UK’s Cryptoasset Task Force to Release Joint Review on Cryptocurrencies This Year
The United Kingdom’s newly-established ‘Cryptoassets Task Force’ will publish a joint cryptocurrency review later this year.

In Revealing its business plan for the 2018/2019 financial year, the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) outlined its policy thinking on cryptocurrencies adding that it would publish a review with the Treasury of the UK and the Bank of England (BoE).

The FCA noted that while cryptocurrency does not fall under its regulatory perimeter, some of the ways of which the assets are used bring them within their scrutiny, thereby “making the landscape complex”.

The FCA detailed in the report how they plan to approach the speed with which fintech innovation is driving change in markets:

“Our approach is to sustain a regulatory environment where consumers and firms can maximise the opportunities of competition, innovation and big data while reducing or mitigating the associated harms.”

Read More: https://bitzamp.com/uks-cryptoasset-task-force-publish-joint-review-cryptocurrencies-later-year/

Tim Draper: The Ban Enacted By RBI Is Stupid And It Would Lead To Loss Of Talent In India
Central bank of India announced last week that it prevented banks from doing business with entities that carried out cryptocurrencies. Tim Draper, a Billionaire who was an early investor in companies like Skype and Baidu was not happy with the Indian government taking a stance against Cryptocurrencies, opposed the decision, calling it a “big mistake.”

Draper had just returned to the Indian trade market after the country’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, made a public vow to fight corruption.
According to Draper, India would benefit greatly from cryptocurrencies and in particular the underlying Blockchain technology. He says that cryptos would allow the government to be more transparent and accountable to the public at large, as well as improve efficiency over several levels.

Read More: https://bitzamp.com/tim-draper-the-ban-enacted-by-rbi-is-stupid-and-it-would-lead-to-loss-of-talent-in-india/

South Africa‘s tax authority have urged citizens to report their cryptocurrency gains as part of their taxable income.

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) on Friday released a statement covering South African cryptocurrency tax laws. The statement obliges taxpayers to declare their cryptocurrency gains and losses as part of their capital gains tax as well as any income derived in cryptocurrency as income tax.

In the statement, SARS said:

“The onus is on taxpayers to declare all cryptocurrency-related taxable income in the tax year in which it is received or accrued. Failure to do so could result in interest and penalties.”

The agency explains that while cryptocurrencies are not regarded as a legal tender by the South African government, income accrued from cryptocurrency transactions can be taxed on revenue account under “gross income” as they are regarded as “assets of an intangible nature.”

Read More: https://bitzamp.com/south-africa-introduces-new-cryptocurrency-tax-law/

An L.A. Dodgers Athlete Retires At 22 to launch a crypto hedge fund
Tyler Adkison is a minor league baseball player in the Los Angeles Dodgers system. He has decide to cut his baseball career short to merge his two passions, baseball and technology
Adkison, at the age of 22, retired as a small baseball player with the Los Angeles Dodgers to launch a crypto hedge fund focused exclusively on athletes.

Given the unstable nature of cryptocurrency, Tyler has been the target of much skepticism from his peers and fans. However, Tyler says he is quite upset for this new chapter of his life.

SPEAKING WITH OC REGISTER, ADKINSON REVEALED, “THIS DRIVE OF CRYPTOCURRENCY IS AN EXTREMELY MILLENNIAL-DRIVEN DRIVE.”
ADKINSON STATED, “I STUDIED BUSINESS AT SAN DIEGO STATE AND I HAVE ALWAYS HAD MY EYE ON INVESTING, THINGS OF THAT NATURE.”

Read More: https://bitzamp.com/an-l-a-dodgers-athlete-retires-at-22-to-launch-a-crypto-hedge-fund/

OneGram Uses Gold-Backed Cryptocurrency To Woo Muslim Investors
OneGram, a local start-up company which was founded last year, is issuing a gold-backed cryptocurrency part of efforts to convince Muslims that investing in cryptocurrencies complies with their faith.
The growing interest in cryptocurrencies naturally extends into the Gulf and into Southeast Asia, the main centers of Islamic finance.

But because cryptocurrencies and technologies are associated with financial engineering, financial products and speculative objects, currencies do not fit particularly well with religion. This is because the principles of Sharia, in addition to not allowing the payment of interest, emphasize real economic activity based on physical assets, not on speculation.

Read More: https://bitzamp.com/onegram-uses-gold-backed-cryptocurrency-to-woo-muslim-investors/

The first three months of 2018 have been an exception in the crypto-market. This first quarter of 2018 has broken records and has been registered as the worst quarter ever in the history of Bitcoin.

Here are some major crypto headlines for this week:

Confirmed: Monex To Acquire Hacked Japanese Exchange Coincheck for $33.5 Mln: Major Japanese online brokerage has confirmed its acquisition of Tokyo-based exchange Coincheck for ¥3.6 billion ($33.5 million).

South korea police arrest 14 people using cheap electricity to mine cryptocurrencies illegally: Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency said on Sunday it had detected 14 people from 14 companies using cheap electricity to mine cryptocurrencies illegally at industrial complexes in South Korea and they have been arrested by police without permission.

Read More: https://bitzamp.com/bitzamp-news-spotlight-for-this-week-from-april-02-07-2018/

On April 6, 2018, the Japan Financial Services Agency (FSA) ordered the FSHO to suspend operations by Sunday, April 8. Both Eternal Link and the FSHO have been ordered to suspend their activities for two months.

The FSA has been carrying out on-site inspections in the country’s unregistered cryptocurrency centers, and the agency has already halted the operations of two stock exchanges. More than that total number of changes sent commercial improvement notices has now improved to 7, which includes Coincheck.

The exchanges whose operations have been stopped are External Link and FSHO. The two were ordered to stop their operation in receiving the stop order. They are to remain operational for two months until they convince FSA that they have complied with all regulatory orders as well as improved their system.

Read More: https://bitzamp.com/fsa-halts-two-cryptocurrency-exchanges-as-it-carrys-out-on-site-inspections-in-japan/

Indian Bitcoin Trader Arrested for Defrauding Investors of Over $308 Mln in Crypto Ponzi Scheme
An early bitcoin adopter and investor in India has been arrested for defrauding about Rs 2,000 crore (approx. $308 million) from over 8,000 investors across the country.

Amit Bhardwaj who run a couple of bitcoin mining operations such as Gain Bitcoin and GB Miners was arrested by authorities at Delhi Airport on Thursday for duping more than 8,000 people to the tune of Rs 2,000 crore from across the country , according to Indian Express.

Amit Bhardwaj had incorporated a multi-level marketing scam by attracting investors to offer him bitcoins for higher returns. Amit Bhardwaj submitted an 18-month contract that offers a 10% refund, also promising to provide bitcoin mining equipment to investors, as a result of which they can extract their own bitcoins, the report stated.

However, Amit Bhardwaj didn’t fulfil his promise but fled the country with the funds. The Pune police had located him at Bangkok and also arrested seven persons associated with him, including his brother,Vivek Bharadwaj.

Read More:

Coinbase Launches Early-Stage Venture Fund
Popular cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase is launching a new incubator fund for early-stage start ups, the company announced Thursday.

Having established itself as the best Bitcoin exchange in the United States, Coinbase’s data can help promising startups “that have the equipment and ideas that can move the space forward in a positive and meaningful way.”

“WE’RE GOING TO INVEST OFF OUR BALANCE SHEET INTO CRYPTO COMPANIES,” COINBASE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF

Read More: https://bitzamp.com/coinbase-launches-early-stage-venture-fund/

Financial Conduct Authority Warns That Crypto Derivatives Needs To Be Approved
The British financial regulator on Friday said that companies offering services linked to cryptocurrency derivatives must comply with all the relevant rules of the improvisation manual.

Companies that have offerings to their clients in the likes of; CFDS, futures, options all crypto related, must comply with FCA rules, in addition to that of the European Union The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) does not currently regulate cryptocurrencies.

The invention also relates to processing transactions or providing other derivative-related services that refer to cryptocurrencies or tokens issued via an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) would probably require its authorization.
This includes cryptocurrency futures, cryptocurrency contracts for differences (CFD) and cryptocurrency options, it said.

Read More: https://bitzamp.com/financial-conduct-authority-warns-that-crypto-derivatives-needs-to-be-approved/

Mike Hearn is a well-known figure within the bitcoin community, as he was the first developer to create the Bitcoin client for the library that uses Java and connects to the bitcoin network.

On April 5 the former bitcoin core developer came back to do an Ask-Me-Anything (AMA) on the Reddit forum /r/btc. It’s been a while since Hearn has chatted with the bitcoin community.

Hearn explains that since the birth of the Bitcoin Cash Network he has been receiving many emails asking him to come back and help develop the native BCH blockchain.
In addition, Hearn spoke to Satoshi Nakamoto several times over email communications. The developer also contributed to Bitcoin’s core development team and left in January 2016 due to the debate over scale and rising network fees.

Read More: https://bitzamp.com/mike-hearn-former-core-developer-returns-for-bitcoin-cash/

OmiseGo (OMG) Partners Major South Korean Bank for Blockchain Development
Cryptocurrency startup OmiseGo has entered a new partnership with ShinhanCard, an affiliate of the Shinhan Financial Group, to accelerate the development and adoption of blockchain technology across Asia.

The partnership is at the stage of a memorandum of understanding (MOU), and also includes the Omise payment ecosystem, which uses traditional finance gateways to handle payments in Southeast Asia.

“Omise and OmiseGO are working to revolutionize the way digital value moves globally, with an end goal of creating a platform that facilitates a decentralized economy. We want to make it easy for those who need online asset exchange as part of their business to connect seamlessly to the OMG Network.” Said Jun Hasegawa, Omise CEO, upon completion of the MOU deal.

Read More: https://bitzamp.com/omisego-omg-partners-major-south-korean-bank-for-blockchain-development/

HyperBlock to Acquire CryptoGlobal for $106M In A Canadian Equity Transaction
Canadian technology company HyperBlock Technologies Corp., concluded that it had reached an agreement with CryptoGlobal, another crypto mining firm in a $ 106 million Canadian equity transaction.

The acquisition is expected to be completed by the end of May 2018, to the satisfaction of customary conditions and approval of shareholders of both companies, the Ontario Court of Justice and the TSXV.
The combined entity will operate under the name Hyperblock Technologies Corp., and list on the Canadian Securities Exchange. If it succeeds, the deal will become one of the largest in the cryptocurrency market.

Read More: https://bitzamp.com/hyperblock-to-acquire-cryptoglobal-for-c106m-in-a-canadian-equity-transaction/

A Washington state utility has cut off electricity to three mining sites which officials described as “scoundrels” running “unauthorized cryptocurrency operations”.

In a recent meeting, the Chelan County Public Utility District (PUD) reported that the three mines – located separately in Wenatchee, Malaga and Chelan – were “using enough power to create fire risks for neighbors and damage grid equipment not sized for the load.” For that reason, utility officials disconnected the power at those sites.

The PUD said that in the future, unauthorized operators could face potential legal repercussions including fees and criminal charges for power theft and public safety endangerment.

Read More: https://bitzamp.com/washington-state-county-blasts-unauthorized-crypto-miners/

Major Japanese online brokerage has confirmed its acquisition of Tokyo-based exchange Coincheck for ¥3.6 billion ($33.5 million).

Monex made the announcement on Friday confirming a deal to acquire 100% of all 1,775,267 Coincheck shares at a cost of ¥3,600 million yen. The trading platform will claim the shares later this month by April 26.

As earlier reported, the deal will see Monex COO Toshihiko Katsuya take over as president of Coincheck, with Monex Group president Oki Matsumoto joining Coincheck’s new board.

“We recognize blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies as next-generation technologies and platforms which are likely to drastically change the way people approach money,” Monex said.

Read More: https://bitzamp.com/monex-acquires-hacked-japanese-exchange-coincheck-33-5-mln/

Spain Tax Agency Sought Names Of Crypto Tax Evasion
The Spanish Tax Agency asked financial companies to provide names and commercial information about cryptocurrency buyers, launching the largest red flag in the country for possible tax evasion and money laundering using digital currencies.

Request for business information were sent to 60 companies. According to a department

Read More: https://bitzamp.com/spain-tax-agency-sought-names-of-crypto-tax-evasion/

Ontario Securities Regulator Issues Warning On cryptocurrency and ICO regulation
The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) plans to focus on cryptocurrency and ICO regulation in the coming year.

The regulatory watchdog recently released a publication in which it was emphasized that Cryptocurrency market and token sale are two of the major areas in which it would work towards gaining more knowledge.

In a draft “Priority Statement” released on March 29, the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) marked the token sales and cryptocurrency markets as two areas in which to push to better understand over the next 12 months. The OSC said it accepted comments on its document until the end of May.

Read More: https://bitzamp.com/ontario-securities-regulator-issues-warning-on-cryptocurrency-and-ico-regulation/

Foxconn Technology Group has become the world’s largest electronics manufacturer for the best-selling products such as iPhones, Kindles and PlayStations. Now it’s deploying this power to bring cryptocurrences to the masses.

The phone secures digital devices such as Bitcoin. Users do not need to pay transaction fees. The smartphone will convert tokens for the use of decentralized applications. The user does not need to obtain the different tokens through an exchange, said Sirin.

Security will be protected via an iris or fingerprint scans or the traditional password, instead of a complex address and private key. All coin-related services are activated with a physical switch.

Read More: https://bitzamp.com/foxconn-to-manufacture-worlds-first-blockchain-phone-from-sirin-labs/

Korea‘s second largest cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb has called out the government on its cryptocurrency reform program.

Speaking at the annual blockchain forum in Seoul on Wednesday, Bithumb Vice President Lee Jung-a said the government regulatory efforts an attempt to undermine the nature of cryptocurrency in order to make it easier to control.

According to Lee, the government effort to regulate cryptocurrencies is like “making a rugby ball into a football” so that it would be easier to predict where it will bounce to.
Lee noted that the regulations that has been applied so far lacked the “legal basis” for cryptocurrencies, indicating that the regulations were virtually the same as those for financial institutions which is not favourable for the cryptocurrency industry.

Read More: https://bitzamp.com/korea-bithumb-vp-criticizes-government-cryptocurrency-reforms/

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday announced that banks should stop dealing with the entities that deal in digital currencies, such as bitcoins.
India practically banned cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin with the Reserve Bank of India, which prevents regulated entities from rendering services to any individual or company that operates in digital currencies. The deputy governor of RBI, BP Kanungo, said at a press conference.

The regulator, however, decided to promote the use of blockchain, a public ledger that serves as the backbone of bitcoin, in financial services to improve transparency and improve inclusion.
All affiliated banks have been asked not to have any business relationship with entities dealing in virtual currencies. This may mean the end of the road for those who own bitcoin or

Read More: https://bitzamp.com/reserve-bank-of-india-rbi-bans-indian-banks-from-dealing-with-digital-currencies/