Very interesting article, shows that DNotes is on the right track. Maybe Bill Gates can be the first big purchaser of Notes for charity?
Just had another session / gander at student finance situations and various strategies companies use to encourage brand loyalty. I'll be first to admit that I'm no fan of Apple, but damn they understand that the students buying their products today will be loyal customers in the future - as any seller should think if they believe in their product.
DNotes’ core mission is to be the currency of the future and the currency of choice in conducting global commerce. This mission has been echoed repeatedly in this forum from the very beginning pages. To accomplish our core mission, we must consistently build a solid foundation with a solid growth path projecting way into the future, deliberately involving and engaging our future generations. It must be built upon a mindset of wanting to be the best in class, doing things that others won't or can't do and guided by the highest respect for trust and integrity as an integral part the DNotes' culture, philosophies and believe system. This will create the most favorable environment for DNotes to thrive and continue to be the most stable digital currency with reliable long term appreciation. I am certain that is the currency Bill Gates had in mind. We have plenty of hard work ahead. We are not yet ready to go prime time and rather not sell ourselves short by selling early. DNotes will be discovered. This is the phrase of positioning so that once discovered we have the infrastructure to scale up quickly. Every CR.I.S.P. is a giant by itself. Grow and take each and every one of them all the way. That is the answer to mass consumer and merchant adoption coupled with the ideal currency Bill Gates was thinking of. Without that currency our industry will continue to spin its wheels for a very long time. Neither our industry, nor DNotes is lacking in technologies. It is currency ...  |
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Could Bill Gates be suggesting that a digital currency that does not push for anonymity but instead focuses on building trust and stability may be the more ideal currency he has in mind? DNotes is waiting to be discovered. Stay the course and we shall be found. No rush. Bill Gates: Digital Currency Can Help the Poor, But Not Bitcoin By: Kate Knibbs http://gizmodo.com/bill-gates-digital-currency-can-help-the-poor-but-not-1682346647Bill Gates has high hopes for digital currency as an important banking tool for the poor. But Bitcoin isn't one of those currencies, he said in a Reddit AMA today. At least not in its current form. …………… "We don't use bitcoin specifically for two reasons. One is that the poor shouldn't have a currency whose value goes up and down a lot compared to their local currency. Second is that if a mistake is made in who you pay then you need to be able to reverse it so anonymity wouldn't work.” |
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Yes, I agree. There is nothing that we as a team cannot accomplish. Make goals, set ours sights on them, accomplish them, repeat. With different minds comes different strengths which we need to accomplish any and all goals!
You guys are doing great. I think I can take the rest of the night off. What a team! |
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I am delighted and honored to announce the appointment of Marc Fortenberry, whom you all know well as “mafort1469”, as our Director of CR.I.S.P. For Employee Benefits. Marc has graciously accepted the appointment as follows: “Alan, I am truly thankful and honored to be chosen for this position. I accept. Thank you. You can announce me by my name with a link to my LinkedIn page. Another fully transparent member, I believe, will always help. I am very excited to become part of this team and will not let you or the team down. Thanks again!! Sincerely, Marc Fortenberry” https://www.linkedin.com/pub/marc-fortenberry/35/23a/341Congratulations, Marc and welcome to the DNotes Family of Worker Bees. |
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Hi all, thought I'd throw out my couple fav's for our fun apprentice parody name competition, Smokey can feel free to review my list and add or what not  I tried to go with one from each person. Then DYNA can choose his pick of the bunch. Populuxe - "Dynamite Deal" QiWoman - "Insignis Apprentice" (Insignas is latin for rapid growth) Variant65 - "It's CRISP" Malfort - "MentorNotes" Any thoughts on these Smokey? Hope I didn't miss anybody! Apprentice Parody The winner of Apprentice Parody is "MentorNotes" by Malfort The Runner-up is "Insignis Apprentice" by QiWoman Congratulations to Malfort and all participants. Smokeys believe that you all are winners just by participating. Now TeeGee can get creative and setup a “MentorNotes” fund for students to own some DNotes. I will make a generous donation once a program is in place. I envision that various funds could be setup with different sponsors who believe that education can make positive difference. Congrats, Mafort, and today, you all win: Mafort recieved 2500 DNotes for participating, and 5000 from me for winning. QiWoman recieved 2500 for participating, and another 2500 from me for second place. Variant65 recieved 2500 DNotes from me for participating. Populuxe: I need his Deposit Addy, and he will recieve 2500 from me for participating. This is in addition to any DNotess promised by anyone else. Keep in mind, these DNotes are from my personal stash, I sold quite a few dayliles in the last year and turned em into DNotes. It was a good decision for me, the DNotes are growing MUCH faster than the Daylilies are!! Smokey Is there an exchange that does direct conversion?  Hello everyone, this site looks like it could be setup to do a USD/any fiat to DNotes exchange: https://alphapoint.com/index.html. Check it out and let me know what you think. Thanks. edit: Now if this holds true then this would make buying DNotes a breeze and just about anyone could do it. Would be like buying anything online. It would be perfect for all of the CR.I.S.P. programs. I did check up on them a few months earlier. Just in case they have a more immediate solution that could be helpful in our current situation, I just sent them an email as follows: "Hello, I am Alan Yong, co-founder of DNotes, DNotesVault, and CryptoMoms. We have recently launched a Cryptocurrency Investment Savings Plan (CR.I.S.P.) consisting of a family of dedicated plan for Kids, Retirement, Students, Employee Benefits, and Charity. Our biggest remaining challenge is the availability of a registered and licensed gateway or exchange in full compliance of US regulatory requirements that facilitates the exchange of fiat currency or other medium of exchange to DNotes. DNotesVault currently serves as a secure web wallet and does not exchange or trade any digital or fiat currencies. We are interested in a DNotes exchange in the future and, in the mean time, like to find out if you have a recommendation for a more immediate solution. Further clarification of the following statement from your website will be helpful and appreciated. "Well Connected Connected with dozens of third parties. Banks, Identity Verifiers, 3rd party front ends, Industry Standard APIs, Legal & Compliance solutions, and more. We can connect your business to the best solutions." With Best Regards, Alan Yong Links more information: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=470155.3420http://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-alternative-dnotes-celebrates-one-100000522.html Bitcoin Alternative DNotes Celebrates As One Of The First Long Term Alternative Cryptocurrencies http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/cryptocurrency-round-bitreserve-launches-bitcoin-gold-standard-draper-wins-auction-1478538"The biggest mover across all markets was DNotes, the self-described "cryptocurrency of the future". Dnotes rose by almost 40% over the last 24 hours to take its market cap above $650,000." http://bitbillions.net/2014/12/10/altcoin-news-dnotes-vault-launched-to-bring-stability-in-an-uncertain-world/*************** http://finance.yahoo.com/news/stable-bitcoin-alternative-dnotes-launches-022500001.html ****************************** http://finance.yahoo.com/news/dnotes-cryptocurrency-savings-plans-children-031100966.html |
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I love them all. Excellent, excellent ...... Perfect! Not sure if we are on the same page in terms of possibilities in promoting CR.I.S.P. for Retirement. We can have a landing page based on each theme using Google Ad. and other channels to reach fairly specific targets. We can also turn on our "PR machine" using different theme for different target. I used that landing page as a place holder since I wasn't sure on that either. I think it would be best to diversify and have several pages encompassing multiple themes. We would want to market to a few demographics such as: 1. Young workers just starting out. 2. Established workers without retirement plans. 3. Established workers with plans. 4. Older workers nearing retirement plan or not. 5. Any and all (generic) Well, what else can I say? I don't know if it is because that you are smart to have discovered DNotes and hang in there with us, or that we are most fortunate to recognize your talents and put them to work for all of us and many more to come. I am personally very appreciative of your contributions and very proud to have you on our team. Those are excellent targets. We can pick one or two and continue to add and expand. That will add value to our dynamic and health growth path. I had mentioned about a healthy and sustainable growth path to support the increasing fundamental values of DNotes to justify reliable long term appreciation. For those who are still not certain what I meant, this is a fairly good case in point. In brief, if the price of DNotes continues to increase it may not be a speculative pump, but the by-product of additional growth value added to the system. Fundamental values typically derive from carefully executed strategic plans and quite dependable. Speculative values, on the other hand, are not sustainable over time, and hence not dependable as a long term investment. I don't believe in getting something for nothing. My family came to this country in the '30s and worked their way to respectability. My wife and I taught our children that there is no honor without respect and no respect without self sufficiency. I admire the team here for their work ethic and dedication to this project and I firmly believe if we all give back something, it will succeed and become a standard by which others are judged, plus, it's just plain fun... I am with you all the way. That is a great attitude. It is the mindset we all should be proud of. Thanks to you all, I am having a lot of fun and delighted to share what I do know, mostly learned from my willingness to go that extra mile to make a difference. |
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This is so cool..I will use these for tweets tomorrow, just had to finish all my immigration stuff and did some work for qbk so tomorrow I get cracking on DNOTES promos again.. Greece got new GOVT, maybe I should send a DNOTE to the ministry of finance, got nothing to lose.. Hold off on any direct link to a specific landing page. "Coming Soon" is all have to show at this point. CR.I.S.P. for Retirement as well as the rest of the family; Students. Charity and Employee Benefits are all publicly announced projects. If you like to blog about them to create pre-launch awareness it is perfectly fine. The official launch date, supported with a full press release is scheduled for the week of February 16, 2015. That is a "hard" date (week). |
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I love them all. Excellent, excellent ...... Perfect! Not sure if we are on the same page in terms of possibilities in promoting CR.I.S.P. for Retirement. We can have a landing page based on each theme using Google Ad. and other channels to reach fairly specific targets. We can also turn on our "PR machine" using different theme for different target. I used that landing page as a place holder since I wasn't sure on that either. I think it would be best to diversify and have several pages encompassing multiple themes. We would want to market to a few demographics such as: 1. Young workers just starting out. 2. Established workers without retirement plans. 3. Established workers with plans. 4. Older workers nearing retirement plan or not. 5. Any and all (generic) Well, what else can I say? I don't know if it is because that you are smart to have discovered DNotes and hang in there with us, or that we are most fortunate to recognize your talents and put them to work for all of us and many more to come. I am personally very appreciative of your contributions and very proud to have you on our team. Those are excellent targets. We can pick one or two and continue to add and expand. That will add value to our dynamic and health growth path. I had mentioned about a healthy and sustainable growth path to support the increasing fundamental values of DNotes to justify reliable long term appreciation. For those who are still not certain what I meant, this is a fairly good case in point. In brief, if the price of DNotes continues to increase it may not be a speculative pump, but the by-product of additional growth value added to the system. Fundamental values typically derive from carefully executed strategic plans and quite dependable. Speculative values, on the other hand, are not sustainable over time, and hence not dependable as a long term investment. |
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I love them all. Excellent, excellent ...... Perfect! Not sure if we are on the same page in terms of possibilities in promoting CR.I.S.P. for Retirement. We can have a landing page based on each theme using Google Ad. and other channels to reach fairly specific targets. We can also turn on our "PR machine" using different theme for different target. |
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I love them all. Excellent, excellent ...... |
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We are constantly reminded that no matter how excited and optimistic our industry gets on the heels of mega investment like the $75 million funding Coinbase just received, there will always be critics, regulatory hurdles, and fearful competition to slow us down. Unfortunately, this is not likely to end anytime soon. The critics will involve the ill informed, as well as the elite group who disagreed merely because of “philosophical differences on the origin and nature of money. The overreaching costly regulatory burdens will remain until the global industry voice can be convincingly heard by enough caring political leaders. The competitions like the Mastercard and others being disrupted will continue to fight back in defense of their self interest for survival. The notion that medium of exchange must be through imposed legal tender is a myth and outdated. The value of exchange is an established agreement between the two parties involved in the trade or exchange. If I agree to trade with you five live chickens for a live pig and you agreed that transaction is completed without legal tender. Of course, by modern day standard this is an exaggerated inconvenience of medium of exchange. Yes, I know that. It is done on purpose to argue that if there is an even more convenience and efficient medium of exchange, why don’t we embrace it? There are three compelling reasons: 1. “Merely because of philosophical differences on the origin and nature of money”. 2. “Instinctive protection and defense of self-interest for survival. 3. Political leaders are ill-informed on the subject, to represent the best interest of the people. Oops, just went past my bed time. TeeGee may want to continue from the otherside of the world. Sheesh, that one really opens up the likelihood of a very long post! but I don't think I can do that tonight. I would like to add a new point to consider, but not entirely related to crypto about your third point - crypto offers the everyday man true democracy, or what I call 'participatory democracy'. Cryptocurrencies allow us to 'vote' with our dollarsWhen you go to the ballot box and cast a vote, you are voting for a 'candidate' who will have their mind made up on issues x, y and z. For arguments sake, let's call x, y and z: 'sustainability', 'economy' and 'welfare'. Now say you are a voter, and you have two people you can vote for, but one candidate offers you sustainability and economy issues that you find preferable, but falls on the wrong side of your views when it comes to welfare - the issue you care most about. You end up voting for the other candidate who had a 'better' welfare policy, even though you really didn't like that candidates position on sustainability and economic issues. If the candidate that you voted for wins, they will interpret your vote, and the votes of others as a 'mandate' to do whatever they like because they think everybody tends to agree with them on every issue. This would be the case even if 75% of the population disagreed with said candidates economic policies, but they just chose to vote for the candidate because they felt more strongly about welfare and social justice issues. What i'm building to, is that democracy in the form that we know it to be today, offers politicians a lot of power while simultaneously removing a lot of choice from every day voters. Voting is a very inefficient means of communicating societal 'value'. It is possible with crypto to decentralise the entire political system. People will be able to fund and pay for separate policies and issues according to their conscience, issue by issue in a timely manner by voting with their crypto to fund projects. Instead of governments needing to 'politely scare you' to pay taxes lest they throw you into a cage to rot for a few years so they can raise money for social programs and military industrial complexes etc, politicians would have to convince individuals the merits their policy would deliver to the every day citizen, and convince them to separate with their hard earned crypto in order to fund it. This would severely limit government power, and the ability to wage war where only political elites profit. Can you imagine an appeal from Obama or Bush on TV saying "We believe that we can wage war against terrorism by aggravating those who wish to cause us harm while killing millions of innocent civilians in the process - if you agree, then please send your crypto to the following address...and we can make this war possible..." There is also the other issue that governments can't just print more money to fund perpetual war. I can imagine governments creating digital currencies that they control the supply of in the future like Ecuador has. I don't think politicians like the idea of a world where voters get 'real' choice, where the power is taken away from the political system. This whole topic is a massive can of worms, so I won't go into it much further. Sorry, about that TeeGee. I was just being wishful when I could hardly keep my eyes open any longer. I will continue another time. Your new post is very interesting. When DNotes reached the scale and the power of influence, conceptually, that could be a very powerful tool to send a message to political leaders. Meanwhile, I agree with your conclusion: "I don't think politicians like the idea of a world where voters get 'real' choice, where the power is taken away from the political system. This whole topic is a massive can of worms, so I won't go into it much further." |
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We are constantly reminded that no matter how excited and optimistic our industry gets on the heels of mega investment like the $75 million funding Coinbase just received, there will always be critics, regulatory hurdles, and fearful competition to slow us down. Unfortunately, this is not likely to end anytime soon. The critics will involve the ill informed, as well as the elite group who disagreed merely because of “philosophical differences on the origin and nature of money. The overreaching costly regulatory burdens will remain until the global industry voice can be convincingly heard by enough caring political leaders. The competitions like the Mastercard and others being disrupted will continue to fight back in defense of their self interest for survival. The notion that medium of exchange must be through imposed legal tender is a myth and outdated. The value of exchange is an established agreement between the two parties involved in the trade or exchange. If I agree to trade with you five live chickens for a live pig and you agreed that transaction is completed without legal tender. Of course, by modern day standard this is an exaggerated inconvenience of medium of exchange. Yes, I know that. It is done on purpose to argue that if there is an even more convenience and efficient medium of exchange, why don’t we embrace it? There are three compelling reasons: 1. “Merely because of philosophical differences on the origin and nature of money”. 2. “Instinctive protection and defense of self-interest for survival. 3. Political leaders are ill-informed on the subject, to represent the best interest of the people. Oops, just went past my bed time. TeeGee may want to continue from the otherside of the world. |
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DNotes takes the position that meeting regulatory, reporting and licensing requirements are extremely important once we meet the threshold of needing to be in compliance. I have attempted to point out the cost and time burden of doing so a number of times. We are still at the early stages of considering various options of which all are costly and time consuming to undertake. The following is the best article on this subject I came across. I strongly encourage you to study it very carefully. DNotes will take its time to do things right. From our prospective it will take another 4 to 5 years before mass consumer and merchant adoption will take place. Hope this sheds some light as to why we feel that way. ****************************** How to Protect Your Bitcoin Business from Regulators [/b] by Allen Scott @ 2014-10-30 10:46 AM http://cointelegraph.com/news/112826/how-to-protect-your-bitcoin-business-from-regulators Mike Gropp is the co-founder of the BitBays Bitcoin exchange and is in charge of the company’s compliance to the ever-changing landscape of cryptocurrency law. After working in the financial sector in California, Mike moved to Beijing in 2010 where he launched his own corporate training company focusing on sales, professional speaking, and negotiations. While expanding his business, Mike taught undergraduate business courses at Beijing University of Chemical Technology in the prestigious IBC (International Business Curriculum) Program. Mike is also an associate member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, which is the world's largest anti-fraud organization and premier provider of anti-fraud training and education. “Different companies have different legal strategies,” said Mike to CoinTelegraph via email. “Right now there are a lot of companies in the gray or so they think. They will send letters asking for clarification of their status whilst operating as an illegal money transmitter […] also, asking for a ruling while operating illegally doesn't cover one legally.” We would like to thanks Mike for timely sharing his advice regarding regulatory compliance in light of the US regulators’ moves earlier this week when FinCEN and the SEC issued a pair of guidance documents and allegedly sent out secret requests to several Bitcoin companies, respectively. CoinTelegraph: What is you background as far as regulatory compliance is concerned? Mike Gropp: I'm apart of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. Fraud Examiners investigate financial fraud from petty cash skimming and larceny up to financial statement fraud where liabilities are understated or revenues are overstated in the millions (like the Enron and WorldCom scandals.) I'm also a Co-Founder of BitBays.com, a Bitcoin exchange, and I’m handling our compliance and risk programs. CT: What are the relevant regulatory bodies where one must register in the US? MG: For an exchange or payment processor one would need to register with FinCEN as a Money Service Business. Also, 48 out of the 50 states require money transmitter licensing at the state level. The names of these regulatory bodies vary slightly. In Hawaii it's the Division of Financial Institutions. In North Carolina it's the Commissioner of Banks. If one wants to offer securities they should contact the SEC. Lastly, let's not forget the IRS because they certainly wouldn't forget you... “Payment processors and exchanges with US clients should immediately go to FinCEN.gov and register as an MSB. “The real challenge is registering at the state level, which must be done in every state one wishes to operate as a money transmitter.” - Mike Gropp CT: What steps should a US-based exchange or payment processor take right now to be compliant with FinCEN, the IRS and the SEC? What does it actually mean to be "fully compliant"? MG: Whether one is a US-based exchange or not doesn't decide whether one needs to register. The question is whether a company has clients in the US or not. If so, they are subject to regulations of that jurisdiction. Payment processors and exchanges with US clients should immediately go to FinCEN.gov and register as an MSB. This is quite simple. The real work is ongoing reporting: CTR (Currency Transaction Reports) and SAR (Suspicious Activity Reports). The real challenge is registering at the state level, which must be done in every state one wishes to operate as a money transmitter. It's not a simple registration. It's an investigation into one's company to determine if a license will be given. This includes producing audited financial statements, being subject to background checks, and more. It could take as long as a year or more. Furthermore, the fees range from US$100 to US$5,000 per state. There are also ongoing financial obligations. One is a net worth requirement of US$1,000 to US$2,000,000. The other is a surety bond (or equivalent) per each state ranging from US$10,000 to US$2,000,000 with California as an outlier at US$7,000,000. These bonds cost 2-7% annually to maintain which puts one's licensing expenses over a quarter-million dollars minimum annually from bonds alone. These bonds act as insurance against losing or misappropriating customer funds. It's not just about being something on paper either. MSBs need serious policies in place to prevent fraud, money laundering, and terrorist financing. MSBs also need strong internal controls and effective employee training for identifying suspicious activity. At the very basic level this includes a KYC (Know Your Customer) policy to verify client identities. This not only reduces one's legal risk by preventing organized crime and terrorist organizations from using one's platform, but it also reduces financial fraud. It's not just a legal responsibility, it makes financial sense. As far as the IRS, registering as an FFI (Foreign Financial Institution) to be FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliant Act) compliant is similar to registering with FinCEN. Doing so is easy, but one most give ongoing reports of US client transactions and account balances. The IRS isn't necessarily looking for taxes from the FFI, but rather to ensure US citizens aren't using the FFI to evade taxes. “BTC companies operating as unregistered money transmitters face civil penalties of US$5,000 per day, and criminal penalties up to 5 years in jail.” - Mike Gropp CT: Tell us about the penalties companies that have allegedly received SEC letters in the past week could potentially be facing. What about being an MSB - What are the consequences of not registering or being compliant? MG: There are two issues at hand. One is operating as an unregistered broker-dealer. The other is selling unregistered securities. Here's one example. Last year a company out of Cyprus, Banc de Binary, selling binary options online operated as an unregistered broker-dealer selling unregistered securities. They were assessed civil penalties including forfeiture of profits and an injunction barring them from accepting US clients. BTC companies operating as unregistered broker-dealers offering unregistered securities could be forced to forfeit profits, pay hefty fines, and get blacklisted from accepting US clients in the future. BTC companies operating as unregistered money transmitters face civil penalties of US$5,000 per day, and criminal penalties up to 5 years in jail. According to 2011 FinCEN definition, money transmission includes fiat or digital currencies. A crypto-only exchange is still considered a money transmitter by this definition. Also, there are no thresholds. Any amount of bitcoins or fiat transmitted from one person to another by a third-party is considered money transmission. Companies, such as OKCoin, are using thresholds intended for other types of MSBs, such a prepaid access. If anything I hope this interview abolishes the myth that avoiding fiat or enforcing daily thresholds exempts one from money transmitter licensing. “If anything I hope this interview abolishes the myth that avoiding fiat or enforcing daily thresholds exempts one from money transmitter licensing.” - Mike Gropp CT: Are there extra requirements or benefits for being a local or international company? MG: Local US companies pay taxes to the IRS. International companies have to work with the IRS to stop US clients from evading taxes. CT: Aren’t there some ‘safe haven’ jurisdictions such as Belize where companies could register without jumping through so many regulatory hoops? MG: Once again, it's all about where your clients are and what your legal strategy may be. If you have clients in the US, be compliant in the US. Our strategy at BitBays is quite conservative: register where necessary, meet the highest compliance requirements, follow best practices, and streamline our reporting to the various agencies from country to country where reporting is required. Some companies may look into registering their domain in obscure places under pseudonyms, keep operations decentralized or in 'safe havens,' even being versed in local extradition laws. This is another extreme. The Bitcoin ecosystem will have both. “The current gray is going to get black and white real fast.” - Mike Gropp CT: How do you think these regulations will affect the market? MG: Regulatory bodies are beginning to make their presence felt in a tangible way. Some companies will face civil penalties; this burden may sink a few companies. Many will say parley, and a few will raise the black flag with cross bones and sail on to darker waters. The current gray is going to get black and white real fast. Yes, as expected, a real nightmare of regulation but, that's as it stands now, at this point in time. What the future actually holds is anyone's guess at this point. I could be better, it could be worse but one thing is for certain, it will involve regulation. We need to remember that we have a voice and in this industry, we have a global voice. Don't be afraid to speak up and tell 'em what you think. Be civil, be intelligent but please, do speak up. RJF, you are absolutely correct. I have never taken a strong political stand. I am a proud independent. The one who gives me the most confident gets my vote. Sadly, sometimes, none did. This time around I feel very passionate that we may need a grass root campaign to be much more vocal that our political leaders need to be educated and better informed about Digital Currency as the greatest technology revolution since the internet. I may want to start writing a few Op-Eds. Perhaps our community in cooperation with some industry leaders may want to consider writing an E book just for our political leaders to help them get better educated. With 2016 election not that far out this may be our best chance to speak out. We will "Be civil, be intelligent", of course. |
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DNotes takes the position that meeting regulatory, reporting and licensing requirements are extremely important once we meet the threshold of needing to be in compliance. I have attempted to point out the cost and time burden of doing so a number of times. We are still at the early stages of considering various options of which all are costly and time consuming to undertake. The following is the best article on this subject I came across. I strongly encourage you to study it very carefully. DNotes will take its time to do things right. From our prospective it will take another 4 to 5 years before mass consumer and merchant adoption will take place. Hope this sheds some light as to why we feel that way. ****************************** How to Protect Your Bitcoin Business from Regulators [/b] by Allen Scott @ 2014-10-30 10:46 AM http://cointelegraph.com/news/112826/how-to-protect-your-bitcoin-business-from-regulators Mike Gropp is the co-founder of the BitBays Bitcoin exchange and is in charge of the company’s compliance to the ever-changing landscape of cryptocurrency law. After working in the financial sector in California, Mike moved to Beijing in 2010 where he launched his own corporate training company focusing on sales, professional speaking, and negotiations. While expanding his business, Mike taught undergraduate business courses at Beijing University of Chemical Technology in the prestigious IBC (International Business Curriculum) Program. Mike is also an associate member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, which is the world's largest anti-fraud organization and premier provider of anti-fraud training and education. “Different companies have different legal strategies,” said Mike to CoinTelegraph via email. “Right now there are a lot of companies in the gray or so they think. They will send letters asking for clarification of their status whilst operating as an illegal money transmitter […] also, asking for a ruling while operating illegally doesn't cover one legally.” We would like to thanks Mike for timely sharing his advice regarding regulatory compliance in light of the US regulators’ moves earlier this week when FinCEN and the SEC issued a pair of guidance documents and allegedly sent out secret requests to several Bitcoin companies, respectively. CoinTelegraph: What is you background as far as regulatory compliance is concerned? Mike Gropp: I'm apart of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. Fraud Examiners investigate financial fraud from petty cash skimming and larceny up to financial statement fraud where liabilities are understated or revenues are overstated in the millions (like the Enron and WorldCom scandals.) I'm also a Co-Founder of BitBays.com, a Bitcoin exchange, and I’m handling our compliance and risk programs. CT: What are the relevant regulatory bodies where one must register in the US? MG: For an exchange or payment processor one would need to register with FinCEN as a Money Service Business. Also, 48 out of the 50 states require money transmitter licensing at the state level. The names of these regulatory bodies vary slightly. In Hawaii it's the Division of Financial Institutions. In North Carolina it's the Commissioner of Banks. If one wants to offer securities they should contact the SEC. Lastly, let's not forget the IRS because they certainly wouldn't forget you... “Payment processors and exchanges with US clients should immediately go to FinCEN.gov and register as an MSB. “The real challenge is registering at the state level, which must be done in every state one wishes to operate as a money transmitter.” - Mike Gropp CT: What steps should a US-based exchange or payment processor take right now to be compliant with FinCEN, the IRS and the SEC? What does it actually mean to be "fully compliant"? MG: Whether one is a US-based exchange or not doesn't decide whether one needs to register. The question is whether a company has clients in the US or not. If so, they are subject to regulations of that jurisdiction. Payment processors and exchanges with US clients should immediately go to FinCEN.gov and register as an MSB. This is quite simple. The real work is ongoing reporting: CTR (Currency Transaction Reports) and SAR (Suspicious Activity Reports). The real challenge is registering at the state level, which must be done in every state one wishes to operate as a money transmitter. It's not a simple registration. It's an investigation into one's company to determine if a license will be given. This includes producing audited financial statements, being subject to background checks, and more. It could take as long as a year or more. Furthermore, the fees range from US$100 to US$5,000 per state. There are also ongoing financial obligations. One is a net worth requirement of US$1,000 to US$2,000,000. The other is a surety bond (or equivalent) per each state ranging from US$10,000 to US$2,000,000 with California as an outlier at US$7,000,000. These bonds cost 2-7% annually to maintain which puts one's licensing expenses over a quarter-million dollars minimum annually from bonds alone. These bonds act as insurance against losing or misappropriating customer funds. It's not just about being something on paper either. MSBs need serious policies in place to prevent fraud, money laundering, and terrorist financing. MSBs also need strong internal controls and effective employee training for identifying suspicious activity. At the very basic level this includes a KYC (Know Your Customer) policy to verify client identities. This not only reduces one's legal risk by preventing organized crime and terrorist organizations from using one's platform, but it also reduces financial fraud. It's not just a legal responsibility, it makes financial sense. As far as the IRS, registering as an FFI (Foreign Financial Institution) to be FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliant Act) compliant is similar to registering with FinCEN. Doing so is easy, but one most give ongoing reports of US client transactions and account balances. The IRS isn't necessarily looking for taxes from the FFI, but rather to ensure US citizens aren't using the FFI to evade taxes. “BTC companies operating as unregistered money transmitters face civil penalties of US$5,000 per day, and criminal penalties up to 5 years in jail.” - Mike Gropp CT: Tell us about the penalties companies that have allegedly received SEC letters in the past week could potentially be facing. What about being an MSB - What are the consequences of not registering or being compliant? MG: There are two issues at hand. One is operating as an unregistered broker-dealer. The other is selling unregistered securities. Here's one example. Last year a company out of Cyprus, Banc de Binary, selling binary options online operated as an unregistered broker-dealer selling unregistered securities. They were assessed civil penalties including forfeiture of profits and an injunction barring them from accepting US clients. BTC companies operating as unregistered broker-dealers offering unregistered securities could be forced to forfeit profits, pay hefty fines, and get blacklisted from accepting US clients in the future. BTC companies operating as unregistered money transmitters face civil penalties of US$5,000 per day, and criminal penalties up to 5 years in jail. According to 2011 FinCEN definition, money transmission includes fiat or digital currencies. A crypto-only exchange is still considered a money transmitter by this definition. Also, there are no thresholds. Any amount of bitcoins or fiat transmitted from one person to another by a third-party is considered money transmission. Companies, such as OKCoin, are using thresholds intended for other types of MSBs, such a prepaid access. If anything I hope this interview abolishes the myth that avoiding fiat or enforcing daily thresholds exempts one from money transmitter licensing. “If anything I hope this interview abolishes the myth that avoiding fiat or enforcing daily thresholds exempts one from money transmitter licensing.” - Mike Gropp CT: Are there extra requirements or benefits for being a local or international company? MG: Local US companies pay taxes to the IRS. International companies have to work with the IRS to stop US clients from evading taxes. CT: Aren’t there some ‘safe haven’ jurisdictions such as Belize where companies could register without jumping through so many regulatory hoops? MG: Once again, it's all about where your clients are and what your legal strategy may be. If you have clients in the US, be compliant in the US. Our strategy at BitBays is quite conservative: register where necessary, meet the highest compliance requirements, follow best practices, and streamline our reporting to the various agencies from country to country where reporting is required. Some companies may look into registering their domain in obscure places under pseudonyms, keep operations decentralized or in 'safe havens,' even being versed in local extradition laws. This is another extreme. The Bitcoin ecosystem will have both. “The current gray is going to get black and white real fast.” - Mike Gropp CT: How do you think these regulations will affect the market? MG: Regulatory bodies are beginning to make their presence felt in a tangible way. Some companies will face civil penalties; this burden may sink a few companies. Many will say parley, and a few will raise the black flag with cross bones and sail on to darker waters. The current gray is going to get black and white real fast. |
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Hi all, thought I'd throw out my couple fav's for our fun apprentice parody name competition, Smokey can feel free to review my list and add or what not I tried to go with one from each person. Then DYNA can choose his pick of the bunch. Populuxe - "Dynamite Deal" QiWoman - "Insignis Apprentice" (Insignas is latin for rapid growth) Variant65 - "It's CRISP" Malfort - "MentorNotes" Any thoughts on these Smokey? Hope I didn't miss anybody! Apprentice Parody The winner of Apprentice Parody is "MentorNotes" by Malfort The Runner-up is "Insignis Apprentice" by QiWoman Congratulations to Malfort and all participants. Smokeys believe that you all are winners just by participating. Now TeeGee can get creative and setup a “MentorNotes” fund for students to own some DNotes. I will make a generous donation once a program is in place. I envision that various funds could be setup with different sponsors who believe that education can make positive difference. Congrats, Mafort, and today, you all win: Mafort recieved 2500 DNotes for participating, and 5000 from me for winning. QiWoman recieved 2500 for participating, and another 2500 from me for second place. Variant65 recieved 2500 DNotes from me for participating. Populuxe: I need his Deposit Addy, and he will recieve 2500 from me for participating. This is in addition to any DNotess promised by anyone else. Keep in mind, these DNotes are from my personal stash, I sold quite a few dayliles in the last year and turned em into DNotes. It was a good decision for me, the DNotes are growing MUCH faster than the Daylilies are!! Smokey Is there an exchange that does direct conversion? I am not sure if I clearly understand your question. Are you referring to converting fiat currency to DNotes? Our current recommended process is not ideal but still deserves our highest recommendation because we believe in the value of being the best of class, even if it takes extra efforts. There are many good reasons why Coinbase was able to raise $75 million with the participation of some top bankers, recently. Until there is a better solution, we recommend opening an account with Coinbase with a link to your bank account. In most states, you can also sign up for a USD account and add your savings to that account using USD so that you can purchase Bitcoin at anytime with instant delivery. Depending on your credit history, you can also be qualified for $1,000 instant buy by providing a major credit card. They do not accept credit cards as a source of payment but use it as a backup. Once you have Bitcoin purchased, the Bitcoin can be sent to one of the exchanges where DNotes is traded (Allcoin, Poloniex, C-cex, and Comkort) From there, you purchase DNotes and send them to your CR.I.S.P. Savings or one of the DNotesVault general accounts. Once you get use to the process it is not that complicated. Try to take it one step at a time, it is fairly straight forward. Building a stable and trustworthy currency is complicated. It can take years and a lot of hard work. However, because it is of critical importance we believe it is well worth it. Having some extra money saved for retirement is of critical importance. I strongly encourage you to make the extra efforts to do it right and not have any doubt in your mind that your hard earned dollars are safely protected. Our second choice is Circle. They are doing significantly better now but not without problems as can be seen below. Our ultimately goal is to have our own fully registered, regulated and licensed exchange with partner banks or our own bank. However, don't count on that to happen anytime soon. It will take a few years. ********************** Circle.com is having trouble and making excuses (self.Bitcoin) submitted 3 months ago by bitcoin844 Is anyone else having troubles with Circle.com? My account has both a verified bank account and credit card. My supposedly "instant" buy order of $500 I placed on Friday morning still hasn't funded. I wrote support asking them to cancel the order and they sent me this form response "We're writing today to follow up on an issue you reported with Circle deposits. We may have delayed your transaction due to our fraud prevention monitoring. We apologize for any inconvenience. We should have this issue resolved in the next few days. Since our launch on September 29th, we have seen a tremendous global response to Circle. As we ramp users, we continue to optimize and improve our systems. Thank you for your patience, continued feedback, and support. Chris, Team Circle" I have talked to two other people that have used Circle.com since since Wednesday, both tried to buy coin and haven't received it. Both tried to cancel and got the same form response. Read more: http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/2iet4l/circlecom_is_having_trouble_and_making_excuses/"I sold quite a few dayliles in the last year and turned em into DNotes" I think RJF was just having some fun with Smokey's post. Shark! You may be right, Chase. I had to give up my "nap" trying to figure out what RJF was asking about lol. Talking about hard earned $$$. Those guys work hard. I was with them for six years. At least, I love flowers; may be they love money and now they seem to love DNotes even more. My guess is that everyone associated with the daylily farm now owns a decent amount of DNotes. Hope they will end up to be among the richest farmers one day. |
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Hi all, thought I'd throw out my couple fav's for our fun apprentice parody name competition, Smokey can feel free to review my list and add or what not I tried to go with one from each person. Then DYNA can choose his pick of the bunch. Populuxe - "Dynamite Deal" QiWoman - "Insignis Apprentice" (Insignas is latin for rapid growth) Variant65 - "It's CRISP" Malfort - "MentorNotes" Any thoughts on these Smokey? Hope I didn't miss anybody! Apprentice Parody The winner of Apprentice Parody is "MentorNotes" by Malfort The Runner-up is "Insignis Apprentice" by QiWoman Congratulations to Malfort and all participants. Smokeys believe that you all are winners just by participating. Now TeeGee can get creative and setup a “MentorNotes” fund for students to own some DNotes. I will make a generous donation once a program is in place. I envision that various funds could be setup with different sponsors who believe that education can make positive difference. Congrats, Mafort, and today, you all win: Mafort recieved 2500 DNotes for participating, and 5000 from me for winning. QiWoman recieved 2500 for participating, and another 2500 from me for second place. Variant65 recieved 2500 DNotes from me for participating. Populuxe: I need his Deposit Addy, and he will recieve 2500 from me for participating. This is in addition to any DNotess promised by anyone else. Keep in mind, these DNotes are from my personal stash, I sold quite a few dayliles in the last year and turned em into DNotes. It was a good decision for me, the DNotes are growing MUCH faster than the Daylilies are!! Smokey Is there an exchange that does direct conversion? I am not sure if I clearly understand your question. Are you referring to converting fiat currency to DNotes? Our current recommended process is not ideal but still deserves our highest recommendation because we believe in the value of being the best of class, even if it takes extra efforts. There are many good reasons why Coinbase was able to raise $75 million with the participation of some top bankers, recently. Until there is a better solution, we recommend opening an account with Coinbase with a link to your bank account. In most states, you can also sign up for a USD account and add your savings to that account using USD so that you can purchase Bitcoin at anytime with instant delivery. Depending on your credit history, you can also be qualified for $1,000 instant buy by providing a major credit card. They do not accept credit cards as a source of payment but use it as a backup. Once you have Bitcoin purchased, the Bitcoin can be sent to one of the exchanges where DNotes is traded (Allcoin, Poloniex, C-cex, and Comkort) From there, you purchase DNotes and send them to your CR.I.S.P. Savings or one of the DNotesVault general accounts. Once you get use to the process it is not that complicated. Try to take it one step at a time, it is fairly straight forward. Building a stable and trustworthy currency is complicated. It can take years and a lot of hard work. However, because it is of critical importance we believe it is well worth it. Having some extra money saved for retirement is of critical importance. I strongly encourage you to make the extra efforts to do it right and not have any doubt in your mind that your hard earned dollars are safely protected. Our second choice is Circle. They are doing significantly better now but not without problems as can be seen below. Our ultimately goal is to have our own fully registered, regulated and licensed exchange with partner banks or our own bank. However, don't count on that to happen anytime soon. It will take a few years. ********************** Circle.com is having trouble and making excuses (self.Bitcoin) submitted 3 months ago by bitcoin844 Is anyone else having troubles with Circle.com? My account has both a verified bank account and credit card. My supposedly "instant" buy order of $500 I placed on Friday morning still hasn't funded. I wrote support asking them to cancel the order and they sent me this form response "We're writing today to follow up on an issue you reported with Circle deposits. We may have delayed your transaction due to our fraud prevention monitoring. We apologize for any inconvenience. We should have this issue resolved in the next few days. Since our launch on September 29th, we have seen a tremendous global response to Circle. As we ramp users, we continue to optimize and improve our systems. Thank you for your patience, continued feedback, and support. Chris, Team Circle" I have talked to two other people that have used Circle.com since since Wednesday, both tried to buy coin and haven't received it. Both tried to cancel and got the same form response. Read more: http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/2iet4l/circlecom_is_having_trouble_and_making_excuses/ |
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Quick recap:
I like Director of CR.I.S.P. for Retirement as well.
Agree checkbox upon creating a CR.I.S.P for Retirement account will state:
"I agree that my current and future deposits made to this account will be locked and not available for withdrawal for duration or length of time I selected. I understand that any request for hardship withdrawal will be considered on a case by case basis."
Somewhere on the retirement dashboard it will state:
"Depositors are reminded that compliance with all existing and future laws governing financial instruments, reporting, paying of taxes or fees and digital currency regulation is the express responsibility of the depositor."
I think Director is fine, it's really up the DNotes team. As for real names, Dyna knows mine. I am somewhat reluctant to use it past there since I am currently employed in the cyber security industry and the Director of a IT Department in a somewhat sensitive facility. Lets keep it RJF for now. It is not necessary to use real names, due to the nature of our industry. We will continue to use my name as the "contact" person. "Director" will apply to each of our CR.I.S.P. program: Chase, Director of CR.I.S.P. for Kids, RJF, Director of CR.I.S.P. for Retirement, TeeGee, Director of CR.I.S.P. for Students CryptoBrooker, Director of CR.I.S.P. for Charity,  (Vacant), Director of Employee Benefits. PR use case: "According to RJF, Director of CR.I.S.P. for Retirement .........." Looks fantastic! What are requirements for Director of Employee Benefits? Please check your email. We are always interested to get more people involved. This is a unique opportunity for all of us to make a difference. |
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Quick recap:
I like Director of CR.I.S.P. for Retirement as well.
Agree checkbox upon creating a CR.I.S.P for Retirement account will state:
"I agree that my current and future deposits made to this account will be locked and not available for withdrawal for duration or length of time I selected. I understand that any request for hardship withdrawal will be considered on a case by case basis."
Somewhere on the retirement dashboard it will state:
"Depositors are reminded that compliance with all existing and future laws governing financial instruments, reporting, paying of taxes or fees and digital currency regulation is the express responsibility of the depositor."
I think Director is fine, it's really up the DNotes team. As for real names, Dyna knows mine. I am somewhat reluctant to use it past there since I am currently employed in the cyber security industry and the Director of a IT Department in a somewhat sensitive facility. Lets keep it RJF for now. It is not necessary to use real names, due to the nature of our industry. We will continue to use my name as the "contact" person. "Director" will apply to each of our CR.I.S.P. program: Chase, Director of CR.I.S.P. for Kids, RJF, Director of CR.I.S.P. for Retirement, TeeGee, Director of CR.I.S.P. for Students CryptoBrooker, Director of CR.I.S.P. for Charity, (Vacant), Director of Employee Benefits. PR use case: "According to RJF, Director of CR.I.S.P. for Retirement .........." |
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Thanks, RJF. Excellent article. I will post a response when I have time. |
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Hi all, thought I'd throw out my couple fav's for our fun apprentice parody name competition, Smokey can feel free to review my list and add or what not I tried to go with one from each person. Then DYNA can choose his pick of the bunch. Populuxe - "Dynamite Deal" QiWoman - "Insignis Apprentice" (Insignas is latin for rapid growth) Variant65 - "It's CRISP" Malfort - "MentorNotes" Any thoughts on these Smokey? Hope I didn't miss anybody! Apprentice Parody The winner of Apprentice Parody is "MentorNotes" by Malfort The Runner-up is "Insignis Apprentice" by QiWoman Congratulations to Malfort and all participants. Smokeys believe that you all are winners just by participating. Now TeeGee can get creative and setup a “MentorNotes” fund for students to own some DNotes. I will make a generous donation once a program is in place. I envision that various funds could be setup with different sponsors who believe that education can make positive difference. |
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