Humaniq is really great project with revolutionary idea, but why development process rolling out so slowly. Developers had  enough money and time, community wants to get results, i`m looking forward for those app on play store. It`s time for results guys, stop talking and show us something.

According to an article published by Business Insider, Dutch bank ING recently published a study suggesting that bitcoin mining consumes too much electricity. The report claims that a single bitcoin transaction consumes as much electricity as a house in a whole month, and compares it to the amount of electricity traditional electronic payment methods consume per transaction.

In the piece, ING senior economist Teunis Brosens explains that bitcoin’s power usage is so high because it is necessary to make transaction verification a costly business, in order to make fraudulent transactions costly to those who seek to misuse bitcoin, adding that verifying transactions takes “a lot of processing power and thus electricity.”

Brosens went on to compare the consumption to that of his home in the Netherlands. He stated:

    “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).”

According to ING’s study, bitcoin consumes an exponentially larger amount of electricity than traditional electronic payment methods such as Visa. Per a chart published on Business Insider, Visa takes about 0.01 kWh (10 Wh) per transaction, while bitcoin takes 200 kWh.



Read more: https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/dutch-bank-suggests-bitcoin-mining-consumes-much-electricity/

The head of a Chinese investment bank says he believes bitcoin's underlying technology is more important than the cryptocurrency itself.

Fan Bao, the CEO of China Renaissance, said in an interview with CNBC that while bitcoin's market may be a bullish one, he believes that underlying blockchain tech is more attractive and "probably the most disruptive technology...in the financial services industry."

"I'm a strong believer in blockchain in terms of its wider application in our industry," he added.

His comments came after bitcoin reached another all-time high over $6,100 last week, followed by a few days' fallback to around $5,500 as of press time. Yet at the same time, they come amid a range of finance-related applications for the tech, particularly around capital markets.

As reported by CoinDesk, Russia's National Securities Depository (NSD) has just issued the first-ever live bond at $10 million using smart contracts and the open-source Hyperledger Fabric blockchain. And Hong Kong Stock Exchange is also on its pace launching a private market for smaller firms interested in developing blockchain applications to explore more use cases.

Elsewhere in the interview, Bao also stressed in general that the Chinese government has taken a liberal approach towards innovations with its open market policy.

In fact, in a most recent announcement, the China State Government suggested that blockchain should be applied to establish a credibility system for the country's supply chain industry, signaling official support for development around the tech.

https://www.coindesk.com/china-renaissance-ceo-blockchain-important-bitcoin/

Russian native and entrepreneur Dmitry Troitsky has plans on creating a product line of vodka named after some popular cryptocurrencies. Troitsky has filed for trademark patents in order to develop three distinct vodka brands called “Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ethereum Classic.”

Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ethereum Classic Vodka

The Ekaterinburg-based Dmitry Troitsky has big plans to create a high-quality vodka line named after a few well-known cryptocurrencies. Troitsky has filed with the Russian trademark office for the three names to be applied to his alcoholic beverage products. Even though Troitsky understands that his government has not been very favorable towards cryptocurrencies just yet, he believes the public perception is different. Troitsky explains to the Russian news site Life.ru that these names will likely bring his Vodka line attention.

“I wanted to use the names of cryptocurrencies when issuing my goods in the 33rd class of the international classification of goods and services (alcoholic beverages, except beer), and these three names are the most top-notch,” Troitsky tells the publication.

      "I can not say yet how it will look and when it will be released — but I’m sure that vodka can be useful."

Read more: https://news.bitcoin.com/russian-entrepreneur-files-for-trademarks-on-vodka-brands-bitcoin-and-ethereum/

Looking forward for 28 October to buy some token on presale price. It is the only project in this area on the market right now, moreover for the past week 2 new advisors with huge background has been joined to GatCoin team.

Команда проекта пополнилась несколькими новыми советниками с огромным бэкграундом, которых небыло вначале, это приятно радует.

https://www.gatcoin.io/team/

I do not understand why to carry out second token sale circle. Price for current token supply still below the ICO level, developers should focus on rolling out real project things. We are all in anticipation and await of something substantial that can push up price.

Every time a big fat whale on Wall Street says that Bitcoin might be bubble, it makes me want to write about why I “hodl” my Bitcoin.

I could lecture on monetary theory and describe the characteristics of a currency and compare them to Bitcoin, or I could about of the supply shortage curve of Bitcoin, or about another of the myriad reasons Bitcoin is likely to be successful in the long term. Today, though, I’d like to talk about adoption.

One look at South America will help you understand why Bitcoin has become such a phenomenon.

In my last article I gave small examples of what already happened in Brazil in monetary terms and how it impacted my perception of Bitcoin’s value. Today I want to move on to Argentina, and address the reasons for that country’s adoption of Bitcoin.

Populist governments don’t know math; after some time the money runs out and it becomes necessary to use "creativity" in their accounting.  It is not by chance that there are at least two recent economic facts that impacted the Argentines and made them realize the value of a deflationary currency.   

The first was the "Corralito," when in 2001 the government froze all money in bank accounts for a full year, only allowing extremely limited withdrawals for household necessities.

In 2011, exactly 10 years later, the "cepo" exchange control implemented by former president Cristina Kirchner was created. This move led the country to revive symbols of hyperinflation from the 1980s, such as the figure of the "arbolitos" - money-changers stopped (like trees) at the corners of the tourist spots - and the "cuevas" normal stores with black market exchange for those who wanted to sell dollars in a much better price than in the official government exchange rate, basically the market was paying double.

Just two years after the emergence of Bitcoin, the Argentines felt betrayed by their own national currency, suffering from heavily manipulated exchange rates. Those who suffer from the effects of such monetary policy are likely to look favorably upon a new, deflationary, currency such as Bitcoin. Argentina is ahead of many South American countries in terms of adoption; their crisis began in 2011, while Brazil’s only began in 2014.

Wall Street bankers with their million dollar bonuses might not understand Bitcoin or see any point to it, as they make lofty proclamations from their Manhattan penthouses. But for ordinary people suffering under crippling economic conditions, Bitcoin could literally keep them alive as their national currency drops like a stone.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/crippling-economic-problems-accelerate-bitcoins-adoption-in-argentina

Come July 2018, Australia will (finally) remove the double taxation of transactions involving cryptocurrencies like bitcoin.

Under current law mandated in December 2014, Australians are taxed twice for digital currency transactions – once for the goods and services (GST) tax on the purchase and again for the digital currency used in the transaction. Bitcoin and other digital currencies are seen as an ‘intangible’ property under rules mandated by the Australian Tax Office.

“If you pay $4 in bitcoin for a coffee, you will pay 40c GST for the coffee, and 40c again for the bitcoin you used to pay for the coffee,” explained Daniel Alexiuc, CEO of Australian bitcoin startup Living Room of Satoshi, speaking to CCN in 2016.

In a comprehensive policy of ‘Australia’s FinTech Priorities’, the Australian Treasury pledged to commit the controversial double taxation in early 2016. “The Government is committed to addressing the ‘double taxation’ of digital currencies and will work with the industry on legislative options to reform the law relating to GST as it is applied to digital currencies,” the Australian Treasury wrote in a statement.

Earlier this year, the government kept good on its word by addressing the issue in this year’s federal budget.

In September, the government introduced the bill to set the path for legislation that will put an end to the double taxation of digital currencies. As reported by the Australian, that bill has now passed through the Australian parliament with bitcoin and digital currencies now seen as a ‘foreign currency’ under applicable GST treatment.

The move is certain to boost the adoption and usage of digital currencies in the country. Australia’s Tax Office is also looking at addressing the growth of cryptocurrencies and even adopting blockchain technology to streamline the taxation process.

Kevin Hogan, chair of Australia’s House of Representatives Standing Committee on Tax and Revenue in New South Wales stated this week:

If these cryptocurrencies emerge in greater numbers, certainly the government will need to adapt to some of that to make sure that the tax payment system is included in that.

https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/australia-passes-law-officially-kill-double-bitcoin-tax/

Tech investment company Wamda Capital’s CEO, Fadi Ghandour, has suggested JPMorgan Chase head Jamie Dimon should learn more about Bitcoin and other digital currencies before making negative statements against them.

Dimon earlier said that the cryptocurrencies are just a “novelty” and are “worth nothing” and those who invest in them are stupid.

According to Ghandour, Dimon should realize that the cryptocurrencies and Blockchain technology are here to stay. He added that the conventional financial sector could gain a lot from the new era of financial technology (fintech).

    "It is here to stay. Jamie Dimon need to recognize that before he talks about it from a fraudulent point of view. Talk to them, understand them, find a way to regulate them. Let's not make big statements about something we don't understand. Be humble, calm down, come down to earth and learn.”

Performance of Bitcoin

Ghandour, whose company manages the largest cryptocurrency wallet in the Middle East, delivered a speech about digital currencies at the World Bank in mid-October 2017 to show how the technology is being embraced worldwide.

Ghandour also claimed that investors in Bitcoin could get hurt badly if the leading virtual currency experiences a sudden crash. He added, however, that they should be left to make their own investment decisions.

"People could get hurt but also people are mature and can make their own decisions. If you want to be part of a bubble, you are part of a bubble. You understand the risk.”

Bitcoin, the biggest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization, reached a new record high price on October 21 and has experienced a huge price rally year-to-date.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/jpmorgan-head-jamie-dimon-should-learn-about-bitcoin-says-wamda-capitals-ceo

Bitcoin Gold (BTG) is due to fork from Bitcoin on block 491407 and all holders of Bitcoin can be credited an equal amount of BTG to their BTC. The new coin is being launched as a response to ASIC dominance.

Bitcoin Gold is the latest Bitcoin fork with the split occurring on Bitcoin block 491407. The coin is seen by the developers as a response to the ASIC driven monopoly of the main Bitcoin chain. As with the previous Bitcoin fork for Bitcoin Cash (BCH), as long as you are holding Bitcoin in your own software wallet when the split occurs you will automatically receive an equal amount in Bitcoin Gold (BTG).

Users with Bitcoin in hardware wallets or who have them on exchanges wishing to also receive BTG would need to check with their wallet manufacturer or exchange to find out if they plan to support Bitcoin Gold.

Bitcoin Hardware Wallets

In a recent blog post Trezor announced that although their devices support Bitcoin Gold, users won’t be able to do anything other than holding it. Users can choose to export their BTG, however, that is not a procedure they recommend. The coins will therefore not be available in the Trezor wallet.

Trezor’s main issue with BTG is that the code for it currently offers no replay protection, meaning that due to the nature of the chain split there is a potential to lose or transmit your Bitcoins rather than just your Bitcoin Gold. Their advice therefore would be to simply hold the BTG until replay protection is implemented by the BTG team.

The Trezor team states:

    "Yes, TREZOR (the device) supports Bitcoin Gold. As previously mentioned, at the moment of the fork, if you have bitcoins on your TREZOR, you will also receive bitcoin gold on your TREZOR (both new and legacy accounts are supported in bitcoin gold). If you simply wish to hold BTC and BTG, there is no further action required from you."

Keepkey has announced that they too will be following the same measures as TREZOR by allowing the users of their hardware wallet to receive BTG but not immediately transact it. They advise users that if they require the immediate ability to move their BTG coins then they should, “relocate their Bitcoin prior to the October 25, 2017 deadline into a wallet that has confirmed support is already in place for this new asset.”

Read more: http://bitcoinist.com/need-know-bitcoin-gold-fork/

Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov promised not to let initial coin offerings (ICOs) in Russia “die” because of regulations last week. Despite bills being prepared to regulate them, President Vladimir Putin has said that ICOs hold “tremendous potential” and should not be obstructed.

Defending ICOs

Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov spoke at a youth forum in Sochi last week. One of the forum participants asked him, “I have a big request for you, please do not let our ICOs die as a result of regulation.” The deputy prime minister then “promised the participants to defend the capabilities of ICOs and prevent them from ‘dying’,” RIA Novosti reported.

“You are absolutely right,” Shuvalov continued, noting that various countries adopt laws to treat cryptocurrencies differently. “Our immediate response is to immediately put this under regulation, to ban, because it is harmful,” he said. Confirming that the government plans to regulate ICOs, he detailed:

        The news outlet then quoted Shuvalov saying at the forum, “some of my colleagues from different departments and the government say that it smacks of MMM and something else.” In early September, the Bank of Russia warned about ICO risks.

Read more: https://news.bitcoin.com/russia-regulation-icos/

The Royal Bank of Canada’s CEO has said that he would never call bitcoin a fraud, but he admits he does have ‘real concerns’ about the currency.

Banker David McKay said:

    "I would never call it a fraud because it’s not misrepresenting what it is. People have placed value on what it is in different ways and they’re fine to do that, but it’s not fraudulent in its misrepresentation."

This is compared to Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, who called bitcoin ‘a fraud‘ last month. Since then the banker has come out against bitcoin saying it’s ‘worth nothing,’ and that bitcoin investors will ‘pay the price.’ According to Dimon, even if bitcoin was trading at $100,000 its price will eventually crash.

Yet, while McKay doesn’t label the cryptocurrency a fraud he does have concerns about it.

He added:

    "There’s so many elements of a bitcoin that don’t convene to our current perspective on what a unit of currency should do. There are some real concerns about how the bitcoin is being used that we have to resolve."

In a bid to answer this the bank is looking further into the technology behind it, the blockchain.

In March, it was reported that the Royal Bank of Canada was one of six banks that had formed Ripple’s ‘Global Payments Steering Group’ (GPSG). The aim is to address faster cross-border payments.

The other banks include Bank of America Merill Lynch, Santander, UniCredit, Standard Chartered, and Westpac Banking Corporation.

At the time, Chris Larsen, Ripple co-founder, and the-then CEO of Ripple, stated:

    "Today, people expect money to move at the speed of the Internet. That’s why we’re working with these top banks to address the need for faster cross-border payments."

Royal Bank, JPMorgan and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. are also working together on an initiative called the Interface Information Network to process faster payments on the blockchain.

https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/bitcoin-no-fraud-real-concerns-royal-bank-canada-ceo/

Bittrex, the US-based Bitcoin and altcoin exchange has announced its official position on Bitcoin Gold. The exchange, widely regarded as a substantial player in the marketplace, had previously hesitated issuing a formal statement.

However, with the hard fork just a short time away, Bittrex has finally clarified its position on the coming fork. Per the statement, Bittrex will perform a ‘wallet snapshot’ at the time of the hard fork, which will occur at block 491,407. At that time, each BTC will receive an equivalent BTG. According to the statement:

    “If you have a Bitcoin (BTC) balance on Bittrex during the BTG snapshot block 491,407 occurring approximately on October 24, 3am PT (10am UTC), you will be additionally credited the equivalent amount of Bitcoin Gold (BTG) on a 1:1 basis. i.e. 1 BTC on Bittrex held during the on-exchange snapshot will get you 1 BTG.  BTC held on orders will also be credited.  Only the BTC held on your account is eligible for BTG.”

Warnings

The exchange’s statement gave users a number of warnings about the forthcoming Bitcoin Gold currency. To wit:

    “Bitcoin Gold does not currently have:

        -Fully formed consensus code

        -Implemented replay protection

        -Adequate code for testing and auditing

        -Publicly known code developers

    Bitcoin Gold codebase also contains a private premine of 8,000 blocks (100,000 BTG). Please be aware that if a market does open there is a possibility of the developers selling their premined BTG on the open market.”

Bittrex noted that Bitcoin Gold does not meet the necessary requirements to be listed on its exchange. They also pointed out that taking a snapshot of user balances is extremely disruptive and they will have to suspend all deposits and withdrawals 24 hours before the snapshot is taken.

Nevertheless, in spite of Bittrex’s reservations about the currency and the difficulty involved in creating the snapshot, the exchange appears committed to ensuring its users receive the appropriate amount of Bitcoin Gold.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/bittrex-issues-official-statement-about-bitcoin-gold-warns-users

SegWit2x Lead Mike Belshe: ‘Things Are Looking Good’ for Bitcoin Hard Fork

BitGo chief executive and SegWit2x project lead Mike Belshe says that, despite contention within the bitcoin community related to the block size debate, “things are looking good” for the SegWit2x hard fork.

Bitcoin is now approximately one month out from the scheduled date for the activation of SegWit2x, a controversial hard fork intended to increase the blocksize to improve the network’s scalability. Since the New York Agreement (NYA) was struck in May, a number of signatories have rescinded their support for SegWit2x, citing various concerns including the lack of opt-out replay protection, a dearth of community consensus, and the absence of support from Bitcoin Core developers.

However, SegWit2x proponents continued to point to the fact that roughly 95% of miners were signaling for the hard fork, alleging that the incumbent blockchain would not be able to survive without support from miners. However, F2Pool recently became the first mining pool to officially withdraw support for SegWit2x, placing a 10% dent in the hashrate consensus.

Some analysts even attribute the recent bitcoin price rally to skepticism among traders that the SegWit2x blockchain will garner much support — even from miners who continue to signal their support for the fork.

Despite these setbacks, SegWit2x project lead Mike Belshe is optimistic about the prospects for the SegWit2x blockchain following the fork. On Wednesday, he published a blog post titled “Keeping the Community Together”, in which he stated that although the “debate rages on” within the community, “things are looking good” for the activation of SegWit2x in November.

    “Segwit2x is a very small, surgical fix to address one issue: scalability. While the debate rages on about process and politics, the facts are simple,” he says, “we can keep the community together and we can increase the blocksize.”

However, it’s not quite clear who Belshe means when he says “we can keep the community together” because a significant portion of the bitcoin ecosystem has expressed its intention to remain on the incumbent blockchain following the fork.

“While we don’t know exactly how things will play out in November, things are looking good”, he adds. “This is a simple change and we will all benefit.”

https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/mike-belshe-things-are-looking-good-for-segwit2x/

Two South Korean bitcoin exchanges, Coinone and Coinnest, have announced their policies regarding the upcoming hard forks of the Bitcoin network. The Segwit2x hard fork is planned for November and the Bitcoin Gold hard fork is scheduled for October 25.

Coinone’s Policies

South Korea’s second-largest bitcoin exchange Coinone announced its general policies regarding blockchain hard forks last week. While the Segwit2x hard fork was mentioned in its announcement, the Bitcoin Gold hard fork was not.

Coinone’s bitcoin trading volume has recently surpassed another leading South Korean exchange, Korbit, according to Coinmarketcap. The platform has gained more popularity since it launched a physical exchange early last month. Citing the “possibility that a new virtual currency will be derived from the existing bitcoin,” the exchange wrote:

       
The exchange also noted that there may be a temporary suspension of withdrawals during the forks.

Coinnest’s Policies

Meanwhile, digital currency trading platform Coinnest announced on Thursday its “full support” for both the Segwit2x and the Bitcoin Gold hard forks of Bitcoin’s blockchain.

The exchange currently ranks fourth by bitcoin trading volume in the country, according to Coinhills. However, its volume is about one-third of Korbit’s and less than a quarter of Coinone’s at the time of writing. In its announcement on Thursday, Coinnest CEO Kim Byeong-hwan said:

       
The exchange detailed that users holding their bitcoins on its platform “will be automatically paid” the new cryptocurrency. “This bitcoin hard fork will start on October 24 and end on November 1,” the exchange wrote, adding if there is no problem with the blockchain split, both cryptocurrencies will be available for deposits and withdrawals on November 1. In addition, the exchange expressed “we are going to pay BTG,” referring to bitcoin gold.

At the time of writing, the country’s largest bitcoin exchange, Bithumb, and the country’s third largest, Korbit, have not announced their policies regarding the two hard forks.

https://news.bitcoin.com/south-korean-bitcoin-exchanges-hard-fork-plans/

Yeah, the price recovered on 15% on a while, and then dumped to 25%. Now it`s time for the whales, they intentionally gamble with the price, one can only guess at what level the price will go to the moon.

BitMEX, a cryptocurrency exchange, has clarified its position on hard forks considering the pending SegWit2x hard fork in November. The SegWit2x hard fork is intended to provide a minimal patch to resolve the conflict over activating SegWit and increase the block size to allow faster transactions on the bitcoin blockchain.

In the interest of protecting customer assets, BitMEX noted in a blog that it requires the following measures of hard forks:

*Strong two-way transaction replay protection, enabled by default, so that transactions on each chain remain valid on one another.
*A clean break so that the new chain does not become removed by the original one.
*A modification to the block header so that all wallets are required to upgrade to follow the hard forked chain.
*A new address format that prevents users from inadvertently sending coins to a wrong chain.
*New P2P network magic bytes that provide both coins a reliable node network.

Wipeout protection and robust replay protection are deemed critical. BitMEX, which has no plan to access or keep the coins, will not support a hard fork that does not follow such measures.

BitMEX considers the administrative overhead required for distributing hard forked coins, including Byteball/Lumens bitcoin-based distributions, prohibitive, and will not maintain balances of hard forked coins.

Discretion Over Forked Currency

BitMEX holds discretion over any forked currency. It could snap users’ margin balances when the fork occurs, should BitMEX choose to distribute, but it does not guarantee its safety. Those users concerned about balances are advised to withdraw their funds before the fork occurs and take responsibility for the split.

The SegWit2x proposal to increase the block size is not compatible with the current bitcoin protocol, the blog noted. Hence, a new coin could be created.

Not Positioned To Support SegWit2x

Supporters of the SegWit2x proposal hope the new coin becomes known as bitcoin, but they cannot guarantee this will happen. Instead, traders and investors will decide which coin has the highest value. For the process to work seamlessly, robust two-way transaction replay protection is needed.

The SegWit2x proposal does not include this protection, enabled by default, BitMEX noted. Hence, BitMEX will not be in a position to support SegWit2x. It will not support B2X distribution, and it will not be liable for any B2X it receives. The policy also applies should the SegWit2x chain hold the majority hash rate.

Users will have to take it upon themselves to withdraw bitcoin form BitMEX prior to the fork in order to access B2X, the blog noted.

BitMEX regards all contentious hard fork tokens as altcoins, and the .BXBTJPY and .BXBT indices will not change and will not include B2X.

Read more: https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/bitmex-clarifies-position-bitcoin-hard-forks-segwit2x-looming/

Sant’Agostino, an Italian auction house, is the first to let people bid and settle with bitcoin. Auctioneers determined it will be the first one to allow for bitcoin to enter into the realm of auctioning. This brings bitcoin into yet another aspect of commercial and economic life.

A Geo TV article originally covered the story: “ROME: Italian auction house Sant’Agostino said Wednesday bidders at its next sale will be able to settle up in bitcoin, a world first according to the auctioneers.”

The First Items for Auction via Bitcoin Bidding

The auction is slated to sell roughly 600 items, which include furniture and other household objects. All of the items can be purchased with bitcoin via the bidding process. Furthermore, the following  Sant’Agostino auction — which will include bidding on jewelry, watches, and art pieces — will also accept bitcoin as part of the settlement process.

        "Paying with the crypto currency will also be allowed at the following auction at the end of November which will feature paintings, jewelry and watches."

This means there could be a movement developing in this particular area of retail services, and spur more popularity for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Read more: https://news.bitcoin.com/italian-auction-first-allow-bidding-bitcoin/

Asset forfeiture goes digital, as governments around the globe attempt to profit from the world’s most popular cryptocurrency’s soaring value. Sweden joins its ranks, auctioning off bitcoin at a sizeable margin.

Sweden Lives in a Digital World

“Now you can buy bitcoin at the Crown Bailiff,” Sweden’s Crown Bailiff Authority excitedly headlined a recent site press release. Kronofogden is a government debt collection bureau, and with the full power of the state it is the only governmental of its kind in the country allowed to seize money, assets, and property from debtors.

Johannes Paulson, Operations Developer for the agency, explains how assets “are not just the car on the driveway or the money on the bank account. We live in a digital world, and now we are looking for assets in computers and hard drives as well as in telephones and web services” (emphasis added).

The online statement clarified how either the bureau is “being tipped by someone or we suspect that the debtor owns the bitcoin. When we have such suspicions, we proceed to try to track, measure and then sell the holding so that the debtor can pay off his debt.”

The first of its kind for Sweden, the auction ran “Thursday, October 12, and closes [at the time of writing]. It is about barely 0.6 bitcoin worth about 23,000 kronor [SEK],” Kronofogden’s post explained.

Mr. Paulson stressed to online news source SvD Näringsliv how the agency has “encountered this on many occasions but never been able to get into the digital wallets before.” Di Digital claimed the auction’s highest bid came in at nearly twice the asking, 43,000 SEK or an eightysix percent increase.
Ludvig Öberg, of the European bitcoin exchange Safello, gave two pet theories to Di Digital regarding the premium paid. One “is motivated by the publicity that may be associated with being the first ever buyer of bitcoin from the Enforcement Authority,” he mused. “The other theory is that the buyer wanted bitcoin of guaranteed legal origin – and in that case what could be better than buying from the state?”

Read more: https://news.bitcoin.com/sweden-latest-government-to-auction-bitcoins-turns-tidy-profit/