Brazil's Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM) has moved to suspend the offer of securities related to a local bitcoin mining operation.

In a February 28 statement, the securities regulator declared that the offering for HashBrasil being pitched to investors was not authorized, identifying how the solicitations were playing out across social media channels, including Facebook and Twitter.

the agency wrote, according to a rough translation of the statement.

The agency also threatened to fine the operators of Hash Brasil R$5,000 per day - worth roughly $1,500 - if they failed to comply with the suspension.

Signs indicate that the warning has all but scuttled the projected. In a post on Facebook from March 1 - the day after the CVM's initial statement - the team behind Hash Brasil indicated that they had temporarily ceased their activities in light of the posting.

"We will be informing the measures that will be taken by us to defend and preserve the interests of our customers, always in a regular and legal way," the statement read.

Regulators in Brasil have struck a largely dismissive tone on cryptocurrencies in the past, including critical comments from the country's central bank. Last October, for example, central bank chief Ilan Goldfajn said that he believes bitcoin is a pyramid scheme.

https://www.coindesk.com/brazil-regulators-move-block-bitcoin-mining-investments/

The following extract is from an article entitled "Litepay’s Indefinite Delay, Is A Plus For Crypterium (CRPT)":


You really don't have to negotiate with Visa and Mastercard representatives, even on early stages? That is a good news! It's sad to see how a number of promising, money related blockchain projects were paused due to Visa`s dismissive policy.

Выдержка из новой статьи о Crypterium:

"По мнению команды проекта, в течении 8 лет криптовалютный рынок достигнет $10 трлн.  Здесь понадобятся криптобанки, чтобы связать децентрализованную экономику с обычной жизнью. Криптериум обещает предоставить платежную инфраструктуру и услуги для владельцев криптовалют, сделки без физических пластиковых карт.

Это означает никаких переговоров с Visa и MasterCard"

Этот момент мне весьма понравился, сколько подножек уже получили достойные блокчейн проекты от "пиджаков" из Visa, трудно сосчитать.

Народ, будьте внимательны, на данный момент контракт Debitum erc223 не совместим с децентрализованными биржами EtherDelta (ED) and ForkDelta (FD). Попытка положить токены на депозит бирж приведет к ошибке, а может чего и похуже. Ждем нормальных бирж.

The U.S. Marshals are set to auction off nearly $25 million worth of bitcoin later this month.

The government agency announced Monday that it will put approximately 2,170 bitcoins on the auction block, with the sale planned for March 19. Would-be bidders must submit a $200,000 deposit and complete the registration requirements by March 14 to participate, according to the Marshals Service.

This month's auction will consist of 14 separate blocks, with two blocks of 500 BTC, 11 blocks of 100 BTC and one block accounting for 70 BTC.

According to the release, the bitcoins were confiscated in "connection with various federal criminal, civil and administrative cases," ranging from federal trials to Drug Enforcement Agency actions.

The provenance of most of the seized bitcoins is listed online, which notably mentions that some of the coins involved were traced to the case involving Shaun Bridges, the ex-Secret Service agent who was sentenced to prison after being accused of stealing funds during the Silk Road investigation.

The March 19 sale marks the latest bitcoin auction by the agency. Just last month, the U.S. Marshals auctioned off more than 3,600 bitcoins to five winning bidders, an amount worth more than $30 million at the time. It's also the second sale to take place within a nearly two-year period, given that prior to this year, the last auction occurred in mid-2016, when the agency sold 2,700 BTC

In what is perhaps a sign of how the value of bitcoin has increased since then, the coins on the docket that year were worth just $1.6 million at the time.

https://www.coindesk.com/us-marshals-auction-25-million-bitcoin/

The South Korean government has reportedly de facto banned all government officials from holding and trading cryptocurrencies. Even if their crypto activities are not related to their jobs, public officials can still be subject to disciplinary actions.

Public Officials De Facto Banned from Crypto

South Korea has reportedly “issued a ban on virtual currency holdings and transactions to all government officials,” Maeil Business Newspaper reported.

According to the document entitled “Virtual currency holdings and transaction-related information for civil servants,” the publication elaborated:


Read more: https://news.bitcoin.com/korean-government-officials-banned-holding-trading-crypto/

Today i found very interesting information about potential Gatcoin competitor. This project is called "Momentum" or "MobileBridge". It has very similar conception with GatCoin: marketing platform that enables companies to issue their own branded tokens, reward customers with loyalty points. Taking this into account, Gat team should hurry up with their milestones, and do something with the market price, because Momentum also looks very attractive for investors.

The largest theft in Iceland’s history occurred recently when thieves stole 600 computers that were used for Bitcoin mining from data centers.

When one hears of a crime ring pulling off major heists, the least likely location for such a circumstance would be the island nation of Iceland. The sparsely populated country of 348,680 people is most famous for being the birthplace of Bjork. However, Iceland was recently hit with its biggest crime wave ever as thieves stole 600 computers used for Bitcoin mining.

CRYPTO CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR

A gang of thieves orchestrated four rounds of thefts of computers used for Bitcoin mining. Police state that the computers were stolen from data centers in Iceland and that the crime wave is the largest one in the country’s history.

Two of the thefts took place on the Reykjanes peninsula, The police commissioner there, Olafur Helgi Kjartansson, says:


Three of the burglaries took place in December while the fourth one happened in January. All told, the 600 computers are worth a combined $2 million. Of course, they could be used to generate far more money than that if they’re used for Bitcoin mining.

ARMY OF BITCOIN

Icelanders are calling the crimes the “Big Bitcoin Heist.” A total of 11 people have been arrested so far, with one of those detained being a security guard. Two of those arrested have been ordered to remain in custody by a judge.

None of the stolen 600 computers have been found yet. Police are asking power companies to report any suspicious electric consumption in order to, hopefully, locate the computers if they’re used to mine for cryptocurrency.

While definitely tiny by population standards, Iceland is becoming a hotspot for cryptocurrency miners. Energy is cheap in Iceland due to country’s geothermal and hydroelectric power plants. This has resulted in an influx of crypto miners moving into the country in order to lower their costs.

One wonders how the thieves plan on utilizing their stolen goods. Firing up 600 computers will definitely catch the attention of power companies, who will then alert the police. It may be that they’ll be moved out of the country to be sold.

http://bitcoinist.com/thieves-steal-600-bitcoin-mining-computers/

Investment firm Wellington Management Co. has just thrown its $1 trillion hat into the cryptocurrency ring.

Big Money

According to the Boston-based investment management company’s February report, the private and independent firm is officially considering including cryptocurrencies in some portfolios, as its systems were recently upgraded to enable trading in Bitcoin derivatives. Wellington has also started taking out positions in companies related to cryptocurrency.

According to Bloomberg, the team releasing the report includes equity research analyst Matthew Lipton and trading technologies principal Lee Saba. The report says:


However, it is important to note that Wellington’s official stance is one of caution. The firm has made it clear that it is not buying direct exposures in Bitcoin and related currencies.

As of right now, Wellington’s analysts are conducting extensive research into digital coins and tokens, before producing further reports on their cryptocurrency plans.

Wellington Management Company is currently responsible for the management of over $1 trillion of clients’ funds. The company also serves as investment advisor for over 2,150 institutional clients in over 50 countries.

Wellington’s announced plan to start testing the waters of digital currency could signal other institutional investors to do the same. If major firms begin to truly and officially get involved in cryptocurrency investment, expect a drastically increased market capitalization over time.

Wellington Management Company was once under investigation by federal authorities for insider-trading.

Big Opportunities

Wellington’s report also serves to highlight the massive investment opportunities presenting themselves in the cryptocurrency-mining hardware space.

The demand for GPUs from miners has helped cause American technology company Nvidia Corporation’s shares to skyrocket 8 percent, up to $234.04, with an increased target upwards of $300. CEO Jensen Huang told Barron’s:

Crypto is a real thing — it’s not going to go away. This year, the world is starting to come to terms with the existence of crypto. It’s based on blockchain, and it’s very secure and very low overhead. I think there’s clearly real utility. It’s a real phenomenon, and so everyone is coming to terms with it.

http://bitcoinist.com/1-trillion-investment-management-company-getting-serious-about-crypto/

This burning definitely can't hurt, right? Coinmarketcup still displays total supply of 488,183,483 SKIN, but now current total supply is 388M.

 Circulating Supply - 88,183,483 SKIN. So, who owns the rest 300m? What is the purpose of this tokens, whether they would be burned too?

Saint Petersburg City Court has struck down a ban on 40 bitcoin related websites offering information about cryptocurrencies and exchange services in Russia. The ban was imposed by a district court in May last year, following a request from the Prosecutor’s Office. It prohibited the “spreading of information” about bitcoin, as well as buying and selling cryptos.

Site Owners Win Important Battle

In what seems to be a small, but important victory for the Russian crypto community, the City Court of Saint Petersburg has struck down a ban that affected more than 40 websites related to bitcoin. It was imposed by a district court in May 2017, after a request from the Prosecutor’s Office in the Northern Capital of Russia. The measure effectively restricted access to the internet platforms and prevented the exchange services offered by some of them.

Following last year’s ban, the owners of the websites appealed the local judicial authorities’ decision in the second-largest Russian city. The Oktyabrsky District Court had stated that the spreading of information about bitcoin and the use of cryptocurrencies was illegal in the Russian Federation. Its decision was forwarded to the Russian telecommunications supervisory agency Roscomnadzor, which was supposed to blacklist the sites.

Read more: https://news.bitcoin.com/court-strikes-ban-40-bitcoin-sites-russia/

Новости из Южной Кореи: Mark.Space обьявила о стратегическом партнерстве с Bitman. Это самый большой сайт по количеству уникальных посетителей в Корее, более 5 миллионов просмотров страниц каждый день, охватывает сообщества в 430,000 тыс. человек. За последние 6 лет, компания активно занимается майнингом и инвестициями в криптовалюты.

На фото, представитель компании Mark.Space в Азии, Almir, с друзьями из Bitman

Alibaba's T-Mall e-commerce platform is reportedly adopting blockchain technology in its cross-border supply chain through a partnership with logistics company Cainiao.

According to a report by China's news agency Xinhua Wednesday, the partnership aims to move information on goods for import and export onto a blockchain that can then track their country of origin, shipping port and method, arrival port as and customs report details.

The new launch comes as Cainiao, of which Alibaba is an investor, is doubling down on its belief that blockchain has a significant potential to be adopted for cross-border e-commerce.

To that end, the partnership claims Chinese consumers from various cities covered by Cainiao, including Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, will be able to track the blockchain-based logistic information for some 30,000 goods from 50 countries through the e-commerce's mobile application.

The partnership also marks the latest move by Alibaba to improve consumer confidence in the battle against counterfeit products.

As reported previously, Alibaba has collaborated with PwC earlier last year to develop a system that seeks to reduce food fraud using blockchain tech, dubbed Food Trust Framework.

https://www.coindesk.com/alibabas-t-mall-moving-cross-border-e-commerce-blockchain/

Ее просто удалили после проведения ICO, по всему видно, команда решила что ей не нужна обратная связь с сообществом. Удалили англоязычную ветку и ветку баунти. Команда взяла на себя ведение баунти компании, видно с желанием секономить, придумали велосипед: прикрутили свою панель учета статистики на сайт, которая толком не модерировалась. В итоге многие честные участники не получили полную награду.

Сейчас токены CPY предлагаются на биржах IDEX и HitBtC, в ближайшие недели планируется выход на TDAX. Будьте внимательны с HitBTC, если заработали 20 монет, минимальная комиссия на вывод может быть 40.

 

Copytrack is already listed on  

HitBTC: https://hitbtc.com/exchange/CPY-to-ETH and https://hitbtc.com/exchange/CPY-to-BTC

IDEX: https://idex.market/eth/cpy

And team are working on further listings

The project idea is great, but conducting of bounty campaign was horrible. After the ICO, moderators deleted main Ann and Bounty thread, have not closed dubbed local threads, thereby blurring bounty pool for translators.

The U.S.’s main commodities regulator recently told its employees that they are allowed to invest in cryptocurrencies, a determination that came weeks after the agency began overseeing Bitcoin futures.

Under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s ethics guidance, workers can trade digital tokens as long as they don’t buy them on margin or have inside information gleaned from their jobs. Investing in the Bitcoin futures that the CFTC polices, however, is barred.

While it’s not known how many people at the CFTC are actively trading the products, the agency’s general counsel, Daniel Davis, told employees in a Feb. 5 memo that the guidelines were being issued after the commission’s ethics office had received “numerous inquiries” about whether the investments were permissible.

The CFTC’s ruling comes at a time when federal agencies are debating whether and how to impose rules on the nascent products that have rapidly become a global investment craze. A number of officials have been wary of putting a government stamp of approval on cryptocurrencies, raising concerns about their wild price swings, their use in illicit transactions and the frequency with which they’ve been hacked and stolen.

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-28/bitcoin-futures-regulator-clears-employees-to-trade-crypto-coins

Because of the fact this token uses fresh new standard ERC223, team is experiencing some difficulties with adding Debitum to commonly used and popular exchanges. They are planning to add it on new exchanges in the middle of march. As for the platform, they are going to launch it on Q3 2018.

I think no, they have finished their ICO ahead of schedule on 23 January, rised full hard cap 30$ million. According to company`s media sources they would like to penetrate into China`s energy market, democratize and decentralized it. But China is a y closed nation-State, completely different from Romania, where MWAT team used to work. The good news is there still exists a lot of democracies on the globe, bunch of use cases for mwat tokens.

Israeli Supreme Court Forbids Bank From Denying Service to Bitcoin Exchange

The Supreme Court of Israel issued a temporary injunction order on Monday forbidding Bank Leumi from sweepingly halting the account activity of the Bits of Gold bitcoin exchange. This is seen as a major victory in the Israeli cryptocurrency industry that will set a precedent for other bitcoin businesses struggling to get banking services.

Bits of Gold vs. Leumi

Since its inception in 2014, Bits of Gold has, which is licensed as a currency changer business, always held an account with Bank Leumi – one of the top two biggest banks in the country. In 2015, the bank decided to close its account despite the company’s meticulous conduct – only because the company deals in bitcoin, and then Bits of Gold decided to apply to the court for permission to continue using the account.

For several years Bits of Gold worked with an injunction that allowed it to act until a final verdict. A few months ago, the District Court authorized the bank not to allow Bits of Gold to trade in bitcoin, even though it praised its activities.

The company appealed this decision to the Israeli Supreme Court, which immediately issued a temporary injunction, and on Monday passed a temporary order according to which the company can trade digital coins in its account until a ruling is issued on the entire appeal.

The Supreme Court wrote: “It appears that the damages that the bank might incur are mere speculations for now. The decision of the bank is based on the assumption that the company’s activity indeed carries risks that arise in violation of the provisions of the law, and therefore the bank is liable to pay a price for the materialization of those risks. However until now, for more than five years in which the account has been operating, these fears have not materialized – as the District Court has determined that the company acted transparently and did not violate any statutory provision.”

Read more: https://news.bitcoin.com/israeli-supreme-court-forbids-bank-denying-service-bitcoin-exchange/

BlackRock Inc. still sees cryptocurrencies as too volatile for all but the most adventurous of investors, though the investment company is warming to the long-term potential of the underlying blockchain technology.

The secure distributed-ledger technology that forms the basis of transactions with digital assets such as Bitcoin may offer “disruptive potential” for a wide range of industries from logistics to pharmaceuticals and financial services, according to BlackRock’s global Chief Investment Strategist Richard Turnill. However, it needs to overcome significant hurdles to reach its “promising future,” he said in a Feb. 26 commentary.

“Cautious on Bitcoin and bullish on the underlying blockchain technology -- this is an emerging consensus among policy makers and business leaders,” Turnill said.

While financial databases based on the system could eliminate inefficiencies and risks associated with human processes, “a massive shift in software development and a well-constructed maintenance model” would also be needed, Turnill said. Regulators and central bankers need to play a role, he said.

As for cryptocurrencies, while they may be more widely used in the future, they are still too volatile to likely have a place in mainstream investment portfolios any time soon, Turnill said. Bitcoin has been turbulent, reaching an intraday peak of almost $20,000 in December before wiping out about 70 percent of its value and then rebounding to a more stable level of about $10,000 this month.

“For now we believe they should only be considered by those who can stomach potentially complete losses,” he said.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-27/blackrock-s-turnill-sees-promising-potential-for-blockchain