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The US remains a leading destination for ICO projects according to a new study that also ranks Switzerland and Singapore in the top three. The report notes that authorities in other jurisdictions, like Russia and Estonia, are working to adopt favorable regulations in order to attract more crypto startups. The findings coincide with another study identifying 78% of all ICOs as scams. Also read: Less Than Half of ICOs Survive Four Months After Sale, Study Finds A Third of the Largest ICOs Held in the US Despite regulatory uncertainty, the United States has established itself as the leading destination for companies conducting Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), a new study confirms. According to the recently published report, 30 of the 100 largest token sales were held by companies based in the US. The data compiled by the team of the Crypto Finance Conference places Switzerland second with 15 ICOs, and Singapore third with 11 of the biggest coin offerings. “ICOs continue to gain momentum. They raised $6.3 billion in the first quarter of 2018 — more than was raised in all of 2017,” said the chief executive of CFC, Andrea-Franco Stöhr, quoted by Venture Beat. In a released statement, he also commented that the research provides an opportunity to understand which countries are embracing blockchain and crypto projects and how they do it. The authors of the study also note that a number of countries are making efforts to adopt and implement regulations that would attract and encourage more initial coin offerings. The Russian Federation, which hosted six of the top 100 projects, is one of them. Another report published earlier this year claimed that startups with Russian participation raised $310 million. That study covered a total of 370 token sales. The other nation that has been mentioned in the study as a crypto-friendly jurisdiction is Estonia, with four of the largest ICOs. According to some reports, the tiny Baltic country accounts for up to 10% of all funds raised through initial coin offerings last year. 78% of ICO Projects Identified as Scams Despite two recent studies suggesting investors are still bullish on ICOs, a research conducted by the Boston College revealed that less than half of ICOs survive four months after sale. Now, another study, authored by the research company Satis Group, tells us that a staggering 78% of all coin offerings conducted last year have turned out to be scams. These ICOs promised big profits but shared very little information about the project and the team behind it or didn’t even publish a white paper. Most of them disappeared right after the token sale. The updated data in the “Cryptoasset Market Coverage Initiation: Network Creation” report, released last week, also shows that 4% of the ICO projects have failed to meet their fundraising targets and have returned the capital to the investors. Another 3% were never listed on a trading platform. Only 15% of the coins sold through ICOs continued to be listed and traded on exchanges. Of those currently trading, 7% are deemed ‘successful’, 3% are said to be ‘promising’, and 4% are tagged ‘dwindling’. It’s been estimated that of the $12 billion raised by ICOs, $1.3 billion (11%) was lost to scams, $1.7 billion (14%) disappeared in failed projects, and $624 million (5%) went to those that had gone dead. However, more than 70%, or $8 billion USD, went to ICOs that eventually reached exchanges. According to the study, most of the funds appropriated by scams were invested in three projects. These are Pincoin ($660 million), Arisebank ($600 million) and Savedroid ($50 million). Do you think the regulatory efforts in many jurisdictions will decrease the number of fraudulent ICOs? Share your expectations in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Satis Group. 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 US Ranked Top Destination for Coin Offerings, Majority of ICOs Identified as Scams appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

CFA Institute, with over 150,000 members, is adding cryptocurrency topics to its curriculum for the first time. The course material will be released in August. A record 227,031 people in 91 countries and territories reportedly registered to take CFA exams this year. Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space Crypto Added to CFA Curriculum The world’s largest association of investment professionals, CFA Institute, “is adding topics on cryptocurrencies and blockchain to its Level I and II curriculums for the first time next year,” Bloomberg reported. A global, not-for-profit organization, CFA Institute offers a range of education and career resources including the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and the Certificate in Investment Performance Measurement (CIPM) designations. Its membership stood at 156,800 at the end of FY2017. Citing that a majority of the candidates came from Asia, the news outlet elaborated: A record 227,031 people in 91 countries and territories registered to take CFA exams in June…Material for the 2019 exams will be released in August, giving candidates their first opportunity to start logging a recommended 300 hours of study time. Crypto – ‘Not a Passing Fad’ The CFA curriculum is organized into three levels. Level I tests “knowledge of the ethical and professional standards.” Level II tests how these standards are applied to situations analysts face. Level III tests how they are applied “in a portfolio management and compliance context.” Each level currently consists of 10 topics such as quantitative methods, economics, corporate finance, equity management, fixed income, derivatives, and alternative investments. The crypto addition is part of a new reading called Fintech in Investment Management, Bloomberg conveyed. The institute decided to include it “after industry participants showed surging interest in surveys and focus groups.” Stephen Horan, the institute’s managing director for general education and curriculum in Charlottesville, Virginia, explained that “the CFA material on crypto and blockchain will appear alongside other fintech subjects including artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data and automated trading.” Citing that “more crypto topics, such as the intersection of virtual currencies and economics, may eventually be added to the curriculum,” he asserted: We saw the field advancing more quickly than other fields and we also saw it as more durable…This is not a passing fad. A 27-year-old financial economics student at Columbia University who took the CFA Level I exam in June, Kayden Lee, was quoted by the news outlet saying that “it will be beneficial for us since there’s been a huge expansion and adoption of crypto in our investment universe.” What do you think of CFA Institute adding crypto topics to its curriculum? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock and CFA Institute. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Largest Association of Investment Professionals Adds Crypto to Curriculum 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. Gaël Monfils, the 31-year-old French tennis star, is known as “Sliderman” for his on-court showmanship. He may take chances when trying to win Grand Slam matches, but when it comes to personal finance Monfils – who reached a career high of No6 in the world in 2016 – says he is risk-averse. His investment platform of his choice? The world’s leading social trading network eToro, which specialises in cryptocurrencies. Monfils has been described by The Sunday Times magazine as “the most interesting guy in tennis” and Britain’s former world No1 Andy Murray reckons the agile Frenchman is the best athlete in the sport. He is not bad when it comes to investing in crypto, either, and began actively trading on eToro in 2017 (https://www.etoro.com/people/lamonf), having heard about the award-winning platform from his brother-in-law. He was drawn to its wide selection of cryptos and innovative investment tools. Now he is sponsored by eToro, and the video the platform produced introducing Monfils – which you can see below – has generated almost four million views since late May. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBKGq8iB8gQ The Swiss-based tennis maestro, who played in his tenth Wimbledon in July and had reached two Grand Slam semi-finals (both at the US Open, in 2008 and 2016) and has amassed £10.5 million of prize money in his career, says another big plus for is eToro is its excellent multi-channel user-friendly interface. “I use [eToro] while travelling and it gives me some independence with my money,” he said in an interview for The Times on the eve of The Championships at Wimbledon (https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/gael-monfils-the-crypto-factor-gave-me-flashy-returns-tlr9b6bgv). “I have a diverse portfolio, with a particular interest in big tech stocks.” Monfils claims he made a healthy profit recently when selling his crypto assets on eToro, which over the years has pioneering various innovative features in the world of online trading – including CopyTrader, and CopyFunds. “Last year I was investing especially in cryptocurrency – ethereum, litecoin, XRP and bitcoin,” he told The Times. “I sold out but have some left as a long-term investment, which I am not touching. “I find [cryptos] fascinating – it’s futuristic, definitely novel, quite volatile, and it’s interesting how and why they built it. I made a very good profit; I could have had more, for sure, if I had held it for a bit longer, but I sold it at the right time for me. I think I made close to 75 per cent profit.” On his trading style, Monfils – whose biggest payday came in 2016 when he reached the last four of the US Open and was rewarded with $875,000 (£660,000) – added: “I know how hard I have worked to win my money. I’m a very safe person in terms of risking money. It’s so hard to earn the money – why would I then risk it?” Top tennis talent Monfils finds eToro’s service ace – and is urging others from around the globe to join him on the platform. And given his impressive track record in crypto trading he is good value for users looking to use the CopyTrader tool. Explore eToro today. All trading involves risk. Only risk capital you’re prepared to lose. Past performance is not an indication of future results. Contact Email Address https://www.etoro.com/about/contact-us/ Supporting Link www.etoro.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: Monfils Sponsorship with eToro appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In today’s edition of Bitcoin in Brief we cover the news that the world’s largest asset manager Blackrock is examining the crypto market, Coinbase is approved to list security tokens, and Bitpay got a New York Bitlicense. Additionally, the BCH exchange rate is now displayed directly on Google. Also Read: UK Mosque Collects Four Times More Donations in Crypto Than Fiat Blackrock Examining Crypto Market Blackrock, considered to be the world’s largest asset manager with over $6 trillion in assets under management, is probing the crypto market. Reports have popped up yesterday that the NYSE-listed company has created a ‘working group’ to explore how it can take advantage of the hot new alternative investment instruments. Larry Fink, chairman and CEO, subsequently denied in an interview that the company is setting up any crypto trading capabilities or that Blackrock 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. “When it becomes more legitimatized, when it has a true open nature of it that you can identify who the players are on both sides, that’s when we’ll probably look at it,” Fink said. Coinbase Approved to List Securities There has recently been a race among crypto companies to acquire licenses to offer securities in the US, with firms such as Coinbase, Circle and Uphold buying up regulated assets. Now the former says that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) have approved its takeover of Keystone Capital, Venovate Marketplace and Digital Wealth, the three entities that Coinbase sought for their licenses. The next step for the company is integrating its own technology into the new subsidiaries, and training up its staff to comply with American securities brokering regulations. Bitpay Gets a Bitlicense Bitpay, the digital asset service provider based in Atlanta, Georgia, received a Virtual Currency License from the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS). This ‘Bitlicense’ enables businesses based in the state to leverage Bitpay to accept BCH and BTC for purchases from users globally, and local residents to be able to make purchases with the service. “This is an important milestone for BitPay to secure the virtual currency license from the New York Department of Financial Services and be the first non-exchange to do so,” said CEO Stephen Pair. “New York state has one of the strictest policies around businesses involved in cryptocurrency and working through the approval processes to obtain a License was important to BitPay. We believe this hard work will pay off as New York presents significant business opportunities for BitPay.” “DFS welcomes BitPay to New York’s expanding and well-regulated virtual currency market,” said Superintendent Maria T. Vullo. “We continue to work to support a vibrant and competitive virtual currency market that connects and empowers New Yorkers in a global marketplace while ensuring strong state-regulatory oversight is in place.” In total, DFS has now approved ten firms for bitlicenses and charters. Peter Thiel and Bitmain Invest in EOS Publisher Block.one, the company behind the development of EOS, has announced the closure of its latest strategic investment round. Paypal co-founder Peter Thiel has led this round, along with other investments from Bitmain, Louis Bacon, and Alan Howard. “As Block.one prepares to announce its future plans, we’re excited to welcome key strategic investors aligned with our values of creating a more secure and connected world,” said CEO Brendan Blumer. “The EOSIO protocol is a great example of blockchain innovation. Its performance and scalability can meet the needs of demanding consumer applications and will pave the way for mainstream blockchain adoption,” commented Jihan Wu of Bitmain. Bitcoin Cash Is Now on Google What do you do when you want to check the current price of BCH? Now you can just enter ‘bitcoin cash’ on Google and the search engine will display the exchange rate as the top result. And last but not least, Robinhood has announced that after BCH and LTC, it has now added for trading on its Crypto app the lovable shiba meme-based cryptocurrency, Dogecoin. What do you think about today’s news tidbits? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Verify and track bitcoin cash transactions on our BCH Block Explorer, the best of its kind anywhere in the world. Also, keep up with your holdings, BCH and other coins, on our market charts at Satoshi’s Pulse, another original and free service from Bitcoin.com. The post The Daily: Blackrock Probes Market, Coinbase to List Securities, Bitpay Gets a Bitlicense appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Iran may employ cryptocurrencies as part of its efforts to circumvent the upcoming US sanctions, according to a high-ranking Iranian lawmaker who said the matter will be discussed in parliament soon. The Iranian MP also believes that digital money can help with overcoming the hegemony of the US dollar. Also read: PBoC: Bitcoin Trading in Chinese Currency Drops Below 1% of World Total Teheran Mulls Evading US Sanctions with Crypto Mohammad Reza Pour-Ebrahimi Cryptocurrencies are one of the major mechanisms Iran can use to evade the new US sanctions, a senior Iranian lawmaker said in an interview published recently. Mohammad Reza Pour-Ebrahimi, chairman of the parliamentary Economic Commission, also noted that digital currencies could help get rid of the dollar hegemony in international trade. Speaking to the Mizan News Agency, he said the matter will soon be reviewed in the parliament of the Islamic Republic. Pour-Ebrahimi also noted that one of the main priorities of the Iranian legislature, in the current volatile economic situation, would be to explore the issue of money treaties as another mechanism to evade the sanctions. “Today, many countries like Russia, China and Brazil have already turned to mutual or multi-national money treaties which facilitate trade transactions,” he explained. Amid rising tensions with the US, since Washington pulled out from the nuclear deal in May and threatened Teheran with harsher measures, Iran’s national fiat currency, the rial, has lost half of its value in the past several months. The new set of economic sanctions is expected to take effect in November this year and Iranian authorities have been looking for ways to circumvent them, the Iran Front Page reports. Iran’s Complicated Relationship with Bitcoin So far, the Islamic Republic has had an ambiguous attitude toward cryptocurrencies. The country’s economic woes have persuaded many Iranians to turn to cryptos like bitcoin in order to protect themselves and their money from high inflation and economic uncertainty. Around the beginning of this year, when the country was shaken by popular protests over the socio-economic situation, Iran saw a record increase in peer-to-peer trade between the rial (IRR) and bitcoin (BTC). During that period, calls were made for wider acceptance of cryptocurrencies. Later, reports came out that Iran was considering issuing its own crypto and adopting regulations for the established, decentralized cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. They were followed by statements that coins are unreliable and risky and other reports suggesting that the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) is looking for a way to prevent the use of digital currencies in the country. In April, the CBI issued a statement effectively banning local banks and other financial institutions from dealing in cryptocurrency, while at the same time the debate on how to regulate the space was still ongoing. The risks of money laundering, financing terrorism, and criminal activities were cited as motives for the measure. Despite the clampdown, it was revealed in May that Iranians have sent abroad more than $2.5 billion to acquire cryptocurrencies. In the meantime, it became known that Iran has developed an experimental local cryptocurrency, while the Central Bank and the Information and Communications Ministry continued their work on creating a legal framework for the fintech industry. Do you think Iran will accept and use cryptocurrencies in order to evade US sanctions? Tell us what you think about this subject in the comment section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Mizan News Agency. Express yourself freely at Bitcoin.com’s user forums. We don’t censor on political grounds. Check forum.Bitcoin.com. The post Iran Considers Using Cryptocurrencies to Evade US Sanctions appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Latin American peer-to-peer (P2P) markets have seen an influx of volume in recent weeks, with the Localbitcoins markets of Argentina, Brazil, and Venezuela posting significant spikes in volume. In other news pertaining to international P2P markets, the Hungarian Localbitcoins markets produced near-record volume in recent weeks, whilst Canada’s recent surge in volume appears to have subsided. Also Read: Japan Tax Agency Says Individuals Earning $1,800+ in Crypto a Year Will Declare Tax Latin American P2P Trade Volume Increases According to data published by Coin.dance, the Localbitcoins markets of numerous Latin American nations have posted an influx of volume this past week. Argentina posted a new record for the fiat-value of weekly P2P trading last week – with nearly 6.05 million Argentine Pesos (approximately $220,000 USD) worth of trade taking place during the week of the 7th of July. Despite just 31 bitcoins changing hands via the Argentine P2P markets, the week saw the strongest weekly volume for ARS trading on Localbitcoins since August 2017. The week of the 7th of July also saw significant market action taking place on the Brazilian Localbitcoins markets – with the 3.2 million Brazilian Real (roughly $830,000 USD) worth of BTC traded comprising the third highest fiat-denominated weekly volume in the market’s history. With 128 bitcoins exchanging hands, the week also comprised the strongest volume since September 2017 for Brazil’s P2P markets. This week, Venezuelan trading on Localbitcoins established a new volume record for the eighteenth time in the last twenty weeks, with nearly 11.75 trillion Venezuelan Bolivars (approximately $98 million USD) worth of BTC exchanging hands during the week of the 14th of July. Despite the consistent records, the 590 BTC traded on the Venezuelan P2P markets comprises the ninth strongest weekly volume witnessed in the history of the Venezuelan Localbitcoins markets. Hungarian Localbitcoins Markets Rally Hungarian P2P trading enjoyed a sudden spike in activity in recent weeks, with Hungarian Localbitcoins trading producing the second and third highest weekly volume candles during two of the last three weeks. During both the weeks of the 30th of June and the 7th of July, Hungarian Localbitcoins listing facilitated 7.3 million Hungarian Forint worth of BTC changing hands. Despite the seemingly significant volume when measured in forint, both weeks saw only 4 BTC (approximately $26,500) worth of trade. Canadian Surge in P2P Trading Subsides Trade volume on the Canadian P2P markets appears to have normalized, with between 70 BTC and 80 BTC (roughly $600,000 – $700,000 CAD or $450,000 – $530,000 USD) worth of trade taking place for the fourth consecutive week. The apparent stabilization has occurred following several months of anomalously strong trading activity on Canada’s P2P markets – with between $4 million CAD (approximately $3.05 million USD or 900 BTC) and $12 million CAD (roughly $9.15 million USD or 1265 BTC) worth being posted weekly from mid-March until late-May. What do you think caused the sudden spike in Canadian P2P trading? Share your thoughts in the comments section below! Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Coin.dance At Bitcoin.com there’s a bunch of free helpful services. For instance, have you seen our Tools page? You can even lookup the exchange rate for a transaction in the past. Or calculate the value of your current holdings. Or create a paper wallet. And much more. The post P2P Markets Report: Latin American and Hungarian Volume Surges appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A framework has been developed for the G20 countries to “monitor the financial stability implications of crypto-assets markets.” The Financial Stability Board says cryptocurrencies “do not pose a material risk to global financial stability” but supports their “vigilant monitoring.” Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space G20’s Crypto Monitoring Framework The Financial Stability Board (FSB) announced Monday that it “has developed a framework and identified metrics to monitor the financial stability implications of crypto-assets markets.” The framework was developed in collaboration with the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI). The board also published and submitted a report detailing its work on crypto-assets to the G20 as requested by finance ministers and central bankers at the G20 meeting on March 19 and 20 in Buenos Aires. The FSB is an international body that monitors and makes recommendations about the global financial system to G20, an international forum for governments and central bank governors. The CPMI supports financial stability by promoting the safety and efficiency of payment, clearing, settlement and related arrangements. “The objective of the framework is to identify any emerging financial stability concerns in a timely manner,” the report states, adding: The framework discusses the primary risks within crypto-assets and potential transmission channels to financial stability risks. The framework identifies which metrics the FSB might usefully monitor in the short-to-medium term. The report also notes that “in general, monitoring the size and rate of growth of crypto-asset markets is critical to understanding the potential size of wealth effects, should a decline in valuations occur.” Furthermore, “the use of crypto-assets for payment or settlement is another transmission channel to be monitored.” FSB’s Proposed Metrics Citing that the crypto market and its public data sources, which the proposed monitoring metrics are based on, are “rapidly evolving,” the FSB warned that “the quality of the underlying data can vary, and might not always be satisfactory.” The report explains: Market-related figures, such as metrics on prices, trading volumes, and volatility may be manipulated by generally prohibited practices such as ‘wash trading,’ ‘spoofing,’ and ‘pump and dump,’ the existence of which cannot be ruled out at this stage. The FSB also pointed out that “the proposed metrics may not fit all types of crypto-assets equally.” Nonetheless, it believes that they “provide a useful picture of crypto-asset markets and the financial stability risks they may present.” Over time, the FSB and the CPMI will consider improvements to the metrics as well as add new ones at a later stage. No Material Risk to Financial Stability The FSB report refers to decentralized, unbacked cryptocurrencies and crypto-assets as “first generation private digital tokens,” which are dismissed as “unsafe money.” However, it notes that “safer central bank issued cash may be less convenient in an era of electronic payments.” The report continues: Crypto-assets do not pose a material risk to global financial stability at this time…At present, like crypto-assets in general, crypto-asset platforms do not pose global financial stability risks. Nevertheless, they raise other significant concerns, including consumer and investor protection, market integrity and money laundering/terrorism financing, among others. The FSB further revealed that the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision is currently “conducting an initial stocktake on the materiality of banks’ direct and indirect exposures to crypto-assets.” While the FSB does not believe crypto-assets pose a material risk to global financial stability, it supports “vigilant monitoring in light of the speed of developments and data gaps,” the report details. What do you think of the FSB’s crypto monitoring framework? Let us know what you think in the comment section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, BIS, and FSB. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post G20 Watchdog Unveils Framework to Monitor Crypto appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

According to reports the social media platform Twitter has been deleting millions of fraudulent accounts per day, and stated during the first week of July that it suspended more than 70 million accounts throughout May and June. However, the cryptocurrency industry is still plagued by tons of ‘ETH scam-bots’ pretending to be bitcoin luminaries and this scheme has made these particular fraudsters millions. Also read: BCH Roundup: Steady Development, Market Uptrends, and New Apps Twitter Says The Company Has Suspended 70 Million Phony Accounts, But Bots Still Plague the Twitter-Sphere Over the last few weeks, news.Bitcoin.com had written about the various Twitter scams and fake Ethereum giveaways that can be found throughout lots of conversations within the cryptocurrency industry. Some developers have even been working on cryptographic solutions that can weed out the vast amount of lookalike Twitter scammers. The massive amount of phony accounts use a person’s profile picture, the same username, and these frauds typically jump into a conversation following a hot tweet and push their ETH giveaways. Phony John McAfee and Tone Vays Twitter accounts. Screenshots were taken on July 15, 2018. An example giveaway is you give them 5 ETH, and they say they will give you 50 ETH in return after the funds are sent. This particular trick, even though it’s pretty obvious to some people, has been able to help these imposters acquire millions of dollars worth of Ethereum. Then just last week Twitter detailed to the media that they have thrown the ban-hammer down on fake accounts and have been suspending millions a day. According to the Washington Post, the social media giant suspended 70 million accounts throughout May and June. Even though in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, these bots or spammers are in full force impersonating cryptocurrency figures, executives, and even digital asset exchanges like Binance. Yet the bot problem has also plagued movie stars, musicians, and political parties as well. A researcher from a Palo Alto-based think tank, Samuel C. Woolley, believes Twitter should be doing more to prevent spammers and bots. “When you have an account tweeting over a thousand times a day, there’s no question that it’s a bot,” said Woolley, at the Digital Intelligence Lab at the Institute for the Future. Twitter has to be doing more to prevent the amplification and suppression of political ideas. A fake Binance exchange Twitter account. Screenshot was taken on July 15, 2018. Crypto-Luminaries, Bigwigs, and Exchanges Are Not Giving Away 200 ETH Even though Twitter claims they have been banning millions of fake accounts the problem is still happening within the cryptocurrency industry. Lots of ‘cryptocurrency bigwigs’ are being copied by look-alike accounts still to this day. For instance, on July 15 the writer and speaker Andreas Antonopoulos shared a tweet of one of his latest talks. After the tweet, a phony “CZ” pretending to be the CEO of Binance states: A nеw prоmоtion with suppоrt is available tоday Get 200 ETHEREUM in your wallet now. You саn use аnу wal­let or exch­ange (Fоr example: Coinb­ase, Bina­nce, and others) or use a smart con­tract. If you’re Ia­te for this eve­nt, you’ll get your investment bасk imme­diately! Unfortunately, the ETH scam bots are alive and well on Twitter and are still able to spawn new accounts after the company claims to have thrown down the ban hammer. For now, these cryptocurrency scammers don’t seem to be going anywhere soon. What do you think about this situation? Do you think Twitter is doing a good job of taking care of this issue? Let us know what you think in the comment section below. Images via Shutterstock, Pixabay, Twitter. Want a comprehensive list of the top 500 cryptocurrencies and see their prices and overall market valuation? Check out Satoshi Pulse for all that hot market action! The post ETH Bots Run Rampant While Twitter Claims to Ban Lookalike Accounts appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

South Korean exchange Coinrail has resumed service after it was hacked last month. The exchange has offered users some options to recover their cryptocurrencies. Eleven cryptos were stolen, some of which have been fully recovered and are now available for trading and withdrawals. However, some coins were not recovered. Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space Services Resumed Coinrail reported that it was hacked on June 10 with an estimated damage of about 45 billion won (~US$40 million). The exchange suspended trading after the hack as it tried to recover lost coins. Coinrail resumed service on July 15, announcing: We have completely revamped the existing security system that exposed the vulnerability, and have upgraded the overall security level. The cause of the hack was not disclosed by the exchange when it resumed trading, Sedaily noted. “KISA [The Korea Internet & Security Agency] is in the process of finalizing the investigation, but it is still being analyzed, and details of the incident cannot be disclosed,” the news outlet quoted a KISA official saying. Coinrail claims that its new security system “complies with KISA security guidelines.” 11 Cryptocurrencies Affected A total of eleven cryptocurrencies were stolen, Coinrail revealed. They are dent (DENT), tradove b2bcoin (BBC), ether (ETH), jibrel network (JNT), bitcoin (BTC), kyber network (KNC), storm (STORM), tron (TRX), pundi x (NPXS), aston (ATX), and nper (NPER). The 7 partially unrecovered cryptocurrencies. Funds in DENT, BBC, and ETH have been fully recovered; customers can start trading and withdrawing them. “Recovery [is] in progress” for JNT, the exchange detailed. The remaining seven cryptocurrencies have not been fully recovered, including BTC. Cryptocurrencies that are not stolen or in the recovery process “can be immediately withdrawn and traded,” the exchange clarified, adding: The amount of cryptocurrencies that have not been recovered cannot be withdrawn or exchanged until the recovery is complete. Recovery Options The exchange has come up with two recovery plans for the coins that have not been recovered. However, these plans have been criticized as being inadequate. The first plan is for the exchange to purchase cryptocurrencies directly to recover damages. Coinrail says it will “pay back the unrecovered cryptocurrencies by gradually purchasing the cryptocurrencies with the profit from the service operation.” The second is for Coinrail to issue its own RAIL tokens to affected customers. “Unrecovered cryptocurrencies can be exchanged at a rate of ‘1 RAIL = 0.72 KRW,'” the exchange noted. However, the price of RAIL “fell about 72.2 percent in about half a day [to 0.2 KRW] after Coinrail officially resumed trading at 8 pm on the 15th,” Sedaily described. What do you think of Coinrail’s plan to compensate customers? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock and Coinrail. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Crypto Exchange Coinrail Reopens with Offers to Recover 11 Cryptocurrencies appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Cryptocurrencies are seeing some good gains over the past two days after market capitalizations lost billions last weekend. Over the last six days, the entire digital asset economy has seen an increase of around $15Bn and now averages around $268Bn on Monday, July 16. Digital currency proponents are hopeful the past six months of bearish market sentiment is over and brighter days may be ahead. Also read: Bitcoin ABC Developers Publish Bitcoin Cash Upgrade Timeline Bullish Optimism Creeps Into the Cryptocurrency Market Sentiment, With a Possibility of Brighter Days Ahead Digital asset traders and enthusiasts are optimistic cryptocurrency markets may reverse their downward trend over the next few weeks leading up to the Cboe ETF decision. Last weekend markets were seeing losses across the board as the top cryptocurrency values had dropped 5-25 percent fairly quickly. But since then over the course of the week, digital currency prices have gathered steam and regained at least 2/3rds of last week’s losses. Overall trade volume is about $12.8Bn and has been relatively weak over the past few months but has seen a slight increase today. Bitcoin Core (BTC) Market Action The current bitcoin core (BTC) spot price right now is around $6,687 per BTC at the time of publication. BTC 24-hour trade volume is about $4.4Bn over the last day and the cryptocurrency has a $114.5Bn market valuation. The top exchanges swapping the most bitcoin core today include Bitflyer (1.8Bn), Fcoin ($325Mn), Coinbene ($281Mn), Binance ($196Mn), and Bigone ($187Mn). On July 16, the most traded currency exchanged for BTC is the Japanese yen capturing 49 percent of the intraday’s trades. This is followed by tether (USDT 33%), USD (10.2%), EUR (2.4%), and the KRW (1.8%). Out of the 1600+ digital bitcoin core’s market dominance is about 42 percent. BTC/USD Technical Indicators Looking at the 4-hour BTC/USD charts on Bitstamp and Coinbase shows bulls are pushing markets forward attempting to challenge the $6,800-7,000 resistance. Around 1 pm EDT relative strength index (RSI) levels show overbought conditions at 76. The two Simple Moving Averages (SMA) have crossed hairs recently and the 100 SMA is above the 200 SMA. This indicates the path of least resistance is towards the upside. MACd is heading northbound and shows more upswing could be in the cards today. Looking at order books shows BTC bulls need to crack the $6,800-7,000 territory and after that is smoother seas up until $7,200. On the backside, if bears took the reigns again there is plenty of support down to $5600 for quite some time. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Market Action Bitcoin cash (BCH) market action shows the price is around $800 per coin this Monday. The decentralized cryptocurrency’s overall market capitalization is about $13.77Bn and daily trade volume has increased to about $494Mn. BCH holds the fifth highest trade volumes today out of the top cryptocurrencies and is the fourth largest market cap. The top trading platforms exchanging the most BCH today include Bigone ($58Mn), Okex ($56Mn), Binance ($48Mn), Coinex ($48Mn), and Hitbtc ($41Mn). The top currency pairs traded with bitcoin cash today include tether (USDT 47%), BTC (28%), USD (12%), KRW (3.5%), ETH (2.7%). BCH/USD Technical Indicators. BCH/USD 4-hour and 30-minute charts look very similar to BTC/USD charts today and are performing similarly. However, the two SMAs are different with the 200 SMA above the 100 SMA indicating the path towards least resistance is the downside. Similarly to BTC/USD, RSI levels are about 79 right now showing overbought conditions. MACd looks like it could bump up more but might head southbound over the next hour. Looking at order books shows some very large walls between the current vantage point and $840. If BCH bulls can move past the $860 area then things may improve even more. On the backside charts show from now up until $650 there is strong support. The Verdict: Traders Seem Positive and Hope for More Green Candles The verdict this time around is far more positive as markets have improved a great deal this week. Most of the top cryptocurrencies have seen around 5 percent in gains over the past 24-hours but coins such as LTC, IOTA, and NEO have made notable increases. As mentioned above, a lot of traders think markets might continue to climb as the ETF decision approaches. The possible outcome of this upcoming decision may have blown a breath of fresh air into the cryptocurrency economy. Where do you see the price of BCH, BTC, and other coins headed from here? Let us know in the comments below. Disclaimer: Price articles and markets updates are intended for informational purposes only and should not to be considered as trading advice. Neither Bitcoin.com nor the author is responsible for any losses or gains, as the ultimate decision to conduct a trade is made by the reader. Always remember that only those in possession of the private keys are in control of the “money.” Images via Shutterstock, Trading View, and Satoshi Pulse. Want to create your own secure cold storage paper wallet? Check our tools section. The post Markets Update: Bitcoin Bulls Charge Forward appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A British Mosque has collected four times more donations in cryptocurrencies than fiat, showing another example of the growing importance of the innovative instruments in charity. People from all around the world donated to the mosque using cryptocurrency during Ramadan, including one transaction of over £5,200. Also Read: The Daily: Poloniex Goes Mobile, Cobinhood Adds USD Fiat, Bitmain Expands Crypto Mosque The Shacklewell Lane Mosque, also known as Masjid Ramadan, in Dalston, East London, UK has decided to accept cryptocurrencies as charity, as we reported back in May. The move has paid off well for the house of prayer as it reportedly collected four time more donations in crypto than fiat during the month of Ramadan. It received £13,983 from cryptocurrency donations, compared with just £3,460 from fiat donations. The Hackney mosque’s chairman, Erkin Guney, told local media inews: “Many people at the mosque were initially sceptical about us accepting this new money, but the fact we received four times more in cryptocurrency donations shows how important it is to be open to these new digital currencies.” He added: “When the donations started to flow in, we were blown away. We received four times more in cryptocurrency donations than in cash from our local worshippers during Ramadan, and we are still receiving cryptocurrency Sadaqah [donations]. It is amazing!” Bitcoin Charity 24 people from around the world donated to the mosque using cryptocurrency, including one transaction of over £5,200. The funds are earmarked for repairs to the facility, offering food and shelters to needy locals, as well as supporting poor Muslim families with funeral costs. Gurmit Singh, founder of London-based Islamic finance startup Combo Innovation who advised the mosque on how to support cryptocurrency donations, commented: “I hope other mosques and charities will now follow Masjid Ramadan’s lead to take advantage of this important new revenue stream”. This is just one example how the cryptocurrency community is supporting all kinds of charitable organizations. Other recent cases include Binance donating $1 million to Japanese flood victims, and Paxful granting academic scholarships to female Afghan refugees in the US. And this mosque is not the first religious establishment to turn to aid from crypto users. Back in January we reported about ICF Zurich, an evangelical church from the largest city in Switzerland, which begun accepting voluntary offerings from its parishioners using cryptocurrency. What is stopping more religious organizations from accepting crypto donations? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Verify and track bitcoin cash transactions on our BCH Block Explorer, the best of its kind anywhere in the world. Also, keep up with your holdings, BCH and other coins, on our market charts at Satoshi’s Pulse, another original and free service from Bitcoin.com. The post UK Mosque Collects Four Times More Donations in Crypto Than Fiat appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The Japanese NTA (Tax Agency) has announced a new strategic policy put in place by July 15th to promote and improve the environment for people and companies to spontaneously declare their virtual currency income tax returns. Also read: Japan Contemplates Scrapping Its Progressive Crypto Tax Rate NTA to Devise Simplified and Automated Tax Return Filing Method Together with the Financial Service Agency and cryptocurrency related organizations, the NTA has reportedly said a simplified tax declaration method, which would automatically calculate profits made by selling virtual currencies and tax returns, is currently underway. The NTA also urged private companies to utilize the software which can automatically calculate profits and losses made in cryptocurrency, and encouraged them to properly pay taxes, insisting the complicated tax payment method is now improved. Earlier in April, the NTA held study sessions together with the FSA and Japan Blockchain Association aiming at exchanging opinions and thoughts on cryptocurrency tax filing methods. After a few of these study sessions, which are to be held until the end of 2018, the NTA intends to come up with a solid and concrete tax policy before next year’s tax return. Simplifying Cryptocurrency Tax Calculation Most of the difficulties for calculating profits obtained after selling cryptocurrencies relate to the different methods used by each crypto exchange for transaction history data storage. The NTA also pointed out the difficulties of managing distorted tax returns and cheating. The NTA intends to solve these issues altogether by putting in place software capable of automatically calculating profits and losses and publicizing this service in support of tax returns made on crypto income mainly for IT companies. Profits made after selling crypto would correspond to miscellaneous income. A tax return will be required to be filed for general company employees earning in crypto, if profits of more than 200 thousand yen ($1,800US) worth of crypto is earned between January and December of that year. The crypto taxpayer’s burden would be eased only if the complicated calculation becomes automated. The NTA is also considering simplifying the tax declaration paperwork to ensure a secure tax payment system. What do you think of Japan’s tax office improving the tax filing system for crypto earnings? Share your thoughts in the comments section below! Images courtesy of Shutterstock At Bitcoin.com there’s a bunch of free helpful services. For instance, have you seen our Tools page? You can even lookup the exchange rate for a transaction in the past. Or calculate the value of your current holdings. Or create a paper wallet. And much more. The post Japan Tax Agency Says Individuals Earning $1,800+ in Crypto a Year Will Declare Tax appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

When the indictment of Russian intelligence officers for interfering with the US election broke, the recriminations were swift. Not only had the 12 allegedly hacked the Democratic National Committee, but they’d had the temerity to do so using servers paid with cryptocurrency. When politicians and mainstream media began finger pointing, they had only one culprit to blame – bitcoin. Also read: Russia Now Has a Registry of Whitelisted Crypto Companies Bitcoin is Tried and Convicted in the Court of Public Opinion Congressman Emanuel Cleaver II wasted no time in castigating the “crypto industry” for its role in the DNC hack. The fact that Russians had apparently used bitcoin to cover their tracks was of more concern than the numerous other failings that the indictment revealed, like the inability of Democrats to detect basic phishing attempts, or of DNC admins to detect the X-Agent malware that was installed. No, the biggest takeaway from all this was that bitcoin had facilitated one of the gravest nation state-orchestrated crimes in years. As the detailed indictment against the Russian dozen reveals, however, bitcoin didn’t exactly enable the accused to cover their tracks. In fact, despite the extraordinary lengths they had gone to, bitcoin left an indelible trail that led right back to Russia, which the blockchain had gift-wrapped and handed to US investigators. The dozen accused purchased BTC on P2P exchanges, as well as mining the cryptocurrency themselves to pay for web hosting of dcleaks.com, and a VPN with which to operate the Guccifer 2.0 Twitter account. But this didn’t stop US officials from reconstructing the attackers’ every move, aided by the permanent record that the blockchain provides. Blockchain, Bitcoin and Cognitive Dissonance Chainalysis is a blockchain forensics company that is detested by many bitcoiners for its willingness to work hand-in-glove with law enforcement, helping to convict cryptocurrency users of victimless crimes such as the purchase of narcotics for personal use. Its co-founder, Jonathan Levin, despatched a trademark anti-bitcoin soundbite for CNBC, stating: “The fact that cryptocurrencies are global and real time means that you might only find out about these things after the fact. We need to think about the responsibilities that we all have in a world where payments move seamlessly across borders in the blink of an eye.” Wired Meanwhile, Wired, a publication that once mined 13 BTC and then inexplicably destroyed the wallet, issued a typical hit piece against bitcoin in its reporting of the hack. It began: “Bitcoin is a pain to spend. It is energy-guzzling, perilously slow and, with the prospect of dazzling returns (at least until recently), perhaps best to HODL ‘til you retire. But Bitcoin can count at least one group of spendthrifts among its users: Russian hackers accused of hacking in the 2016 election.” Wading through the hyperbole, one could be forgiven for thinking that bitcoin had single-handedly phished John Podesta, hacked the DNC, brought down the Democrats, and swung the election for Trump. Is Bitcoin a Help or a Hindrance to Criminals? Anyone reading MSM reporting of the event, or the screeching from various congressmen, may have been left confused as to bitcoin’s role in the DNC hack. Did it enable Russian agents to commit the crime or did it enable law enforcement to catch them? The answer lies somewhere in between. There is no doubt that bitcoin is used by criminals. It’s been used to purchase all sorts of things that from a legal, if not a moral, standpoint are illicit. Like all currencies, bitcoin is also used for money laundering. Whether bitcoin helps or hinders criminals depends, to a large extent, on the nature of the crime. If you’re buying a bit of weed on the deep web, even the most zealous of Chainalysis apparatchiks isn’t going to concern themselves with tracing your transaction. Law enforcement won’t give a damn either. If you’re perpetrating the most notorious hack of the decade, however, too right you’re gonna have your BTC purchases forensically analyzed. Had the Russian hackers used a stolen Paypal account or disposable Visa to go shopping, law enforcement would have had much less data to go on, and would have encountered greater difficulty in reconstructing the hackers’ actions. To answer the question then, bitcoin is a pretty good tool for committing low level crime, where a basic degree of anonymity is required. But when it comes to committing major crimes that are sure to be scrutinized, not only is bitcoin bad for criminals – it’s downright dangerous. Do you think bitcoin is a help or a hindrance to criminals? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, and Twitter. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Bitcoin is Great for Criminals. It’s Even Better for Law Enforcement appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

South African financial company Purple Group has confirmed the addition of two cryptocurrencies, bitcoin and ethereum, to its online trading platform. According to a representative, the decision came in response to strong demand from clients earlier this year. The move has expanded the trading options for South Africans, many of whom, according to a recent study, still believe a lot of money can be made from crypto investments. Also read: Switzerland’s Main Stock Exchange Dives Deep Into Crypto GT247.com Trades Bitcoin and Ethereum Purple Group, a South African financial services provider listed on the JSE, has added cryptocurrencies to its online trading platform, GT247.com, allowing its users to buy bitcoin (BTC) and ethereum (ETH), local media reported. The decision came in response to strong demand from its customers. Barry Dumas, trading specialist at the group, emphasized that GT247.com allows clients to trade directly in South African rand. “Your rands aren’t converted into dollars like some offerings out there, which can expose you to exchange risks,” he told Business Day. Purple Group’s representative also noted that despite the decline in cryptocurrency trading volumes over the past months, the platform has seen serious interest mostly from retail clients since the launch of the service earlier this year. “We are seeing a lot more engagement from international institutions like banks and international exchanges looking to regulate cryptocurrencies, as I suspect they want it to be a legitimate asset class in the future,” he pondered. Taking into account the current state of crypto markets, Purple Group also allows its clients to short the large cap coins, which means investors can benefit from falling prices as well. Barry Dumas pointed out, however, that according to the trading data and the strong buying interest, most clients are expecting higher prices. “We are seeing a decent spread between the bulls and bears but the bitcoin bias in the market is still to be long,” the trading specialist said. Dumas also commented on the current trends and confirmed indications that the market is starting to stabilize. “We still see some volatility but it’s not at the levels we saw last year,” he noted. In his opinion, the reasons for that have to do with traders becoming accustomed to the crypto market and the developments towards regulating the space. More Crypto Trading Options Offered South Africans can also buy cryptos on local crypto exchanges like Luno and Ice3x, as well as via the local desks of international brokerage houses such as Saxo Bank. Another South African investment management company, Sygnia Ltd., announced a couple of months ago its plans to launch a crypto exchange in Q3, 2018. First National Bank is also exploring what it calls “sustainable options” to facilitate crypto trades with a growing number of its customers asking about them. A recently released report suggests that the interest and the willingness to invest in cryptocurrencies remain relatively high among South Africans. According to the 2018 “Savings and Investment Monitor” survey, conducted by the Pan-African investment bank Old Mutual, 38 percent of the country’s residents, those aware of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, wish they had invested. A sizable majority, 71 percent, agreed that a lot of money can still be made from crypto investments. Only 43 percent of the respondents have negative attitude towards cryptocurrencies and liken them to pyramid schemes. Measuring the general awareness of cryptocurrency in South Africa, the survey shows that 19 percent have heard of bitcoin, 17 percent admit they “know a bit about it”, and 4 percent “know a lot” about the cryptocurrency. The Republic of South Africa is the country with the highest number of crypto trading platforms on the continent. The popularity of cryptocurrencies has been growing steadily, and so have the efforts of authorities in Pretoria to come up with regulations. The South African Reserve Bank has recently set up a unit tasked to review its position on cryptocurrencies and a “self-regulatory” approach has been previously suggested by legal experts working in the sector. Speaking to reporters, a high-ranking official of the central bank said in May that SARB does not use the term ‘cryptocurrency’ but refers to cryptos as ‘cyber tokens’ because they don’t meet the requirements of money. Do you expect South Africa to regulate the crypto space, including trading, in the near future? Tells us in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. 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 SA Purple Group Confirms Adding Cryptos to Its Online Trading Platform 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. Changelly, a prominent instant exchange, has announced its partnership with Ledger, one of the leading security and infrastructure providers in the crypto industry, to bring a new user experience. New Ledger App and Changelly Ledger has released Ledger Live, a multi-asset complimentary wallet application that allows storing and managing cryptocurrencies in one place. Ledger Live is used for all models of Ledger’s hardware wallets, including the bestseller Ledger Nano S. The app offers the list of exchanges where users can buy or sell the cryptocurrencies. Changelly is one of the first exchanges listed on Ledger that provides users with that option as a link that redirects to the Changelly website. Being integrated into Ledger Live, Changelly will enable Ledger users to switch their cryptocurrencies in an easy manner within the Ledger Live app. This is the only tool available on Ledger Live, so far. However, the service has ongoing negotiations about providing new exchange options for Ledger users, so more details of the collaboration are coming soon. Benefits of partnership For Changelly, having such a popular and secure partner as Ledger will help build strong relationship with users, and provide the users of the wallet with seamless exchange options. For Ledger, in turn, Changelly can help broaden the audience and attract new customers. Konstantin Gladych, CEO at Changelly: “Ledger provides outstanding products that take security level in the crypto world to the whole new level and leverage the full potential of digital money. Changelly couldn’t be more excited to collaborate and have an opportunity to empower Ledger’s users with a frictionless exchange experience”. Mattia Sarfati, Business development & Partnerships @Ledger: “Featuring Changelly in our new wallet app allows our users to buy cryptocurrencies easily and securely. Changelly offers an outstanding user experience and our community was pushing to see our companies working together. Ledger hopes that a lot of its users will discover and enjoy the Changelly experience!” About Changelly Changelly is a popular instant cryptocurrency exchange service with 100+ coins and tokens listed. The service acts as a mediator between a user and trading platforms. Changelly has trading algorithms integrated into leading exchange platforms, such as Binance, Bittrex, HitBTC and Poloniex that help to pick the most profitable rate. Operating since 2015, Changelly has attracted over 2M registered customers from around the world. The service offers its API and a customizable payment widget for any crypto service that wishes to implement exchange options. Key partners are Jaxx, Coinmarketcap, Coinomi, BRD, Coinpayments and others. About Ledger Ledger is a fast-growing provider of security solutions designed for cryptocurrency storage and management. The company offers a wide range of hacking-resistant products for individuals and financial institutions as well. In 2017, Ledger sold over 1 million units of their flagship product, the Ledger Nano S, placing Ledger as the number one provider of Hardware wallets in the World. Since a secure hardware wallet is the best technical solution to hold and protect assets, Ledger plans to make those solutions as open as possible to enable new use cases directly from the end user. Press Contact Email Address sasha@changelly.com Supporting Link https://www.ledger.fr/2018/07/09/ledger-launches-ledger-live-the-all-in-one-companion-app-to-your-ledger-device/ 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: Changelly’s Partnered with Ledger Live App appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In today’s edition of Bitcoin in Brief we cover a new mobile app from Poloniex, the addition of USD fiat at Cobinhood exchange and the expansion plans of Bitmain in Israel. We also report about a triad boss who claims to have raised $750 million in a recent ICO. Also Read: This Week in Bitcoin: New Exchanges, Bancor Breach, Binance CEO vs Vitalik Poloniex Goes Mobile Circle Internet Financial Ltd., the Goldman Sachs-backed Boston-headquartered company that acquired Poloniex earlier this year, has announced the launch of an official app for the exchange. The team behind the venue wrote on their blog: “In our effort to deliver the best possible experience across all platforms, we’ve acquired the best-in-class Poloniex app for iOS and Android! This app will now be the only officially supported Poloniex app in the App Store and Play Store.” They added that : “We have big plans for this app – next up is better mobile verification!” Cobinhood Adds USD Fiat Taiwan-based cryptocurrency service platform Cobinhood has announced the launch of fiat trading. This means that fiat can be converted through the exchange into cryptocurrencies, and vice versa. U.S. dollar deposits will be accepted from July 20th. The company needed to comply with KYC Level 3 in order to operate in a stringent regulatory environment and partnered with Epay for a solution. “In several instances, the market is not reflecting tremendous progress being made at cryptocurrencies worldwide,” states Popo Chen, founder of Cobinhood. “Traders know there are opportunities abound for value, so it’s a very synergistic time to debut fiat trading on the Cobinhood platform. There’s no doubt in my mind that many value investors were waiting on the sidelines until prices rationalized, and so the near term promises to be an exciting time for exchanges that can offer the liquidity fiat options provide.” Bitmain Expands R&D in Israel Bitmain Technologies Ltd., the Beijing-headquartered bitcoin mining machines (ASIC chips) producer recently valued at $12 billion, plans to seriously expand its research and development center in Israel soon. The company told local newspaper Globes that in the near future it is expected 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, which is managed by VP Gadi Glikberg, to be added to the 15 employees there today. Glikberg commented: “Bitmain had huge momentum in the past year as a result of the ever growing adoption of blockchain technology in general and digital coins in particular. The world is indeed in a relative calm from the great hype of December 2017, but for the big companies in the field it is a golden opportunity to design, build and grow, and Bitmain recognizes the potential of the Israeli knowledge and abilities to contribute to the company’s global efforts.” The roles that the company seeks to fill in Israel include, among others, blockchain researchers, senior security and software engineers, marketing people, Python and Javascript programmers and QA software testers. $750 Million Triad Linked ICO? According to reports from China, the famous Macau triad boss “Broken Tooth” Wan Kuok-koi has partnered with a Beijing company, which might be backed by the government, to promote chess and poker tournaments in the country. And the company, World Hung Mun Investment, claims that it raised $750 million in less than five minutes in an initial coin offering for its HB token. Wan launched the ICO at an event in Cambodia said to be attended by high-ranking government and military officials, businessmen and Chinese celebrities. The triad boss was previously linked by the New York Times to Dragon Coin, the casino gamblers’ ICO token, and claimed to open a blockchain powered Chinese culture center in Cambodia. What do you think about today’s news tidbits? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Verify and track bitcoin cash transactions on our BCH Block Explorer, the best of its kind anywhere in the world. Also, keep up with your holdings, BCH and other coins, on our market charts at Satoshi’s Pulse, another original and free service from Bitcoin.com. The post The Daily: Poloniex Goes Mobile, Cobinhood Adds USD Fiat, Bitmain Expands appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The Russian Association of Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain has created a registry of whitelisted companies that offer crypto-related products or services. Meanwhile, the bill to regulate cryptocurrencies in Russia has been delayed. Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space Whitelist of Crypto Firms The Russian Association of Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain (RACIB) has created a whitelist of crypto companies. The list includes firms in the field of crypto mining, investment, marketing, legal, training, and initial coin offerings (ICOs). From early this year, legal entities and individuals in Russia have lost more than 270 million rubles [~US$4.3 million] from crypto-related investments organized by scammers and incompetent companies, RACIB detailed. The association has already started tracking unfair ICO projects and it hopes the registry will allow industry participants to find trustworthy partners in the space. RACIB elaborated: The list of trusted companies will allow Russian and foreign market participants to base their work on trusted organizations and minimize the risk of fraud in the creation and development of Russian or foreign business in the field of mining, trading with cryptocurrency, blockchain technology and ICO. Launched with 50 Companies The association explained that the registry “consists exclusively of organizations that have undergone voluntary verification of reliability.” The criteria include “financial sustainability, experience and business reputation, lack of judicial judgments, availability of licenses and certificates (if necessary), [and] no arrears of taxes and fees.” Citing that about 30 applicants are being verified, the association revealed: At the moment, the registry includes more than 50 companies. These companies are “trusted organizations which have already passed the verification procedure,” RACIB emphasized. Any legal entity in Russia wanting to be included can apply online. “The average period for document review is 10 days. At this time, third-party verification is not performed,” RABIC’s website states. Additional testing and certification in three areas are already in the works, the association revealed. The first is a “certification for traders of crypto assets.” The second is a “certification for mining equipment suppliers” and the third is a “certification for mining farms.” Russian Crypto Bill Delayed The legal framework for the regulation of cryptocurrencies and ICOs in Russia is still in the preparation stage. The bill “On Digital Financial Assets” passed the first reading in the State Duma in May. Last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the regulation of cryptocurrencies and ICOs be finalized in July. However, Bankir wrote last week that the “consideration of draft laws on cryptocurrency was postponed to September.” Elina Sidorenko, head of the State Duma’s interdepartmental working group responsible for a risk assessment on the turnover of cryptocurrencies, explained the delay in an interview with Hash Telegraph. According to her, the Russian laws will be adopted after the “FATF [Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering] standards are developed with respect to the risks of using cryptocurrency.” Without the FATF policies, it is difficult to adopt national legislation, she conveyed. The FATF draft document was expected to be considered at the session on June 27-29, “but in the end it was postponed to September,” Sidorenko detailed, elaborating: Now in the State Duma there are several bills at once. And they are very different approaches to the definition of cryptocurrencies and tokens…The Central Bank believes that cryptocurrencies and tokens now do not have sufficient economic resources to function fully in free economic circulation. What do you think of the Russian Association’s registry of whitelisted crypto companies? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock and RACIB. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Russia Now Has a Registry of Whitelisted Crypto Companies appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and in a blockchain that link lies in the form of its founders. Getting nodes to achieve consensus is easy compared to the difficulty of getting humans to achieve consensus. The greatest challenge that new blockchains must solve isn’t speed or scaling – it’s governance. Also read: Have You Tried Blockchain 5.0 Yet? Nobody Else Has Either Governance: Easy to Define, Hard to Achieve There wasn’t much thought given to on-chain governance when bitcoin was created; Satoshi was too busy reinventing the wheel on several other fronts. But the arrival of bitcoin spawned a wave of blockchains, and with it, the first faltering attempts at introducing a means of reaching consensus between network users, over and above that attained by validating nodes. Dash first popularized the concept of blockchain governance, which is achieved through the use of masternodes, whose operators can vote on budget proposals. Its system provides a simple means of reaching agreement among community members who are most heavily invested in the project. Scores of subsequent crypto projects, including many that don’t use masternodes, have since copied Dash’s governance model. Often, they’ll tack voting rights onto their token as a means of shoring up its weak use case, but not all projects are as slapdash or cynical with their approach to governance – some aim to genuinely innovate, and in doing so, to overcome the weaknesses that are inherent to human structures. The Quest for Human Consensus While bitcoin core has muddled on without any sort of governance, and is all the more decentralized for it, other blockchains have tried to enact more formalized systems of governance. The idea is that by enacting an efficient means of achieving consensus among token-holders, decisions can be made promptly, without sacrificing the decentralized principles that make blockchains so appealing in the first place. When Tezos was birthed last summer, governance was one of its big selling points. Its protocol promised, “a formal process through which stakeholders can efficiently govern the protocol and implement future innovations”. The subsequent fallout between Tezos foundation members emphasizes the frailties of humans, whose squabbles and power struggles can stymie even the most well-intentioned of projects. Tezos’ off-chain failures, ironically, may have strengthened the case for its onchain system of governance. Governance is a Tough Nut to Crack As well-known crypto commenter Nic Carter mused, “Creating a cryptocurrency corrupts… creating a billion-dollar cryptocurrency corrupts absolutely.” Due to the huge economic incentives at stake, getting token-holders to act in the interests of the community, rather than fixating on their own pecuniary gains, is a tall order. Storecoin is a zero-fee, high throughput blockchain whose most interesting feature is not a technical one – it’s a human one. Its creator, Chris McCoy, explains: “For today’s public blockchains to move past prototypes and low usage dApps – to where entities trust a decentralized blockchain enough to process $10 million+ of utility-based daily transaction volume – blockchains need an enforceable rules engine that has no centralization of power, that key network participants trust, and that is censorship resistant. To shape the future of trade and commerce, blockchains need an enterprise-grade governance [model] that is trusted, enforceable, and reaches finality in a democratic process.” Storecoin’s governance is inspired by the US constitution, with consensus on change, McCoy explains, “reached by four separate branches that check and balance each other on protocol-level, key people, and monetary policy decisions”. Another blockchain that relies on a constitution, EOS, has come in for flak, prompting its founder Dan Larimer to return to the drawing board to draft a new one. MakerDAO, meanwhile, has been conducting deep research into a “governance risk framework” that aims to diversify trust in trustless systems. The history of cryptocurrency is littered with hard forks, acrimonious splits, exit scams, lawsuits, and public fallouts. The case for governance does not need to be overstated. But the means of achieving it is a complex task that has taxed some of the cryptoverse’s brightest minds. So long as humans are in charge, internecine conflict and greed will be inevitable. Blockchains can’t eliminate avarice, but that won’t stop their architects from trying their damnedest to divest protocols from the fallible humans who control them. What blockchain do you think has the best system of governance? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Twitter, and Storecoin. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Why Governance is the Greatest Problem That Blockchains Must Solve appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

One of South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, Bithumb, is expanding into Japan and Thailand. The exchange is working on obtaining regulatory approval from the financial regulators of both countries. The new locations are part of the exchange’s global expansion plan. Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space Expanding into Thailand Bithumb is currently working on obtaining regulatory approval from the Thai Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), local media reported Friday. The exchange is the second largest in South Korea at the time of this writing, with a 24-hour trading volume of about $358 million, behind only the Kakao-backed Upbit with a $582 million trading volume during the same time period. The exchange has already established a Thai subsidiary, Bithumb (Thailand) Company Limited, with registered capital of 3 million baht (~US$90,000). Zdnet quoted the company explaining the reason for its expansion into the Thai market: Thailand is active in e-commerce and the fintech industry, and the government is showing great interest in digital currency as it promotes smart city business. Thailand has recently finalized its regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings (ICOs). Bithumb has been building its Thai website, the publication added, noting that it plans to start service in Thailand at the end of October. Bithumb Thailand’s website. Photo: Zdnet. Expansion into Japan Bithumb Japan’s website. Photo: Zdnet. Japan legalized cryptocurrency as a means of payment in April of last year. All companies seeking to operate an exchange in the country must obtain approval from the country’s top financial regulator, the Financial Services Agency (FSA). However, with the hack of Coincheck in January, the FSA has been strengthening its oversight of crypto exchanges and imposing a stricter exchange approval process. Nonetheless, Bithumb is seeking approval from the FSA with a plan to open an exchange in Japan in February next year, the news outlet conveyed. The exchange also revealed that “it plans to set up an exchange that supports the largest number of coins in Japan,” the publication noted. Global Expansion Plan Earlier this year, Bithumb announced that it is looking for partners for its global expansion. The exchange says it will work closely with overseas partners to launch platforms that are faster and more efficient for traders worldwide. Projects which Bithumb will collaborate with potential partners include “cash (deposit/remittance/debit) management processing, the operation of an exchange platform, [and] marketing & promotion and customer service,” the exchange detailed. According to the announcement: Bithumb is preparing exchange platforms for countries under the global expansion plan and we are looking for great and potential partners (corporation, entity or group) worldwide…The exchange platforms under final development stages are USD / JYP / EUR / CNY / INR / GBP / AUD / CAD / PHP / RUB and [there] will be more soon when there are any service demands. According to Money Today, Bithumb has also established a subsidiary in Singapore and Britain. “We are considering establishing overseas subsidiaries in various countries such as the U.S. and Europe, but the time has not yet been determined,” the exchange clarified. In April, the third largest crypto exchange in South Korea, Coinone, announced its expansion into Indonesia. What do you think of Bithumb expanding into Thailand and Japan? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Bithumb, and Zdnet. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Major Korean Exchange Bithumb Expanding into Japan and Thailand appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The anniversary of the blockchain split that took place on August 1, 2017 is just two weeks away. Over the past few months Bitcoin Cash (BCH) infrastructure support and development has been exponential, while BCH proponents have also seen a bunch more announcements during the second week of July. Also read: Have You Tried Blockchain 5.0 Yet? Nobody Else Has Either The Bitcoin Cash Network Has Seen Massive Infrastructure Support and Steady Development Over the Last Year A lot has changed since August 1, 2017, and in two weeks the Bitcoin Cash community will be celebrating the blockchain split. As of today, the BCH chain has seen over 60,000 blocks mined since the first hard fork, and since then the network has seen two more upgrades. The first upgrade changed the decentralized currency’s Difficulty Adjustment Algorithm (DAA), and the second fork upgraded the block size from 8 MB to 32 MB. Further, the BCH developers re-enabled a few Satoshi OP_Codes and increased the data carrier size which added a bunch of new features to the protocol. The Fourth Largest Market Capitalization and the Fifth Highest Trade Volumes Since the DAA was fixed, the BCH chain’s difficulty has been running perfectly and on July 15 the chain is operating at 12.69% of the bitcoin core’s (BTC) difficulty. Markets have done extremely well over the past year as well. BCH was averaging $300 per coin during its first week, now the token is worth $726 seeing a 142 percent increase. The digital asset commands a whopping $12.4Bn market valuation and with $320Mn traded over the past 24-hours, which puts BCH at the fifth position out of 1600+ other coins by trade volume. The top five BCH exchanges today include Coinex with $55Mn in volume, Okex with $40Mn, Binance – $33Mn, Hitbtc – $29Mn, and – Rightbtc -$24Mn. The top currencies swapped with BCH includes tether (USDT 48%) followed by bitcoin core (BTC 35%), USD (6.7%), ETH (3.7%), and KRW (2.4%). BCH markets are seeing some recovery since last week and are up 3 percent over the last 24-hours. Bitcoin cash (BCH) markets are seeing some recovery since last week’s dip on July 15, 2018. This Week’s Bitcoin Cash News and Developments A lot has happened in within the BCH ecosystem this week. For instance, the highly anticipated privacy-centric BCH mixing platform Cash Shuffle has seen steady development and a stable release should be launched soon. The firm Robinhood added bitcoin cash support this week – adding another infrastructure provider to the massive list of apps that have implemented BCH. Bitcoin Cash supporters will be pleased to hear that Bitcoin XT has released its J version and OSX binaries are back. Furthermore, the developer Unwriter has launched another platform called Chaintrend.org. The app is a powerful OP_Return trend analytics engine with a simple JSON query language powered by bitdb. The developer Unwriter launches Chaintrend.org. Demos are available for people to use to test the app. In other news, we recently reported on a project called Bitreon that was supposed to be a Patreon-like application that uses bitcoin cash. Unfortunately, there were some discrepancies with the creator of the project and a particular donor. It seems the creator of Bitreon refuses to refund the donor’s funds and the Bitreon founder states that his platform will still launch in a couple of weeks. Even though he denies any wrongdoing the BCH community doesn’t seem too pleased with the situation and how he’s chosen to deal with the donor. BCH Proponents Believe the Future Looks Bright Besides the disappointing Bitreon rumors, there have been a lot of positive things happening across the Bitcoin Cash ecosystem overall, and BCH proponents are looking forward to the upcoming anniversary. On August 15, the community will likely find out what the next upgrade will feature as the November 15th hard fork software should be completed by then. Bitcoin ABC also plans to launch the finished stable 0.18 version of the ABC-client on October 15 – which will contain the necessary code changes for the hard fork. Bitcoin cashers have a lot to look forward to over the next few months and most of the decentralized currency’s supporters are pleased with the current direction. 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: Steady Development, Market Uptrends, and New Apps appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Decentralised Capital, an Australian advisory firm “specializing in blockchain assets” and “asset management services,” has announced a partnership with Custodian Vaults, an Australian private vaulting company, to offer insured cryptocurrency custody services to the Australasian market. Also Read: Have You Tried Blockchain 5.0 Yet? Nobody Else Has Either Decentralised Capital and Custodian Vaults Partner to Provide Cryptocurrency Custody Services It has been announced that Decentralised Capital and Custodian Vaults are teaming up to provide insured cryptocurrency custody services in the form of what the companies are describing as Australia’s first insured cryptocurrency vault According to According to Australian Financial Review, Stephen Moss, Decentralised Capital’s founder and the son of former Macquarie Bank property chief, Bill Moss, described the project as seeking to provide “a solution for the next phase of the industry” adding “it gives real security […] You can’t hack your way into the safe.” Mr. Moss emphasized that his company is hoping to ride the cryptocurrency boom for the long-haul, stating:”In my opinion bitcoin will not be remembered as the bubble, but the pin. While the short-term future of bitcoin may be debatable, the blockchain and its benefits are not.” The founder of Decentralised Capital stated that “the new vault provide customers [with] direct access to their holdings and combined physical surveillance, biometric identification, pin codes, CCTV monitoring, alarm and fire control systems.” Additionally, the vault premises “also house a private Wi-Fi room to allow cryptocurrency transfers in and out.” Custody Services Aimed at Crypto High Rollers The companies’ vault services will is expected to predominantly target institutional and wealthy investors, in addition to cryptocurrency exchangers and issuers of initial coin offerings. Mr. Moss has stated that the digital currencies held in the companies’ possession insured, however, did not provide the insurance provider’s name. Janie Simpson, the director of Pallion – a precious metals firm that owns Custodian Vaults, described the company’s decision to enter into the cryptocurrency custody industry as having been spurred by growing customer demand. “While traditionally we have offered secure vault services for clients storing precious metals and other assets, we are increasingly receiving interest from clients searching for solutions to store cryptocurrency,” Mrs. Simpson said. Do you feel that cryptocurrency investors are in need of a greater array of custodianship services? Share your thoughts in the comments section below! Images courtesy of Shutterstock At Bitcoin.com there’s a bunch of free helpful services. For instance, have you seen our Tools page? You can even lookup the exchange rate for a transaction in the past. Or calculate the value of your current holdings. Or create a paper wallet. And much more. The post Australian Firms Partner to Provide Crypto Custody Services appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Over the past few years, the buzzwords “Blockchain Technology” have been tied to literally every industry under the sun. Cryptocurrencies had a wild year in 2017 and it seems during that time distributed ledger technology has made it all the way to the ‘Blockchain 5.0’ era, but there’s a big problem — No one reporting on these projects has tried these networks. Also read: Bitcoin: A Legitimate Cure for a Broken Money System Blockchain 5.0 & DLTs: The Ultimate Snake Oil Back in 2009, a network was launched which produced the digital currency bitcoin and no one moved a muscle. These days cryptocurrencies are a hell of a lot more popular than those days but there are some people who have this idea that the technology “behind” digital currencies represents the real innovation. You’ve heard it time and time again, that ‘Blockchain Technology’ will revolutionize the world and every industry will be touched by this remarkable software. Supposedly, blockchains will transform finance, the clothing industry, movies, music, food, healthcare, and basically the entire supply chain, one block at a time. Blockchain Immutability Is a Fallacy There’s just one glaring issue for these distributed ledger projects that hope to change the world — No one uses these networks and some probably don’t even exist. But what’s worse is they also fraudulently claim they can solve an age-old computer system problem that cannot be solved — immutability. Blockchain projects that claim immutability, which is a large representation of nearly every blockchain out there today, are misleading and these systems can never be 100% immutable. The well-known bitcoin evangelist, Chris DeRose, explained two years ago that “blockchain immutability is a perpetual motion claim.” “While many have been caught up in the hype behind immutability, most of these claims will at best regress to the basic signing mechanisms that have been in place for decades, with little to differentiate their systems from incumbent message passing solutions,” DeRose explains. On paper, immutability sounds nice, it seems to be a dubious proposition that some magically benevolent server will show up to perform this service. And certainly, blockchain will not make that benevolence any easier than it is with incumbent HTTP systems. Most of Today’s Blockchain Technology Projects and Bankchains Are Merely Client-Server Network Databases, Word Salad Press Releases, and Pure Vaporware Then there are distributed ledger technology (DLT) projects created by the very banks who once mocked bitcoin. There have been so many of these private blockchain projects announcing that they have the next great blockchain that will wipe public blockchains off the map. Yet none of them have been revolutionary so far, and no one from the general public seems to be using these DLT solutions, unless it’s a ‘trial run’ wrapped up in fancy-wording wrapping paper and sent to publications like Forbes, and Bloomberg. Do they criticize a blockchain system they have never tried? — No, usually they write up a nice little article that makes these blockchain projects look good, even though the journalist never tried the system, or let alone seen it in action. This Tuesday, the blockchain firm R3 released its ‘Corda Blockchain’ platform after initially making a big fuss on how Corda technology was not a ‘blockchain.’ R3 website visitors will see that the company clearly calls Corda a blockchain and according to the company, over 39 firms are testing this enterprise software. But what makes Corda so revolutionary? Or any of these bankchain projects, for that matter, who set up a bunch of privatized nodes that can relay and time stamp transactions. All we have is their word, no third party reviews, just a press release and decentralized word salad. The fact is a very large portion of these blockchain projects are overhyped press releases that exemplify the true meaning of vaporware. Can we trust a group of incumbents that say on paper they’ve created some revolutionary blockchain? Just because it’s Visa? At least with Bitcoin and Ethereum (public chains) people can differentiate between something that works, something that is shit, and something that is vapor. With the bankchains and blockchain technology hype, it’s all based on words stemming from the horse’s mouth, and what they choose to tell you. Have you tried Blockchain 5.0 yet? I sure haven’t. What do you think about the blockchain hype? Let us know what you think about this project in the comment section below. This is an Op-ed article. The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own. Bitcoin.com does not endorse nor support views, opinions or conclusions drawn in this post. Bitcoin.com is not responsible for or liable for any content, accuracy or quality within the Op-ed article. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the content. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any information in this Op-ed article. Images via Shutterstock, Pixabay, a CCN Headline, and the Corda website. Want to create your own secure cold storage paper wallet? Check our tools section. The post Have You Tried Blockchain 5.0 Yet? Nobody Else Has Either appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

More academic institutions in Russia are starting educational courses and even postgraduate programs in crypto and blockchain technologies. Three universities will be teaching related subjects like cryptography and digital economy during the new academic year beginning in September. Some of the courses will be conducted in English and with guest lecturers from Europe, India, and the US. Also read: London School of Economics Launches “Cryptocurrency Investment and Disruption” Course Higher Crypto Education Three Russian universities have announced new courses and majors related to cryptocurrencies and crypto technologies. The educational programs will be offered with the start of the new academic year this fall. They cover a wide variety of subjects, including cryptography, blockchain and distributed ledger technologies, alternative payment systems, digital economy, accounting and management. Some of the courses will be taught in English targeting foreign students, but also Russians seeking career opportunities in the international environment of the crypto space. The Voronezh State University (VSU) has established a bachelor’s degree program focused on studying digital economy and blockchain technology, the institution announced on its website. The new major called “Models and methods for analyzing the digital economy” is offered by the Department of Information Technologies and Mathematical Methods in Economics. Classes will begin from September 18. The program’s curriculum provides in-depth training in the use of modern information technology analysis. It ensures the universal character of the acquired knowledge, as well as the wide scope of its application in various types of economic activities and at different levels of government, the university said in the statement. The announcement also notes the importance of the development of new technologies and the training of specialists in light of the implementation of the Digital Economy Program adopted by the Russian government. Two master’s programs in blockchain technologies will be offered by the Don State Technical University (DSTU), its press service announced this week – “Intellectual systems based on blockchain technologies” and “Digital accounting and management.” Students will be taught knowledge needed to develop new information systems and create modern electronic payment methods and structures. “We offer graduate students [the opportunity] to study in depth the distributed ledger technology. Blockchain is a promising technology that is rapidly introduced in many areas of life. Demand for specialists in this field is growing every day,” said DSTU’s Vice-Rector Alexey Belskopilniy, quoted by RIA Novosti. The MS programs have been developed in cooperation with the University of Nicosia and foreign lecturers will be invited to teach. The Russian university plans to also offer English language courses in the future. Master’s Degree in Cryptography Another Russian higher education institution, the Novosibirsk State University (NSU), is already conducting similar courses in English. In September, its Mechanics and Mathematics Faculty will accept the first 15 students of its MS degree program in cryptography, according to an announcement posted on its website. They will study encryption techniques and blockchain technologies as part of a two-year intensive modular training scheme. Experts in the field from Germany, Denmark, Belgium, Norway, France, India, and the US, as well as Russian crypto specialists, have been invited to teach. The classes will be held in English in order to attract students from all over the world. The Russian university also hopes to acquire international certification and accreditation for its diplomas. The new programs are being introduced after last year leading Russian universities announced specialized courses in cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies. Among them are the Moscow State University, the National Research University Higher School of Economics, the National University of Science and Technology “MISiS”, the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, and the Saint-Petersburg State University of Economics. The introduction of these curriculums comes in response to the rising popularity of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and also the strong demand for crypto and blockchain professionals in Russia. Do you think the increasing number of crypto-related educational courses in Russia indicates a growing interest among Russians in a future career in the crypto space? Tell us in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Make sure you do not miss any important Bitcoin-related news! Follow our news feed any which way you prefer; via Twitter, Facebook, Telegram, RSS or email (scroll down to the bottom of this page to subscribe). We’ve got daily, weekly and quarterly summaries in newsletter form. Bitcoin never sleeps. Neither do we. The post Three Russian Universities Add Crypto Courses and Diplomas appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In this week’s daily editions of Bitcoin in Brief we reported about a couple of new exchanges, a major security breach at Bancor, and why the Binance CEO came out against Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin. This week’s most commented-on article covered the Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz, who predicted that cryptocurrencies will be “regulated into oblivion.” Also Read: Robinhood Crypto App Adds Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin Trading New US Exchange On Monday we reported that the American crypto trading market got a little more competitive with a new exchange opening. HBUS, a strategic partner of Huobi, has begun accepting new user registrations by U.S. residents, supporting BTC, BCH, ETH, ETC, LTC, USDT, CVC, DASH and TUSD. Additionally covered, ASIC producer Bitmain has raised up to $400 million in its latest fundraising round valuing the company at $12 billion, and Binance donated $1 million to flood victims in Japan. Bancor Breach The big story on Tuesday was that Bancor reported it had experienced a “security breach”. A wallet used to upgrade some smart contracts has been compromised and used to withdraw 29,984 ETH, worth approximately $12.5 million. “The same wallet also stole: 229,356,645 NPXS (~$1M) [and] 3,200,000 BNT (~$10M).” Bancor added that “once the theft was identified, we were able to freeze the stolen BNT”. The countermeasures raised questions about the decentralized status of Bancor which doesn’t square with the freezing of tokens and shutting down the network. We also reported that Irish entrepreneurs are setting up a new decentralized crypto exchange in Europe. Google Founder Is a Crypto Miner On Wednesday we reported that Sergey Brin, president of Google parent company Alphabet, revealed that he is a crypto miner. “A year or two ago my son insisted that we needed to get a gaming PC,” Brin said. “I told him If we get a gaming PC we have to mine cryptocurrency. So we got an ethereum miner on there and we’ve been making a few pennies and dollars since.” He added: “That definitely got me interested and I started to study the technology behind it and found it to be fascinating.” Additional stories included why Elon Musk is impressed by crypto scambots on Twitter, a response from Fcoin regarding fake volume allegations, and a $100 million venture capital fund for blockchain startups in Israel. CZ vs Vitalik The main focus on Thursday was that Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) has decided to publicly defend his industry from a verbal attack by Vitalik Buterin. The Ethereum founder expressed a deep hatred for the particular business model at the heart of the current crypto trading ecosystem, saying: “I definitely hope centralized exchanges go burn in hell as much as possible”. In his response, CZ’s core argument was that without centralized exchanges the field will develop ten times slower and will be ten times smaller. He additionally attacked the claim that decentralization is always better. Additionally covered were developments regarding two upcoming crypto phones. Taiwanese Stablecoin Amid the flood of new alternatives taking on Tether, on Friday we reported that another stablecoin has been introduced, this time by a company that operates one of the major payment processors in Taiwan. Green World Fintech Services says the crypto, pegged to the New Taiwan Dollar (NTD), is called Taiwan Digital Token (TWDT). Green World claims to have patented a dollar-to-token process that is supposed to protect the TWDT from fraud and money laundering risks. The project will be realized in cooperation with some established Taiwanese banks. The crypto accounts of TWDT users will be tied to “trusted bank accounts” in order to verify personal data before transactions are permitted. We also reported about a solution for handling your crypto portfolio for when you die. Russians Used Bitcoin to Hack US Elections Rod Rosenstein On Saturday we reported on one of the biggest political stories in the world. According to a federal indictment announced by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, Russian agents used bitcoin in their campaign to influence the outcome of the 2016 US elections. Authorities in Washington claim that hackers working for the Russian foreign military intelligence paid in crypto for servers in the US and Malaysia, website domains, and virtual private networks (VPNs) used to release information stolen from the Democratic camp and to obscure their identities and cover their tracks. They also laundered more than $95,000 through bitcoin. We also reported that a leading website for betting on horse racing has begun accepting bitcoin (BTC) and bitcoin cash (BCH) deposits. “Regulated Into Oblivion” The most commented-on article during the week covered Joseph Stiglitz, the former chief economist of the World Bank and Nobel laureate, who predicted that cryptocurrencies will be “regulated into oblivion” in the future. “You cannot have a means of payment that is based on secrecy when you’re trying to create a transparent banking system. If you open up a hole like bitcoin then all the nefarious activity will go through that hole, and no government can allow that.” Stiglitz added: “Bitcoin could easily be worth just $100 in 10 years. People in power will move to regulate anonymous transactions. That you can be sure of.” 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. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post This Week in Bitcoin: New Exchanges, Bancor Breach, Binance CEO vs Vitalik appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In an ongoing dispute between banks and cryptocurrency exchanges in Chile, an appeals court has finally ruled in favor of one crypto exchange against one of the largest banks in the country. Five major banks have also separately responded to lawsuits against them in court. Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space Court of Appeals Ruling The Fourth Chamber of the Court of Appeals of Santiago has ruled in favor of cryptocurrency exchange Orionx against Banco Estado for closing its account, local media reported. The ruling, which orders the only government-owned bank in Chile to reopen the exchange’s account, was published on Thursday. The court decided that the bank’s action constitutes “an arbitrary and illegal action, which constitutes a deprivation of the right protected by Article 19 No. 2 of the Political Constitution of the Republic, that is, the right to equality before the law,” La Tercera quoted the ruling. By closing the exchange’s account, the bank is preventing Orionx “from developing an activity that, although not regulated, does not prevent the bank from adopting less intensive security measures such as the development of effective monitoring and control programs before the final closure of the account,” Emol news outlet cited the ruling. The publication elaborated: The document refers to breaches of contract and the impossibility of Banco Estado to determine that Orionx engages in money laundering with the currencies with which it operates. While acknowledging the risks associated with crypto transactions, the court explained that businesses using them “as new forms of investment and payment…cannot necessarily be identified with the commission of criminal acts.” Banks Responding to Lawsuits A few lawsuits have been filed against the country’s major banks with the Court for the Defense of Free Competition (TDLC – Tribunal de Defensa de la Libre Competencia). Orionx sued six major banks last month for abusing their power and quashing its crypto payment business. Previously, another crypto exchange, Buda.com, filed a lawsuit against ten banks for closing its accounts and well as the accounts of another local crypto exchange, Cryptomkt. The antitrust court subsequently ordered three banks, including Banco Estado, to reopen the crypto exchanges’ accounts while the lawsuit is still pending. On Friday, Diario Financiero reported that five banks have responded to the lawsuit against them before the TDLC. The banks are Santander, Banco de Chile, Banco de Crédito e Inversiones (Bci), Scotiabank, and Itaú. The exchanges allege that they abused their dominant position when they either closed the accounts of or denied opening them for crypto exchanges. Santander wrote in its response letter that “the use of a current account would not be essential for the digital currency traders,” the publication conveyed. Banco de Chile responded: The closing of Cryptomkt’s current accounts is not based on the alleged danger of the activity carried out by the plaintiff or because it is not regulated by the authority, but…in the absence of concrete information that allows Banco de Chile to develop the due diligence in the matter of money laundering, since it is required to justify the transactions in the current accounts. Bci denied any abuse of a dominant position, stating that it would be difficult to do so because crypto “is a practically decentralized market, with a large number of actors, according to public information available.” What do you think of the Appeals Court’s ruling? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock and Orionx. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Chile Appeals Court Rules in Favor of Crypto Exchange Against Bank appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article