Popular online gaming site, Slotland, just announced they are offering deposits and withdrawals in bitcoin for gaming purposes. The company processes bitcoin deposits immediately, withdrawals by the next business day. Furthermore, it is the site’s 19th birthday and they added a new game along with other bonus features. Slotland manager, Michael Hilary, elaborated: “Bitcoins are perfect for online transactions. We can process Bitcoin transactions really quickly – players have their withdrawals by the very next business day. For many players, Bitcoins are the easiest, safest and quickest way to get their winnings!” How Bitcoin Deposits Work, Games AvailableBitcoin deposits are immediately converted to USD in a person’s Slotland account. The Slotland page also provides its customers with the best possible bitcoin exchange rate. Their system takes the average of the top 3 exchanges. It is also updated every 15 minutes, according to Hilary. Slotland is also offering bonuses for depositing in bitcoin. “To introduce the convenient new banking option to players, Slotland is offering a choice of Bitcoin deposit bonuses with a variety of wagering requirements.” Customers can use these deposited bitcoin funds to play a variety of games. "After this month’s debut of the new Chinatown slot, Slotland now offers 60 unique games. Chinatown is a 21 pay line real-money video slot with an expanding Wild symbol and chances to win up to 15 free spins." Online Gaming with BitcoinOverall, playing games online is a popular way to spend bitcoin. Slotland Online Gaming Site Now Offers Bitcoin Deposits and WithdrawalsThere are many different kinds of casinos just like Slotland (right here to; casino.bitcoin.com). One site, Bitcoin Game List, provides abundant information on various bitcoin gaming sites. Slotland itself has been around for 19 years and has a history of being a respectable online gaming site. According to an Igamingbusiness page, it is one of the most trusted and reputable places to play games. Now that it has bitcoin banking options, its appeal may even increase and more gaming sites could follow its lead in accepting bitcoin. https://news.bitcoin.com/slotland-online-gaming-site-now-offers-bitcoin-deposits-and-withdrawals/ |
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Bitcoin price fell to a low of $5,210, losing over $400 on the day in what is the steepest fall this this month. A notable sell-off by investors in multiple markets including Korea, Japan and USD-trading Hong Kong saw bitcoin price drop from a day’s high of $5,648 to a low of $5,210 on Bitfinex. Bitcoin price began stumbling almost immediately after midnight leading into Wednesday as trading continued near $5,525 at 06:00 (UTC) before the big fall. Within an hour, price fell to $5,385. At 08:00, bitcoin struck a 5-day low of $5,210.  Data from CoinmarkekCap shows that bitcoin is down nearly 7% over a 24-hour period. Trading activity reveals big sell-offs in Hong Kong-based Bitfinex followed by Bithumb and bitFlyer, Korea and Japan’s largest bitcoin exchanges respectively. While there are no clear indicators for factors behind the fall, a Bloomberg report suggests recent speculation by the US Futures Trading Commission that ICO tokens could come under its purview has pushed investors into becoming sellers. Over in China, once the world’s largest bitcoin trading market, president Xi Jinping is preparing to enter his 2nd term as president as the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party began today, the first day of a week-long gathering. China’s leader went on to address the party in a speech that lasted 3 hours and 23 minutes with big promises for China’s future. In September, Chinese authorities issued a sweeping ban on all ICO-related activity, deeming it an illegal method of fundraising. Still, it’s speculators believe it’s entirely likely that bitcoin will shrug off the collapse in a month where the cryptocurrency began near $4,200 and went on to hit an all-time high of $5,920 last week. https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/newsflash-bitcoin-price-falls-5300-octobers-biggest-dip/ |
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Entrepreneurs do not often welcome regulation. For Japanese cryptocurrency start-ups, however, a framework put in place by the country’s financial authorities has been a boon. Rules announced this year by the Financial Services Agency allow people to pay for goods and services with bitcoin and require cryptocurrency exchanges or remittance operators to be licensed and subject to annual audits. These have given bitcoin official approval. “The Japanese have felt that cryptocurrencies are a scary thing but trading volumes have increased as many now see it as trustworthy thanks to government approval,” says Yusuke Otsuka, chief operating officer at Coincheck, a bitcoin exchange. The FSA issued operating licences to 11 bitcoin exchanges late last month. Coincheck has applied for a licence and is hoping to receive approval next month, Mr Otsuka says. The new digital currency rules come as other governments clamp down on cryptocurrencies. China, for instance, has banned companies from issuing their own virtual currencies and is cracking down on cryptocurrency exchanges. However, for Japan, cryptocurrencies sit within the realm of fintech. The government and banking leaders hope that this sector’s businesses — ranging from artificial intelligence-led investment advisory groups to cloud data storage — will free up cash sitting in bank deposits and reignite the economy. There has been domestic hand-wringing over the investment going into fintech ventures in Japan compared with that in other developed countries. Japan’s fintech sector, seen as a laggard, had investments of $65m in 2015. This compares with $12bn in the US, $974m in the UK and $69m in Singapore, according to consultants Accenture. “We’re hoping that fintech will change economic and corporate activity,” says Takuya Fukumoto, director of industrial finance in the economy, trade and industry ministry. The ministry set out the government’s vision in August, calling for an increase in cashless consumer payments, digitising back-office functions and new technologies to enhance cash flow between companies. Japanese banks, worried that fintech ventures will become mainstream players, are trying to gain exposure to new technologies by either creating a business or investing in a start-up. Kazuhisa Shibayama, founder and chief executive of WealthNavi, a “robo-advisory” company that offers customers investment advice provided by AI, has been helped by the government’s push for fintech businesses. When he started his company two years ago, the financial technology sector was not as well known as today. “I was only told by venture capital investors after I started that my company was part of the fintech sector and that it was what people described as ‘robo-advisory’,” says Mr Shibayama. He points out that for many fintech entrepreneurs, technology is only a tool to offer users better services at a cheaper price. Many feel that unlike Japan’s manufacturing sector, where companies introduced the notion of kaizen, or continual improvement, financial services might have been left behind. Anecdotally, Mr Shibayama says, the new enthusiasm for fintech among businesses and investors has led to more venture capital firms looking for investments. However, fintech entrepreneurs and start-ups are scarce, he adds, with young people still choosing the traditional route of looking for jobs in established companies. The fintech arena also struggles to attract many of Japan’s IT engineers and programmers, who tend to enter the country’s thriving gaming sector. While some may end up in financial services, the cultural gap between the two industries can be hard to bridge. https://www.ft.com/content/b8360e86-aceb-11e7-aab9-abaa44b1e130 |
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Dutch Bank ING released a report complaining about the energy amount that the average Bitcoin transaction consumes. When it comes to Bitcoin, some people just aren’t happy unless they’re finding something to complain about. The fact that it’s essentially a revolution in finance and individual liberty isn’t important. What is important is what they consider the drawbacks of Bitcoin to be. The most recent example comes from the Dutch bank ING, who just released a report complaining about the high energy cost associated with every Bitcoin transaction. Leaving All the Lights On in the HouseThe report from Dutch bank ING looks at the energy consumption of the average Bitcoin transaction from several angles. On one hand, they note that the use of a tremendous amount of electricity makes fraudulent transactions costly by keeping the verification of trades expensive. This high cost does serve as a deterrent to those who would seek to cause mischief. ING senior economist Teunis Brosens says: "By making sure that verifying transactions is a costly business, the integrity of the network can be preserved as long as benevolent nodes control a majority of computing power. Together, they will dominate the verification (mining) process. To make the verification (mining) costly, the verification algorithm requires a lot of processing power and thus electricity." Brosens goes on to discuss how much energy is used in a Bitcoin transaction. He says that it takes 200kWh for every Bitcoin transaction, which is higher than the 37kWh for Ethereum. Of course, this is far higher than the 0.01kWh for a credit card transaction, say Visa. Brosens adds: "This number needs some context. 200kWh is enough to run over 200 washing cycles. In fact, it’s enough to run my entire home over four weeks, which consumes about 45 kWh per week costing €39 of electricity (at current Dutch consumer prices)." The Ongoing Energy DebateA cynical person might note that Brosens may be pointing out the vast energy cost difference between Bitcoin and credit card transactions due to the fact that banks, such as ING, have a vested interest in promoting credit cards over cryptocurrencies. I’m pretty sure banks are not thrilled with the lack of centralized control associated with Bitcoin and other digital currencies. However, it is true that Bitcoin transactions require a lot of energy, and there are many articles where people really dig into the math. It also appears that the energy consumption is increasing over time, even for the less taxing Ethereum. Yet is such energy consumption the end of the world? Are we doomed to live out our lives in a Mad Max future where we barter for water and precious juice with Bitcoin? While probably pretty cool, the answer is no. The amount of energy produced grows every year as more power plants come online and older plants become more efficient. This really isn’t a zero-sum game or else the rise of server farms would have ushered in an age of calamity. There’s actually excess energy to be found, such as the case in Russia where power companies are selling off their excess energy to miners at a cheaper rate. In the end, such complaints are just another tirade against Bitcoin as it represents a massive shift from the old status quo and the powers that be are not happy with that. https://bitcoinist.com/dutch-bank-complains-about-how-much-electricity-bitcoin-uses/ |
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The total market capitalization of bitcoin is approaching $100 billion USD, currently sitting at approximately $94 billion USD. The current market capitalization is comparable to that of numerous top 100 global companies. Bitcoin’s Market Capitalization Has Begun to Test the $100 Billion USD AreaThe market capitalization of bitcoin is currently sitting at approximately $94 billion USD after setting a new all-time high of over $92 billion USD earlier this week. Bitcoin’s market capitalization has so far made gains of over 600% during 2017, after starting the year at approximately $15.6 billion USD. If compared with the market cap of the top 100 global companies according to Pricewaterhouse Coopers, bitcoin would rank 81st, just three places shy of Goldman Sachs – which boasts a market capitalization of $96 billion USD according to the data. Bitcoin would be one place above the United States Postal Service ($93 billion USD), and several places above Nike and Australian mining giant BHP Billiton – who both have a market capitalization of roughly $92 billion USD. When contrasted with the annual gross domestic product (GDP) of nation states, bitcoin’s current market cap would garner it a ranking of 66nd when compared to 191 countries, according to IMF projections. If bitcoin were a country, it would be ranked behind Ukraine, who has an annual GDP of $95.9 billion USD. Ranking behind the hypothetical nation of bitcoin would be the Slovak Republic ($89.1 billion USD), Sri Lanka ($84 billion USD), and Ethiopia ($78.4 billion USD). Bitcoin Currently Accounts for 54.4% of the $175.2 Billion Total Market Capitalization of All CryptocurrenciesThe total market cap of all cryptocurrencies is currently comparable to that of number thirty-seven ranked Philip Morris International ($175 billion USD), which trails just behind Home Depot Inc. and Toyota Motor Corp ($177 billion USD each). The total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies is higher than the annual GDP of Algeria, the 55 largest economy ($173.9 million USD), and below that of Iraq ($189.4 billion USD). The market cap of other major cryptocurrencies have also elevated this year. Ethereum currently boasts a total market capitalization of almost $32.5 billion USD, which is larger than the annual GDP of the 98th largest economy, Cameroon ($29.5 billion USD), and behind Bahrain (34.3 billion USD). Ripple has the third largest market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies, ($10 billion USD approximately), which would rank it behind the world’s 135th largest economy, Mongolia. https://news.bitcoin.com/bitcoin-market-capitalization-approaches-100-billion-usd/ |
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You did a good job Zonto Team for collecting 2 866 566 $ so this amount is good to start and upgrade this project?
So sad that i'm too late to participate in your bounty program but when this coin enter in market I will buy and hold this token I have a high believe this coin will shine waiting for more update when/where this coin listing in exchange site! Congrats again!
Great ICO, i think almost 3 mill. is more than enough to start and complete all the development. It was stated in whitepaper that minimum cup will be 500 000 EUR. So, thank you for the project, and awaits for bounty distribution. Please inform us when we are free to change signatures. |
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The traders continue to pile on Bitcoin, while altcoins languish. Bitcoin’s market dominance has crossed 55 percent, which shows that it’s now becoming a crowded trade. At times, it’s a good strategy to take the contrarian bet against the crowd. So, is it a good time to book profits on our Bitcoin positions and buy a few altcoins, or does Bitcoin have legs to further extend the rally? Let’s see. BTC/USDLeading up to its first fork in August, Bitcoin prices were in a corrective phase till about 15 days prior to the D-day. This time, however, prices have been in a consistent uptrend since bottoming out on Sept. 15.  After Bitcoin Cash was created, Bitcoin broke out and closed at new highs on Aug. 5, which started a strong uptrend that carried the cryptocurrency roughly 71 percent higher in just under a month. Will the same scenario be repeated this time? Looks unlikely. Last time, there were a number of folks who had sold off prior to the fork and were sitting on the sidelines. When Bitcoin did not crash, as a few had expected, all this money jumped back in, boosting prices within a short span of time. However, this time, people seem to be buying prior to the fork, so that they can benefit from the new coins. This is looking like a crowded trade. Can this get more crowded? Certainly. However, as we are sitting on decent profits on about 35 percent of our original position, we recommend booking out completely at current levels. Can prices rise further from here and make us look like fools? They certainly can. However, it can equally fall back below $5000 once this buying frenzy ends. It’s always better to pocket good gains after a buying stampede and wait for the next opportunity. We may have to buy at higher levels, but, that’s how it is. It’s very difficult to buy at the bottom and sell at the top. Nevertheless, for traders who want to hold on to their long positions, the next target on the cryptocurrency is $6197. Bitcoin has support at the $5000 levels, which had been a strong resistance until now. The cryptocurrency will not become negative until it breaks below $4800 levels. ETH/USDEthereum continues to remain volatile, but is on the verge of breaking out of the range. In our last trade, we were caught on the wrong side, as the breakout was faded by the bears. So, how should we approach it now?  Even today, the cryptocurrency has formed a very large range with an intraday high of $352.52 and an intraday low of $274.67. Though prices have broken out of the range, which makes us bullish, the stop loss for the trade is very deep. After four previous false breakouts, we would rather wait for Ethereum to end the day above the range, signaling the start of a new uptrend. On a close above the range, our first target is $354, above which, a move to $400 is also possible. However, we are not recommending a trade on Ethereum until we get a closing above $317. https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-ethereum-bitcoin-cash-ripple-litecoin-price-analysis-october-13 |
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Bitcoin hit a new record high of $5,856 on CoinDesk's Bitcoin Price Index this morning, but the question everyone will be asking is, can the rally continue? At press time, bitcoin is trading at $5,610 levels, as per CoinMarketCap data. Bitcoin's week-on-week performance of over 28 percent (up more than $1,200,) is double S&P's year-to-date gains of 14 percent. Further, the cryptocurrency is up 96 percent from its Sept. 15 low of $2,980, and, on a year-to-date basis, is up almost 500 percent. Following a rally of such astonishing proportions, it would be quite logical to assume bitcoin prices will trade sideways, or witness a healthy pull-back in the short run The price action analysis indicates that bitcoin could find a short-term top in the range of $5,800-$6,000. Daily chart The daily chart shows that: - Bitcoin's price suffers a corrective pull back every time the stochastic and the relative strength index (RSI) signal overbought conditions (marked by hand sign and red circles on the chart). The stochastic oscillator is a chart analysis indicator that helps determine where a trend might be ending.
- The trend line drawn from the July 16 low and Aug. 22 low and extended further is seen offering resistance around $6,100 levels.
- Though overbought, the RSI is still rising. Meanwhile, the stochastic is looking to retreat from the overbought territory.
- A technical correction would gather pace once the RSI starts losing altitude.
View - A short-term consolidation around $5,800 or brief spike to $6,000 followed by a short-term pull back to $5,000-$5,300 looks more likely. https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoins-price-keeps-rising-but-is-6000-in-reach/ |
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Earlier today, on October 13, the Bitcoin price achieved a new all-time high for the third time in the past two days, briefly surging to $5,920.  But, subsequent to achieving the new all-time high, the Bitcoin price experienced a minor correction, likely caused by the sudden surge in the price of Bitcoin in the past two days, from $4,500 to $5,920. Possibility For Another Rally, Analysts Look Toward $6,000Analysts including long-time Bitcoin investor Tuur Demeester, Trace Mayer, and Samson Mow are looking ahead toward $6,000, expecting yet another strong rally from Bitcoin to emerge in the next few days. In a previous article, CCN revealed three major factors behind the recent surge in the price of Bitcoin: rise in demand for Bitcoin from institutional investors, strengthening of the Japanese and South Korean markets, and the upcoming SegWit2x hard fork. The article delved into the role of institutional and retail traders in the mid-term surge in the Bitcoin price, but as Blockstream executive Samson Mow noted, the upcoming SegWit2x hard fork in November could play a vital role in the short-term price trend of Bitcoin. Throughout this week, an increasing number of communities, companies, and miners including the South Korean Bitcoin community and F2Pool have publicly denounced the SegWit2x hard fork, expressing their concerns toward the fork. As BitGo lead engineer Jameson Lopp noted, F2Pool, one of the member companies behind the NYA Agreement and the SegWit2x proposal, stopped signaling for SegWit2x. While the majority of leading cryptocurrency exchanges and Bitcoin platforms such as Coinbase and Bitfinex have clarified that they will not list SegWit2x has the majority chain based on hashrate, several companies such as Xapo and Blockchain have revealed their intent to list the original Bitcoin blockchain as BC1 if it has less hashrate in comparison to the SegWit2x chain, despite the backlash and criticism from the community. “There is a significant possibility that the planned hard fork will result in two bitcoin block chains. In this case, we will follow the chain with the most accumulated difficulty and refer to that chain as Bitcoin. If the minority chain has significant value we will make that value available for customers to hold or exchange for a period of time, as we did with Bitcoin Cash. If the minority chain is the one with 1MB blocks, we plan to call it BC1. If the minority chain has 2MB blocks, we plan to call it BC2,” stated the Blockchain development team. Experts including Bitcoin investor and Atlanta Digital Currency Fund partner Alistair Milne have previously explained the flawed system of using hashrate as the sole indicator to justify the majority chain, as miners tend to follow profitable chains. For instance, upon the debut of Bitcoin Cash, most of the hashrate from Bitcoin migrated to Bitcoin Cash for a brief period of time before its difficulty adjustment. But, after the adjustment occurred, miners moved back to Bitcoin, as Bitcoin Cash was no longer as profitable as the original Bitcoin blockchain. Communities and Miner Speak Out Against SegWit2x, Major Factor For Short-Term Price IncreaseBecause of these issues, miners such as F2Pool and communities like the South Korean Bitcoin community have rejected the SegWit2x hard fork in November. The South Korean Bitcoin community released an official statement which read: “We, the Seoul Bitcoin Meetup, the largest bitcoin community in South Korea, founded in 2014 with more than 1600 members, would like to voice our staunch opposition to this November’s proposed hardfork. We are confident that BTC, the legacy chain, will not only survive this fork, but continue to flourish as the dominant Bitcoin network.” The market’s confidence in the original Bitcoin blockchain and its long-term growth would likely position it for another strong rally, and a more stable platform to build upward momentum with the recent minor correction. More importantly, even if the SegWit2x hard fork occurs in November as planned, both supporters and critics of the hard fork would invest in Bitcoin to either express their support towards Bitcoin or to obtain the newly created SegWit2x coins (B2X) in October. https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/bitcoin-price-briefly-hits-5920-but-endures-minor-correction-factors-for-another-rally/ |
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Hi Campaign manager. I see no instructions of providing twitter or facebook likes/retweers here in that thread. But some participats count their result by themselves and post here. Should social bounty participants count and place here their result, or you will do that when you have time?
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Swedish officials with the Swedish Enforcement Authority has settled a debt with bitcoin. This is the first time the enforcement agency in the country accepted bitcoin as payment rendered for debt owed to the State. New Asset For Use by the Swedish Enforcement AuthorityAn officer working with the authority said bitcoin is a new asset, and it provides their organization with more access to handling problems. It also allows their citizenry to have alternative methods for payment. ”You find assets not only in the driveway or the living room, but also on the internet. We are used to dealing with the banking system. This is another sort of asset, and a particular way to ensure [the sort of access] we haven’t had before,” says Johannes Paulson, in charge of operations development at the Swedish Enforcement Authority. In this regard, it seems the Swedish Enforcement Authority will likely continue accepting bitcoin for debts citizens wish to settle. Auctioning the Coins to the CitizensThe coins they received for the debt, however, will not remain in the authority’s possession. The agency claimed 0.6 bitcoin, worth about 23,000 Swedish krona, or $2850 at the time of receipt. However, they will be placing the coins on auction and selling them to the highest bidder. A Business Insider article elaborated: “This has also opened up an opportunity for the public to make bargains in bitcoin, as the digital currency will be sold to the highest bidder in an online auction that takes place on October 12th.” The auction will take place, according to authorities, because there is no state-sanctioned infrastructure to accept bitcoin into savings. The authorities also commented on the fact that a lot of crime is being conducted in bitcoin as well, but they have not been able to get into wallets easily previouly — or know all the criminals involved in making bitcoin transactions. In this case access to the bitcoin was possible due to the fact that the debtor agreed to transfer the amount to the authorities. https://news.bitcoin.com/swedish-authorities-settle-first-debt-in-bitcoin/ |
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Cryptocurrency hardware wallet Ledger Nano S has made the top ten bestselling items in Amazon’s computers and accessories department. The wallet, costs just under $80 on Amazon.com, currently stands at number 8 in the retail giant’s listings. Ledger beats major rivals such as Trezor and KeepKey, which came in at 133 and 231 in the rankings respectively. The findings caught the attention of the cryptocurrency community Wednesday after being posted to Reddit by user u/hunk_quark, who suggested they were a good indicator of digital currency’s push towards mainstream adoption. Hardware wallets have received considerable publicity over the last year as exchange hacks and other security compromises become widely known by increasing numbers of users. Aside from offering superior protection against theft compared to other wallets, hardware options offer digital currency holders a simpler way to access the several forks that Bitcoin has undergone, or will face, by November. Web wallet providers retain the right not to support forks or do so at their leisure as witnessed with Bitcoin Cash, with users of Blockchain.info wallets still waiting for easy access to their new coins. Competitor Trezor has also experienced strong sales, if not through Amazon, as evidenced by their running out of stock several times this year, with units being resold unofficially at considerably inflated prices. https://cointelegraph.com/news/cryptomania-hardware-wallet-makes-no8-on-amazon-bestseller-list |
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Regulators worldwide are finding that it’s incredibly hard to control the explosive growth of money tied to no nation.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is the latest to call for regulation of cryptocurrencies, saying there are “serious risks” they can be used for money laundering or tax evasion. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov has called for regulating digital money as securities, while central bank officials vowed to work with prosecutors to block websites that allow retail investors access to bitcoin exchanges. “We think this is a pyramid scheme,” said Sergey Shvetsov, first deputy governor of the central bank. Global efforts to regulate digital money have accelerated in the past month since China banned initial coin offerings and ordered all cryptocurrency exchanges to close, following inspections of more than 1,000 trading venues over a six-month period. At least 13 other countries have imposed new rules or announced plans to tighten regulations, including South Korea, which also banned ICOs. Last week, European Central Bank Governing Council member Ewald Nowotny said the bank is discussing "concrete legal restrictions" on digital coin sales. It’s a development that creators of bitcoin, the best-known digital currency, saw coming, and prepared for. Since it works on a peer-to-peer network, users can buy and sell coins and secure and perpetuate the system without any government or central bank involvement. Trying to control it is “like trying to catch water,” said Alex Tapscott, chief executive of NextBlock Global Ltd., a venture-capital firm that invests in blockchain startups.  Nine years after a mysterious coder that goes by the name Satoshi Nakamoto unleashed bitcoin on the world, some see it as a revolutionary use of technology that takes power away from governments and gives it to individuals, like handheld video cameras in the hands of civil rights activists, or social media during the Arab Spring uprisings. "As cryptocurrencies gain wider acceptance, their ability to undermine politicians increases,” said Roger Ver, an early investor in bitcoin who is known as Bitcoin Jesus, for proselytizing about the digital currency in its early days. "The invention of bitcoin is one of the most liberating technologies in all of human history. It is on par with the importance of the invention of the printing press, or the internet itself." Digital currencies live on computers and can be held by millions worldwide, bought and sold on websites, at MeetUps, or in person-to-person meetings. Even if there’s no ATM or exchange nearby, anyone with access to the Internet can buy them. And they can be used to purchase everything from a sandwich to a carpet to a house, or they can be held as an investment. An investment of $1,000 in bitcoin in 2012 would now be worth about $4.9 million, while the number of transactions continues to increase. In the second quarter, they reached an average of about 291,000 per day for bitcoin and nearly double that when other major cryptocurrencies are included, from about 60,000 per day in 2013, according to researcher CoinDesk. Dark SideYet there is an undeniable dark side. Bitcoin rose to prominence with Silk Road, a marketplace for weapons, drugs and other illicit goods, and it’s still used for such sales on the so-called Dark Web even after Silk Road was shut down. It’s also the currency of choice for hackers who have invaded the computers of everyone from hospitals to police departments. Even the North Korean government is accumulating bitcoin as a means to dodge international sanctions. That’s why Jamie Dimon, the chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co., sees bitcoin as a “fraud” that’s destined to come crashing down, as its use in ransomware schemes, drug and arms trafficking ultimately persuades authorities to find a way to put a stop to it. “Someone’s going to get killed and then the government’s going to come down,” Dimon said. “You just saw in China, governments like to control their money supply.” While any central banker might be troubled by a stateless currency competing with the coin of the realm, China’s efforts to crack down suggest it may be harder than it appears. While the government crackdown sent bitcoin prices plunging as much as 30 percent, it has now recovered those losses, even as a growing number of governments take action. Once the largest global market for trading, China now accounts for 1.5 percent of bitcoin transactions, while Japan -- where regulators have been more open to digital currencies -- accounts for more than 60 percent, according to CryptoCompare.com. Bitcoin MiningChina is the leader in bitcoin mining capacity -- computers that are used to support bitcoin transactions and then get paid for the service with newly minted coins. Regulators have so far refrained from any action in that area. Wu Jihan, CEO of Bitmain Technologies Ltd., the world’s biggest mining operation, said in an interview that regional governments are welcome to legally set up bitcoin mining farms which are clean and considered part of the high-tech industry. Cryptocurrencies are attractive where there are restrictions on taking cash abroad or where the local currency is weakening because of inflation. In Venezuela, a place with both problems, bitcoin’s weekly trading volume spiked to an all-time high in early April, when violent clashes between protesters and police started. The government has conducted raids on bitcoin miners, accusing them of “internet fraud and electricity theft.” The same combination of capital controls, high inflation and a weakening currency have driven demand for cryptocurrencies across Latin America. Bitcoin demand spiked in Argentina in 2013 after former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner banned dollar purchases, while Ecuador and Bolivia are among the few countries that have outright bans on the currency. By contrast, the U.K. has exempted bitcoin from value-added taxes, and says it should be considered a foreign currency for corporate tax purposes. The U.K. was early in publishing clear directives, ruling in 2014 that "bitcoin may be held as an investment or used to pay for goods or services at merchants where it is accepted.” Crypto-Friendly JapanJapan this year began enforcing a law that recognizes bitcoin as a legal method of payment, and overseeing cryptocurrency exchanges -- effectively providing clarity and support to local entrepreneurs. That’s something Vietnam may do as well. The U.S. Commodities Futures Trading Commission classified bitcoin as a commodity in September 2015 and this year approved the first cryptocurrency options trading, clearing and settlement firm. The Securities and Exchange Commission in July said some coins issued in ICOs would be considered securities and regulated as such unless “a valid exemption applies.” While government efforts to come to grips with digital money have been fraught, the more important trend may be the growing number of money managers who are looking at cryptocurrencies as an asset class for investment. "What’s more interesting is the increased sophistication of the institutional buy side for cryptocurrencies," said Nolan Bauerle, director of research at CoinDesk. "This new type of buyer means this is only a hiccup. There are important sums of fiat ready to cross into crypto in the short term." There are more than 68 hedge funds focused on cryptocurrencies today, many of them run by people from Wall Street. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-11/global-regulators-play-bitcoin-whack-a-mole-as-demand-explodes
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This week two more bitcoin-based businesses announced their company’s stance towards the upcoming 2MB hard fork this November. The fork will be implemented by the Segwit2x (BTC1) working group roughly around Saturday, November 18, 2017. The two firms Xapo and Surbtc explained to their customers how they would handle the consensus change that’s just a few weeks away. Xapo Will Follow the Chain With the Most Accumulated Difficulty Bitcoiners have been waiting for the official announcements from companies who signed this summer’s New York Agreement (NYA) to increase the block size, because Core developers want nothing to do with the change. Last week the companies, Coinbase and Bitfinex gave details on how they would handle the fork. Now two more bitcoin-centric startups, Xapo and Surbtc have come forward to disclose what their plans for the fork are. The bitcoin financial services provider Xapo on October 9 told their customers how they would handle the fork. Xapo explains that when miners process block number 494784 a block between 1-2MB will be generated. The company wants its customers to know that just like when the bitcoin cash fork took place; Xapo users don’t have to do anything. As far as the startup’s policy with forks and defining the ‘real bitcoin’ it will let the hashrate decide. “Xapo’s policy in regards to forks is that, when there is a fork, we always follow the chain with the most accumulated difficulty and we make the minority chain available to our customers for them to sell or withdraw from Xapo,” explains the company’s most recent statement. "We are going to call the chain with the most accumulated difficulty Bitcoin or BTC. If the minority chain is the one with 1MB blocks we are going to call it BC1 and if the minority chain is the one with 2MB blocks we are going to call it BC2." Of course, the statements made by Xapo became a controversial subject because of how they will choose to name the ‘real bitcoin.’ The startup also adds that as soon as the minority chain is deemed safe, they will make it available for withdrawal. “If you want to trust Xapo with the security of your bitcoins and access your minority chain coins there is no action needed on your part,” the startup concludes. Latin American Exchange Surbtc Will List Both Assets as BTC and B2X if the Fork is ContentiousThe Chilean Bitcoin trading platform, Surbtc, on October 10 announced its stance towards the Segwit2x hard fork. Like Xapo, the exchange Surbtc is also an NYA signer, and explains they are pleased with this summers Segwit activation and would love to see “a small increment (2mb) in the size of a block.” However, the company believes wholeheartedly in the expertise of the bitcoin Core software developers. “Even though we would be happy to have moderately larger blocks to accommodate growing demand, we feel that Bitcoin needs (at least a majority) of bitcoin’s core developers’ support in order to do this responsibly,” explains the Surbtc executive Agustin Feuerhake. “We haven’t seen this support, and we don’t like what we currently see on the BTC1 code repository in terms of technical considerations and open source collaboration.” "All things said, if a contentious hard fork does happen, Surbtc could eventually list both assets but will allow for sure its users to at least be to withdraw both. Due to practical reasons, we will continue to list BTC, and we will incorporate B2X (or the names that catch on among the industry) later." So far there have only been a few bitcoin-based companies that have come forward with their plans. However, this time around startups are starting to announce these plans a bit earlier than last time, as they gained some experience since the previous fork on August 1. News.bitcoin.com will be sure to keep our readers informed every step of the way before, during, and after the upcoming November hard fork. https://news.bitcoin.com/two-more-bitcoin-startups-reveal-hard-fork-contingency-plans/ |
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The government of Abu Dhabi, through its markets regulator, has released guidelines on virtual currencies and initial coin offerings (ICOs). The government of Abu Dhabi has published [PDF] guidelines to bring clarity to its regulatory approach to ICOs and virtual currencies for ICO organizers and digital currency adopters. After deliberation, the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA)– Abu Dhabi’s financial markets regulator – has decided that a “one size fits all” approach to virtual tokens, be it ICO tokens or digital currencies or any other implementation of blockchain solutions powered by crypto tokens, is “inappropriate.” ICOs – Only Regulated if Seen as Securities“The ICO market is incredibly diverse in terms of quality, there are some ICOs which constitute high risk,” said Christopher Kiew-Smith, head of fintech strategy at the FSRA. “The disclosures are not there, there are no financial statements, those are extremely high risk for those seeking returns. Under the new guidelines, companies wishing to organize an ICO are now mandated to approach the FSRA where the authority will determine if the token offering is to be regulated as a security. If the FSRA determines the token falls outside the definition of a security, the token offering will remain unregulated. The FSRA underlined ICOs as “a novel and potentially more cost-effective way of raising funds for companies and projects.” Altogether a decidedly contrasting approach to the likes of China and South Korea who imposed blanket bans on ICOs. FSRA chief executive director Richard Teng stated: "ICOs have transformed the capital formation landscape and global regulatory frameworks are evolving to adapt to such innovation. Participants exploring the issuance of ICOs that offer real value to the market and wish to operate within our regulatory framework are encouraged to engage us early to gain insights into the applicable regulatory regime." Cryptocurrencies = CommoditiesThe FSRA, which also serves as Abu Dhabi’s financial watchdog, has determined that virtual currencies aren’t legal tender with characteristics more common with physical commodities like precious metals and fuels, due to their inherent value. The FSRA explained: "Therefore from a regulatory perspective, virtual currencies are treated as commodities, which are not Specified Investments as defined under the FSMR. This means that a “mining” or spot transaction in virtual currencies will not constitute a Regulated Activity in itself." Nonetheless, any regulated firms enabling or using virtual currencies for financial services will have to adhere to existing anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) laws. Bitcoin Could Still be Regulated, in the FutureThe Abu Dhabi regulator has not ruled out the possibility of bringing cryptocurrencies like bitcoin under its regulatory purview. Pointing to a recent FinTech pact with its regulatory counterpart in Japan, FSRA capital markets director Wai Lum Qwok revealed that the watchdog is in discussions with Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) about its regulation of bitcoin. Japan recognized bitcoin as a legal method of payment in April this year. More recently, the authority issued 11 licenses for bitcoin exchanges to operate in the country. In notable quotes, FSRA’s capital markets director Wai Lum Qwok stated: "For us, we do see a lot of challenges in regulating something which was designed not to be regulated. We recently established a fintech reach with the Japanese FSA, and through such cooperation we hope to see how they regulate these and if there are risks they see…We are open to carving virtual currencies into the regulated space." https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/abu-dhabi-issues-virtual-currency-ico-regulation/ |
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 Silvio Micali is an MIT professor and Turing Award–winning cryptographer known for his work in technologies that form the bedrock of blockchains today: public-key cryptosystems, digital signatures, pseudorandomness and multiparty computations. He is also the co-inventor of the zero-knowledge proof. In the ’90s, he worked on Byzantine agreement, a protocol for getting nodes in a distributed system to agree on a state change. And in 2012, he and long-time collaborator Shafi Goldwasser were co-recipients of the A.M. Turing Award, essentially, the “Nobel Prize in computing.” Upon learning about Bitcoin three years ago, Micali turned his attention from mechanism design, which had consumed him for the previous seven years, and dove headlong into creating a proof-of-stake algorithm. His project is called Algorand. Put simply, Algorand relies on a novel form of Byzantine agreement with only nine expected steps. In each step, committee members, chosen at random in a private lottery, are replaced. The result is a high-security system with a negligible risk of forks. According to Micali, recent tests show Algorand can process 2 MB blocks in 17 seconds, compared to Bitcoin, which produces a 1 MB block every 10 minutes. (A paper on these results will be presented at SOSP, the biennial ACM Symposium on Operating Systems Principles, later this month.) In an interview with Bitcoin Magazine, Micali explained why he thinks proof of stake is superior to proof of work, the consensus algorithm that underlies most cryptocurrencies today, including Bitcoin and Ethereum. Although Ethereum, more often viewed as a smart contract platform, aims to transition to proof of stake next year. Unnecessary Evil Micali thinks proof of work was a great idea when it first came out, but now that we have seen the consequences, he calls it an “unnecessary evil” for several reasons. “The first time I heard about Bitcoin, I saw all the difficulties. To me, the main difficulty is the waste of computational resources. That is really appalling,” he said. “It drives up prices and depletes the planet of resources.” Second, he sees miners as “a new center of power” and an orthogonal force to the real users of the system: the coin holders. “If five mining pools can control what goes in or does not go in a block, in what sense is the ledger decentralized? You don’t want miners having control over the ledger, particularly when they have low margins, are far away and accountable to no one. I think it is a recipe for disaster,” he said. Finally, transaction ambiguity does not sit well with him. In Bitcoin, occasionally two blocks are found at roughly the same time, creating a temporary fork in the chain. When that happens, the branch with the greater hash power is elongated, while the other and its blocks “disappear.” If your transactions happened to be in an orphaned block, it will eventually get picked up again in the main chain, but for Micali, the idea is unsettling. “Every time I see my transaction is in a block, I worry the block may disappear. But never mind anxious people like me; banks may not be willing to take on the additional risk,” he said. “Can you imagine a financial world where wire transfers could be taken back?” Natural Democracy Micali thinks proof of stake is a better option. In proof of stake, there are no miners, just the coin holders. Further, a coin holder’s ability to create or validate a block is based on how many coins in the system he or she owns. “This is a natural interpretation of democracy,” Micali said. “Your influence in maintaining the integrity of the system is based on how much you are really invested in the system.” But there is a catch: creating a proof-of-stake algorithm is hard to do. While several projects claim to have come up with a secure protocol, Micali thinks some of those claims are questionable. “The fact is, people can claim anything they want,” he said. One of the biggest challenges in proof of stake is the “nothing at stake” problem. If the chain forks, the optimal strategy for any coin holder is to extend both chains to earn additional block rewards or to double spend. That goes against the central design goal of all blockchains: getting users to converge on a single chain. Some projects are looking at ways to sculpt their proof-of-stake protocols by adding perks or punishments to get coin holders to abide by the rules. As part of that, some proof-of-stake systems require users to put up a type of security deposit or bond. Micali feels a well-designed proof-of-stake cryptocurrency should stand on its own, however, without extra measures. He thinks bonding opens doors to bad actors. “Let me ask you, what fraction of your disposable income can you put on the table and not touch?” he said and suggested that honest people will put up only a small amount, ceding control to bad actors with big pockets. “The danger is that only bad people will give up control over a large amount of money to manipulate the system. And if they earn much more money by misbehaving, they will be happy to lose what they put on the table,” he said. He also disagrees with the idea of using punishment to get users to fall in line. “A weak state rules through threats and fear,” he said, comparing the practice to barbaric punishments used by some nations to fight crime. Why do they do it? Because criminals are so rarely caught, he said. “So once they catch one, they disembowel the poor guy.” He continued, “Do you want to oust somebody who misbehaves? Of course. But a well organized system is one in which you don’t need to punish people.” Bitcoin and Ethereum Most people view Bitcoin solely as a cryptocurrency, but Micali thinks the greatest value of Bitcoin and Ethereum are as enablers of smart contracts, in which users can stipulate if-then conditions around payments. “At the end of the day, doing only payments is easy,” he said, adding that he did not want to trivialize the problem. “Of course, decentralized payments are better than centralized payments, but what really differentiates a cryptocurrency from any other form of money is that you can actually do a smart contract.” Based on that, he thinks that both Bitcoin and Ethereum would benefit from implementing the best consensus algorithm available. Currently, both systems are “huffing and puffing,” he said. Bitcoin is constrained to 7 transactions per second, while Ethereum can process only 15 per second, compared to Visa’s 2,000 per second. “If the blockchain scales, isn’t it better for Bitcoin and Ethereum? If the blockchain has a [mathematical] proof of security, isn’t it better for its users?” he said. “If the blockchain cannot be hijacked by miners who are accountable to nobody and live in some faraway jurisdiction, isn’t that a plus for all users?” Micali thinks so. https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/interview-cryptographer-silvio-micali-bitcoin-ethereum-and-proof-stake/ |
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According to a recent report by security intelligence group RedLock, hackers were able to breach into the Amazon Cloud services of two companies in order to mine Bitcoin. Amazon Cloud Used for Bitcoin MiningIn a recent article, Business Insider reported that hackers were able to hack into the AWS cloud services’ infrastructure of two companies in order to mine Bitcoin. According to the security firm RedLock, the two affected companies were Aviva and Gemalto. The security firm was somewhat surprised by the hack since the hackers didn’t target any sensitive data of either company. The hackers were only interested to access the Amazon Cloud servers in order to mine cryptocurrencies by executing a bitcoin mining command. The report further states: "Upon deeper analysis, the team discovered that hackers were executing a bitcoin mining command from one of the Kubernetes containers. The instance had effectively been turned into a parasitic bot that was performing nefarious activity over the internet." Hackers are usually known for breaching into digital enterprise infrastructure in order to steal sensitive data like social security numbers, credit card numbers, emails, passwords etc. Continue reading> https://bitcoinist.com/hackers-breach-amazon-cloud-mine-bitcoin/ |
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Malaysia central bank Governor is taking bitcoin cues from China. His glib statements are attracting widespread regional attention, as Southeast Asia’s 4th largest economy attempts to reconcile notorious financial conservatism with radical financial change. Malaysia, Regional Fiscal PowerhouseAsian Institute of Finance (AIF) hosted its 9th International Conference on Financial Crime and Terrorism Financing (ICFTF) 2017 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. AIF is the promotional arm for both the country’s central bank, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), and its regulatory body, Suruhanjaya Sekuriti Securities Commission Maylasia. ICFTF’s keynote was given by Tan Sri Muhammad bin Ibrahim, BNM Governor since 2016. "Fifty years at an average 6.5 percent growth rate will do that, as will outperforming Australia and France …" The conference billed itself as exploring “current and new trends in financial crime and the next generation of detection and technological capabilities expected of anti-financial crime professionals to meet global and regulatory expectations.” In addition to BNM’s Mr. Ibrahim, this year’s ICFTF listed talks by global law enforcement outfits such as the US Department of Justice’s East Asia and Pacific Regional Legal Advisor for Cybercrime. In half-a-dozen plenary sessions speakers also included major banks, international businesses, and service providers. Such an august lineup is proof enough Malaysia has arrived on the world financial stage. Fifty years at an average 6.5 percent growth rate will do that, as well as economically outperforming Australia and France (World Economic Forum’s recent Competitive Rankings). Old Wine, New BottlesAs a result, there’s probably little wonder the country views a decentralized, unregulated currency as perhaps nothing more than a potential wrench thrown at its half century boom. Previous official dispatches on bitcoin have been dismissive, terse. Prior to Governor Ibrahim’s tenure, BNM issued notice in 2014, “The Bitcoin is not recognised as legal tender in Malaysia. The Central Bank does not regulate the operations of Bitcoin. The public is therefore advised to be cautious of the risks associated with the usage of such digital currency.” Fair enough. Be careful. This isn’t something we’re going to endorse nor protect you from, seemed to be the country’s official stance. Just WaitMr. Ibrahim finished his formal ICFTF remarks and soon addressed reporters. “This (ban on cryptocurrencies) is something that we will decide on by the end of the year,” he said. A Malaysian cryptocurrency acceptance would mean “collecting the data, and also making sure whatever they do will be (made) transparent,” The Malaysian Insight quoted him as saying. The tabloid reiterated how “guidelines would also address the risks associated with money laundering and terrorism financing in Malaysia,” by now an all-too familiar trope. “Just wait,” he scolded. “Now is only October. In less than three months, we will give you the details.” Bitcoin enthusiasts are waiting. https://news.bitcoin.com/malaysias-central-bank-signals-year-end-bitcoin-ban/ |
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Matthew Goetz, former vice president at the famous financial institution Goldman Sachs believes that investing in Bitcoin is like investing in the Internet in the late 90’s.
Betting Big On Bitcoin
The decentralized cryptocurrency had a very good run this year. Even after receiving bad publicity from the comments of the JP Morgan CEO and the recent report that China ordered Bitcoin exchanges to close down. Bitcoin is up by 450% this year and is currently stabilizing at the $4350 area. Former Goldman Sachs VP, Matthew Goetz, believes that investing in the digital currency is like investing in the Internet in the late 90’s. Many experts and analysts strongly believe that Bitcoin might not stay as the number one cryptocurrency for very long. The Next Big CryptocurrencyAfter leaving Goldman Sachs, Matthew Goetz started a hedge fund called BlockTower Capital that specializes in cryptocurrencies. In a recent article by Business Insider, Goetz stated that in the future another cryptocurrency will take over the first place from Bitcoin. He further quoted: "There is some chance that something an order of magnitude better than bitcoin, technologically, could come along." Goetz also added: "It’s something like Facebook. If someone creates a new Facebook that has slightly better features, say 10% better. That’s great, but network effects are strong. So, that new thing isn’t going to kill Facebook." Matthew Goetz believes that Bitcoin is just a software and so it can easily be replaced by a way better and more advanced version in the future. Similar to how Facebook managed to overtake MySpace as the number social media website, another cryptocurrency with more features will be able to overtake Bitcoin’s position in the future. Goetz said that the cryptocurrency market is still very risky just like the Internet was in 1992. https://bitcoinist.com/ico-event-london-will-gather-renowned-investors-founders-blockchain-startups/ |
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