Visa will not directly accept bitcoin, according to company CEO Alfred Kelly in a recent CNBC interview during the National Retail Federation trade show in New York City.

“We at Visa won’t process transactions that are cryptocurrency-based,” he said. “We will only process fiat currency-based transactions.”

Kelly pointed to the problem posed by a currency like bitcoin with rapidly fluctuating value. “People want a fair exchange of value when they’re buying something, so if it costs $100, I want to pay $100,” he said.

If you are paying for something that is “bouncing around at the level bitcoin’s bouncing around, and think about ‘buy ahead’ kinds of transactions” – such as an airline ticket or a car – “If you’re using bitcoin, when is it valued?” he asked – when you buy it, when you use it?

Kelly said he currently views bitcoin as a speculative commodity as opposed to a method of payment.

A Commodity, Not A Payment System

“I don’t view it as payment system player,” he said.”My take is that bitcoin is much more today a commodity that somebody could invest in; and honestly, somewhat of a speculative commodity that people can invest in.”

Depending on when a person invested in bitcoin in the last three months of the currency’s intense volatility, someone could have earned a lot of money, he said.

One CNBC anchor pointed out that Visa does have a bitcoin payment card through BitPay.

Visa Terminates Bitcoin Credit Cards

However, Visa, recently terminated its partnership with Wave Crest, a Gibraltar-based digital payment processing company, effectively disabling bitcoin and cryptocurrency debit cards.

All of the bitcoin and cryptocurrency debit card service providers including TenX, Xapo, Coins.ph, Bitwala, BitPay and CryptoPay have been affected by the crackdown of Visa on Wave Crest. Cryptocurrency debit card service providers have been relying on Wave Crest and its Visa partnership to process cryptocurrency payments.

In 2016, BitPay introduced its bitcoin Visa debit card that enabled users to make payments at any Visa point-of-sale (POS) terminals and withdraw cash at Visa ATMs, anywhere across the United States.

The CNBC anchors said that Kelly’s input was one of the more direct answers they’ve gotten about bitcoin’s role in the mainstream economy.

https://www.ccn.com/visa-ceo-we-wont-accept-bitcoin-directly/

Cryptocurrency Activities Will Be Legal and Tax Free in Belarus Starting in March

The decree signed by Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko which legalizes cryptocurrencies, initial coin offerings, and smart contracts, will enter into force in March. Cryptocurrency activities are not restricted by the decree and will be tax exempt until 2023.

Cryptocurrencies Soon To Be Legal

The decree which legalizes cryptocurrencies, initial coin offerings (ICOs) and smart contracts in Belarus will go into effect on March 28. Entitled “On the development of the digital economy,” it was signed by President Alexander Lukashenko on December 21, as news.Bitcoin.com previously reported.

“The decree entitles legal entities and individual entrepreneurs who are residents of the High Technology Park (the HTP) to perform operations with tokens (including cryptocurrency),” explained Iryna Chelyshava, an associate attorney at the Belarusian law firm of Vlasova Mikhel & Partners. “Others can use tokens in the territory of Belarus through residents of the HTP,” she elaborated on Jurist.

The HTP is a special economic zone with a special tax and legal regime in Belarus, analogous to Silicon Valley in the US. According to its website, 192 companies that develop software products and provide IT services to customers from 67 countries worldwide are residents of the park, 35% of which are enterprises with 100% foreign investments.

The park describes itself as “the main experimental site for the implementation of pilot projects,” including those based on cryptocurrencies. According to its announcement this week:

"The HTP Administration draws your attention to the fact that Decree No.8 ‘On the development of the digital economy’ comes into force on March 28, 2018."

Continue reading >> https://news.bitcoin.com/cryptocurrencies-activities-legal-tax-free-belarus-starting-march/

At a time in which the cryptocurrency ecosystem endures a significant correction as bitcoin dips below the $10,000 mark, Portuguese consumer protection association DECO wants the government to tax cryptocurrency investors. According to local publication Sábado, the organization sent the Ministry of Finance, and the European commissioner in charge of consumer defense a proposal to tax cryptocurrency gains.

According to the publication, DECO claims a standard 28% tax should be applied to cryptocurrency trading profits, as the same 28% tax is applied to profits earned from stocks and other financial instruments. DECO revealed the move in an edition of its “Proteste Investe” magazine, directed at traditional investors.

According to the organization, it’s unfair that traditional investors have to hand over nearly one-third of their profit, while cryptocurrency investors don’t have to pay anything. Its piece reads (roughly translated):

“What is the argument for not taxing this type of financial operation? A small saver who lends his savings to the state (via savings certificates) or who invests in a company’s shares and creates wealth and employment sees the government keep almost one-third of the profit (income and capital gains are usually taxed at 28%). How can we justify this fiscal inequality? It is difficult. “

André Gouveia, an economist at DECO, restated that every other type of investment is subject to a 28% tax, and as such it’s unfair cryptocurrencies remain exempt.

As previously covered by CCN, Portugal is a country in which the government wants to tax bitcoin users, despite a lack of regulations. The Ministry of Finance has made it clear bitcoin has no legal framework in the country, and yet it claims cryptocurrency earnings are taxable if earned as a result of a professional activity.

According to Sábado, the government is currently keeping potential bitcoin regulations in the hands of the European Union (EU). The government seemingly lets financial regulators, such as the country’s central bank, handle any cryptocurrency-related issues, along with the EU.

When asked, PS [pollical party] Parliamentary Group vice-president and party spokesman João Galamba said “bitcoin should be regulated at the European and G20 level,” adding that it would be counterproductive for the country to create “isolated initiatives.”

Sábado also spoke to left and right-wing parties. Left-wing parties clarified they aren’t planning on doing anything about cryptocurrencies, while right-wing parties stated they are “closely following” the subject, with one of the parties adding it’s evaluating the need for potential regulations.

As covered by CCN, Portuguese bank Santander Totta recently started blocking bitcoin-related transactions, a move that saw some of its clients change banks. As reported, Portugal’s Finance Minister and Eurogroup president Mário Centeno has stated he is confident regulators are overseeing bitcoin’s impact.

https://www.ccn.com/portuguese-consumer-watchdog-wants-bitcoin-investors-taxed/

South Korea’s national defense ministry has begun blocking access to online cryptocurrency trading platforms in military bases.

As Korean financial officials ponder a wider clampdown on domestic cryptocurrency trading markets, the country’s military is already weighing up and enforcing its own measures to keep soldiers from trading cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, the Korea Times reports.

Since Monday, the Ministry of National Defense has been busy putting up firewalls to block soldiers’ access to cryptocurrency exchanges at internet cafes at various military bases.

In a notice, the ministry said:

“According to internal rules, we will gradually shut down internet access to websites on encrypted currency starting Monday.”

The cited ‘internal rules’ categorize cryptocurrency exchanges alongside online gambling and pornographic website which are also blocked under Korean military regulations. Further, the defense ministry is also working toward developing and introducing regulatory curbs against crypto trading, beyond blocking access to trading platforms.

“We are going to announce specific countermeasures for cryptocurrency transactions made in military units,” a South Korean ministry official reportedly added. “The ministry is in internal talks to confirm whether it is against military regulations.”

The developments come at a time of increased scrutiny into local cryptocurrency markets – among the largest in the world – by Korea’s government and regulators. Last week, the country’s justice ministry proposed a complete shuttering of all cryptocurrency exchanges in a draft law. The backlash was immediate and compelled the country’s Presidential Office to issue a statement cooling such fears. The Justice Ministry, having seen its proposal receive no support from other government agencies including the Ministry of Finance, eventually softened its stance.

Meanwhile, the military, which presumably operates under its own code of laws, told soldiers in a notice this week:

“We urge soldiers to refrain from visiting digital token exchanges to avoid disappointment from our decision to block access to relevant sites.”

https://www.ccn.com/south-korea-military-blocks-access-cryptocurrency-trading/

A senior official at the People's Bank of China is reportedly calling for a wider ban on services related to cryptocurrency trading in the country.

Pan Gongsheng, vice governor of the central bank, said, to prevent market risk, the government would apply more strict regulation to end all cryptocurrency trading-related activities and services. The news comes via a Reuters report today, citing an internal memo reviewed by the news agency.

While it's not yet clear whether the reported memo will become immediate policy, the news indicates the continuing severe stance taken by China's top regulators towards curbing cryptocurrency speculation and lowering perceived financial risk in the country.

According to the report, Pan said in the memo that a wider ban should extend to services and activities including individual or institutional market-makers, centralized trading platforms, guarantors, or settlement providers like online cryptocurrency wallets.

Back in early September, Chinese regulators banned initial coin offerings (ICOs) in the country and also subsequently required domestic exchanges to suspend crypto-to-fiat currency order-book trading services.

Following the restrictions, major exchanges in China have shifted business focus to over-the-counter (OTC) and overseas crypto-to-crypto trading – services that are currently still available for residents in China.

The report indicates that Pan is now seeking collaboration from both central and local authorities to investigate and subsequently block any domestic or foreign platforms that allow investors in China to participate in cryptocurrency trading.

https://www.coindesk.com/pboc-official-calls-for-wider-ban-on-chinese-crypto-trading-report/

Cryptocurrency Market Bloodbath: Bitcoin, Ripple, et al. Decline in Value

Today, on January 16, the cryptocurrency market experienced a major correction, for the third time in the past 10 days. The price of most cryptocurrencies including bitcoin, Ripple, Ethereum, and Bitcoin Cash declined by around 10 percent, while small cryptocurrencies recorded larger losses.

With the exception of NEO and Monero, all of the top 20 cryptocurrencies have fallen in value. Cryptocurrencies that have recorded a decline of over 10 percent include Ripple, Cardano, Bitcoin Cash, Stellar, EOS, Dash, Tron, Bitcoin Gold, and Ethereum Classic.



Small Cryptocurrencies Take a Big Hit

Cryptocurrencies with lower market caps, specifically cryptocurrencies outside of the top 10 global rankings, have recorded larger losses than established digital currencies like bitcoin and Ethereum. Even cryptocurrencies with trading volumes heavily concentrated in South Korea such as Qtum and EOS have declined in value, even though the South Korean cryptocurrency market recovered from the latest trading ban FUD.

The recent correction of the cryptocurrency market was not triggered by South Korea or China, as the market have already recovered from the FUD produced by the authorities in both regions. Rather, it is likely that the major correction was caused by the abrupt surge in the market valuation of most cryptocurrencies in the market within a short period of time, with minor corrections.

Within the past 30 days, the market valuation of cryptocurrencies increased from $540 billion to $840 billion, with several cryptocurrencies with Tron that do not have enough users, decentralized applications, and user activity to justify their market valuations, surging by billions of dollars.

The technology of cryptocurrencies is irrelevant in this argument. The technology of Tron or other cryptocurrencies could be sophisticated and advanced. They likely are. But, not enough users are using these blockchain networks to give them multi-billion dollar valuations. As Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin previously stated:

“So total cryptocoin market cap just hit $0.5 trillion today. But have we earned it? How many unbanked people have we banked? How much censorship-resistant commerce for the common people have we enabled? How many decentralized applications have we created that have substantial usage?

In the last 3 years, the crypto market cap has increased by 200x, but I definitely don’t feel like crypto’s potential has increased by 200x. In some key sectors (eg. payments) it has even regressed.

The answer to all of these questions is definitely not zero, and in some cases it’s quite significant. But not enough to say it’s $0.5T levels of significant. Not enough.”

Considering that public blockchains have not been able to demonstrate their potential through the success of decentralized applications, it is normal that the cryptocurrency market has experienced a major correction. It is also healthy that the market experiences corrections on a regular basis, as corrections prevent short-term bubbles from forming.

Short-Term Trend

As the market did many times in the past few years, most cryptocurrencies will likely recover in value in the upcoming days. It is more likely that South Korea and Japan-centered cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, Ethereum, Monero, Zcash, Dash, and Qtum will recover first.

https://www.ccn.com/cryptocurrency-market-bloodbath-bitcoin-ripple-et-al-decline-in-value/

The head of Singapore’s central bank is hoping the technology behind cryptocurrencies will stick around after predicting an eventual “crash” of cryptocurrency markets.

Speaking at a banking industry event in Singapore today, Ravi Menon – managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Singapore’s central bank, said he hoped blockchain technology would not be ‘undermined’ by a tumbling of the cryptocurrency ecosystem once the hype is eroded.

In statements reported by Reuters, the central bank official said:

“I do hope when the fever has gone away, when the crash has happened, it will not undermine the much deeper, and more meaningful technology associated with digital currencies and blockchain.”

While it’s easy to dismiss the remark as an opinion similar to those offered by most central bankers around the world, Menon has previously criticized adopters’ “misguided approach” that bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are merely being seen as an “investment vehicle…that’s going to rise in value.”

In a televised interview in October 2017, Menon added: “I think that’s a rather misguided approach to cryptocurrencies. They can have potentially good applications in particular use cases.”

Citing an example for a wider, real-world application for cryptocurrencies, Menon raised the possibility of benefitting migrant workers in sending “money back to their villages” with “cheaper, faster and more efficient” cross-border transfers.

Menon, who was recently voted the best central bank governor in the Asia Pacific, stated:

“If it [cross-border remittance] was going through a blockchain using cryptocurrencies, it could yield benefits. That ought to be the question, rather than whether bitcoins or ether are going up in value or not.”

Menon’s remarks today follow a public caution by the central bank in December expressing concern in the public’s investments in cryptocurrencies. The price surge in 2017, the central bank said, is driven by market speculation that could eventually see a high risk “of a sharp reduction in prices”.

Further, Menon did not rule out the possibility of issuing a central bank cryptocurrency directly to the public. The authority has already trialed issuing the digitized token of the Singaporean dollar on a private Ethereum blockchain in mid-2017.

https://www.ccn.com/singapore-central-bank-chief-wants-cryptocurrency-to-survive-crash/

With regulation coming thick and fast across Asia the effects on the markets can be seen instantly. Last week a bucket-load of FUD caused a sell-off when a number of large news agencies misreported that South Korea was banning crypto trading. This wasn’t the case at all and the country remains open. Russia could soon be joining them as it prepares to vote on legalizing crypto exchanges.

According to Newsweek, citing Russian media, the Ministry of Finance has drafted a new bill to legalize cryptocurrency trading on organized trading platforms. It will submit the bill to the federal legislature for voting in February.

OFFICIAL EXCHANGES

Russian Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseev told media that the Finance Ministry supports the legalization of trade in cryptocurrencies on official exchanges and does not want to limit and regulate, but will set some limits. He went on to add;

"This is about the fact that buying and selling of cryptocurrencies will be somehow standardized. The general idea is that it will be necessary to buy and sell on official exchanges, as it will be declared, it will be legalized."

Last week Russia’s central bank confirmed that it had discussed the possibility of legalizing crypto trading with the Finance Ministry through organized exchange platforms. While Bank of Russia opposes the move, as most banks do, the policymakers seem to be a little more open to the notion.

WARMING TO CRYPTO

Russia came down heavy on crypto trading last year when the head of Russia’s Ministry of Communications said the country would ‘never’ legalize Bitcoin within its economy. Representatives from the central bank have a called it a pyramid scheme and seem staunchly opposed to a system that would effectively take control away from the bank.

President Putin sees the need for regulation and last week told local media;

"If we regulate, but not efficiently enough, then the government will be responsible for the difficult situations that people can get into. Right now it is the responsibility of the person himself and the government can only say ‘you can do this but you can’t do that,’ and if it’s still not clear then there will be some problems that need to be solved."

Similar to the stance in South Korea the Russian government is appearing to want to protect its citizens from making risky financial decisions that could end badly for those with limited knowledge and experience.

http://bitcoinist.com/ukraine-is-creating-official-group-for-cryptocurrency-regulation/

This weekend marks a milestone for bitcoin as 80 percent of the currency has now been mined into circulation, this means there’s only 20 percent left to mine. Satoshi Nakamoto’s protocol was one of the first to introduce digital scarcity and soon enough the digital asset will become even harder to obtain.

There Are Only 4.2 Million Bitcoins Left to Mine

So far on January 13, 2018, 16,800,000 BTC have been mined and there’s only 20 percent left for miners to acquire. When Satoshi Nakamoto introduced the bitcoin protocol to the public by launching the codebase in 2009, the cryptocurrency came with a capped supply. The supply will never be increased and Nakamoto set the number to 21 million bitcoins ever to be found. So far the creator’s plan and miners securing the network have successfully secured this rule from changing with hashpower. Theoretically, however, skeptics believe there could be a way to increase the supply through manipulative tactics such as a 51 percent or Sybil attack. As the digital asset’s life approaches a decade no one has been able to break the rules of 21 million supply cap.



Continue reading > https://news.bitcoin.com/80-percent-of-the-total-bitcoin-supply-have-now-been-mined/

The New York Stock Exchange has filed for permission to launch a number of Bitcoin-related exchange-traded funds (ETF) just one week into 2018.

As reported by BusinessInsider, a filing sent to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission shows that the exchange intends to launch five different ETFs offering ‘bull and bear’ futures contracts on the Arca stock exchange.

These EFTs will be linked to the price of Bitcoin futures listed on the CME and CBOE exchanges, which launched Bitcoin futures contracts in December 2017:

“The target benchmark’s value will be calculated as the last sale price published by the CME or the CBOE or any other US exchange that subsequently trades bitcoin futures contracts on or before 11 a.m. E.T.”

Bull Funds

The three ‘Bull Funds’ are categorized as 1.25X, 1.5X and 2X, offering 100 percent, 150 percent and 200 percent returns on the given contract.

As stated in the document sent to the SEC, the funds are not intended to be traded any longer than a day - and offer percentage returns based on the given contract entered into:

“According to the Registration Statement, the 1.25X Bull Fund, 1.5X Bull Fund and 2X Bull Fund seeks daily leveraged investment results (before fees and expenses) that correlate positively to either 125 percent, 150 percent or 200 percent the daily return of the target benchmark.”

However, investors stand to a chance of facing the same multipliers in loses, should the market move against their contracts:

“Conversely, its value on a given day (before fees and expenses) should lose approximately 1.25 times, 1.5 times or 2 times, as applicable, as much on a percentage basis as the level of the target benchmark when the benchmark declines.”


Bear Funds

As the name suggests, the ‘Bears Funds’ allow investors the chance to leverage against a decline in the value of Bitcoin. The two funds offered are 1X and 2X, offering 100 percent and 200 percent gains should the contract meet its target on the given day of trading.

Once again, should the benchmark rise in value, Bear Fund investors stand to suffer loses compounded by the multiplier (1X or 2X) they’ve agreed to, as per the description of the 2X Bear Fund:

“If the 2X Bear Fund is successful in meeting its investment objective, its value on a given day should gain approximately two times as much on a percentage basis as the level of the target benchmark when the target benchmark declines. Conversely, its value on a given day should lose approximately two times as much on a percentage basis as the level of the target benchmark when the target benchmark rises.”

Keeping up with the game

Should the NYSE be permitted to launch these ETFs, they will be the third American exchange to offer Bitcoin futures contracts. CME and CBOE have been trading futures since December.

Wasting no time in sending their application to the SEC, this move shows that there is plenty of interest in Bitcoin by Wall Street money.

While the likes of Merrill Lynch have denied its financial advisors from offering clients Bitcoin-related investments, exchanges are looking to set up of various offerings.

Once a number of ETFs and trading options have been available for a while, there will be more information on how well these options are trading. Given that knowledge, could we see a change in sentiment by financial institutions whose clients are looking to enter the cryptocurrency market?

https://cointelegraph.com/news/new-york-stock-exchange-moves-on-bitcoin-etfs

Bitcoin and digital currencies have become very popular worldwide, and many newcomers want to learn about this fascinating technology. Of course, they can research the subject online and read about bitcoin in the headlines, but lots of people are gaining knowledge from local bitcoin meetups; a trend that’s been booming all over the world for the past six months.

Learning to Bitcoin Face to Face

Bitcoin meetups are becoming very popular these days as the cryptocurrency economy has grown exponentially during 2017 and into the new year. A lot of individuals find out about bitcoin online, but many people like to attend meetups so they can talk with like-minded individuals who believe in decentralized currencies and may even have some knowledge to share. One particular application people use to come face to face with other bitcoiners is a social media platform called “Meetup,” created by Brendan McGovern, Matt Meeker, and Scott Heiferman in 2002. The platform Meetup is used for various groups of people that want to meet others with common interests, and there are quite a bit of bitcoin-based Meetup groups.


The Social Media Platform Meetup Has 3,727 Bitcoin Related Gatherings

As of January 6, 2018, there are 3,727 groups on the platform Meetup pertaining to bitcoin with 959,622 members worldwide. Currently, the most abundant bitcoin gatherings on the website Meetup include the Hackers and Founders in Mountain View California with over 15,000 members. The group Bitcoin NYC has 7,431 bitcoiners, San Francisco 6,292, Bitcoin Wednesday in Amsterdam 5,076, Bitcoin Argentina 4,976, Coinscrum 4,858, and the Paris Bitcoin group 4,762. That’s just the top ten largest groups on Meetup, and there are many more that are very active.

Lots and Lots of Noobs

Other large gatherings include the Seoul Bitcoin Meetup in South Korea run by Ruben Somsen with 2,000 members. Some of the groups have been around for quite some time like the Cryptocurrencies & Decentralized Innovation Meetup in Ghent, Belgium initiated in 2013. Another big Meetup is held at the Sacramento’s Hacker Lab co-working space that’s been seeing lots of new attendees looking to learn about bitcoin by meeting other people with knowledge about these technologies. Just recently the regional news outlet the Sacramento Bee detailed how 60 men and seven women attended the recent Sacramento meeting and more than half were “noobs.” According to the Sacramento Bee’s account, many of the participants had different stories to tell regarding their relationship with bitcoin.

“It’s borderless, and I can send money to my family in Thailand — I don’t need Western Union,” explained the Sacramento bitcoin group attendee.


Well-known Cryptocurrency Meetups Still Thriving and New Ones Popping Up Every Day

Other favorited groups worldwide include the Tokyo bitcoin meetup, the Miami International Bitcoin community, Bitcoin Saigon, Silicon Valley Bitcoin Users, Crypto Valley Forum, Bitcoin Budapest, and the West Palm Beach Government Blockchain Association. There are also a bunch of new groups forming every single day like a cryptocurrency beginners gathering in Den Haag, Netherlands; a trading group started in Milton Keynes, United Kingdom, and many more. One thing’s for sure, as cryptocurrencies continue to become popularized on the global level, meetups like these will continue to grow.

https://news.bitcoin.com/local-bitcoin-meetups-are-booming-worldwide/

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. fund managers are ramping up efforts to tap into the fever surrounding digital assets, and the latest planned bitcoin products could deliver some head-turning and stomach-churning price movements if they come to market.

The new idea is to build “leveraged” and “inverse” funds that would rise - or fall - twice as fast as the price of bitcoin on a given day.

Direxion Asset Management LLC plans to list such products on Intercontinental Exchange Inc’s NYSE Arca exchange if U.S. securities regulators give the nod, according to a filing by the exchange this week.

In the filing, the exchange said the listing “will enhance competition among market participants, to the benefit of investors and the marketplace.”

Bitcoin is a virtual asset that can be used to move money around the world quickly and with relative anonymity, without the need for a central authority, such as a bank or government.

Bitcoin is one of the wildest trades in the market today, delivering sharp gains and losses that defy explanation. Trading has been expensive and difficult, with brokerages offering limited access and specialist websites like Coinbase reporting regular outages. Top voices on markets from economist Robert Shiller to JPMorgan Chase & Co CEO Jamie Dimon have warned people off buying bitcoin.

Yet asset managers have been racing to design more than 10 proposals for bitcoin funds that are currently before U.S. regulators.

New ETFs could make access to bitcoin easier and, in the case of the Direxion product, mean bigger stakes for investors, with a 25 percent gain or loss on one day doubled to 50 percent.

So far the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has declined or put on hold all the proposals.

A spokesman representing Direxion declined to comment on the latest filing as did a representative from NYSE.

Bitcoin gained nearly 12 percent on Friday to $16,928 on the Bitstamp exchange.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bitcoin-funds/u-s-company-plans-funds-that-double-bitcoin-price-moves-idUSKBN1EV03W

Just recently we reported on the beverage firm Long Island Iced Tea Corp and its share price increase by more than 400% immediately after it rebranded to “Long Blockchain Corporation.” On January 4, the company filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), stating its intentions to mine bitcoins and purchase 1,000 Bitmain manufactured Antminer S9 mining rigs.

The Iced Tea Company Is Shifting Gears With Plans to Mine Bitcoin

The specialized drink company, ‘Long Island Iced Tea Corp,’ is now known as the ‘Long Blockchain Corporation’ (LBC), and it seems the firm had other intentions for changing its name. The company made headlines all over the world when it rebranded, and its shares spiked by 432 percent in a single day. The latest business move shows LBC is planning to operate a mining facility located in the Nordic country, as the delivery of miners shows an Iceland destination. However, it’s unconfirmed at the moment precisely where the mining facility will be located.  

“The mining equipment will be installed in a world-class third-party data center experienced in cryptocurrency mining and located in a Nordic country — Long Blockchain expects to benefit from an established infrastructure and competitive energy costs using geothermal and hydro-electric power sources,” explains the firm’s announcement.

Generating Revenue Through the Accumulation of Bitcoin

The firm’s CEO, Philip Thomas, explained the company’s business transition in a statement saying, “We view this transaction as an important and validating initial step in the company’s progression into blockchain technology.”

"The commencement of our mining operations places us on a path to generating revenue through the accumulation of bitcoin — This platform will help support our longer-term strategy of engaging in partnerships, investments and acquisitions in the blockchain ecosystem."

Continue reading: https://news.bitcoin.com/former-iced-tea-firm-plans-to-mine-bitcoin-in-the-nordic-region/

Just recently the consumer group Lendedu released a report on bitcoin investors who use credit to purchase digital currencies. According to the survey, out of 672 active bitcoin investors polled, 18.15 percent of the participants used a credit card to fund bitcoin purchases.

Out of 672 Surveyed 18 Percent of Lendnedu’s Participants Use Credit Cards to Purchase Bitcoin

Last year’s consumer Nilson report detailed that the world’s outstanding credit card debt has accumulated to over $1 trillion and the debt continues to grow exponentially. With cryptocurrencies trending in popularity, it seems that many investors are purchasing bitcoin on borrowed money — credit cards and loans that bear interest. The consumer survey group, Lendedu, recently published a report that details that 18.15 percent of 672 bitcoin investors surveyed use credit to purchase their bitcoin.

“I used a credit card to fund and purchase,” explains the individuals in the survey who bought bitcoin in this manner.


22 Percent of the Borrowers Are Not Paying Off Their Debts

Lendedu believes the statistics are “quite concerning” as both combined debit and credit card purchases were used by more than half (51.78%) of the respondents. The reason the metrics are concerning the consumer group is because the size of the survey was relatively small compared to the millions of cryptocurrency investors. Furthermore, Lendedu revealed another metric which concerns them even more as the study states:

"This was not even the most pressing concern coming from the LendEDU poll. That recognition belongs to this data-point: 22.13 percent of Bitcoin investors did not pay off their credit card balance after purchasing Bitcoin."

Of the 672 investors, 77.87 percent said, “I paid off my credit card balance after purchasing Bitcoin,” while the other 22.13 percent explained, “I did not pay off my credit card balance after purchasing Bitcoin.” However, not all the investors purchased bitcoin on borrowed money, as over 18 percent used ACH transfers, 13 percent used bank wires, and the rest of the respondents used other means of buying bitcoin.

Respondents Say “I Believe Owning Bitcoin Is Worth the Interest Expense”

Lendedu explains the results of the poll shows quite a few investors are not worried about bitcoin’s price volatility, and are willing to gamble returns from bitcoin will pay off credit card debt. “I believe owning bitcoin is worth the interest expense,” revealed over 70 percent of the respondents who used credit cards and interest-bearing loans.

“Additionally, 88.89 percent of that same pool of investors plan on paying off their credit card bill from the money generated after selling their Bitcoin,” explains Lendedu.

The recent survey shows the trend of borrowing money to purchase bitcoin and other digital assets has been growing. Further, just recently news.Bitcoin.com reported on the U.S. securities regulator, Joseph Borg, detailing that many Americans are taking out mortgages to fund their bitcoin investments. Borg says credit cards and equity loans are being used quite often these days to bet big on bitcoin paying off all the investors debts.

Source and charts: https://news.bitcoin.com/report-reveals-18-of-investors-buy-bitcoin-with-borrowed-money/

RSK Labs has finally mined its genesis block and formally launched its long-awaited Bitcoin-based smart contract platform and sidechain on the mainnet. While still in beta with limited distribution, the new RSK sidechain is expected to offer significant scaling benefits to the Bitcoin network. News.Bitcoin.com caught up with CEO Diego Gutierrez Zaldivar to find out more details.

RSK Mined Its Genesis Block

After nearly 3 years of preparation, RSK Labs has finally mined its genesis block at 1:41 am CST on January 4, 2018.

“We’re very excited to share the RSK mainnet network with the global community,” commented RSK Labs CEO Diego Gutierrez Zaldivar. “It’s a great milestone for the company after years of hard work, but this is not only ours, it’s a community success.”

The first Bitcoin-powered smart contract platform is now live on the mainnet. The source code for RSK’s first mainnet version, codenamed Bamboo, was released for peer review in early December, as news.Bitcoin.com previously reported.

Along with the mining of the genesis block, the company re-promoted on Thursday its “Bug Bounty Program to reward security experts and work with the global developer community feedback, and a full getting started guide for business partners and dapp developers.”

In an exclusive interview with news.Bitcoin.com, Zaldivar shared:

"We expect a big milestone to happen four months after the beta release when the security bounty programs are concluded."


How the Platform Works

The RSK network node and wallet client is available for download on Github. The developers also offer a blockchain explorer and stats panel to observe the RSK network in real-time.

Other wallets for RSK, including versions by Jaxx and Myetherwallet, are being worked on. Sergio Lerner, RSK Labs’ Chief Scientist, told news.Bitcoin.com in a previous interview, “we think that RSK will be integrated into most bitcoin wallets in the future.”

Zaldivar explained that there are currently no contract limits on the amount of bitcoin transacted over the Bamboo sidechain. “The only limit imposed is to the value held in the network as a whole,” he noted, but added that “In the future, when the network value is unrestricted we might impose per contract limits and progressively raise those limits as the technology matures.” The CEO elaborated:

"Initially only 21 smartbitcoins will circulate in the RSK mainnet beta (Bamboo) and they will be allocated to the first 100 companies participating on the RSK incentive program. Although the peg between Bitcoin and RSK will be fully functional, only white-listed addresses will be able to send bitcoins and get smartbitcoins in return. All funds from transactions originated on non-white listed addresses will be returned."

“We will incrementally add value at stake as the platform gets hardened until it is fully decentralized,” he emphasized.

Continue reading >> https://news.bitcoin.com/rsk-mines-genesis-block-bitcoin-ethereum-like-smart-contract-platform/

MUMBAI: Are Bitcoin exchanges required to pay goods and services tax? If they are, what would the rate be? And, will GST be levied on the revenues or operating margins of these exchanges?

India's top seven Bitcoin exchanges, which include Zebpay, Unocoin, CoinSecure and BtcxIndia, plan to approach the Advance Authority of Ruling (AAR) for clear answers to these questions, two people with direct knowledge of the matter told ET. AAR is a quasi-judicial body that can decide the applicability of tax rates.

"At least one Bitcoin exchange has already filed an application with the Maharashtra AAR for future tax liability," said one of the persons cited above. "The tax department is currently researching the concept as Bitcoins are a very complex subject." Zebpay, Unocoin, CoinSecure and BtcxIndia didn't respond to queries.

The development follows the income-tax department conducting searches at top Bitcoin exchanges in December. The indirect tax department is already looking at ways in which Bitcoins can be brought under GST. ET reported in December that the indirect tax department had launched an investigation into Bitcoin exchanges operating in India to ascertain the GST rate that can be levied on them. The sales tax department and VAT authorities launched an investigation on the taxability of Bitcoins in the last financial year.

For the exchanges, the rate could depend on what the authorities deem Bitcoins to be — goods, services or currency. If Bitcoin is held to be a currency, there will be no GST. If it's a good, then tax of 18% could be levied, and 12% if deemed to be a service.

"The question for many Bitcoin players is whether GST is applicable on the total revenue or on the margins they earn," said Abhishek A Rastogi, partner at law firm Khaitan & Co. "This is mainly because the tax authority must give clarity on whether Bitcoin exchanges are selling goods and services, or are mere trading platforms that earn margins."

Read more at: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/forex/bitcoin-exchanges-seeking-clarity-over-levy-of-gst/articleshow/62374337.cms

Bitcoin is increasingly being used for payments in various sectors of the tourism industry. Now, as medical tourism is booming, the cryptocurrency is also becoming popular in this multi-billion dollar sector.

BITCOIN AND THE MEDICAL TOURISM BOOM

For some time, travelers and tourists have been using Bitcoin to pay for flights, accommodations, and car rentals.

Now, medical tourism is growing exponentially. According to economics professor Marc Pilkington, medical tourism is a $100 billion global market industry comprising 11 million medical tourists annually. The yearly growth is around 25% worldwide.

And, many medical tourists are paying with Bitcoin when traveling abroad to receive medical treatments, such as health check-ups, organ transplants, cancer treatments, and orthopedic, dental, and cosmetic procedures.

According to the MedicalTourism Magazine, the medical tourism’s growth drivers include:

-Aging population
-Increase in degenerative diseases
-Lack of access to quality healthcare services
-Rising healthcare costs
-Long wait times
-Ease of travel

Now, a rising number of the institutions that provide treatment and services to medical tourists are using blockchain technology and accepting payments in Bitcoin.

A Fortune article entitled “The Rise of Medical Tourism Accepting Crypto Currencies” estimates that medical tourists will increasingly use cryptocurrencies. According to the article:

"All in all, medical tourists are likely to increasingly use cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. For a growing percentage of the rich and super-rich and many less wealthy individuals and families, there are distinct advantages of using cryptocurrencies."

Continue reading >> http://bitcoinist.com/bitcoin-is-pervasive-in-medical-tourism/

Merrill Lynch, the brokerage arm of Bank of America, has blocked financial advisers and clients from trading in bitcoin-related investments.

The ban extends to clients trading in Grayscale's Bitcoin Investment Trust, a fund led by bitcoin entrepreneur Barry Silbert. The decision to block access to the fund was due to concerns about the "suitability and eligibility standards of this product," an internal memo circulated to approximately 17,000 advisers states.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the bank has extended a ban on recently launched bitcoin futures contracts. A WSJ source said Merrill Lynch put the policy in place on Dec. 8, just two days prior to the launch of bitcoin futures by CBOE.

The source also said that existing bitcoin funds cannot be held in fee-based advisory accounts, but can be maintained in brokerage accounts, WSJ adds.

Silbert, a former Wall Street investment banker, told Reuters:

"We look forward to speaking with Merrill Lynch and addressing any questions or concerns they have about the Bitcoin Investment Trust. We are unaware of any similar policies at other brokerage firms."

The Futures Industry Association (FIA), published an open letter to the CFTC before the launch of bitcoin futures, causing concern over the process in which cryptocurrency futures have come to market. Big banks and brokers including JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Royal Bank of Canada have told clients regarding the denial of access to bitcoin futures, the WSJ report says.

https://www.coindesk.com/merrill-lynch-bans-clients-from-investing-in-bitcoin-fund/

The Bitcoin whitepaper was released back in 2008 by a person or group going by the name Satoshi Nakamoto. Today marks nine years since the Genesis block, the first block ever mined, was created.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

It’s been a long road, but the network is now nine years old. The first block, created by Bitcoin’s creator, was mined one January 3rd, 2009 at 6:15 PM UTC. When blocks are created, the miner who produces them can leave a message in the block. Most mining pools will simply state their name along with maybe support for a proposal currently on the table. Satoshi created Bitcoin amid the housing and real estate crash during the latter half of the last decade. The first block has this etched into it, for all time:

"The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks"

-Satoshi Nakamoto

This quote gives some serious insight surrounding the motives of the anonymous developer. Satoshi continued the project until 2010, when he handed over the role of Lead Maintainer to then-Core developer Gavin Andresen. After that, he disappeared from the community and has yet to be heard from since.

BITCOIN PRICE EVOLUTION

1 bitcoin first hit parity with the US dollar in February of 2011, and by the middle of the year, it was over $30. This price would not last forever, however, as by the end of the year it was back at just around $2. In April 2013, Bitcoin managed to top out at over $250 before crashing back down to under $100. Bitcoin’s price flirted with the quadruple-digit mark and finally surpassed it during the MtGOX crisis.

MtGOX was an extremely popular Bitcoin exchange back in the day, responsible for more than half of the Bitcoin transaction on the network. It turned out that MtGOX was insolvent, and had a trade bot artificially pumping the price.

The price crashed quickly and continued to go down for a while, bottoming out at $600. This event was followed by nearly a two-year bear market, with little to no price growth. It wasn’t until 2016 when the value started to pick up again, and by the end of the year, it was back over $1000.

2017 was one of the best years Bitcoin has every seen, starting at just around $1000 at the beginning of the year and it stopped for no one. It quickly soared to $2500, and even over $3000 before the correction. By December, Bitcoin was over $10,000. Some exchanges showed bitcoin prices over $20,000, but the current price sits just around $15,000.

Bitcoin has a massive amount of momentum going for it right now, and 2018 is slated to be just as exciting. With technical upgrades that will revolutionize the network coming through the pipeline such as Lightning Network, along with traditional financial institutions starting to get into the market like the CME and CBOE futures markets, the next 12 months will be very interesting.

http://bitcoinist.com/happy-birthday-bitcoin-leading-cryptocurrency-turns-nine-today/

Transaction fees, a bugbear for many in the bitcoin community, are on their way down. Spiraling fees were a contentious issue that reached fever pitch in the twilight of 2017. But with the dawn of a new year, bitcoin has been blessed with reduced fees, set against a backdrop of increased Segwit adoption.

Fees Have Halved from Their December Peak

After spending the final quarter of 2017 ramping up, transaction fees on the bitcoin network have finally begun to decline. Bitcoinfees.info indicates an average fee of $15.79 to have a transaction mined within the next six blocks, rising slightly to $16.54 for the next three blocks and $17.29 for the next block. The median withdrawal fee from exchanges such as Bitfinex this week has been closer to $14 however.

While $14-$16 is still more than many people would like to spend, it’s an improvement at least over the $30 bitcoin fees that were reached during December. Estimatefee.com quotes an average of 358 satoshis/byte to move a transaction within the next six blocks. The number of transactions in the mempool waiting to be confirmed is now below 90,000, from a peak of over 115,000 on December 30.

More Bitcoin Wallets Add Segwit Support

In the last 24 hours, Localbitcoins.com and BTC.com have added Segwit support to their wallets. In a blogpost, mining pool and bitcoin wallet provider BTC.com wrote: “As a BTC.com wallet user, you will experience a drop in the transaction fees and faster transaction times when you send bitcoin to another address.” It has now added this functionality to both its mobile and desktop wallets.

Peer-to-peer exchange and online wallet Localbitcoins.com has also followed suit. The site is used extensively in countries as diverse as the Dominican Republic and Poland, and has reached record weekly trading volume of almost $140 million in the US. It will be a while before recent Segwit adoption by wallet providers filters through and impacts upon average bitcoin fees across the network. Segwit adoption is only around 11%, showing there is still a long way to go before the scaling technology nears universal adoption.

As always, the greatest absentee from Segwit is Coinbase, which has yet to formalize plans for introducing the Segregated Witness technology. CEO Brian Armstrong appears to be more interested in experimenting with ethereum Dapp browsers, much to the chagrin of many Coinbase users. Bitcoin pioneer Nick Szabo, meanwhile, has been urging the community to favor Segwit, endorsing a Whalepool tweet listing Segwit wallets.

2018: The Year of Cheaper Fees?

Bitcoin fees are likely to remain a hot topic throughout 2018 as efforts to lower the median cost of transacting the decentralized currency intensify. With the Lightning Network now having been successfully tested live, there are hopes that the off-chain scaling solution could be introduced sooner than initially expected, bringing with it the prospect of lower fees for all.

The high cost of sending bitcoin has forced many to look elsewhere, either to bitcoin cash, with its famously low fees, or to other altcoins which can be sent for less than a cent in many cases. In bitcoin’s earliest days, when blocks were empty, it was equally easy to complete low-cost transactions. The cryptocurrency markets are no exception to Metcalfe’s law, however, and should any altcoin start to approach the size of the bitcoin network, it will succumb to the same problem: a growing number of users trying to use a resource that can only process a finite number of transactions per second.

Speaking of laws, prominent bitcoin thinker Tuur Demeester cited Kleiber’s law, which governs the size of the world’s largest cities. Applying it to cryptocurrencies, he tweeted:

"If “Bitcoin City” remains the largest of cryptocurrencies, Kleiber’s law suggests that over the long run it will be the ecosystem where resources are allocated in the most efficient way."

Fees and transaction times are still higher than desired, but if Kleiber’s law applies, it’s only a matter of time until the bitcoin metropolis becomes a model in city planning.

https://news.bitcoin.com/bitcoin-fees-are-falling-amidst-greater-segwit-adoption/