The incoming head of Korea’s primary financial regulator has reportedly confirmed that the authority will look to ease regulations on domestic cryptocurrency trading.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday after being approved by President Moon Jae-in to lead the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), new governor Yoon Suk-heun said the regulator will look at revising some regulations applied to the cryptocurrency market, the Korea Times reports.

Yoon, a visiting professor at Seoul National University, was nominated by the Financial Services Commission (FSC) – Korea’s financial regulator – to lead the FSS, which it directs. The new governor is seen as a “reform-minded” activist with experience as a bureaucrat in the country.

He told reporters:

"Regarding cryptocurrencies, there are some positive aspects…The FSS will collaborate with the FSC when an inspection on policies and financial institutions has different configurations associated with different scopes. FSC inspects policies, while the FSS examines and supervises financial institutions but with the oversight of the FSC."

As reported in September, the FSS notably issued the ban order to completely curtail initial coin offerings (ICOs) in South Korea. In January, the FSC enforced a ban on all anonymous cryptocurrency trading by mandating – among both crypto exchanges and the banks providing services to them – the use of real-name trading accounts.

The latter move, seen as a measure that would curb anonymous trading while encouraging KYC-enabled practices in the industry, has dented the market instead.

“Markets expected the introduction of the real-name registration system would have been helpful to revive trading, but these efforts failed as local banks were reluctant to invite more crypto traders,” a Bithumb official told the Korea Times.

Yoon declined to elaborate on the possible regulatory changes the FSS would consider for crypto exchanges when queried by reporters, stating:

"There are a lot of issues that need to be addressed and reviewed. We can figure them out but gradually."

The newly softened stance comes at a time when a group of lawmakers led by a politician from Korea’s ruling party is working on a new bill to legalize ICOs in South Korea after last year’s ban.

New FSS chief Yoon Suk-heun will begin his tenure at the job on Tuesday, May 8. The subject of cryptocurrencies and ICOs are certain to come up again when the Yoon fields questions during a press conference facing local and international media tomorrow.

https://www.ccn.com/korea-to-relax-cryptocurrency-curbs-under-new-fss-chief/

The EU has finally come out with an approved framework for how corporations should handle user data. Although this are quite good news for people generally, I can also see it as a massive blow for so many altcoins.

Trust me when I say there is an enormous storm coming.

There are many important rules companies must follow starting from June 2018, that will actively protect customers against corporations data theft and abuse (ie, selling your data without your consent or creating complicated terms and agreements most users do not fully understand). I advise you to read through the whole thing especially if you (like me) work in IT, are responsible for an IT department or have your own startup; but there’s one single point I believe to be most destructive for many cryptocurrencies:

Yes indeed, each user has the right to be forgotten, meaning, all user data should be able to get permanently deleted. Let’s say if I chose to delete my facebook account, anything I have ever posted, commented, liked, etc has to disappear. It does seem simple when you own your own infrastructure, but due to one of the most important properties of blockchain technology being its immutability, you can already see the problem bubbling up.

Any platform that uses a distributed ledger to store user data (blockchain, ethereum) is, by all means, screwed. There is absolutely no way around this. What if companies just ignore this new enforcement? Well, the fine is only 4% of your company’s revenue, up to 20 Million Euros.

So if you have invested in a project, own a project or are generally interested in better understanding how this market will evolve, please do pay attention to the following: storing any user data on any public distributed ledger is half-way to a really, really, really unpleasantly expensive outcome.

From the top 100 cryptocurrencies, how many can you identify that will face issues due to this new regulation? Platforms that hold user data in any form must assure there is a way for that data to be deleted. Let me underline this again: it means a big no-no to storing any user data on a ledger from where that data cannot be deleted.


Other key changes can be followed without compromising the concept of immutable distributed ledger technology. If you want more information on the subject I highly advise you to read this article. All these points are explained brilliantly by the author. If you want a more in-depth understanding of how this problem could be avoided see this one. In short, you would have to consider off-chain storing of data; this is, centralized servers.


Raise awareness, speak to members of projects where you’re heavily invested and try to read as much as possible on the subject. Learning is the only way you’ll ever feel safe. Your opinion is the one you should value the most, as there is no one who will look-out better for yourself than… well, yourself!

https://www.ccn.com/gdpr-a-game-changer-is-coming-for-cryptocurrency/

Ireland's Department of Finance has proposed the creation of a new blockchain working group to help create cohesive regulation across government agencies.

Revealed in a new report, titled "Virtual Currencies And Blockchain Technology," the working group would aim to help bring a coordinated approach to rules around cryptocurrencies and monitor developments in blockchain technology, "addressing considerations raised by consumers, industry, the EU, and governments worldwide."

Elsewhere in the report, the finance department estimates that 6.3 percent of venture capital invested in the country from 2012 to 2016 went to Ireland-based blockchain businesses - a figure it says dwarfs the capital invested in such projects across the United Kingdom and Switzerland.

From supply chain experiments by the Irish Dairy Board to cryptocurrency startups, this growing sector has captured regulators' attention.

The report's authors urge lawmakers to provide clarity to consumers about what protections are available when transacting with virtual currencies, give entrepreneurs a clear regulatory framework, and "equip Ireland with a differentiating competitive advantage in securing foreign direct investment" in blockchain projects.

They go on to warn over criminal activity and volatility, but take an optimistic view, saying:

    "Although criminality associated with virtual currencies represents a risk to governments, there is evidence to suggest that the majority of virtual currencies are purchased by investors and legitimate owners."

The paper also suggests that blockchain technology could help boost efficiency and reliability across the financial sector, including securities settlements.

https://www.coindesk.com/irelands-finance-department-plans-blockchain-working-group/

These hackers are out of their mind(. This attack may be like a spark in a powder keg. Or this may be the a coordinated attack in order to discredit bitcoin community and to demonstrate Bitcoin as a blood for the body of criminal organizations. Nothing good for us.

It’s cryptocurrency hedge funds’ turn in the regulatory spotlight.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will examine dozens of cryptocurrency hedge funds, which are known for their risky trading strategies and higher fees versus traditional investment funds. Regulators want to make sure as many as 100 crypto hedge funds are delivering what they promise to investors, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

Private hedge funds are not new to SEC scrutiny, as the sophisticated trading strategies have kept them on the radar of regulators before. For instance, fund managers must be careful how they market their funds, as the novice investor might not understand the risks they are inheriting with such trades.

One popular strategy is long/short, in which fund managers bet both on the prospects of a stock’s rise and its decline, adding layers of debt to the trade. This strategy recently made its way to hedge fund investing, with firms like Genesis Capital lending bitcoins to institutional investors for short-term trades, giving fund managers hedging capabilities in the cryptocurrency market.

In the United States, only accredited investors are allowed in. The SEC already has hedge funds with more than USD 150 million in assets under its purview, but it has the jurisdiction to poke any private fund it wants to.


Meanwhile, the SEC has already been cracking down on initial coin offerings (ICOs), including a number of them that are being investigated by the Wall Street regulator. Now it’s expanded the scope of its effort, as it looks to protect investors from deals that seem to circumvent securities laws.

According to the WSJ story, regulators appear to merely be looking for how their policies could apply to bitcoin hedge funds. If they notice anything sketchy, of course, they could take further action.

Chief among the SEC’s priorities is to ensure that hedge funds are delivering the type of exposure that fund managers outline in their investment papers. Another worry is the risk of a security breach in digital wallets at an exchange, such as the one that rattled Japan’s Coincheck in January in which hundreds of millions of NEM were hacked.

Hedge funds could begin to hear from regulators about the process in Q2.


Hedge funds more broadly had losses in February, and cryptocurrency hedge funds were no exception.

According to HFR, which tracks hedge fund performance and also has its own blockchain index, cryptocurrency hedge funds managed to recover from their lowest levels last month, during which time the blockchain index shed 9.5%.

https://www.ccn.com/wall-street-regulator-to-prod-cryptocurrency-hedge-funds/

A Dutch court classifies Bitcoin as a “transferable value” after the court ruled in favour of a plaintiff who was owed 0.591 Bitcoins (BTC), according to a court document published March 20.  

The claim was filed in a Dutch court by Mr. J.W. de Vries on 2 February 2018 against Koinz Trading BV, a non-public company, which was previously ordered by a lower court of Midden-Nederland to pay mining proceeds in the amount of 0.591 BTC owed to the petitioner, or a penalty payment up to a €10,000 maximum.

As a consequence of the company’s failure to comply with its obligations to pay the required volume in BTC, the court ordered that the company either pay up or be declared insolvent.

The court judgement explicitly states that Bitcoin demonstrates all the characteristics of a “property right”, and hence a claim to transfer BTC under property rights is legitimate:

      “Bitcoin exists, according to the court, from a unique, digitally encrypted series of numbers and letters stored on the hard drive of the right-holder’s computer. Bitcoin is ‘delivered’ by sending bitcoins from one wallet to another wallet. Bitcoins are stand-alone value files, which are delivered directly to the payee by the payer in the event of a payment. It follows that a Bitcoin represents a value and is transferable. In the court’s view, it thus shows characteristics of a property right. A claim for payment in Bitcoin is therefore to be regarded as a claim that qualifies for verification.”

The court found that there was an undisputed contract between Mr. Vries and Koinz Trading BV: since the obligations were taken in BTC, the amount should also be paid back with the same currency. The court considers the legal relationship as a civil obligation to pay.

While the Dutch court may be making gradual steps toward crypto being recognized as a currency, other organizations do not recognize it as such. The G20 Financial Stability Board (FSB) released a document March 20, in which it is implied that the FSB considers cryptocurrency to be assets, rather than currency. The document claims that cryptocurrencies, “lack the traits of sovereign currencies.”

Last month, Governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney said that, "It [cryptocurrency] has pretty much failed thus far on... the traditional aspects of money. It is not a store of value because it is all over the map. Nobody uses it as a medium of exchange."

https://cointelegraph.com/news/dutch-court-finds-bitcoin-a-legitimate-transferable-value

The disappointing price performances of the cryptocurrency markets in January and February have apparently driven many bitcoin traders to avoid checking on their exchange accounts. Estimations of the total number of visits to the trading venues based on web traffic show a sharp decline month over month.    


The total number of visits at the websites of major bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchanges has crashed in February. Generally speaking, looking across over a dozen top exchanges, web traffic seems to have peaked in December 2017 or January 2018 and fallen off by half in February, reaching a similar or lower number of visits to that of November 2017 for each website.

According to market intelligence tool Similarweb, the total number of visits at Coinbase was down 49% in February, from 123.5 million to 63.1 million, after reaching 169.5 million in December 2017. Kraken saw a decline of 56%, from 31.7 million in January to 13.8 million in February. Binance experienced a drop of 54%, from a peak of 191.5 million to just 87.3 million. Bitfinex was down 48% in February with just 18.3 million visits, compared with 35.4 million in January and 59.3 million in December 2017.

The obvious factor that could have caused this sharp fall in the number of visits to bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchanges is the weak price performance of all major cryptocurrencies in the first two months of 2018. In addition to that, the massive price rally of 2017 probably brought in a record number of new investors to the ecosystem in December, setting a very high bar that the following months failed to measure up.

The web traffic data also seems to corroborate the assumption that the similar sharp drop in the number of bitcoin transactions is due to less usage and adoption rather than just exchange batching hiding the total figure. As we reported at the time, by late February we saw just under 200,000 bitcoin transactions a day on average compared with almost half a million bitcoin transactions sent daily in mid December 2017. On the plus side, the less crowded market has finally been able to bring the fee costs down.

https://news.bitcoin.com/monthly-web-traffic-for-major-bitcoin-exchanges-falls-by-half/

Ребята из Datawallet проводят еще один конкурс на бирже COBINHOOD. Раздают какое то боснословное количество токенов, на днях раздали 600,000 токенов, теперь еще миллион отдают. Я конечно понимаю что они хотят подогреть интерес, но это может обвалить цену, почему не сжечь лишние токены если они есть, и просто не занятся работой, пусть интерес на биржах растет за счет прироста готового программного продукта. Да и биржы какие-то непонятные, листинг на более проверенных стоит гораздо дешевле чем эти призы.

Around $6.2 million-worth of cryptocurrency was hacked from exchange accounts and wallet services in Japan last year, new data reveals.

According to Japanese news source Nikkei, the country's National Police Agency (NPA) released its first annual report of statistics tracking thefts from cryptocurrency accounts on Thursday.

The data shows that at least 149 cases of hacking emerged last year, with 16 cryptocurrency exchanges affected, as well as three wallet operators, through which around 662 million Japanese yen was illegally remitted. Bitcoin was as the biggest crypto target, with 85 BTC stolen, the report says.

While the agency did not disclose the name of the services affected, it noted that the recent $530 million hack of the Coincheck exchange is not included in its 2017 statistics.

Out of all the thefts, 122 cases - accounting for over 80 percent of the total - did not incorporate extra levels of security such as two-factor authentication, the report indicates.

Furthermore, a growth in the number cases was seen to coincide with the increasing price of bitcoin and the wider cryptocurrency market. For example, data shows that unauthorized remittances increased from 7 cases in April to 19 and 41 in May and June, respectively.

The data release comes as an effort by the agency to investigate thefts of assets from cryptocurrency investors in Japan following the notorious collapse of the Mt. Gox exchange in 2014 and the government's extensive actions in force exchanges to protect cryptocurrency investors since.

https://www.coindesk.com/japanese-crypto-users-lost-6-million-in-hacks-last-year-say-police/

The public utility from a county in Washington state long known as a destination for power-hungry bitcoin miners has said it will stop reviewing applications for new operations.

Members of the Chelan County Public Utility District (PUD)'s board of commissioners voted unanimously to stop reviewing applications for mining facilities and similar data research projects on Monday, following a review of the current impact by existing operations. Chelan County has some of the lowest electric costs in the nation thanks to its hydropower resources, making it attractive to cryptocurrency mining companies, as previously reported.

The current load from the operations already set up are beginning to impact the county's overall electric grid capacity, said General Manager Steve Wright, according to the release. This is resulting in public health and safety concerns, as well as possible threats to the district's planned growth.

"Rogue cryptocurrency operations" are also taking power which the county could be using elsewhere, according to the release.

Commissioner Randy Smith said in a statement:

"We do need time to take a deep breath and work through the issues and this may be the best approach."

There will be a public hearing on the moratorium on May 14. Before the moratorium can be lifted, PUD staff members will review the cost carried by mining operations, the consequences for unauthorized firms, and establish how best to serve the unique demands of the industry.

The moratorium comes days after the city of Plattsburgh in upstate New York implemented a similar measure. Plattsburgh officials also cited the power demands commercial mining operations produce, noting that it had caused residents' electricity bills to spike.

Unlike Chelan County, Plattsburgh's moratorium will lift in 18 months or sooner, provided that officials can establish guidelines and standards for commercial mining operations before then.

https://www.coindesk.com/washington-states-chelan-county-moves-limit-new-bitcoin-mining-firms/

Fundstrat Global Advisors’ Tom Lee has declared the altcoin bear market “is over” and urged investors to buy Bitcoin.


In a note to investors which he followed up live on CNBC’s Fast Money segment, the firm’s head of research said investors were becoming “more comfortable” with Bitcoin as an asset.

Cryptocurrencies began rallying this week after the ongoing G20 Summit produced positive regulatory noises from the outset.

“I think the headlines were less draconian than many people were worried about, but that’s really been the case every time there’s been a regulatory event,” Lee told CNBC.

"The reality is I think Bitcoin is starting sit away from the line[…] I think investors are comfortable that Bitcoin is likely to viewed as a commodity; whether regulations change around security tokens and registration, Bitcoin sits in its own sphere."

More info - http://bitcoinist.com/altcoin-bear-market-bitcoin-tom-lee/

David Siegel saying repeatedly that he is not worrying at all about the price. With all due respect, price is a very important factor for investors, this cannot be neglected. Early participants should be able to sell part of their tokens to other market players, make profit on it, and take part in other blockchain projects. Pillar project is great, but there are other sectors, which are also waiting for cash infusions.

За этот конкретный проект можно уже быть спокойным в плане начала работ. Официально на сайте сообщается что собрали более 7$ млн, минимальную капу покрыли. Однако не очень приятно, что стартовая сумма на preico составляла 100 000 долл., такие инвесторы получили бонус 25% согласно белой бумаге. Так крупный бизнес сможет раньше получить прибыль, чем все остальные, но главное чтобы не манипулировали ценой.

The Russia Federation is inching closer to deciding on a law covering initial coin offerings (ICO) and the trading of crypto tokens within the country.

According to a report by Russian news agency RIA on Monday, Russian deputy finance minister Alexei Moiseev said that a jurisdictional disagreement between the Bank of Russia and the Finance Ministry over the content of a draft law to govern cryptocurrency related activities in the country has been resolved.

As previously reported, the Finance Ministry has filed a draft that would impose a threshold for ICO activities in Russia as an effort to allow token sales under a regulated environment.

However, whether the law should allow these token offerings to be exchanged with Russian rubles and other assets drew conflicting opinions from the Bank of Russia, the country's central bank.

However, as the country is eying a summer deadline to roll out the new law, the two government bodies have reached a consensus that the Bank of Russia's opinion will take precedent, according to Moiseev.

"Yes. The central bank will make a decision," he said.

According to RIA, the Bank of Russia said that it may now consider the option of allowing investors to exchange tokens issued under the proposed ICO framework with fiat currencies. However, crypto-to-crypto trading may not be permitted, in an effort to avoid "questionable" anonymous transactions, RIA said.

https://www.coindesk.com/russia-government-resolves-disagreement-on-draft-cryptocurrency-law/

Masternode, или мастернода — это сервер в децентрализованной сети. Он используется для выполнения уникальных функций, которые обычные (неполные) узлы не могут осуществить. Это прямые/мгновенные транзакции или приватные  переводы. К сожалению для Гаткоина это пока только в планах. На данный момент команда завершина проектный дизайн и архетектуру мобильного приложения, заканчивают работу над функционалом стороны "продавца". Говорят поскольку проект - комплексный, будут делать по частям.

В подписной кампании стоят пока только 2 недели, в твиттер и телеграм действительно 4. Зачастую кампании окочиваются сразу после сбора средств, следует так рассчитывать. Недели в таблице очень часто не ставят сразу все, а добавляют по ходу. Бывает так, что компанию, как и краудфандинг могут и продлить по желанию, как сейчас с проектом Kryll. Мы все конечно не хотим делать лишнюю работу, я вас понимаю, но гарантии в этом деле дать не возможно. Главное провести свой анализ и выбрать проект в который веришь.

Профиль команды добавили на https://icomarks.com/ico/open-collectors-network

Все что выше 60% отличный показатель OCN набрали 76%

After dipping below $7,300 on most major cryptocurrency exchanges, the price of bitcoin has spiked 7 percent overnight, increasing from $7,240 to $8,467, triggered by a variety of factors.

Many analysts have attributed the recent increase in the price of bitcoin to the result of the 2018 G20 Buenos Aires summit, during which the Financial Stability Board (FSB), the global watchdog that oversees banks and financial networks as a representative of 20 major economies, stated that existing regulations on cryptocurrencies like bitcoin will be held and no additional restriction or regulation shall be issued.

FSB’s official report referencing FSB Chair and Governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney’s letter read:

“The FSB’s initial assessment is that crypto-assets do not pose risks to global financial stability at this time. The market continues to evolve rapidly, however, and this initial assessment could change if crypto-assets were to become significantly more widely used or interconnected with the core of the regulated financial system.”

Previously, up until this week, several analysts noted that the upcoming G20 meetup has contributed to the decline in the value of cryptocurrencies, as investors anticipated the G20 financial watchdog FSB to crackdown on cryptocurrencies and issue stricter regulations. Investors expected major economies to come together to regulate the global cryptocurrency market with harsher policies.

However, governments have decided to accommodate existing regulations on the global cryptocurrency market, which are already strict in regions like the US and Japan, and follow the regulatory roadmap of leading cryptocurrency markets to facilitate the rapidly growing demand for the emerging asset class.

It is highly unlikely that the G20 meetup was the sole factor behind the recent price surge of bitcoin and the entire cryptocurrency market. But, the cryptocurrency market was in need of an optimistic and positive development to secure an upward trend again, after being in a slump for over a week.

Consequently, the valuation of the cryptocurrency market recovered beyond $310 billion, subsequent to falling below $280 billion, and is eyeing to initiate a short-term rally.

In previous reports, CCN emphasized that the January correction would require several months to recover because many investors were hurt by the decline in the price of cryptocurrencies. In 2017, the cryptocurrency market was considered the path for short-term profits. In early 2018, investors have stated to view the market differently, and speculators or weak hands have left the market.

2018 saw significantly developments in bitcoin, Ethereum, and other major cryptocurrencies along with emerging blockchain technologies. Yet, the price has not represented the magnitude of developments that have happened in the space, most likely because speculators and weak hands were not interested in the technology, but rather in short-term profits.


In the short-term, given the continuous increase in the dominance index of bitcoin, it is highly likely that bitcoin will maintain its dominance over the market in a volatile period like this. Bitcoin’s dominance index is already at 44 percent, and has been increasing since February, as more investors have started to eye bitcoin as a safe investment over other cryptocurrencies.

https://www.ccn.com/bitcoin-spikes-7-to-8460-overnight-as-cryptocurrency-market-rebounds/

They definitely should increase bounty pool. My brother joined this campaign for one month, and now he must participate in Kryll for another month. Project is great, but reward is small for 2 month participation. Time is money in adv. business. The good decision is to start another 2nd round of the campaign with another bounty reward or improve current modalities of participation. That`s fair.

Wow, today March 16th, 2018 Restart Energy’s CEO Armand Doru Domuta took part at the 10th annual Energy Day Brașov, hosted by Restart En partner REPOM. In my humble opinion, it is one best 2018 ICO investments, which is heavily undervalued right now. The team is very much proactive, engaged in marketing and generating real value.

I would like to buy some DEB tokens on the dips, but KuCoin does not support multiple simultaneous ALT orders, as, for example implemented in Forkdelta. It is possible to choose only one position, and waiting for a good price. KuCoin service definitely is in need of improvement.