PBOC Will Not Release Regulations for Chinese Bitcoin Exchanges Anytime Soon

Local Chinese publications reported last month that the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) will issue regulatory guidelines for Chinese bitcoin exchanges in June. However, last week, the bank reportedly dispelled the rumor and confirmed that no bitcoin regulations will be released this month.


In May, Caixin reported that the PBOC was expected to issue new regulatory guidelines for Chinese bitcoin exchanges in June. This would cover a list of requirements including anti-money laundering (AML) as well as how funds are managed.

However, 8btc reported this week that Sun Hui, vice president of the PBOC Shanghai Head Office, revealed at the news conference held by the Information Office of Shanghai Municipal Government that:

        "No bitcoin trading regulations will be released in June."

In addition, insiders at Huobi, Btcc, and Okcoin told the publication that they have not received any new regulatory documents.

Keep reading
https://news.bitcoin.com/pboc-regulations-chinese-bitcoin-exchanges/

Singlepoint Acquires Funding to Tackle Cannabusiness Banking Problems With Bitcoin

US cannabis merchants could soon have a major new service to accept payments using bitcoin, which would sidestep the federal ban on cannabis businesses using bank accounts.

Singlepoint Inc.Singlepoint Acquires Funding to Tackle Cannabusiness Banking Problems With Bitcoin is a publicly traded holding company based in Phoenix, Arizona, that focuses on acquiring undervalued companies in emerging markets, including cannabis. On Tuesday, the company announced that it has closed a $1 million funding deal with an institutional investor.

This funding will help close many acquisition deals which are already in the pipeline, according to CEO Greg Lambrecht, adding that “we have many technical developments that are ready to launch.” According to the announcement, several companies have already been acquired in the cannabis industry and discussions are underway with even more. In addition:

       
The management believes that the capital raised will enable the company to “move very quickly to develop a cryptocurrency solution and continue acquisitions in the cannabis space.”

Keep reading
https://news.bitcoin.com/singlepoint-acquires-funding-to-tackle-cannabusiness-banking-problems-with-bitcoin/

Bitcoin Wallet Blockchain.Info Raises $40 Million From Well-Known Investors

The popular online bitcoin wallet, Blockchain.info, has announced the completion of a successful series B funding round by raising $40 million. The company started its services back in 2011 and aims to continue making digital currencies easier to use for everyday people.

Blockchain Raises $40 Million in Funding for Global Expansion and Digital Asset R&D

The online wallet Blockchain.info is one of the oldest bitcoin-based businesses within the industry. The company’s blockchain explorer and data analytics gets millions of visitors, and the platform has issued close to 15 million wallets. Now Blockchain has announced it has raised $40 million in funding from firms such as Lakestar with participation from GV (formerly Google Ventures), Nokota Management, Digital Currency Group, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Mosaic Ventures, Prudence Holdings, Virgin, and Sir Richard Branson.

“Blockchain was one of the first digital currency wallets, quickly grew to market leadership, and has only extended its lead since then,” said investor and current board member, Jeremy Liew from Lightspeed Venture Partners. “Now that bitcoin and Blockchain have started to get broader traction, they are the best positioned to become the mainstream leaders.”

Keep reading
https://news.bitcoin.com/bitcoin-wallet-blockchain-info-raises-40-million-from-well-known-investors/

Hi, my profile already achieved 240 massages, but for some reasons my status won`t update to sr. Member. I have no option to change better signiture for now. . Whom i must send PM to solve this status update problem? It is important.

And i do not see week3 in bounty spreadsheet, week2 was the last which will be counted for payment? Also i saw somewhere here that 21 of June will be finish mark for writing bounty posts. Is it true? Thank you.

 

Cheesus Christ, these guys are fast.

Is it already known when Excudo will be available on main exchanges? Is it already possible to transfer tokens from Excudo dashboart to myetherwallet?

Когда ожидаеться выход Excudo на биржи? Или монета уже на бирже?

Bounty hunters are not investors. I think we must be thankful for cheap coins and no wonder that we will get  them when they cost lower than usual. When bounty will be distributed, the price may down even more deep. Just hold your tokens and wait for a good price.

Luno has published results of a survey conducted from its Malaysian userbase. The findings yield fascinating insights into the development and psychology of the Malaysian cryptocurrency community.

Approximately 60% of Survey Respondents Described Their Engagement With Cryptocurrency as Being Financially Motivated

A recent survey conducted by Luno provides a fascinating insight into the development, motivations, investment style, and trading psychology of the Malaysian bitcoin community.

Approximately 60% of survey respondents described their engagement with cryptocurrency as being financially motivated. 15% described their bitcoin activities as conducting trading/speculation, whereas nearly 45% of users describe such as a long-term investment. The remaining 40% of survey respondents cited practical use-values like financial autonomy and fast, fluid payments as their principal use of bitcoin – a common finding among nations with an authoritative governing style.

The survey illustrated tentative uptake of alternative cryptocurrency adoption on the part of Malaysian bitcoin users. 52.6% of respondents have solely purchased bitcoin, with 47.4% reporting that they have purchased cryptocurrencies other than bitcoin.

More to read
https://news.bitcoin.com/malaysian-bitcoin-users-divest-carefully-into-ltc-and-eth/

In response to popular pressure from clients, forex and CFDs broker HYCM have announced that they have added the BTC-USD pairing to their list of traded financial instruments. The decision comes during a period of increased cryptocurrency engagement on the part of major financial institutions.

The Number of CFD Brokers Offering Bitcoin Derivative Products Is Growing

HYCM is a popular forex and CFDs trading broker that offers products to retail and institutional investors. The firm is part of the Henyep Capital Markets Group, an international corporation that has offices in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Cyprus, and Dubai. The group is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, Dubai Financial Service Authority, and the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission.

HYCM Offers Bitcoin-USD Pairing Amidst Greater Cryptocurrency Integration into Mainstream Financial Industries

The interest that HYCM is taking in bitcoin trading is yet another example of mainstream financial institutions attempting to cash in on bitcoin’s meteoric rise.

Cryptocurrency Tentatively Edges Toward Mainstream Adoption

The embedding of cryptocurrency into the mainstream world of financial technology is not playing out as many cryptocurrency pundits expected during bitcoin’s infancy. The recent slew of national governments announcing their experimentation with blockchain is a far cry to the utopian proposals of bitcoin and cryptocurrency governance that once flooded the bitcoin forums.  It would appear that Russia, China, Singapore, among other nations, are seeking to develop distributed ledgers through which to issue national currencies. Said projects appear to have all of the transparency of bitcoin, and none of the centralization – signposting that governments are seeking to utilize cryptocurrency technology to create the most invasive and privacy-eroding money commodity in history. With the example of Singapore, business heavyweights Deloitte have partnered with the government, comprising a likely example of how the contemporary state-finance nexus may seek to manifest within the cryptocurrency sphere.


Mainstream financial institutions such as HYCM offering bitcoin-based products may appear beneficial to the cryptocurrency community at first glance, as successful financial institutions entering bitcoin will expose cryptocurrency to new audiences. The risk, however, is that the underground cryptocurrency community may have persevered the trials and tribulations of bitcoin’s development, only for the technology to get handed on a platter to the financial industry to profit – reinforcing the dominance of the financial oligarchy that bitcoin originally sought to undermine.

https://news.bitcoin.com/hycm-offers-bitcoin-usd-pairing/

https://medium.com/@patientory/an-important-note-for-all-ptoy-token-holders-27302b321f05

Судя по этой новости участники баунти компании не увидят своих PTOY раньше 26 Июня. Проводилась какаято плановая ревизия системы, сейчас исправляют баги.

Answer from The Patientory Team. I think it is about all kinds of bounty.


https://medium.com/@patientory/an-important-note-for-all-ptoy-token-holders-27302b321f05

The following guest analysis article is written by Taki Tsaklanos, lead analyst at InvestingHaven.

The price of Ethereum largely recovered from this week’s flash crash. Some call it a sell off in a secular bull market, others call it buying the dip. We call it: strong fundamentals, and by that we mean that the price surge is justified by demand driven dynamics. Because of that we stick to our long term Ethereum forecast of $1000.

Talking about fundamental strength in Ethereum, it is interesting to apply traditional relative strength ratios to cryptocurrencies. When analyzing traditional markets we look at the gold to silver ratio to identify which of the two is outperforming or to understand whether a bull market has started or ended. In stock markets the S&P 500 to Russell 2000 ratio is popular as a gauge of risk (the small cap Russell typically outpeformers when investors are in ‘risk on’ mode).

When it comes to cryptocurrencies the most popular way among analysts is to compare market caps. While that is a good indicator it is not the most valuable one in our view.

What really is valuable as an indicator is the price ratio, for instance the Ethereum to the Bitcoin price ratio. The reason why we prefer this ratio above a market cap comparison is that, bottom line, whatever the market cap, all that matters is price. The point is that price reflects supply and demand factors; price is the point where supply and demand find equilibrium.

The Ethereum to Bitcoin price ratio is shown on the following chart:



More - https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/analysis-significant-ethereum-bitcoin-price-chart/

Cashless Sweden Will Host its First Major Cryptocurrency & Blockchain Conference

Stockholm will host its first-ever blockchain and cryptocurrency conference on September 7, 2017. According to the host’s press release, who are hosting a series of events in different European cities, including Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Prague, Kiev, and Tallinn, the participants will pay special attention to discuss the blockchain development in FinTech.

“We’re sure that blockchain will become as commonplace as the Internet and smartphones. The Organizer Smile Expo invites Blockchain-enthusiasts from business and government who are already aware of the benefits of new technology,” the event organizers invite the guests to the conference on its official website.

Participating in the conference is not cheap though, a ticket costs 2,000 SEK or 207 EUR, however, participants will be surrounded by experts in the blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies.

The speakers include IBM Distinguished Engineer Karolina Marzantowicz, who is also a member of the IBM Academy of Technology. She will speak about the “Blockchain impact on Energy & Utility industry”, which is a current concern for Sweden since, in June, the government of the country launched a project to implement blockchain tech to the energy sector. According to the conference’s press release, a department of the government corporation Vattenfal, in cooperation with 20 companies in Europe, started the development of a blockchain platform for electricity trading.

“The main participants are IT developers, entrepreneurs, investors, software, and equipment manufacturers. The speakers are managers of the well-known companies and representatives of governmental authorities,” the hosts write on the conference’s website.

The hosts emphasized that, because of the high number of recent implementations of the blockchain technology in the banking sector, “there will be a lot of analytics and discussions” in the conference about such topics.

“We will focus on Sweden and foreign projects implementing Blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Experts will share their experience of implementing Blockchain in governmental institutions (Govtech), banking system, trading, media, healthcare and other spheres. We will discuss all the aspects of creating innovative IT products – from the emergence of idea to entering the market,” the hosts wrote on the website.

Due to the low use of cash in Sweden, the circulation of the physical currency dropped by 40 percent since 2009, the government announced in 2016 that they are planning to launch e-Krona, Sweden’s official digital currency. The national bank plans to launch the cryptocurrency in two years, however, according to a poll, the population is skeptical about the virtual currency.

Also, in 2016, a team of technology players announced that they are planning to transform the land registry in Sweden to the blockchain. By using the blockchain tech and smart contracts, Sweden could be the first country to have a blockchain-based land registry.

https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/sweden-to-host-conference-on-blockchain-tech-and-cryptocurrencies-in-september/

Despite all the investment in blockchain technology, Morgan Stanley claims the technology remains in a “proof of concept” stage, according to Barrons. The financial services firm believes its use in regular financial settlements could be years away. Institutions like BNY Mellon and UBS have an early advantage by testing the technology. As for the surge in bitcoin’s value, Morgan Stanley is uncertain.

The bank’s white paper maintains no “killer app” has been developed for blockchain technology.

The time frame for the technology’s implementation charted in the white paper shows 2014 to 2016 as a period of assessing blockchain’s value for financial assets. 2016 to 2018 is the proof of concept phase; 2017 to 2020 is when shared infrastructure emerges; and 2021 to 2025 is when assets proliferate.


The paper hypothesizes on the reasons for bitcoin’s surge in tandem with the interest in blockchain technology.

James Faucette, a technical analyst, explores blockchain’s progress the year after he and some Morgan Stanley colleagues first examined the possibility of its use in financial settlements.

The report also examines five case studies that include a “utility settlement coin” from UBS Group and a BN Group government bond settlement project.

The tests are based on the premise that blockchain improves efficiency. As it matures, securities firms and funds will be able to reduce labor and operating expenses. The firms will realize these benefits by deploying blockchain technology to settle transactions.


While there are many proofs of concept being tested for blockchain, no killer app has emerged that is needed to spur widespread adoption. Hence, the technology has not faced a true test. Many of the “big questions” are yet to be answered.

The white paper claims it is too soon to make specific investment conclusions. But since progress is under way, parts of the shared infrastructure could emerge in the next year or two.

“Incumbents,” companies that have invested in blockchain’s use, are more likely to benefit from the technology and reap cost benefits or better capital efficiency in the future. These companies include ASX, UBS, BNY Mellon, State Street, JPM and Northern Trust.



As for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies like Ripple and Ethereum, the paper stated it is not clear why they are appreciating in value as fast as they are. It noted certain factors such as the rising popularity of ICOs. ICOs are funded with cryptocurrencies, pushing an appreciation circle whereby investors trade an existing currency for a new one.

Another factor is China’s inexpensive servers. A large concentration of bitcoin mining takes place in China since has cheap electricity and access to cheap servers. Fortune and The Wall Street Journal have noted the possibility that bitcoin is being used to avoid monetary controls in China.

There is also growing demand from Japan and Korea. The recent legalization of bitcoin in Japan has resulted in more bitcoin exchanges. There is no clear explanation for the surge in Korea, however.

https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/morgan-stanley-blockchains-still-proof-concept/

Panos Mourdoukoutas, Professor and Chair of the Department of Economics at LIU Post in New York who is also a contributor to several professional journals and magazines, such as Forbes and The New York Times, recently published a write-up stating that bitcoin will make many more people millionaires before it’s fall. Now, the economics professor advises bitcoin investors not to commit the same mistake as Isaac Newton did back in the 1720s when he bought shares early on in the South Sea Company.

Sir Isaac Newton made a great fortune by investing in the South Sea Company, however, he was too greedy and lost more than three times the profits he made in the first round. According to Mourdouskoutas, the physicist’s mistake was related to his emotions: he failed to resist a common temptation during bubble markets. He got back to a bubble asset at a higher price and stayed with it as the circumstances of the market changed watching as the bubble exploded.

“Back in 1720, Sir Isaac Newton owned shares in the South Sea Company, the hottest stock in England. Sensing the market was getting out of hand, the great physicist muttered that he ‘could calculate the motions of heavenly bodies, but not the madness of the people.’ Newton dumped his South Sea Company shares, pocketing a 100% profit totaling 7,000 pounds,” Jason Zweig wrote in the commentary for the revised edition of Benjamin Graham’s The Intelligent Investor.

Although, months later, Newton couldn’t control his greed and enthusiasm, invested again into the South Sea Company’s stocks at a much higher price. That investment resulted in the physicist losing 20,000 pounds (which is more than $3 million in today’s money). Newton was so ashamed of this investment that he forbade anyone to speak the words “South Sea Company” in his presence.

Mourdouskoutas thinks, based on the findings of various financial experts, that this behavior is related to mental accounting. Mental accounting, unlike traditional accounting, causes individuals to treat gains in financial markets, lottery winnings, casino income, and other bets differently from funds earned from labor, interest income or other sources. The economics professor used the book Nudge as a reference for this behavior:

“You can see mental accounting in a casino. Watch a gambler who is lucky enough to win some money early in the evening. You might see him take the money he has won and put it in one pocket, and put the money he brought with him to gamble that evening (yet another mental account) into a different pocket. Gamblers even have a term for this. The money that recently has been won is called ‘house money’ because in gambling parlance the casino is referred to as the house. Betting some of the money that you have just won is referred to as ‘gambling with the house’s money’ — as if it were somehow different from some other kind of money. Experimental evidence suggests that people are more willing to gamble with money they consider house money—like buying into an inflated asset,” Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein explains in the book.

According to Mourdouskoutas, committing the same mistake as Newton has nothing to do with intelligence but with emotions, such as greed, which often makes investors lose hard amounts of money.

https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/bitcoin-investors-can-learn-issac-newtons-mistake/

Coinsource, a leading bitcoin ATM network, recently surpassed the 100 machine milestone with an early year push in the state of New York, in which it added 14 new kiosks in the state since January. The company’s portfolio surged from 70 of 103 machines, 30 of which are located in the Empire State, allowing it to control over one-third of the market in the Big Apple.

New York is now Coinsource’s second largest market, and in it customers can buy and sell bitcoins directly from the ATMs, which can be found, for example, in the John F. Kennedy International Airport, the fifth busiest one in the country. The company’s CEO and co-founder, Sheffield Clark, said that New York was the place in which Coinsource had its first successful bitcoin ATM, adding that they are proud to offer the lowest rates in the market.

The company’s surge comes at a time in which bitcoin hits a new historic all-time high above $2,100, helping it reach new customers who can now easily have access to the world’s highest performing currency. Coinsource’s kiosks can be found in California, Louisiana, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas.

According to Sheffield Clark, reaching the 100 machine milestone was part of the company’s business plans, and even though it was reached earlier than expected, the company, which currently has machines spread access nine states, has more in store for 2017.

CCN spoke to Bobby Sharp, co-founder of Coinsource, about his company’s success:

More - https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/interview-bitcoin-atm-network-coinsource-surpassed-the-100-machine-milestone/

Recently, Ramki Ramakrishnan, an international banker and treasury manager, who is also a contributor at Forbes, technically analyzed bitcoin’s recent fall with Elliott Waves.

Bitcoin’s Recent Correction

On Thursday, all the top 25 cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple, experienced a huge price fall. The average value drop exceeded ten percent in almost all cases. Both Ethereum’s and bitcoin’s market cap fell by billions of dollars, with BTC dropping to $37.4 billion and ETH to $28.9 billion.

However, one day later, on Friday, bitcoin recovered from $2,150 to $2,521, and is currently standing on $2,640 (as of Saturday 6:40 PM). Some people credited bitcoin’s tumble to Bitmain’s announcement saying that the network of bitcoin is at a high risk of being split. Although, analyst Nicola Duke predicted such a correction in May for both BTC and Ethereum. The analyst stated that bitcoin could experience a correction of 46.5 percent. Duke predicted that BTC’s price will go as low as $1,470, however, that drop did not happen (yet).

More - https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/international-banker-analyses-bitcoins-recent-fall/

Sorry for asking, today is June 19 and i see no Ptoy tokens in my wallet. All have the same problem?

According to a recent write-up published by Panos Mourdoukoutas, Professor and Chair of the Department of Economics at LIU Post in New York who is also contributing to several professional journals and magazines, such as Forbes and The New York Times, until its dive, bitcoin will make many more people millionaires.

Bitcoin hit $3,000 this month after a big correction down to $2,682 from $2,957 in the period of two days. CCN reported that billionaire Mark Cuban was calling bitcoin’s recent price surge a bubble. However, this is not the case since the cryptocurrency is showing an uptrend, recently standing on $2,831 and continuously going upwards.

Mourdoukoutas shared a partly similar opinion to Cuban’s. Matching in the terms of saying that bitcoin’s price will drop after the huge surge, however, the university professor did not state that the cryptocurrency is a bubble. Mourdoukoutas added that the digital currency made many “overnight millionaires” – people who invested into BTC when it was worth only a fraction of its current price. He added that bitcoin will reach new highs, making more billionaires in the course of the action, before “coming back down to earth”.

According to Mourdoukoutas, one reason for the increasing investment into the cryptocurrency is the “ultra-low interest rate environment, which makes the trade of bitcoin an appealing proposition. In addition, there is a growing mistrust in the national currencies of multiple countries, following the government policies that pushed more investors into the cryptocurrency.

Mourdoukoutas said that one of these policies is the act when governments issue new treasury bonds at record low rates to cover the old debts with new ones. For example, Japan sells treasuries that yield almost nothing for the state, however, the country’s debts amount approximately the 250 percent of the GDP. The professor stated that China’s treasuries yield “something”, although, no one knows the exact amount of the “unofficial debt”.

The fact that there is a huge amount of debt connected to the Chinese Yuan and the Japanese Yen, makes the confidence of the investors disappear. And since there is bitcoin, a cryptocurrency that increased its value by 125 percent in 2016, people in Asia take advantage of the possibility and invest more into the digital currency.

The university professor stated there is another government policy, which could decrease the trust in a country’s national currency. This move is when governments want to get rid of the old currency notes, as was the case in India and Venezuela. According to Mourdoukoutas, one of these actions started the recent bitcoin surge.

Read more - https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/economics-professor-bitcoin-will-make-plenty-millionaires/