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This Friday the decentralized marketplace Openbazaar announced the release of its 2.2.2 version which adds a variety of new features and improvements. One particular feature added to the latest Openbazaar release allows users to trade 1,500+ cryptocurrencies with no fees. Moreover, all the swaps are peer-to-peer trades between two parties with no KYC process. Also Read: Bitcoin Unlimited Merges Graphene Block Propagation Technology Openbazaar Launches Version 2.2.2 With Two New Important Features The Openbazaar development team has released a new version of the platform that adds a few new features and bug fixes. Openbazaar version 2.2.2 was released on July 27 and the application allows for peer-to-peer cryptocurrency trades with a vast quantity of different digital assets. The developers explain that the release includes two major protocol improvements within the Openbazaar environment. “The first is the ability for users offering to trade coins to mark up or discount their price — Instead of only being able to offer a trade at market price, they can choose to add a markup, which will automatically increase the price to the buyer based on the percentage they choose,” explains Openbazaar’s announcement blog post. They can also choose to offer a discount from market price — The software constantly is updating the market price of the cryptocurrencies involved in the trade, and will add the markup or discount at the moment the trade happens. The Ability to Trade 1,500+ Cryptocurrencies With No Fees and No KYC/AML Processes The announcement further details that the second feature includes the major update to how many cryptocurrencies can be traded on Openbazaar. The development team notes that prior to the 2.2.2 release there were about 60 different coins available to trade. Openbazaar has implemented price feeds from the data site Coinmarketcap and there are now 1,500+ coins that can be traded. “If you want to see if a specific coin is available, download Openbazaar and start the process of creating a cryptocurrency listing,” the Openbazaar developers detail. As always, there are no fees to pay and no accounts to sign up for — It’s a direct swap of cryptocurrencies between you and the other party, and if you choose a moderated payment (highly recommended) then there’s a third party available in case of dispute. The cryptocurrency community seemed to like the latest Openbazaar announcement across social media and digital asset focused forums. The biggest plus for most digital currency proponents is the means to buy and sell coins without fees — But people really appreciated the ability to trade without all the annoying KYC/AML processes tethered to more than 90 percent of exchanges out there today. What do you think about Openbazaar adding 1,500+ different cryptocurrencies to the platform for peer-to-peer trading? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comment section below. Images via Shutterstock, Openbazaar logo, and the OB Blog. At Bitcoin.com there’s a bunch of free helpful services. For instance, check out our Tools page! The post Openbazaar Users Can Now Trade 1500 Cryptocurrencies With No KYC appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

According to analytics firm Autonomous Next, the number of active crypto funds has reached 312 – a 24% increase from the end of 2017. Also Read: You Can Become a Citizen of Antigua and Barbuda for Less Than 13 BTC Number of Active Crypto Funds Reaches 312 The number of cryptocurrency funds has significantly expanded in recent years, growing by 456% since the end of 2016, and 791% since the end of 2015 – according to Autonomous Next. Despite the milestone, 2018 has so far produced the lowest percentage increase in the number of cryptocurrency funds year-over-year, with the number of crypto funds growing by 124% heading into 2015, 30% heading into 2016, 60% heading into 2017, and 348% at the at the end of last year. The vast majority of new funds began operations during the second quarter of 2018. During the first quarter, only 20 new funds opened their doors, whilst 9 funds ceased trading. According to the report, “The number of crypto funds is highly correlated with both ICO fundraising and the market cap of [BTC].” Crypto Funds Manage $7.5 Bn – $10 Bn USD Collectively Autonomous Next estimates that the total sum managed by all cryptocurrency funds is approximately between $7.5 billion and $10 billion. The report also finds that the crypto fund industry is highly centralized, approximating that the 10 largest firms manage roughly 43% of the industry’s capital, and that the 50 largest firms account for 80% of managed capital. Hype Surrounding Cryptocurrency Funds Grows The markets have reacted bullishly to news of Van Eck’s application for a bitcoin-back exchange-traded fund with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Despite such, some analysts are critical of the apparent institutional thirst for cryptocurrencies, with Michael Chang of virtual currency advisory firm, Wachsman, recently stating: “I’d say that there is little to no appetite to put client money into digital assets right now.” Mr. Chang added: “When you’re a bank like Jefferies, you have responsibilities to your clients. If you want crypto, you have to go to the specialist firms like a Pantera or a Soros Management, which is now investing in it through a separate fund. A lot of these guys have money in the big 10 coins now.” Niklas Nikolajsen, co-CEO of Bitcoin Suisse, believes that the whilst “Institutional engagement it is limited[, …] it used to be zero [and] it is now well above that.” Mr. Nikolajsen added: “Bitcoin used to be immeasurable in market size, but is now about 1% of the gold market—a traditional hedge against currency—and 1% of the multitrillion-dollar gold market is not a small thing.” Do you think that the number of active crypto funds will continue to grow? Share your thoughts in the comments section below! Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Autonomous Next 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 Research Finds Number of Crypto Funds has Exceeded 300 appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

According to a Wells Fargo Gallup Investor and Retirement Optimism Index poll, just 2 percent of Americans surveyed own bitcoin. The poll is based on US adults who have at least $10,000 or more invested in things like mutual funds, stocks, and bonds. The Gallup survey also reveals that 26 percent of the US residents surveyed are “intrigued” by bitcoin but have no plans in investing any time soon. Also Read: Bitcoin Cash Fund to Help Promote Future r/MillionaireMakers Drawings Gallup Data Says American Investors Find Bitcoin Investment “Risky” But Young Investors Say They Would Jump in if Bitcoin Was “More Mainstream” Wells Fargo has published the results of a Gallup Investor poll which shows only 2 percent of US residents own some bitcoin. The ‘Investor and Retirement Optimism Index’ survey was conducted online between May 7-14, 2018 and the web study consisted of 1,921 American investors ages 18 and older. “Bitcoin, the leading form of digital currency that has seen its price soar, crash and rise again in the past year, has made little headway with U.S. investors,” explains the report authored by Lydia Sadd. According to a Wells Fargo/Gallup poll, just 2% of investors say they currently own bitcoin, and less than 1% plan to buy it in the near future — While most investors say they have no interest in ever buying bitcoin, about one in four (26%) say they are intrigued by it but won’t be buying it anytime soon. Most US Investors Are on the Sidelines 75 percent of the longitudinal panel of U.S. investors surveyed stated they found cryptocurrency investment “risky” while 23 percent of those polled found the investment to be “somewhat risky”. Only 2 percent of the investors polled said bitcoin investments were “not too risky” and just 0.5 percent found it to be “not risky at all”. The study found that because a majority of individuals believe bitcoin is risky, most prefer “security over growth” and “US investors prefer to play it safe with their investments.” “Looking to the future, however, many younger investors who currently say they are intrigued may be converted to investors once the currency goes more mainstream,” Sadd notes. For now, most investors are on the sidelines, knowing little to nothing about bitcoin. Few are already invested in it, and even fewer plan to jump in soon. Sadd’s web study also concludes that out of the 2 percent that owned bitcoin, ownership is more common among wealthier investors (earning $90,000 USD a year or more) while low-income investors don’t invest in bitcoin as much. The researcher also notes that three in 10 of the investors (29%) polled knew some things about cryptocurrencies. 67 percent said they’ve heard of specific digital currencies but don’t have that much knowledge about them, and 5 percent have never heard of any types of virtual currencies. What do you think about the findings within the Wells Fargo/Gallup poll? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comment section below. Images via Shutterstock, and Wells Fargo’s Gallup poll At Bitcoin.com there’s a bunch of free helpful services. For instance, check out our Tools page! The post US Gallup Poll Shows Only 2% of American Investors Own Bitcoin appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

According to a survey conducted among finance professionals, ‘crowd psychology’ is the main factor determining the movements of bitcoin market prices. More than half of the polled experts shared this opinion. Many of the individuals surveyed also expressed concerns about the issue with crypto custody, saying that the way cryptocurrency is stored now prevents BTC from becoming a global reserve asset. Also read: PR Specialists in the Russian Crypto Space Paid 10x the Average Salary The Phenomenon Behind the Recent Price Spike Cryptocurrencies have been through a lot of downturns this year but the latest upward trend on the back of positive expectations has provided ground for optimism. Bitcoin core markets are recuperating from this year’s lows of less than $6,000 USD per one BTC in June to more than $8,000 USD this month (~40 percent increase). Now a new survey has revealed what finance professionals think about the major factors that are moving the price of the digital asset. More than half of the respondents in the poll conducted by Data Trek Research believe the recent market developments are closely correlated to the so-called “crowd psychology” phenomenon, also known as herd or pack mentality. 52 percent of the questioned said that’s the main driver of the price of the cryptocurrency with the largest market capitalization. According to Nicholas Colas, co-founder of Data Trek Research, this is the single most surprising response of the whole survey, Market Watch reported. Commenting on the results of the study, he said: Finance professionals make their livings by analyzing asset values through the lens of fundamental/quantifiable factors. That more than half of respondents believe valuation in the crypto space is “purely a function of crowd psychology” is refreshing in its honesty. Usage Not a Significant Factor On the other hand, only 15 percent of the polled experts think the price of bitcoin core (BTC) is a function of the growing usage of the cryptocurrency. The survey also found that the issue with crypto custody, or the way cryptocurrencies are held and stored, is a major concern for many investors. 38 percent of the questioned said BTC would never become a reserve asset on a global scale. Of the 216 professionals that have participated in the Data Trek poll, 42 percent are employed in the traditional money management industry and another 24 percent are working as brokers. Just in the past two weeks, BTC markets have gained approximately 30%. After a brief descent below $8,000, at the time of writing bitcoin (BTC) is again trading above this threshold. What is your opinion about the major factors influencing the prices of cryptocurrencies? Tell us in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Michael Novogratz (Twitter). 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 Crowd Psychology Driving BTC Prices, Finance Experts Say appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Jeffrey Wernick, an independent investor who claims to have begun purchasing bitcoin as early as 2009, recently advocated that “everybody should put something into crypto.” The investor also criticized the current financial system, describing cryptocurrency investment as sole viable means through which “a typical middle-class person [can] accumulate wealth.” Also Read: Major Bitcoin ETF Rejected by SEC: One Commissioner Disagrees Publicly “I Think Everybody Should Put Something Into Crypto” – Jeffrey Wernick In a recent interview with Business Insider, Jeffrey Wernick, an early investor into Uber and Airbnb, described cryptocurrency investment as the sole means through which ordinary citizens can accumulate capital. Mr. Wernick stated: “given the fact that the capital markets are overvalued because they’re subsidized by those low-interest rates, that the biggest institutions that have the biggest access to leverage at cost of capital significantly cheaper than anyone else can produce. Then the question is, is what, what for a typical middle-class person-how do they accumulate wealth? And I think their only answer is to put a certain percentage in crypto.” The investor argued that “There have been some studies that show that now, that if you put 5-10% of your money in crypto that actually on a risk-adjusted basis it improves your total portfolio returns,” adding that through investing in cryptocurrency “you’d be making a statement to the government that says ’what you’re doing is completely unacceptable’.” “I think over five years, you’re going to accumulate a lot more wealth than you would in any other alternative investment. […] “I think everybody should put something into crypto,” he concluded. Mr. Wernick Argues Regulatory Uncertainty is Driving Price Volatility Mr. Wernick also argued that “a lot of the volatility in pricing has to do with uncertainty on government policy towards it,” adding “while the government is trying to mitigate volatility in ordinary capital markets, they’re trying to exacerbate volatility in cryptomarkets”. The investor described the current cryptocurrency prices as “amazing […] given the fact that it only faces headwinds, no tailwinds. Every government throughout the world is trying to figure out how to stop and kill bitcoin.” Despite the challenges, Mr. Wernick stated: “Since Bitcoin has been created […] it has outperformed every currency, even with governments hostile to it, and a regulatory regime that’s an uncertain regime.” Mr. Wernick Criticizes Current Cryptocurrency Culture Mr. Wernick argues that many “people don’t understand the philosophy” underpinning bitcoin, adding that “the people now in the business were not there in 2009 and 2019.” The investor asserts that “People who have gotten into it now talk more about blockchain than bitcoin because they’re just looking for an alternative model to make money.” Mr. Wernick describes new investors as “agnostic to the initial philosophical framework that drove people to adopt bitcoin […[ and keep it alive from 2009 through 2013 or ‘14,” stating that “There was a small universe of people that actively worked to keep it alive by continuing to mine and continuing to buy and they were doing it because of the concept that they believed in, and that it’s a people’s money.” Jeffrey Wernick Predicts Widespread Mainstream Cryptocurrency Adoption in Future Of the future for cryptocurrencies, Mr. Wernick predicts that “the people who move first will make more money than those that move second, who’ll make more money than those that move third, and eventually, when crypto is broadly adopted, then people [will] start using it as an exchange, and it will no longer be volatile in pricing – it will be stable in pricing.” Do you agree that everybody hold a portion of their wealth in cryptocurrencies? 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 Airbnb, Uber Investor Believes “Everybody Should Put Something Into Crypto” appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In recent news pertaining to cryptocurrency exchanges, the CEO of Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) has indicated that the company has no intentions of introducing derivative markets for alternative cryptocurrencies in the near futures; Waves’ decentralized exchange was hacked upon launch; and the founder Pakcoin has attributed Pakistan’s slow rate of cryptocurrency adoption to low literacy rates. Also Read: FINMA Launches Proceedings Against $100 Million ICO CME CEO Extinguishes Rumors of Altcoin Futures The chief executive officer of CME, Terrence Duffy, has indicated that the company has no plans to introduce derivatives markets for additional cryptocurrencies. Mr. Duffy stated that he “will take a wait and see approach with [BTC] for now, adding “I will not just put products up there to see where they’re going to go.” Mr. Duffy also emphasized that cryptocurrency futures contracts are “highly volatile and new.” In an interview in March, Dennis O’Callahan, the director for product development of Chicago Board Options Exchange, responded to a question concerning whether CBOE was exploring listing derivative markets for other cryptocurrencies, stating: “Being in product development our task is to look for new products all the time, so we are constantly evaluating that market, and we are evaluating other cryptocurrencies too, among other items. But we have seen how Bitcoin has worked, so we are definitely monitoring other termarkets to make sure that the infrastructure and everything is in place in case we want to pursue other cryptocurrencies.” Waves’ DEX Gets Hacked Upon Launch Earlier this week, Waves officially launched its decentralized exchange following a year-and-a-half-long beta period. The Waves DEX reportedly facilitated $6 million worth of cryptocurrency transactions at the conclusion of its beta testing, surpassing the daily volume of many rival decentralized exchanges. The company claimed to be host to 330,000 wallets belonging to 90,000 traders. Despite the company’s confidence heading into the launch, Waves’ exchange and main company websites were seized by hackers seeking to phish for users’ information pertaining to wallets. After several hours, Waves was able to restore access to its DNS server and return its platforms online. The chief executive officer of Waves, Sasha Ivanov, discussed the incident with media, stating: “Someone just faked my passport and gave it to support [staff] at the domain company and they changed the password at his request. Then the attacker was able to change the main website.” In response to the attack, Mr. Ivanov stated: “We and the whole industry need to work on decentralized domain name systems.” A spokeswoman for Waves added that “the DNS servers of the Waves website are maintained by the registrar, and in this case, their security is beyond our control. Nevertheless, the security levels of the registrar are, indeed, in question, and so we are currently considering further action … to make sure that this one-time breach will never occur again.” Pakcoin Founder: Slow Rate of Cryptocurrency Adoption in Pakistan to Low Literacy Abu Shaheer, the founder of Pakistan-based altcoin Pakcoin, has indicated that the number of Pakistanis investing in cryptocurrencies is increasing slowly, attributing the slow speed of uptake the low rates of literacy in Pakistan. “People are turning to cryptocurrency as an investment, but slower than the western world as the literacy rate is lower here and its a totally new phenomenon for them,” Mr. Shaheer said. “Some are using it as alternative means of payments. Most people using cryptocurrencies are day or short-term traders finding investment opportunities in crypto and are growing in number.” According to the United States Central Intelligence Agency, approximately 57.9% of Pakistani citizens over the age of 15 are literate. When do you think we will see mainstream financial institutions offer derivative products for a wide range of cryptocurrencies? Join the discussion in the comments section below! Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Wikipedia The Bitcoin universe is vast. So is Bitcoin.com. Check our Wiki, where you can learn everything you were afraid to ask. Or read our news coverage to stay up to date on the latest. Or delve into statistics on our helpful tools page. The post Exchanges Round-Up: CME Rejects Altcoins, Waves DEX Hacked on Launch appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Cryptocurrencies are becoming more prevalent to residents living in South Africa and over the past year bitcoin interest stemming from the region has grown exponentially. Furthermore, just recently the South African Treasury has proposed a few amendments that apply to the country’s Taxation Laws Amendment Bill (TLAB) and how cryptocurrencies are taxed. According to regional reports, if the proposals are accepted, bitcoin trades could be exempt from value-added tax (VAT) in South Africa. Also Read: Bitcoin Cash Fund to Help Promote Future r/MillionaireMakers Drawings South African Treasury Proposals Could Make Bitcoin Trades Exempt from Value-Added Tax Laws Interest in bitcoin and other digital assets within South Africa has been rising steadily over the past few years. Back in April, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) revealed its latest guidelines towards cryptocurrency taxation and explained that taxpayers must declare profits and losses if the funds stem from digital asset transactions. SARS details that taxpayers who are uncertain about their tax filings involving cryptocurrencies may reach out to the tax entity for guidance. “The onus is on taxpayers to declare all cryptocurrency-related taxable income in the tax year. Failure to do so could result in interest and penalties,” said SARS on April 6, 2018. Now the members of the South African Treasury have proposed new guidelines that could make trading bitcoin and other virtual currencies exempt from VAT. Regional reports detail that the proposals aim to change the definition that digital assets are deemed taxable financial instruments, the clarity within the country’s VAT Act, as well as loss provisions of the Income Tax Act. A senior tax consultant from Mazars, Tertius Troost, explains to regional publications that the proposals will make things much clearer for individual cryptocurrency tax filings and how they apply to the VAT Act. Treasury Department for the Republic of South Africa “The clarification of the VAT treatment will be well received, especially on the basis that the issue, acquisition, collection, buying or selling or transfer of ownership of any cryptocurrency will be included under the definition of financial services in terms of section 2 of the VAT Act,” Troost said in an interview. If accepted, all dealings in cryptocurrencies will be exempt from VAT. This means there will be no VAT input claims on the acquisition of cryptocurrencies, and no VAT output being levied on the disposal of cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrency Interest Continues to Trend Higher in South Africa Troost also says that VAT costs associated with mining might not have to be claimed within tax filing associated with the VAT. However, the tax consultant says “the good news seems to end there.” Troost emphasizes that the Treasury has proposed the acquisition or disposal of any cryptocurrency under the ring-fencing of assessed loss provisions which is sometimes called ‘suspect trades.’ This means some cryptocurrency sales may not be able to offset losses in certain instances. “In other words, these losses are ring-fenced to be used only against future profits earned from cryptocurrencies,” Troost concludes. Google shows the amount of bitcoin-related queries in South Africa is the largest number of searches worldwide. Digital currencies have been very popular within the South African region which has caused tax officials to scrutinize cryptocurrency dealings. Additionally, Localbitcoins and Paxful volumes in South Africa have been increasing steadily over the past few weeks. Interest in bitcoin is higher than every global region. As Google Trends reports, South Africa is the number one area in the world searching for ‘bitcoin-related’ queries. The Douro cryptocurrency ATM in Nelspruit. Moreover, cryptocurrency automated teller machines (ATMs) have become more prevalent in the daily lives of South Africans. There are now ATMs in Johannesburg, Nelspruit, Cape Town, and Midrand. What do you think about the South African Treasury’s proposals? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comment section below. Images via Shutterstock, Mybroadband.co.za, and Pixabay. At Bitcoin.com there’s a bunch of free helpful services. For instance, check out our Tools page! The post Officials in South Africa Propose VAT-Exemption for Bitcoin Trades appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Messaging service Telegram launched a new crypto-oriented feature on Thursday. Telegram Passport is a “unified authorization method for services that require personal identification”. KYC for ICOs in other words, which the Russian chat platform names as one of its intended use cases for Passport. Documents will be secured by end-to-end encryption, and Telegram has promised that the service will eventually move to “a decentralized cloud”. Also read: More Than 6% of Securities Lawsuits Filed in 2018 Related to ICOs Telegram Muscles in on Crypto Identity Services Telegram, led by bitcoin believer Pavel Durov, owes a significant chunk of its user base to cryptocurrency. As the preferred communications channel of tokensales, Telegram is relied upon by the crypto community on a daily basis, making its sporadic outages all the more infuriating for cryptocurrency users. Telegram Passport, its initiative for providing verification services, is a clear attempt at muscling in on the identification market that Civic and Thekey have been cornering. The service also tallies with Telegram’s plans to launch its own blockchain and to integrate a native token into its messaging app. In a blog post announcing the initiative, Telegram revealed its first integration of the service at epayments.com where Telegram Passport users can trial its verification system. There’s also a demo page on the Telegram website where users can see how the verification service will work in practice. Verification options will include passport, driver’s license, utility bill, bank statement, and selfie: the usual methods that ICO participants will be accustomed to. Passport Will Be Convenient but Will It Be Secure? Pavel Durov Telegram has been locked in a legal battle with the Russian authorities, whose secret service are determined to secure access to the data of domestic users – and probably that of overseas ones too. Pavel Durov’s company has doggedly resisted all such attempts, but despite this, some Telegram users will naturally be concerned about entrusting their most intimate details to the platform, even with the promise of end-to-end encryption. The ability for ICOs to let Telegram vet crowdsale participants, and to bear the brunt of the expense and data storage responsibility, is sure to appeal. With the use of programmatic bots, it should be possible to whitelist participants who are Telegram Passport members. Aside from the perceived risk of entrusting Telegram with hordes of sensitive information, there is the certainty that a cottage industry selling verified Telegram accounts will inevitably spring up. For every problem that technology solves, it introduces another. Would you use Telegram Passport? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Telegram. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Telegram Launches Passport Service for ICO Verification appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In the Google’s latest move against virtual currencies, cryptocurrency mining apps have been banned from the Google Play Store. Despite the ban, Google has indicated that it will continue to permit mining apps that mine for cryptocurrency from outside of a device, such as cloud-based mining. Also Read: Exchanges Round-Up: CME Volume Doubles Q2, Lawyer Predicts SEC Delays ETF Until March Non-Cloud-Based Cryptocurrency Mining Apps Banned from Play Store Google has updated the developer policies for its Play Store to prohibit several categories of apps, targeting cryptocurrency mining applications and alongside many others. Under the category of “Financial Instruments,” Google now states that it does not “allow apps that mine cryptocurrency on devices.” Despite such, Google states it will continue to “permit apps that remotely manage the mining cryptocurrency,” such as cloud-based mining services. The new policy also prohibits apps that “appeal to children but contain adult themes,” applications that “facilitate the sale of explosives, firearms, ammunition, or certain firearms accessories,” “apps that are created by an automated tool, wizard service, or based on templates and submitted to Google Play by the operator of that service on behalf of other persons,” “multiple apps with highly similar content and user experience,” and “apps or developer accounts that impersonate any person or organization, or that misrepresent or conceal their ownership or primary purpose.” Google Cracks Down on Cryptocurrencies The move has come after months of growing hostility toward cryptocurrencies on the part of Google, which announced its intention to ban cryptocurrency mining extensions from its Chrome Web Store in April of this year in order to provide protection from “extension cryptojacking” to its users. At the time, Google extensions platform product manager, James Wagner, posted that “approximately 90% of all extensions with mining scripts that developers have attempted to upload to Chrome Web Store have failed to comply” with Google’s policies, ultimately being “either rejected or removed from the store.” Mr. Wagner’s post stated that “existing extensions that mine cryptocurrency will be delisted from the Chrome Web Store in late June. In March, Google also announced that it would launch a crackdown on advertising content relating to “Cryptocurrencies and related content (including but not limited to initial coin offerings, cryptocurrency exchanges, cryptocurrency wallets, and cryptocurrency trading advice).” Do you think that Google will continue to intensify or begin to reverse it prohibitive policies regarding cryptocurrency content in the near future? Share your thoughts in the comments section below! Images courtesy of Shutterstock The Bitcoin universe is vast. So is Bitcoin.com. Check our Wiki, where you can learn everything you were afraid to ask. Or read our news coverage to stay up to date on the latest. Or delve into statistics on our helpful tools page. The post Google Bans Cryptocurrency Mining Apps From Play Store 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. If you thought blockchain events were all skinny men in dark, dusty rooms, think again. Coinsbanks is once more bringing luxury travel and blockchain together on Coinsbank’s third Blockchain Cruise from September 7-11th, 2018. The cruise, which has previously sailed the crystal waters of the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean, this time takes passengers to the ultimate Old World summer destinations – the vessel departs exciting Barcelona, makes stops in glamorous Monte Carlo and of course, tops it off with a beach party in the destination to end all beach parties, Ibiza, before making its way back to Monte Carlo. Passengers can also rest easy at the height of glamour knowing that Coinsbank has spared no expense and the entire vessel is reserved for the cruise. There will, however, be more than champagne and sunbathing aboard. A much more valuable opportunity presents itself – a direct chance to engage and make connections with leading influencers in blockchain. Over 100 speakers will attend, along with hundreds of industry professionals, renowned thinkers, and blockchain enthusiasts from all over the world. Some of the most notable speakers include a return appearance from John Mcafee, security software tycoon turned crypto hustler, Roger Ver, CEO of Bitcoin.com, and Bobby Lee, co-founder of BTCC and board member of Bitcoin Foundation. Appearances will also be made by: Travis Wright, co-host of the Bad Crypto Podcast Tone Vays, Blockchain Consultant/Researcher/Derivatives trader Taavi Roivas, former Prime Minister of Estonia Olga Feldmeier, CEO of Smart Valor Naeem Aslam, FX Columnist at Forbes Maria Jones, VP at Cointelegraph Giacomo Zucco, Director at BHB.Network Bruce Porter, Chairman and CEO of GlobalBoost Aside from providing luxurious sun and fun for its crypto-minded guests, CoinsBank aims to accelerate the growth of the blockchain community by facilitating the formation of meaningful relationships between industry members. Passengers will have plenty of opportunities to bond and make connection both onboard and on land through activities and shore excursions, and listen to speakers discuss relevant and useful topics such as emerging cryptocurrencies and their effect on current leading cryptocurrencies, expert predictions about the future of blockchain, and tools and techniques for trading digital assets. This is an excellent networking opportunity as well as a chance to gain new and exciting knowledge and strategies in blockchain. But all work and no play makes even the technology of the future dull, and Coinsbank has packed the cruise with entertainment outside of the disembarkation ports. Onboard, guests will be delighted by scrumptious dinners, a nightly spectacular show, parties on the Pool Deck and 24 hour open bar reception. As if that weren’t enough, an unforgettable sunset BBQ party in the style of the legendary Cafe Del Mar, with celebrities and world-famous DJs, awaits guests in beautiful Ibiza. It’s guests’ last day together – so plan to party hard until you see the sun rise! The cruise then makes its way back to sunny Barcelona, where guests can disembark and go get some delicious tapas with all their newfound blockchain friends. The Coinsbank Blockchain Cruise is a must-do for all blockchain leaders, forward thinkers, and enthusiasts who want to combine a luxury vacation with an unbelievable business opportunity. Coinsbank is pleased to invite the public to the Coinsbank Blockchain Mediterranean Cruise, September 7-11th, 2018. Learn more about the event, program, accommodations, and find tickets and pricing on the official website: https://coinsbank.com/cruise-europe Contact Email Address cruise@coinsbank.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: Bringing the Blockchain Conference and Luxury Cruising Together – Coinsbank’s 3rd Blockchain Cruise appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The parliament of Antigua and Barbuda has amended the country’s Citizenship by Investment Programme Act to accept payments in the form of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. With Antigua and Barbuda’s citizenship by way of investment into its National Development Fund having been reduced to a cost of $100,000 USD last year, the price of citizenship in the independent Commonwealth country is less than 13 BTC at current prices. Also Read: More Than 6% of Securities Lawsuits Filed in 2018 Related to ICOs Antigua-Barbuda Amends Citizenship by Investment Programme to Accept Crypto Antigua and Barbuda’s parliament has amended the country’s citizenship by investment programme (CIP) to allow payments in the form of cryptocurrencies. The resolution was passed in the country’s lower house and also facilitates CIP payments in the form of fiat currencies other than USD. Gaston Browne, Antigua and Barbuda’s prime minister and minister of finance, stated: “So not only are we providing the capacity for payment in Euros, but we are also proving for payments using bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.” Mr. Browne acknowledged that “we know we have to be careful” with regards to cryptocurrencies. The prime minister added that “moving money is important and if you cannot move money you cannot receive it,” concluding that “it is quintessential that we have a payment mechanism that could facilitate payments in cryptocurrencies.” Antigua-Barbuda Seeks to Expand Citizenship by Investment Programme Prime Minister Gaston Browne Mr. Browne emphasized that facilitating CIP payments in the form of cryptocurrency “expands your market because we have a number of cryptocurrency investors who may be quite willing to take up our citizenship but would only pay in cryptocurrencies,” adding “If you do not accept the cryptocurrency then you would be literally locked out of that market.” In October of last year, the country’s parliament reduced the price for citizenship through its National Development Fund (NDF) by half – bringing the price down to $100,000. At the time, the Antigua and Barbuda government argued that its citizenship by investment program was failing to compete with those offered by neighbouring countries – with Mr. Browne asserting that in the two months leading up to the amendment, only $600,000 had been generated from three new citizens, whereas neighbouring Dominica was earning $50 million per month through its $100,000 NDF program. Despite the enthusiasm surrounding the acceptance of cryptocurrencies on the part of Antigua and Barbuda’s ministers, Mr. Browne indicated that the government will convert all virtual currencies earned through the CIP into fiat currencies on a daily basis in order to “ensure that we have any exposure in cryptocurrencies.” Do you think that more countries will begin to accept cryptocurrencies in exchange for their citizenship programs? Share your thoughts in the comments section below Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Wikipedia 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 You Can Become a Citizen of Antigua and Barbuda for Less Than 13 BTC appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In Friday’s edition of The Daily, Twitter has taken measures against crypto scammers imitating the profile of Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk and a Dutch court has sentenced the operators of the Coinvault ransomware. Also, crypto has been labeled as ‘junk’ by Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga, and Wirex has reported $2 million worth of XRP deposited to its crypto debit card after announcing support for ripple. Also read: Skrill Launches Crypto Trade, Luxury Market Reaches $100M Transactions Twitter Blocking Bots Imitating Musk Twitter is trying a new strategy to address the issue with the numerous crypto scammers on the social network. The microblogging platform is now automatically locking any unverified account that changes its display name to Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and Spacex. Access to a blocked account can be restored only after passing a CAPTCHA test and providing a valid phone number, The Verge reported. “As part of our continuing efforts to combat spam and malicious activity on our service, we’re testing new measures to challenge accounts that use terms commonly associated with spam campaigns. We are continually refining these detections based on changes in spammy activity,” a Twitter spokesperson commented. The company has declined to confirm if the policy is applied to other accounts. The measure is meant to mainly combat the growing number of bots that are active on Twitter and imitate Musk’s profile to scam people by replying to his tweets. This means that once a user confirms the authenticity of their account according to the procedure, they can keep the display name as Elon Musk. Most scam bots operate by automatically replying to tweets from high profile figures, often promising giveaways or investment opportunities. Earlier this month, Elon Musk himself posted a comment showing that he is impressed with the skills of the scammers. Coinvault Operators Sentenced to Community Service A court in the Dutch city of Rotterdam has ordered 240 hours community service for two brothers responsible for spreading and operating the Coinvault ransomware. The pair have been accused of hacking into the personal computers of almost 1,300 victims in several countries including the Netherlands, the UK, France, and Germany. The two men, who had clean criminal records prior to their arrest, were spared prison sentences after they agreed to cooperate with the police investigation. However, they will have to pay compensation to several victims in addition to the community service they must perform. Coinvault is based on Microsoft’s .NET framework. It encrypts system files and then decrypts a single file before demanding ransomware payment in bitcoin (BTC). The malware was first discovered in 2014, when its operators demanded one bitcoin in return for a decryption key. At the time, 1 BTC was worth around €220. Investigators believe the two men have received about 20,000 euros from their victims. Mastercard CEO Labels Crypto as ‘Junk’ An “anonymized” currency that can fluctuate wildly does not deserve to be considered as a medium of exchange, according to Mastercard President and CEO Ajay Banga, who called cryptocurrency “junk.” The head of the global payment processor is also concerned that 95 percent of the illegal transactions conducted on the dark web, including credit card and social security fraud, are paid for in cryptocurrency. “I think cryptocurrency is junk. The idea of an anonymized currency produced by people who have to mine it, the value of which can fluctuate wildly – that to me is not the way that any medium of exchange deserves to be considered as a medium of exchange,” the India-born executive said, quoted by the Business Standard. He was responding to a question he was asked during a lecture organized by the Indian Consulate in New York together with the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF). Despite Banga’s comments, the credit card giant is believed to be keeping its crypto options open. It was reported earlier this year that the company would consider facilitating digital coins but only fully-regulated, central bank-issued, and non-anonymous. Mastercard has also applied for several crypto-related patents. In June, it became known that its filings include a patent for anonymous distributed ledger transactions via a third party processor. This month, it was announced that the payments behemoth has patented a method to manage cryptocurrency “fractional reserves.” $2 Million Worth of XRP Deposited to Wirex Accounts Wirex, the major provider of crypto debit cards in Europe which announced this month it is adding support for ripple (XRP), has already registered over $2 million worth of XRP deposited into the wallet which is connected to its Wirex Visa cards. The company has also reported having 1.5 million users and announced a transaction volume of approximately $1.7 billion USD. Wirex cards, offered in both plastic and virtual variants, are available within the European Economic Area which is a huge potential market. The company was the first to reintroduce crypto debit cards in Europe after they were suspended by Visa last year. It started shipping its new plastic cards to customers in the UK and the EU in May this year. The plastic cards offered by Wirex come with a chip and support also bitcoin (BTC), litecoin (LTC) and instant currency exchange with GBP, USD, and EUR. The virtual Visas provide for the opportunity to deposit and exchange over 50 digital coins through the Wirex wallet. What are your thoughts on today’s news tidbits? Tell us in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Michael Novogratz (Twitter). 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: Twitter Blocks Bots Mimicking Musk, Coinvault Hackers Sentenced appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Back in early 2015 a Reddit forum was created called r/millionairemakers which is a subreddit that tries to create a millionaire by getting one million Reddit users to donate $1 each and the forum subscribers give the money to a random person in hopes they can create a millionaire. Now the lottery-style forum is allowing bitcoin cash (BCH) donations with Tippr and Chaintip. The forum administrators are also partnering up with the Bitcoin Cash Fund, and the non-profit plans to donate $200 in BCH towards the pot of each draw. Also Read: Japanese Crypto Exchanges Working on Lowering Margin Trading Limits r/MillionaireMakers Partners With the Bitcoin Cash Fund Just about three years ago some Reddit users on the forum r/showerthoughts proposed a theory: “If a million of us picked a certain Redditor and all donated just $1, we would have the power to make someone a millionaire.” Since that observation was stated back in 2015, a new subreddit was born called r/millionairemakers. Now all the attempts have so far been unsuccessful as far as making a millionaire is concerned, but the forum had made mainstream headlines in publications like Business Insider, and some people have made a few thousand dollars. At one time a few selected winners have won around $12,000 USD and the site grew to gather over 100,000 subscribers. Just a few days ago the subreddit declared that it would be using BCH tips that stem from tipping platforms like Chaintip and Tippr. Further on the social media platform Yours.org the community driven non-profit the Bitcoin Cash Fund (BCF) announced a strategic partnership with r/millionairemakers and BCF plans to donate $200 worth of bitcoin cash towards the pot of each draw. “The Bitcoin Cash Fund will help promote future drawings, offer programming support, and add $200 in BCH to the pot of each draw to rapidly get this great sub up and running again,” explains BCF’s Yours announcement. We hope this partnership will allow r/millionairemakers finally make someone a millionaire and drive the adoption and use of cryptocurrencies, especially Bitcoin Cash — Let’s all participate in the draws in the coming months. Spreading Bitcoin Cash Awareness The r/millionairemakers subreddit administrators say that the partnership enables the forum to grow beyond its 100K subscribers. Moreover, the admins explain that they also get to work with talented developers and individuals that can help make the subreddit processes more automated. “This collaboration is directly for the benefit of the winners, this subreddit and to spread awareness of Bitcoin Cash,” emphasizes the Reddit user and r/millionairemakers moderator u/lilfruini. “As always, the type of donations sent are all determined by the donors. Of course, people are welcome to use tipping bots listed and any others that I have not been made aware of, but other cryptocurrency addresses for donors will continue to be present (at the choice of the winner), such as Bitcoin, Dogecoin, and Litecoin, among more,” u/lilfruini writes. “Additionally, cash transfers will continue to be in use, including Google Wallet, PayPal, and now, Square Cash — The winner is welcome to exclude certain forms of payment themselves in what they accept, should they be chosen.” What do you think about the partnership between r/millionairemakers and the Bitcoin Cash Fund? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comment section below. Images via Shutterstock, and Pixabay. At Bitcoin.com there’s a bunch of free helpful services. For instance, check out our Tools page! The post Bitcoin Cash Fund to Help Promote Future r/MillionaireMakers Drawings appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Switzerland’s financial regulator, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), has announced that it has launched proceedings against initial coin offering (ICO) issuer, Envion AG. Also Read: Bolivar ‘Anchored’ to the Petro to Be Issued in August, Maduro Says FINMA Launches Proceeding Against $100 Million ICO A press release published by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority has revealed that the regulator has initiated enforcement proceedings against Envion AG. Finma states that it has “evidence that the company may have breached financial market law in relation to an ICO.” The press release states that the proceedings will focus “in particular on possible breaches of banking law resulting from the potentially unauthorized acceptance of public deposits in connection with the Initial Coin Offering (ICO) for the EVN token.” “Investigations carried out by FINMA to date indicate that, in the context of its ICO, Envion AG accepted funds amounting to approximately one hundred million francs [approximately $100.6 million USD] from more than 30,000 investors in return for issuing EVN tokens in a bond-like form,” the release continues. Envion Makes Headlines for the Second Time This Year Envion AG’s whitepaper opens with a legal disclaimer stating that “Neither the Swiss FINMA nor the United States Securities and Exchange Commission nor any other foreign regulatory authority has approved an investment in the tokens.” The disclaimer adds that “The EVN token can be categorized as a security as it entitles token holders to receive the profits from mining operations. The token is, as such, subject to certain restrictions under US security laws. The Envion ICO is compliant with these rules and restricts access for US-citizens, greencard holders and residents of the US to the category of “accredited investors”, pursuant to the US Security Act Regulation D Rule 506 (4).” In May, The New York Times published an article claiming that Envion was “melting down, with its creators accusing one another of fraud” following the apparent loss of control over the company on the part of its founders. The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority added that it “will make no further comment on the proceedings until they are concluded.” What are your thoughts on FINMA’s decision to launch proceedings against Envion? Share your thoughts in the comments section below! Images courtesy of Shutterstock, finma.ch Bitcoin.com’s own store features a wide range of interesting Bitcoin-related products. Looking for a hardware wallet? We got ‘em. Want a good-looking t-shirt? It’s there. Want to gift a nice Bitcoin tea cup? Go shopping. The post FINMA Launches Proceedings Against $100 Million ICO appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Withcoin, a virtual currency reportedly designed for casinos, and listed on the Hitbtc exchange around May, is accused of selling coins using a promotional video propagating alleged lies and misleading information. In April 2018, a video promoting Withcoin went viral on the internet, inviting investors to purchase in advance a coin that was going to be listed on a crypto exchange in May, the message said. Also read: The Daily: Exchange Operator Pleads Guilty, Scammer Fined Over $1.9 Million “If You Buy It Today You Can Become a Millionaire” The propaganda video was spread by an individual called Matsuyama. Matsuyama, also known on other sites as Koichi Matsuyama, enumerated attractive selling points for buyers, but it was later discovered that most of what he was saying was a lie, according to an overview explanation listed on the Enjin crowdfunding Class Action site. In a project called “Final ICO,” Matsuyama aimed at pre-selling a listed fixed coin that had the potential to increase its price a thousand times. The pre-sale allegedly started in January of 2018 with 1 Withcoin valued at 0.5 yen. However, it was reportedly only possible to purchase the coins by large chunks of 10 million yen. Buyers therefore seemingly purchased Withcoin in groups. Matsuyama allegedly operated his business without disclosing any company name, and reportedly claimed having a career as a system engineer. He also made affirmations stating that Withcoin would be listed on Binance, then changed the exchange to Hitbtc. He also allegedly claimed in his project that the coin could be exchanged at Okada Manila, a casino in the Philippines, which denied any involvement with cryptocurrencies on its homepage. Soon after the coin was listed on the crypto exchange, its price fell to about 1/10 of the ICO price, which made purchasers suffer large losses. Enjin explains on its class action page that the business was selling a cryptocurrency giving false information therefore, the sales contract being invalid, the victims can now claim a full refund in Japanese yen at the rate of the time when the coins were sold. Coin Crashed to 1/20th Its Price About two weeks after being listed, Withcoin crashed to 0.139 yen. Many investors were tricked and directed to a site after viewing a Youtube video that was inviting viewers to purchase the seemingly attractive coin. As of June, more than 420 victims gathered on the crowdfunding class action litigation project Enjin for reported damages of over 1.3 billion yen ($12m). The number of victims claiming to have been duped in the same case has grown ever since. The question now lies in whether Matsuyama was intentionally aiming at tricking investors, which is seemingly difficult to prove. However, testimonies show the Withcoin management team could be proven as having given false explanations to its clients. Youtube is also accused of expanding the damage by introducing Withcoin, according to FXinspect.com, a site that verifies and reviews information on commodity materials mainly sold on the internet. “I will introduce a very attractive coin,” the man allegedly said, “you can buy it now for 3 yen, but after the coin will be listed, it will be valued at 5 yen. The price will never break […]” the man in the video promised. The investors who viewed the video where guided to a mail magazine online, where the actual trades were carried out. Considering the lowest offering price as an opportunity, the manager behind Withcoin sold a massive amount of his coins, whose price later fell to 0.14 yen. If the value of the coin had risen from its initial 3 yen, it was theoretically possible to make an expected profit of about 20 times the price of the coin, FXinspect explains. WithCoin had existed since about the end of 2017 or February 2018, however publicity for it started on Youtube around March 2018, the site explaining the class action stated. Its white paper says that Withcoin is a digital currency “specialized in casinos,” and mentions a casino in the Philippines, without naming any specific venue. “We will realize a digital-currency platform for anyone to easily participate in casinos,” the white paper boldly states. Okada Manila hotel was unavailable for news.Bitcoin.com’s request for confirmation of whether WithCoin could be exchanged at its casino. However its homepage stated that Okada Manila does not offer or allow the use of bitcoin or other cryptocurrency in its casino or anywhere else in its property. “Okada Manila has never authorized or partnered with anyone regarding the use of bitcoin or other cryptocurrency. Any claim or report that Okada Manila is offering or allowing the use of bitcoin or other cryptocurrency is false, inaccurate and unauthorized,” the hotel homepage says. A Digital Currency “Specialized in Casinos” “Okada is well-known as a casino mogul in Japan and Asia, and using his name is clearly an attempt to add an air of legitimacy to an allegedly fraudulent scheme. It also ironically illustrates that for many cryptocurrency isn’t seen primarily as an investment, but more like a gamble,” Jake Adelstein, an investigative journalist and yakuza expert based in Tokyo told news.Bitcoin.com by email. FXinspect said most videos and websites allegedly created by Withcoin were removed from the internet since the collapse of Withcoin. What do you think of this class action case against Withcoin? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, FXinspect.com, Enjinclassaction.com, Haji Bashi Coin. 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 Japanese Class Action Against Gambling Coin Claims $12m Damages appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Cornerstone Research, an economic and financial consulting company, has published a report finding that more than 6% of the securities class action filings made in 2018 have related to initial coin offerings (ICOs) and cryptocurrencies. Also Read: Markets Update: BTC Gains 30% in Two Weeks, Alts Lose Correlation 6% of Securities Filings in 2018 Have Related to ICOs According to Cornerstone’s “Securities Class Action Filings 2018 Midyear Assessment,” 7 of the 111 “core” filings (those “without [mergers and acquisitions] claims”) made in 2018 have related to ICOs. The percentage of the total number of securities filings that relate to ICOs has thus far increased when compared to last year. A total of 87 core securities class action suits were filed in 2017, 5 of which pertained to ICOs (5.75%). Cornerstone asserts that 750 securities class action filings have been made since mid-2016 – describing such as comprising “the most prolific 24-month period since the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PSLRA) was enacted.” Number of Filings on Track for “8.5%” of all NYSE and NASDAQ-Listed Companies to Face Litigation by 2019 The cryptocurrency related suits filed in 2018 include those against Paragon Coin, Latium Network, DRIP, Cloud With Me, and Mining Max. Presently, there are ongoing suits against Bitconnect – which is accused of “fail[ing] to disclose material facts” precipitating its collapse, and Ripple Labs. Ripple is accused of raising “hundreds of millions of dollars” through the unlicensed sale of XRP to retail investors, with the suit arguing that XRP tokens “have all the traditional hallmarks of a security.” Co-author of the report and former commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Joseph Grundfest, stated of the study’s findings that “Class action securities fraud litigation continues to affect a large percentage of publicly traded firms. […] If the trends observed in the first half of the year continue to year-end, approximately 8.5 percent of all companies listed on the NYSE and NASDAQ markets will have been sued in these cases.” What is your response to Cornerstone’s research into the number of securities filings pertaining to initial coin offerings? Share your thoughts in the comments section below! Images courtesy of Shutterstock, law.stanford.edu Now live, Satoshi Pulse. A comprehensive, real-time listing of the cryptocurrency market. View prices, charts, transaction volumes, and more for the top 500 cryptocurrencies trading today. The post More Than 6% of Securities Lawsuits Filed in 2018 Related to ICOs appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In recent news pertaining to cryptocurrency exchanges, Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) has revealed that trading volume on its bitcoin futures markets nearly doubled during Q2; lawyer Jake Chervinsky has predicted that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) may postpone its determinations regarding Vaneck’s proposed bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) until March 2019; and Bitmex has set a record for the number of XBT contracts traded on its platform in a single day – with over 1,000,000 XBT contracts exchanging hands in just 24 hours. Also Read: Markets Update: BTC Gains 30% in Two Weeks, Alts Lose Correlation CME Reveals 93% Growth in Daily Volume During Q2 Chicago Mercantile Exchange has announced that trading volume for its bitcoin futures contracts nearly doubled quarter-over-quarter. During Q1 2018, the average daily trading volume for CME bitcoin futures was 1,854 (equivalent to 9,270 BTC), whereas the average daily volume for Q2 was 3,577 (equivalent to 17,885 BTC). On Twitter, CME Group posted that “Bitcoin futures average daily volume in Q2 grew 93% over [the] previous quarter, while open interest surpassed 2,400 contracts, a 58% increase.” Lawyer Predicts Vaneck ETF Decision Likely to be Postponed Until March 2019 A Jake Chervinsky, a lawyer who works for Kobre & Kim L.L.P., took to Twitter this week in order vent frustrations with the dominant narrative pertaining to “SEC rulemaking procedures” circulating among cryptocurrency users on Twitter. Mr. Chervinsky asserts that “The timing of the ETF approval process follows a standard formula: the ETF files a “proposed rule change” with the SEC; the SEC posts notice of the filing in the Federal Register and solicits comments; and the SEC has 45 days from posting to approve or deny the ETF,” adding that “the SEC doesn’t have to decide within 45 days. It can extend the deadline up to three times: 45 more days if ‘a longer period is appropriate’; 90 more days for the ETF to address grounds for disapproval; and 60 more days if again ‘a longer period is appropriate’. This means the real deadline for the SEC to approve or deny an ETF is 240 days after it files notice in the Federal Register.” Given the SEC’s potential extensions and adjusting for weekend deadlines, Mr. Chervinsky predicts that the final deadline for the “Vaneck/Solid X ETF […] should be March 4, 2019.” Bitmex Sets Record of Over 1 Million XBT Traded in 24 Hours On the 25th of July, Bitmex, a high leverage bitcoin derivative trading platform based in Seychelles, announced that its traders had set a new record for the number of XBT contracts traded in 24 hours. With over 1 million XBT contracts traded, Bitmex hosted over $8 billion USD worth of trade in a single day. On Twitter, the exchange claimed that the over 1 million XBT in volume was a record for the entire cryptocurrency industry, in addition to Bitmex. What do you think of the estimate of March 2019 as a final deadline for the SEC to approve or reject the proposed Van Eck bitcoin ETF? Join the discussion in the comments section below! Images courtesy of Shutterstock, https://twitter.com/CMEGroup, Bitmex Now live, Satoshi Pulse. A comprehensive, real-time listing of the cryptocurrency market. View prices, charts, transaction volumes, and more for the top 500 cryptocurrencies trading today. The post Exchanges Round-Up: CME Volume Doubles Q2, Lawyer Predicts SEC Delays ETF Until March appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Thursday, July 26 might go down as a severe setback for the prospect of bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). For the second time, the same major trust applying for bitcoin ETF approval was rejected by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). SEC Release No. 34-83723, File No. SR-BatsBZX-2016-30 formally denied the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust ability to list and trade shares. The decision comes amidst high levels of optimism toward bitcoin ETF approval as soon as next month. At least one SEC official does not agree with her colleagues’ decision. Also read: Coinbase Flexes Muscle, Creates Political Action Committee Bitcoin ETF Rejected by SEC, Commissioner Dissents The SEC published its decision to deny a major bitcoin trust the ability to list and trade shares as an ETF. In a 92 page explanation, the US’s primary regulator of such markets rejected a rule change at the behest of Bats BZX Exchange. The proposed change would have allowed bitcoin tethered investment products. Bats BZX finds itself in nearly the exact same position as last year, when it was rejected the first time. On appeal, Bats’ petitioning brought with it robust public commenting in hope of changing the agency’s mind. Perhaps a positive indication for enthusiasts is how the SEC stipulated to not have prejudice necessarily against cryptocurrencies. Their latest decision places blame on the proposal rather than its particular elements. Though it is rejecting the application and rule change, “the Commission emphasizes that its disapproval does not rest on an evaluation of whether bitcoin, or blockchain technology more generally, has utility or value as an innovation or an investment,” the SEC assured. They’re kicking back the rule change “because, as discussed in detail below, BZX has not met its burden under the Exchange Act and the Commission’s Rules of Practice to demonstrate that its proposal is consistent with the requirements of the Exchange Act Section 6(b)(5), in particular the requirement that its rules be designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices,” tantalizingly noting how in time, “regulated bitcoin-related markets may continue to grow and develop.” Not Everyone at the SEC in Agreement on Latest Bitcoin ETF Rejection ETFs are considered, among cryptosphere cheerleaders for mainstream adoption, something like the holy grail of financial investment products. Exchange traded funds can be listed on legacy boards such as the New York Stock Exchange in much the same way as conventional stocks. The bitcoin variety would likely be a basket of different crypto investments, diversified and relatively low cost like mutual funds. That diversity is believed to be less risky, not to mention saving less crypto savvy investors the trouble of picking which to purchase. And, especially with regard to decentralized digital assets, the complication of holding keys, a wallet, and figuring out custody or storage is all taken care of. Retail investors are very familiar with ETFs. The SEC expanded on its reasoning, explaining how “existing or newly created bitcoin futures markets may achieve significant size, and an ETP listing exchange may be able to demonstrate in a proposed rule change that it will be able to address the risk of fraud and manipulation by sharing surveillance information with a regulated market of significant size related to bitcoin, as well as, where appropriate, with the spot markets underlying relevant bitcoin derivatives.” However, not everyone at the SEC was on board with the recent decision to deny bitcoin exchange traded funds. “By precluding approval of cryptocurrency-based ETPs for the foreseeable future, the Commission is engaging in merit regulation,” Commissioner Hester M. Peirce wrote in a published dissent from her colleagues. “Bitcoin is a new phenomenon, and its long-term viability is uncertain. It may succeed; it may fail. The Commission, however, is not well positioned to assess the likelihood of either outcome, for bitcoin or any other asset. Many investors have expressed an interest in gaining exposure to bitcoin, and a subset of these investors would prefer to gain exposure without owning bitcoin directly.” Echoing sentiment among enthusiasts and crypto investors alike, the Commissioner wrote how such a product “based on bitcoin would offer investors indirect exposure to bitcoin through a product that trades on a regulated securities market and in a manner that eliminates some of the frictions and worries of buying and holding bitcoin directly. If we were to approve the ETP at issue here, investors could choose whether to buy it or avoid it. The Commission’s action today deprives investors of this choice. I reject the role of gatekeeper of innovation—a role very different from (and, indeed, inconsistent with) our mission of protecting investors, fostering capital formation, and facilitating fair, orderly, and efficient markets. Accordingly, I dissent,” Commissioner Peirce stressed. What do you think this means for the future of ETFs? Let us know in the comments section below. Images via Pixabay, SEC. Be sure to check out the podcast, Blockchain 2025; latest episode here. Want to create your own secure cold storage paper wallet? Check our tools section. The post Major Bitcoin ETF Rejected by SEC: One Commissioner Disagrees Publicly appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The government of Iran is preparing to launch its own cryptocurrency, according to state-controlled media reports. The intended purpose of the new Iranian govcoin is to help the country skirt the international financial sanctions meant to cut its access to the global economy. Also Read: The Daily: Skrill Launches Crypto Trade, Luxury Market Reaches $100M Transactions Iranian Govcoin The Iranian Directorate for Scientific and Technological Affairs of the Presidential Office already has a plan on its agenda to create a national cryptocurrency, according to Iran’s Press TV. The news was announced by Alireza Daliri, the Directorate’s deputy for management and investment affairs. He told the ISNA news agency that a large number of homegrown Iranian tech companies had the skills to develop a digital currency. However, he emphasized that, “they would still have to work on removing pre-launch flaws.” Daliri added that these companies were developing the project in cooperation with the Central Bank of Iran (CBI). “We are trying to prepare the grounds to use a domestic digital currency in the country. This currency would facilitate the transfer of money [to and from] anywhere in the world. Besides, it can help us at the time of sanctions.” Cryptos Against Financial Sanctions The idea of using cryptocurrency to bypass American-led economic sanctions is not a new one, and it has gained prominence recently mainly due to the Venezuelan Petro. With US President Trump increasing the pressure on the Iranian regime, it is no surprise it would prepare the groundwork for a potential govcoin. Back in May, we reported that Iranian and Russian lawmakers were jointly examining the issue. Mohammad-Reza Pourebrahimi, who chairs the Iranian Parliamentary Commission for Economic Affairs, raised the idea during a meeting in Moscow with Dmitry Mezentsev, the Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Economic Policy. He explained at the time that the Russians “share our opinion. We said that if we manage to move this work forward, then we will be the first countries that use digital currencies in the exchange of goods.” Is this development good for the ecosystem? 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 Iranian Government Is Preparing to Launch Its Own Cryptocurrency appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In recent mining news, AMD has reported declining sales of mining hardware during the second quarter of 2018, Hut 8 has claimed to now comprise the largest bitcoin mining company in Canada by operating power following the construction of its second facility, and Chinese authorities have shut down what they have described as “illegal” mining operations taking place in the autonomous Xinjiang Uyghur region in the country’s north-west. Also Read: Binance Prepares to Enter the South Korean Market AMD Reports Declining GPU Sales During Q2 Major manufacturer of graphics cards (GPUs), Advanced Micro Devices (ADM), has become the latest mining chip maker to report declining sales during Q2, 2018. It the company’s latest quarterly earnings report, AMD reports a 3% quarter-to-quarter decline in revenues generated by the company’s Computing and Graphics division. The chief executive officer of AMD, Lisa Su, also indicated that roughly 6% of the company’s revenue came from mining hardware sales during Q2 – down from 10% during Q1. The report states: “Computing and Graphics segment revenue was $1.09 billion, up 64 percent year-over-year and down 3 percent quarter-over-quarter. Year-over-year revenue growth was driven by strong sales of Radeon products and continued growth of Ryzen products. The quarter-over-quarter decline was primarily related to lower revenue from GPU products in the blockchain market.” Looking forward, the report anticipates further decline in GPU sales, stating: “For the third quarter of 2018, AMD expects revenue to be approximately $1.7 billion, plus or minus $50 million, an increase of approximately 7 percent year-over-year, and non-GAAP gross margin to increase to approximately 38 percent, driven by the sales growth of Ryzen and EPYC products, partially offset by lower sales of GPU products in the blockchain market.” Hut 8 Completes Construction of Second Facility, Claims to be Largest Miner in Canada Hut 8 Mining Corp. has announced the completion of the construction of its second bitcoin mining facility which is based in the city of Medicine Hat. According to a press release issued by Hut 8, the new facility hosts 40 “BlockBox datacenters” at the site, representing “48 MW of operating power.” The company now claims to wield a total of “66.7 MW of fully-funded operating power.“ Andrew Kiguel, the president and chief executive officer of Hut 8, stated: “As a result of our employees’ hard work, our partners at the Bitfury Group and the cooperation from the City of Medicine Hat, our construction is complete – ahead of schedule and on budget. We are pleased to have surpassed our September 2018 completion target. With 66.7 MW of aggregate operating capacity, we believe we are the largest cryptocurrency miner in Canada and the largest publicly-traded cryptocurrency miner by operating capacity in the world. In addition, we are actively pursuing further opportunities to deliver value to our investors.” Since beginning operation in December 2017, Hut 8 claims to have mined more than 1,900 BTC. China Cracks Down on “Illegal” Mining in Autonomous Xinjiang Uygur Region Chinese media have reported that the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Economic and Information Technology Commission has issued a “notice on the removal of illegal mining enterprises” which demands that mining companies in the region cease operations by the 30th of August. The notice specifically targets “Unauthorized mining enterprises that fail to go through the formalities of industrial and commercial registration, tax registration, social security and other insurances in accordance with national laws and regulations” and “non-regulated electricity use.” The notice adds that “the main body responsible for the […] illegal use of electricity shall be the power generation enterprise.” When do you think that demand for mining hardware will again show growth? Share your thoughts in the comments section below! Images courtesy of Shutterstock, hut8mining.com Express yourself freely at Bitcoin.com’s user forums. We don’t censor on political grounds. Check forum.Bitcoin.com. The post Mining Round-Up: AMD GPU Sales Decline, Hut 8 Claims to be Largest Miner in Canada appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Bitcoin.org, the first bitcoin website ever created, is at the center of a new dispute. Since being established by Satoshi Nakamoto and Martti Malmi, long before the world had ever heard of bitcoin, the site has changed hands and roles a number of times, whilst still serving as a primer on bitcoin core. Now, moves are afoot to dethrone Cobra Bitcoin, one of the site’s pseudonymous owners, amidst claims that his support for bitcoin cash makes his position untenable. Also read: The Bitcoin Cash Pre-Consensus Debate Continues The Battle for Bitcoin.org Intensifies Bitcoin.org is a prime piece of crypto real estate, partly because of its desirable domain, but primarily because of the history associated with it. As the site explains, “Today [Bitcoin.org] is an independent open source project with contributors from around the world. Final publication authority is held by the co-owners, but all regular activity is organized through the public pull request process and managed by the site co-maintainers.” Bitcoin.org On the Github where those pull requests are handled, a new issue has been raised and it’s gathering a lot of attention. Certain individuals in the BTC community are unhappy with Cobra Bitcoin’s continued involvement with the site, despite the fact that he, together with fellow pseudonymous bitcoiner Theymos, has overseen the site for years. Github contributor “beyourseff” opened the issue, writing: “A number of individuals (including myself) feel that @Cobra-Bitcoin has become an unreliable person to own the Bitcoin.org domain name, mainly given his public support for BCH (as well as other things, but this is not supposed to be an attack on Cobra). We fear that Cobra: 1. May suddenly start propagandizing BCH as ‘The Real Bitcoin’ and re-purpose Bitcoin.org to promote BCH. 2. Sell the domain to someone else, who’d use it for malicious intent. The fact that he’s known only by his pseudonym would make this relatively easy and have no consequences for him whatsoever, there’s only a lucrative upside for him. “I personally feel that one person, pseudonymous or not, should not have total control of the Bitcoin.org domain name, since it has too much importance within the community.” Hypocrisy and Heresy There would appear to be a certain amount of hypocrisy in attacking Cobra for his very reasonable decision to remain anonymous. Bitcoin was founded on principles of pseudonymity, after all, as espoused by Bitcoin.org’s original owner – Satoshi Nakamoto. Cobra Bitcoin has come in for criticism from the bitcoin core brigade for tweeting occasional support for bitcoin cash. He has stopped well short of “shilling” BCH however, and has repeatedly criticizing key players within its ecosystem. There has been no evidence, to date, that Cobra might be inclined to use Bitcoin.org as a vehicle for promoting BCH. Cobra, for his part, responded to the Github thread proposing his replacement with a lengthy but measured response, writing: “Maybe I do like some aspects of Bitcoin Cash, and find it pretty useful in a limited context at times, but that doesn’t mean I’m some raging “Bitcoin Cash is Bitcoin” lunatic. How do you guarantee the next set of owners would be incorruptible? You think I haven’t had people attempt to “buy me out”? If I listened to this type of crap a few years ago, the site would have ended up in the hands of the Bitcoin Foundation, and then likely sold off.” He continued: I’m sorry if I don’t call Bitcoin Cash “Bcash”, or hate it with a fiery passion (I used too), or I don’t have exactly the same set of opinions as you. But that doesn’t mean you can attempt to pressure me into handing over the domain to some random group (of strangers no less!). This type of witch-hunting is so crazy. Since when did we turn so easily against each other over our opinions? When did everyone get so batshit tribalistic and insane? Bitcoin Tribalism is Worse Than Ever It would be fair to say that the most passionate factions in the BTC and BCH camps are more polarized than ever. In a bitcoin world in which holding moderate opinions is seen as a sign of weakness, Cobra Bitcoin is that rare thing: someone who is capable of seeing merit in both flavors of bitcoin, but who doesn’t slavishly adhere to the dogma of either. By his own admission he can be erratic, and is prone to veering off on his own crusades, such as his long-running spat with Bitmain, as is his wont. The decision to oust Cobra from his position with Bitcoin.org seems born out of little more than a desire to exact revenge for his refusal to toe the BTC party line and condemn BCH at every available opportunity. Some bitcoin core supporters see the malevolent hand of bitcoin cash’s biggest backers everywhere they look. The Github motion to dismiss Cobra Bitcoin has attracted a lot of comments “I remember a time when I thought I was crazy,” mused Cobra Bitcoin, for his part, “but now I think I’m pretty moderate, and I’m surrounded by an angry mob, constantly ready to attack the next person. Bitcoin.org is an amazing site, and it has consistently advocated for and defended Bitcoin against horrible attacks. In defending his right to remain at the helm of Bitcoin.org, Cobra may face his greatest challenge yet. Do you think Cobra Bitcoin is being made subject to a witch hunt? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Twitter, and Bitcoin.org. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Dispute Erupts Over the Ownership of Bitcoin.org appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In recent regulatory news, the CFTC chairman has warned that the regulator is falling behind its international counterparts with regards to virtual currency and blockchain regulations; a U.S. Congressional bill is advocating the incorporation of cryptocurrencies into the regulatory mandate of FinCEN; and a candidate of the Wisconsin Libertarian Party is accepting donations in the form of bitcoin despite a state Ethics Commission finding that cryptocurrency donations may not be legal. Also Read: Altcoins Round-Up: Bitgo Adds ZEC, Wirex Supports XRP, PwC to Audit Tezos CFTC Chairman Warns Regulator is Failing to Keep Pace with Crypto and DLT Whilst speaking to the House Committee on Agriculture during a Congressional hearing on the “upcoming agenda for the CFTC” that took place on the 25th of July, J. Christopher Giancarlo, the chairman of the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission, warned that the CFTC is falling behind its international counterparts with regards to regulation in the spheres of cryptocurrency and distributed ledger technology. “We’re falling behind. Just two days ago, the Bank of England announced that they’re putting in a new bank-to-bank payment system in the U.K., and it’s gonna be blockchain-compliant. And they’ve had the last four years […] to participate in all these blockchain beta tests that we’ve not been able to participate in. […] So I feel like we’re four years behind, because we do need to test it, […] we need to see how it can help us do a better job as regulator. […] Emerging financial technologies are taking us into a new chapter of economic history. There’s a lot of coordination going on,” the CFTC chairman said. Mr. Giancarlo also promoted a bill put forward by Ag Committee member Georgia Representative Austin Scott that the CFTC believes “would greatly enhance the Commission’s ability to keep pace with emerging technology, explore its potential, and facilitate its adoption.” U.S. Congressional Bill Proposes FinCEN Mandate Covering Cryptocurrencies A Congressional bill filed by U.S. Congressmen Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) and Steve Pearce (R-NM) on July 18th seeks to establish a regulatory mandate for the United States Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) to examine the use of cryptocurrencies for the financing of illegal activities. The “FinCEN Improvement Act” claims that “Although the use and trading of virtual currencies are legal practices, some terrorists and criminals, including international criminal organizations, seek to exploit vulnerabilities in the global financial system and are increasingly using emerging payment methods such as virtual currencies to move illicit funds.” Wisconsin Libertarian Candidate Accepts BTC Donations Despite Ethics Commission Concerns Libertarian candidate for the governor of Wisconsin, and chair of the state branch of the Libertarian Party, Phil Anderson, has stated that he will accept campaign donations in the form of bitcoin, despite a state Ethics Commission finding that BTC contributions could be in violation of Wisconsin law. “We will not allow the lack of appropriate interpretation of the current statute (to) affect the First Amendment rights of those who want to show support and contribute,” said the candidate, adding that he holds “no faith in the Assembly to handle this fairly nor expeditiously.” Mr. Anderson asked the state Ethics Commission to permit candidates to accept political donations in the form of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies earlier this year. In May, the commission found that “allowing cryptocurrency contributions presents a serious challenge to the commission’s ability to ensure compliance with state law,” ultimately deferring the issue to the state Legislature. Do you expect that Mr. Anderson will face recourse for his decision to accept bitcoin donations? Share your thoughts in the comments section below! Images courtesy of Shutterstock, fincen.gov, lp.org Want to create your own secure cold storage paper wallet? Check our tools section. The post U.S. Regulations Round-Up: CFTC Can’t Keep Pace with Crypto, Libertarian Candidate Accepts Bitcoin Donations appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Canada’s Central Bank (BOC) released a working paper this month, Incentive Compatibility on the Blockchain. In it, BOC seems to argue the world’s most popular cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, is safe from a 51% attack, double spend scenario through the right incentive structure and proof of work (POW). Also read: Coinbase Flexes Muscle, Creates Political Action Committee Bank of Canada Study Argues Bitcoin Can Withstand 51%, Double Spend Attack This month, the Bank of Canada released a working paper, Incentive Compatibility on the Blockchain, authored by Jonathan Chiu, Thorsten Koeppl. Mr. Chiu works directly with the BOC in its Funds Management and Banking Department, while Mr. Koeppl is an economist from Queen’s University. The study appears to conclude Bitcoin is protected against a 51% attack, double spending scenario — long thought to be the decentralized currency’s gravest threat. Mr. Chiu and Mr. Koeppl arrive at this conclusion through the traditional formula familiar to bitcoiners: correct incentives align with proof of work. Mr. Chiu The Bank of Canada, as the country’s central bank, formulates the nation’s monetary policy. It does so, according to its charter, while promoting safe, sound financial decisions. As the only legal authority capable of issuing government paper, it not only manages fiscal policy for Canada but it also exists as a lender of last resort for private banks. The working paper it published online also discusses seigniorage as something of a free rider problem, admitting issuing fiat currency in the manner it does can be used to offset taxes. Under the heading, “The Costs of Cryptocurrencies,” the authors quip, “Keeping records on a blockchain is not a free lunch.” Distributed ledger costs can rise, they argue, when rewards are offered to prevent double spending attacks. Seigniorage, Poisson Race “In the case of a cryptocurrency,” they continue, “rewards can be offered by seigniorage. Such seigniorage causes inflation, which levies indirect costs in the form of an inflation tax on users. However, there are also direct costs that arise from investment into computational power (mainly energy) that uses up most of the revenue from seigniorage. A traditional currency does not waste seigniorage, but raises revenue for the issuer. In the case of a modern central bank, this generates profits above operational costs that can be used to offset other distortionary taxes used by the government,” which amounts to a refreshing admittance by a central bank. The section titled, “Double Spending as a Poisson Race” insists the authors have “modelled secret mining as an exponential race for each update against a group of honest miners. In order to double spend, a user had to win the race N times in a row, but keep his result secret,” which reads a lot like Game Theory. Mr. Koeppl “This is not entirely accurate,” the study stresses, “when looking at actual PoW protocols employed for blockchain technology. These users can catch up and only need to generate at least N blocks faster than all the other miners. Hence, secret mining is really a Poisson race against a fringe of honest miners that play a sequence of simple exponential races to find one block in each race. This is related to the so-called ‘51% attack’ problem.” Miners with over half the power of all miners, in theory, eventually lose power with regard to double spending. From an economic vantage point, double spending “requires that a dishonest miner has deep pockets and is risk neutral. These assumptions tend to be unrealistic and, in practice, users have little economic incentives to launch such an attack, especially when the computational investment by other miners is large,” the Bank of Canada argues. Do you agree with the Bank of Canada’s assessment? Let us know in the comments section below. Images via Pixabay, Bank of Canada. Be sure to check out the podcast, Blockchain 2025; latest episode here. Want to create your own secure cold storage paper wallet? Check our tools section. The post Canada Central Bank: Bitcoin Safe From 51% Attack, Double Spending appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Over the past week, Bitcoin Cash (BCH) proponents have been discussing ideas like pre-consensus and faster block times. Now, on July 25, the Bitcoin Unlimited (BU) development team has announced merging a block propagation concept called ‘Graphene’ into the BU client. Graphene is a technology that is a fraction of the size of current methods and proposed ideas like Xtreme Thinblocks (Xthin), and Compact blocks. Also Read: Graphene Block Propagation Technology Claims to be 10X More Efficient The Graphene Protocol Gets Merged Into Bitcoin Unlimited Back in November of 2017 news.Bitcoin.com reported on a block propagation proposal called Graphene which claims to be 10X more efficient than compact blocks. Graphene has been thoroughly tested and in simulation, it reduces traffic overhead by reducing block overhead making block distribution more efficient. Essentially the protocol uses fewer bytes for newly transmitted blocks as opposed to the current method of sending full blocks. The research and simulation was a joint effort between BU developers, Umass alumni Brian Levine, Pinar Ozisik, George Bissias, Amir Houmansadr, and the bitcoin developer Gavin Andresen. On Github the Graphene commit adds a functional implementation of graphene blocks and “all unit tests and the QA test grapheneblocks.py also passes,” explained George Bissias this past February. He continued, from log output “graphene blocks are requested, created, serialized, deserialized, and reconstructed.” “However, there is still work to be done. My general approach has been to largely replicate the workflow of Xthin blocks — Thus I have replicated large portions of the Xthin code. It’s not clear that this is preferable to sharing code between the two block types,” Bissias emphasized further. “There also remains the question of transaction ordering for graphene blocks. If it is possible to commit a canonical ordering before graphene, then we will want to change this patch accordingly.” The code will also require further optimization (primarily block size optimization) before being deployed to production. My aim is to initiate a review for the basic workflow now and continue to work on optimization while graphene is running on the testnet. A Functional Implementation of Graphene Blocks After a lot of review from well-known programmers, like BU’s lead developer Andrew Stone and others, the codebase has officially been merged into the BU protocol. A good portion of the Bitcoin Cash community seemed pleased Graphene was merged into BU as the announcement quickly made the top post on the Reddit forum r/BTC. One commenter writes, “Wow, exciting — So glad we forked of and left Core/Blockstream in the dust.” Other more tech-savvy members of the community discussed whether or not they thought Graphene was better than Xthin and Compact blocks. The merge doesn’t guarantee it will be used on the BCH network, but it is safe to say the BCH community will likely hear more about Graphene in the future. The official papers on Graphene can be found here. Xthin documentation can be found here and here. And information on Compact blocks can be viewed here. Check out the link to Graphene presentation from Scaling Bitcoin 2017 below. What do you think about Graphene being merged into the Bitcoin Unlimited client? Let us know in the comment section below. Images via Shutterstock, Pixabay, and Bitcoin Unlimited. At Bitcoin.com there’s a bunch of free helpful services. For instance, check out our Tools page! The post Bitcoin Unlimited Merges Graphene Block Propagation Technology appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A new Venezuelan fiat currency, ‘anchored’ to the nation’s crypto, the Petro, is expected to start circulating in the second half of August. The news was announced by president Maduro himself, along with other measures intended to improve the economic situation in the country. The ‘Sovereign Bolivar’ will have less zeros than the inflated ‘Strong Bolivar’. Also read: Vietnamese Regulator Tells Firms and Funds to Stay Away From Crypto Pegged to the Petro? Bolívar Soberano Said to Bring Hope to Venezuela Bolívar Soberano (Sovereign Bolivar), the new Venezuelan currency claimed to be anchored to the national cryptocurrency, the Petro, will start circulating on August 20, president Maduro announced on state TV. The Sovereign Bolivar will have five zeros less than the current, highly inflated “Strong Bolivar”, or Bolívar Fuerte (VEF), which replaced the original Venezuelan bolívar (VEB) about a decade ago. As for the oil-backed El Petro, Nicolás Maduro promised that the state-issued crypto “will end up being consolidated technologically and financially” to “permeate all the national and international economic activity.” “The economic reconversion will start on August 20, definitively, with the circulation and issuance of the new Sovereign Bolivar, the new monetary cone that is going to have a new method of anchoring the Petro,” said the Venezuelan head of state, as quoted by the Telesur television network. The measure, president Maduro added, will serve “to stabilize and change the monetary and financial life of the country in a radical manner.” Maduro went on to emphasize that a “productive, diversified and sustainable economic model must definitely be born” in the South American country, which has experienced hyperinflation and struggled with deep economic woes for years. The socialist leader stressed that the reconversion and the anchoring to the Petro represent “a great hope.” No details have been revealed on the exact mechanism of the link to the Venezuelan cryptocurrency. Building New, Post-Oil Economic Model “I ask for your confidence, I ask for your support, beyond ideologies and political positions, because Venezuela needs this change, the mafias are over!” said the leftist Venezuelan president, who also announced other measures aimed at improving the country’s suffering economy. Among them, a new decree assigning the Ayacucho 2 Block (over 29 billion barrels of oil) to Venezuela’s central bank to bolster its reserves, and legal amendments concerning crimes related to foreign exchange. “We have the correct vision of what the economic future in Venezuela should be, above all, we will achieve it,” Maduro stated. According to the Bolivarian leader, his nation’s economy has been hurt by two major factors. “Venezuela has been trapped during these years by two fundamental variables: the exhaustion of the oil model […] and the establishment of a mechanism of economic warfare, as part of a political strategy,” he explained. The president believes that the “oil-dependent model has come to an end and it will not return,” and Venezuela has to continue its efforts to build a new economic model. This one, Maduro stressed, should be “diversified, productive, relevant, [and] advanced.” The Venezuelan bolivar is one of the most inflated national currencies in the world. For example, the new 100,000-bolivar note was reportedly exchanged for less than $2.50 when it was issued last November. Inflation is now expected to reach 1 million percent by the end of 2018, according to the IMF, quoted by Bloomberg. The exact price of the bolivar is hard to determine as the restricted access to foreign convertible currencies in the country has created a sizeable black market with its own rates that differ considerably from the official one. In March, Nicolás Maduro announced he “decided to remove three zeros from the current money and replace these bills with new ones.” The denomination of the bolivar was meant to “guarantee the country’s economic stability,” as he put it. The Venezuelan president showed specimen banknotes that were supposed to enter into circulation this past June but the launch was later delayed until August 4. The release of the newly announced Sovereign Bolivar, expected on the 20th of August, is supposed to fulfil that promise. Do you think Venezuela will be able to overcome the hyperinflation with its new fiat anchored to the Petro cryptocurrency? Share your expectations in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Michael Novogratz (Twitter). Do you agree with us that Bitcoin is the best invention since sliced bread? Thought so. That’s why we are building this online universe revolving around anything and everything Bitcoin. We have a store. And a forum. And a casino, a pool and real-time price statistics. The post Bolivar ‘Anchored’ to the Petro to Be Issued in August, Maduro Says appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article