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A leading industry organization in Russia has decided to establish an arbitration body to look into disputes within the digital economy, including matters related to cryptocurrency transactions, as well as rights and responsibilities in token sales and the implementation of smart contracts. Also read: Ukraine Plans to Fully Legalize Cryptocurrencies Within Three Years Industry Organization Appoints Arbitration Board The absence of comprehensive regulations for Russia’s fintech sector has been a source of continued legal uncertainty. In recent years, courts have been challenged to consider a growing number of so-called “digital cases,” many of which have been filed as a result of business disputes in the nascent cryptocurrency industry. Experts from relevant fields have been invited to join the new arbitration body, which will be formed by the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP). The influential organization recently criticized new draft legislation designed to regulate the crypto space, after lawmakers proposed a number of complicated rules and removed key terms such as “cryptocurrency” and “smart contracts” from the bill. The Russian business community has responded by promoting an alternative draft that would grant cryptocurrencies “special status.” The arbitration body will review disputes between parties to smart contracts that have been recorded in distributed ledgers, as well as disagreements between participants in cryptocurrency transactions and initial coin offerings (ICOs). Elina Sidorenko, the head of a parliamentary group assessing the risks associated with cryptocurrencies, is the leading candidate to chair the new arbitration board, according to the Kommersant newspaper. She told the business daily that its members have already been selected. Sidorenko also noted that the Russian judicial system faces a number of challenges in resolving cryptocurrency-related disputes, as there are currently no legal mechanisms in place to protect the rights of investors in the digital economy. The number of competent legal experts who understand the specifics of the largely unregulated sector is also still insufficient. Courts Struggle With Cryptocurrency-Related Cases The number of civil disputes related to the use of digital technologies continues to grow. Russian courts reviewed 148 such cases between 2014 and 2018, 45 percent of which were related to the fulfillment of obligations under smart contracts and the use of cryptocurrencies and tokens. The ICO boom that started last year is likely to lead to even more disputes in the next few years. Russian courts are expected to deal with up to 4,000 cases per year by 2025. Sidorenko said the new arbitration board will convene in the early weeks of 2019. In addition to cryptocurrency-related cases, the panel will look at disputes over digital services, as well as issues related to the implementation of artificial intelligence, robotics and other advanced technologies in different sectors of the economy. For the time being, the legal status of cryptocurrencies in Russia remains undetermined. In a ruling on a bankruptcy case in May, a Russian arbitration court of appeals recognized cryptocurrencies as property with value. Public discussions are now underway on the latest version of the legislation, which was adopted on first reading by the lower house of Russia’s parliament earlier this year. The Federal Financial Monitoring Service will oversee the cryptocurrency industry once the regulatory framework has been approved. Do you think arbitration is a good approach to resolving disputes in the cryptocurrency industry? Share your thoughts in the comments section. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Make sure you do not miss any important Bitcoin-related news! Follow our news feed any which way you prefer; via Twitter, Facebook, Telegram, RSS or email (scroll down to the bottom of this page to subscribe). We’ve got daily, weekly and quarterly summaries in newsletter form. Bitcoin never sleeps. Neither do we. The post Arbitrators to Resolve Disputes in the Russian Cryptocurrency Industry appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

This is a paid press release, which contains forward looking statements, and should be treated as advertising or promotional material. Bitcoin.com does not endorse nor support this product/service. Bitcoin.com is not responsible for or liable for any content, accuracy or quality within the press release. eGifter and Bitcoin.com announce partnership that will allow cryptocurrency users to buy gift cards with Bitcoin Cash Bitcoin Cash (BCH) just became more usable with the launch of a partnership between Bitcoin.com and eGifter, a gift card marketplace offering 300+ top-branded eGift cards to US and global brands. Customers will be able to shop for eGift cards directly from the Bitcoin.com store at launch, and in the coming weeks, straight from the Bitcoin.com wallet. The partnership between eGifter and Bitcoin.com will allow existing BCH users to use cryptocurrency in a new way. The seamless user experience will give users many new options on how to spend their BCH, buying eGift cards for themselves or giving them as gifts. The choices include premium food, entertainment and retail brands, all with the security and freedom of cryptocurrency. The solution is an extension of the eGifter Marketplace, where eGifter serves as the merchant of record and provides level-one support for all users. “Bitcoin.com has a large and growing user base, so eGifter is excited about this new partnership as we are always looking for ways to drive more traffic to the eGifter platform, and more business for our brand partners,” said Tyler Roye, eGifter CEO. The eGifter platform is designed to meet all of the brand partners’ requirements, ensuring the consumer is presented with the proper terms, redemption instruction, seasonal faceplates, and both printable and mobile gift certs. “Creating new ways for our users to spend their Bitcoin Cash on goods and services has been a top priority for us at Bitcoin.com,” says Blake Moore, Bitcoin.com eCommerce Manager. “By partnering with eGifter, we have made 300+ eGift cards from leading brands available to our valued users. Our development team has created some real magic in the wallet integration, where it will be possible to spend your existing Bitcoin Cash balance on eGift cards in just a few clicks.” The eGifter/Bitcoin.com collaboration is all about streamlining the consumer experience. Users will be able to go into their Bitcoin.com wallet and use the balance to choose from a wide variety of eGift cards. eGift cards from top global retailers, as well as premium region-specific brands and favorite dining spots, can be sent virtually by email or text–or even printed right away at home. Just as eGifter aims to revolutionize gift cards with easier transactions, a smoother customer experience, and the simplest gifting process possible, BCH is poised to revolutionize the way we think about money. With no network fees and virtually immediate transactions, BCH is a fast, secure form of digital peer-to-peer electronic cash. And with an increasing number of partnerships with innovative brands like eGifter, it can easily be used by anyone, anywhere, across the globe. About Bitcoin.com: Bitcoin.com is supercharged to change the world with BCH. Our suite of developer tools has been downloaded 36,000+ times from over 100 countries. Our team is the heart and soul of the Bitcoin Cash industry. We’re committed to making BCH available to all people, whatever their age, gender, nationality or financial status. About eGifter: eGifter, the eGifting Company, revolutionizes gift giving with a social and mobile gifting platform designed to create a fun experience for consumers, while helping retailers and service providers grow their gifting businesses. To learn more about eGifter and their social, mobile and gifting platform, visit eGifter.com, or download the eGifter Mobile app available for iOS and Android. Contact Email Address store@bitcoin.com Supporting Link https://giftcards.bitcoin.com This is a paid press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release. The post PR: Bitcoin.com Pairs up with eGifter to Simplify and Streamline Gift Card Purchases appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The Bitcoin.com Store has now partnered with the company Egifter. Thanks to the collaboration, Bitcoin.com Store patrons can purchase an assortment of over 300 top-branded gift cards to stores and restaurants worldwide with bitcoin cash. Also read: Coinbase Raises $300 Million, Reaching $8 Billion Valuation Over 300 Gift Cards for Food, Entertainment, and Top Retail Brands Last April we re-launched the Bitcoin.com Store, revamping the entire site with the hottest bitcoin merchandise, gear, art, and hardware devices. Ever since, the shop has relentlessly added new items to the store’s vast supply of cryptocurrency-focused products. Now, on Oct. 31, in parallel with the tenth anniversary of Satoshi’s whitepaper, the Bitcoin.com Store has partnered with the gift card service Egifter in order to offer customers a wide variety of gift cards. The alliance between Bitcoin.com and Egifter will provide the shop’s visitors with the ability to purchase hundreds of gift cards with bitcoin cash. Essentially, the Egifter Marketplace has been tethered to the Bitcoin.com Store user interface and patrons can simply click the ‘gift cards’ section at the top of the screen. From there, the customer can choose from the assortment of cards and fund them with a specified amount of money. For instance, a customer could choose to purchase a Best Buy gift card in increments of between $5-$2,000. Gift cards available at the shop include popular places like Applebees, American Eagle, Dunkin Donuts, HBO Now, Macy’s, Nike, Nordstrom, Uber, Panera Bread, Domino’s and many more brands. There’s a wide variety of gift cards to choose from at the Bitcoin.com Store. After choosing a card and a desired amount of funds, the customer can simply choose another gift card to purchase or checkout. At the checkout section, the Bitcoin.com Store uses Bitpay as a payment processor so the item needs to be purchased with a Bitpay Payment Protocol compatible wallet. Following the purchase, the customer will get a virtual gift card that can be redeemed for food, entertainment and hundreds of retail brands. Spreading Bitcoin Cash Adoption One Step at a Time Blake Moore, Bitcoin.com’s ecommerce manager, explained that the partnership with Egifter gives bitcoin cash proponents a new method to spend their coins by adding more merchant accessibility. “Well over 300 cards from the world’s top brands are now available to our valued users which adds a great deal of accessibility,” Moore emphasized. The Bitcoin.com Store also has a large assortment of Bitcoin swag that can be purchased alongside the newly added gift cards. Gift cards are available for purchase today and customers can choose from a range of categories such as food and restaurants, music, movies, entertainment, electronics, sports, travel, and more groups of well-known products and services. Bitcoin.com Store patrons will still be able to purchase hardware wallets, BCH swag, t-shirts, and more gear alongside the awesome redeemable gift cards. Bitcoin.com is a one-stop destination for all things Bitcoin. Providing our visitors with the ability to spend their BCH on gift cards accepted worldwide is just another example of the many steps our site is taking towards spreading bitcoin cash adoption. What do you think about the Bitcoin.com Store collaboration with Egifter? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. Images via Shutterstock, Bitcoin.com Store, Egifter, and Pixabay. Why not keep track of the price with one of Bitcoin.com’s widget services. The post Bitcoin.com Store Now Offers Hundreds of Top-Branded Gift Cards appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A South Korean district court has ruled that Nonghyup Bank, a major bank in the country, cannot block transactions to the account of cryptocurrency exchange Coinis based solely on the government’s anti-money laundering guidelines. This is reportedly the first time a Korean crypto exchange has taken legal action against a bank for blocking its transactions. Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space Court Sided With Crypto Exchange The 50th Civil Affairs Division of the Seoul Central District Court has ruled in favor of cryptocurrency exchange Coinis against Nonghyup Bank, local media reported. The exchange filed a complaint with the court seeking to prohibit the bank from suspending its transactions after deposits to its account were blocked by the bank last month. Nonghyup Bank cited the Virtual Currency Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Guidelines set by the country’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) as its reason. The court ruled on Monday that it is illegal for the bank to suspend the exchange’s transactions based solely on the FSC guidelines and moved to dismiss the suspension. Zdnet elaborated: It is the first time that a cryptocurrency exchange has responded to bank suspension measures and has taken legal action. Kim Tae-lim, a lawyer connected to the case, explained that Nonghyup Bank breached the contract with Coinis since the exchange “has the right to freely deposit and withdraw money in the account in accordance with the deposit agreement entered into between the bank and the exchange,” the Digital Daily detailed. Kim was further quoted by the publication: This case is significant in that it is a decision to point out that indiscriminate regulation against a virtual currency exchange should be avoided in the absence of legal grounds. Bank Losing Ground The South Korean government introduced the real-name system for crypto exchanges in January with the aim to convert all accounts at crypto exchanges into real-name-verified ones. This system is part of the regulators’ anti-money laundering measures. However, only four exchanges in the country are using the system: Bithumb, Upbit, Coinone, and Korbit. Banks have refused to provide the real-name conversion service to the rest of the exchanges. Coinis, therefore, continued to use its corporate account to accept customer deposits. Banks claim that crypto exchanges that are not using real-name-verified accounts are at high risk of money laundering. Nonghyup Bank is currently providing the real-name conversion service for Bithumb and Coinone. In August, Bithumb suspended opening new virtual accounts due to a disagreement with the bank. In September, both Bithumb and Coinone announced the termination of fiat withdrawals for unverified crypto traders as requested by Nonghyup Bank. Money Today elaborated: The bank has been using the [AML] guidelines for ‘closing the transaction’ to pressure virtual currency trading sites for investor protection and anti-money laundering measures and to encourage them to use real name verified accounts. The news outlet noted that previously crypto exchanges have had to comply with the bank’s requests, adding that Coinis’ victory is likely to remove some pressure from them. What do you think of the court ruling in favor of a crypto exchange against a bank? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Korean Court Rules in Favor of Cryptocurrency Exchange Against Bank appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

With today marking the tenth anniversary of the Bitcoin whitepaper, the web is predictably thick with op-eds, retrospectives and thought pieces. While Oct. 31, 2008 is hailed as a pivotal moment in monetary history, at the time, few noticed the publication of the Bitcoin whitepaper to a cryptography mailing list. Like all revolutions, this one would take time to germinate. Also read: Coinbase Raises $300 Million, Reaching $8 Billion Valuation From Tiny Acorns Mighty Oaks Grow It’s hard to place a finger on the moment when Bitcoin transitioned from an idea into a movement. Was it when Satoshi Nakamoto mined the genesis block on Jan. 3, 2009? Or when he sent the first transaction to Hal Finney a few days later? Or did it occur imperceptibly over the course of that year, as the conversation moved from the mailing list, where it had begun, to Sourceforge, where the first Bitcoin forum was established? That’s one for the armchair pundits to ponder. What is beyond dispute is that by Nov. 22 2009, when Satoshi welcomed members to the new Bitcoin forum, hosted at bitcointalk.org, his idea had taken root and there was now a small band of believers helping to till the soil. “Hello Satoshi, all forum members and Bitcoin users!,” read the first reply to Satoshi’s maiden Bitcointalk post. “Thank you for developing Bitcoin. A P2P anonymous digital currency / eCurrency is long overdue. I’m very impressed and this project has great potential.” It All Could Have Been so Different When writing history, it’s easy to assign inevitability to events; to assume that things happened a certain way because that’s just how they were destined to occur. The truth is that Bitcoin, like all seismic movements, was not preordained to play out as it did. Were it not for the tenacity of those ultra-early adopters, who kept Satoshi’s brainchild alive through its weakest hours, coupled with serendipity and reinforcement by geopolitical events, Bitcoin may have never gotten off the ground. Its survival and present-day robustness can be attributed to the power of Satoshi’s idea coupled with the efforts of the hobbyists who worked late into the night to patch critical bugs and nurse Bitcoin until the nascent network was strong enough to survive. In Bitcoin History, starting today, news.Bitcoin.com will chronicle a series of mini-episodes from the cryptocurrency’s early years, with a focus on the events that began life, like so much of Bitcoin’s history, on the forum Satoshi started. While Bitcointalk wasn’t the sole repository of seminal ideas, it formed a hub, in the pre-Medium and early Twitter days, where key contributors convened to share ideas. Back then, as today, there was plenty of arguing, but less tribalism and virtue signalling. With no land to fight over, the first task for Bitcoin’s maiden users was to build a world by which the ideas contained within the whitepaper could be realized. “One immediate problem with any new currency,” mused Hal Finney, on Jan. 11, 2009, “is how to value it. Even ignoring the practical problem that virtually no one will accept it at first, there is still a difficulty in coming up with a reasonable argument in favor of a particular non-zero value for the coins.” He concluded: As an amusing thought experiment, imagine that Bitcoin is successful and becomes the dominant payment system in use throughout the world … the possibility of generating coins today with a few cents of compute time may be quite a good bet, with a payoff of something like 100 million to 1! Even if the odds of Bitcoin succeeding to this degree are slim, are they really 100 million to one against? Something to think about… Do you think Bitcoin was destined to survive, or did luck and perseverance play a part in its early days? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Bitcoin History Part 1: In the Beginning appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In cryptocurrency exchange news, Binance’s native coin has listed on Etoro, Bittrex has announced the upcoming launch of its Malta-based international exchange, and Chris Lee of Huobi has predicted that security token offerings will become a mainstream form of fundraising within five years. Also Read: Bitcoin Trader Faces Five Years in US Jail for Unlicensed Money Transmitting Business BNB Lists on Etoro in First Listing Outside of Binance Binancecoin (BNB) has been listed on Etoro, bringing the number of cryptocurrencies supported by the platform to 13. The listing comprises the first instance in which the altcoin has been listed on an exchange other than Binance. The chief executive officer and co-founder of Etoro, Yoni Assia, stated: “Despite sensational headlines about the death of crypto, we continue to believe in the potential for crypto assets, as do our clients who are increasingly looking to diversify their crypto holdings. In response, we will continue to add the leading crypto assets to our range and we are pleased to add BNB to the platform.” Binance Freezes Funds From Wex Worth $18.5 Million It has been revealed that on Oct. 25 Binance froze more than 93,000 ETH that had been transferred from the embattled Wex exchange, valued at $18.5 million. In response to a post on Twitter emphasizing the movement of funds from Wex to Binance dating back to August, Changpeng Zhao, the chief executive officer of Binance, tweeted: “The identified accounts are frozen, please report to law enforcement and have a case number. We will work with [law enforcement]. This is part of centralization we hate too, dealing with other exchange’s mess (we don’t even know the details). But we will do what we can.” Users of Wex appear to have been unable to withdraw fiat or cryptocurrencies from the exchange for more than three months, with recent reports claiming that 35 complaints have been filed against Wex with the Russian Interior Ministry. Bittrex Announces Upcoming Launch of Bittrex International Bittrex has announced that it will launch Bittrex International, formerly branded as Bittrex Malta. The exchange will seek to target users based outside of the United States, with Bittrex also promising “a streamlined token approval process” designed to facilitate the onboarding of new markets in “weeks instead of months.” The launch of the new exchange will also see a “European-based Bittrex affiliate” listing particular tokens that are available on the Bittrex International platform and not the US-regulated Bittrex exchange. If tokens are approved through Bittrex’s “standard initial review process,” prospective projects will be “directed to follow the process outlined in the Malta Virtual Financial Assets Act.” Huobi’s Chris Lee Predicts STOs Will Become Mainstream in 3-4 Years Chris Lee, the former chief executive officer of Okex and the current board secretary and vice president of global business development for Huobi, has stated his expectation that security token offerings (STOs) will become a “mainstream fundraising method” in approximately three to four years. Speaking to Huoxun Finance, Lee added: “Time will prove everything, [STOs are] indeed a big opportunity, as I believe asset-backed tokenization, which is the digital assets backed by physical assets, have the potential to drive the entire crypto industry to a higher level. There will be a place for STO in Hong Kong’s capital market one day.” What is your response to Binance’s freezing of 93,000 ETH associated with Wex exchange? Share your thoughts in the comments section below! Images courtesy of Shutterstock At Bitcoin.com there’s a bunch of free helpful services. For instance, have you seen our Tools page? You can even lookup the exchange rate for a transaction in the past. Or calculate the value of your current holdings. Or create a paper wallet. And much more. The post Exchanges Roundup: BNB on Etoro, Binance Freezes Wex Funds, Bittrex International appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A Brazilian court has ordered the reopening of cryptocurrency exchange Bitcoin Max’s bank accounts, which were closed without explanation by Banco do Brasil and Banco Santander in September. The two banks have reportedly reactivated the accounts to avoid paying fines. Also Read: Kenya’s Bithub Africa Mines Bitcoin Using Solar Power Threat of Fine Forces Banco Do Brasil and Banco Santander to Reactivate Exchange’s Accounts According to local news site Portal do Bitcoin, Brazil’s Federal District Court promised to slap Santander with a fine of 5,000 real ($1,350) and Banco do Brasil with 20,000 real ($5,400) should both fail to comply with the preliminary judgement. Leonardo Ranna, a lawyer representing Bitcoin Max, said that all of the exchange’s accounts “have been restored, including those of exchange partners.” In September, the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE), a transparency and competition body, started to investigate six of Brazil’s biggest banks after they closed accounts belonging to digital currency exchanges without explanation and refused to discuss the decision. The probe centred around allegations of “monopolistic practices … that could be limiting the action of brokers” within the cryptocurrency industry. Results of the investigation are not yet known. The ruling against Banco Santander may only be temporary, however. The bank only complied on account of a “kind of injunction” that compelled it to reopen Bitcoin Max’s accounts within five days, Portal do Bitcoin reported. The injunction had been previously denied by a judge at a lower court, forcing the exchange’s lawyers to appeal to the Federal District Court. The latest ruling by Ana Catarino, a judge with the higher court, was based on Banco Santander’s unilateral decision to close the exchange’s accounts without explanation, something that the court described as “abusive conduct that is prohibited by consumer protection rules.” When Banco do Brasil shut down Bitcoin Max’s account, about $32,400 of the exchange’s money was stored in it. The exchange filed a lawsuit against the bank on Sept. 12. An injunction was turned down initially but a Federal District Court judge later gave the bank a 24-hour ultimatum to reactivate Bitcoin Max’s accounts or face a fine of about $540 a day. Arbitrary Bank Account Closures Adriano Zanella, chief executive officer of Bitcoin Max, said they were never made aware of the account closures and that he learned of the blockage via the manager of an agency. During the investigation by CADE, the transparency body accused major banks of “imposing restrictions or even prohibiting access to the financial system by cryptocurrency brokerages.” The banks denied the charge, saying accounts were closed as a security measure to prevent money laundering. Some of the banks under investigation include Banco Santander Brasil SA, Banco Bradesco SA, Banco do Brasil SA, Itau Unibanco Holding SA and Banco Inter and Sicredi. Brazil is a hive of cryptocurrency activity in Latin America. The number of people trading bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has soared from less than 100,000 two years ago to about 1.4 million today. More than $2.4 billion worth of BTC was traded in the country last year, up from just $160 million in 2016. In January, Brazil’s Securities and Exchange Commission stopped local investment funds from buying digital coins because “cryptocurrencies cannot be qualified financial assets.” The commission, however, made a U-turn immediately after, allowing for indirect ownership, meaning Brazilians could buy into crypto-related investment funds. Even politicians in the country are talking about bitcoin; a candidate in the recent presidential election campaigned for formally legalizing bitcoin. What do you think about the relationship between virtual currency exchanges and legacy financial institutions? Let us know 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 Brazilian Banks Ordered to Reopen Cryptocurrency Exchange’s Frozen Accounts appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

On the eve of the 10th anniversary of the initial publication of the Bitcoin whitepaper, the cryptocurrency markets recorded their weakest month for trading volume in all of 2018. Most of the leading markets saw a significant decline in trading activity throughout October, but NEO, TRX, QTUM and ZEC posted month-over-month volume increases. Also Read: Venezuela Begins Public Sale of National Cryptocurrency Petro BTC, USDT, ETH and EOS Hit Lowest Points of the Year In the last 30 days, approximately $109.5 billion worth of BTC has changed hands, resulting in an 11.9 percent decline in trading activity from $124.3 billion in September — the weakest monthly volume posted in 2018 thus far. The drop in BTC trading activity coincided with a similar plunge in USDT trading volume. Despite fears of a widespread USDT “untethering,” as well as the eradication of 30 percent of Tether’s circulating supply, the trading volume of USDT fell by just 12.6 percent, from $86.5 billion in September to $69.5 billion. October saw $41.2 billion in trade for ETH pairings, down 30 percent from the $53.8 billion recorded in the preceding month. EOS, meanwhile, returned to its position as the fourth most-traded cryptocurrency, with a 30-day trade volume of $13.94 billion — down 30 percent from $20 billion in September. XRP and LTC Hit Second-Strongest Levels Since May XRP has held its top-five volume ranking for the second consecutive month, despite seeing a 45 percent reduction in trading activity. October saw $13.6 billion in trade across XRP pairings, down from $24.7 billion in September. BCH was the sixth most-traded cryptocurrency in October, hitting $9.5 billion in trade volume over the past 30 days. BCH saw a 26 percent reduction in trading volume, down from $12.9 billion in the preceding month. LTC ranked as the seventh most-traded cryptocurrency for the third consecutive month. About $9.14 billion of LTC changed hands in October, down 4.8 percent from $9.6 billion in September. DASH posted a 30-day trade volume of 5.16 billion, settling at eighth place for the second consecutive month. Trading of the currency fell 20.6 percent from $6.5 billion in September. NEO Breaks Into Top 10 NEO saw a massive 76.25 percent increase in trade volume in October, to rank ninth for the month. Approximately $4.6 billion worth of the currency has changed hands in the past 30 days, up from $2.61 billion in September. ETC fell one position to rank 10th on the list of the most-traded cryptocurrencies in October. It hit a 30-day trading volume of $4.2 billion for the month, down 17.65 percent from $5.1 billion in September. TRON, QTUM, and ZEC Post Modest Volume Gains TRX hit $3.67 billion in trade volume this past month, up 4.25 percent over the preceding month’s 3.52 billion. TRX was the 11th most-traded cryptocurrency in October, moving up one rank from September. CKUSD posted a 16.5 percent drop in trading volume at $3.4 billion, down from $4.07 billion in September. CKUSD ranked 12th for the month, sliding two positions from the preceding four-week period. Despite recording a slight 2.5 percent increase in 30-day trade volume, QTUM fell two places to 13th on the list of the most-traded cryptocurrencies in October. About $3.73 billion worth of the currency traded hands for the month, up from $3.64 billion in September. Trading of ZEC fell 4.16 percent month over month to $3.5 billion. Despite rising slightly by volume from $3.36 billion in September, the currency slid one place to rank as the 14th most-traded cryptocurrency in October. BIX climbed two places to rank as the 15th most-traded cryptocurrency over the past 30 days. The currency posted a monthly trading volume of $1.42 billion, down nearly 30 percent from $2.02 billion in September. Stellar recorded a monthly volume of $1.33 billion, sliding one position to rank as the 16th most-traded cryptocurrency for October, following three consecutive weeks during which it ranked 15th. Trading of Stellar fell 42.17 percent by volume from $2.3 billion in September. New Entrants in Top 20 The declining trading volume across many leading markets saw several cryptocurrencies sneak into the top 20 rankings for the first time in recent months. ZB, for example, ranked 17th with a 30-day trade volume of $1.16 billion, following by XIN at $988 million. BTM ranked 19th for the second consecutive month, with $920.8 million traded, despite falling 31.3 percent by volume, from $1.34 billion in September. BNB, meanwhile, settled at 20th place in October, with $853.6 million worth of the currency changing hands over the last 30 days. Do you think that the 10th anniversary of the Bitcoin whitepaper will drive greater trading volume across the cryptocurrency markets? Share your thoughts in the comments section below! Images courtesy of Shutterstock At Bitcoin.com there’s a bunch of free helpful services. For instance, have you seen our Tools page? You can even lookup the exchange rate for a transaction in the past. Or calculate the value of your current holdings. Or create a paper wallet. And much more. The post October Volume Report: Weakest Monthly Trading Activity of 2018 appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

CMC Markets, a U.K.-headquartered financial derivatives brokerage with shares listed on the London Stock Exchange, revealed on Tuesday that it has expanded its cryptocurrency offering to include bitcoin cash (BCH), as well as litecoin (LTC) and ripple (XRP). Also Read: How to Easily Give BCH as Gifts in Halloween Trick-or-Treat Packages CMC Markets Responds to Demand The roughly 60,000 clients that CMC Markets serves around the world can now start taking positions on the three additional cryptocurrencies paired against the U.S. dollar. The move follows the brokerage’s extension of its cryptocurrency offering from professional to retail clients in July. At launch, the trading platform only offered bitcoin core (BTC) and ethereum (ETH). “Since the successful launch of our cryptocurrency offering in March, and subsequent extension to retail clients in July, our clients have expressed interest in extending their trading options beyond bitcoin and ethereum,” explained David Fineberg, group commercial director at CMC Markets. “We are pleased to offer them the chance to take a position on bitcoin cash, litecoin and ripple, three altcoins which continue to generate much speculation among traders.” Research Before You Start Trading CFDs Forex, spread betting and contracts for difference (CFDs) brokerages have been very eager to add cryptocurrency-based instruments in recent years, as the volatility lured their day-trader clients away to crypto exchanges. However, concerns about alerting regulators prevented some of the more established players from doing so as quickly as they could have. Only this week it was revealed that the U.K. government is now considering a ban on crypto derivatives. CMC Markets cautiously entered the cryptocurrency CFDs race only after rivals such as Admiral Markets, Gain Capital’s City Index, Plus500 Ltd., and IG Group Holdings Plc. had already established operations in the space. “Spread bets and CFDs offer a way to trade on cryptocurrencies as clients can take a position on market movements without owning the asset. By trading with an established provider, funds can be deposited and withdrawn with ease, avoiding the risks of purchasing cryptocurrencies directly through an exchange,” said Fineberg. “However, like all other financial instruments we offer, we always recommend clients understand the risks and conduct thorough research before trading.” Is trading CFDs a good way to get exposure to bitcoin cash? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, CMC Markets. 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 CMC Markets Adds Bitcoin Cash to Cryptocurrency Offering appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

On Oct. 31, 2008, at 2:10 p.m. EDT, the creator of the Bitcoin network, Satoshi Nakamoto, announced the publication of the protocol’s whitepaper using a Vistomail email address. It’s now been 10 years to the day since Satoshi’s idea was first revealed to the world — an idea that unleashed the first pure peer-to-peer version of electronic cash. Also read: Coinbase Raises $300 Million, Reaching $8 Billion Valuation The Bitcoin Whitepaper: Eight Pages of Pure Innovation The Bitcoin whitepaper is an essential read for anyone who wants to understand the innovation behind the first cryptocurrency network to be powered by a secure proof-of-work (PoW) system. There is nothing quite like Satoshi’s whitepaper or the Bitcoin network itself, even though a myriad of similar protocols and whitepapers have popped up over the past decade. Rather than having a centralized third party, Satoshi’s paper describes a “system based on cryptographic proof instead of trust.” “A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution,” he said to anyone who would listen on a cryptography mailing list. Staving Off the Byzantine General However, unlike the droves of theoretical papers written about online currencies before Bitcoin, the original whitepaper captured the essence of the entire network, well before it launched on Jan. 3, 2009. Since then we have seen this grand digital asset experiment play out, as the technology has gained value and mainstream attention over the years. We’ve seen the power of Nakamoto consensus create a computational system that has shielded any attempts at a “Byzantine Generals’ attack” for 10 years. “The network timestamps transactions by hashing them into an ongoing chain of hash-based proof-of-work, forming a record that cannot be changed without redoing the proof-of-work,” Satoshi said in the renowned document. He also reassured the reader by stating: The system is secure as long as honest nodes collectively control more CPU power than any cooperating group of attacker nodes. The Bitcoin whitepaper has since changed the lives of many people. For the first time, internet-based commerce did not have to rely on financial institutions to process electronic payments. Many bitcoiners will tell you it’s been a long run, with many market fiascos and interesting developments along the way. But even after 10 years, they will also assure you that we are still at the beginning of the financial revolution ignited by the technology we all love. The first encounter with Satoshi 10 years ago on Oct.31, 2008. Birth of a Network Despite the warnings of financial bigwigs like Warren Buffet over the years, as well as countless horrible economists, Bitcoin is definitely still alive and well. For example, Alejandro de la Torres, the vice president of business operations at BTC.com, holds a very different opinion about the technology than the likes of traditional bankers such as Jamie Dimon. The BTC.com executive believes that Satoshi’s protocol is one of the most revolutionary computational consensus models that society has seen to date. “Bitcoin’s PoW algorithm has proven to be the most successful consensus model, and I believe it is the best way forward for decentralized consensus systems. It provides a strong economic incentive for miners, while automatically adjusting difficulty to maintain long-term mining incentives,” he recently explained to news.Bitcoin.com. After 10 years, the whitepaper has shown us that the protocol is robust and the system continues to grow stronger as each day passes. Seven days after publishing the whitepaper, Satoshi said society “would not find a solution to political problems in cryptography.” However, that week the creator did stress on the cryptography mailing that Bitcoin could still win a “major battle,” while gaining a “new territory of freedom for several years.” Bitcoin.com keeps an archived version of the Satoshi Nakamoto whitepaper here. What do you think about the Bitcoin whitepaper? How did you feel when you read Satoshi’s words for the first time? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments sections below. Images via Shutterstock, Jamie Redman, and Pixabay. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Ten Years Ago Today, the Whitepaper Changed the Way We Look at Money appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

This is a paid press release, which contains forward looking statements, and should be treated as advertising or promotional material. Bitcoin.com does not endorse nor support this product/service. Bitcoin.com is not responsible for or liable for any content, accuracy or quality within the press release. aXpire Acquires BlockchainWarehouse (BCW) aXpire, a leading blockchain fund solutions company, has announced the acquisition of BlockchainWarehouse (BCW), a blockchain accelerator and leading token sale product developer. aXpire has made the acquisition to bolster the strength of its in-house blockchain talent and add a new product offering to its technology suite. BlockchainWarehouse offers a crypto-to-crypto gateway that aXpire has rebranded as “CoinBX” (pronounced “coinbox” or “coinbox blockchain exchange”), which will allow aXpire to offer AXPR purchases directly through its web applications, Resolvr and MatchBX. Clients will be able to buy AXPR with Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash and Ether through a simple button on each product. This AXPR will be made available from existing tokens sold through exchanges. CoinBX is another spoke in the “hub and spoke” Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software suite that aXpire is building out to make blockchain solutions a reality for businesses looking to become more profitable. CoinBX was originally used as a token sale platform, which aXpire will maintain, but will now also offer a discount or bonus to those using AXPR on the platform. In addition, the platform will be expanded into a crypto-to-crypto gateway, with part of the platform license fees payable in AXPR and burned. This new product means aXpire will be able to offer “Buy AXPR” buttons on its software, which will reduce the friction required for businesses and other customers to buy AXPR. This software represents the first aXpire venture into payments, and will serve as another building block in an ecosystem intended to encourage businesses to adopt blockchain. The acquisition will also transfer all of BlockchainWarehouse’s clients to aXpire, allowing aXpire to create blockchain funds to share with its institutional investor database. These funds will utilize aXpire’s Resolvr software, and will allow investors a way to buy a diverse basket of blockchain projects with AXPR or fiat. Both methods of buying blockchain funds would end up utilizing AXPR and would provide another use case for the token. Contact Email Address info@axpire.com Supporting Link http://www.axpire.com This is a paid press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release. The post PR: aXpire Acquires BlockchainWarehouse (BCW) appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Bitcoin trader Jacob Burrell-Campos pleaded guilty this week in a U.S. federal court to operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. The 21-year-old San Diego native is now awaiting sentencing and faces a maximum of five years in jail. Also Read: How to Easily Give BCH as Gifts in Halloween Trick-or-Treat Packages ‘Serious Threat’ to US Banking System Burrell was arrested in August while trying to cross the border from Mexico. He was apprehended for trading crypto to fiat with over 1,000 people in the U.S. since January 2015, without any anti-money laundering safeguards in place. According to his plea bargain agreement, Burrell now admits to operating an unregistered exchange and has agreed to hand over more than $800,000 to the government. “Unlicensed money transmitting businesses, especially those operating at or near the border, pose a serious threat to the integrity of the U.S. banking system, and provide an ‘open door’ for criminals to utilize such businesses to launder the proceeds of their illicit activities,” said U.S. attorney Adam Braverman. “The Department of Justice (DOJ) will continue to investigate and prosecute all individuals and businesses that seek to evade the licensing and anti-money laundering requirements under federal law.” How It All Went Down According to the DOJ, Burrell advertised his services on Localbitcoins and privately offered to sell bitcoin to people with no questions asked, in exchange for a 5 percent markup over the going rate. He initially purchased the cryptocurrencies he sold from Coinbase, but his account was closed due to the large number of suspicious transactions he had conducted. Undeterred, he turned to Bitfinex in March 2015 and bought about $3.3 million worth of bitcoin from the exchange over a period of just over two years. As part of the plea deal, Burrell also admitted he had exchanged his dollars, which he kept in Mexico, with Joseph Castillo, a San Diego-based precious metals dealer. This amounted to importing more than $1 million in fiat on almost a daily basis between late 2016 and early 2018, according to the DOJ. He admitted this was intentionally done in multiple transactions, each with an amount slightly below the minimum $10,000 reporting requirement. Does Burrell really pose a serious threat to the integrity of the U.S. banking system? 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 Bitcoin Trader Faces Five Years in US Jail for Unlicensed Money Transmitting Business appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In this edition of The Daily, we cover Nexo’s recent decision to pay interest on stablecoin holdings, as well as a project by two Swiss cryptocurrency companies to offer exchange and custodial solutions for financial institutions that handle digital assets. We also look at Bitfinex’s newly updated app for “on-the-go” traders. Also read: Security Startup Raises $30M, Crypto Used to Fight Plastic Pollution Nexo Announces 6.5 Percent Interest Rate on Stablecoin Holdings Nexo, a cryptocurrency loans service, said this week that it’s going to offer interest payments on several leading stablecoins. When stored on the platform, trueusd (TUSD), gemini dollar (GUSD), paxos standard (PAX), Circle’s usdcoin (USDC), and Maker’s dai (DAI) will generate a 6.5 percent interest rate for those holding the currencies. According to an announcement on Twitter, Nexo will also guarantee a one-to-one conversion to U.S. dollars on any major stablecoin for all liquidity providers. The company claims this is a unique service on the market. After recently adding bitcoin cash (BCH), litecoin (LTC) and ripple (XRP), the cryptocurrency lending platform now supports seven digital currencies, including bitcoin core (BTC), ethereum (ETH) and binance coin (BNB), as well as its own token, Nexo. It accepts the coins as collateral for instant cryptocurrency-backed loans. The APR for the loans is set at 16 percent, but a preferential rate will be applied when the native token is used as collateral. The platform will distribute 30 percent of its profits to Nexo holders, as part of the company’s first dividend payment in December. Metaco and SCX Offer Exchange and Custodial Services to Banks Two fintech companies in Switzerland have teamed up to launch new exchange and custodial services for digital assets. Metaco, a provider of secure blockchain infrastructure, and trading platform Swiss Crypto Exchange (SCX) plan to offer their solutions to banks and other regulated custodians. The new system developed by SCX is designed to directly connect banks in order to eliminate risks associated with the storage of assets on cryptocurrency exchanges. Silo, Metaco’s custodial infrastructure solution, is integrated with SCX and is expected to enable secure and reliable cryptocurrency trading. The two companies claim there is no central point of failure with its new system. While SCX is still a centralized marketplace, it will now work with decentralized custody providers. The cryptocurrency exchange will provide liquidity and technology to new ecosystems built by banks. The traditional financial institutions will be responsible for maintaining their custodial activities through Silo. Metaco’s cryptocurrency storage solution, which was announced in January of this year, has been developed in cooperation with data security agency Guardtime. Bitfinex Releases Updated Mobile Trading App Cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex has launched its updated mobile application, which supports the latest features of the iOS and Android operating systems. In terms of functionality, the developers have tried to provide users with an experience that’s similar to the one they expect from the platform’s main website. The app now offers two landing pages, for trading and funding, respectively. Users can customize their favorites, orders, pairs and trading history, as well as the widgets on each page. The Hong Kong-based trading platform said in a blog post that the updated software supports both vertical and horizontal layouts, as well as iPhone X and other smartphones with notches running across the top of their screens. “On-the-go” traders can run the app on multiple devices and their settings will be preserved. Bitfinex promises a more tablet-friendly experience and has said that users can now unlock the app with a fingerprint and face scan. What are your thoughts on today’s news tidbits? Tell us in the comments section. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Nexo, Bitfinex. Make sure you do not miss any important Bitcoin-related news! Follow our news feed any which way you prefer; via Twitter, Facebook, Telegram, RSS or email (scroll down to the bottom of this page to subscribe). We’ve got daily, weekly and quarterly summaries in newsletter form. Bitcoin never sleeps. Neither do we. The post The Daily: Nexo to Pay Interest on Stablecoins, Startups Launch Bank Services appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The Venezuelan government has opened up an exchange desk for the country’s national cryptocurrency at the headquarters of the Superintendency of Cryptoassets. According to the government, investors can now purchase the petro with a number of fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies. Delegates from China have reportedly purchased some with yuan. Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space Venezuela Starts Selling Petro On Monday, the Venezuelan government announced that the public can now purchase the country’s national cryptocurrency directly from the Superintendency of Cryptoassets and Related Activities (Sunacrip). Sunacrip is in charge of regulating all crypto-related activities in Venezuela. The petro was originally backed by only oil. However, its latest whitepaper shows that the digital currency is now also backed by gold, iron, and diamond. The Venezuelan government-backed newspaper Correo del Orinoco wrote: This Monday the sale of el petro cryptocurrency is successfully launched for all Venezuelans and those who want to make financial transactions digitally through this mechanism. Tareck El Aissami. Venezuela’s vice president of the economy, Tareck El Aissami, explained that the petro can currently be acquired with a number of foreign currencies and cryptocurrencies. Accepted fiat currencies include the dollar, yuan, and the euro, he elaborated, adding that accepted cryptocurrencies include BTC, ETH, and XEM. Buyers can visit the Sunacrip headquarters to purchase the petro with cash. Purchasing with cryptocurrencies can also be done on the petro’s official website, El Aissami noted. A number of Venezuelan government officials turned up to purchase the petro on Monday. Each was issued a petro certificate at the time of purchase. “Superintendent Joselit Ramírez described the day as a success,” El Aissami tweeted. Ramírez replaced Carlos Vargas as Venezuela’s Superintendent of Cryptoassets in June. Venezuela’s Minister of Agriculture holding a petro certificate at Sunacrip’s headquarters. Google Suspends Petro Wallet App At the time of this writing, the links to download petro wallets for Windows and Linux on the official petro website lead to pages that are “not found” on the website’s server. Only user and install guides are available. Previously, there was also a petro wallet app on the Google Play store which showed over 5,000 installs and 275 reviews. However, El Aissami explained that “on Oct. 15, Google suspended the wallet,” claiming that the internet giant is checking the wallet’s crypto functionality before reactivating it, Que Pasa publication reported. At the time of this writing, the petro wallet app is no longer listed on the Google Play store. The petro wallet app page that used to be on Google Play. Additionally, the Venezuelan government’s own block explorer for the petro currently shows a total of 304 blocks despite the whitepaper describing a blocktime of one block per minute. More Petro Options Coming Nov. 5 El Aissami showing three petro options. The public sale of the petro was scheduled for Nov. 5. However, Ramirez explained that the launch was moved forward due to “the fluidity with which events developed and the support of President Nicolás Maduro,” El Universal quoted him. On Thursday, El Aissami unveiled two more petro options which will be enabled on the Sunacrip website on Nov. 5: Petro Pago (pay) and Petro Ahorro (savings). Noting that he has been meeting with representatives of savings banks to discuss starting petro savings plans, he clarified: We are in the purchasing stage [of the petro]. Next week will be the savings stage. Chinese Delegates Bought Petro A Chinese delegate holding a petro certificate. Venezuela’s Vice President Delcy Rodríguez has been strengthening ties with China through the Chinese Development Bank as part of the Economic Recovery Program developed by Maduro, according to Correo del Orinoco. “The delegation from the China Development Research Center attended the initial sale of el petro cryptocurrency and as a sign of confidence several of its members bought the Venezuelan digital currency” with yuan, the publication detailed. Rodríguez tweeted: Thanks to our brothers from the People’s Republic of China … the first in line to buy petros in yuan. What do you think of Venezuela’s various petro-related announcements? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Twitter, Correo del Orinoco, and the Venezuelan government. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Venezuela Begins Public Sale of National Cryptocurrency Petro appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Bithub Africa has started using off-grid solar power to mine bitcoin and ethereum. John Karanja, the founder and chief executive officer of the small Kenyan mining operation, hopes to spread the technology to the rest of the continent while exposing the lie that cryptocurrency mining poses a danger to the environment. Also Read: U.K Government Moots Ban on Cryptocurrency Derivatives Clean Cryptocurrency “We are using solar energy in a similar manner to traditional power sources to test its reliability as a source for cryptocurrency mining,” Karanja told news.Bitcoin.com in an interview on Oct. 30. “We are still analyzing the data, but what we can already see is that the blockchain economy is certainly incentivizing innovation in the renewable energy industry globally.” John Karanja Bithub Africa has laid out a series of interconnected cables and devices at its small mining facility in Nairobi. An inverter connects to a battery, which is patched through to a controller that is linked to a 200-watt solar panel. The PV module is fixed to the roof at an angle to maximize solar capture. “We are using a standard (solar) panel that generates enough to power a small network node that runs the blockchain software,” Karanja said. In a separate demonstration video on Bitcoinke, a Kenyan news site, he explained the setup in more detail. “Essentially what we have here is that the nuc computing device is integrated to the controller to generate the tokens on the protocol,” he said. Founded in 2015, Bithub.Africa is a commercial blockchain accelerator that is driving the adoption of blockchain technology and solutions across Africa. The company also focuses on building systems that facilitate access to financial services and energy through public blockchain projects and open protocols such as Bitcoin. In addition to its solar-powered cryptocurrency mining operations, Bithub Africa also extracts litecoin and ripple using conventional sources of electricity, with only minimum air-conditioning needed to keep the mining rigs from overheating. Its payments unit is aided by two Bitcoin Lightining nodes, which are collectively capable of supporting three million transactions per second. Unfounded Environmental Claims Off-grid solar panels are already lighting up many homes in urban and rural areas across Africa. And now they are also creating new businesses in cryptocurrency mining, on a continent that boasts an excellent solar resource. With bitcoin mining facing criticism from environmental activists for allegedly consuming too much electricity, new business models that utilize renewable energy to generate digital coins could help to neutralize such concerns, however untrue. Renewables are also generally cheaper than electricity derived from coal-fired power plants, which still dominate in Africa’s nascent bitcoin mining industry. They can ease concerns about the high cost of electricity and computing power. Karanja is opposed to the hullabaloo. “Recently there has been a lot of angst focused on bitcoin mining being a major contributor to global warming due to its extrapolated energy use based on current trends,” he said via email. “We disagree that this is the case. In fact, we believe the converse; that it will spur innovation in sustainable energy solutions.” One challenge that Bithub Africa could encounter with renewable power sources is the issue of intermittency. Solar power is dependent on reliable, sunny weather. When the sun is not shining, it can be bad for business, as the company’s cryptocurrency mining rigs have to run continually, non-stop. Some solar systems, however, can provide power in bad weather by using energy stored in batteries. Karanja believes that the jury is still out on the potential scalability of solar-powered cryptocurrency mining. That’s largely because the technology is in the early stages of development, he said. “However, if you look at solutions that scale in Africa, they tend to be organized in a localized and peer-to-peer manner, as this is the main way societies are organized,” he said. “We plan to increase adoption by educating and resourcing skilled engineers who will test and deploy the solution across the continent.” What do you think about using renewable energy to mine cryptocurrency? Let us know 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 Kenya’s Bithub Africa Mines Bitcoin Using Solar Power appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

This is a paid press release, which contains forward looking statements, and should be treated as advertising or promotional material. Bitcoin.com does not endorse nor support this product/service. Bitcoin.com is not responsible for or liable for any content, accuracy or quality within the press release. Leading global cannabis brands are ready to go cashless and take advantage of all the opportunities offered by the BitCanna blockchain platform AMSTERDAM, October 31, 2018 – With the current exponential growth of both the global cannabis industry and blockchain technology, there is a potential partnership that stands to benefit both. Within the cannabis industry, there is a growing demand for payment solutions, track & traceability of crops, and trust mechanisms. BitCanna is combining the best of all worlds, addressing each of these problems through the launch of its blockchain platform and associated cryptocurrency. Over the past year, a team of 20 dedicated specialists has worked in close collaboration with the cannabis industry on the development of the platform and its global expansion. A large and growing number of leading international brands have already confirmed their partnership, and on the first of November their ICO will open for interested investors. Most banks and financial service providers still refuse to process cannabis transactions due to the large degree of regulatory uncertainty in the industry. Leading experts and entrepreneurs from both the financial and cannabis industries view this as a huge opportunity to build a global digital payment solution for cannabis retailers that can circumvent traditional financial institutions. “Keeping up with constantly changing cannabis laws is very difficult. So banks, credit card companies, and online payment providers either refuse to get involved in cannabis, or they charge excessively high transaction fees,” according to Jan Scheele, CEO of BitCanna. “That puts companies who are selling cannabis products legally in a tricky situation — they have to figure out how to take their businesses cashless and sell online without breaking any laws. That’s where BitCanna will help.” BitCanna is a global blockchain technology company that helps cannabis companies to go cashless securely, legally, and cost-effectively. The company claims to be able to process transactions using its BitCanna token almost instantaneously and for a fee of just a few cents. It will also let vendors manage their supply chains and record all customer identification data. It is an incremental technological breakthrough for the entire global industry. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a $10 or $100 transaction. Our customers will pay a small flat fee,” says Scheele. “We’re introducing a payment system that will make it cost-effective and safe for all cannabis companies to accept digital payments — whether they’re selling online or in-store.” It’s not just online retailers who can benefit from blockchain technology. Some brick and mortar cannabis retailers spend as much as 10-15% of their revenues on security and staff to upkeep a cash-only business. Providing these companies with payment processing technology can help them reduce security risks while complying with regulations. Many industry experts believe that despite the growth we’ve seen over the past few years, the cannabis market is only just beginning to take shape. In the United States alone, the cannabis market is forecast to double from $22B in 2017 to $44B in 2020. And the global market is expected to reach $140B by 2027, according to European investment bank Bryan, Garnier & Co. BitCanna is well-placed to benefit from this growing industry. The company will have direct integration with some of the largest online cannabis shops when it launches in Q3 2019. It will run pilots at brick and mortar locations in the cannabis capitals Amsterdam and Barcelona. BitCanna alone has already partnered with dozens of cannabis companies to create the BitCanna Alliance. Alliance members are active in 27 countries and attract a combined 10 million unique website visitors a month so far. The company has ambitious plans to become the global digital payment solution for the cannabis industry. It will launch in Europe first and then quickly expand to the rest of the world. About BitCanna BitCanna is a decentralized payment network for the legal cannabis industry. The company was founded by Boy Ramsahai, a true cannabis industry veteran who founded an internationally successful cannabis media company in 1991. His Dutch-language magazines High Life and Soft Secrets are well known in the Netherlands. BitCanna has partnered with major brands in the European cannabis market to form the BitCanna Alliance. The Alliance is working to create a healthy and transparent cannabis market by securing and tracking digital transactions and implementing supply chain and customer management. Contact Email Address info@bitcanna.io Supporting Link https://www.bitcanna.io 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: BitCanna – Dutch Blockchain Startup Launching a Revolutionary Cannabis Platform appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

South Korean financial regulators are cracking down on unauthorized cryptocurrency funds. In particular, one crypto fund launched by a local exchange is reportedly being investigated. The exchange claims no wrongdoing as its token activities were carried out overseas, but has promptly canceled its plan to launch a second fund. Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space Unauthorized Crypto Funds South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) and the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) have warned investors of unauthorized cryptocurrency funds. The warning followed the launch of a financial product where “cryptocurrencies collected from some investors are managed through initial coin offerings (ICO), and profits are distributed at their expiration dates,” Business Korea described. The regulators specifically referred to the fund launched last month by crypto exchange Zeniex called “ZXG Crypto Fund No. 1,” which is “the first virtual currency fund in Korea,” the publication detailed, noting: The virtual currency fund has never been registered with the Financial Supervisory Service … None of the management company, sales company and the trustee have been approved by the Financial Services Commission. Maeil business newspaper reported on Tuesday that “The financial authorities have handed over the circumstantial data for the investigation to the prosecution.” Zeniex explained that while funding was made through its platform, “the actual recruitment and token issuance were made by overseas management companies,” the news outlet conveyed. Noting that less than 1 billion won ($878,080) has been raised, the company believes that there was no reporting obligation. An official of the exchange was quoted asserting: An indirect investment in a virtual currency fund is an attractive tool to raise market soundness … It’s unfortunate that innovative attempts will not continue until the government’s guidelines are set. The South Korean government banned ICOs in September last year but has yet to introduce guidelines for them. A number of proposals have been submitted to the National Assembly and the government is expected to announce its ICO stance in November. Zeniex’s Funds and Capital Markets Law Business Korea explained that under the Korean Capital Markets Act, all investment funds must be registered with the FSS. In addition, “Public offering funds that collect funds from general investors must file securities reports,” and “an asset management company that manages a fund and the fund sales company that sells it have to obtain necessary financial approval,” the publication detailed. The company must also “honor regulations on business practices such as the maintenance of minimum capital for soundness and the prevention of conflicts of interest and [has] a duty to explain to investors.” As for Zeniex’s fund, an FSS official was quoted by Maeil saying, “It is the interpretation of the authorities that the fund must follow the investor protection system set out in the capital markets law as long as it is sold to domestic financial consumers.” However, the official admitted: There is no way to check whether the platform is operating as claimed by Zeniex, because the financial authorities have no regulatory authority at present. Zeniex had planned to launch its second fund this month. However, the company issued a statement on Monday stating that “The authorities are concerned that there is room for illegality,” adding that it “will completely cancel the launch of the second product because it could lead to misunderstandings of investors and regulators.” Local media then reported on Tuesday that Zeniex has canceled the launch of its second fund. What do you think of South Korean regulators cracking down on unauthorized crypto funds? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock and Zeniex. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post South Korea Cracks Down on Unauthorized Cryptocurrency Funds appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The U.K. government is considering a ban on cryptocurrency-linked derivative products. The Financial Conduct Authority said in a report on Oct. 29 that it will begin consultations on whether to ban the sale of derivatives based on digital coins like BTC as well as to restrict crypto-based contracts of difference to the public. Virtual currency futures and options will also be looked into, in discussions slated for the first quarter of 2019. Also Read: Coincheck Reports Deepening Losses of $5.3 Million in Third Quarter FCA Worried About Consumer Protection and Risk of Cryptocurrency-Related Illegal Activity “Given concerns identified around consumer protection and market integrity in these markets, the FCA will consult on a prohibition of the sale to retail consumers of all derivatives referencing exchange tokens such as BTC, including CFDs, futures, options and transferable securities,” the financial watchdog said. “The proposed prohibition would not cover derivatives referencing cryptoassets that qualify as securities,” it stated, in a report compiled by the Cryptoassets Taskforce, made up of the Bank of England, the FCA and the British Treasury. Contracts of differences on securities are to remain subject to the short-term restrictions of the European Security and Market Authority. Whereas futures allow investors to pay for commodities or financial instruments to be delivered sometime in the future at a certain price, CFDs are basically financial derivatives that pay an investor the difference between the opening and closing price, in this case of a digital asset. Regulator Targets ‘Robust Response’ European regulators have complained that cryptocurrencies are risky, and repeatedly alleged that they help to fuel money laundering and terrorism while placing investor funds at the mercy of fraudsters. Their alarmist entreaties have ramped up pressure on governments to act, with many promulgating a series of regulations ostensibly to safeguard public funds and prevent the risk of financial instability. The FCA, which has oversight of cryptocurrency derivatives because they are classified as financial instruments, rehashed similar concerns in its latest report. “The U.K. will not tolerate the use of cryptoassets in illicit activity, and the authorities will take strong action to address these risks by bringing all relevant firms into anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CTF) regulation,” it warned. The latest report comes hardly two months after some U.K. lawmakers, calling for regulation, likened the cryptocurrency market to the “Wild West.” According to the taskforce, British authorities are developing a robust regulatory response that will address identified risks. It indicated that regulators will go significantly beyond the requirements set out in the EU Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (5MLD), in the hope of delivering what it claimed to be “the most comprehensive responses globally to the use of cryptoassets for illicit activity.” “The government will consult on its proposed actions in the new year, and will legislate during 2019 to give effect to this response,” the FCA detailed, adding that fiat-to-crypto exchange firms and custodian wallet providers will be brought within the scope of anti-money laundering regulation. The Cryptoasset Taskforce was set up in April following concerns that the generally unregulated digital currency market is susceptible to fraud and manipulation, and can be used by criminals to expedite money laundering. This is despite clear evidence showing the legacy financial markets, led by central banks and credit card cartels, to be significantly more complicit in abetting such behavior. What do you think about the potential ban on cryptocurrency derivatives in the U.K? Let us know 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 UK Government Moots Ban on Cryptocurrency Derivatives appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange and brokerage service Coinbase announced on Tuesday that it had raised $300 million in series E equity funding. This latest round confirms Coinbase’s status as the largest cryptocurrency organization of its kind, bringing its market valuation up to $8 billion. Also read: Bitstamp Confirms Acquisition by South Korean Company Coinbase Raises More Funds in Order to Expand Global Efforts Coinbase has raised more money this month after raising $100 million in August in a series D funding round. The company announced on Oct. 30 that the corporation has secured another $300 million from various venture capital investors. The companies who participated in the series E round include Polychain Capital, Y Combinator Continuity, Wellington Management, and Andreessen Horowitz. According to the company’s blog post, Tiger Global Management led the latest Coinbase investment round. “We’re pleased to announce that Coinbase will add an additional $300 million of investment at a post-money valuation of over $8 billion to accelerate the adoption of cryptocurrencies and digital assets,” explained the San Francisco company’s blog. The exchange details that the new funding will be dedicated to expanding services across the globe and that Coinbase plans to “lay the groundwork” to support “thousands” of cryptocurrencies in the future. The cryptocurrency service also detailed that it plans on enticing more institutional interest towards the digital asset economy by bolstering the company’s custody offering. Coinbase just received a trust charter from the New York Department of Financial Services on Oct. 23 which will help them build a standalone entity called the Coinbase Custody Trust Company. Coinbase Envisions ‘Tremendous Promise’ The cryptocurrency exchange also discussed how it recently added the USDC stablecoin and plans to add more “utility applications for crypto” in the future. Coinbase further emphasized that with the new series E funding they will remain “a crypto-first company.” Coinbase has performed well within the cryptocurrency economy since its inception in 2012, gathering roughly 44 investors and seven large funding rounds. There are a few other online digital currency platforms that will compete with Coinbase in the U.S. One such competitor could be the new startup Voyager backed by Uber co-founder Oscar Salazar. There’s also Circle Financial, another unicorn cryptocurrency business that’s raised $246 million to date. After the recent funding round, Coinbase has now raised a total of $525.3 million and the company has reassured the crypto community that the money will be well spent towards spreading cryptocurrency adoption worldwide. “We see tremendous promise in crypto to build the next great phase of the internet (often referred to as Web 3), which has the power to put control back in the hands of consumers, unleash a new era of innovation, and offer greater access to economic opportunities to more people around the world,” Coinbase concluded. What do you think about Coinbase raising $300 million in a series E funding round? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. Images via Shutterstock, Coinbase, and Pixabay. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Coinbase Raises $300 Million, Reaching $8 Billion Valuation appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Russia’s Federal Financial Monitoring Service has revealed that it will regulate cryptocurrency-related transactions in the country, with a senior official saying that the agency will also oversee the broader cryptocurrency industry, in accordance with recommendations issued by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Also read: Ukraine Plans to Fully Legalize Cryptocurrencies Within Three Years Rosfinmonitoring to License Exchanges and ICO Platforms Rosfinmonitoring, as the regulator is known in Russia, plans to register, license and monitor cryptocurrency exchanges, crowdfunding platforms and providers of wallet services for digital assets, Russian media outlets have reported. Pavel Livadny, the agency’s deputy director, said that all states participating in the FATF are expected to amend their legislation to introduce registration and licensing regimes for companies that trade cryptocurrencies and launch initial coin offerings (ICOs). The intergovernmental organization, originally tasked with developing measures to prevent money laundering, recently updated its recommendations and glossary to include “virtual assets.” The FATF uses the term to refer to “digital representations of value that can be digitally traded or transferred and can be used for payment or investment purposes, including digital representations of value that function as a medium of exchange, a unit of account, and/or a store of value.” It emphasized that virtual assets are distinct from fiat currencies and said that it will continue to review them to determine if further updates to its standards are necessary. The financial watchdog will regulate the exchange of cryptocurrencies and fiat money, as well as transactions between digital assets. It will also monitor the transfer, custody and issuance of digital coins, the Izvestia newspaper reported. The minimum value of cryptocurrency transactions that will trigger regulatory action has yet to be determined, but the agency has said that it will track deals involving the transfer of 600,000 rubles (~$9,000) or more. It has been reported, however, that transactions below 15,000 rubles, or around $230, may remain anonymous. Industry Organizations Criticize Government-Sponsored Legislation The Russian cryptocurrency industry is still largely operating in an atmosphere of legal uncertainty. This past spring, lawmakers in the State Duma, the lower house of Russia’s parliament, supported on first reading three bills aimed at regulating the sector, but then postponed their final adoption for the fall session. The main draft law, “On Digital Financial Assets,” has since been revamped, with legislators removing key terms such as “cryptocurrency” and “mining.” The Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) recently sent regulatory proposals to Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, the Speaker of the Duma Vyacheslav Volodin and Andrei Belousov, an aide to President Vladimir Putin. In the documents, RSPP President Alexander Shokhin criticized the current draft legislation, arguing that it sets unreasonably high standards and introduces complicated regulatory procedures. He has called for the adoption of a consolidated position, to be approved by all market participants and state regulators. An alternative bill, drafted by the RSPP, not only mentions cryptocurrencies but also grants them “special status.” According to the Kommersant newspaper, the RSPP’s proposals will soon be discussed by three different ministries. Meanwhile, Yuri Pripachkin, the president of the Russian Association of Cryptoindustry and Blockchain, warned that implementing the regulatory framework without taking the industry’s views into account would lead to an exodus of investment capital and young talent. “There is no point in adopting the legislation in its current form,” he said, as quoted by the Vedomosti business daily. Pripachkin added that the bills in the Duma do not even deal with the areas that determine the development of the new industry — including cryptocurrency, mining, smart contracts — but merely focus on the vague term “digital assets.” Adopting a law that addresses only tokens circulating within companies could put an end to the cryptocurrency economy, he said. Do you think Russia’s financial watchdog should also be responsible for regulating the crypto industry? Share your thoughts on the subject in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Make sure you do not miss any important Bitcoin-related news! Follow our news feed any which way you prefer; via Twitter, Facebook, Telegram, RSS or email (scroll down to the bottom of this page to subscribe). We’ve got daily, weekly and quarterly summaries in newsletter form. Bitcoin never sleeps. Neither do we. The post Russia’s Financial Watchdog to Oversee the Cryptocurrency Industry appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

If you want to see cryptocurrency adopted by more people, one of the best ways to personally ensure that happens is to simply give away samples to anyone you can. And Halloween presents us with an excellent opportunity to spread the knowledge and passion to the next generation. Also Read: The Daily: Startup Raises $30M, Crypto Used to Fight Plastic Pollution Crypto Halloween There are a few ways to add a crypto gift alongside the candy you give away to trick or treaters, such as preloaded plastic gift cards or even physical bitcoins with embedded QR codes. However, the quickest and easiest method is just to print out a paper wallet and load it with as much money as you want. There are many options online that allow you to print out paper wallets, but one great place to get a bitcoin cash (BCH) wallet is of course at paperwallet.bitcoin.com. The graphics team at Bitcoin.com recently created new designs, and you can also create a custom one for yourself to fit the holiday spirit. One possible problem with giving away paper wallets as gifts is that not everyone will actually use them and thus the funds could be lost. For this reason, there are a few specialized tools out there for giving crypto tips. How to Cryptotip A Cryptotip is a printable cryptocurrency tip that you can give away to anyone. And if the recipient loses the paper tip, it’s not a problem, because you can set an expiration date, so the funds are returned to a specified wallet if the tip isn’t claimed in time. You can also create as many tips as you want in minutes. Just put in a BCH refund address for unclaimed funds and an email address to receive notifications about the activation and expiration of tips. Select the quantity of cards you want to print and the amount each one will hold — possibly as a tip for the Cryptotip service itself to show support — and then just add a message. Click “checkout,” transfer the sum by scanning a QR code and then you are done. Cryptotip.org If you are more technically inclined, you can also check out Ace Tipper, a recently released app for Windows or MacOS that lets you print BCH tips on your computer. Are you looking forward to giving BCH this Halloween? 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 How to Easily Give BCH as Gifts in Halloween Trick-or-Treat Packages appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) has announced that it will accept public feedback through Nov. 2 on draft rules it recently published to regulate blockchain projects, but the proposed legislation has already drawn a mixed response from distributed ledger technology (DLT) analysts. Also Read: Bitstamp Confirms Acquisition by South Korean Company Strict Rules for DLT Users The CAC said it has designed the proposed rules to uphold national security and protect the interests of companies and the general public, while facilitating the development of the blockchain industry. The guidelines require real-name registration for all DLT users and obligate all blockchain companies in China to store user data for government inspection for periods of up to six months. “Blockchain-based service providers should work with the authorities to carry out supervision and inspection, and provide the necessary data and technical assistance,” the CAC said in the document. The regulator also wants blockchain-based service providers to register within 10 days of starting their businesses. Such companies will be expected to record the names and server addresses of their customers, and will face the possibility of suspension if they provide incorrect information to the authorities. Those that fail to rectify issues related to incorrect customer information within specified time frames may also have their licenses revoked. In addition to the strict monitoring and reporting requirements it is proposing, the CAC said that it expects the DLT industry to develop its own standards and best practices. It has called for the “blockchain industry to strengthen self-regulation and set up industry standards, educate service providers, and promote the industry credit rating system.” Mixed Reactions to Proposed Guidelines The proposed regulations have received mixed reactions from analysts and representatives of China’s DLT sector. Yang Dong, vice president of Renmin University of China Law School, warned that the legislation could stifle innovation. “This will only bring undesirable obstacles and difficulties to entities’ innovation activities,” he said. “Blockchain technology should be neutral. The necessity of the draft policy should be doubted.” Tamar Menteshashvili, a doctorate student and founder of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University Blockchain Hub, said that the proposed regulations are at odds with the government’s support for the blockchain industry. She also warned that the proposed rules could place additional financial burdens on blockchain startups, due to new procedures they might need to introduce to meet legal requirements. “While the Chinese government has been very supportive of blockchain technology … the whole industry is under the strong supervision of the authorities and (is) as closely controlled as possible,” Menteshashvili said. But Billy Chan, the chief executive officer of Dropchain, said the proposed guidelines should not be solely seen in a negative light. “It’s not fair to say the government is stifling blockchain,” Chan said. “Instead, they’re trying to hold people accountable.” Do you think that the increasing regulation of cryptocurrencies and DLT is stifling innovation, or is it an inevitable consequence of mainstream adoption? Share your thoughts in the comments section below! Images courtesy of Shutterstock At Bitcoin.com there’s a bunch of free helpful services. For instance, have you seen our Tools page? You can even lookup the exchange rate for a transaction in the past. Or calculate the value of your current holdings. Or create a paper wallet. And much more. The post China Seeks Public Feedback on Draft DLT Regulations appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In today’s edition of The Daily, we focus on an Israeli crypto security startup that has raised $30 million in funding from a number of notable companies. We also look at how tokens are being used to clean up the environment, as well as efforts by major auditing firms to service clients in the cryptocurrency field. Also Read: Survey: 60% of US Voters Want Crypto Political Donations to Be Legal Israel Grows as Crypto Development Hub Starkware, an Israel-based startup developing zero-knowledge proof technology to improve the scalability and privacy of blockchains, has revealed that it recently closed a $30 million equity funding round. Paradigm led the round, which included new investments from Intel Capital, Sequoia, Atomico, DCVC, Wing, Consensys, Coinbase Ventures, Multicoin Capital, Collaborative Fund, Scalar Capital and Semantic Ventures. Previous investors in Starkware also participated in the funding round, including Pantera, Floodgate and Naval Ravikant. The investment underscores the emergence of Israel as a crypto development hub. Earlier this month, the Israeli Blockchain Association released its third Startup Map, which covers more than 200 young companies operating in the larger crypto industry. In addition to Starkware — whose co-founders include Prof. Eli Ben-Sasson of the Technion Israel Institute of Technology and Alessandro Chiesa, an assistant professor at the University of California, Berkeley — there are now 37 startups developing protocols or infrastructure in the country, with 23 operating in the security sector. Getting Paid to Recycle While the mainstream media continues to spread the misconception that cryptocurrencies are bad for the environment, in the real world creative visionaries are actually using them to help with conservation efforts. SC Johnson, the U.S. multinational behind household products such as Raid, Windex, Mr. Muscle and Toilet Duck, has unveiled a plan to fight pollution from plastic with cryptocurrency. In collaboration with Plastic Bank, the Wisconsin-based company plans to open eight recycling centers in Indonesia, where people will be able to exchange plastic waste for digital tokens. The first facility officially opened in Bali on Oct. 28, with all of the centers to be operational by May 2019. Each of the eight recycling centers will be able to process a minimum of 100 metric tons of plastic per year. “(This program) will help create more opportunities for people living in poverty and will offer waste collectors an important sense of pride,” said David Katz, founder and CEO of Plastic Bank. “(It will also) benefit a wide range of socio-economic demographics including local residents living below the poverty level.” Plastic Bank CEO David Katz and Fisk Johnson, chairman and CEO of SC Johnson, show off a mobile collection center. “We want to help recover plastic equal to the amount we put into the world, through innovative recycling and recovery programs,” said Fisk Johnson, chairman and CEO of SC Johnson. “In this way we can neutralize our environmental impact and, at the same time, do some good in communities that have excessive plastic pollution.” Big Accounting Firms Start Crypto Hiring Spree According to a report by the Financial Times, major auditing firms such as EY, PwC and KPMG have been hiring hundreds of crypto experts to help with accounting startups and investors in the cryptocurrency segment. The companies are also said to be creating in-house technologies tailored to specific processes that will be used to audit cryptocurrency ventures. “We have no choice than to address this because some of our clients have invested in that space,” explained Jeanne Boillet, global assurance innovation leader at EY, which is said to have more than 150 clients with crypto assets around the world, including traders, exchanges and mining companies. PwC claims it currently has about 400 “blockchain experts” on its payroll in multiple divisions around the world. “We are in the midst of a rather significant effort,” said Ralph Weinberger, leader of PwC’s global network assurance methodology group. “We are devoting significant resources to how we might provide audit services in not just cryptocurrency, but blockchain.” What do you think about today’s news tidbits? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Verify and track bitcoin cash transactions on our BCH Block Explorer, the best of its kind anywhere in the world. Also, keep up with your holdings, BCH and other coins, on our market charts at Satoshi’s Pulse, another original and free service from Bitcoin.com. The post The Daily: Security Startup Raises $30M, Crypto Used to Fight Plastic Pollution appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Bitstamp has confirmed that it has been acquired by a European subsidiary of a South Korean corporation. Nejc Kodrič will remain the CEO of the exchange. The Korean group also owns gaming giant Nexon and Korbit, the country’s fourth largest crypto exchange. Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space Bitstamp Acquired The oldest remaining and largest cryptocurrency exchange in Europe, Bitstamp, announced on Monday that it has been acquired by Belgium-based investment company NXMH, a subsidiary of South Korea-based NXC Corp. In a blog post, Bitstamp CEO Nejc Kodrič wrote: Bitstamp has been regularly approached by suitors for quite some time. The reason why we finally decided to sell the company is a combination of the quality of the buyer, the quality of the offer and the fact that the industry is at a point where consolidation makes sense. Bitstamp CEO Nejc Kodrič. He told Reuters, “The sale wasn’t planned. There was no active effort to go around and solicit buyers.” The CEO revealed to the Financial Times that his exchange “had been approached last year by four serious buyers including from China and the US.” Kodrič explained that Bitstamp “opted to go with NXMH because it will allow the Luxembourg exchange to operate as it is.” He further asserted that “A major factor in agreeing to the sale is that the mission, leadership and vision of the company remain the same,” elaborating: I want to assure you that Bitstamp remains Bitstamp … It is business as usual here. In Monday’s announcement, Kodrič emphasized that Bitstamp customers “can expect improvements in user experience, customer service, trading functions and other operations.” All-Cash Deal The all-cash deal was signed by representatives of the two companies on Oct. 25, according to Reuters. Before the acquisition, Bitstamp’s shares were held roughly equally between the exchange’s two founders and hedge fund Pantera Capital Management, which invested $10 million into the company in 2014. Kodrič will remain the CEO of the exchange. NXMH is acquiring an 80 percent stake in Bitstamp. “Merlak sold his entire 30 percent stake in Bitstamp with the deal and has not been active since 2015,” the CEO explained to the news outlet. Noting that further terms of the deal were not disclosed, the Financial Times elaborated: Kodrič and Pantera will retain 10 and 6 percent stakes respectively, while NXMH will own the rest of the company. While details of the deal do not include the sale price, New York Times reporter Nathaniel Popper tweeted in March that “Bitstamp, is in the final stages of being sold to South Korean investors for ~$400m.” About the Companies Founded in August 2011 by Kodrič and Merlak, Bitstamp began operation out of a Slovenian garage with a server, a couple of laptops, and a thousand euros in capital, Reuters detailed. The Luxembourg-based exchange “has grown to more than 3 million registered customers today,” the publication noted and quoted Kodrič saying: Bitstamp was valued at $60 million, up from a 2014 valuation of $39 million. Belgium-based NXMH, with more than 2 billion euros in assets under management, is a subsidiary of South Korea’s NXC Corp., provider of online games primarily in Korea, Japan, Europe, and the United States. The group owns one of South Korea’s largest video game companies, Nexon Co. Ltd, as well as Korbit, one of the country’s top four crypto exchanges. According to Monday’s announcement, Bitstamp and Korbit will continue to operate independently, but they “plan on generating synergies in a number of areas, including technology, research and development.” What do you think of the acquisition of Bitstamp? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock and Bitstamp. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Bitstamp Confirms Acquisition by South Korean Company appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Coincheck reported a pre-tax loss of 588 million yen (US $5.3 million) for the third quarter of 2018, the Japanese exchange’s second consecutive quarterly loss since hackers pilfered $530 million in January. That’s an increased deficit of 130 percent from the 259 million yen ($2.3 million) loss the previous quarter. Also Read: French Business School Fees in Bitcoin For Blockchain Technology Courses Coincheck Remains Optimistic After Surviving a Multi-Million-Dollar Hack Coincheck’s revenue for the period July to September plunged 66.5 percent to 315 million yen ($2.8 million) from $8.4 million the previous quarter, as the exchange battled to regain public trust. Attributable net loss widened 111 percent to $3.6 million during the review quarter, as total group net profit came in at $4.9 million, down 118 percent from $10.7 million in the quarter prior. Coincheck, acquired by Tokyo-based securities firm Monex Group in April for $40 million, said that it retained some 1.7 million users after repaying $420 million to depositors after the hack. Running costs are down by around 17 percent for the quarter, but cumulative losses over the past six months have reached $7.6 million. “Since the service suspension in January 2018, Coincheck basically allowed existing customers only to sell their cryptocurrency,” Monex Group said in its third quarter earnings release on Oct.29. Exchange Steps up Security Lawsuits filed against Coincheck, still unregistered under Japanese law, have had only a minor impact on the financial status of the holding company, Monex said, adding that the exchange had beefed up security to prevent further breaches. At least four privacy coins have been delisted as part of measures to improve security. Know-your-customer and anti-money laundering features have also been tightened. “Going forward, Coincheck will advance as a highly technology-driven company with a cutting-edge security control system and the know-how to secure profitability appropriate of its true value,” Monex Group chairman and chief executive officer Oki Matsumoto detailed in the financial results statement. “In Japan and the United States, we will increase our user base by developing and providing new services that appeal to millennials and other new economic players. And finally, we will expand our operations in the Asia-Pacific region, an area that will support global growth in the future,” he said. The majority of leading digital currency exchanges have reported stellar earnings. Binance said profits soared to $350 million between September last year and June, mainly driven by transaction fees. The platform, which has over 10 million users and averages about $1.5 billion in daily volume, has targeted net profit of between $500 million and $1 billion for 2018. Do you think Coincheck will be able to regain public trust after the January hack? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock and Monex Group. 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 Coincheck Reports Deepening Losses of $5.3 Million in Third Quarter appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article