This is ludicrous, and should be struck down.

They are "catfishing", plain and simple -- by issuing a broad demand for user information, it tells us that they don't have singular accounts or people that they are looking for. That is simply over-reach, and I hope the scheduled court hearing finds it as such.

If they are so concerned, they can use the data that they already have, in the form of filed tax forms to determine the necessity of individual audits.

Current law covers taxation of income from trading, there doesn't need to be any special cases just because Bitcoin now exists.

You seem to have a fundamental misunderstanding of the entire Indian situation.

The removal of popular banknotes is nothing less than a continued war on cash by the centralized banks of the world. Its cloaked in noble language, that it will prevent crime and money laundering activities, but the real issue here is simply control.

By removing large swaths of currency -- and enforcing rules that make it nearly impossible for those that are poor to comply -- India has effectively "bailed in" every single cash holder in the country. Naturally, the rich had access to money-exchanging facilities ahead of the announcement, as well as the ability to hedge using physical gold. The poor, who usually don't have an ID card much less a bank account, are now sitting on wads of bills they can no longer use.

To say that this situation will "go away" or be "fixed" tells me you don't understand the struggle for control that the sovereign states are trying to enact over their citizens. This isn't going away, in fact, it will be another landmark event like the Cyprus depositor bail-in. It only serves as an example for other governments to follow suit.

Perhaps you won't be so sanguine when it finally hits your shores and your bank account.

What everyone is missing is when the world's largest futures exchange decides to track something -- it usually means they intend to create trading products around it.

This index is just the first step. I bet you over the coming year we'll hear announcements about how they will be listing futures and options - gutting the volume at any of the clowncar exchanges that purport to have "real" futures. (They aren't, they socialize their losses, which is ridiculous.)

This is the largest exchange in the world positioning their incisor teeth over the jugular of smaller exchanges.

I can't wait.

ZCrash is like every other alt-coin. Full of promises, short on delivery.

Let me guess, they're excited about their percentage growth metrics (2 users instead of 1 -- 200%!!) or some such nonsense. Lets check the article, shall we?

Oh no -- its worse than that -- they think a price of 100 is indicative of success. Look at this chart, and then realize why I call it ZCRASH -- (Go to tradingview.com, type in the ZECUSD symbol trading on Kraken -- or try this link -- https://www.tradingview.com/chart/LrqUp8gM/# )

See that unattainable-ever-again-high price? Yes, its at 30,000 -- with a volume of dust motes, because ZCash has a goofy mining schedule that requires it to scale up over time. Dollars to Donuts the founders probably scooped up these little particles of ZCrash to maintain a inflated price, without actually settling the trade.

Now, trading at ~110 we have the "miracle" of ZCrash displayed for everyone to see.

What they don't tell you is -- their "snark" process, by which they make some wonderful "secrets" that bind the whole ZCrash ecosystem together -- is the achilles heel of the entire system. If anyone reverse-solves what these are, through any method, then their entire ecosystem becomes an Ethereum-esque pile of steaming crap.

That's a lot to ask for when being an early adopter. I wouldn't want an asset that is crashing like a monster to be my token, and I sure as hell wouldn't want one that had an enigma-like crackable "secret" that would up-end the entire thing.

Good luck ZCrash..... lol

I look forward to their string of horrific walled-garden failures.

R3 - Really Redundant Reprobates

Instead of most, I prefer to see actual actions and policy happen before making sweeping pronouncements about who is supporting Bitcoin or not.

Bitcoin will be fine, its designed not to give a flying shit about who is head of state -- in case the "sky is falling" meme has somehow convinced you otherwise.

I knew a trader that was really into Gann.

The problem with Gann is, you have this scattershot of lines and squares and 'rays' all over the goddamned place - so eventually price will reverse from one of these lines and form a top or a bottom - but by pure chance.

To the Gann practitioner, however, this meant that the "1x4 Line Is Strong Support" or some such nonsense. To the rational price technician, it just meant that overlaying a bazillion lines means you get some kind of coincidental intersection.

I find his time-related work more interesting, but its of the simple variety using the square of number representing time interals and such, and the same thing applies - you throw out a million different combos, and one will "stick" eventually.

The Gann trader I know would wax poetic about all the seeming "confirmations" that price had on a chart overlaid with a thick haze of lines, and all I could think every time was "no shit, you have very little on that chart that ISN'T A FUCKING LINE."

I wish I could give you a happy ending to that story, but the Gann trader I knew doesn't really trade anymore. I guess you could say they never knew how to trade, and the market made sure to deprive them of any capital to continue their self-fed delusion.

I've been around a long time.

The only alt worth a shit was namecoin, and the only reason that didn't take off is (so far) there hasn't been outright DNS censorship globally. I think if it ever came to it, Namecoin would be more useful -- although it isn't without its own problems.

Second runner-up is LTC, but only for "washing" or "tumbling" coins - as an alt itself its intrinsically a inferior clone with the scaling problems of a hyperactive confirmation time decrease.

The rest -- all dogfood, or dogshit, however you want to look at it -- and that includes Ethereum, XT, and the other soon-to-be-has-beens.

This post says it all -- http://woobull.com/data-visualisation-118-coins-plotted-over-time-this-is-why-hodl-alt-coin-indexes-dont-work/

As for those trying to characterize Ver as some champion of blockchain diversity, please don't embarrass yourselves any further. Its obvious Ver is only in this racket for himself and could give two shits about the Bitcoin userbase.

I still find it amazing that Bitfinex can offer investors a shit sandwich and some will actually take it and eat it.

Bitfinex is a company that has no redundancy plan, no disaster recovery plan, and no clear leadership in times of crisis -- other than a PR mouthpiece that does fuckall to alleviate concerns, and a reclusive CEO that is too busy counting his money to give two shits about the people using his service.

The clock is ticking, however. With the worlds largest futures exchange getting involved in the Bitcoin space, the CME listing two index products will cause institutional investing to increase -- which will leave silly clowncar exchanges like BFX in the dust.

It can't happen too fast, because BFX is another accident waiting to happen. Trusting these people with your money is likely the largest mistake you could ever make trading cryptocurrencies.

Ver is simply an idiot that can't understand why nobody wants "in" on his stupid schemes.

Upping the mining reward for his idiocy is only the icing on the cake. He's failed to gain any substantial representation among miners, so he's doubling-down in a frantic bid to save face.

The result however, won't be to his liking -- he's a failed "icon" with delusions of grandeur just like Mike Hearn.

Good Riddance.

From the actual exchange -- http://www.cmegroup.com/trading/cf-bitcoin-reference-rate.html

This is a big deal.

Its a hop and a skip away from listing contracts on the worlds largest futures exchange. What the participating exchanges don't know -- or probably aren't aware of -- is that when CME's volume eclipses their miniscule daily average, then the CME becomes the index. Just like how the Dow has components added and removed, this will kick-start the CME becoming a market maker, and institutional hedging and trading isn't far away....

Watch your back, Bitfinex.. (and others)

The big boys just decided to eat your lunch for you.

The only thing "breaking down" is the author's understanding of Bitcoin.

Pay the appropriate fee, get included in the next block. I haven't had any problems with my transactions.... probably because I understand what I'm using.

Precisely -- [ Citation Needed ] indeed.

You're correct, any proper setup would have off-site backups that weren't part of the bank's day-to-day network just for security purposes. Most encryption malware can look for network shares, so having active stores elsewhere available from a loan officers machine would be inadvisable.

Looks like a slow news day piece...

All I see is a bunch of scam artists trying to legitimize their efforts to return as little as possible to the people they ripped off.

This was an inside job, and all of the "Special Purpose Vehicles" and crapcoins aren't helping -- seriously, who the fuck charges a FEE to buy a SPV when its primary purpose is to make investors whole?

A fucking scam artist, that's who.

If I need input from a gullible developer with a poor sense of character judgement -- I'll email him.

Who the fuck listens to Gavin anymore, ... XT Fanboys? Mike Hearn apologists? R3 Consortium flacks?

The only real roadblock with Bitcoin is when developers go rogue and start getting delusions of grandeur.

Oh look, another Mike Hearn-esque temper tantrum in the form of a rogue mining faction.

Here's how this will end -- after failing to gain a majority share, they'll slink off into the murky darkness where they belong.

[ Citation Needed ]

Seriously... just look at localbitcoins and the spikes in volume they've had regarding other countries.

These people are called STUPID FUCKING WHALES.

Having a pile of money doesn't confer intelligence or experience. People trading on BFX after their network outage were idiots, and after the hack, completely retarded. Much like Gox, there were warning signs that were ignored.

I don't feel sorry at all for any "whale" that lost anything. BFX will get what they deserve in the long run, including their ill-run business getting shut down.

I trust Chinese miners more than I do others. They understand technology, and seem less susceptible to the usual mania and hype machines present in the North American forums. If someone in the USA doesn't like it, then put your money where your mouth is -- the Chinese have.

But that's the real rub, isn't it -- most americans are loud-mouthed morons with zero follow-through, and it shows. Bitcoin is a global project, and if you don't like it -- kindly cash out and fuck off.

HEY GUYZ - BITCOIN DOOMED BECAUSE QUANTUM BLAH BLAH BLAH

Do these people even TRY anymore? We've been over this again and again, and this fucking turd of a topic keeps coming up somehow.