advises European Commission to Assess Common Crypto Approach appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

At least 24 tobacco shops have started selling bitcoin coupons in the French capital of Paris. Widely known as “tabacs”, the stores received regulatory approval for the cryptocurrency sales late last year. More than 6,500 tabacs – representing about a quarter of the registered tobacco stores in France – are expected to start offering BTC coupons by February. Also read: Report Claims Central Banks Are Cautious About Us suing Their Own Digital Currencies BTC Vouchers for 50, 100 and 250 Euros According to a Reuters report published Jan. 9 (which mentions only six tabacs), French financial technology group Keplerk is backing the sale of bitcoin in tobacco stores. In 2018, the company reached an agreement with a local payments software provider allowing tabac owners to sell BTC vouchers that can be redeemed from a wallet on Keplerk’s website. Keplerk put the figure of bitcoin selling tobacco outlets at 24, in a statement to French website capital.fr. Currently, BTC can be bought in three sums of 50 euros, 100 euros and 250 euros ($43, $86 and $250). In exchange for the euro, the user obtains a ticket containing an alphanumeric code and a QR code. Buyers then have to visit the Keplerk website to convert their vouchers into cryptocurrency of either bitcoin core or ethereum. Keplerk charges a commission of 7 percent on each ticket sold and gives 1.25% to the tobacconist, the company said. Adil Zakhar, co-founder of Keplerk, stated: Some people find it complicated to get bitcoins online They trust their local tobacco shop owner more than they would trust some remote anonymous website. Tabacs already sell a variety of products including cigars, cigarettes and lottery tickets. Several of France’s 24,000 licensed tobacco shops have moved into new areas, such as prepaid credit cards, cellphone credits and money transfer services to compensate for the declining revenue from tobacco sales. ‘A Good Time to Buy’ Late last year, the French Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority (ACPR), a unit of the country’s central bank charged with monitoring financial transactions involving banks and insurance companies, officially authorized the Federation of tobacco shops to begin selling bitcoin at the start of 2019. Reuters quoted one Cyril Azria, a 45-year old man who became one of the first buyers of the BTC coupon saying: “I’ll use the bitcoins to buy some computer material on the internet and the rest to speculate. It’s a good time to buy,” he said, after spending 150 euros. French regulators have warned the public against investing in cryptocurrencies, saying the unregulated financial instruments are highly volatile. However, they have not blocked Keplerk’s tabac plan. What do you think about French bitcoin-selling tobacco outlets? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock and Keplerk. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Bitcoin Goes on Sale in 24 French Tobacco Stores appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

BCH developer conversations have been taking place ahead of the upcoming May 2019 upgrade. In their latest video meeting, devs agreed that they need to know how much BCH is locked up in p2sh segwit addresses. It was also agreed that Andrea Suisani will take charge of the byte transaction size limit and Mark Lundeberg will review Amaury Séchet’s code on Schnorr signatures. Lastly, Jason Cox extended an open invitation for the qualified to assist with the development and review of BCH code. Also read: Major Mining Pools Have a ‘High Die-Off Rate’ Study Reveals Meeting of the Minds A BCH developer meeting was held recently to get the ball rolling for the upcoming May 2019 upgrade. The meeting was moderated by David R Allen and consisted of lead developer of Bitcoin ABC Amaury Séchet, Bitcoin Unlimited developer Andrea Suisani, Bitcoin ABC developer Antony Zegers, Bitcoin ABC developer Jason B. Cox, Openbazaar developer Chris Pacia, CTO of Bitcoin.com Emil Oldenburg, and Bitcoin Cash developer Mark Lundeberg. Agenda One: BIP 62, Attempts to Fix Third Party Malleability After introductions, the meeting opened with discussions on BIP 62. Zegers pointed out that some BCH users are unable to recover their funds because they are sending BCH to BTC segwit P2SH addresses. Then, Cox asked if it was possible to identify the extent of this problem. In response, Oldenburg proposed indexing all segwit addresses and then checking the UTXOs, an extremely time-consuming process. Alternatively, Lundeberg proposed a way to fix third party malleability by applying the clean stack rule to Pay-to-Public-Key-Hash and Pay-to-Script-Hash multisig. That way every other script would have to manually check itself using OP_DEPTH. However, he noted that his solution would require another hard fork on top of the May 2019 hard fork. In conclusion, the developers concluded that they need to measure the amount of coins that are locked in p2sh segwit addresses before proceeding on BIP 62. Agenda Two: Changing the 100 Byte Transaction Size Lundeberg pointed out that since the August 2017 hard fork, there have been in the ballpark of ten transactions that were less than 100 bytes. Since a 100-byte limit could affect some transactions, he proposed relaxing it to 64 bytes. Interestingly, Cox pointed out that it’s easier to to lower the byte transaction size limit than it is to raise it. Suisani added to Cox’s point, and explained that raising the byte transaction size limit would have to be implemented by hard fork. At the end of the discussion, Suisani offered to lead the second agenda by maintaining a stream of communication between the developers, and writing notes to rationalize tweaking the constraint. Agenda Three: Schnorr Signatures On the topic of Schnorr signatures, Séchet pointed out that Schnorr has cost advantages because of batch validation. For example, computing and verifying eight signatures as a batch is more cost-effective than checking eight signatures individually. He then pointed out that Schnorr will aid with user privacy and is better for the Bitcoin network itself. Even though Séchet had made an implementation of Schnorr just over a year ago, his code has not yet been thoroughly reviewed. The lead developer of Bitcoin ABC warned that the code would have to be reviewed more than usual and implemented carefully, otherwise the network would become susceptible to side-channel attacks through the branch predictor of the CPU and through the cache hierarchy of the CPU. After Séchet’s explanation, Lundeberg agreed to review the former’s code within a month and a half. Sensing that everyone in the group was stretched thin, Cox issued an open invite to cryptographers and developers to assist with development and review of Bitcoin Cash code. Agenda Four: Old Opcodes As this point, most of the developers in the meeting had their plates full. In response, Suisani explained that he would reach out to the other Bitcoin Unlimited developers to see if they were interested in working on the old opcodes. Suisani explained that Bitcoin Unlimited developers were the logical choice as they had previously included Nchain implementation in the SV client they produced. Closing Thoughts Towards the end of the meeting, Oldenburg mentioned that there is currently a 25 unconfirmed transaction chain limit that is affecting various protocols right now, which needs fixing. He also mentioned that Bitcoin.com was currently working on its own on-chain dice game similar to Satoshidice. In response, news.Bitcoin.com reached out to Oldenburg for some closing thoughts on the developers meeting. The Bitcoin.com CTO was positive about the meeting overall, especially since the “limitation of unconfirmed chained transactions will be removed long term.” Do you think you have what it takes to be a BCH developer? Let us know in the comments below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock and Youtube. Bitcoin News is growing fast. To reach our global audience, send us a news tip or submit a press release. Let’s work together to help inform the citizens of Earth (and beyond) about this new, important and amazing information network that is Bitcoin. The post Jason Cox Extends Open Invitation for Assistance With Development and Review of Bitcoin Cash Code appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

There are now over 4,000 bitcoin ATMs throughout the world, global statistics provided by Coinatmradar.com show. Nearly all of them support bitcoin (BTC) and a growing number are supporting bitcoin cash (BCH). Most of the machines, also known as BATMs, can be found in the U.S., though their presence is steadily growing, not only in developed European countries, but in Latin America and Asia too. Also read: Why Colombia Has Become a Hotspot for Bitcoin ATMs The US and Europe According to data from Coinatmradar.com, the U.S. has the highest number of crypto ATMs, with 2,493 – or 55.9 percent – of the world’s BATMs. 45 out of 50 states have at least one cryptocurrency ATM, with California leading with 475, followed by Illinois with 252. Chicago alone holds around 226. Other states with high numbers of ATMs include New York, with 131, and Georgia, which has 121 of the machines in its capital Atlanta. North America as a whole, including Canada, has 71.7 percent, or 2,981 of the world’s crypto ATMs. Europe holds the second highest number of cryptocurrency ATMs, with 23.1 percent, or 958. Crypto-friendly Austria claims the crown, with 270, and the U.K. is not far behind having 214. Growth in has been steady in both the U.K. and Austria since last year, despite BTC losing over 70 percent of its value in this time. Other countries with relatively high numbers of crypto ATMs include Spain (65), Czech Republic (65), Russia (46), and Switzerland (45). Growth in Latin America and Elsewhere One region which has seen particularly strong growth has been Latin America, which now holds over 1.7 percent of the world’s crypto ATMS – a high number considering many are based in developing countries. Colombia has the highest number in the region, with 26. The number in the Andean nation has shot up in the past year as companies aggressively expand to provide for Venezuelan migrants living in Colombia who deal in crypto and send it home to loved ones in their crisis-stricken neighboring country. Elsewhere in Latin America, Argentina holds eight ATMs, Peru has one, while in Central America, Costa Rica’s capital has one ATM as does Guatemala’s. Mexico, on the other hand, is also seeing rapid expansion, with 11 ATMs. Elsewhere in the world, you can find 107 crypto ATMs in Asia, with the most in Hong Kong at 32, while in Japan there are 10, Malaysia 10, Singapore nine, Taiwan eight, and Israel eight. Georgia, which sits at the crossroads of of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, holds 11, in part because of its role as a mining epicenter. Africa holds only seven ATMs, with four being located in South Africa and one in Zimbabwe, a country where bitcoin has surged in popularity of late – despite a ban. Elsewhere, Australia holds 51 ATMs and the tiny island of St Kitts and Nevis has one. No Signs of Slowing Down According to the data from Coinatmradar.com, around six crypto ATMs are being installed every day. Genesis Coin is the largest manufacturer, with 1,326 dotted around the world. It is closely followed by General Bytes, with 1,250 and then Lamassu, which has 435. The majority of the world’s machines are one-way devices – meaning they can only be used to buy cryptocurrencies – though ATMs that allow users to sell are on the rise, too. Most of these devices support BTC, BCH, litecoin (LTC), and ethereum (ETH). With such fast growth through 2018, despite the market crash, it looks like global BATM numbers will continue to rise through 2019. What do you think about the surge in popularity of cryptocurrency ATMs? Let us know what you think in the comments section below. Images via Shutterstock, and Coinatmradar.com Want to create your own secure cold storage paper wallet? Check our tools section. The post Bitcoin ATMs Continue to Spread Across the Globe appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In Wednesday’s edition of The Daily we cover a new feature that will allow Bitpay merchants to automatically diversify their settlements, a downsizing at Shapeshift that will see its team cut by a third, a show of commitment to the crypto industry by the government of Malta, and a new offering of BCH margin trading. Also Read: FBI Agents Raid Tech Campus Over Unauthorized Crypto Trading Bitpay Adds Multi-Coin Settlements Popular cryptocurrency payment processor Bitpay has introduced support for multi-coin settlements. The service added support for three stablecoins during 2018 (GUSD, USDC, and PAX), in addition to bitcoin cash BCH and BTC. The new feature means that merchants can now receive their Bitpay settlements in up to five of these cryptocurrencies all at once, in addition to their supported local fiat currency. New Bitpay settlements page for merchants “We’re excited to provide additional options and to give our merchants more flexibility with their settlements,” the Bitpay team stated. “We hope to continue adding valuable options for our merchants and their customers.” Shapeshift Is Downsizing by a Third Erik Voorhees, the founder and CEO of Shapeshift, has announced that his company is the latest venture to feel the “bitter frost” of crypto winter. The exchange platform is laying off 37 employees, reducing the size of its team by a third. “Crypto, like the moon we strive toward, is a harsh mistress,” wrote Voorhees. “We ride high and fast during the ascents, growing at rates unseen almost anywhere else in the business world. And when the markets turn, the crypto recession is similarly dramatic and severe.” Besides the general economic boom and bust cycle, the main reason identified for downsizing seems to be recognition that the company has lost focus. What started as just a simple tool for instant conversions grew too fast, with Shapeshift adding new services and acquiring other companies at a rate it was unable to manage. This caused the diversion of both time and financial resources, hurting its main business. Another reason for the situation is that the changing regulatory environment forced the company to face “immense legal bills” just to handle possible government-related risks. It also caused the platform to impose identification on users by switching to a membership-based business model, which drove away many of its API partners who left for non-KYC competitors. Malta Remains Committed to Crypto Thanks to a welcoming stance and a clear regulatory framework, Malta has been able to position itself as a leading global cryptocurrency trading hub, with a multitude of digital asset exchanges choosing to be legally based there. The current crypto market downturn is not going to change that as far as the political leadership of the country is concerned. After getting taunted by the by the local opposition for its work on becoming known as “Bitcoin Island,” the government has made it clear that it is proud of these efforts. The Parliamentary Secretariat for Financial Services, Digital Economy and Innovation said that numerous measures had been taken to secure this sector and give more peace of mind and protection to crypto investors, according to a local news report. The secretariat also remarked that a campaign by the Cyber Security Steering Committee was recently launched to educate the public on possible fraud. The government’s answer also made it clear that the crypto industry is seen as a necessary part of the economy of the future in Malta along side artificial intelligence, esports, video gaming and space exploration. Okex Launches Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Margin Trading Okex, the Malta-based exchange which supports fiat currencies such as the Vietnamese dong and Chinese yuan, has announced it has launched bitcoin cash (BCH) margin trading on the platform effective immediately. According to the company, users can now enjoy trading BCH against USDT or BTC on margin with the option of 3x leverage, which is three times the user’s total balance at maximum. OK Piggy Bank, a tool for earning daily interest with users’ spare tokens launched earlier by the company, has also now pledged support for BCH. What do you think about today’s news tidbits? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Bitpay. 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: Bitpay Adds Multi-Crypto Settlements, Shapeshift Downsizes appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Thailand has officially granted licenses to three cryptocurrency exchanges and one broker-dealer. Two exchanges have been rejected and one is still being reviewed. These seven companies have been temporarily allowed to operate in the country. Two of them will now begin closing down their businesses. Also read: Indian Supreme Court Moves Crypto Hearing, Community Calls for Positive Regulations Four Crypto Licenses Granted The Thai Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced on Tuesday the results of the applications for crypto business licenses. Seven companies applied for a license and have been allowed to operate their crypto businesses while the regulators reviewed their applications. The country’s ministry of finance “has granted digital asset business licences to four applicants,” the Thai SEC detailed, noting that two applications have been rejected and one is still under review. Three crypto exchanges and one broker-dealer have received licenses. The three approved exchanges are Bitcoin Exchange Co. Ltd. (Bx), Bitkub Online Co. Ltd. (Bitkub), and Satang Corporation (Satang Pro). The approved broker-dealer is Coins Th Co. Ltd. Meanwhile, the license application filed by local crypto exchange Coin Asset Co. Ltd. is still being reviewed but the company is permitted to keep operating while the decision has not been made. The delay is due to “a change of company executives, which is material information for the consideration of the application,” the commission described. Two Crypto Exchanges Closing The applications for crypto exchange licenses filed by Cash2coin Co. Ltd. and Southeast Asia Digital Exchange Co. Ltd. (Seadex) have been rejected. The Thai SEC revealed: The applicants failed to meet the approval criteria regarding important work systems. The commission added, “For example, the systems for custody of client assets and know your customer (KYC) were inconsistent with the SEC’s acceptable standards, while the sufficiency of their IT security and cyber security systems could not be verified.” The two businesses have been notified of the closing down procedure by the Thai SEC. The country’s ministry of finance is allowing both of them to continue operating until Jan. 14 “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 noted. The two are required to return customer assets and notify the commission of the results. However, the regulator clarified: The application rejection this time does not invalidate their right to apply for a digital asset business licence in the future as long as the application criteria are met. What do you think of Thailand granting licenses to four crypto operators and rejecting two? 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 Thailand Issues 4 Crypto Licenses, Rejects 2 Exchanges appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

On Jan. 7, the technician and researcher Joannes Vermorel announced the release of a new project called Cash-DB, a forked repository for the BCH network which consists of Vermorel’s original Terab Project work. According to the engineer, Cash-DB is a high-performance backend storage protocol for the Bitcoin Cash network’s UTXO set. Also Read: Major Mining Pools Have a ‘High Die-Off Rate’ Study Reveals Vermorel Claims ‘Cash-DB Can Process Close to 20,000 Transactions per Second’ Joannes Vermorel. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) proponents were surprised to see the researcher and developer Joannes Vermorel reveal a new project called Cash-DB for the BCH network. News.Bitcoin.com reported on Vermorel’s work in the past when the Terab Project was sponsored by Coingeek and Nchain, well before the Nov. 15 blockchain split. Cash-DB is a fork of the Terab Project which aims to improve BCH throughput performance and optimize backend storage for the UTXO set of Bitcoin Cash. From Vermorel’s standpoint, the protocol can already scale gigabyte sized blocks in an efficient fashion. “With a single Intel Optane 900P card – about $400 at time of writing – Cash-DB can process close to 20,000 transactions per second, which means that a 1GB Bitcoin block can be processed in 3 min 30 or so,” the researcher’s blog post notes. “Thus, Cash-DB, in its current form, is already scalable enough to process gigabyte blocks at peak network capacity.” According to the creator, Cash-DB is not a “scalability silver bullet” and only can help one part of the scalability challenges the BCH network will face down the line. The throughput of Cash-DB is still too low to handle sustained gigabyte blocks says Vermorel. But the developer says compared to the rate of Visa transactions it “should be enough for now.” Discontinued Sponsorship Following the announcement, some BCH community members were skeptical of Vermorel’s forked project due to his prior relationship with Coingeek and Nchain. When asked why the Terab Project was discontinued, Vermorel replied with a link to the project’s Github repository. The project’s current documentation states: “The sponsorship of Terab by Coingeek and Nchain has been discontinued.” Additionally, Vermorel told his Twitter followers that he had moved his the Lokad 4-byte prefix guideline for BCH OP_Returns to the BCH community repository at Bitcoincash.org. Vermorel was further criticized though because some of the Cash-DB files include a different type of license called ‘License-MIT-BCH,’ which could theoretically restrict other open source projects from using it. However, Vermorel stated that the MIT BCH license was required as part of the initial Terab funding and he would have preferred to have used a traditional MIT license, but that was not possible. The engineer continued by stating that Cash-DB is funded by his own project Lokad and uses the traditional MIT open source standard. “This ensures that an app leveraging Cash-DB does not have to include anything but MIT licensed code in its own codebase,” Vermorel explained on Reddit. “Further developments funded by Lokad will be done under regular MIT license.” The developer further stated: Nchain is not involved in Cash-DB — I believe that CashDB would fit nicely in their Teranode initiative, but it’s up to them to decide. Naturally, as Cash-DB is a fork of Terab, the original licensing terms still apply for the parts that were funded by the original sponsors of the Terab project. ‘Live and Learn’ Many BCH supporters also welcomed Vermorel as he had contributed a lot to the ecosystem in the past. In another blog post about the project called, Salient bits of Cash-DB, Vermorel explains that designing the project implemented in C#/.NET was an “interesting task.” “It took us a near complete rewrite of Cash-DB to get those insights properly implemented — Well, live and learn,” the developer conceded. What do you think about Joannes Vermorel’s Cash-DB project? Let us know in the comments section below. Images via Shutterstock, Pixabay, and Twitter. At Bitcoin.com there’s a bunch of free helpful services. For instance, have you seen our Tools page? You can even look up 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 Developer Releases Cash-DB, a Terab Project Fork for the BCH Network appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The Venezuelan government has published a decree requiring taxpayers with crypto operations in the country to pay their taxes in cryptocurrencies. Similarly, operators of foreign currencies must pay their taxes in those currencies. The decree states that the change is necessary for the “strengthening of the current fiscal regime.” Also read: Indian Supreme Court Moves Crypto Hearing, Community Calls for Positive Regulations Paying Taxes in Cryptocurrencies The Venezuelan government published the official gazette No. 6,420 dated Dec. 28 on Monday, local media reported. It contains Decree No. 3,719 which outlines new tax payment rules for cryptocurrency operators. Dinero publication explained: The government of President Nicolás Maduro published a decree that will require taxpayers who carry out operations in foreign currencies or cryptocurrencies to pay their taxes in that same currency and not in bolivars. The decree states that “the Venezuelan people are currently facing a fierce war waged by internal and external factors that pursue the deterioration of the economy, which is why it is necessary to adopt sufficient measures to ensure the strengthening of the current fiscal regime.” The Ministry of Popular Power of Economy and Finance is in charge of the execution of the decree which is effective as of the time of the publication in the national gazette. Article one of the decree states that taxpayers in Venezuela “who carry out operations” in foreign currencies or cryptocurrencies as authorized by the law “must determine and pay [their tax] obligations in a foreign currency or cryptocurrency.” Two exemptions are listed in the decree: “transactions of securities traded on a stock exchange” and “the export of goods and services, carried out by public bodies or entities.” Furthermore, the decree describes that payments such as tax refunds for cases established in the decree will be made in the “national currency.” Using Petro for Tax Calculations Maracaibo Municipality in Venezuela’s Zulia State recently announced that it will use the national “cryptocurrency,” the petro, as the basis for business tax calculations, Runrunes reported. The announcement created some confusion among residents, who thought that they would have to pay their taxes in petros. On Tuesday, the intendant of Servicio Desconcentrado de Administración Tributaria (Sedemat), Jean Carlos Martínez, clarified to Noticia al Dia publication that “taxpayers will not be charged taxes in petros.” He elaborated: We are using the value of the petro as a reference unit to be able to determine the minimum tax, since the ordinance of the current economic unit is still stipulated in percentages of gross income. He added that the petro has two values: one as a cryptocurrency and the other is “as a unit of account that translates into 9,000 sovereign bolivars, which will be used in passport procedures or current salaries.” The new decree establishes “that the payment of taxes will be made depending on the economic activity of each company or microenterprise,” the news outlet noted. Martinez was then quoted as saying, “If someone had transactions in petro, bitcoin or other currency, [they] should declare [their income] according to the currency that [they] manage.” What do you think of Venezuela requiring crypto operators to pay taxes in cryptocurrencies? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock and the Venezuelan government. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Venezuela Decrees Crypto Operators Must Pay Taxes in Cryptocurrencies appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

When looking at monthly market performance, 2018 was the bloodiest year in the history of the cryptocurrency markets. Of the seven largest cryptocurrencies by market cap, only three were able to produce more than two green monthly candles during 2018. Also Read: Bitblock Publishes Alternative Valuation Model That Suggests BTC Is Underpriced BTC and ETH Produce Most Red Monthly Candles in Calendar Year Ever In 2018, bitcoin core (BTC) saw the most red monthly candles in its history, posting three green and nine red monthly candles throughout the year. BTC gained 2% during the month of February, 33% April, and 21% July. The price of BTC fell by roughly 73% during 2018, opening the year trading for $13,900 and closing 2018 at roughly $3,700. BTC/USD – Bitstamp – 1M, 2018 Based on monthly performance, the second most-bloody year in BTC’s history was 2014, during which BTC posted four green and eight red monthly candles. In 2014, BTC fell by 56% from $730 to $320. BTC/USD – Bitstamp – 1M, 2014 ETH also posted its poorest annual performance during 2018 with three green and nine red monthly candles. The price of ETH gained 53% in January, nearly 75% in April, and 19% in December of last year. Overall, ETH shed nearly 82% of its value during 2018, falling from roughly $735 to start 2019 trading for $135. ETH/USD – Poloniex (Estimated by Tradingview) – 1M, 2018 XLM Posts Strongest Monthly Performance of Top Markets Stellar (XLM) was the strongest performing cryptocurrency of 2018 when counting green candles, posting four green and eight red candles during last year. XLM started 2018 with a gain of 53% in January, before gaining 103% in April, 44% during July, and 17% in September. XLM/USD – Bittrex (Estimated by Tradingview) – 1M, 2018 Despite performing better than many other crypto assets during 2018, XLM posted its worst performing year on record. XLM lost 67% during last year, opening 2018 at $0.35 and closing the year below $0.12. BCH, XRP, EOS, and LTC Post Just Two Green Monthly Candles During 2018 BCH posted green months during April and July of 2018, during which it gained 97% and less than 4% respectively. Overall, BCH shed roughly 94% of its value last year, trading for nearly $2,400 at the start of January and closing the year at roughly $150. BCH/USD – Kraken – 1M, 2018 XRP’s sole green months for the year were April and September, which saw monthly gains of 66% and 74%. XRP posted an annual loss of 82%, falling from nearly $1.97 to end 2018 trading for $0.36. XRP/USD – Bitfinex – 1M, 2018 EOS saw bullish action during January and April of last year, during which the market posted gains of 59% and 195% respectively. EOS dropped by 78% during 2018, sliding from $12.17 to close the year at $2.62. EOS/USD – Bitfinex – 1M, 2018 LTC Produces Second-Most Bearish Year on Record During 2018, LTC posted modest monthly price gains in February and April, with LTC increasing by 23% and 28%. Overall, LTC fell by 86% last year. LTC/USD – Coinbase – 1M, 2018 Despite the heavy losses, 2018 comprised LTC’s second most-bearish year on record. During 2014, LTC fell 88% from roughly $23.80 to $2.75, and only posted a single green monthly candle. LTC/USD – Bitfinex – 1M, 2014 Do you think the worst of the bear trend has already passed? Share your thoughts in the comments section below! Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Tradingview. 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 Leading Crypto Markets Post Worst Year of Monthly Price Action on Record appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

On Monday, Coinmetrics.io published a study looking at hashrate history of the most competitive BTC mining pools. The research from the open source cryptocurrency analytics site reveals interesting insights into how the mining ecosystem has evolved over time. Also read: Connecticut Software Engineering School Receives $10,000 BTC Donation ‘Major Mining Pools Are Fallible’ Cryptocurrency mining is a very competitive industry that has grown significantly in recent years. The processing power of all the SHA-256 algorithm-based coins is more powerful than the world’s supercomputers combined, and individuals and businesses have sunk billions into the mining industry. On Jan. 7 Coinmetrics.io released some interesting research concerning the mining pools processing thousands of BTC blocks over the years. The research team at Coinmetrics explained that the analysis was in response to an Ark Invest issue published last year which lightly touched upon the mining industry and hashrate distribution. Nic Carter, cofounder of CoinMetrics.io, tweets about the new study “Granular mining pool mapping with Bitcoin’s coinbase outputs.” The authors state that the data used in the Coinmetrics report stems from well-known sources like BTC.com and Bitcoinity, but the team also parsed the coinbase outputs from the last 450,000 BTC blocks. These days, most mining pools use the coinbase parameter to identify themselves when a block is mined on the blockchain. Coinmetrics explains the habit is completely voluntary and in the early days, miners did not identify themselves in this manner. Due to this factor, Coinmetrics skipped the first 100,000 blocks when parsing the chain. After sifting through the particulars, the researchers were able to identify 37 individual mining pools or large solo miners. The statistics suggest that these bitcoin miners mined at least 0.1% of the blocks in the period. “The striking conclusion from the all-time chart is just how fallible major mining pools are: several influential pools which once controlled significant fractions of Bitcoin’s hashrate – BTC Guild, Ghash, BTCC – are now totally defunct,” the report emphasizes. Coinmetrics continues by stating: Indeed, few pools seem to be truly persistent, F2pool and Slushpool being notable exceptions. Labeled chart of major mining pools. “37 individual mining pools / large solo miners which mined at least 0.1% of the blocks in the period, and 11 additional identifiable entities which we excluded due to not meeting that threshold (they were aggregated into ‘other known’),” the study details. The Rise of Unknown Miners in 2018 and a Shrinking Reward Distribution One notable aspect from the report is that there’s been a significant rise of “unknown miners” or operators choosing not to identify themselves in 2018. There could be a variety of reasons why there’s been a spike of unknown miners, such as for privacy and political reasons. The Coinmetrics research also details that operations like F2pool have seen a significant drop in hashrate and Antpool’s slice of the pie has “moderately declined.” BTCC and BW.com have closed operations and Bitfury’s hashrate has dropped as well. Both F2pool and Antpool have dominated with roughly 83,000 blocks combined, but to this day BTC Guild still holds the most captured BTC by pool. This factor is due to the block rewards shrinking, as pools could amass a lot of coins if they had a sizable amount of hashrate back in the day. BTC Guild was able to accumulate the most BTC during its tenure mining due to the early block rewards being much larger. Most veteran bitcoiners will remember the old mining pool giants of the past mentioned in the Coinmetrics report. Back then there were plenty of BTC Guild memes and proponents begging individual miners to stop mining with the pool when it gathered 48 percent of the network’s hashrate five years ago. The same thing happened a year later with Ghash when the community was up in arms after the pool gathered more than 51% of the network multiple times in June 2014. Researchers Ittay Eyal and Emin Gün Sirer from the publication Hacking, Distributed explained the situation in great detail at the time and stated: Actually, it became a 55% miner for almost a day. And prior to that, it seems to have tested the waters over a period of 10 days or so, perhaps gauging the public’s reaction. BTC Guild in 2013. The mining pool caused a lot of debate at the time. One factor not mentioned in the Coinmetrics report is the hashrate variations that have stemmed from Bitcoin forks. A lot has changed in the last two years and since August 2017 there’s been some variance of miners switching between the BTC and BCH hashrate as well. The red lines represent deep variances between the BTC and BCH hashrate from Aug. 1, 2017, to December 2017 and then the 2018 BCH hard fork as well. This data stems from the analytics website Coin Dance. Because many mining pools like Antpool, Viabtc, F2pool, and BTC.com mine both chains, there was a notable divergence between the two chains’ mining profitability up until December 2017. Spectators also noted a slight deviation of pools switching hash during the BCH hashwars that started on Nov. 15 last year. The Coinmetrics analysis concludes by saying that there are a lot more stories in the data they scraped and they have “only begun to scratch the surface.” What do you think about the recently published Coinmetrics report on mining pools? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. Image credits: Coinmetrics.io, Coin Dance, and Shutterstock. Have you seen our widget service? It allows anyone to embed informative Bitcoin.com widgets on their website. They’re pretty cool, and you can customize by size and color. The widgets include price-only, price and graph, price and news, and forum threads. There’s also a widget dedicated to our mining pool, displaying our hash power. The post Major Mining Pools Have a ‘High Die-Off Rate’ Study Reveals appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance is opening trading for three stablecoin pairs. Also in Tuesday’s Daily, Overstock’s Tzero has patented a solution to integrate traditional and cryptocurrency trading systems, Morgan Creek founder Jason Williams offers his Lamborghini for bitcoin, and in Brazil, crypto investors are looking to buy vaults to safely store their digital assets. Also read: Epic Founder Addresses Fortnite Crypto Rumors, Robinhood Recruiting in London Binance Launches Trading for Three Stablecoin Pairs Binance, currently the largest crypto exchange by daily trading volume, has announced it’s adding new trading pairs that will allow users to trade stablecoins against one other. Starting from Tuesday, Jan. 8, the following pairs will be available to traders: PAX/TUSD, USDC/TUSD and USDC/PAX. In November, the digital asset trading platform rebranded its USDT market as a combined stablecoin market, introducing the symbol USDⓈ. The exchange explained this was done to support more trading pairs with different stablecoins offered as a base pair. Later Binance added to the new market pairs with the stablecoins paxos standard (PAX) and USD coin (USDC). Last year saw the arrival of several stablecoins that are now competing with the dollar-pegged tether (USDT). These include the two tokens that were approved by the New York State Department of Financial Services in September, gemini dollar (GUSD), and paxos standard (PAX), also backed one-to-one with U.S. fiat currency. Tzero to Integrate Traditional Trading Systems and Crypto Exchanges Security token trading platform Tzero, a subsidiary of Overstock, has secured a patent for a platform that allows integration between traditional trading systems and digital asset exchanges. Tzero’s Crypto Integration Platform is designed to serve as an interface between the two types of systems. According to the filing, the platform can host initial public offerings (IPOs) and offerings of securities registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). It is also intended to be used to trade these securities in secondary market transactions. The “digital transactional items” mentioned in the patent represent tokens, securities, digital assets, digital shares, and cash equivalents. When receiving an order, the platform is expected to verify the availability and determine the best market price of the digital asset before a transaction is made. Online retail giant Overstock is a crypto-friendly company. Recently it announced it will cover part of its tax obligations to the U.S. state of Ohio using bitcoin. Ohio’s new payment portal, which was launched a couple of months ago, allows businesses to pay their taxes with bitcoin core (BTC) and bitcoin cash (BCH) via Bitpay. Morgan Creek Founder Wants Crypto for His Lambo Jason Williams, co-founder of Morgan Creek Digital Assets, recently tweeted that he is about “to do something that has never been done in crypto.” According to the post, Williams’s Lamborghini is up for sale and the owner wants to buy cryptocurrency with the money he gets for the car. “Offers in BTC accepted,” the entrepreneur noted as well. Williams has received a lot of comments and even offers for the Lambo. According to Monero’s lead developer Riccardo Spagni, the sale is a good move. “Huracans are awful investments. Unless it’s a Performante, then there’s a limited audience in the future. But seriously, better to get rid of it,” Spagni wrote. “Too many cars. Not enough BTC honestly,” Jason Williams said in response. Brazilians on the Lookout for Vaults to Store Bitcoin Safe storage should be a priority for any investor in possession of large amounts of digital cash. According to the local press, many Brazilians don’t feel that hard wallets and secure passwords provide enough protection. Local companies manufacturing and building physical vaults have registered a growing demand for their services from cryptocurrency owners, which has actually revived the industry. The Folha de São Paulo news outlet recently reported that some of the safes are part of quite sophisticated security systems. They are often installed behind reinforced armored doors and come with advanced features for biometric authorization such as palm scanners that can identify up to 5 million points on the hand of a person who’s trying to open the vault. What are your thoughts on today’s news tidbits? Tell us in the comments section. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Jason Williams (Twitter). 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 The Daily: Binance Adds Stablecoin Pairs, Tzero Patents Integration Platform appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Bitblock Capital has published an alternative mining valuation model for BTC. The company has published a report that examines data from July 2016 to Dec. 2018 that seeks to “explain the relationships between [BTC] price and its intrinsic value” using the model. Also Read: Google Play Store Forces Samourai Wallet to Remove Security Features Bitblock Capital Proposes Alternative Mining Valuation Model for BTC The report by Bitblock Capital argues that since 2017, “the real value of [BTC] has been the center of an increasingly vibrant discussion in the market,” noting that the price of BTC “behaves like a highly speculative security,” however, the crypto asset is “produced like gold.” The paper asserts that there are currently three popular valuation theories pertaining to BTC: the currency model, supply and demand, and the mining model. Bitblock states that there are several problems associated with the currency model, with the report highlighting the security characteristics exhibited by BTC price action, and concluding that the currency model “has very limited explanatory power” with regard to the value of BTC. While the report finds that “Without additional price factors,” the supply and demand model “is able to analyze the equilibrium price of [BTC],” Bitblock also finds the supply and demand model to have a number of setbacks. In particular, the report notes that “it is extremely challenging to measure the position and elasticity of demand and supply curve accurately,” concluding that the model “has very limited practical use” – especially with regard to predictions of price movement. Bitblock’s Mining-Based Valuation Model The mining model is described as being “based on the non-arbitrage pricing or risk-neutral pricing model in financial economics” which states that “any riskless arbitrage opportunity is quickly taken up by well-capitalized market players,” maintaining prices at “the arbitrage-free price level”. The paper utilizes a “revenue-cost model from the point of view of miners” to value BTC. The model is based on the assumption that there is “market equilibrium in the mining industry.” Further, Bitblock assumes that the “value of [BTC] relies solely on considerations of mining power and electricity,” and disregards “irrational volatility and speculation” in the markets. The report also appeals to the labor theory of value, describing the key property of BTC as a storage of value, adding that BTC “stores equivalent values from the ‘work of machines’.” BTC Price Deviates Significantly From Bitblock’s Model According to the “equilibrium price” generated by Bitblock’s valuation model, price and equilibrium value were balanced from July 2016 until late 2017, with BTC prices gradually increasing alongside a steadily rising hash rate. The report asserts that from Nov. 2017 onwards, “price deviated from value significantly,” with BTC prices skyrocketing in spite of steadily rising hash rate. Following a brief correction in November that saw price realign with equilibrium value according to Bitblock’s model, the final leg of the 2017 bull run saw value deviate at the end of the year. After price crashed during the start of 2018, the valuation model shows price consolidating near value for a few months, before drastically falling below the equilibrium price value produced by the model. With regards to current market action, the report asserts that it is “irrational” for prices to remain significantly below the Equilibrium Price for a long period of time. What do you think of Bitblock’s valuation model? Share your thoughts in the comments section below! Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Bitblock 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 Bitblock Publishes Alternative Valuation Model That Suggests BTC Is Underpriced appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Samourai Wallet has announced that, due to the Google Play Store’s “new extremely restrictive policies,” a number of security features are being removed from the wallet. The developers have applied for an exemption to the new rules, but Google has rejected their request. Also read: Indian Supreme Court Moves Crypto Hearing, Community Calls for Positive Regulations Google’s New Policies Developers of privacy-enhanced mobile BTC wallet Samourai announced on Monday that they have been forced to disable a number of security features due to the Google Play Store’s new policies. They wrote: It is with great sadness that we are disabling the following features within Samourai Wallet as of version 0.99.04 – which will be released tomorrow – due to new extremely restrictive policies Google has decided to introduce in their effort to become more of a ‘walled garden’ experience. The three features being disabled are called “Stealth Mode,” “SIM Switch Defense,” and “Remote SMS Commands.” Samourai detailed that they applied for an exemption to the new rules. The self-proclaimed privacy activists explained to Google that “removing such functionality would cause users who rely on those features to be less secure and more exposed.” However, the tech giant still rejected their application. The developers noted that Google does not care about any of the security benefits the wallet offers, adding: Samourai Wallet would have been removed from the Google Play Store had we not complied with this dictate. Three Hardcore Security Features Gone The three soon-to-be missing features have been part of Samourai Wallet since its first release in 2015. They are optional settings that are turned off by default. According to the developers, “To this day no other wallet has enabled these types of features, and now it is very likely no other wallet will, thanks to the heavy hand of Google.” One of the three features to be removed — SIM Switch Defense — Samourai described as a feature that alerts “users to the fact that their SIM card was being hijacked due to extremely poor opsec by their network carrier.” It accomplishes this by stealthily sending an SMS message to a trusted mobile number when the phone’s SIM card has been changed. Another feature to be disabled is Stealth Mode which gives users a way to hide their wallet app from attackers who have physical access to their smartphones. Enabling the feature requires granting the app access to make undetected outgoing calls. The developers tweeted on Monday: Many users in South America who use this feature are now at risk, thanks to @Googleplay The last feature Google has a problem with is Remote SMS Commands which “allows users who lost their device to remotely erase their bitcoin wallet to prevent further loss of their bitcoin stash,” the wallet developers described. “@Googleplay has killed that as well.” Bypassing Google’s Restrictions The Samourai team said that they “hope to bring these features back somehow in the future in the Google Play Store.” Meanwhile, they expect to resume offering all features “via alternative distribution methods such as direct download and F-Droid in the coming months.” F-Droid, the most popular alternative Android app marketplace, has fewer restrictions than the Google Play Store but its install process can be too complicated for some users. Samourai developers further wrote: In the coming months we will expand our distribution model to include self-hosted APK [Android install package file] downloads and inclusion in the open source F-Droid app store. These versions will all include the Stealth Mode, Remote SMS, and SIM Switch Defense features. In the meantime, Samourai developers have advised users to disable stealth mode prior to updating to the new version. What do you think of Google’s new policies which force Samourai Wallet to remove these security features? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Twitter, and Samourai Wallet. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Google Play Store Forces Samourai Wallet to Remove Security Features appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Buying and selling property using cryptocurrency is less straightforward than was first assumed. The handful of mortgage lenders and realtors who were initially keen are now reluctant to accept crypto deposits due to money laundering fears. Until there is greater clarity concerning crypto regulation, due diligence procedures and taxation, potential participants are opting to wait on the sidelines. Also read: 27% of England’s Male Millennials Say Bitcoin Better Investment Than Property Uncertain Macroeconomic and Political Backdrop to 2019 The year ahead promises an uncertain macroeconomic and political road for the real estate sector. In its 2019 outlook, the Urban Land Institute points to a complex, multi-layered series of overlapping trends with unpredictable results expected this year. The same can be said of projected cryptocurrency prices as the bear market continues. Natalia Karayaneva, CEO of real estate startup Propy, highlights a number of issues which need to be addressed when buying and selling property using crypto. “The main issue we’ve experienced is exchanging large amounts because sellers, very often, want to to get paid in fiat,” she explains. “When payment is crypto to crypto, large amounts have to be sent in smaller portions as transactions are not reversible. This is because sending large amounts of crypto is still a risky process e.g. if a hacker swaps a public address, the transaction is not reversible,” noted Karayaneva. Using Crypto Does Not Eliminate Tax Liabilities Karayaneva explained that Propy also educates various title or escrow companies on processing such deals as a majority of them do not want to touch crypto. A title company is one which issues title insurance policies, while an escrow agency attends to the many details involved in opening, maintaining, and closing a real estate sale transaction. “Additionally, when you buy real estate using cryptocurrency it’s a taxable event, unlike the myth amongst some investors that using bitcoin will eliminate taxes – not true,” stressed Karayaneva. The primary challenge her group has faced is educating all participants involved in a deal, including agents and title agents, to properly prepare legal documents for U.S. and EU deals. So far Propy has facilitated deals in the US, EU, and Ukraine, with payment in ETH-ETH, BTC-BTC, BTC-fiat, and fiat-fiat. Trust Issues Andre Bruckmann is the CEO and founder of Mycro.Jobs and owns real estate on the German island of Rügen. He considered accepting payments in crypto, explaining: I received a request from somebody who wanted to rent the house for the Christmas [season] directly from me and wanted to pay with bitcoin. Although I love cryptocurrency, I was unsure with the request, as I did not know the person. Since trust here was more important than profit I refused at that time. If I had any way of checking the trustworthiness of the person, I would have made the deal. Volatility and Due Diligence There are still many factors hindering the renting or buying of real estate properties directly using crypto. Stefan Neagu, co-founder of digital identify management system Persona, said: “The first aspect is the volatility of the market. In order to not be affected by the volatility, the price would need to be set or agreed in USD or EUR, but payable in crypto.” He identified another issue in that the person who receives the crypto as payment may have a hard time declaring those amounts to government fiscal agencies. ”Both aspects have a common factor however – the source of funds. Renting/buying properties with crypto would be the choice (I assume) of money launderers using funds from illegal activities, due to the lack of possibilities to prove the source of funds,” added Neagu. KYC and AML Neagu explained that it is likely the majority of the people who would want to rent or buy real estate properties would not insist on paying with crypto. Even if they choose to purchase properties with crypto, they would have to undergo the necessary KYC/AML in order to be able to move large amounts of money from cryptocurrency to EUR or USD. Neagu noted: “With the right tools or applications, the owner could be in the position to check the source of funds, but even so, there are a lot of extra steps required to access crypto. I assume there are not that many people [real estate owners] that want to go an extra mile just to accept crypto as means of payment.” Do you think buying and selling property with cryptocurrency will one day become commonplace? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Buying and Selling Property With Bitcoin Is More Complex Than It May Seem appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

During the first week of 2019, Holberton School in New Haven, whose two-year higher education program aims to “drive the digital transformation revolution,” received a large cryptocurrency donation. On Monday it was announced that the cofounder of software suite the Scroll Network, Nathan Pitruzzello, donated $10,000 worth of digital currency to the Connecticut school that’s known for recording academic certificates on the BTC chain. Also read: Thousands of Banned Binance Customers Remain Cut off by the Exchange Connecticut Software Engineering School Receives a $10,000 BTC Donation Holberton School New Haven, a two-year program training software engineers, revealed on Jan. 7 that the school had received a kind donation in cryptocurrency. The $10,000 BTC donation from Scroll Network’s cofounder Nathan Pitruzzello will be used to help qualifying students offset living expenses, the school detailed. Holberton helps students become full-stack software engineers by utilizing a collaborative project-based learning approach. According to Holberton, graduates from the school now work with blockchain startups and big name tech giants like Tesla, NASA, and Apple. During the announcement, Pitruzzello explained that cryptocurrency solutions and blockchain technology innovation is “about philanthropy.” “I am committed to helping students build their startups and careers as a way of giving back to those that helped me get started,” said Pitruzzello. “Holberton’s approach to providing cutting-edge software engineering training to people from different backgrounds, including entrepreneurs like myself, as well as those from disadvantaged backgrounds, has resonated with me from day one — I am very excited that this education model is launching next door to us right here in New Haven,” the Scroll Network founder added. Both Holberton and MIT record academic certificates on the Bitcoin Core (BTC) network. Blockchain-Backed Academic Certificates Another interesting fact about the Holberton school is it was one of the first schools to deliver academic certificates that are secured and accessible via the BTC blockchain. Around three years ago, on Oct. 21, 2015, the New Haven software engineer program announced it was recording the certificates in order to “tackle the threats of false resumes and fake certificates.” “By having students’ certificates available in a public blockchain, Holberton School makes it easier for employers to check if a candidate is truly a graduate from the school,” Holberton stated at the time. The well-known Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston also uses the BTC chain to record academic certificates through a program called Blockcerts launched in 2016. The following year, the MIT Registrar’s Office issued diplomas to 111 graduates using the blockchain platform. Holberton is unique because students are able to attend with no upfront tuition, but are asked to contribute a portion of their salary from post-Holberton employment. However, Holberton director Nadine Krause emphasized that students still need help with living expenses and the digital currency donation was very helpful. “We’re honored that [Nathan Pitruzzello] chose to support Holberton students in this way and to help further our mission of making our program accessible to more people, regardless of an individual’s experience level or financial means,” Krause concluded. What do you think about the BTC donation to Holberton School New Haven? What do you think about schools that record academic certificates by using blockchain technology? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. Images via Shutterstock, Holberton School New Haven, and Pixabay. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Connecticut Software Engineering School Receives $10,000 BTC Donation appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

U.S. federal law enforcement authorities are among the most active criminal agencies globally against cryptocurrency infractions. A new example of this is that FBI and Homeland Security agents have reportedly raided a technology campus over unauthorized cryptocurrency trading. Also Read: Epic Founder Addresses Fortnite Crypto Rumors, Robinhood Recruiting in London Unauthorized Crypto Trading According to several media reports from Grand Rapids, Michigan, agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) have raided a not-for-profit technological education group in the city, on Dec. 21, 2018. The head of the organization, the National Science Institute (originally named “The Geek Group”), now claims that the reason for the raid is that he was commercially trading in the cryptocurrency markets without the government’s authorization, according to a recent local TV report (video embedded below). Chris Boden reportedly said he thinks he might be sent to federal prison and needs over $100,000 for legal expenses. “I did a stupid thing, I made a bad decision, so I’m going to pay for it.” Boden is recorded saying. On Saturday, Boden announced a “Going Out Of Business” sale on Facebook. “Everything goes. We have to completely liquidate all of our assets to close down the nonprofit. There will be nothing left. The proceeds will go towards paying off our gigantic mountain of debt.” Regarding the case he only provided this message: “On the advice of legal council I will not comment further on the Government’s ongoing investigation.” FBI, HSI Among Most Active in the World This case is only the latest example of U.S. authorities being among the most active globally against cryptocurrency infractions. Recently, Kraken released statistics about the global breakdown of its subpoenas from authorities during 2018. While the exchange reports that just about 20 percent of its clients come from the U.S., the country represented the absolute majority of requests for information it had to handle from all over the world. Following the United States’ 315 subpoenas in 2018 was the U.K. with just 61. In fact, the FBI alone issued more requests than all U.K. authorities, a total of 67. HSI was even more of a burden on the exchange with 91 information requests. Is taxpayers’ money being put to good use with federal agents sent to tackle unauthorized crypto trading? 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 FBI and Homeland Security Agents Raid Tech Campus Over Unauthorized Crypto Trading appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Sanctions imposed by governments as part of geopolitical struggles do not always filter through to under-regulated industries. Ambitious businesses covet every opportunity for expansion and diversification. That seems to be the reason why a growing number of crypto exchanges are turning their attention to Russia and its diaspora, despite the disapprobation this risks drawing from U.S. officials. Also read: Crypto-Friendly Statesman Takes Over Swiss Presidency Major Platforms Increase Presence in the Russian World Ever since the annexation of Crimea, Russia’s reemergence as an aspiring military, political and economic power on the world scene has been met with an ever-expanding list of western sanctions, the most wide-ranging containment measures against Moscow since the Cold War. They’ve undoubtedly taken their toll on the Russian economy and dissuaded many foreign investors. However, that’s not necessarily the case with the crypto industry, which is looking to expand operations after a prolonged downturn. Major digital asset exchanges have been focusing on Russia and the greater Russian world, despite the sanctions. According to a recent report, interest toward cryptocurrencies there has remained relatively stable throughout the past year. Binance, the largest exchange by daily trading volume, has not restricted access to its platform for Russian users, despite cutting off traders from a number of other countries under U.S. sanctions such as Iran and Belarus. What’s more, the Chinese crypto company hired a special representative for Russia, Gleb Kostarev, who recently told Forklog that the Russian Federation and the CIS countries are some of the largest and most important markets for Binance, with great potential for future growth. The platform’s website is already available in Russian and Russian-language support is offered to VIP clients. Establishing a Russian office is in Binance’s plans but the company prefers to first see comprehensive regulations for the crypto industry in the country. But Huobi, which is the fourth largest crypto exchange, is evidently not worried by the lack of regulations. It has already set up shop in Russia and launched a dedicated platform, Huobi Russia. It maintains 24-hour Russian-language online support and call center. Huobi is also partnering with Russia’s state-owned development bank VEB to provide legal help to crypto companies and with the country’s oldest business school, the Plekhanov University of Economics, on an educational program. Another exchange that is planning a Russian expansion is Kucoin. Its website already has a Russian version too. Buying Cryptocurrencies With Rubles Among the other crypto trading platforms with Russian language support are Exmo, arguably the largest digital assets exchange in Eastern Europe, and the Hong Kong-based Bitmex. U.K.-headquartered Exmo, which is also represented in both Moscow and Kiev, offers pairs of major cryptocurrencies with the Russian ruble, and supports a number of payment methods that are popular in this part of the world, including card deposits and withdrawals, bank transfers in local fiat currency, Qiwi, Yandex Money, Webmoney and other payment processors. Peer-to-peer crypto trading platforms are also taking care of Russian-speaking users. The popular exchange Localbitcoins has a Russian-language website devoted to traders from the Russian Federation, where most of the offers are priced in rubles and traders use popular Russian payment methods. Another P2P platform, Latvia-based Hodl Hodl, recently announced the launch of BTC and LTC trades in pairs with the Russian ruble. It also expanded its list of exchanges whose rates can be referenced in the offers, adding Binance and Exmo. Do you expect the Russian crypto market to continue to grow despite foreign sections and the lack of regulations? Share your thoughts on the subject 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 Cryptocurrency Exchanges Eye Russia for Expansion Despite Sanctions appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article