roadrunner

On Saturday June 9, the founder of the bitcoin cash-centric wallet Electron Cash, Jonald Fyookball, revealed that he had created an on-chain betting protocol called Chainbet. The 255 lines of code form a proposal that allows a simple coin flip type of bet, but the software could be designed to handle more complex on-chain betting methods. Also read: Paid in Bitcoin? Learn How to Survive Off a Crypto-Income Chainbet: A Trustless Gaming Mechanism Built on the Bitcoin Cash Network This weekend the creator of Electron Cash, Jonald Fyookball, revealed a new on-chain betting protocol that enables a simple coin flip wager that’s tethered to the BCH chain. According to the Github repository, Fyookball’s protocol has two components, “a commitment scheme to enable a trustless wager, and an on-chain messaging system to facilitate communication.” At the moment the proposal can only do the coin flip bet but the protocol can be built out to allow more elaborate configurations, explains Fyookball. “Since Paleolithic times, humans have engaged in games of chance, and probably always will — Blockchain technology can increase the fairness, transparency, and safety of these activities,” the Github repository details. The Bitcoin Cash ecosystem can gain more users and more transaction volume by providing a trustless gaming mechanism. Developer Says Chainbet Needs Peer Review The Chainbet creator says in order to perform a trustless coin flip wager, Alice and Bob need to create secret values. If the sum of the value is ‘even’ then Alice wins, and if the sum of the value is ‘odd’ then Bob wins the bet. Meanwhile, both parties use a cryptographic scheme where Alice and Bob can lock the bet and reveal the secrets in a transparent manner. Moreover, the Chainbet protocol has a messaging client within the codebase that allows parties to exchange any “extraneous communication through the internet”. “[Chainbet] still needs peer review — And I’m waiting for someone to poke a serious hole in the basic idea,” Fyookball explains on the Reddit forum r/btc. Thanks to the Reddit users who inspired this — One person asked about how we could do on chain betting, another person later asked about gaming lobby — This combines both of those ideas. A good majority of Bitcoin Cash proponents seem to like the idea and complemented Fyookball on his concept. The repository gives a fairly good description of how the system can work and reduce collisions. Further, Fyookball has added some implementation considerations on how to make the protocol a bit more efficient and secure. What do you think about the Chainbet protocol? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comment section below. Images via Shutterstock, and Pixabay. Want to get a few bits of BCH to test out this awesome technology? Check out our Bitcoin Cash Faucet today! The post Chainbet Protocol Proposes a Trustless Bitcoin Cash Betting Mechanism appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A foundational crypto ecosystem website, Bitcoin.org, promoted its new look this week. Designed to be more enticing and up-to-date, the site’s changes involve more than just cosmetics and graphics. For example, it has removed references to incredibly popular resources such as Coinbase, Blockchain.com, and Bitpay. Also read: Russian Farming Village: Local Crypto, Bitcoin Reserves, No Govt Money Bitcoin.org Gets a New Look, and More The mysterious avatar Cobra, apparently a key figure behind the important educational resource Bitcoin.org, tweeted this week, “We’ve finally updated http://Bitcoin.org to look modern and fresh. Check out the new design. Now people learning about Bitcoin for the first time can be presented with a more up to date and responsive website!” Unpacking changes to the site tells a complicated story, one that involves ongoing debates within the crypto space. Right away, those clicking over to the new site are indeed greeted with stock Wix-like landing pages. The tri-color scheme is handsome and masculine, sporting burnt oranges, white, black. Pages load nicely enough, fast. Links and layout are clean and easy to access, read. Only a few clicks in, however, a few other changes emerge. Weathered and tested ecosystem businesses such as Coinbase, Blockchain.com, and Bitpay aren’t even alluded to. Any organization serious about onboarding new folks would be hard pressed to find three private firms more responsible for introducing newbies to experiencing crypto, no matter how flawed. Org’s history is said to begin (August 2009) shortly after Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator released the client’s first iteration, and the site quickly became known as the ecosystem’s homepage. Controversy remains about just who began the site much less who now maintains it. Fin core dev Martti Malmi is said to be a good guess due to early registration records and attributions. Today, social media bomb thrower @CobraBitcoin, itself an unknown personage, is widely considered Org’s head or manager. Mission Schizophrenia Though the cosmetic upgrade is novel, Org removing some ideas and inserting new ones is not. As a first online educational source, it made the case for years how the promise of bitcoin was both peer-to-peer and relatively quick and cheap. To its credit, the site was one of the only bitcoin core (BTC) supporters to face reality by late 2017. Transactions were no longer fast, and various devs were actively proposing off chain solutions. Fees were huge. By the start of this year, Cobra seemed to have a sobering change of heart, tweeting, “I feel like I’ve lost a piece of my soul after merging this pull request. At some point we all forgot that Bitcoin was supposed to be decentralized money, and we became OK with outrageous fees and centralized mining, all to chase the $$$.” Prominent references to “peer-to-peer transactions” and “fast” and “low processing fees” were scrubbed from the site completely. The controversial bitcoin influencer went on to post pro bitcoin cash (BCH) arguments, or lauds, very clearly stunning supporters who expected less charitable appraisals of BCH. And though Cobra was and continued to be at least open to rebuilding the fractured community in BCH form, it was also equally obvious where ultimate sympathies lay. Curiously, just a few months later, by Spring of this year, Cobra and Org once again decided to make an abrupt change, a restoration. Prior to the present design changes, the site reinserted phrasing once synonymous with bitcoin core. Peer-to-peer returned. As did the other traits. Rather than continuing down the path of a dark night of the soul, Cobra chalked up the previous Twitter lament as “temporary.” What do you think about Bitcoin.org’s changes? Let us know in the comments. Images via the Pixabay, Bitcoin.org Verify and track bitcoin cash transactions on our BCH Block Explorer, the best of its kind anywhere in the world. Also, keep up with your holdings, BCH and other coins, on our market charts at Satoshi’s Pulse, another original and free service from Bitcoin.com. The post Bitcoin.Org’s New Look to Entice: Purges Bitpay, Coinbase, Blockchain References appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The South Korean government is mulling over how to cash out the cryptocurrency it recently confiscated. While the most likely option is to auction the coins off using the government-owned auction platform, various concerns have been raised. Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space Cashing Out BTC The South Korean government is contemplating how to best cash out its recently-acquired cryptocurrency. As part of a criminal case, the government has seized 191.32333418 BTC belonging to “Ahn,” the convicted operator of a porn site. The country’s Supreme Court recently judged that cryptocurrency is a property that the government can confiscate. “The prosecutor is facing a decision of how to dispose of the BTC and give the proceeds to the treasury,” Yonhap reported, elaborating: The most likely option would be auctioning off through the asset disposal system of the Korea Asset Management Corporation (KAMCO), ‘Onbid’. KAMCO is South Korea’s government-owned asset management company that manages Onbid, a system which facilitates the online trading of property owned by public-sector entities. The platform has been used to sell other items confiscated by the government such as securities. “Securities auctions have been actively conducted on Onbid,” Etoday noted. BTC’s Price Fluctuation Is a Problem According to Yonhap, “the prosecutor’s biggest concern is the price fluctuation of bitcoin.” The price of BTC reached over 25 million won on January 7 but has now dropped to 8.3 million won, according to data from Bithumb, one of the largest crypto exchanges in the country. “Onbid sets the date of public announcement, the date of public sale, and the lowest price. However, because of price volatility, the [price of] bitcoin may be larger between the announcement date and the bid date,” the news outlet described. “For example, if prosecutors set a minimum price of 8.3 million won on the 8th and receive a bid on the 13th, if the price of 1 bitcoin surges to 10 million won on the 13th, it becomes a ‘lottery auction’.” An official of the legal department was quoted by the Seoul Newspaper as saying: Unlike artwork, bitcoin has a daily market price…and the auction price can be changed in seconds. Citing that “if the prosecution seizes foreign currencies, it will sell them to a foreign exchange bank…as if it were paid in the national currency,” therefore, the seized BTC could be similarly sold “directly to the market instead of an auction.” The prosecutor is now studying how to process the confiscated BTC. Potential Conflict With Crypto Regulations In addition, “It is also pointed out that it is not appropriate for the prosecutor to sell [BTC] to the market without the government’s position on virtual currencies being fixed.” Since the ruling of the Supreme Court, the country’s top financial regulator, the Financial Services Agency (FSC), has confirmed that its view on cryptocurrency remains unchanged, crypto is not a financial asset, and there is no change in the regulations. A KAMCO official commented that “Even if the bidding is conducted…there is no problem with the regulation,” the news outlet elaborated and quoted an official at the prosecution, emphasizing: The first case is important, because [more] virtual currencies will be forfeited in the future. What do you think the Korean government should do with the seized coins? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Bithumb, and the Korean FSC. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post South Korea Mulls Over How to Cash Out State-Owned Cryptocurrency appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Cryptocurrencies have become very popular, and over the past few years, and due to new applications and infrastructure they’ve become easier to spend compared to the early days. Nowadays, individuals are starting to be paid for their services in cryptocurrencies like bitcoin cash or other digital assets, and living off of cryptocurrencies is the next step towards having a stress free crypto-based income. Also read: Ledger Nano S Review: Can This $65 Device Top Trezor? Living Off a Crypto-Income Today we’re going to talk about people being paid in cryptocurrencies, and how to maintain the same lifestyle you did when you were being paid in fiat currencies. Unfortunately, right now, digital assets like bitcoin cash (BCH) haven’t seen mass adoption yet, and there aren’t as many merchants as we’d like to see all around the world. So people who opt to be paid in BCH or another cryptocurrency, need to know how to pay for everyday items with their assets and settle their monthly bills as well. The Gift Card Method As far as paying for things with cryptocurrencies there are a few options available. One of them is using platforms like e-Gifter and Gyft to purchase gift cards to a wide variety of stores. There are a few hundred merchants who sell their gift cards on these sites, and customers can purchase cards from places like iTunes, Amazon, Best Buy, Whole Foods, and a slew of other establishments and restaurants. There are also other sites that sell gift cards for cryptocurrencies, and our Bitcoin.com store sells Amazon cards for bitcoin cash. For years now, individuals who get paid in cryptocurrencies have purchased gift cards to buy things at their favorite stores. Looking for Merchants Who Accept Crypto Directly Finding merchants who accept cryptocurrencies directly is another option for buying things for everyday living, as you might find a merchant near you that fits your needs. Most of the most popular digital assets out there have online directories that show a list of merchants and their locations. For instance, bitcoin cash fans can utilize the ‘Accept Bitcoin Cash Initiative,’ which is a curated list of merchants who accept BCH directly. With a simple Google search, individuals can also find a merchant directory for cryptocurrencies like dash, monero, and bitcoin core. Some people find that purchasing items directly helps the cryptocurrency ecosystem as a whole because these merchants accepting digital assets like BCH directly are not immediately selling for fiat. Looking to go shopping with cryptocurrencies? Check out our directory here, and also click over to the Accept Bitcoin Cash Initiative. Sell the Crypto to Exchanges Another way you can live off of cryptocurrencies is by selling them to people on peer-to-peer exchanges like Localbitcoincash.org, or the various exchanges available online. However, a large majority of online exchanges will require you to verify your identification, because they are required by law to follow KYC and AML regulatory guidelines. This means you will have to verify a few things like your phone number, a picture of your license, and some exchanges also ask for proof of your address. Check out our list of recommended exchanges here. This process could take as little as two minutes or it could take weeks depending on the exchange and how busy they are, and some may deny you for specific reasons. However after jumping through a few hoops with a particular exchange, selling your cryptocurrencies is very simple and most platforms are fairly intuitive. Keep in mind when you sell on an exchange you are exposing your income to another party, and they may even ask you if you have paid your taxes in order to continue using their services. There are a few decentralized exchanges, but most of them (minus a few) only swap crypto-to-crypto assets. Crypto-Infused Debit Cards One popular way of living off a cryptocurrency income is the use of debit cards that allow users of these cards to purchase things wherever Visa or Mastercard is accepted. There are crypto-infused debit cards provided by companies like Wagecan, Bitpay, Shift (Coinbase), Wirex, and many more. Most of these cards support a bunch of the most popular cryptocurrencies, and when using them users can pay for bills or shop virtually anywhere. Some cryptocurrency cards are used just like your debit card after loading up some of your digital assets. Some cards operate differently too, like with the Bitpay card you pretty much sell your bitcoin cash for USD or EUR, and the value doesn’t fluctuate. But the Coinbase Shift card operates differently, because it deducts the exact value of the purchased item from whatever value your holdings are at the time. Check out our list of recommended crypto-debit cards here. Get a Backup Method and Ask Your Co-Workers How They Live Off a Crypto-Income There are many ways you can learn how to live off of bitcoin, and these are just a few examples of how you can get started. It’s worth noting that using multiple exchanges and cards and having a backup plan on hand is highly recommended. Sometimes things happen and your provider may not be able to process your request when you need them. So having a backup provider on hand (like another exchange, another crypto-debit card, or another idea) so you can get by if your processor or merchant experiences downtime, is a pretty good idea. The holy grail for most cryptocurrency enthusiasts is the hope that someday every merchant will accept digital assets. Another good avenue to take when you start getting paid in cryptocurrencies is talking to your co-workers who have been paid in digital assets for years, and ask them how they live and pay bills. They may tell you some good tricks of the crypto-trade so you can move forward towards the digital age. What do you think about the various methods available so people can live off of a crypto income? Are there any methods that we forgot? Let us know about your methods in the comment section below. Images via Shutterstock, Pixabay, e-Gifter, Bitpay, and Wiki Commons. Verify and track bitcoin cash transactions on our BCH Block Explorer, the best of its kind anywhere in the world. Also, keep up with your holdings, BCH and other coins, on our market charts at Satoshi’s Pulse, another original and free service from Bitcoin.com. The post Paid in Bitcoin? Learn How to Survive Off a Crypto-Income appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The Satoshi Revolution: A Revolution of Rising Expectations Section 3: Decentralization Chapter 8, Part 5 Crypto: A Dazzling Explosion of Spontaneous Order “Our civilization depends, not only for its origin but also for its preservation, on what can be precisely described only as the extended order of human cooperation, an order more commonly, if somewhat misleadingly, known as Capitalism.” —Friedrich Hayek, The Fatal Conceit Cryptocurrency brings order to the monetary realm. It may seem like chaos because the word “order” is often used as a synonym for “uniformity.” Lines of military march in tandem across a parade field, or an entire industry runs by the same mandated standards and practices. By contrast, crypto seems like the Wild West, largely due to three factors: crypto embodies the polar opposite of military unity, spontaneous order; crypto is in its evolving infancy, still struggling to find equilibrium in institutions, customs, and price; and government regulation and restrictions hinder its innovative development by trying to enforce conformity. Government argues that it needs to intervene because the market place in crypto cannot regulate itself. The Almost Unadulterated Good of Civilization Civilization is an amazing benefit to mankind. It provides “goods” such as knowledge, prosperity, culture, progress, and emotional self-fulfillment in a manner impossible to man in isolation. Retreating to isolation becomes preferable only when a “civilization” is so totalitarian that it strips away all freedom and becomes a danger to life itself. Then, antebellum slaves flee North with hounds on their heels. Then, desperate youths climb a barbed-wired wall in East Berlin, despite guns trained on their backs. They escape a savagery that passes for civilization, and risk death to do so. A pivotal question for free crypto is whether the free market can establish monetary civilization. This question breaks down: how does order arise, and how does it decline? The questions are pivotal because, if freedom cannot provide a healthy society, then a central authority will fill the void. Murray Rothbard famously cast the political struggle throughout history as Power versus Liberty. If civilization requires central planning, then Power wins. If a sound currency requires a central authority, then Power wins. Liberty more than holds its own in this contest. Civilization not only emerges without government, the presence of authority is its greatest obstacle. The genesis of civilization is spontaneous order. Spontaneous Order A common illustration of spontaneous order is the forging of a path through a pasture of tall grass. The first person to cross the field makes a crude trail, lined by broken stalks. Acting separately, ten more people choose to follow the crude path. A clear-cut trail begins to emerge, and it becomes the standard way for to cross the field. To use a famous phrase, the path is a “result of human action but not of human design.” The path example is a stripped-down version of spontaneous order. It conveys the basic idea, but the example is less than satisfying. For one thing, to replace the central-planning model of civilization, it is necessary to explain much more than how a trail is created. How does an immensely sophisticated, global network of interactions between strangers create civilizations? How do strangers form a seamless web that becomes a thriving economy and society? Crypto provides the answer: cooperation, whether that goal is intentional or not. Some cooperation is intentional. Farmers sell produce to local markets; a team of programmers design the latest, greatest app; a hospital coordinates staff schedules, and the doctors consult on patients; truck drivers deliver goods to a given address; a start-up business contracts with a marketing expert; an international firm cements relations with its foreign counterparts. The cooperation is not aimed at creating civilization or society, however. It is motivated by self-interest, whether that concept is defined as profit, satisfaction, or some other form of payment. “I, Pencil” (1958) is a brief essay by Leonard Read, founder of the Foundation for Economic Education. It tells a story from the perspective of a pencil, which chronicles its own creation. The saga begins with the harvesting, mining, and forming of raw materials, including cedar, glue, wax, graphite, lacquer and pumice. Crews of foreign ships transport the materials to where dock workers unload the containers, and truckers convey them to pencil-making factories. Up to this point, almost everyone involved in the manufacture of the pencil cares nothing about doing so; they probably do not even know the part they play. They are making a living, pure and simple. The factory is where self-conscious cooperation toward creating the pencil begins. Whether automated or not, the factory requires investors, oversight, repairmen, a janitor and an array of other people to manufacture one instrument. Of course, the profit lies in manufacturing millions and millions of them. In his introduction to “I, Pencil,” the Nobel-winning economist Milton Friedman wrote, “None of the thousands of persons involved in producing the pencil performed his task because he wanted a pencil. Some among them never saw a pencil and would not know what it is for. Each saw his work as a way to get the goods and services he wanted—goods and services we produced in order to get the pencil we wanted. Every time we go to the store and buy a pencil, we are exchanging a little bit of our services for the infinitesimal amount of services that each of the thousands contributed toward producing the pencil. “It is even more astounding that the pencil was ever produced. No one sitting in a central office gave orders to these thousands of people. No military police enforced the orders that were not given. These people live in many lands, speak different languages, practice different religions, may even hate one another—yet none of these differences prevented them from cooperating to produce a pencil. How did it happen? Adam Smith gave us the answer two hundred years ago.” Smith’s answer was the “invisible hand.” The term was introduced in the book Smith considered to be his masterpiece, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759), and it reappeared in his subsequent work, Wealth of Nations (1776). The invisible hand refers to the unintended but immense benefits to society that flow from people who act in their own self-interests, especially economic self-interest, in the manner described by “I, Pencil.” Those at the factory have no grand social scheme beyond the efficient and profitable manufacture of pencils. And, yet, society benefits. Children have pencils to use in art class, workers can feed their families, and a useful product is available inexpensively. All prosper. But for the free market to provide social benefits, government regulations and restraints must be eliminated. This answers the questions posed earlier: order arises out of the self-serving actions of individuals who cooperate with others, whether intentionally or not. Order declines when self-interest and voluntary interaction are hindered by government interference. In short, Liberty brings order and civilization; Power produces disharmony and conflict. “I, Pencil” and the “invisible hand” clarify another confusion that can come from the path example; namely, the definition of spontaneous order as the “result of human action but not of human design” is ambiguous. Clearly, the order within the pencil-making factory is designed by humans. The phrase does not deny that reality. “Not of human design” means that no central planner organizes all beyond those who design, own and manage the factory. “Not of human design” refers to the army of strangers whose actions deliver a stunning array of products and services, even though there is no grand scheme or conscious intent to do so. They merely act in their own self-interest. As a result, the average person enjoys a higher living standard today than nobles in the past. The cooperation also binds people together in peace because they have a vested interest in continuing to profit from each other. Multiply this cooperation by millions of interactions which create millions of products and services, and the dynamic becomes a glue that holds society together and allows civilization to emerge. In other words, “not of human design” does not preclude active cooperation between individuals. Quite the contrary. It rejects any attempt by central authority to insert itself between cooperating individuals, such as regulating the free flow of crypto between individuals. The phrase seeks to explain how complex networks can arise out of the seemingly random and unintentional cooperation upon which modern society depends. Arguably, one man designed Bitcoin, the first viable cryptocurrency. But a long chain of theorists and crypto-anarchists forged the path for Satoshi Nakamoto. Almost all of them did so without appeal to government or tax-paid salaries. Cryptocurrency survives because an immense number of strangers control nodes, do transfers, specialize blockchains, invent better software, and cooperate for their own selfish gain, which results in gains for others. Bitcoin exploded on the monetary scene and changed the economic dynamic forever precisely because it obeyed no central authority. It had the wildness and innovation of freedom. Cryptocurrencies may resemble chaos because they do not express military order; they are still in the early stages of development; and there is a surging war between Liberty and Power that distorts their functioning. Moreover, Power is on a propaganda campaign. Power wants the extreme advantage of people believing crypto is chaos, and it is the remedy. It is not. Or, rather, it is a “remedy” that would have failed either to create a pencil or have created one so expensive as to be a luxury item. Conclusion So far, this article has applied spontaneous order only to economics, which is the bedrock of society. But human beings have other needs, as well: law, spirituality, culture, education, family…these are some of the institutions by which civilization is defined. With the bedrock in place, it is time to explore how spontaneous order establishes the other institutions of civilization. They, too, are not the result of human design—that is, not the result of central planning. And cryptocurrency is redefining these institutions in the image of Liberty. [To be continued next week.] Reprints of this article should credit bitcoin.com and include a link back to the original links to all previous chapters Wendy McElroy has agreed to ”live-publish” her new book The Satoshi Revolution exclusively with Bitcoin.com. Every Saturday you’ll find another installment in a series of posts planned to conclude after about 18 months. Altogether they’ll make up her new book ”The Satoshi Revolution”. Read it here first. The post Wendy McElroy: A Dazzling Explosion of Spontaneous Order appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand has unveiled the details of the country’s regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings, including licensing requirements, fees, and a list of seven approved cryptocurrencies. Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space Approved Cryptocurrencies The Thai Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced on Friday the details of the country’s cryptocurrency and initial coin offering (ICO) regulations. The measures were approved at the regulator’s June 7 meeting and are expected to go into effect later on this month, according to local media. “The proposed approach has been through public hearings in several channels,” MGR Online wrote. Tipsuda Thavaramara. This announcement follows the decree which went into effect on May 14, putting the Thai SEC in charge of crypto regulations. It also follows the country’s crypto taxation announcement. According to SEC deputy secretary-general Tipsuda Thavaramara, the Commission’s regulatory scope includes ICOs, crypto exchanges, brokerage firms, dealers and other parties permitted by the Finance Ministry, the Bangkok Post reported, adding that initially: The SEC will allow seven cryptocurrencies, used for initial coin offerings (ICOs), to be traded as trading pairs. They are bitcoin, ethereum, bitcoin cash, ethereum classic, litecoin, ripple, and stellar. “Some of the main criteria used by the SEC to assess cryptocurrency trading pairs,” the news outlet detailed, are the “consensus credibility and cryptocurrency liquidity.” Thai Rath publication added that these seven cryptocurrencies are approved because they do not promote privacy. Licenses According to the Bangkok Post, the SEC expects about 10 firms to apply for licenses, half of which will be crypto exchanges and the rest crypto brokers and dealers. Citing that crypto exchanges have until August 14 to apply for licenses, the news outlet elaborated: All market participants, including ICO issuers, digital exchanges, brokers and dealers involved with digital asset transactions, are required to register with the SEC within 90 days of the effective date…The participants must also receive the Finance Ministry’s approval to conduct digital asset business. Only registered companies in Thailand can apply for licenses, the Finance Ministry clarified. There is an upfront fee of 5 million baht (~US$156,194), “which is separated into 2.5 million each for token distribution and cryptocurrency operations,” the publication described. “Fees charged for brokerage firms and digital asset dealers are 2.5 million and 2 million baht, respectively.” Annual Fees and Registered Capital There are also annual fees: 0.002% of the total trading volume for crypto exchanges and 0.001% of the total trading volume for brokerage firms. The minimum fee for the former is 500,000 baht (~$15,619) and 250,000 baht (~$7,810) for the latter. The maximum fee is 20 million baht (~$624,775) for the former and 5 million baht (~$156,200) for the latter. In addition, the publication wrote, “Registered capital for digital exchanges is stipulated at 50 million baht for a centralised exchange and 25 million for brokers, while a decentralised exchange is at 10 million and a decentralised broker is at 5 million.” However, the news outlet did not clarify how decentralized brokers and exchanges without a company associated with them would satisfy these requirements. Furthermore, “Brokers solely involved with sending trading orders are required to have 1 million baht worth of registered capital, while dealers are required to have 5 million in registered capital,” the news outlet conveyed. ICO Restrictions In order to receive approval from the SEC, token issuers “must state clearly the type of tokens being issued, as well as investment information,” the publication noted. ICO portals must have registered capital of at least 5 million baht (~$156,625) and are required to look after ICO offerings for at least a year. There is no limit given to the amount of ICOs that can be offered to institutional and ultra-high-net-worth investors. However, “investment is capped at 300,000 baht for retail investors per person and per ICO project or no more than 70% of total value of offered tokens.” According to the publication: Sellers of unauthorised digital tokens and those setting up unauthorised seminars to solicit cryptocurrency investment will be fined no more than twice the value of the digital transaction or at least 500,000 baht [~$15,619.88]. They could also face a jail term of up to two years. What do you think of Thailand’s crypto regulations? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, MGR Online, and Thai SEC. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Thailand Unveils Details of Crypto Regulations, Legalizing 7 Cryptocurrencies appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Swiss voters will decide this Sunday whether to turn back on fractional-reserve banking and support a “sovereign money” concept for the nation’s finances. Proponents of the initiative prescribe deeper centralization to remedy the shortcomings of the traditional financial system – a vision quite different from the decentralization that came with cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, following the 2008 global financial crisis. In today’s Bitcoin in Brief, we also cover a statement by a prominent Russian banker who warns that tight crypto regulations would hamper the development of blockchain technologies. Also read: Bitcoin in Brief Friday: Bitpanda Offers New Coins, Microsoft Dips Data Center in the Sea Switzerland Decides Fate of Fractional-Reserve Banking Decentralization vs deeper centralization – the two alternative visions on how to respond to the 2008 financial crisis have been competing for attention and support in the past decade. The first strategy has been at the core of the crypto revolution. It is the remedy prescribed by both the growing global bitcoin community and the supporters of the small government/low taxes concept, like the followers of the Tea Party movement in the U.S. The proponents of the second approach have advocated granting more power and even greater responsibility to centralized financial authorities. On Sunday, June 10, Swiss voters will be asked to support “Vollgeld,” a radical reform aimed at further centralizing financial authority in the hands of the country’s central bank. On the “sovereign money” referendum, the Alpine nation will decide whether to ditch the fractional-reserve banking system, which allows banks to create money by lending far more than what they hold in deposits, Quartz reports. The proposal is to give the Swiss National Bank a monopoly over this function, while commercial banks will be required to lend only what they have. The initiative would centralize money creation at the central bank, but also concentrate there the corresponding profits and the decisions on who should or shouldn’t receive loans. Its opponents claim that the referendum is a populist response to the previous financial crisis and warn that if it succeeds, that will lead to a new crisis and even spark Brexit-like panic in the country’s huge banking sector. This, however, is an unlikely result. The predominant expectations are that Swiss citizens will vote for more of the same, until the next crisis. In recent years, Switzerland has become a crypto-friendly jurisdiction, where many crypto businesses are headquartered or represented. The Chinese mining giant Bitmain opened a branch there, and one of Russia’s largest banks, Gazprombank, announced plans to test cryptocurrency deals in the Alpine confederation. The country has established a crypto valley in the canton of Zug and has been formally considering the possibility to issue a state-backed cryptocurrency. Banker Warns, Tighter Crypto Regulations Will Hurt Blockchain Development German Gref (right) A ban on cryptocurrencies on state level would endanger the development of blockchain technologies and prevent the disclosure of the full potential of digital currencies, according to German Gref, a prominent banker and former minister of economy and trade of the Russian Federation. Although he admits he does not use cryptocurrencies, Gref notes that he considers them a source of financing for the blockchain development. In April, he said the technology was still “unripe and overvalued.” German Gref is the president of Sberbank, which is the largest bank in Russia and among the biggest in Europe. Earlier this year, reports suggested that Russia’s “savings bank” was planning to circumvent local regulations and offer clients overseas crypto-trading services. Gref also shared his opinion that the majority of countries do not recognize cryptocurrency because of its decentralization. “No state will part with the monopoly on money issuance. Most governments believe that cryptocurrency is a property and, like any other property, must be taxable,” he said, quoted by Kommersant, a leading Russian business daily. The banker also cautioned that investing in digital assets is associated with high risks. New Telegram Trading Bots Announced The Intelligent Trading Foundation (ITF), a developer of an artificial intelligence-powered crypto trading assistant, has announced two new trading bots for Telegram. They will provide users with important trading signals and notifications about market opportunities. The Intelligent Trading Bot, which comes with both free and premium subscriptions, sends users trading signals and suggest strategies based on technical analysis signals such as Simple Moving Average, Relative Strength Index and Ichimoku Cloud Breakout. The data covers hundreds of cryptocurrencies, offering traders valuable insight. The other free option displays brief information about a specific cryptocurrency on request from the members of a Telegram Group that has enabled the service. The Intelligent Trading Infobot can be added to any group in the messenger, and will offer current price and trading volume data, as well as the latest trading alerts for hundreds of coins and pairs on three crypto exchanges. What are your thoughts on today’s Bitcoin in Brief topics? Tells 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: Swiss Vote on “Sovereign Money”, Russian Banker Against Crypto Ban 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. Ontology, a new high-performance public multi-chain project and a distributed trust collaboration platform, announced the Ontology Olympus Accelerator (OOA). The program invites technology and product experts across fields to collaborate in entrepreneurship and build new distributed business applications based on Ontology’s next-generation public chain infrastructure to build an open-source, open-minded, and collaborative distributed trust ecosystem. The Ontology Olympus Accelerator program will provide complete technical, marketing, funding, talent, and legal compliance support. The Ontology Foundation will invest approximately 1.5 billion USD worth of tokens, all of which will be used to support the future development of existing startups and teams chosen. Ontology Olympus Accelerator will be the most comprehensive ecosystem accelerator among public chains. It will include the following areas: Technology Blockchain underlying technology support Custom business chain development Blockchain business-layer common modules Blockchain industry function customization Blockchain-based general hardware service platforms Custom intelligent hardware services combined with blockchain Business Collaboration with a wide range of industry partners Sharing Ontology ecosystem users Industry leader guidance Communication Technology community expansion support Ecosystem community collaboration Market incubation Ontology ecosystem business cooperation Ontology user system collaboration Marketing operations collaboration Capital incubation Ontology incubation fund Ontology investment fund Ontology/partner cooperative funds Talent incubation Human resource services including recruitment and training Legal services Professional global legal services Covering all aspects of the project Covering different regions worldwide Ontology Olympus Accelerator (OOA) will add more ecosystem incubation and acceleration services based on the needs of the ecosystem. Ontology has also announced the establishment of two important Ontology ecosystem organizations: Ontology Advisors Group (OAG): Provides a range of strategies and industry guidance for the Ontology ecosystem, promoting the development of the Ontology Olympus Accelerator program and Ontology’s ecosystem globalization. The first batch of advisors will be announced within a week. Ontology Global Capital (OGC): Includes Ontology ecosystem funds which will be allocated by a top blockchain ecosystem investment team. Further details will be announced in the near future. In July Ontology will publish the full Ontology Olympus Accelerator details on the Ontology official website and open online applications. There will be different application conditions for each of the categories. Jun Li, Founder of Ontology, said “Building the trust ecosystem goes hand in hand with the technology, applications, and governance of Ontology. This is nevertheless a huge and arduous task. We decided to launch the Ontology Olympus Accelerator precisely to develop the Ontology trust ecosystem and accomplish its goals. We hope with this accelerator program that more talent and applications can be added to the Ontology ecosystem, integrating technical elites internationally and the technical strengths of various parters to jointly build our cross-chain, -system, -industry, -application, and-terminal distributed trust ecosystem.” About Ontology Ontology is a new high-performance public multi-chain project and a distributed trust collaboration platform. Ontology provides new high-performance public blockchains that include a series of distributed ledger and smart contract systems. Ontology blockchain framework supports public blockchain systems and is able to customize different public blockchains for different applications. Ontology supports collaboration among chain networks with its various protocol groups. Ontology will constantly provide common modules on the underlying infrastructure for different kinds of distributed scenarios, such as those for the distributed digital identity framework, distributed data exchange protocol, and so on. Based on specific scenario requirements, Ontology will continue to develop new common modules. For more information, please visit: https://ont.io/. If you would like to join our Co-Builder Plan which supports Ontology ecosystem application incubation and construction, please contact us at: contact@ont.io. Media contact information: Chloe Fu Email: contact@ont.io Supporting Link https://ont.io/ This is a paid press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release. The post PR: Ontology Launches Ecosystem Accelerator – Ontology Olympus Accelerator (OOA) appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Leading crypto research firm, Chainalysis, revealed staggering wealth transfer numbers, as reported by legacy news outlet Financial Times, concerning bitcoin core (BTC). From its price high in December of last year through April of 2018, BTC hodlers (supposed longer term investors) dumped $30 billion onto the market, shedding about half their collective positions just in December. The basic facts are sure to enliven debate regarding BTC’s ultimate function, be it as a ‘store of value,’ medium of exchange, or mere speculative asset. Also read: Fidelity Investments Hints at Entering Cryptocurrency Exchange Space Bitcoin Core ‘Hodlers’ Transfer $30 Million, Fueling Speculative Trade Chainalysis economist Philip Gradwell noted, “This was an exceptional transfer of wealth.” He was speaking about the near half year flash in bitcoin core longer term investors dumping considerable amounts of their holdings. It’s actually an ongoing debate within the ecosystem. Is bitcoin a store of value for the long term or medium of exchange? Increasingly, more are objecting to the arbitrary poles: why can’t it be both? Prior to that option, a vocal sector of the bitcoin core community, especially during the later part of 2017 when BTC’s price reached $20,000, argued whatever original proposition BTC was at its birth, it clearly was now digital gold. Indeed, seeing double digit gains as regular as rain discouraged bitcoiners from spending the asset as currency. Mempool congestion and skyrocketing fees only hammered home the hodl philosophy. Don’t spend your BTC — at least that’s what they said publicly. Privately, however, something very different was happening. According to a Chainalysis study released this week, a “distinct shift in the make-up of bitcoin owners from longer-term investors — those who held the asset for more than a year — to short-term investors who have traded more recently” happened over a critical five months, from December of last year through April of this year, reports Hannah Murphy of the Financial Times. BTC Consolidating, Sparking Price Manipulation Concerns The report “estimates that longer-term holders sold at least $30bn worth of bitcoin to new speculators over the December to April period, with half of this movement taking place in December alone,” Ms. Murphy continued. Over those months, liquidity in the BTC market saw a 60 percent increase, driving the price down as supply outstripped demand. And over a calendar year, extending into early 2018, BTC managed to pick up exactly one more online merchant, raising the grand total to just 4, out of five hundred available. Also according to Chainalysis, the BTC market appears to be consolidating. As fewer hands control significant percentages of its trading value, fear grows about possible manipulation. “Overall, some 1,600 bitcoin wallets — managed by both speculators and investors — contained at least 1,000 bitcoin each in April, according to Chainalysis, collectively holding nearly 5m bitcoin, or close to a third of the available total. Of those, just under 100 wallets owned by longer-term investors contained between 10,000 and 100,000 bitcoin,” Ms. Murphy concluded. Are you hodling bitcoin and where do you stand on the debate over the main function of BTC? Let us know in the comments below. Images via the Pixabay, Financial Times, Chainalysis. 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 Flash Transfer: Bitcoin Hodlers Dumped $30 Billion Since December appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Cryptocurrency has its place in the world and Russia should carefully consider when and how to take part in the process of its development, Vladimir Putin said in his annual Q&A session with Russian citizens. The president noted that “by definition” neither Russia, nor any other country could have a national cryptocurrency. Putin also mentioned the saga around Telegram, in the light of seeking “civilized” decisions. Cows and Cryptocurrencies From potholes to spaceports, the Direct Line with Vladimir Putin usually covers it all. It is hard to imagine there is absolutely no preparation or plot behind the scenes, but one has to admit – four hours of questions can be a grueling challenge for anyone’s concentration and intellectual power. Putin sounds adequate on just about any topic, and almost all the time. Well, this year he was unprepared to answer at least one question: “Why is cow meat called ‘beef’?” To his credit, the deputy prime minister for agriculture, Alexey Gordeyev, didn’t know the answer either… This year’s program aired in a redesigned format, touched a bit here and there. And, as with any “rationalization” in a former Soviet, Slavic country, the change was met with a proper dose of criticism. As a new feature of the 2018 “Direct Line” – bloggers and vloggers were allowed to ask questions on behalf of their followers. This is how cryptocurrency came into the spotlight, and this time the president was abreast of developments. No National Crypto, ‘by Definition’ Vlogger Artiom Khokholikov tested Putin with a couple of questions that “all youngsters are interested in” – will Russia have its own cryptocurrency, and if, will it be controlled by the state? Also – does the president think that in the near future cryptocurrency will replace completely the standard fiat money? Starting with the cryptoruble topic, Putin remarked the question was somewhat incorrect. Neither Russia, nor any other country can have their own crypto, “by definition,” he educated the nation. “If we talk about cryptocurrency – this is something that goes beyond national borders,” explained the president. Ticking another box, Putin mentioned the “so called mining,” which, as he pointed out, is not regulated in Russia. The situation, however, will change soon with the adoption of the new legislation currently under review in the Duma. Then he emphasized authorities in Moscow have a very “accurate” attitude towards the whole crypto subject. Russia Should Consider its Participation Of course, the omnipresent talking points of central power were to be expected from the strongman of a strong state. “In the overwhelming majority of countries cryptocurrency is not a means of account. It is partially used in Japan, but in other countries it doesn’t work,” Vladimir Putin said. The president went on to remind of the official position of Russia’s Central Bank that cryptocurrencies cannot be a means of payment or saving, and that digital money is not backed by anything. That means, he stressed, that “We have to treat this very accurately and carefully.” “Nevertheless”, Putin changed the tone, “such phenomenon has its place in the world, it is developing! We have to carefully analyze, watch what’s going on, and see at what stage and how we can participate in this process and use it, including by the way, to avoid any restrictions in the sphere of international financial activity.” Putin Suggests ‘Civilized’ Approach to Telegram The Russian head of state touched another topic that concerns the crypto community – the fate of the messaging service Telegram. Prohibition is the easiest way to go, he noted, but also suggested that it’s necessary to seek civilized ways to solve the problem. Russian authorities have been trying to block the messenger since April 16, following a decision by the Tagansky District Court of Moscow from April 13. So far, their attempts have been unsuccessful and Telegram has managed to circumvent the imposed restrictions. Russian special services claim the app has been used by terrorists and have requested its encryption keys. However, the company founded by Russian entrepreneur Pavel Durov has refused to hand them over. According to Russian media, many members of the local Telegram community have interpreted Putin’s comments as a signal to the country’s telecom regulator, Roskomnadzor, and the Federal Security Service, FSB, to ease the pressure on the messenger. Do you think Russia will eventually legalize and adopt cryptocurrencies? Tell us in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Express yourself freely at Bitcoin.com’s user forums. We don’t censor on political grounds. Check forum.Bitcoin.com. The post Putin: Cryptocurrency Has Its Place, No State Can Have Own Crypto appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

This week, the decentralized cryptocurrency Bitcoin Cash has seen some market gains and there’s also been a slew of new announcements and development over the past couple of weeks. Currently, the price per BCH is around $1,120 after dropping below the $1K range the week prior. Moreover, since the fork this past May the BCH-ecosystem has seen all types of application development and community projects launched with a new announcement nearly every day. Also Read: IMF Says Bitcoin Could Create Less Demand for Regular Debt-based Fiat Money Today’s Bitcoin Cash Statistics It’s been over 10 months since the August 1 fork and today the BCH chain is roughly 7201 blocks ahead of the Bitcoin Core (BTC) chain. Since then, the decentralized cryptocurrency ecosystem has performed two successful hard forks, one of which changed the currency’s difficulty algorithm, while the other fork added new OP_Codes, and raised the base block size to 32 MB. Over the past year, the BCH hashrate has grown exponentially and this week the hashrate is averaging close to 5 exahash per second between roughly 12 different mining pools. This Friday, June 8, the Bitcoin Cash chain is 1.5% more profitable to mine according to Coin Dance statistics. Further Coin Dance data details that it is 5.95x more expensive to transact on the BTC network today. Market data shows that BCH is down 2 percent today but has gained 13 percent over the last seven days. The market has a lot more trade volume today than a few days prior with $516Mn BCH swapped over the past 24-hours. The top exchanges trading the most BCH liquidity include Okex, Binance, L Bank, EXX, and Huobi. Bitcoin Cash is the fourth highest market capitalization still but also holds the fourth highest trade volume for June 8, 2018. The strongest currency pair with BCH is BTC which captures 41 percent of trades. This is followed by tether (USDT 30.8%), USD (15.1%), KRW (7.9%), and ETH (1.3%). New Platform Announcements, the Miners Choice Initiative, and Development Funding Overall, the sentiment within the BCH community has been very positive, as there have been lots of announcements over the past couple of weeks. For instance, this past week 100+ coders met in China to develop BCH-based applications and organizers detail the event was a huge success. The Cryptonize.it team announced the launch of a new BCH-centric wallet called Cash Pay that allows anyone to purchase anything online. A few days later, the Cryptonize.it founder Ari explained to news.Bitcoin.com about how his team helped an anonymous developer create a new decentralized fundraising platform called Lighthouse.cash. Earlier this week, we reported on a “Miners Choice” initiative started by the mining pools operated by Nchain, and Coingeek which aims to remove the BCH dust limit if 546 satoshis, alongside allowing some free transactions per block. Nchain’s Dr. Craig Wright spoke with news.Bitcoin.com about the initiative and he encouraged other mining pools to join the cause. So far since we reported on the topic, the mining pools Bitcoin.com and Viabtc have pledged to support the initiative. In addition to this, the Bitcoin.com pool has started to donate a fraction of block rewards to BCH development and has donated the funds to the Bitcoin ABC development team this week. Bitcoin Cash Community Energy Still at Full Throttle Other BCH announcements include the popular streaming gaming platform Twitch now allows BCH tips by utilizing the Streamlabs app tethered to their Coinbase accounts. An encrypted messaging service was launched this week that’s tethered to the BCH network called Keyport. Bitcoin Cash was featured in the UK’s popular financial magazine Moneyweek two days ago in an editorial detailing why investors should invest in BCH. Last but not least, the trading platform Boaexchange has added BCH as their base currency and default values. The Coinex exchange is another trading platform that also offers BCH trading pairs with other popular cryptocurrencies. The trading platform Boaexchange offers BCH pairs. Overall, the BCH community is optimistic about the future and pleased with the latest developments and announcements concerning the Bitcoin Cash ecosystem. One unique headline this week came from the Philippines, as there’s a decked out customized BCH Jeepney that drives between Philcoa in Quezon City and T.M. Kalaw in Manila every day. The BCH Jeepney project was initiated by 20 BCH community members who donated 0.5 BCH each, and the bus plans to accept bitcoin cash in the near future. The customized BCH Jeepney that drives throughout Manila. There’s been a lot going on which has invoked a positive energy around the entire community, so far this fervor has been at full throttle. What do you think about the BCH market and infrastructure the past few weeks? Let us know your thoughts on this subject in the comments section below. Images via Shutterstock, Satoshi Pulse, and Visor. Why not keep track of the price with one of Bitcoin.com’s widget services? The post Bitcoin Cash Roundup: New Apps, Announcements and Developments 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. EO, a four-platform-ecosystem has obtained two licenses to for its upcoming crypto fiat exchange and wallet. This makes it one of the first crypto-based companies to receive a license prior to launching of its crypto products and it can officially allow the use of fiat on its upcoming crypto exchange, crypto wallet and online trading platform, as well as the exchange of its own coin, EO, with fiat. Regulation in the crypto world is a fairly new topic which has been getting a lot of attention as more crypto related projects emerge. Many crypto exchanges and crypto wallets are seeking to receive licensing for their services, however currently exchanges and wallets, including some of the biggest names, are operating without licensing, and are allowed to due to the youth of the cryptomarket. EO comes from ExpertOption which has been a regulated broker since entering the online trading scene, EO which among other products will develop and launch a crypto exchange and crypto wallet for both fiat and digital currencies is following the same path and has received the Virtual Currency Exchange Service License (number FVR000193) and the Virtual Currency Wallet Service License (number FRK000161) before launching its crypto products. EO.Finance, the financial crypto-fiat hub which will serve as a wallet for storing and exchanging cryptos with fiat is expected to be released in July of 2018 according to the roadmap. EO.Trade crypto exchange, which is the biggest project in the ecosystem will be released in December of the same year and is now officially licensed to offer direct exchange from fiat and crypto and vice versa along with all other EO products. The EO ecosystem with its platforms will bring online trading and blockchain projects closer by making crypto and fiat exchange easy. The platforms will allow newcomers to crypto to buy tokens using fiat. They can also exchange their cryptos back to fiat without a complicated processes. The system will introduce token-based accounts on its online trading platform, ExpertOption, where the EO coin will allow crypto trading with higher profit percentages. The EO coin will also allow lower transaction fees on EO.Finance and EO.Trade. The EO coin presale started on the 16th of April and will continue until the 29th of June while a second round of sale is expected on the 16th of July to the 31st of August. Contact Email Address help@eo.trade Supporting Link https://eo.trade 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: EO Obtains Licenses for Crypto-Fiat Exchange and Wallet as Its Initial Coin Sale Continues appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

This week three luxury apartments located in Budva, Montenegro sold for 420 BTC (3.2Mn USD) according to Notary Office and the firm Astra Montenegro Investment Association (AMIA). Furthermore, the AMIA has been successfully promoting the use of digital currencies in Budva and has convinced the neighboring Dukley hotel, Beach Lounge, and Marina to accept BTC. Also Read: Mike Hearn’s Crowdfunding Project Has Been Resurrected — Meet Lighthouse.cash Montenegro Real Estate, and Three Establishments Welcome Cryptocurrency Acceptance Three apartments have sold in the region of Budva, Montenegro, a country located in Southeastern Europe. The luxury apartments were located near the coastal area on the Adriatic Sea and the region is well known for its tourism. According to AMIA executive Nila Emilfarba and the Notary Office, the living quarters were sold for approximately 420 BTC. The Dukley Gardens sale is also just part of Budva favoring digital currencies. Emilfarba says the sale was the biggest so far for the country and the firm has been persuading merchants in Budva to accept digital currencies. In addition to being able to purchase real estate, Emilfarba and AMIA have also convinced the Beach Lounge restaurant, Dukley hotel, and the Dukley Marina to accept BTC as well. “Our company, unlike many who have doubt in cryptocurrency, is the first in the region that started selling real estate for the cryptocurrencies,” explains the AMIA. We acquired brand new clientele — In the world, and especially in Europe, there is only a limited number of real estate that can be bought with BTC. The apartments purchased with BTC were located in The Dukley Gardens but the Beach Lounge restaurant, Dukley hotel, and the Dukley Marina also accept BTC. The Apartment Sales Were Closed Quickly and Witnessed by the Budva Notary Office One of the customers was a 25-year old native from France explained the settlement process was quicker than traditional residential closings. The sale was witnessed by the Budva Notary, Pantović’s Law office, and attorneys from Prelević’s Law. After the official papers were signed and the BTC was transferred the funds were immediately converted to Euros. Real estate purchases using cryptocurrency has been a trend that’s been growing in number since early 2017 when digital assets reached all-time price highs. These large transactions have been taking place in Miami, Amsterdam, Dubai, Manhattan and all over the world. With three establishments and real estate being sold for cryptocurrency it looks like Montenegro is becoming a friendly region in regard to the digital asset economy. What do you think about the three apartments in Budva, Montenegro being sold for BTC and the three establishments accepting the cryptocurrency for services? Let us know your thoughts on this subject in the comment section below. Images via 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 Three Luxury Apartments Sold for 420 BTC in the Coastal Region of Montenegro appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In today’s Bitcoin in Brief we cover a recent announcement by a leading European crypto exchange – Bitpanda is adding two new coins, IOTA and Komodo. While on the Old Continent, Microsoft has immersed a whole data center off the coast of Scotland. And in Japan, a startup uses artificial intelligence, augmented reality and blockchain technology to create a “virtual human agent.” Also read: Bitcoin in Brief Thursday: New Tech and a Quick Way to Make a Fortune in Crypto Bitpanda Lists IOTA and Komodo Bitpanda, one of Europe’s established cryptocurrency exchanges, is adding two new coins – IOTA (MIOTA) and Komodo (KMD). The announcement comes after the successful launch of Bitpanda 2.0 and the team is promising new listings on a regular basis. Initially, both cryptocurrencies will be offered through a trade only, buy and sell option. “Our Integration Team has been working hard the past few months and we are now happy to announce that Komodo will be added on June 12, 2018 to the Bitpanda platform, and IOTA will follow on June 14, 2018. To speed things further up, we will offer new cryptocurrencies on a regular basis to our users,” Bitpanda said. The trading platform noted that the integration of IOTA comes in response to popular demand within the Bitpanda community. The listing has been confirmed by the IOTA team, too. Bitpanda and the IOTA Foundation are working closely to set up an IOTA wallet on the exchange, which will be supporting withdrawal and send functions. Komodo, which is also among Bitpanda’s partners, will be one of the platforms for the Pantos meta token (PAN). The project aims to provide instant transfers between supported blockchains. The exchange plans to offer KMD wallet in the near future. Microsoft Experiments with an Underwater Data Center One of Microsoft’s data centers is now operating at about 100 ft (~30 m) below the surface of the North Sea, not far from the British Orkney Islands. Project Natick is powered by renewable energy generated by wind, solar, and tidal installations which meet completely the energy needs of the archipelago situated close to the Scottish shore. The data center is made up of 864 servers in a container that sits on the sea bottom about 14 miles (~22 km) from the coast. Its electricity is supplied through an undersea cable using the green energy produced on the islands. The data center is designed to fit into a standard shipping container and can be easily relocated. May be that’s an idea crypto miners should consider. Natick is a pilot project and Microsoft will operate the data center for a period of 12 months, Quartz reported. The company says bringing data centers close to hubs of computing power benefits customers by cutting down the back-and-forth between users and servers. The software giant points out that nearly half the world’s population lives within 120 miles (~150 km) of the ocean. Another strong argument in favor of the project is the opportunity to bring cooling costs down, as deep sea waters maintain lower temperatures which help the cooling of the hardware. “It’s our belief that this type of data center could lead to reduced costs and simpler structures that incorporate fewer materials, requiring less maintenance and electricity,” a Microsoft representative commented. Initially, the servers will be put through a series of tests aimed at evaluating power consumption, humidity, noise creation, and temperature levels. On the second stage, customers will be allowed to use the data center. If the project is successful, Microsoft plans to keep operating the servers and continue to provide access to users. Tokyo Company Creates Virtual Human Using AI, AR and Blockchain A Japanese startup called Cougar is working on a project to create a “Virtual Human Agent” (VHA). The company is using artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR) and blockchain technology to realize the project. According to CEO Atsushi Ishii, this is the first tech combination of this kind. A video released by Cougar shows how the VHA can momentarily jump from one device to another, from a PC to a smartphone in this case, when asked to do so. “That’s a nice chair,” the female character also says, demonstrating her abilities to use AI-driven image recognition to assess the surroundings. Couger is a small business, with fewer than 15 employees, according to a report by the Nikkei Asian Review. Its team of engineers is involved in game consoles development. The company, however, has pans in many other fields, including robotics and the internet of things. Its management dreams of creating “a world where devices act autonomously,” an ambition which requires the confluence of multiple technologies. The Tokyo-based startup has been working on a gateway called Connectome, promising to design a “smart space” by seamlessly linking different devices and technologies. The project should pave the way for more innovations. The Virtual Human Agent has been created as part of the effort to develop Connectome. Couger stresses the importance of linking two technologies in particular – artificial intelligence and blockchain, the distributed ledger underpinning cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. AI learns by combing through huge volumes of data, identifying patterns and assessing new information. Couger wants to store the learning records on a blockchain. Knowing what data has been used to teach the AI would allow developers to trust its judgments. What are your thoughts on the topics in today’s edition of Bitcoin in Brief? Let us know in the comments below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Bitcoin News is growing fast. To reach our global audience, send us a news tip or submit a press release. Let’s work together to help inform the citizens of Earth (and beyond) about this new, important and amazing information network that is Bitcoin. The post Bitcoin in Brief Friday: Bitpanda Offers New Coins, Microsoft Dips Data Center in the Sea appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A local cryptocurrency exchange in Chile has reportedly filed a lawsuit against six major banks in the country for abusing their power and quashing its crypto payment business. This lawsuit follows another one filed in Chile against ten banks by a different crypto exchange. Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space Six Banks Sued Chilean cryptocurrency exchange Orionx filed a lawsuit with the country’s Court for the Defense of Free Competition (TDLC) against six major banks in the country last week, according to Diario Financiero. The six banks are Bancoestado, Banco de Chile, Banco Bice, Itaú Corpbanca, Santander, and Scotiabank. The lawyer representing Orionx, Pablo Tromben of Tromben Abogados legal services, was quoted by the publication: The demand before the TDLC is based on the fact that the defendant banks, abusing a dominant position and with sufficient market power, excluded Orionx from the market of digital payments that was achieved through the refusal of sale and exclusive practices. He noted that the six banks control 77.1% of Transbank, the main operator of digital payment systems in the South American country. The lawsuit includes the financial entities that declined to sign a contract with the exchange or hindered the management of its new bank accounts. The company interprets these actions as an attempt to impede free competition. Banks Closed Crypto Exchange Accounts In March, a number of banks in Chile closed the accounts of Orionx as well as two other crypto exchanges: Buda.com and Cryptomkt. In closing Orionx’s bank account, Bancoestado said it did “not wanting to get involved with transaction operators of cryptocurrencies, because there is no legal framework that regulates them,” Criptonoticias detailed. The company then filed a request with the TDLC, “alleging that Bancoestado failed to comply with the terms established in the contract for this type of procedure,” but it could not prevent the bank from closing its account. “What we experienced these months was terrible, from one day to another, they cut us [off from] the income of the company, and we had only been operating for four months, we were very close to bankruptcy,” CEO and co-founder Roberto Zibert shared. According to the text of the lawsuit, banks argued that they closed the accounts of crypto exchanges because “it is a smoke screen, an appearance of legality, all to mask or disguise the true objective of their conduct,” which “prevent, restrict or hinder free competition,” the news outlet conveyed. Joel Vainstein, the exchange’s co-founder, told the publication: We believe that we have a solid case and that it differs from the rest just because we had an electronic means of payment with customers, called Orionx Pay, which [is] further evidence [of] direct competition in the relevant market. Buda.com previously sued 10 banks after they closed its accounts. The TDLC then ordered three of them, Bancoestado, Itau, and Scotiabank, to reopen the accounts of the exchange and of Cryptomkt while the lawsuit is pending. Following an appeal by the banks which was rejected by the TDLC, Bancoestado agreed to reopen accounts of the two exchanges but the other two banks plan to further appeal. What do you think of Orionx suing the six banks? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Orionx, and Bancoestado. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Six Major Banks in Chile Sued by Another Cryptocurrency Exchange 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. Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing, Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before Lifestyles of the Poor & Famous On January 29, 1845, Edgar Allan Poe became an overnight sensation with the New York Evening Mirror’s publication of a poem that still thrills and haunts readers, listeners, and viewers to this day. Despite the overwhelming popularity of The Raven, it netted Poe a total of $24; over half of that amount was charity that he received for what may have been a draft. Adjusted for inflation, his literary masterpiece netted him a total $754.91 in 2018. To put this in a contemporary context, think about an international chart-topping single, say Taylor Swift’s Shake it Off. It’s hard to imagine Ms. Swift selling that track, rights and all, to a record label for a little over $750. The Raven went viral, first in the US, then in Europe. It has become so deeply ingrained in contemporary culture that we’re still reciting, remixing, and reimagining it in various media to this day. Poe’s exquisitely crafted poem may have won him recognition, but his writing failed to earn him superstar riches. Poe’s lifetime earnings for 20 years’ worth of poetry, prose, and non-fiction amounted to $6,200, or $195,018 adjusted for inflation. That’s about $9,750 per year – probably the sum that Taylor Swift makes as she sings Shake it Off at one of her shows. That may be stretching the truth, but not by much. Unjust rewards – Nevermore! The writer’s financial distress had a profound effect on Austrian producer and composer David Brandstaetter. “Poe’s work, especially The Raven and Annabel Lee, has always inspired me,” says David, “He not only wrote some of the most famous poems of all time, he also established the foundations of the detective story and science fiction!” David was shocked when he first learned about the pittance the writer received for The Raven. It got him thinking about the hurdles that many of today’s creatives must overcome in order to earn a living, such as copyright infringement and fair payment. Experience as a sound designer at Rockstar Games Vienna and as a producer at Sony DADC gave David a deep understanding of the wants and needs not only of content creators, but also of creative teams, project managers, and consumers. It became clear to him that the digital content industry needed a platform that facilitated the production and distribution processes. Qravity’s Rainbow In February 2016, David founded Qravity to help bring original content to market. Soon, a working version of the Qravity platform was ready for testing. “In July 2017, we had a unique collaboration and communication tool for creative teams,” says David, “Qravity also tracks tasks in such a way that creative members receive stakes in the content they help make. For example, a person who writes lyrics for a song gets a share, say five percent, of the song’s revenue. Every time someone buys that song, the lyricist gets five percent of that payment.” Qravity needed a secure and transparent means of keeping this process equitable. There was also the matter of protecting copyright and preventing piracy. “I was speaking with my friend and business partner Sascha Dennstedt [Qravity’s Co-Founder and CFO] about Poe and how, in some ways, little has changed financially for artists,” says David, “He said that we should integrate blockchain into Qravity. Some research convinced me that this made perfect sense.” Using smart contracts, Qravity provides creatives with immutable and transparent records of their stakes in the projects they help complete. They receive these records in the form of digital tokens called QPT. Based on the amount of QPT they hold, Qravity sends creators a share of revenue earned whenever the content they helped make is purchased. They receive these payments in the form of Qravity’s cryptocurrency, QCO. So if our lyricist has a five percent stake in the song he penned, a 1 QCO song earns him 0.05 QCO, which he can then trade on crypto exchanges, or spend in the Qravity marketplace. Decentralization for Fair Payment “[The Raven] will stick to the memory of everybody who reads it.” Nathaniel Parker Willis, Editor, Evening Mirror The creation of art that transcends cultures and achieves a sort of immortality is one of the greatest achievements to which one can aspire. But such greatness does not pay the bills. Qravity’s decentralized content production and distribution platform is on the verge of helping creators own and profit from their work. In doing so, it aims to stimulate the continuous creation and consumption of premium digital content – forevermore. —- Get QCO during the Qravity token sale. Presale with 30% bonus: July 2-16, 2018. Regular token sale: July 17 to September 5, 2018. To learn more, visit www.qravity.com, read the Qravity white paper, or join the discussion in the Qravity Telegram group. Contact Email Address marketing@qravity.com Supporting Link http://qravity.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: How Edgar Allan Poe Inspired a Composer to Build Qravity – a Blockchain Platform for Creatives appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Switzerland’s legacy bank, Hypothekarbank Lenzburg, announced this week it was accepting cryptocurrency related businesses as account holders, something many legacy financial institutions outright refuse. Long viewed as a progressive society way ahead of its time, the Swiss are once again leading, … this time it’s doing so in the crypto revolution. Also read: Fidelity Investments Hints at Entering Cryptocurrency Exchange Space 150 Year Old Bank in Switzerland Opens to Crypto Businesses Switzerland’s mortgage bank Hypothekarbank Lenzburg CEO Marianne Wildi explained, “As a bank that sets itself up technologically and pursues a cooperative strategy in the field of fintech, it is also a matter of credibility to work together with the young sector of crypto and blockchain companies in Switzerland.” Its earliest iteration can be traced back 150 years, and has since morphed into a mortgage, retail, and a private banking services provider, acting locally while being publicly listed. Hypothekarbank Lenzburg CEO Marianne Wildi The Swiss were among the earliest to really see crypto’s potential, becoming a mecca for those interested in the technology and incubating startups along the way. As a rival to the US’s Silicon Valley, an area in Zug has been deemed Crypto Valley for its broad enthusiasm of the phenomenon. Even so, in announcing its new policy Hypothekarbank Lenzburg is the country’s first bank to welcome crypto businesses. Regional media quoted Ms. Wildi as explaining how much thought went into changing their policy, suggesting guidance came from the country’s relatively permissive regulator, the Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA). In perhaps in an effort to assuage board members’ fears, she also was sure to the extensive vetting that goes into accepting crypto businesses as clients. Could be a Trend Prior to Hypothekarbank going all in, the financial community dabbled along the edges of crypto-related business support. Falcon Private Bank, for example, made headlines last year by vaguely interacting with “crypto asset management.” Bank Frick of Liechtenstein continues to offer to its customers cold storage and top coin access such as bitcoin cash, bitcoin core, litecoin, ether, and ripple. Ms. Wildi elaborated on just how their new police would shake out, more or less handing over the task to contractor Geissbühler, Weber & Partner AG. “They already have a lot of cryptographic know-how and analyze customer inquiries about the legal consequences and backgrounds,” she assured. “After due diligence they give us a recommendation, and the decision then follows. It’s true that the customer review process is more involved in such relationships, but it does not make any difference to other customer relationships insofar as compliance processes have to work flawlessly anyway.” Do you think more countries will follow Switzerland’s lead? Let us know in the comments. Images via the Pixabay. Verify and track bitcoin cash transactions on our BCH Block Explorer, the best of its kind anywhere in the world. Also, keep up with your holdings, BCH and other coins, on our market charts at Satoshi’s Pulse, another original and free service from Bitcoin.com. The post Switzerland Shows the Way: Bank First to Offer Crypto Business Accounts appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Just recently the tech giant Apple has revised its App Store policies concerning cryptocurrency applications offered within the platform marketplace. The new rules are a bit stricter and apply to cryptocurrency wallets, exchanges, and platforms that facilitate Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). Also Read: Three Luxury Apartments Sold for 420 BTC in the Coastal Region of Montenegro Apple’s App Store Revises Cryptocurrency Rules The Apple App Store is a popular application marketplace that provides over 783,000 gaming apps, and 2.3 million non-gaming apps. Just recently the App Store changed its guidelines concerning cryptocurrency applications that can be downloaded using the marketplace. The news follows the recent ‘Developers Union’ in which a large group of software developers pushed to get their free apps published and had succeeded in convincing Apple. The new rules detail that cryptocurrency applications must adhere to the following description criteria which include wallets, ICOs, exchanges, and cloud mining platforms. Mining applications using an iPhone’s chipset to mine digital currencies are strictly prohibited and are only allowed if the software is performing the mining off the device (e.g. cloud-based mining). “Wallet Apps may facilitate virtual currency storage, provided they are offered by developers enrolled as an organization,” explains Apple’s revised rules. “Exchange Apps may facilitate transactions or transmissions of cryptocurrency on an approved exchange, provided they are offered by the exchange itself.” Initial Coin Offering Apps facilitating Initial Coin Offerings (“ICOs”), cryptocurrency futures trading, and other crypto-securities or quasi-securities trading must come from established banks, securities firms, futures commission merchants (“FCM”), or other approved financial institutions and must comply with all applicable law. Apple’s Long History of Being Strict Towards Cryptocurrency Apps Lastly, the fifth revised rule may affect some applications that are already on the App Store currently. The guideline says it prohibits applications that offer currency for completing tasks. “Cryptocurrency apps may not offer currency for completing tasks, such as downloading other apps, encouraging other users to download, posting to social networks, etc.,” the last rule emphasizes. It is well known that Apple’s App Store rules concerning cryptocurrencies are far stricter than other marketplaces like Google Play. Four years ago the company removed all Bitcoin-related applications, and two years ago it was quite firm towards altcoins when it asked companies to remove digital assets like dash off their apps. These days there are a lot of cryptocurrency applications and more added every day, but the latest rules may affect a few apps already featured on Apple’s App Store, and cryptocurrency applications looking to be published in the future. What do you think about Apple’s new App Store rules towards cryptocurrencies? Let us know in the comment section below. Images via Pixabay, Apple, and the App Store. 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 Apple’s App Store Revises Cryptocurrency App Rules appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A study has found that despite their volatility, cryptocurrencies do not endanger the financial system and the economy of Russia, as the risks are offset by the highly concentrated ownership of digital assets. Crypto fluctuations are not believed to affect consumption either. Russian residents have controlled cryptocurrency worth between $7.5 and $14 billion in the first quarter of this year, according to estimates published in the report. Also read: Russian Railways Eyes Crypto for Tickets, Blockchain for Cargo Coins Compared to Commodities, Less Volatile than Some The volatility of cryptocurrency rates is comparable to the price dynamics of foods, considered some of the most volatile commodities. Prices of products like meat, milk, and sugar can actually be much more volatile, according to a new study quoted by Russian media. It concludes that cryptocurrencies are not a threat to Russia’s financial stability. Crypto volatility can affect the Russian economy much like the depreciation of the ruble, which leads to revaluation of the debt denominated in foreign currency, increased cost of borrowing, inflation expectations, and counterparty risks. The authors have calculated that crypto market fluctuations can increase the interest rate on domestic borrowings by about 1%, but that’s only if the share of virtual currencies in the structure of corporate debt reaches 4 trillion rubles, or at least 6% of the total. According to the Russian Analytical Credit Rating Agency (ACRA), the high volatility of cryptocurrencies can potentially create risks for the country’s financial stability, but these are balanced by the high concentration of ownership of the digital assets. ACRA estimates that the market value of the cryptocurrency attributable to the Russian economy or controlled by Russian residents has been between $7.5 and 14 billion in the first quarter of 2018. That’s only 1-2% of the M2 money supply in Russia. The global ratio is even lower at 0.5%. Comparison between the M2 money supply by countries and the market capitalization of cryptocurrencies, in trillion USD (Coin Dance, IMF, 2017) The study is based on statistics measuring the Russian share of the global economy and money supply, as well as data about the structure of the turnover registered on crypto exchanges. The researchers note that it is still quite difficult to accurately estimate the share of cryptocurrencies against the money supply in the country, as the assessment is limited by the opacity of the cryptocurrency markets, the anonymity of crypto users and the use of cryptocurrency in cross-border settlements. The authors point out that a number of factors can influence the volume of cryptocurrency owned by the residents of a given country. These include the level of development of financial markets and venture investing, the central bank’s policies, the stability of the national fiat currency, the inflation dynamics, and the rigidity of government regulations. They believe that the increase of market capitalization of cryptocurrencies, their acceptance as unit of account, the introduction of liberal regulations for ICOs and crypto payments can stimulate growth in the sector. Consumption Not Affected by Crypto Fluctuations The experts at ACRA see very little chance of crypto volatility affecting consumption in Russia. They claim consumption will decrease only by about 1% if cryptocurrency price shocks cause a 6% drop in the volume of liquid savings. In current prices, this corresponds to approximately 1.5 trillion rubles. “However, due to the huge distortion in the distribution of crypto assets, their volatility is not reflected in consumer spending,” notes the report, quoted by Kommersant. The analysts also say that if the use of cryptocurrency increases in Russia, the Central Bank can employ the same monetary policy instruments it currently applies in regards to foreign currencies. In case crypto markets remain opaque, digital currencies can be treated like foreign cash, and if the bank is successful in tracing crypto transactions, digital coins can be regarded as electronic foreign currency funds. The Central Bank of Russia has previously opposed the legalization of cryptocurrencies as legal tender and unit of account. The legislation currently under review in Russia’s parliament can change that to a certain extent. It has been reported that some texts allow the use of tokens and coins in settlements, although, unlike the ruble, cryptos will not be considered a mandatory means of payment in the country. Of the three drafts approved on first reading by the State Duma, the bill “On Digital Rights” deals with crypto payments. The other two, “On Digital Financial Assets” and “On Attracting Investments Using Investment Platforms”, aim to regulate initial coin offerings (ICOs), crypto mining and taxation. The proposed legislation describes cryptocurrencies and tokens as electronic property created with cryptographic tools. Do you think price volatility hampers the wider adoption of cryptocurrencies? Tell us 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 Cryptocurrencies Not a Risk to Stability, Russian Study Concludes appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The BTC markets are currently testing two major trendlines comprising a major symmetrical triangle. As of this writing, bitcoin appears to be following a major ascending trendline that dates back to mid-2017, whilst simultaneously testing a descending trendline that runs from December’s all-time high of nearly $20,000 USD to the local high of approximately $10,000. Many traders are expecting that the resolution of the triangle will determine the direction of the next significant move in the BTC markets. Also Read: Data Prediction Sites Show More Conservative Cryptocurrency Price Forecasts Consolidatory Range Tightens for BTC In recent months, the BTC markets have consolidated in an increasing tightening range between approximately $6,000 and $10,000. After last month’s local high of nearly $10,000, the markets have formed a large lopsided symmetrical triangle pattern. As of this writing, price action appears poised to break either above or below the symmetrical triangle formation, with the current price of roughly $7,700 brushing up against both the ascending trendline that dates back to July 2017’s prices of approximately $1,800, and the descending trendline running from the all-time high of nearly $20,000 to May’s local high of roughly $10,000. Break Out or Break Down? For traders, the BTC markets are producing frustratingly mixed signals, with the steadily declining trade volume witnessed in recent weeks likely indicating an increasing number of market participants opting to sit on the sidelines and wait for confirmation of bitcoin’s next major move. When looking at the stochastic RSI, bitcoin is producing conflicting signals across different time-frames. Shorter time-frames, such as the 1-day, 12-hour, 6-hour, and 4-hour, suggest that the BTC markets may be over-bought, with the stochastic RSI sitting above the 80-threshold. BTC Stoch RSI, 1-Day, Bitfinex However, both the 1-week and the 3-day charts show the stochastic RSI to be underneath the 20-threshold – suggesting that an upward momentum shift could be imminent. BTC Stoch RSI, 1-Week, Bitfinex Short-Term Outlook If the BTC markets are able to break above the symmetrical pattern in which the markets have been consolidating, the move may be interpreted as a confirmation that the recent retrace has produced a higher low, and will likely serve as a catalyst for a retest of the $9,000 to $10,000 area. Should the markets snap below the long-term ascending trendline, many traders are predicting that the bitcoin will see a test of support at the $6,000 area for the third time this year. Bitcoin Cash Consolidates Above $1,000 The BCH markets have continued to consolidate above $1,000 in recent days, following an impressive bullish rally that saw Bitcoin Cash gain more than 30% and break out of the bear-channel that drove price action for most of May. As of this writing, Bitcoin Cash is trading for $1,140, with the markets appearing poised to test resistance at approximately $1,200 – a price area that converges with the descending trendline running from the November all-time high to the local high of roughly $1,800 posted last month. When looking at the BCH/BTC charts, the Bitcoin Cash markets appear to have produced its second higher low for 2018. The recent bullish momentum saw BCH gain more than 20% as it bounced from roughly 0.124 BTC to test resistance at the 0.15 BTC area. As of this writing, BCH is trading for approximately 0.148 BTC. Do you think the markets will break down, or break out of the symmetrical triangle formation? Share your thoughts in the comments section below! Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Trading View, Bitcoinwisdom Want to create your own secure cold storage paper wallet? Check our tools section. The post BTC Markets Update: Major Symmetrical Triangle Set to Break appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In recent regulatory news, the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has rejected a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request regarding the subpoenas recently received by Bitfinex and Tether; the United States Securities and Exchanges (SEC) Chairman, Jay Clayton, has indicated that the regulator will not alter existing securities legislation to cater to cryptocurrencies. Maria Vullo, the Superintendent of Financial Services for the State of New York, has praised the regulatory efforts made by the CFTC and SEC in the arena of initial coin offerings, and the SEC has announced Valerie Szczepanik as the commission’s new Senior Advisor for Digital Assets and Innovation. Also Read: Coinbase Acquires Investment Firms to Offer Regulated Crypto Securities CFTC Rejects Freedom of Information Request It has been reported by media that the U.S Commodity Futures Trading Commission has rejected a request under the Freedom of Information Act for access to the subpoenas delivered to Bitfinex and Tether on the 6th of December. The FOIA request, dated June 5th, requested “subpoenas issued to Ifinex inc. also known as Bitfinex and its subsidiary companies, as well as subpoenas issued Tether Limited and its subsidiary companies.” The anonymous individual who submitted the request claims that the CFTC responded stating that it had discovered “thousands of responsive records, all of which are exempt from the FOIA’s disclosure requirement,” adding that “Some records are exempt from disclosure under FOIA Exemption 7(A), 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(7)(A), because disclosure of that material could reasonably be expected to interfere with the conduct of the Commission’s law enforcement activities.” The CFTC also reportely stated that “Some records were obtained on the condition that the agency keep the source of the information confidential. Those records are exempt from disclosure under FOIA Exemption 7(0), 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(7)(D). That exemption is intended to ensure that “confidential sources are not lost because of retaliation against the sources for past disclosures or because of the sources’ fear of future disclosures.” SEC Will Not Modify Securities Regulations to Cater to Cryptocurrencies In a recent interview with CNBC, the chairman of the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission, Jay Clayton, firmly rejected the suggestion of modifying existing securities legislation in order to adapt regulations to cryptocurrencies. Mr. Clayton stated “We are not going to do any violence to the traditional definition of a security that has worked for a long time. We’ve been doing this a long time, there’s no need to change the definition.” The SEC chairman also sought to clarify the regulator’s jurisdiction regarding virtual currencies. “Crypto-currencies: These are replacements for sovereign currencies, replace the dollar, the euro, the yen with bitcoin. That type of currency is not a security. A token, a digital asset, where I give you my money and you go off and make a venture, and in return for giving you my money I say ‘you can get a return’ that is a security and we regulate that. We regulate the offering of that security and regulate the trading of that security.” New York Officials Praise U.S. Authorities for ICO Regulations At a recent event organized by the Council on Foreign Relations titled “Legal Tender? The Regulation of Cryptocurrencies,” Maria Vullo, the Superintendent of Financial Services for the State of New York, praised the efforts of U.S authorities to regulate initial coin offerings (ICOs). Mrs. Vullo stated “I think the SEC has done the best job possible in its efforts to regulate token sales,” adding, “in many ways, this is no different than other types of banking-related services where you have the state regulators, you have the public companies that are also regulated by the SEC and the CFTC.” Mrs. Vullo added “I think a lot of these token sales run afoul of the spirit of the law, if not the letter of the law. But we have to be careful not to lump them all together.” Valerie Szczepanik Named SEC’s Senior Advisor for Digital Assets The SEC has announced Valerie Szczepanik as the regulator’s new Senior Advisor for Digital Assets, and Associate Director of the Division of Corporation Finance. Mrs. Szczepanik has worked with the SEC since 1997, most recently serving as an Assistant Director in the Division of Enforcement’s Cyber Unit. Chairman Jay Clayton stated “Valerie’s thought leadership in this area is recognized both within the Commission and across financial regulators in the United States and abroad. With her demonstrated skill, experience, and keen awareness of the importance of fostering innovation while ensuring investor protection, Val is the right person to coordinate our efforts in this dynamic area that has both promise and risk.” Ms. Szczepanik stated “I am excited to take on this new role in support of the SEC’s efforts to address digital assets and innovation as it carries out its mission to facilitate capital formation, promote fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and protect investors, particularly Main Street investors. I look forward to working closely with staff across the agency, our regulatory partners, and the public as we provide a coordinated and strategic response to developments.” What are your thoughts on the current regulatory climate surrounding bitcoin and cryptocurrencies? Join the discussion in the comments section below! Images courtesy of Shuttestock, Wikipedia 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 Regulations Round-Up: CFTC Rejects FOIA Request, SEC Not Modifying Securities Laws appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The South Korean police are reportedly preparing to charge Coinone’s executives, including its CEO, and 20 of the exchange’s members. This follows a 10-month investigation on allegations that the exchange provided gambling services through its crypto margin trading program. Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space Coinone’s Investigation Concludes South Korea’s Cybercrime Investigation Unit of the Southern Provincial Police Department announced on Thursday, June 7, its plan to bring charges against Coinone over the exchange’s margin trading service, local media report. Coinone, which opened in August 2014, is the country’s third-largest cryptocurrency exchange, after Upbit and Bithumb. Its 24-hour trading volume is $34,342,088 at the time of this writing, according to Coinmarketcap. The police are reportedly recommending that the prosecutor’s office charges three of Coinone’s executives, including CEO Myunghun Cha, as well as 20 members. The former will be charged with providing illegal gambling services and the latter with illegally gambling. In South Korea, gambling is a crime under Chapter 23 of the Criminal Act. The investigation of Coinone “on allegations that the exchange provided gambling services for margin trading” began in August last year, the Kyunghyang Shinmun wrote, elaborating: The police concluded that the ‘margin trading’ service of the virtual currency exchange is gambling. According to the police, “The case was the first investigation related to the operation of a virtual currency exchange and it took considerable time to review the law,” Yonhap conveyed on Thursday. Crypto Margin Trading vs Gambling Coinone and its executives have been accused of providing cryptocurrency gambling services through its margin trading program from November 2016 to December last year. The exchange “allowed members to trade up to four times the amount of the deposit (margin) and to pay commission in exchange for the transactions,” the news outlet described, adding: Margin trading is similar to the credit trading technique of the stock market, but it was based on gambling because it was not authorized by the authorities and that it was targeting virtual currencies instead of stocks. The investigation reveals that 19,000 Coinone users, between ages 20 and 50, had been using the exchange’s margin service. Most of them are either office workers, unemployed, or self-employed. In particular, 20 members traded over 3 billion won [~US$2.8 million]. The news outlet noted that gambling “can be used to collect criminal proceeds, and therefore interest in coins and margin users will be widened according to the results of the trial in the future.” Coinone Denies Charges Throughout the investigation, Coinone and its executives denied the charges and maintained that they “did not know it was illegal because there is a similar service in the stock market.” An employee of the exchange was quoted by the news outlet saying: We do not think it is illegal because it [the service] has been legally reviewed by lawyers before [we started] the margin trading service. What do you think of South Korean charging Coinone for offering gambling services through margin trading? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock and Coinone. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Korean Crypto Exchange Coinone and 20 Traders to Face Charges Over Margin Trading appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Back in January 2015, Bitcoin developer Mike Hearn launched a BTC-powered crowdfunding application called Lighthouse, and cryptocurrency enthusiasts were very excited about beta version release. Following the launch, Mike Hearn had left the Bitcoin community because he predicted BTC was headed for serious scaling issues, and he was upset with the Core development team’s willingness to compromise. Since then the Lighthouse project was left behind and forgotten, and much like the variety of revived applications coming back to the crypto-ecosystem, the Lighthouse platform is seeing a revival by using Bitcoin Cash. Also Read: IMF Says Bitcoin Could Create Less Demand for Regular Debt-based Fiat Money Lighthouse.cash Decentralized Crowdfunding Powered by Bitcoin Cash A few years ago Bitcoin developer Mike Hearn designed an application that specialized in creating a platform that uses smart contracts to fund projects, and many bitcoiners at the time were looking forward to the project. For instance, the well-known entrepreneur Olivier Janssens donated $40,000 to Hearn’s Lighthouse project. However, since Hearn had left over the scaling dispute, the project was soon forgotten and left to collect dust. Now an anonymous developer, with help from the team at Cryptonize.it has brought the Lighthouse project back to consciousness. News.Bitcoin.com spoke with Ari from Cryptonize.it about the Lighthouse.cash project and he told us his team has been helping the anonymous developer become compatible with the Bitcoin Cash network and get a gallery going which was a missing feature when Hearn had left the project. “So you can make your project, export it and distribute it yourself, upload it to servers that are made available (we’re making the first one available), and you can get it up on centralized galleries which can help you promote your project to a certain demographic or help you in presenting your project in an attractive manner instead of a file,” explains Ari. The plan is to actually compete with Kickstarter and Indiegogo so we have a couple of features we’re planning on adding, and lighthouse.cash will develop to be a gallery. Mike planned for these galleries to pop up and compete so we’re trying to make that happen. Lighthouse.cash Plans to Launch in a Few Days After Testing is Complete Right now Ari says the platform is not fully launched just yet but visitors can take a peek at the website. He explains that both Cryptonize.it and Cashpay have pledged their resources towards helping the anonymous developer in order to get it off the ground. “We’re also setting up Toshi’s Fund which will be used to fund Lighthouse further,” explains Ari. “We’re getting a few projects together on Lighthouse.cash so everybody can go through all of its current functionality like pledging to a project, making a project, revoking etc., then we’ll put it online I suspect a couple of days — After all the testing is wrapped up,” Ari emphasizes. The Bitcoin Cash community overall seems pleased with the idea that someone is resuscitating Hearn’s Lighthouse project. So far over the past six months, many projects once designed to work with BTC and left behind have been revived and modified to work with the Bitcoin Cash network. What do you think about the Lighthouse.cash project? Let us know in the comment section below. Images via Shutterstock, Twitter, and Lighthouse.cash. Why not keep track of the price with one of Bitcoin.com’s widget services. The post Mike Hearn’s Crowdfunding Project Has Been Resurrected — Meet Lighthouse.cash appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

United States Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) commissioner, Rostin Behnam recently gave a speech in which he predicted that “virtual currencies […] will become part of the economic practices of any country.” The CFTC commissioner predicted that cryptocurrencies will have a transformative effect in providing financial services to unbanked populations, and undermine corruption through increasing financial transparency. Also Read: Indian Crypto Exchanges Engage with RBI to Offer Banking Ban Alternatives “Cryptocurrencies Will Proliferate to Every Economy and Every Part of the Planet” – CFTC Commissioner, Rostin Behnam Whilst speaking at the recent BFI Summit at the United Nations Plaza in New York, CFTC Commissioner, Rostin Behnam, expressed his belief that virtual currencies will be integrated into the economic practices of all nations. Mr. Behnam stated that “virtual currencies may – will – become part of the economic practices of any country, anywhere. Let me repeat that: these currencies are not going away and they will proliferate to every economy and every part of the planet. Some places, small economies, may become dependent on virtual assets for survival. And, these currencies will be outside traditional monetary intermediaries, like government, banks, investors, ministries, or international organizations.” “We are Witnessing a Technological Revolution. Perhaps We are Witnessing a Modern Miracle” Mr. Behnam predicts that virtual currencies will undermine financial corruption, however, he also warns that the “economic […] kleptocracy” exerts excessive influence over the cryptocurrency markets, that virtual currencies could become a vehicle for further capital accumulation for the financial elites. Mr. Behnam states “One of the often discussed problems in developing countries is corruption. I know it is a perennial problem, undermining the work of the United States and virtually all international organizations. It may be the single greatest impediment to social justice, equality, hunger, peaceful resolution of conflict, and a host of other problems […] Now, with the advent of virtual assets, technology may provide a solution. And, the single greatest weapon against corruption may be the cell phone. There are 6.8 billion cell phones in the world, almost one for every person on the planet. Technology could simply bypass corruption. Here is our chance to put money directly into the hands of those who need it, without bribery, rake-offs, graft, and shakedowns. Virtual currencies could transform the economic and social landscape. It could mean a massive, and equitable, shift of wealth. Technology could be transformational, without a military take-over, civil war, or political or religious creed.” “However,” he continued, “economic elites know all this. They will not be idle. This is what I mean by a powerful danger. If the kleptocracy controls technology and the means of distribution, then they simply accumulate more wealth at the expense of their citizens, draining wealth in cryptocurrencies rather than dollars or euros. Virtual assets may be a stranglehold. In other words, technology can be a weapon against the work of the United Nations and others trying to alleviate poverty or violence. Virtual assets become a means of deeper control of wealth and a means of exploitation.” Virtual Currencies Provide Financial Services To Unbanked Populations The CFTC commissioner discusses the potential for cryptocurrencies to serve as a means through which the vast populations lacking access to basic financial services can attain greater economic autonomy. “Traditionally, there has been a need for a trusted intermediary – for example, a bank or other financial institution – to serve as a gatekeeper for transactions and many economic activities. Virtual currencies seek to replace the need for a central authority or intermediary with a decentralized, rules-based and open consensus mechanism,” said Mr. Behnam. “The so-called ‘unbanked’ could now be on the virtual grid. And, those without computers, some four billion people, could gain an important connection through cell phones. And, the discussion has extended to micro-lending, micro-transactions, greater transparency, and greater financial inclusion,” he added. What are your thoughts regarding Commissioner Behnam’s speech? Join the discussion in the comments section below! Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Wikipedia 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 Virtual Currencies to Become “Part of the Economic Practices” of All Nations – CFTC Commissioner appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

It isn’t just Malta that is attracting crypto business these days, other small and fast moving countries on the European continent are joining the action. The latest example comes from Estonia, which recently granted licenses for offering wallet and exchange services to the cryptocurrency trading platform Coin Metro. Also Read: Bitcoin in Brief Thursday: New Tech and a Quick Way to Make a Fortune in Crypto Robust AML/KYC Coin Metro, which has been founded by the same team behind the Vanuatu-registered forex broker FX Pig, has announced that it has secured two licenses for cryptocurrency trading activities from the Estonian government. The licenses allow the company to offer fiat to cryptocurrency exchange services and cryptocurrency and fiat currency e-wallet services. The “virtual currency” wallet license and the exchange license (links to Estonian Register of Economic Activities) are Coin Metro’s first pair of licenses, enabling the company to operate under Estonian law and attract customers from around the world. The licenses are said to provide a framework for establishing robust checks for Anti-Money Laundering, Counter-Terrorism Financing, and Know-Your-Customer (KYC). These licenses represent the first step towards being able to operate its fully regulated trading platform, based in the EU, and comes soon after the conclusion of its €12 million token sale. The company’s next step is seeking an e-money license from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Kevin Murcko, CEO of Coin Metro commented: “We’ve set no geographical limits and are determined in our aim to bring transparent, simplified access to the cryptocurrency market everywhere, where laws allow. With regulation on our side, Coin Metro offers a safe haven from the forthcoming legislative storm that has the potential to close many exchanges which aren’t compliant.” The Estonian Edge The company explains its first choice for regulation by saying that Estonia is a popular location for crypto-related activity due to its open regulation and progressive attitude towards cryptocurrencies. An example of this was the country’s a plan to issue a state-backed national cryptocurrency – a plan just recently that had to be scaled down under intense pressure from the European Central Bank. It is now planned that these digital tokens will instead be distributed as an incentive to e-residents of the country. Asked about the advantages of the jurisdiction, CEO Murcko told news.bitcoin.com that: “We decided to target Estonia (and build our HQ there) as it has been a hotbed for tech startups for years and has generally been very progressive on technology and innovation. In recent years, it has been actively adopting blockchain technologies, looking to be at the forefront of this new shift in distributed technologies. The fact that Estonia is the first country in the world to place its health records on the blockchain is a staunch example of just that. The EU parliament passed the 5th Money Laundering Directive (MLD 5) in March of last year, giving the EU 18 months to draft a framework around the AML and KYC procedures for crypto exchanges and wallet services. Estonia was the first country to write and pass applicable legislation, and remains the only country to have done so for the time being.” “While Malta is touted as a hub of cryptocurrency, and has a reputation of bringing new regulations to the island (gambling, FX, etc.), their crypto regulation seems to lack a solid foundation. Looking back at how previous industries have been regulated, it is not very promising,” he added. Can Estonia become the next European cryptocurrency business hub? Share your thoughts 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 Estonia Grants Licenses for Wallet and Exchange Services to Coin Metro appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article