Nice way of putting it, lol.

But yeah, I agree with you, I'd like to hear the female perspective on this issue.  It's a big problem if women do not adopt Bitcoin as it goes mainstream.

Of course, the women posting here are among those that have adopted Bitcoin, but their perspective on their female peers would be insightful.

Best,
Ben

The framework linked above is a very good starting point.

I strongly suggest you consult with qualified legal advisors with experience in securities law.  What you think passes Howey may not be the same as an expert opinion.

Best of luck with your project!

I know they could a few weeks ago, but it seems that my organization account's signature is not clickable today.  I don't know if that happened due to merit changes possibly?

I have to look into this merit thing it's a change I haven't tracked.

In my view, marketing, marketing, marketing.

You would think that a good idea would rise to the top but unfortunately it can be difficult to get people's eyeballs on the idea with all of the ICO/ITOs going on.

Having difficulty with my organization's visibility even though everyone that has taken the time to learn what we're about thinks it's a great idea and has participated in our token fund raising.

So I'd say marketing is extremely important.

Best regards,
Ben

Yes they are a great organization and have been around for several years.  They have a great initiative that they launched last year and it seems to have progressed a good deal since that beta release called GiveTrack.  It reminds me of Kiva if you're familiar with that service, but seems to be more transparent and accountable to donors.  You should check it out: https://www.givetrack.org/

The website of the foundation is: https://bitgivefoundation.org/, they have a wealth of information about cryptocurrency and charitable giving.

Best regards,
Ben

Hi All,

I just wrote an article on Medium about the Pineapple Fund and their two match commitments that they've announced between now and March 10, 2018.  It's a great opportunity for your cryptocurrency donation to go further and support some great causes!

Check it out:

Pineapples and Ecstasy: Charitable Giving in the Bitcoin Era
https://medium.com/btric/pineapples-and-ecstasy-charitable-giving-in-the-bitcoin-era-45683de6df61

Thanks,
Ben

It's murky to be honest.  If you have custodial control over the "funds" of another person, either by holding private keys or maintaining some sort of balance in accounts controlled by you, then some would say that constitutes a regulated activity.

Other people believe that "money transmission" only happens if there is conversion to/from fiat.  If you are dealing purely in BTC or other crypto and do not exchange fiat currency for cryptocurrency (or crypto for fiat), then you'd be good by that standard.

The real problem is that the rules on money transmission (i.e. is cryptocurrency legally considered "money") vary greatly from state to state and the U.S. government views cryptocurrency differently across different agencies (SEC, CFTC, OCC, FinCEN, IRS, etc.).

I expect this to be clarified as the field is more regulated, but I really do not want the industry to be overregulated.  That would be damaging to the U.S. marketplace.

My organization is looking to both be part of the regulatory process as well as developing best-practices frameworks that businesses can use to comply with the regulations.

Feel free to reach out if you need more information.  (I am not an attorney so none of this is legal advice.)

Best regards,
Ben

Hi All,

I am writing this message because I want to draw your attention to a very important issue that the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency industry as a whole is going to have to confront in the near future: regulation in the U.S. marketplace.

Here is a recent, brief article that goes over a joint op-ed that was in the Wall Street Journal the other day:

SEC, CFTC Chiefs Eye Closer Crypto Scrutiny
https://www.coindesk.com/sec-cftc-chiefs-eye-closer-scrutiny-of-us-cryptocurrency-industry/

I have a good amount of experience dealing with Federal regulators and I can tell you that I am growing concerned by what I'm observing in a subtle shift in the writings and speeches of key officials at the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission toward crypto over the past 6-9 months.  Long story short, at this point, I expect that a rulemaking or at the very least an ANPR (advance notice of proposed rulemaking) will begin this year.  It's definitely called for in some form considering the ICO scams and hacks that have taken place, but we need to make sure they don't go too far and I am beginning to see that as a real risk!

My view: Cryptocurrency represents a true paradigm shift that could improve humanity in many ways.  I do not want this to be regulated such that only financial institutions and securities brokerages are able to deal in cryptocurrency.  In theory, regulations requiring bank-level supervisory obligations, or even limiting it to chartered banks or FINRA securities businesses, could be imposed on the creation of any units of cryptocurrency (i.e. ICO/ITOs and mining).  If the end result of the coming regulations is that only banks can issue cryptocurrency, what have we really gained?  I believe that level of regulation would kill innovation in what is a rapidly emerging but still (in the grand scheme of things) tiny, cottage industry.  Of course, I know that Bitcoin cannot truly be "controlled".  However, the wrong level of regulation could effectively make it very difficult to innovate at the current rate.  You are seeing some of this happen around the world, in South Korea, for example.

We as an industry need to get out in front of this to ensure that regulations will not stifle innovation.  This is really not about Bitcoin vs Bcash vs Ethereum vs 1500 other cryptos.  This is something that we should all be working together on.  If we don't get involved in this process and shape the regulations, the industry will be forced to deal with regulations that are shaped by others.  I've seen first hand how damaging that can be to businesses.

Coin Center is a non-profit advocacy organization that is doing great work in this area.  But I have to be honest with you, the financial services lobby (traditional banks/brokerages) is extremely powerful, and they're woke to the potential of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.  They are very much on the other side of this issue.  We will need more voices at the table, this is a big deal if it goes the wrong way.

My organization, BTRIC, is launching right now and one of our big focuses is to advocate for policies that are light-touch, common sense, and enable -- rather than stifle -- innovation.  We look forward to working with Coin Center and others to make sure our field is not regulated to death.  We have plans for outreach and advocacy that will work with state regulators (feedback from State governments are given the utmost attention by the regulators) to ensure that innovation is not stifled.  Our organization is doing other things too in working with regulators to promote economic development in FinTech, but right now I see the coming regulations as a big challenge we need to focus on.  If handled right, it could be a great opportunity.

I am reaching out to ask for your support in helping to get our organization off the ground so that we can make sure we're at the table with the regulators protecting innovation.  You can contribute to our Founding Donor fundraiser in many cryptos (and fiat) on our website at https://www.btric.org.  If you want to use a "collection jar" for Bitcoin, our address is 1btricdjXr4uAFnxPULmzpXmaVWnP25o6.  Donations are tax-deductible, I can get you a receipt if you use the checkout on our site or if you email us at donations@btric.org.

If anyone would like to reach out to discuss this further (in a less public setting), please reach out to me here, on Twitter, or on Telegram.  Please pass this message along to anyone you think would have an interest in getting involved, either as a contributor or as part of the team we're building.  I look forward to working together with you.

Best regards,
Ben

This is a problem not only on the user side, but also on the project side.  Here in the US at least, it may come from the larger "STEM" problem of women underrepresented in science fields.

My organization is working to incubate projects that will help to increase adoption of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in underrepresented user groups, including females.  We are also committed to helping tackle the problem of less women involved at the project level.

However, by no means do I believe that Bitcoin or cryptocurrency is "sexist" or "racist".  It certainly is not.  It's a piece of software that a large number of people have agreed to all operate in order to enable a means to store and exchange value through a set of agreed-upon rules enforced in the code.  Nothing more, nothing less.

In order to foster adoption in underrepresented user groups, specific projects to focus on that user segment can have good results.  The goal is a total paradigm shift, but often focusing on smaller subgroups will help reach the "tipping point" more efficiently than broad, unfocused communications efforts.  Though those efforts have their benefits as well.

Here is a short article that our Chairwoman wrote about the diversity issue yesterday:

Title: Women, Baby Boomers, and Diversity in Cryptocurrency and Emerging Technologies
Link: https://medium.com/btric/women-baby-boomers-and-diversity-in-cryptocurrency-and-emerging-technologies-1e4b75b81237

I think it's an important initiative to focus on as we all work to increase adoption.  While adoption is so low, it's really important to have adequate strength through initiatives as well as adovacy to ensure that governments do not effectively regulate the cryptocurrency space out of reach (for projects and innovation) for anyone except the largest players.  If the end result is that only banks can issue cryptocurrency, what have we gained?  That is what we must prevent from occurring.

Best regards,
Ben

You're welcome, glad to have been a help to you.

Absolutely, it'd be great to talk to your uncle about ISO matters.  My email is benjamin.beideman@btric.org.  Is he involved in cryptocurrency or emerging technology in any way?

Best regards,
Ben

Hi All,

The following article has just been posted to our news and updates blog:

Why You Should Support BTRIC as a Founding Donor or by Joining our Team
https://medium.com/btric/why-you-should-support-btric-as-a-founding-donor-or-by-joining-our-team-6e0f206ba7e4

Enjoy!

Best regards,
Ben

Simple answer: pick it yourself.  However, keep in mind there have been collisions and confusion on different exchanges.  So choose wisely.

If you are creating a ERC20 token, you specify the symbol in the smart contract.  You can click on the token section at etherscan.io and see all of the smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain and use their search box to see all the different deployed token symbols.

If you are creating a currency or a token on a different platform, the "symbol" is really up to you.  I recommend you do not use one that is already in use.  But it can be hard to know for sure that its never been used (plenty of dead coins out there).

One thing you may want to consider is that symbols that begin with "X" are "special" symbols pursuant to the ISO 4217 standard (which defines the currency codes for physical currency, such as USD for US Dollar).  This is why you see some cryptos use codes such as XMR for Monero.

However, I believe the ISO standard is too cumbersome for cryptocurrency, even though ISO is studying the issue.  My non-profit organization, through its BTRIC Institute initiative, is going to make available a repository of cryptocurrency symbols/codes, address namespaces, and TCP ports.  We believe that building a trusted repository for this information will help the ecosystem as a whole.  We are working hard to build our organization to accomplish this and other important goals.

Best regards,
Ben

My organization, BTRIC, is studying community interest in establishing a U.S.-based federal credit union that specializes in cryptocurrency accounts, personal and business.  It is becoming more clear that financial institutions are limiting people's access to fiat/crypto gateways.  The appealing thing about a credit union is that it is owned by each accountholder, is a non-profit and returns any profits to members as dividends, and can offer banking services to the entire cryptocurrency industry on fair and transparent terms.  I have had initial discussions with the NCUA, which is the agency that grants federal credit union charters.  I need to build more of a following behind BTRIC to accomplish what we can do for the ecosystem, so I encourage you to take a look at our organization and consider supporting it. (See signature for ann thread and website/white paper.)

Though the ultimate destination of crypto is to eliminate banks/financial institutions, that goal is not going to happen overnight.

BTRIC is a non-profit, so contributions to our organization are tax-deductible, which is a great way to offset capital gains taxes.  In addition, projects that we incubate under BTRIC's Project Incubation Program will be later spun off as separate organizations (businesses), and donors will be rewarded when they perform their ICO/ITO (subject to legality of course, read our white paper for full details).

Best regards,
Ben

DO NOT GIVE YOUR PRIVATE KEYS TO ANY WEBSITE!  THAT'S LIKE THE COMBINATION TO YOUR SAFE!

I agree with LeGaulois, we are currently using CoinPayments for my organization's BFD Token fundraiser, and it's worked great.  Just remember to test it first with their Litecoin Testnet.  And also, of course, remember to turn off the Testnet coins as accepted before you begin accepting cryptocurrency from your customers.

Integration is smooth and it works quite well.  I'd highly recommend them.

Best regards,
Ben

FYI, the website linked above is a great resource but it is also unfortunately out of date in at least the two countries I looked at (USA and Canada).

There is no short and sweet answer to KYC/AML/CFT compliance.  But for tl;dr purposes what SFR10 said is a great start.  Should get you 90% of the way there.

Every country has its own set of rules, more or less.  Some harmonization in the EU but even within EU member countries there are some differences.  KYC requirements also may vary not only based on the location of the business, but also the location of the customer.

Also, one other thought, specially relevant to healthcare businesses.  Healthcare related information is protected under different privacy laws, at least here in the United States.  One such law is HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which applies to all types of protected healthcare information (don't let the health insurance part in the name of the act fool you, it's applicable to nearly all types of healthcare businesses in the US).

My organization, BTRIC, is going to work as one of the objectives in our BTRIC Institute initiative to develop frameworks for KYC/AML/CFT compliance that will benefit the entirety of the cryptocurrency ecosystem.  They will be kept up to date, based on best-practices, and freely available.  We are a non-profit, contributions are tax-deductible (consult your tax advisor, this is not legal/tax advice, bla bla, our whitepaper has the formal disclaimer written by a law firm). 

We have a number of initiatives that will benefit the entire ecosystem, especially our incubator program where we're going to create some really great businesses.  As your project nears completion, consider donating some of your ICO/ITO to our organization.  You can read about us through the links in my signature.

Best regards,
Ben

Bech32 cannot come fast enough. We need addresses that can be easily distinguished from one another and will be rejected if you enter the wrong address for a given currency.

Too many coins all using the same address namespace is just an added layer to the adoption challenge.

I agree completely, one of the things that we are focused on at BTRIC.  Here's a blog I wrote about it: https://medium.com/btric/the-case-for-decentralizing-the-world-bbe6ee0e3260

Consider supporting BTRIC and getting involved!

Great website, adding it to my shortlist!

Do you have a section or process to add ICO/ITOs to your platform?

Thanks,
Ben

Hi All,

Here's an article I wrote today about how cryptocurrency, including Bitcoin, can help level the playing field in monetization of user created content (i.e. YouTube videos, etc.).  It also discusses decentralization of services such as Twitter, Facebook, and search engines.  All possible through peer to peer, distributed ledger technology.  Thank you Satoshi!

Silos are Made for Grain: How Emerging Technology Enables a More Honest Society
https://medium.com/btric/silos-are-made-for-grain-how-emerging-technology-enables-a-more-honest-society-796a79201fc6

Best regards,
Ben