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Coinbase, the San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange already valued as high as $8 billion by itself, had a couple more additional positive developments recently. The company reportedly landed a $20 billion prime client and got its ads reinstated on Facebook. Also Read: The Weekly: New Regulations, Blackrock Probes Market, Coinbase Gets Into Politics $20 Billion Hedge Fund Coinbase has been focusing on big institutional money recently, launching a custodial service this month and, earlier this year, establishing Coinbase Prime, a suite of tools specifically designed for institutions, along with an institutional coverage group headquartered in New York City to provide a higher level of service to these type of clients. And the strategy has apparently now started to bear fruit. A $20 billion hedge fund has already signed up for the prime business according to “people familiar with the matter” cited by Business Insider. And additional massive hedge funds are being worked on by the Coinbase Prime team to possibly join the trading venue too. The lack of a prime brokerage to use is seen as the main hurdle for getting big money trading crypto as institutional players don’t like to risk it with a direct exposure to an exchange. Coinbase may have solved the issue by launching its own prime service, something that on Wall Street is usually reserved for mega-banks. The company is also reportedly planning to offer margin finance as early as the end of the year, allowing institutional investors to trade on borrowed capital for increased leverage. Coinbase Ads Back on Facebook Coinbase ad on Facebook The company also got good news on its retail side of the business, with its promotional posts allowed back on Facebook. CEO Brian Armstrong announced on social media that: “Facebook banned ads for crypto earlier this year. Proud to say we’ve now been whitelisted and are back introducing more people to an open financial system.” After banning all crypto ads in January, Facebook has updated its policy in June to allow promotional content from “pre-approved advertisers.” With its position in the US market, and the money it can afford to spend on lawyers, it’s little surprise that Coinbase made it on the list. Are these positive developments for the wider US crypto 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 Pulse, another original and free service from Bitcoin.com. The post Coinbase Gets $20 Billion Prime Client, Ads Back on Facebook appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In this week’s daily editions of Bitcoin in Brief, we showcased stories about politicians trying to enforce their will on the cryptocurrency ecosystem around the world, thus pushing companies that are big enough to join the money-in-politics game. Also Read: Malta Stock Exchange to Develop Two New Platforms for Security Tokens Bitmain Expands R&D in Israel On Monday, we reported that Bitmain Technologies Ltd., the Beijing-headquartered bitcoin mining hardware (ASIC chips) producer, plans to expand its research and development center in Israel and expects to triple its workforce in the country. Bitmain explained that it would recruit more than 40 researchers, programmers, engineers and marketing personnel to its development center in Ra’anana, to be added to the 15 employees there today. And in exchange-related news, we reported that Poloniex launched an official mobile app and Cobinhood added USD fiat trading. Blackrock Probes Market Blackrock, the world’s largest asset manager with over $6 trillion in assets under management, made headlines on Tuesday by probing the crypto market. Reports have popped up the day before that the company has created a ‘working group’ to explore how it can take advantage of the hot new alternative investment instruments. CEO denied that Blackrock is setting up any crypto trading capabilities or received demand for it from its clients. However, he did confirm that the company is studying the performance of cryptocurrencies to be prepared for the eventuality in the future. In other interesting news, Bitpay was granted a New York Bitlicense and Coinbase claimed to get an approval from SEC and FINRA for its securities license acquisition – a claim it later walked back from. Jersey Introduces Requirements for ICO Projects On Wednesday, we reported that the Financial regulator of Jersey, the UK self-governing dependency, has introduced requirements for Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). A new ‘guidance note’ document listed a number of requirements that apply to ICO issuers and described certain procedures and processes that should be followed in order to mitigate and manage the risks for retail investors. Projects are expected to apply anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing measures as well as inform investors about the risks. Anti-Crypto Politician Backed by Payments Firm On Thursday, we reported about US Representative Brad Sherman (Democrat-California) who blasted cryptocurrencies at a House Financial Services Committee hearing entitled “The Future of Money: Digital Currency”. Members of the community were quick to point out that his top financial contributor for 2017-2018 is Allied Wallet – a payments processor offering credit card, ACH and other services that stand to lose out from wider cryptocurrency adoption. “We should prohibit U.S. persons from buying or mining cryptocurrencies,” Rep. Sherman proclaimed. “Mining alone uses electricity which takes away from other needs and-or adds to the carbon footprint. As a store [of value], as a medium of exchange, cryptocurrency accomplishes nothing except facilitating narcotics trafficking, terrorism, and tax evasion.” Belarus’ New Standards for Crypto Exchanges On Friday, we reported that, having legalized crypto-related activities earlier this year, Belarus is now fine-tuning and expanding the regulatory framework. The Hi-Tech Park in Minsk (HTP) is currently developing standards for companies operating crypto exchanges and providers of services related to issuing and placement of tokens. According to local media reports, state bodies and representatives of the legal and tech communities in the country are involved in the process. The new set of rules and regulations is intended to supplement the basic framework outlined in the presidential decree. A legal expert added that entities in the field will be obliged to prove charter capital of at least $500,000. Coinbase Dives Into Swamp The big news on Saturday was that Coinbase has formed its own political action committee in order to raise money that can be spent on American elections. The company needs to keep US regulators off its back so it can continue to operate as a crypto exchange in the land of the free, and one day soon list securities as well. Having a political lobby that promotes its interests is an obvious move for a company that makes as much money as Coinbase, but one that smaller ventures won’t be able to match. Peter Schiff: BTC Will Plummet The most commented-on article during the week covered the recent appearance by the noted gold bug and bitcoin skeptic Peter Schiff on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast. Schiff blasted the world’s most popular decentralized money, insisted that a recent debate between him and the CEO of Shapeshift on the subject was rigged, and explained why he believes BTC’s price will crash further to $1,000 and lower. Join the discussion. This Week in Bitcoin Podcast Catch the rest of this week’s news in the This Week in Bitcoin podcast with host Matt Aaron. What other stories in the Bitcoin world caught your attention this week? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. The post The Weekly: New Regulations, Blackrock Probes Market, Coinbase Gets Into Politics appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A UK police department has sold 295 BTC which they say were legally seized from a drug dealer. The court ordered him to forfeit his crypto stored in a hardware wallet. The police reportedly get to keep 18.8% of the sale proceeds. Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space British Police Seized BTC from Drug Dealer The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), the principal public prosecuting agency for conducting criminal prosecutions in England and Wales, unveiled this week the details of a case involving 295 BTC. The CPS wrote: A drug dealer and money launderer who was using cryptocurrency to conceal his funds has had over £1.2 million [~US$1.6 million] worth of bitcoins seized, restrained and then converted into British pounds in the first case of its kind. Sergejs Teresko. Sergejs Teresko, a 31-year-old Latvian, was arrested on suspicion of money laundering and drug offenses in April last year. A “cannabis factory,” a number of fake identification cards, luxury goods such as jewelry and Rolex watches, gold bars, expensive cars and large sums of cash were found at his home in Surrey, a county in southeast England. He pleaded guilty on October 6 “to one count of being knowingly concerned in the production of a controlled drug, one count of possessing criminal property, one count of possession of articles for use in frauds and six counts possession of an identity document with improper intention,” the CPS detailed. Teresko “was later convicted of money laundering and drug offenses at Kingston Crown Court where he was sentenced to nine years, three months in prison,” the agency noted: In total, Teresko was found to have made £2,058,613 [~$2,703,578] from his crimes with an available amount of £1,447,935 [~$1,901,574] to pay back. He was given three months to pay the order or would have to spend a further 10 years in prison. Kingston Crown Court ruled on Thursday that Teresko must forfeit the £1,447,935 “of his ill-gotten gains, including bitcoin,” the Financial Times reported. Keepkey Wallet Found According to Surrey Live, a Keepkey hardware wallet was found at Teresko’s home. Surrey Police then secured a warrant to access the device. DI Rob Bryant of South East Regional Organised Crime Unit was quoted by the news outlet: We didn’t think we were going to actually find anything in these wallets. We thought we would open them and there’d be nothing there. The cops, however, found two wallets on the device. The first did not contain anything but the second had 295 BTC. When they found out the coins’ worth, “the colour started to drain from a number of faces,” the publication quoted Bryant saying. The Independent elaborated: Surrey Police has now become the first UK force to successfully seize bitcoin, convert it into sterling and be granted permission by a court to keep the cash for government and police coffers. Police Can Keep 18.8% Using “powers under the Proceeds of Crime Act,” Surrey Police seized Teresko’s coins, the CPS revealed. Citing BTC’s “extreme volatility and the risk of it being moved on or stolen,” the cops applied to the court to seize the coins and convert them into sterling, Surrey Live described. They convinced the judge that “bitcoin was a real thing that could be seized,” the news outlet wrote. The CPS explained that it “applied to have the restrained bitcoins converted into pounds. The 295 bitcoins were then sold by Surrey Police through an approved bitcoin exchange.” According to the Financial Times, the police “set up its own bitcoin wallet and then used an offshore exchange to transfer and convert” the seized BTC. The proceeds were then “transferred to a police bank account,” the publication added: Surrey Police gets to keep 18.8 percent of the proceeds of Teresko’s crimes — about £273,000 — which the force can use to top up its operating budget. What do you think of this case? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock and Surrey Police. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post UK Police Top up Budget With Proceeds From Sale of Seized BTC appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A crypto teller machine exchanging a number of cryptocurrencies with fiat, including bitcoin (BTC) and bitcoin cash (BCH), will be operational next week in a Sofia mall. The BATM is a two-way device that will accept euro, dollar and Bulgarian lev deposits. It will also buy cryptos and print paper wallets. Also read: Eastern Europe: Regulation Postponed, Tax Abandoned, Banks Enlightened Two-Way Bitcoin ATM in Sofia The new BATM will be available to residents and visitors of Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, from Monday. The teller machine supports two-way transactions for several cryptocurrencies including bitcoin (BTC), bitcoin cash (BCH), ethereum (ETH), litecoin (LTC), and monero (XMR). The cryptos can be bought with EUR, USD, and BGN, the local fiat currency. The device is installed in The Mall, one of the popular shopping centers in Sofia located on the way from the airport to the city’s center. The crypto ATM is operated by a local exchange, DG Cash, which shared the news of the launch on social media. “The exchange rates of the cryptocurrencies applied at the ATM are almost identical to the ‘We Buy’ and ‘We Sell’ rates on our website, and the commission we collect is approximately 3% of the market price as it is included in the exchange rate,” the trading platform detailed in a Facebook post. According to the announcement, the limit for a single transaction is set at 10,000 BGN (~€5,100 EUR, $6,000 USD). Users can buy any of the supported cryptos by depositing euros, dollars, or Bulgarian levs. When selling, however, they’ll receive only BGN. The interface of the device supports Bulgarian, English and Spanish among other languages. In case someone wants to purchase digital coins but does not have an electronic wallet, the device can generate a paper wallet. The BATM at The Mall is not the only one in the Bulgarian capital. The first crypto teller machine in Sofia was installed in 2014, in the Interpred office building. It is a buy only device selling bitcoin (BTC) at 4% over the average price at Bitpay, Kraken, and Bitstamp, and it has a daily limit of 5,000 BGN. Another two-way ATM was installed in the downtown Coffee Bar The White, in 2015. Bulgaria’s Crypto Woes Bulgarian crypto exchanges have been through some turbulent times recently due to a bank clampdown that culminated in December last year. The teams operating the local trading platforms have been trying to adapt to a situation in which many banks refuse to open accounts to companies dealing in cryptocurrency. DG Cash, the operator of the new BATM, maintains only crypto-cash trading services. Both on its website and its Facebook page, the exchange claims it has two offices – in Sofia, and in Sliema, Malta, where it also plans to install a crypto ATM. In the past several months, all major Bulgarian exchanges have experienced difficulties and interruptions in their operations. Crypto.bg was affected by Fibank’s decision to quit providing services to crypto traders. The popular exchange was closed down for weeks and since it reopened it’s been mostly working with payment processors like Epay and Cashterminal. Another leading platform that managed to maintain operations throughout the crisis, Xchange.bg, has been forced to change its bank accounts several times. Other platforms have reported similar issues. The clampdown happened in the absence of comprehensive regulations for the country’s growing crypto sector. However, the Bulgarian Financial Supervision Commission recently decided to start monitoring the fintech industry and the situation may change soon. A newly adopted strategy proposes the introduction of requirements for licensing and registration of companies operating in the sector. Do you think Bitcoin ATMs help to increase the popularity and accessibility of cryptocurrencies? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Pundi X. 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 New BATM Supporting BTC, BCH Launches in Sofia appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

India’s central bank told the country’s supreme court on Friday that “allowing dealings in cryptocurrencies like bitcoin would encourage illegal transactions.” Other crypto petitions being heard include one asking the government to “take emergency steps to restrain the sale and purchase of illegal cryptocurrencies.” Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space RBI’s Argument The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the country’s central bank, appeared before the supreme court Friday to defend its position regarding cryptocurrencies. RBI issued a circular on April 6 banning financial institutions under its control from providing services to crypto companies. According to the Economic Times, the central bank told the court: Allowing dealings in cryptocurrencies like bitcoins would encourage illegal transactions and it has already issued a circular prohibiting use of these virtual currencies. RBI explained that crypto is “a stateless digital currency” that operates independently of a central bank such as itself, thereby “rendering it immune from government interference,” the news outlet noted. The Financial Express elaborated that the central bank believes “it is necessary to regulate the bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to check illegal transactions which will impact the international flow of funds.” Senior counsel Shyam Divan, appearing for RBI, reiterated that the central bank has a particular stance and other departments may have other positions. Petitions Being Heard Petitions against the RBI crypto banking ban are not the only ones that the supreme court is hearing. The Economic Times described: Some petitions challenged the use of virtual currencies and alleged that they posed grave dangers to the traditional economy and they also sought framing of guidelines to regulate them … They also sought a direction for the Centre to take emergency steps to restrain the sale and purchase of illegal cryptocurrencies. The Hindu pointed to one particular petition, filed by father and son Siddharth Dalmia and Vijay Pal Dalmia. “Mr. Dalmia, in his plea, has sought a direction to the Centre to take steps to restrain sale and purchase of illegal cryptocurrencies like bitcoins, which were being traded openly for ‘illegal activities’ like funding terrorism and insurgency,” the publication wrote. The supreme court already heard the duo’s initial petition in November last year and subsequently issued notices to various government departments including RBI. The central bank responded at the time that it had warned people against the usage and risks associated with crypto. However, the Dalmias were not happy with RBI’s reply and filed a new petition, pointing out the inadequate action by the central bank. At the hearing on Friday, the supreme court gave the government until September 11 to respond to all petitions. What do you think of RBI’s view and action? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock and RBI. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Indian Central Bank Makes a Case Before Supreme Court Against Allowing Crypto Use appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Anyone unacquainted with the cryptocurrency market might assume, casually reading the price of bitcoin in their morning paper, that the past seven days have been good for investors. BTC is up 18% in a week and is now hovering around the $7,400 mark. By any reckoning, that’s good going. But bitcoin’s recent show of strength belies turmoil within the crypto markets. Many altcoins aren’t just down in BTC terms: they’re dying a slow death by 1,000 red wicks. Also read: Big-Name Insurers Stepping Up Their Crypto Game Alts Are Submerged in a Bloodbath It’s been a mixed week for cryptocurrency investors. While BTC has been on fire, altcoins have been withering and dying, with lower lows, lower trade volume, and little by way of hope for their increasingly desperate bagholders. Telegram trading groups have been filled with pink wojaks and rekt memes as traditional support levels have fallen and price floors have been shattered. The weekly charts, in which gains and losses can be easily distorted by singular events, do not prevent a true picture of the state of altcoins right now. Zooming out to a monthly view provides a clearer picture. In addition to BTC, stellar and cardano – two assets shortlisted for inclusion on Coinbase – are in the green. Virtually every other asset has been subjected to deep, double-digit cuts. Bitcoin’s dominance now stands at around 45%, the highest it has been since April. Part of its resurgence can be attributed to anticipation of impending SEC approval for an ETF, against a backdrop of increased institutional adoption. It figures that when bitcoin rallies, the rest of the market will suffer. While this fact can account for some of the slippage of the past few days, it does not explain the decline that virtually all crypto assets have suffered since the start of the year. BTC is down 63% from its all-time high, a figure which seems relatively benign when compared to the losses of other major cryptocurrencies. Most altcoins have posted major losses over the past month. Smart Money is Rejecting Dumb Coins Ripple and tron are down 88% from their ATH, cardano down 87%, and dash down 85%. The mania of January, when the entire market was convinced that their anointed altcoin was heading to the moon and staying there, has long since subsided. At the time, it was suggested by certain publications including this one that many of those investing in high supply coins may not fully understand concepts such as digital scarcity. Investors were fixated on the price per coin, rather than the value of the coin when adjusted for total circulating supply. The fate of dentacoin, a cryptocurrency for the dental industry, encapsulates the madness of January and subsequent decline that has characterized the altcoin market. The subsequent downfall of altcoins that were mainstream media darlings at the start of the year, ripple, iota, and tron among them, can be attributed, in part, to novice investors getting scared off once the bear market kicked in with a vengeance. The resurgence of bitcoin in recent weeks, and the inability of altcoins to rally with it, owes something to rookie investors who got burned staying away, while smart money that was previously watching from the sidelines has begun to enter. These entities weren’t about to buy BTC when it was trading at an all-time high, but they’ll take a look now, having missed the boat the first time around. None of them, it seems, are interested in altcoins however, despite the fact that many are trading at a 5x discount. Institutional investors may be cautious, but they’re not foolish. Do you think altcoins such as ripple and iota will ever surpass their ATH when the crypto market recovers? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Coincodex, and Pixabay. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Altcoins Are Dying appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Mass, mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies might take a route few original cadres of developers and enthusiasts imagined — major payment processing, plastic debit cards. They’re incredibly handy for those wishing to use crypto while merchant adoption works itself out. Here are five such cards to consider: Wirex, Bitpay, Cryptopay, Xapo, and Shift. Also read: World Cup Goes Crypto! 5 Crypto Debit Cards Worth Checking Out Significant strains of the broader crypto community (strident veterans of an ideological bent) chafe at cryptocurrency debit cards. They do in large part because such cards are in bed with sworn enemies, legacy banking: Visa, Mastercard. Indeed, it is the height of irony the very institutions crypto was designed to thwart are arguably crypto’s most popular onboarding forms. Wirex: A well known company, Wirex has a solid customer base. Along with virtual products, it offers a pin card. It also is notorious for fees, and they add up. And while no company is ever guaranteed to stay solvent, something to consider is shelf life (they tend to come and go). Wirex seems well poised for the longer term: Spring of last year it received confidence funding in the low millions from SBI Group, a prominent Japanese financial player. It has nearly one million customers spread out through most countries, with about a billion dollars in transaction volume last year. This year they’ve added litecoin, and they basically pioneered contactless debit cards in the space. The regular fees are pretty similar to other cards, hovering around 3% for international transactions, $2.50 for withdrawals, $17 to purchase a physical card. For most everyone else, crypto’s slow merchant adoption is a giant pain in the ass. No matter how much one loves crypto and its potential, people need food, clothing, tchotkes. And, no, the fact your brother has a hat store, or the fact that random pizza parlor down the street accepts crypto, are not immediate solutions. A person can only have so many hats and eat so much of your brother’s greasy pizza. Bitpay: Another well regarded provider is Bitpay. Its card is accepted the globe over, though it’s only available to US residents. No chip and pin, so verification is needed. Simple KYC, AML identification is mando, so all one needs is a government issued ID, street address, and Social Security number. The card is available in all US states. It’s loaded through a separate wallet client, prepaid. They use Visa, and for around 10 bucks USD a physical card will be sent along. Outside the US, a 3% fee is placed on all currency conversions (along with $3 for any outside the US withdrawals). Withdrawals in the US vary from bank to bank in terms of fees. Using it is a snap, very convenient. Withdrawal limits are generous. Crypto debit cards, then, are a splitting the baby, kissing your sister kind of way to advance money’s future while still being able to enjoy life’s material pleasures. Done right, crypto debit schemes go anywhere major payment providers, such as Visa and Mastercard, are accepted. At the very least, they’re a nice hedge. Cryptopay: Like Wirex, they offer virtual and physical cards. It is available around the globe. It can also be a little fee laden with load fees and maintenance fees, etc. It’s, of course, a Bitcoin debit card. Its selling feature is lack of personal verification. They might require more if limits are increased, however, above a couple thousand dollars. The card is right around $15, withdrawals are $2.5, and they charge 3% on international transactions. Scouring the known crypto debit world, those presented are by no means exhaustive. Such cards are designed to help anyone inclined to get started. There are many others, as the market sees them popping up all the time. If these don’t live up to your standards, there are, again, plenty others. Xapo: Xapo is most everywhere, and has a solid reputation among enthusiasts. It too was an earlier mover in the space. No chip and pin standard, though it’s offered. The cost of the card is roughly $20, and it carries an annual fee. Like most other cards, so long as users stay under about $2,500 in withdrawal limits, fees are relatively tame. Shift: Easily connects to your Coinbase account, relatively low fees. Available only in 45 states around the US, Coinbase is limited to certain countries as well. Shift position themselves as “the first US Bitcoin debit card”. The card costs a reasonable $10 to produce and has no ongoing fees. There is of course the standard 3% international transaction fee and $2.5 flat ATM withdrawal fee. Disclaimer: Bitcoin.com does not endorse nor support these products/services. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the mentioned company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article. What bitcoin debit card do you use? Let us know in the comments section below. Images via Pixabay. 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 Bitcoin (Almost) Everywhere: 5 Crypto Debit Cards Worth Checking Out appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The Satoshi Revolution: A Revolution of Rising Expectations Section 4: State Versus Society Chapter 9, Part 5 Crypto: Other Than The Black Market, A Last Stand For Economic Freedom? Money…is the economic area most encrusted and entangled with centuries of government meddling. Many people, many economists, usually devoted to the free market stop short at money. Money, they insist, is different; it must be supplied by government and regulated by government. They never think of state control of money as interference in the free market; a free market in money is unthinkable to them. Historically, money was one of the first things controlled by government, and the free market “revolution” of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries made very little dent in the monetary sphere. So it is high time that we turn fundamental attention to the life-blood of our economy—money. -Murray Rothbard, “What Has Government Done to Our Money?” Envisioning free-market crypto should be easy because cryptocurrency was created on the free market, and it remains unregulated in many places. How difficult is it for a person to envision what is standing in front of his or her own eyes? Coins like Bitcoin or Bitcoin Cash are success stories for all to see. Unfortunately, governments also see it. They recognize crypto as a fierce competitor to their own fiat monopolies, their tax systems, and a relatively untapped source of wealth. To control crypto, however, government cannot praise the phenomenon; government needs to demonize crypto by creating public hysteria over problems both real (fraud) and manufactured (links to terrorism). Rest assured, if crypto was an economic Satan rather than a business sensation, governments around the world would not be salivating and scheming about how to co-opt the industry. To do so, they paint crypto as a ‘good’ that is currently rife with abuses, which only governments can solve. The free market has failed, they claim. Pressure from government is increasing. As cryptocurrency becomes more accepted as money, the cry for regulation grows. A recent report from the trading giant eToro and the Imperial College London claimed, “Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin offer a viable evolutionary ‘next step’ for money and have the potential to become a mainstream form of payment within the next decade.” The report stated that regulation was a necessary prerequisite for such an evolution. And most people will listen to the call for regulation because they believe a government monopoly makes money safer for them to use—at least, safer than free-market money, which they do not understand. Of course, the opposite is true. Government money gives those in power an iron control of the economy, and that arrangement never ends well for the average person. By contrast, the free market panders to customers who are the source of profit. How many government restaurants would allow people to send meals back to the kitchen for a replacement? How many have a “no questions asked” return policy on goods or services? The free market also provides goods and services, including money, more efficiently than government. For one thing, competition forces companies to be efficient in order to achieve the low prices that attract customers. The free market also expresses far greater morality because it is based on voluntary exchanges, while the government consists of coercion. Nevertheless, money is considered to be a “special” case that requires government intervention because money is essential to the functioning of a healthy society. But so is food. And, yet, the free market provides a cornucopia of groceries from around the world at affordable prices. Most people can walk to stores with a bounty for sale. It is difficult to imagine a government managing a similar food chain; indeed, the governments that have tried have produced rationing, famines, black markets, and soaring prices on the essentials of life. Hysteria is a standard fall-back position for those who wish to obscure reality. And hysteria against crypto is underway because it is the best strategy to convince people that government is an instrument of crypto justice, not a crypto-criminal wannabe. Respectability=the Need for an Injustice to Remedy=Regulation Governments are playing a multi-leveled shell game with crypto, which is likely to play out as follows. First and wherever necessary, crypto will be redefined as money rather than as an asset, because central banks, government agencies, and traditional financial institutions have no proper authority to regulate privately-held assets that are legally acquired and held. Governments can tax and confiscate, to be sure, but that level of control is modest compared with the monopoly power to issue and/or to define what is legal money. Next, crypto will be conflated with crypto-asset markets, such as exchanges and businesses that issue ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings). Although the two are separate, most people make little to no distinction between them; the concepts become jumbled together. Those who want to regulate crypto itself find the jumble to be useful because it facilitates broad legislation that covers the entire sphere of crypto and its many manifestations. The blueprint for crypto control is predictable; it is also global. Last week, for example, the Financial Stability Board delivered a report to a G20 meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, which discussed a framework for setting standards on crypto-asset markets. A few months earlier, the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde indicated how global bodies would proceed. There were familiar references to crypto’s alleged role in terrorism and money laundering. But the emphasis differed. On the IMF blog, Lagarde called for crypto-asset markets to protect consumers in the same manner as traditional financial markets do. Know Your Customer policies and global coordination were stressed. The call for consumer protection is echoing. At a June 25th conference, for example, the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection Director Andrew Smith, explained, “With the rise of cryptocurrencies we’ve seen many signs, from public sources to law enforcement actions brought by us…that scammers are using the lure of cryptocurrencies to rip off consumers.” “People need protection from the new money!” is ascending as the argument for regulating crypto. The argument not only appeals to an ingrained bias against free-market money, it also plays on people’s fear. Popular support makes it much easier for government agencies and central banks to succeed in their global grab at crypto. And, so, the word “fraud” is becoming more common whenever crypto is discussed, even though crypto-asset markets are usually the focus. (Note: the fact that fiat currencies are total frauds, along with many penny and over-the-counter stocks, does not arise.) The Most Damnable Aspect of the Widespread Fraud Claim There is real truth to the accusation of fraud. Crypto, like every other investment, is a “caveat emptor” situation due to the risk of fraud and other forms of theft. “Caveat emptor” is usually translated as “Buyer Beware,” and it means that a buyer or customer is responsible for checking goods and services before purchasing them. The principle is valid, but it is unsatisfying and an incomplete answer when confronted with fraud, which is a crime—the crime on which government pins its dreams of usurping crypto. How massive is the problem of fraud? A recent study prepared by the Satis Group found that, as a percentage of the ICOs it examined, “approximately 78% of ICOs were Identified Scams, 4% Failed, 3% had Gone Dead, and 15% went on to trade on an exchange.” It is not clear if the findings are valid, especially since expert reports have become a stock aspect of any push for legislation; many of them are sloppy and politically motivated. Frankly, the figures seem exaggerated. On the other hand, many ICOs have been revealed as corrupt, and the existence of fraud is undeniable, especially in crypto-asset markets. Admitting a problem, however, does not validate a particular solution, such as government intervention. For one thing, government has proven itself to be unwilling to prevent fraud in the monetary system it already commands: central banking. Satoshi Nakamoto explained, “The central bank must be trusted not to debase the currency, but the history of fiat currencies is full of breaches of that trust. Banks must be trusted to hold our money and transfer it electronically, but they lend it out in waves of credit bubbles with barely a fraction in reserve. We have to trust them with our privacy, trust them not to let identity thieves drain our accounts. Their massive overhead costs make micropayments impossible.” The debasement of currency is also known as inflation, which becomes inevitable because inflation is a prime source of revenue for the government and for the groups it favors. But the damage of government money extends beyond the degradation of value. Rothbard explained, “It has fragmented the peaceful, productive world market and shattered it into a thousand pieces, with trade and investment hobbled and hampered by myriad restrictions, controls, artificial rates, currency breakdowns, etc. It has helped bring about wars by transforming a world of peaceful intercourse into a jungle of warring currency blocs. In short, we find that coercion, in money as in other matters, brings, not order, but conflict and chaos.” And, yet, one of the main arguments against free-market money is that the marketplace is too chaotic and corrupt. Nonsense. There Oughta Be a Law Fraud requires a legal response because a crime has occurred. But, again, admitting a need does not validate a particular solution. This is especially true of the legal solutions offered by government. Generally speaking, there are four types of laws that function in society, and they sometimes overlap. Ones that impose a specific vision of the world or of morality. These include laws against alleged vices, such as alcohol or drug use, as well as laws requiring alleged virtues, such as voting or paying taxes. The goal is to mandate a code of behavior, thus erasing the boundary between the legal and (someone’s vision of) the moral. Typically, the laws are enforced on everyone, except those with power seem to be exempt. Ones that regulate a targeted segment of society. These include laws about who may conduct a specific business and how it must operate, as well as laws that discriminate between people based on factors such as race. The goal is economic and social control, with enforcement focusing on designated people. Ones that protect against physical harm and property damage, including theft. These include laws against assault and vandalism. Rather than mandate a behavior, they prohibit one–namely, violence, which includes fraud. The goal is to provide the safety that allows a healthy society to thrive, with enforcement applying to everyone. Ones that are created by contract. These include laws that allow creditors to seize assets in arrears, such as a repossessed car, and laws aimed at enforcing behavior, such as the performance of work for which payment has been rendered. A contract can always be breached, but there is a penalty for doing so: for example, a repossessed car, a refund of fees. The goal is to establish enforceable contracts, which are nothing more than enforceable consent between individuals. Again, it provides a safety that allows a healthy society to thrive and which discourages violence as the only way to resolve a dispute. The law applies only to those who contract. On crypto, the government flexes only the first two forms of law: a specific vision imposed on the world; and, the regulation of a targeted sector. The laws do not protect people and property, as evidenced by the fact that recovered funds are not returned to those who have been defrauded. Fines, fees and recovered wealth go into the government’s coffers. In short, the laws serve government; they do not protect consumers. The last two forms of law protect individuals, including consumers, and not government. They are laws that would exist in the free market because they fulfill human requirements. But what exactly would they look like? And how would they be enforced? [To be continued next week.] Reprints of this article should credit bitcoin.com and include a link back to the original links to all previous chapters Wendy McElroy has agreed to ”live-publish” her new book The Satoshi Revolution exclusively with Bitcoin.com. Every Saturday you’ll find another installment in a series of posts planned to conclude after about 18 months. Altogether they’ll make up her new book ”The Satoshi Revolution”. Read it here first. The post Wendy McElroy: Other Than the Black Market, a Last Stand for Economic Freedom appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

This past Thursday, the lead developer of Bitcoin ABC, Amaury Séchet, published a paper on the social media platform Yours.org about a protocol technique called ‘pre-consensus.’ According to Séchet, and other BCH developers like Bitcoin Unlimited’s Peter Rizun, pre-consensus could improve block propagation time, benefit zero-confirmation reliability and help delegate decisions tethered to consensus conditions. Also Read: Vietnam’s Central Bank Thinks Cryptocurrency Miners Should Be Banned Bitcoin ABC’s Amaury Séchet Publishes a Paper Called ‘On Markets and Pre-Consensus’ Amaury Séchet This week, Amaury Séchet, the Bitcoin ABC client’s lead developer announced on Twitter that he had wrote a paper called, “On Markets and Pre-Consensus.” The article discusses the concept of pre-consensus which Séchet describes as a protocol that enables network participants to agree on what the next block size will look like. Various developers have discussed this idea before, including Bitcoin Unlimited’s chief scientist, Peter Rizun, who wrote about the subject for the Ledger academic publication, and Rizun also discussed pre-consensus during his talk at the Satoshi’s Vision Conference in Tokyo. “Even before Bitcoin Cash was a thing, I was promoting the idea of pre-consensus — This refers to a set of technologies allowing network participants to agree as much as possible on what the next block is going to look like,” explains Séchet’s paper. “If done well, this provides significantly stronger 0-conf guarantee that we currently have, while also allowing to reach greater scale by moving work out of the critical path (if a node know what the next block is going to look like, a lot of the validation work can be done ahead of time).” As it turns out, pre-consensus has the added bonus effect that it allows to delegate the responsibility of picking various values which are currently centrally planned to the market. Actors who use different policies will be able to reconcile their differences in a time scale that is compatible with 0-conf. Séchet Says Pre-Consensus ‘Too Important to Not be Tackled Now’ Séchet delves further and states that pre-consensus has been on the BCH roadmap since day one, and has made “zero progress” so far. He explains that the past year had been hectic and the latest “flavor of the day” is tokens. “While all these projects have value, it is clear that I need to ruthlessly prioritize pre-consensus,” Séchet emphasizes. The actions I have to take along the way will surely irritate many, but this is too important to not be tackled now. Nchain’s Craig Wright: ‘No Hash Goes to This Crap — They Want It, They Fork It’ Craig Wright. After Séchet published his idea and fellow colleagues began to share the paper on Twitter, Nchain’s chief scientist Craig Wright spoke out against the pre-consensus idea. “No hash goes to this crap — They want it, they fork it, without us,” Wright states on Twitter. “Without the apps using our code, our IP etc. — Without the companies, we have invested in.” Of course, the outburst from Wright got the community stirring wildly into a heated discussion. There’s also a Reddit conversation about pre-consensus and Wright’s comments on the subreddit r/BTC which has over 400 comments at the time of writing. The top comment belongs to Bitcoin Unlimited’s lead developer, Andrew Stone. “At Satoshi’s Vision Conference, Craig Wright said his miners were going to detect and somehow penalize double spends which is a form of pre-consensus,” Stone says. “We don’t even know concretely what Deadalnix (Amaury Séchet) is proposing so how can a person reject it and call it crap?” An Avalanche of Pre-Consensus Emotions Other developers such as the Yours.org founder, Ryan X Charles, seemed to be interested in the idea of pre-consensus when discussing the subject in one of his latest videos. Charles gives his viewers a glimpse of what he thinks about Séchet’s latest statements, and details there is also a paper called, Avalanche, which offers a unique approach to pre-consensus. The paper “Avalanche: A Novel Metastable Consensus Protocol Family for Cryptocurrencies,” was written by a group of developers who call themselves ‘Team Rocket’ after the mischievous Pokémon characters. Other members of the community dislike the idea of pre-consensus and have shared their responses to Séchet’s recent article. One person’s post on Yours.org called “Pre-Consensus Implies Content Without Giving It,” is particularly interesting. In the writing, the author compares pre-consensus to the Segregated Witness protocol (Segwit) perverting the underlying foundations of Nakamoto Consensus. “This will change if we make a fundamental protocol change like a pre-consensus,” explains the author @Logan. We will be in the same position as Segwit, making the argument that Bitcoin needs to change and adapt over time. We will no longer be the protocol as described in the white paper. What do you think about Séchet’s pre-consensus statements? What do you think about Nchain’s Craig Wright disagreeing with the idea? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comment section below. Images via Shutterstock,Twitter, Pixabay, and Wiki Commons. 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 Pulse, another original and free service from Bitcoin.com. The post Bitcoin Cash Developers Debate an Idea Called Pre-Consensus appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In The Daily on Saturday, crypto exchange Coinbase has formed a political action committee to raise funds for US elections. Also, Ernst & Young has announced the acquisition of crypto technology and patents, and Indonesian crypto POS terminal maker Pundi X is looking to expand in South Korea with a new partnership. Also read: Minsk Mulls Rules for Exchanges, Qiwi Awards Employees with Tokens Coinbase to Raise Money for Elections California-based crypto exchange Coinbase has formed a political action committee in order to raise money that can be spent on US elections, Reuters reported quoting the company. The filing was announced on Friday, July 20. According to the report, the political action committee has not raised any funds yet. Coinbase is an important player in the crypto sector. A couple of months ago, the exchange said it would revamp its trading technology to create and offer a new suite of services to attract more institutional investors, including hedge funds and high-frequency trading firms. Its new institutional offering, Coinbase Custody, is already open for business. The company also launched its Coinbase Pro platform. In May, it was revealed that Coinbase’s representatives had met with US regulators to talk about the possibility to apply for a banking license. The trading platform reportedly contacted officials from the US Office of the Comptroller of Currency earlier this year to discuss the matter. Reports that Coinbase had been approved to list securities were later corrected by the company. Coinbase’s decisions and moves often influence crypto markets, as was the case with the recent announcement that the exchange is considering adding five new cryptocurrencies – ADA, BAT, XLM, ZEC, and ZRX. The news quickly raised the prices of these coins by up to 20 percent. Leading Exchanges List New Coins Speaking of new listings, Chinese-run Okex, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, has added the cardano (ADA) cryptocurrency to its platform with trading starting on July 23. The company announced the addition on Twitter, this past Friday. It has also added a new token, hycon (HYC), whose spot trading is scheduled to begin on the 24th. According to Coinmarketcap, cardano is currently 8th among the tracked cryptos, with a market capitalization of over $4.2 billion USD. Another leading exchange, Singapore-headquartered Huobi, announced this week it is adding digibyte (DGB) to its trading options. The coin has been offered since Friday, in pairs with bitcoin (BTC) and ethereum (ETH). Withdrawals will be available on Sunday, July 22. After the announcement, the price of DGB surged by about 17 percent. At the time of writing, digibyte ranks 32nd, according to Coinmarketcap, with a market capitalization of over $460 million. Ernst & Young Acquires Crypto Technology While major players from the crypto space are looking to diversify elsewhere, established financial companies have been exploring possibilities in the fintech sector. Ernst & Young, one of the major global accounting firms, announced this month the acquisition of technology assets and related patents from Elevated Consciousness. The San Francisco-based startup specializes in developing solutions for the crypto-asset ecosystem like the Andy Crypto-Asset Accounting and Tax tool (CAAT) which connects with multiple crypto exchanges and wallets, allowing for better visibility into transactions and inventory. The acquisition is part of EY’s strategy to expand blockchain-related capabilities and services worldwide, according to a press release published by PRNewswire. “Cryptocurrencies and blockchain are transformational forces with a strong potential to fundamentally change the way business is done,” said Kate Barton, EY Global Vice Chair – Tax Services. “CAAT positions us as a leader in serving a variety of companies adopting crypto-assets in an evolving regulatory environment,” she added, quoted in the corporate announcement. Pundi X with New Partnership in South Korea Following news that it’s working to build a network of 5,500 POS terminals for crypto payments in Hong Kong, it’s been reported that Pundi X is now eyeing the South Korean market. The Indonesian company revealed in a statement that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the local smart card manufacturer Ubivelox. The partnership aims to support the deployment of Pundi X devices in South Korea. The Pundi XPOS terminals offer payments in multiple cryptocurrencies and support transactions through other wallets like Alipay and Wechat Pay. These devices accept also payment cards as well as Pundi X’s own XPASS card. The latter allows users to buy, sell and trade different cryptos and make online purchases. The two companies plan to distribute the XPASS cards and develop together a mobile crypto payment system. The latest announcement is part of Pundi X’s planned expansion in the region. The company intends to introduce up to 100,000 of its crypto POS terminals in Southeast Asia by 2021. The Indonesian firm also claims that a number of businesses from Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and Switzerland have already ordered a total of 25,000 of its terminals. What are your thoughts on today’s news tidbits? Tell us in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Pundi X. 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: Coinbase Forms Political Action Committee, EY Acquires Crypto Patents appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A growing number of big-name insurers are getting into the crypto space. They are exploring new product options in this area and meeting with cryptocurrency custodians and trading platforms about coverage. However, exclusions can add up fast for crypto businesses and premiums can be more than five times that of a normal business. Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space Large Insurers Getting into Crypto While most big-name insurers are reluctant to provide coverage to crypto startups, some are slowly coming around and quietly entering the space. Two leading insurance brokers that help companies shop for crypto policies, Marsh & Mclennan and Aon, were quoted by Bloomberg on Thursday: Business has been brisk this year. Marsh has formed a dedicated team to service blockchain startups while Aon says it has “seen some insurers tweak general company policies to include crypto-specific protections,” the publication detailed, adding that Aon also claims to have over 50 percent of the crypto insurance market. According to the company’s website, “Aon has been working to understand these evolving technologies and actively collaborates with the insurance marketplace to develop innovative risk transfer solutions.” Its subsidiary, Aon Risk Solutions, has “developed a policy form to protect against the loss of cryptocurrency along with other initiatives designed to meet the emerging risks posed by cryptocurrencies and digital ledger technologies,” Business Insurance magazine described. Big Opportunities European insurer and asset manager, Allianz SE, has 88 million retail and corporate clients in more than 70 countries. The Munich-based company “began offering individual coverage for digital-coin theft in the past year,” the publication conveyed and quoted the company’s spokesman, Christian Weishuber, saying: Insurance for cryptocurrency storage will be a big opportunity…Digital assets are becoming more relevant, important and prevalent on the real economy and we are exploring product and coverage options in this area. American International Group (AIG) “has also been adding crypto coverage into standard policy forms” and has “met with cryptocurrency custodians and trading platforms about coverage,” the news outlet detailed and quoted a source familiar with the matter: Over a dozen underwriters, including Chubb and XL, currently provide coverage to crypto-related businesses. In February, Reuters reported that XL Catlin, Chubb, and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance firms started offering protection against crypto theft. Costly Premiums Crypto companies are also increasingly seeking to obtain insurance coverage to help attract more clients. A London-based startup focused on crypto custody services, Trustology, is one of the businesses in talks to obtain coverage, according to Bloomberg. The company wants to insure its customer accounts for up to £85,000 (~US$111,630), which is the same standard as a U.K. bank account. However, insurance premiums for crypto-related coverage are costly and policies can take months to get approved, the publication conveyed, adding that “exclusions can add up fast.” For example, while losses from an interruption of service may be covered, the theft of cryptocurrency that caused the interruption may not. Citing that many startups cannot afford to pay the high premiums, the news outlet elaborated: The premiums from insuring such risk can be substantial. By some accounts, underwriters can charge a crypto-related company upwards of five times or more than your average business for coverage against loss or theft. Do you think soon all big-name insurers will soon get into crypto? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Allianz, and Aon. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Big-Name Insurers Stepping Up Their Crypto Game appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Fortune magazine’s annual 40 Under 40 is out, recently published in print and online, highlighting leaders under forty years of age. This year, the cryptosphere is well represented by Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin, Coinbase’s Brian Armstrong, and Robinhood’s Vlad Tenev. Wielding billions and billions in valuations, their average age is just a tender 30 years old. Slowly and methodically, crypto is making its way into the mainstream, coming of age. Also read: Philippines Embraces Cryptocurrency: Exchanges Issued Provisional Licenses Fortune’s 40 Under 40 Include Ecosystem Heavy Hitters Fortune magazine’s 40 Under 40 list contains forty of the world’s most productive, interesting leaders under forty years old. “Whether they’re building companies worth billions of dollars,” the magazine explains, “carving a prominent niche in a Fortune 500 business, leading governments or winning Academy Awards, these listers are running fast and winning big.” The 2018 iteration includes cryptocurrency heavies such as Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin (24), Coinbase’s Brian Armstrong (35), and Robinhood’s Vlad Tenev (31). On making the cut, some were asked about keys to their success. Mr. Tenev of Robinhood, the free stock trading application which recently allowed users to trade crypto, emphasized writing things down. “I write everything down: important decisions,” Mr. Tenev revealed, “my number-one goal for the day, to-dos, and miscellaneous thoughts. It helps me focus on what’s most important each day, not forget anything, and provides a nice look back at key moments and inflection points that can be good teaching moments for new employees down the road.” In only five years, Robinhood reached a reported $5.6 billion valuation. Crypto is Coming of Age Making Fortune’s list marks something of a crypto coming of age. The broader, mainstream financial community appears to be taking more notice of decentralized digital currency. It has taken nearly a decade, but with revelations about patent-seeking legacy corporations, futures markets, more talk of ETFs on the horizon, crypto has arrived. Indeed, famed crypto bank and quasi-exchange, Coinbase has at its head a 35-year-old who believes in motivational language. CEO Brian Armstrong explains, “Everyday, I write down affirmations (what I aspire to be in the world) and my goals (if I only got three things done today, what would they be). Then I start on those three things, before looking at anything else like my inbox.” Coinbase has grown so fast; rumors are that it aims to be the ecosystem’s Google in terms of stature. Vitalik Buterin, 24, a founder and the face of Ethereum, describes “his open-source blockchain platform Ethereum as a ‘world computer,’” Fortune notes. “The skinny visionary’s experiment, which began as a white paper, now has a market valuation of $48 billion, making it the second-most-valuable crypto network next to Bitcoin. Ethereum caught a lucky break this year when the SEC said it would not regulate ether, the network’s native coin, as a security. Rumor has it Google recently tried to hire Buterin to lead its own whispered crypto endeavors, but he declined.” Has crypto arrived in the mainstream sense? Let us know in the comments section below. Images via the Pixabay. 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 Pulse, another original and free service from Bitcoin.com. The post Ethereum, Coinbase, Robinhood Led by Under 40 Year Olds Killing It appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A great deal of cryptocurrency proponents are hoping for a positive outcome when the US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) decides on whether or not they will approve the latest bitcoin-based ETF application file by Cboe. The US regulator had asked for public opinion concerning the ETF again, and this time around the number of responses sent to the regulator is 10X the amount that was sent this past April. Also Read: Bitcoin Futures Volume Spike As Cboe Awaits ETF Decision SEC Receives 10X the Number of Responses for the Upcoming Bitcoin ETF Decision Virtual currency enthusiasts really want a bitcoin-based exchange-traded fund (ETF) approved by US regulators. Over the past few weeks, since Cboe filed an application with the SEC, so it can list shares backed by the Vaneck Solidx Bitcoin Trust (“the Trust”), the SEC office received a large swathe of opinion letters from more than 90 individuals according to recent reports. The number of responses sent was 10X the amount of opinions written last April during a prior bitcoin ETF decision. Reports also detail that Cboe’s bitcoin-based ETF has been so popular that the SEC has pushed another cryptocurrency related listing off until this September. The attempted Cboe ETF has been a popular discussion among cryptocurrency enthusiasts and some speculators believe digital asset prices will rise in anticipation of the SEC’s decision. Cryptocurrency markets have seemingly already reversed their bearish trend and a good amount of proponents believe this decision will cause a spike either before and after the ruling if it is positive. SEC Decision Date Discrepancy and a Possible Crypto-Bull Run if the Ruling Is Positive There’s also been a discrepancy on when the official decision would be made as many people and publications assumed the verdict would be on August 10. However, according to a Reddit user, who claims to be a securities lawyer, on the forum r/cryptocurrency, an August 10 decision is impossible. “The way this works is that the SEC issues a notice, which is then published in the Federal Register — As you will find stated clearly in the notice, the period is within 45 days from the date of publication in the Federal Register — not the date the notice is released by the SEC (edit: failure to understand this distinction is the source of the incorrect August 10th date),” explains the post. The date of publication in the Federal Register was July 2nd — This means they have until August 16th. Bear in mind that it can be extended, and even once the period ends, the SEC may “initiate proceedings” to assist in making a decision. A Possible Crypto-Bull Run if the SEC Ruling Is Positive If an ETF judgment is made on August 16 there is well over a month until that date, so a lot could happen to cryptocurrency spot markets between now and that time. People who hope this ETF will happen believe it might be approved because of Cboe’s previous experience with bitcoin futures markets introduced this past December. So far the derivatives markets offered by both Cboe and CME Group have done well, and growing volumes show there is interest in these mainstream cryptocurrency investment vehicles. Arthur Hayes the co-founder and CEO of Bitmex exchange explains on the CNBC broadcast Fast Money that a positive ETF ruling could prime the next massive bull run. “We’re one positive regulatory decision away — maybe an ETF approved by the SEC — to climb through $20,000 and even to $50,000 by the end of the year,” the Bitmex CEO states. What do you think about the SEC being swamped with letters about the bitcoin ETF decision? Do you think a positive decision will cause a cryptocurrency bull run to happen? Let us know what you think in the comment section below. Images via Shutterstock, Wiki Commons, and Pixabay At Bitcoin.com there’s a bunch of free helpful services. For instance, have you seen our Tools page? You can even look up the exchange rate for a transaction in the past. Or calculate the value of your current holdings. Or create a paper wallet. And much more. The post Bitcoin ETF Decision Gets an Overwhelming Amount of Public Opinion appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Ukraine has taken a positive step towards legalizing cryptocurrencies. A new regulatory concept, one that recognizes coins and tokens as financial instruments, has won support from the members of the country’s Financial Stability Council. The body includes representatives of the National Bank, the Finance Ministry and other government agencies. Also read: Minsk Mulls Rules for Exchanges, Qiwi Awards Employees with Tokens Ukraine Adopts Regulatory Concept for Cryptocurrencies It’s been quite a while since Ukraine made any notable progress towards regulating its crypto sector. A new decision in Kiev, however, qualifies as an important development. The country’s Financial Stability Council has supported a concept to regulate crypto transactions. The body is composed of representatives from the National Bank of Ukraine, the Ministry of Finance, the Deposit Guarantee Fund, the National Securities and Stock Market Commission, and the National Financial Services Market Commission. The news about the decision of the council was announced on social media by Timur Khromaev, head of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission (NSSMC). “This is an important first step in building a consensus among government agencies and financial regulators which confirms the readiness to work with the Verkhovna Rada and the crypto market on forming a legislative and a regulatory framework that will ensure transparency and quality of relations between investors and crypto market participants,” Khromaev said in a Facebook post. The newly approved concept recognizes certain categories of cryptocurrencies and tokens as financial instruments. It also determines the roles and functions of government agencies, such as the National Bank, the Finance Ministry, the State Fiscal Service, the State Financial Monitoring Service, and the NSSMC, in regards to regulating the circulation of cryptos, licensing of participants in crypto transactions, and disclosure of information. Cryptocurrencies Still Unregulated, Not Legal in Ukraine The status of cryptocurrencies in Ukraine is still undetermined. Three bills designed to legalize and regulate them and the related economic activities have been filed in the Rada since October but no significant progress has been made towards their adoption. These are the laws “On the Circulation of Cryptocurrency in Ukraine”, “On Stimulating the Market of Cryptocurrencies and Their Derivatives”, and a supplementary draft addressing crypto taxation. The recently voted Currency Law did not mention cryptocurrencies at all. The NSSMC, one of the regulators that would be responsible for overseeing the crypto industry, did not support the bills introduced in the Rada. At the time, the commission objected to the use of the term “cryptocurrency” in the legal texts, stating that it is a result of what it called “financial engineering” and not a currency. The National Bank, the National Securities and Stock Market Commission and the National Financial Services Market Commission did not recognize cryptocurrencies as legal means of payment or money surrogate. Cryptocurrencies have been steadily gaining popularity in Ukraine, especially in the last couple of years. Local media claim that the country is among the top 10 by number of crypto users. According to some recent reports, the estimated daily crypto-hryvnia turnover on the three major Ukrainian exchanges reaches $1.9 – $2 million USD. The actual volume may be much higher, given the large number of small trading platforms and individuals offering exchange services. Do you expect Ukraine to adopt comprehensive crypto regulations? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Timur Khromaev (Facebook). 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 Ukraine’s Financial Stability Council Supports Crypto Regulatory Concept appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

According to regional reports, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has agreed with a proposal to ban imported cryptocurrency mining machines in order to keep the digital currency economy tethered tightly to the government’s regulatory frameworks. The proposal was introduced by the country’s Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) after the SBV announced that cryptocurrency use within Vietnam was not a “lawful means of payment” this past October. Also read: Bitcoin Vietnam Faces Losing its Domain from Government The State Bank of Vietnam Agrees Cryptocurrency Miners Should be Banned Lately, Vietnam’s government and regulatory bodies haven’t been too friendly towards the cryptocurrency industry. Last October the country’s central bank detailed in a letter to the public that bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were not a “lawful means of payment.” Furthermore, if Vietnam residents decided to use “bitcoin and other similar virtual currency they may be subject to prosecution.” Then, this past June, news.Bitcoin.com reported on Vietnam’s Ministry of Finance initiating the idea that the country’s governing authorities should ban cryptocurrency mining device imports. Now the local Việt Nam News reports that the central bank agrees with a proposal written by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) which calls for the banning of these mining machines. Vietnam’s MoIT and the SBV believe that letting these devices come into the country makes it harder for the government to regulate bitcoin and other virtual currencies. Many Vietnamese officials have been deliberating on how to handle the cryptocurrency industry and in April the country’s Prime Minister, Nguyễn Xuân Phúc, signed an initiative to tighten regulatory guidelines. Crypto-Fraud Sparked the Regulatory Crackdown The Ministry of Finance and MoIT have explained the reason for the current regulatory proposals towards mining rigs is because they want to protect Vietnamese consumers from scams in the future. All of the latest regulatory announcements towards cryptos have followed the recent Vietnamese law enforcement bust that dealt with the largest cryptocurrency fraud case that claimed more than 32,000 victims. The officials think that banning cryptocurrency mining machine imports will further help protect local consumers until virtual currency regulations are more solidified. Việt Nam News also details that the General Department of Customs estimates that the country has imported 15,600 mining devices from 2017 to April 2018. The state administration of customs says that a great majority of machines were imported to areas such as Đà Nẵng, Ho Chi Minh City, and Hà Nội. What do you think about Vietnam’s state administrations attempting to ban cryptocurrency miners in the country? Let us know your thoughts on this subject in the comment section below. Images via Shutterstock, Central Bank photo taken by Xita, and Pixabay. Want to see all 500 cryptocurrency market caps in real-time? We got a destination for that called — Satoshi Pulse. The post Vietnam’s Central Bank Thinks Cryptocurrency Miners Should Be Banned appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

On Friday, Samsung stores in the Baltic States have announced they will be accepting seven different cryptocurrencies for merchandise. Through a partnership with the payment processing firm Coppay, customers shopping at the Samsung stores in Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius, and Kaunas will be able to pay with BTC, ETH, DASH, NEM, STEEM, XRP, and LTC. Also read: Philippines Embraces Cryptocurrency: Exchanges Issued Provisional Licenses Samsung Stores in Three Baltic States Accept Cryptocurrencies The platform Coppay is a European fintech firm that offers payment gateways for cryptocurrency paying customers throughout 31 merchant locations. Now the company has announced that Samsung is truly embracing its slogan to “Turn on Future” by accepting seven different cryptocurrencies. The digital currencies the Samsung stores will be accepting for payments include bitcoin core (BTC), dash (DASH), NEM (XEM), steem (STEEM), ripple (XRP), litecoin (LTC), and ethereum (ETH). “Customers in Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius, and Kaunas can buy Samsung smartphones, tablets, laptops, TV-sets, and more with digital money,” explains Coppay’s announcement. There is a growing trend toward business digitalization and allowing customers to pay for goods and services in cryptocurrency, whether at global retailers or local restaurants. Samsung locations in the Baltic region now accept seven different cryptocurrencies. Both Samsung and the Baltic Region Are Embracing the Future of Digital Assets Cryptocurrencies, in particular, have been extremely popular in the Baltic states and digital assets have broad acceptance in states like Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. There is a great variety of merchants that accept bitcoin payments for coffee, apartments, bars, restaurants, hotels, specialty shops, clothing stores, and massage parlors. Regulatory policy in the Baltic region barely exists, except for Latvia, which may impose a 20 percent capital gains tax on cryptocurrency exchanges. Samsung also has shown interest in blockchain technology and it’s well known the firm creates semiconductors for cryptocurrency mining devices. The company’s earnings had spiked significantly in 2017 due to semiconductor demand tethered to digital asset mining operations. The payment processor Coppay operates similarly to the firm Bitpay’s platform and merchants are allowed to keep the cryptocurrency from sales, exchange it for fiat, or a combination of both. The company explains the other Samsung merchants will also be adding the crypto-payment feature through their system as well. What do you think about the Samsung stores in the Baltic region accepting cryptocurrencies? Let us know your thoughts on this subject in the comment section below. Images via Pixabay, Samsung store, Samsung, and Coppay logos. Do you like to research and read about Bitcoin technology? Check out Bitcoin.com’s Wiki page for an in-depth look at Bitcoin’s innovative technology and interesting history. Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency that enables near-instant, low-cost payments to anyone, anywhere in the world. Bitcoin uses peer-to-peer technology to operate with no central authority: transaction management and money issuance are carried out collectively by the network. Read all about it at wiki.Bitcoin.com. The post Samsung Stores in the Baltic States Now Accept Cryptocurrencies appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

India’s Supreme Court heard the petitions against the crypto banking ban by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today. After hearing some arguments from both sides, the court decided to set another hearing date, allowing some of the regulators involved to respond to the petitions. Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space Supreme Court Hearing on July 20 The long-awaited hearing at which the Supreme Court of India was scheduled to address all of the petitions against the crypto banking ban by the country’s central bank has finally taken place. Today’s hearing follows the hearing on July 3 of the petition by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI). The court did not grant a stay against the ban at that time. Last week, the central bank responded to a representation by the association but did not change its stance on crypto. The latest chapter of the courtroom saga did not see an overturn of the ban. The court also did not hear all arguments by both sides. Crypto Kanoon, a platform engaged in crypto regulatory analysis, legal awareness and news, detailed: Limited arguments were advanced on behalf of IAMAI and RBI today. Another Hearing Date Set There are at least five writ petitions filed against the RBI ban. However, according to Crypto Kanoon, “SEBI [the Securities and Exchange Board of India] and few others have not filed their response to the petition seeking regulation…All (remaining) parties to file their reply within 4 weeks.” Sohail Merchant, CEO of crypto exchange Pocketbits, commented on the outcome of today’s hearing: Final hearing [is] slated for 11th of September. Now that is the Judgement Day. According to lawyers familiar with the case, the central bank has been challenged on two grounds. They concern article 19(1) (g) and article 14 of the Indian constitution. The former “allows citizens to enjoy the right to carry on any occupation, trade, or business,” Quartz explained, adding that the latter “prohibits discrimination and mandates equal protection under the law for all.” P2P Services Live In response to the RBI banking ban, a number of crypto exchanges in the country have set up peer-to-peer (P2P) services. Koinex launched its P2P platform called Loop on July 17. “Loop is a peer-to-peer fiat to crypto trading platform where registered users can trade in cryptos with other registered users in INR,” the exchange described. “To ensure user safety, a built-in escrow system is employed which releases the cryptocurrency only after the seller double confirms the exact payment of the trade.” According to its website, the service currently offers the buying and selling of BTC, ETH, and XRP without network or transaction fees. Last week, Wazirx launched its P2P service, also without network or transaction fees. The exchange recently claimed to have 125,000 users on its main platform after operating for four months. Meanwhile, Coindelta is also preparing to launch a P2P service called Flux. What do you think of the Supreme Court hearing today? Do you think RBI’s ban will eventually be lifted? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Indian Supreme Court Heard Crypto Petitions Today but RBI Ban Stays appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In today’s Bitcoin in Brief, Belarus, which legalized crypto activities this spring, is now turning its attention to adopting standards for companies operating crypto exchanges and issuing tokens. We’ve covered the decision of the Russian payment provider Qiwi to motivate its employees with tokens. The Daily also features crypto news from China and Canada. Also read: Anti-Crypto Politician Backed by Payments Firm, Grayscale Raised $250m in H1 Belarus Working on Standards for Crypto Exchanges Belarus Hi-Tech Park Having legalized crypto-related activities earlier this year, Belarus is now fine-tuning and expanding the regulatory framework. The Hi-Tech Park in Minsk (HTP) is currently developing standards for companies operating crypto exchanges and providers of services related to issuing and placement of tokens. According to media reports, state bodies and representatives of the legal and tech communities in the country are involved in the process. The new set of rules and regulations is intended to supplement the basic framework outlined in the presidential decree “On the development of the digital economy”, which entered into force on March 28, Denis Aleinikov, senior partner at a Belarussian law firm, told Forklog. He shared details on the progress so far: “We’ve established that a token is not a security […]. Any organization is allowed to issue and sell tokens through residents of the High-Tech Park.” The legal expert added that entities in the field will be obliged to prove charter capital of at least $500,000. The standards will also regulate the activities of HTP residents and detail the requirements for those that want to issue and trade digital tokens. The Hi-Tech Park is actively participating in the process after it was granted right of legislative initiative with another presidential decree in June. Payment Provider Qiwi to Award Employees with Tokens The blockchain subsidiary of the Russian payment provider Qiwi plans to supplement the salaries of its employees with awards paid in tokens. The motivational program will be launched by Qiwi Blockchain Technologies in the second half of 2018 and will be based on the Russian Masterchain platform. Several dozens of employees will receive their awards in QBT tokens by the end of the year. The subsidiary plans to allocate up to 50 percent of its profit to the program. The tokens will be divided into two categories. Part of them will come with voting rights, allowing their holders to participate in different company decisions. Employees won’t be able to exchange the tokens for fiat money but will have the opportunity to convert them to corporate bonuses. According to Konstantin Koltsov, Director for Corporate Affairs, the system will allow employees to be directly involved in the company’s development. Qiwi also plans to create a blockchain-based HR platform. Companies with ‘Blockchain’ in The Name Surge in China It’s no secret that adding “crypto” or “blockchain” to the name of a company comes with some image benefits. Since cryptocurrencies are not favored by authorities in Beijing, Chinese companies from the crypto sector have been left with only one choice. As a result, China has seen a sixfold increase in the number of new firms registered with “blockchain” in their names, The South China Morning Post reported. According to an estimate based on government data gathered by Qixin.com, there are now more than 4,000 Chinese companies that identify with blockchain. Over 3,000 firms registered since January use the Chinese translation of the term describing the distributed ledger technology behind cryptocurrencies like bitcoin – “qukualian”. In comparison, their number for the whole 2017 was only 555. The analysis of the official data has produced another interesting finding – 16,600 companies that were established within the past 12 months had “blockchain” listed as part of their lines of business. SCMP comments that despite the reservations of the Beijing government on crypto exchanges, coin offerings and mining, the interest towards the technology in China remains strong. Bitcoin Ownership and Awareness Increase in Canada A survey conducted by the Bank of Canada has detected a twofold increase in the number of people owning bitcoin (BTC) over 12 months. About half of crypto owners said they regularly use bitcoin to buy goods and services or transfer money. The Bitcoin Omnibus Survey was carried out in December, when the prices of cryptocurrencies reached all-time highs, but the results were published recently. According to another study, “Bitcoin Awareness and Usage in Canada: An Update”, the awareness of Canadians about bitcoin increased from 64 to 85 percent during the same period. The authors also found that the residents of the predominantly francophone province of Quebec were the most Bitcoin-aware citizens. Meanwhile, the province’s state-owned power company Hydro-Québec has been allowed to charge crypto miners and blockchain promoters increased rates until regulations for the industry are introduced. Régie de l’énergie du Québec, the local energy sector regulator, has recently accepted most of the new Hydro-Québec’s demands. A rate of 15 cents (CAD) per kWh, double the tariff for residential clients, will be applied. What are your thoughts on today’s news tidbits? Tell us in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, HTP. 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: Minsk Mulls Rules for Exchanges, Qiwi Awards Employees with Tokens appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Coinmarketcap (CMC), the web’s most popular cryptocurrency tracker website, has responded to accusations that it is implicit in supporting wash trading. This week, a platform called Crypto Exchange Ranks published detailed allegations of how CMC incentivizes exchanges to report fake volume. In a new blog post, Coinmarketcap has detailed its determination to support “transparency and clarity”. Also read: How Coinmarketcap Incentivizes Exchanges to Report Fake Volume Coinmarketcap Cleans Its Shop As news.Bitcoin.com reported yesterday, Coinmarketcap has been taking flak for blindly publishing suspicious data from certain crypto exchanges. The exchange at the center of the furore on this occasion was a little-known platform called Bitforex that virtually no one had heard of until recently. Through wash trading – simultaneously buying and selling on its own platform to create the illusion of high volume – Bitforex managed to leapfrog into the top 10 according to CMC’s rankings. Following the story, Coinmarketcap has hit back with a blog post detailing its determination to clamp down on such behavior. It identifies three issues that have been brought to its attention: fee-free/transaction mining models, low fee models, and artificial volumes/wash trading. In regards to the latter, it explains: “In order to ensure that their listings remain active on certain exchanges, sometimes projects are instructed to maintain a minimum level of volume. This causes projects to heavily employ market making services and bots to trade their own coin to inflate their volumes.” It adds: Even though we try our best to verify the data with the exchanges on our site, we are not in the practice of censoring or policing others. In an open ecosystem like the one we are in, we believe that the best policy – that we follow closely – is to over-provide on data and let users make their own informed choices about what to do with that data. CMC Changes Its Data Policy Acknowledging that some entities are blatantly gaming the system, CMC goes on to explain its decision to remove minimum volume requirements for exchanges. What this means, in practice, is that platforms are not required to reach a minimum trade volume to be listed on the site. It is hoped that this will deter exchanges from inflating volume to meet CMC’s entry criteria. The site is also introducing measures such as 7-day and 30-day volume metrics that are designed to prevent the likes of Bitforex from gaming the system. The crypto tracking website has stopped short of promising an outright ban or downgrade for exchanges that create blatantly fake volume, concluding: “Our philosophy is to provide as much information as possible to our users, so that they can form their own conclusions and interpretations – and not introduce our own bias into that mix.” As of today, Bitforex still stands at 15th place on CMC by 24-hour volume, with $138 million reported, $37 million more than Bitstamp. Do you think Coinmarketcap’s latest measures to combat fake volume will be effective? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Coinmarketcap and Shutterstock. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Coinmarketcap Responds to Accusations of Aiding Wash Trading 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. Vancouver, BC, Canada – Cozystay Holdings Inc. (Cozystay) is excited to announce its partnership with Singapore-based Share Everything Lab Pte. Ltd. (SEL) to bring blockchain technology to the vacation-rental sharing economy. SEL is developing a protocol that will decentralize and revolutionize the sharing economy industry. Cozystay, a vacation rental platform that has been operating since 2015, will be the first adopter of SEL’s blockchain-based trust protocols, which will solve critical problems that have plagued the vacation-rental sharing economy so far. Cozystay now has 60,000 users, 200,000 listings worldwide and offices in Vancouver, Canada and Beijing, China. Cozystay has completed $4M USD in seed funding. Cozystay is the first vacation rental platform targeting Chinese vacationers that is headquartered outside of China. Today China leads the world in global departures, having surpassed the USA and Germany. Cozystay has established several relationships in the vacation rental and blockchain space, including companies such as: Tujia—China’s largest vacation rental company Ctrip—China’s largest online travel agent Capital Airlines—Subsidiary of Hainan Airlines Caissa Touristic Group—China’s top travel agency. Tai Cloud—One of China’s largest blockchain technology company The global vacation rental industry commands a market size of nearly US$130 billion as of 2017, accounting for 18.1% of the global vacation lodging market share. The industry continues to grow exponentially; however, persistent problems remain for hosts and guests alike. SEL’s protocols intend to resolve the following four major pain points: ● Double-Booking ● Security and Fraud ● Review Reliability ● High Fees The blockchain can provide the foundation of a genuine peer-to-peer sharing economy by providing a trusted transaction platform with no intermediaries. Using blockchain technology to run a sharing-economy ecosystem means no central authority is needed. Share Everything Lab is positioned to disrupt the vacation-rental sharing economy by working with Cozystay. SEL will grow the ecosystem by inviting industry partners and businesses to join. This innovative approach in building a sharing economy ecosystem will make SEL a leading provider for technology in a rapidly-growing space. “The success of our growth will come through proper technology and strategic partnerships to slowly evolve from an accommodation-sharing platform to a global sharing-economy website.” —Share Everything Lab For the latest updates and news, follow Cozystay’s official Telegram account @ https://t.me/cozystay, or on any of their social media accounts. official Wechat account: CozystayYJ https://www.facebook.com/cozystayofficial https://twitter.com/cozystayapp https://www.instagram.com/cozystay.official/ https://weibo.com/cozystay Cozystay and Share Everything Lab Disclaimer Cozystay is to provide the technical services to SEL in order to develop the SHR Platform and SHR Tokens. Cozystay will grant a license to SEL for the use of the IPR generated by Cozystay under the Technical Services Agreement; thus, allowing SEL to issue SHR Tokens and operate and run the SHR Platform. About Cozystay Holdings Inc: Cozystay Holdings Inc. is a vacation rental platform targeting global Chinese vacationers. Incorporated in January, 2015, the company is headquartered in Vancouver, B.C., with a sales and technical office in Beijing, China. Cozystay runs a subsidiary property management company, Cozy Living Suites Inc.,that manages vacation rental properties in Vancouver, Seattle, Los Angeles and Toronto. For detailed investment information, email galen@cozystay.com. Website: www.cozystay.com About Share Everything Lab Pte. Ltd: Share Everything Lab Pte. Ltd. (SEL) is a company incorporated in Singapore that will facilitate all token sales and the Token Generation Event (TGE). Cozystay will be providing the technical services to SEL in connection with the development, integration and issuance of SHR Tokens and development and maintenance of the SHR Platform. For detailed investment information, email info@SHREverything.com Website https://shreverything.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: Cozystay Implements Blockchain Technology in the Vacation Rental Sharing Economy appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

At the hour and twenty four minute mark, slightly more than half way in their time together, famed bitcoin (BTC) skeptic Peter Schiff brought the conversation back to his favorite foil: cryptocurrencies are bunk. It was Mr. Schiff’s third appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, and he took the opportunity to blast the world’s most popular decentralized money, insist a recent debate between him and the CEO of Shapeshift on the subject was rigged, and how he believes BTC’s price will crash further to $1,000 and lower. Also read: Philippines Embraces Cryptocurrency: Exchanges Issued Provisional Licenses Skeptic Peter Schiff Blasts Voorhees Debate, Bitcoin The Joe Rogan Experience (JRE) keeps bringing bitcoin skeptic Peter Schiff back on. And it’s no wonder, as each time the two men hold close to three hour uninterrupted conversations over the last four years, the public seems to eat it up: JRE #445 (2014) not quite a quarter million views, #1002 (2017) has racked up over 1.1 million views, and #1145 (2018), of only a few days ago, already is nearing 700k views. When all is said and done, over two million people would have been exposed to free market economics and expressly mainstream US libertarian thought — those, and also why bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are horrible bubbles. Widely acknowledged as a gold bug, Mr. Schiff explained to Mr. Rogan how “… that’s the whole selling point of bitcoin. It’s digital gold.” He further noted BTC does have similar properties, but that its being math and not physical means it ultimately lacks real utility (something like the Greater Fool theory). “Technically, I lost the debate, but I think it was rigged,” Mr. Schiff then concluded, moving his monologue through a non sequitur. The reference is to a contest on the subject of bitcoin hosted by The Soho Forum in New York City earlier this month, whereby he debated Shapeshift CEO Erik Voorhees. Mr. Schiff blamed his loss on a largely pro-bitcoin audience, which he also assured was told to fib on the initial poll of their true feelings about crypto so as to ensure his eventual defeat. BTC Will Fall Thousands More in Price The format of the debate was such that winners were determined by the percentage grown to a debater’s position — so even if the audience was already in the bag for bitcoin, all Mr. Schiff had to do was convince more of them than Mr. Voorhees. That didn’t happen, and by a lot. Transitioning on his way to explaining how bitcoiners are cultish (Mr. Rogan described them as very “tribal”), naive playboys living it up in his new home commonwealth island of Puerto Rico, he admitted to having missed out on a pretty radical runup since BTC’s inception to now. He explained the digital asset was “taylor made” for him and his politics, but he “knew” even back then it was something of a scam. He called it a bubble. He also insisted a lot people are destined to be hurt financially. Ironically, as Mr. Schiff was once again predicting BTC’s death (something he’s been doing for almost a decade), the price actually rallied to well above the seven thousand mark. Nevertheless, Mr. Rogan followed Mr. Schiff’s line of reasoning, asking, “… you think it’s going down?” Mr. Schiff affirmed enthusiastically, patting himself on the back as knowing bitcoin well enough not to be fooled … as he mistakenly referred to “Satoshi Nakamora” [sic] as its pseudonymous founder (Mr. Schiff is also famous for malapropisms). He ranted, when BTC dips “… and it keeps falling, it goes down to $1,000, or lower, where I think it’s going … that’s going to create a lot of problems.” Perhaps, Mr. Schiff’s most salient point was when, in his doom scenario, BTC loses a lot of people a lot of money, this will bring in government crackdowns like never before. The fear, he insists, is that such a crash and resulting government response will prove to the public how free markets and capitalism are best served through intense regulation. He believes that will inadvertently buttress hopelessly “flawed” fiat currencies, something everyone in the current debate dreads. Does Peter Schiff have a point? Let us know your thoughts on this subject in the comment section below. Images via Pixabay, Euro Pacific Capital, Joe Rogan Experience. 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 Bitcoin Skeptic Peter Schiff to Joe Rogan: BTC Will Plummet, Voorhees Debate Rigged appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The UK’s Barclays, arguably the most powerful international corporate bank in the world, filed two crypto-related patents this week. The 300 year-old legacy bank gobbled up exclusivity over cryptocurrency transfers and distributed ledger data storage. There appears to be a trend for companies, both in and out of the ecosystem, aiming to lock up the potential of money’s future. Also read: Philippines Embraces Cryptocurrency: Exchanges Issued Provisional Licenses Barclays Files Two Crypto Patents Maybe it’s a sign of things to come. Barclays, founded in London around the late 17th century, filed two patents with the United States Patent and Trademark Office this week. One concerns a method “and system for transferring digital currency from a payer to recipient comprising receiving an identifier of data describing the first entity,” application number 1511964.7 reads. The other is a method “and system for recording data describing a first entity, the data endorsed by a second entity comprising the second entity validating data describing the first entity, wherein an identifier is associated with the data, the identifier being generated from a public key of the first entity,” crediting inventors Julian Wilson and David Fulton, both of Cheshire, Great Britain. It doesn’t get more legacy financial than Barclays. It is a staple on English stock exchanges, along with a definitive seat on the New York Stock Exchange. At least one study published just a few years ago pins it as the most powerful bank in the world. The bank has been particularly active in the cryptosphere the past two years. Summer of last year, it openly worried about crypto’s threat to its industry. Spring of the present year saw it team with Coinbase, and rumors are it’s considering its own crypto trading desk. The above patents will only add to speculation the bank is positioning itself in light of future fiscal reality. Patents All Around This week, no less than Mastercard appears to be flirting with crypto patents. Ecosystem company, Nchain, has steadied in this way, collecting three more recently. Another bank, Bank of America, officially became the crypto patent king this year. The Barclays patent, “Secure Digital Data Operations,” involves retrieving “an entry from a block chain based on the received identifier. Authenticating the entry using a public key of the second entity. Extracting the data describing the first entity from the retrieved entry. Authenticating a block in the block chain containing the entry using a public key of a third entity,” it reads choppily. Its other patent, “Data Validation and Storage,” seems to be cryptographically “signing data corresponding with the data describing the first entity using at least a private key of the second entity. Posting a transaction to a block chain including the cryptographically signed data. Method and system for obtaining data describing a first entity the data endorsed by a second entity comprising. Receiving an identifier of data describing the first entity. Retrieving an entry from a block chain based on the received identifier. Authenticating the entry using a public key of the second entity. Extracting the data describing the first entity from the retrieved entry,” it listed. Are patents such as Barclays’ meaningful? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Pixabay, Barclays. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Barclays, 300 Year-Old UK Legacy Bank, Files Crypto Patents appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

There’s been a lot happening this week within the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) ecosystem, and much of the community’s discussion revolves around tokenization concepts on the BCH chain. Meanwhile, the network has been running smoothly, and BCH markets seem to be reversing their trend after cryptocurrencies values were experiencing bearish sentiment for the past six months. Also read: Ross Ulbricht Joins Twitter This Week’s BCH Network and Market Action In twelve days the Bitcoin Cash community will be celebrating the anniversary of the blockchain split that occurred last year on August 1. There’s been a lot going on within the BCH environment as far as infrastructure support and development. At the time of publication, the BCH chain is 7,031 blocks ahead of the Bitcoin Core (BTC) chain and BCH is operating at 12.47% of BTC’s difficulty. There are roughly 13 mining pools three of which are unknown and the BCH hashrate over the past seven days has been between 4.3 to 4.9 exahash per second. There have also been a few big blocks processed recently like one that measured 7.9 MB and was mined by Viabtc. BCH markets this week have done well as the cryptocurrency’s value is up 19.5 percent over the last seven days. Today on Thursday, July 19 at 2 pm EDT the digital asset is worth $814 per BCH. Right now BCH has a $14Bn market valuation and it’s seeing $700Mn to $900Mn in daily trade volumes. The top BCH exchanges today include Coinex ($84.84 Mn), Huobi Pro ($83.15 Mn), Okex ($70.45 Mn), Binance ($59.14 Mn), and Hitbtc ($36.41 Mn). The top currency today paired with BCH is tether (USDT) commanding 47.7 percent of BCH trades. This is followed by BTC (29.9%), USD (11.2%), KRW (3.1%) and ETH (2.9%). A Flurry of New Tokenization Projects and the Criticism Against OP_Return Token Systems This week there were three tokenization projects announced that aim to add more depth to the Bitcoin Cash network. The first project revealed was called ‘Wormhole’ which is a fork of Omni Layer and is reportedly being developed by Bitmain developers. The next two projects announced is a Color Coin protocol implementation designed by the Cryptonize.it developers and also the Simple Ledger Protocol paper written by six well known BCH developers. However, the following day after these two ideas were made public a new discussion revolving around the flaws of OP_Return operations. One blogpost on Yours.org, fully critiques the two papers that utilize OP_Return within their framework and further states that there is no friendly, simplified payment verification (SPV) support. The writer @lawn states that token systems that rely on BCH OP_Return operations must choose from reduced SPV wallet security, light wallet based validation, and trusted third-party validation or a combination. “I think token schemes based on OP_Return is a dead end and we should focus our energy on miner validated and fully SPV capable tokens,” explains the critique. “Thus far only GROUP fits the bill,” the writer adds. Bitcoin Unlimited’s Andrew Stone Analyzes the Tokeda Project BU’s lead developer Andrew Stone. Then on Wednesday the lead developer for Bitcoin Unlimited (BU) Andrew Stone published a paper that reviews the Tokeda paper written by Joannes Vermorel. Stone’s ‘Tokeda Criticism’ says that the “Early Draft: Incomplete” paper written by Vermorel has been presented as a viable option against GROUP so it should be analyzed. The BU developer concludes that a lot of specifics within the Tokeda idea are general and unspecified and further would likely require some sort of “authority-based system.” “Although much of Tokeda is completely unspecified, it seems to propose a system where token holders control a UTXO that should only be spent to the issuer, who has the opportunity to apply arbitrary policy before forwarding the spend to its actual destination — It is, therefore, an authority-based, SPV capable system,” Stone’s criticism explains. However, it ineptly deploys the power of authority-based systems resulting in problems easily solved by other authority systems. By placing its UTXO on the blockchain, and requiring 2 transactions per transfer, it compares very unfavorably with respect to scalability with many other token proposals, including the permissionless Group tokenization. Authority-based tokens should be able to do much better in their ability to shard the UTXO. Stone continues, “For example, authority-based extension block systems such as FSHblocks can move all token transfers completely off-chain — out of history AND UTXO. The only on-chain transfers required are those that are actually moving BCH value between the BCH blockchain and the extension block.” Given its lack of interactivity with BCH and authority-based architecture, there seems to be no reason whatsoever for Tokeda’s implementation on a blockchain. With So Much Going On, BCH Proponents Hardly Notice the Market Uptrend Overall the Bitcoin Cash community seems to enjoy evaluating these proposals, and the criticisms have also been welcomed to some degree. There are definitely developers who believe that their systems that utilize OP_Return operations are not dead ends and will continue in this permissionless environment — After all, no one can stop them from producing these tokenization systems. Over the past year, BCH supporters have seen apps like Joystream, Memo.cash, Blockpress, Chainfeed, Cointext, Cashpay, Read.cash, Cash Shuffle and more. Furthermore, BCH proponents seem pleased with the current development progress from programmers like Unwriter since the upgrade took place this past May. Markets have been better all around for most cryptocurrencies including bitcoin cash but the BCH community seems more focused than ever on the people building with the BCH chain. Most would agree that eventually, market uptrends will follow cryptocurrencies that show steady innovation. What do you think about the latest events and announcements taking place within the Bitcoin Cash environment? Let us know your thoughts on this subject in the comment section below. Images via Pixabay, Bitcointalk.org, Chaintrend, and Satoshi Pulse. Want to create your own secure cold storage paper wallet? Check our tools section. The post BCH Roundup: Markets Spike While the Community Debates Token Protocols appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

On July 19, a group of interdisciplinary researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, with guidance from the esteemed Penn Law professor David Hoffman, published an in-depth study of initial coin offerings (ICOs) that promise innovative concepts like autonomous governance and operate by the belief that ‘code is law’. However, most of the ICOs the group researched failed to match the original contractual promises and the so-called ‘trustless trust’ offered by these projects had very little merit. Also read: Japan Tax Agency Says Individuals Earning $1,800+ in Crypto a Year Will Declare Tax University of Pennsylvania Study Looks Into Whether ICO White Paper Promises Match the Project’s Codebase This week, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and Penn Law professor David Hoffman have published an interesting working paper on ICOs called “Coin Operated Capitalism.” The paper was authored by university members Shaanan Cohney (computer science PHd), David Wishnick (a fellow at Penn Law’s interdisciplinary Center for Technology), and Jeremy Sklaroff (Penn’s JD/MBA program). The study’s authors surveyed and audited the top 50 ICOs that raised the most funds in 2017 and researchers looked at whether or not the ICO promises made by the promoters and white papers actually matched the technology’s codebase. The study finds that there are glaring differences between what the ICOs’ code delivers and what the creators promised to their investors. “The automated mechanisms found in code—known as ‘smart contracts’—are not the only way entrepreneurs can deliver on their promises,” Wishnick explained. But, according to proponents, they are what make ICOs innovative. Researchers from Penn Law looked at ICOs such as Tezos, Filecoin, EOS, Bancor, Tron, Tenx, Civic, Chainlink, Storj, Power Ledger, and many more. Only 20% of 50 ICO Codebases Matched the Promoter’s Promises Out of the 50 ICOs surveyed, using both the white papers (contracts) and the codebases (delivered or non-delivered promises), a great deal of the ICO code and their associated ICO contracts did not match. In fact, only 20 percent of the 50 contracts surveyed matched their promises to code 100 percent of the time. “Nearly 60 percent made a least one governance promise that was missing from the code, and 20 percent had two or more mismatches,” the study’s authors emphasize. “Surprisingly, in a community known for espousing a techno-libertarian belief in the power of ‘trustless trust’ built with carefully designed code, a significant fraction of issuers retained centralized control through previously undisclosed code permitting modification of the entities’ governing structures,” the working paper explains. In Contrast to Traditional Law, the Smart Contract Community Is Full of Energy But So-Called Autonomous Protocols Need Vetting and Code Auditing The paper concludes that the informality of smart-contract production does lead to “risks” but also “creativity”. Smart contract developers are far more creative than a “community of lawyers who tend to recycle language from agreement to agreement without much thought,” the study states. In contrast, the smart contract community has a lot of passion and energy, the researchers explain. But the study shows the manufacturing of smart contracts and blockchain promises must be evaluated and scrutinized closely. “Beyond the production of smart contracts and blockchain code, our study also highlights the importance of the ecosystem through which crypto code is vetted, audited, and made legible to the outside world,” the paper concludes. What do you think about the Penn Law working paper that details most ICO code does not match the promises tied to the project? Let us know what you think in the comment section below. Images via Shutterstock, and the University of Pennsylvania Bitcoin.com there’s a bunch of free helpful services. For instance, have you seen our Tools page? You can even look up the exchange rate for a transaction in the past. Or calculate the value of your current holdings. Or create a paper wallet. And much more. The post Study Shows Many ICO Protocols Fail to Match White Paper Promises 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. SoPay has announced its arrival in three exchanges (CoinEx, Gate.io and BCEX) with an emphatic announcement of the trading contest that will feature 30 million SOP tokens. SoPay is a new blockchain payment platform that brings a disruptive experience in the money market. Also, it has innovative operating models that it wants to leverage to make the digital asset trading environment more convenient. Besides, SoPay will allow users to transact at no handling fee and with quicker processing duration of just 1 second. The platform supports transaction between numerous digital assets as well as cross-platform transactions. Furthermore, users can exchange digital assets for goods and services available in traditional offline and online businesses. SoPay for Users The SoPay experience is truly disruptive for users since it introduces a human touch to transactions. The platform eliminates the need for complicated passwords, elaborate processes and unnecessarily long confirmation durations. It has a simple, safe and user-friendly interface that is only comparable to Alipay. How SoPay Works and its Reward Model The simple process at SoPay involves registering a mobile phone number and a 6-digit transaction password. These two are equivalent to the average login information. This is all that users need to be able to make payment. The platform hopes that this simple process will make blockchain payments open to everyone. Right now, the global population of participants in the blockchain space is a paltry 30 million. The platform foresees this number growing to 200 million by 2020 following the advantages that SoPay offers. The SoPay platform rewards people that use the platform through its payment-mining model. This model gives incentive to users that deposit, lock assets or pay using the platform. The mine pool on SoPay comes from the income of service provider. The First Target – The Gaming Space SoPay is alive to the consumption barrier of digital assets among the gaming companies. To this end, it already has 40 gaming companies from the Orient, Europe and the U.S. in its pocket. These companies represent some 20 million players. Market predictions estimate that blockchain payments in the gaming environment will reach US$ 100 billion in just three years. SoPay, therefore, sees it as a good starting point on its onslaught that also targets enterprises operating in the financial management, e-commerce and other allied industries. This strategy will enable it provide comprehensive services to all kinds of digital asset holders. A New Consensus with Heightened Safety and Efficiency SoPay is a product of extensive research and innovation in technology. The efforts intended to create a product that is different from existing payment platforms. Importantly, it’s SO Chain application gives users a chance to create accounts and virtual assets, transfer, confirm, transact, pledge and witness transactions, to name just a few among many other basic online transaction functions. In addition, the platform offers users increased privacy at high operational speeds and enhanced security. The improvements and innovations are possible because the platform combines the benefits of EOS and third-generation consensus Delegated Proof of Stake (DPos). More information about the SoPay platform: Official website: https://sopay.org/ Telegram group 1: https://t.me/sopay_en Telegram group 2: https://t.me/sopay_en02 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SoPaypayment/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/SoPayORG Press Contact Email Address aditya@inboundment.com Supporting Link https://sopay.org/ 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: SoPay – Blockchain Payment Platform Lists on Three Major Exchanges to Create Digital Assets “Alipay” appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article