China’s Bitcoin Ban Made Way for Japan’s Substantial Cryptocurrency Trade

Just a year ago, China was responsible for ninety percent of global bitcoin trade. Their controversial move to ban initial coin offerings (ICOs) has given Japan the green light, following China’s strict bitcoin exchange prohibition.

Earlier this year, Japan recognized bitcoin as an official payment option, and since have had over 4,500 stores accepting the cryptocurrency. Japan has rapidly risen to the top of the global bitcoin trade, currently accounting for approximately half the volume. Comparatively, the United States is responsible for roughly a quarter of global bitcoin trade.

The wide acceptance of bitcoin in Japan has had a ripple effect on outlets scrambling to accept bitcoin payments to remain competitive. As each day passes, more and more Japanese stores are partnering with bitcoin exchanges.

According to the Nikkei, a prominent Japanese news publication, the amount of bitcoin-accepting stores could increase exponentially, potentially by five-fold within the next six weeks.

Japan even has their own Miss Bitcoin, represented by Mai Fujimoto. The bitcoin queen constantly posts about various bitcoin topics on several different social media platforms.

Fujimoto explains that although bitcoin is widely trusted due to the new regulations imposed, the cryptocurrency is not seen by most as a cash alternative. Instead, much of the population view it as an investment.
She told CNBC that the Japanese population needs time to “use bitcoin and learn about it,” now that they have bought into the cryptocurrency.

Despite bitcoin trade having taken off swiftly in Japan, it wasn’t all smooth sailing. In 2014, Mt. Gox, the Japanese bitcoin exchange, declared bankruptcy following a raid on its accounts that was conducted by hackers. After that, stricter rules were enforced for the governance and regulation of bitcoin in Japan.

Under the new legislation, cryptocurrency exchanges are required to maintain separate customer accounts and maintain minimum capital reserves. They are also expected to create and enforce anti-money laundering practices within their organizations.

According to a bar owner, Mike Verweyst, the recently-enforced regulations did not serve as a deterrent from bitcoin for most people. Verweyst processes bitcoin payments from customers daily as part of the running of his bar.

“It’s kind of surprising,” he says, expressing that Japan would not ordinarily be considered the first to adopt groundbreaking concepts like bitcoin so quickly. “[Japanese citizens] shy away from change, mostly,” he admits.

Despite their predisposed hesitation to accept change, Japan appears to be taking it all in stride. Verweyst is not alone in hoping that the Japanese continue to welcome the cryptocurrency. In the short space of time that is has been around, it is evident that it has done wonders for the country and its economy, which seems to be thriving.
Source: https://btcmanager.com/chinas-bitcoin-ban-japans-cryptocurrency-trade/

Initial coin offerings (ICOs) are on fire and now also publicly listed companies are getting in on the new funding type action. Macau-based Dragon Corp plans a 500 million USD ICO for its floating casino. Germany’s Naga announced a decentralized blockchain trading platform. China’s NEO is being embraced at a time when the government isn’t exactly known for its love of ICOs. Investors are clamoring for ever-more ways to participate in the innovative markets bitcoin has spawned.

Half Billion Dollar Floating Casino ICO
Dragon Corp CEO Chakrit Ahmad explained his company wishes to raise 500 million USD through an ICO. It’s the kind of gamble one might expect when money raised will be used for a floating casino in the Las Vegas of Asia, Macau.

Macau’s under-one million residents enjoy a special administrative region within the fold of China’s governance. Across from Hong Kong, Macau’s gambling enterprises are thought to be at least “seven times the size of Las Vegas, but really it’s probably about 20 times,” Mr. Ahmad noted.

Publicly Listed Companies Are Getting in on the ICO Funding Action

The Dragon Pearl Hotel Casino will accept the company’s coins in exchange for casino chips. Or, as is the case with most ICOs, owners can choose instead to hold coins as they gain or fall in value.

Readers familiar with China’s bitcoin crackdown might wonder as to how this is at all possible under the circumstances. Business Insider observes, “Customers pay junket companies in China to handle their trips,” and once there, “the junket then gives the gambler an equivalent stake in non-negotiable gambling chips.” Running afoul of Chinese law is something every establishment must consider, and all the time.

The ICO, then, is a way to streamline regional frictions. According to Mr. Ahmed, “We charge 0.5% [each way], taking only 1%. It’s much quicker, cheaper, faster, more transparent. You have full ownership of the tokens. It’s better in all aspects.”

Decentralized Blockchain Trading
Germany’s Naga, a publicly listed company on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, is promising a “decentralized platform [where] gamers can convert their in-game rewards into Apple shares and gold through Switex or leverage their trading prowess with the social network, stock trading tool, Swipestox,” a popular mobile application that has been called “Facebook for traders,” the company’s press release detailed.

ICOs didn’t exist little more than four years ago. At their inception, they were boutique offerings, a play on crowdfunding hardly anyone paid attention to. This year it hasn’t been unusual to see 50 a month sprout up, and by the year’s end total sales will be close to 3 billion USD.

“Naga Coin” the company continues, “is the cryptocurrency driving all interactions on the platform from rewards system to settlements. However, unlike most coins, Naga coin is not limited to financial settlements only. It also represents shares in the company and are backed by real assets.”

ICOs also face unprecedented scrutiny especially in the wake of lawsuits such as Tezos, but perhaps the biggest concern is government regulation and prohibition.  

China Giving In?
Rumors coming out of China involve NEO, and the use of its platform to facilitate ICOs even though the government has expressly forbid them. China, it seems, is willing to allow such financial innovations so long as NEO is used, keeping money and tech in Chinese hands. It is partnering with Onchain in order to bring more ICOs to market this year.

China will not allow a financial revolution to pass it by again; however, such a revolution will be, it hopes, controlled by the government and its pace.

Source: https://news.bitcoin.com/publicly-listed-companies-are-getting-in-on-the-ico-funding-action/

Chinese Bitcoin Miners Explore Relocating Abroad Amid Fears of Crackdown

An increasing number of Chinese miners are reportedly exploring other jurisdictions in which to operate amid growing uncertainty regarding the future of China’s mining industry. Although the Chinese government has not indicated that it will extend its cryptocurrency crackdown to target miners, many are making plans to base their operations elsewhere.

Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Russia, and the United States are Among the Nations that Chinese Miners are Considering
Last week, a circulating document indicated that the state-owned power company in China’s Sichuan province would be mounting a crackdown on bitcoin mining. Despite the company seeking to play down the document – stating that the document comprised an internal memo addressing the misallocation of scarce hydropower to miners rather than underserved rural communities during the province’s dry season – many miners are increasingly exploring international options in order to reduce their vulnerability to further regulatory action on the part of the Chinese state.

Chinese miner, Akira Cui, recently told the South China Morning Post that many miners “have already paid visit to Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Russia and the US, negotiating electricity prices with local authorities and buying sites for future use.” Mr. Cui argues that “the [mining] business blueprint is bound to go overseas, even if there’s only a 1 percent possibility that China’s crackdown against bitcoin would extend to mining.”

The South China Morning Post states that it contacted four major mining companies, with Mr. Cui being the sole respondee. Representatives of Chinese mining companies seldom speak with media as many miners are reported to strike private deals with local power companies that are concealed from higher-ranking officials and institutions. “No one brags about it because it’s best to make a fortune in silence,” Mr. Cui said.

It is Estimated that Chinese Miners Produce Approximately 70 percent of the Bitcoin Network’s Total Mining Power
Mr Cui states that he started mining bitcoin in 2013 after selling his previous broadband internet company for 30 million yuan ($4.5 million USD approximately). Mr. Cui initially invested roughly 5-6 million yuan ($800,000 USD) into mining hardware, and has expanded to now manage 100,000 machines. Mr. Cui estimates that 90 per cent of his hardware belongs to friends and clients for whom he maintains their equipment. “It’s very noisy to store them at your own place. Instead, clients can choose between delivery or keeping them at my factory for a fee and access remotely via pass codes,” Mr. Cui states.

Mr. Cui says that securing a reliable source of power is the principal concern for large scale miners. Each machine can generate roughly 100 yuan ($15 USD) in profit daily, meaning that the financial losses incurred through having idle equipment can be significant. As such, many miners are looking to preempt an intensification of China’s cryptocurrency crackdown by seeking to relocate overseas.

Who’s Got the Power?
“We are in discussion with partners in Los Angeles, and have also visited Russia and Vietnam for potential sites,” Mr. Cui states. “If the regulators move to outlaw mining, it will only take us about three months to resume operations overseas. Money spent in buying land is a relatively small amount compared to the whole business.”

Curiously, Mr. Cui forecasts that China’s cryptocurrency crackdown may ultimately serve as a positive for the bitcoin community at large. He argues that China’s dominance over the bitcoin markets in recent years undermined the cryptocurrency’s decentralization, stating “it is important for bitcoin to [reduce its dependence on] China so it can become stronger, as was already proven in its latest price surge.” Similarly, Mr. Cui believes that the Chinese crackdown on cryptocurrency exchanges will lead to greater decentralization, stating “it’s abnormal to have exchanges globally, as any centralized institution goes against the cryptocurrency’s very nature.”

What impact do you think a crackdown on mining will have now that many Chinese miners are exploring relocation?
Source: https://news.bitcoin.com/chinese-bitcoin-miners-explore-relocating-abroad-amid-fears-of-crackdown/

Human Discovery Platform predicts bitcoin price fall after February 18th, 2018 and emergence of the new technological solutions from November, 2019 till May, 2020.

Quantum physics and astrology combination are taken as a basis for the prediction presented. The key parameter taken into consideration is the technique of solar returns that allows displaying the subject change during the year and based on any date of the definite event. The solar returns are annual circles which are being activated in 88 days prior to the event. Applying this calculation to bitcoin, it will become clear that the day of the solar return activation is August 18th, 2017, 2018, 2019 starting from bitcoin registration time – August 18, 2008, 13:19:55, UTC.

The bitcoin price prediction is carefully developed but at the same time it’s a real secret. The system was built according to the community interest, rather than a certain person, the elite and could be developed in Japan or Switzerland, but the place of its birth is Russia.

It’s predicted that the bitcoin abuse as a financial tool will be resulted in the system limitation applied by the states, financial or regulatory institutions. By the way it may cause token price decrease.

So, there will be some external circumstances allowing bitcoin to enter the new life cycle and reach the new level. The technical and legal issues will be the crucial factors for the system stability. The main aim of 2017 is to teach people to operate with bitcoins.

The period from November, 2017 till February, 2018 there will be even greater uncontrolled growth of bitcoin cost. It seems bitcoin would like to take as much as it can.

May – August, 2018. This period will become the one when bitcoin will become the part of the global financial system. It’s expected that bitcoin and the world financial system will be interdependent and impact on each other. The state and the financial system will experience a threat from bitcoins. And they will take various steps to restrict bitcoin influence.

August – October, 2018. The legalization and taxation may be applied to bitcoin buying and trading.

In general, the period from May 18th, 2018 till May 18th, 2019 will be marked by the strengthening of the limitations for the system and attempts of the community to overcome the restrictions. Aiming to reach its goals bitcoin will demonstrate tenacity until the moment when the organizations will take a good position to dictate their terms.

And finally, the year 2019 will become the one when the system will take stability – it can reach the required rate. And despite the state intention to restrict bitcoin, the bitcoin community will find out the new cryptocurrency format.
Source: https://www.coinspeaker.com/2017/11/17/astrologist-predicts-will-happen-bitcoin-price-2018-2020/

Bitcoin wallet service Blockchain has announced it will add full support for bitcoin cash across all its platforms by the end of Q1 2018. The company says it is also working on integrating SegWit support in its wallet products.

Blockchain made the announcement in a blog post, explaining that it believes bitcoin cash — a cryptocurrency created on August 1 by hard forking the bitcoin blockchain — has proven that is a viable, top-tier cryptocurrency. Since its launch, bitcoin cash has consistently maintained a top-four spot in the market cap rankings, and it briefly held the second position over the weekend at the height of its phenomenal week-long rally. Now that SegWit2x — a scaling proposal intended to immediately ease transaction fees by increasing the nominal bitcoin blocksize — has been suspended indefinitely due to a lack of community consensus, analysts speculate that individuals — and perhaps business — who desire bitcoin to be a currency first and a store of value second will rally around bitcoin cash.

Blockchain, incidentally, was an advocate for SegWit2x, and many of that proposal’s opponents criticized the company for failing to integrate support for Segregated Witness (SegWit), an upgrade that had already been activated on the bitcoin network through a soft fork in late August. In addition to laying the groundwork for long-term “second-layer” scaling solutions, SegWit immediately reduces transaction fees by approximately 35%. Consequently, Blockchain — along with several other SegWit2x-supporting businesses that have not yet integrated SegWit — have been accused of dragging their feet for political reasons.

Blockchain, however, says that the delay stems from the complexity of integrating SegWit into products that have billions of users.Nevertheless, Blockchain says it will begin rolling out SegWit support within its bitcoin wallet products in 2018, with a Q1 target date.

Source: https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/bitcoin-wallet-blockchain-add-support-bitcoin-cash-segwit/

A major Japanese bitcoin exchange is looking to enter the Russian cryptocurrency market and is seeking a local partner. The exchange’s CEO says “demand is huge” and urges Russia to look at Japan as a model for cryptocurrency regulations.


Quoine, which operates the cryptocurrency exchange Quoinex, is looking to enter the Russian crypto market, CEO Mike Kayamori told Russian news outlet Ria Novosti in an interview at the company’s headquarters in Tokyo this week. The exchange currently supports BTC, BCH, and ETH. At the end of September this year, the company became one of the first of eleven in Japan to receive approval by the Financial Services Agency (FSA).

“The volume of our transactions last month amounted to 7-8 billion dollars in one month,” Kayamori revealed, adding that his exchange is actively looking for opportunities in Russia. He said:Currently, “we do not work in Russia because we do not know how regulation there is. All the unknowns are a risk,” he added. “Therefore we would like to cooperate with any Russian progressive company that would be interested in cryptocurrency.”

The exchange has been actively expanding its operations of late. According to the CEO, the company is in talks with a number of foreign exchanges and financial institutions in countries such as the Philippines, South Korea, and China. Recently, Quoine partnered with fintech startup Blockwave to start cryptocurrency operations in Canada.
As for expanding into Russia, Kayamori believes that “the most important thing is for the government to be consistent, to have confidence in what is good and what is bad.” He elaborated:Kayamori is not the only one suggesting looking at Japan as a model. In July, news.Bitcoin.com reported on Russian politician and the Presidential Commissioner for Entrepreneurs’ Rights, Boris Titov, proposing for the central bank to follow the Japanese model in regulating cryptocurrencies.

Currently, the Russian government is working on a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings (ICOs). The regulations need to be implemented by July of next year, according to a mandate by president Vladimir Putin. This week, the Deputy Finance Minister announced that the bill should be ready by February.

Source: https://news.bitcoin.com/high-demand-japanese-bitcoin-exchange-partner-russia/

Katsunori Sago, the chief investment officer at Japan Post Bank, has joined the cadre of financial observers calling bitcoin a bubble, stating that bitcoin’s fair value should be around $100.

The banker went on to call the bitcoin bubble worse than the 1990s dot-com bubble.

Sago said the bank could consider buying bitcoin if it falls to $100, but it has no plans to short sell bitcoin on account of its volatility, in remarks reported by Reuters yesterday. Today, bitcoin price hit a new all-time high of $8,040.

Worse Than Dot-Com Bubble

Sago said there was a rally in dot-com shares in the 1990s, but people then were at least using the services of dot-com players like Yahoo and Rakuten, a Japanese Internet company.

Today, people he knows are “doing crypto-currency businesses,” but no one he knows is trading cryptocurrencies or using them in real life. In that sense, he said bitcoin is worse than the IT bubble.

Sago said one friend with no financial industry background recently asked his opinion on cryptocurrencies. The fact that people with no financial background ask such a question indicates the market is headed for trouble in a few months. He said he had similar experiences before the dot-com bubble burst in 2000 and before the peak in stock prices in 2007.

Bitcoin Could Hit $10,000

Bitcoin’s price could hit $10,000 before the CME Group launches bitcoin futures before the end of the year, Sago said. But he said it is hard to predict when the bubble will burst. Hence, the bank does not want to short bitcoin.

Blockchain is a great technology, he said, and bitcoin could eventually become a major settlement tool. But that could be more than a decade away.

Financial Observers Pile On

Morgan Stanley chairman and CEO James Gorman also recently claimed that bitcoin “doesn’t quite deserve the attention it is getting” at a time when the cryptocurrency is nearing all-time highs.

Sago and Gorman join a cadre of other bankers and financial figures who have been asked about bitcoin in a year where the cryptocurrency has firmly permeated into the mainstream and society as a store of value among retail investors.

Earlier this month, Societe Generale deputy CEO Severin Cabannes said bitcoin is clearly in a bubble, while Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam stated bitcoin is “the very definition of a bubble.”

Asked about bitcoin’s price gains this year, legendary investor Warren Buffet said there’s a “real bubble in that sort of thing.” The most infamous quote of all is left to JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, who said bitcoin is a fraud.
Source: https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/japan-bank-cio-calls-bitcoin-a-bubble-pegs-true-market-value-at-100/

Throughout this week, false reports regarding the legality of bitcoin and cryptocurrency mining have emerged. Local sources have revealed that bitcoin mining is not banned as of yet.


Initially, Sichuan Electric Power Company, released an unconfirmed circular which claimed that the use of electricity to produce and mine bitcoin is illegal. Caijing, an independent news publication based in Beijing, first reported on the circular released by Sichuan Electric Power Company, and more media outlets followed.

CnLedger, a trusted news source of the Chinese cryptocurrency market, quickly debunked the report, after Sichuan Electric Power Company admitted that it had made several mistakes and included unverified claims on its circular.

“The head of that company has clarified that they made mistakes on the statement, as they are not a government administrative department, and have no rights to determine whether bitcoin mining is illegal,” wrote CnLedger.

According to the county electric power company in Sichuan, the firm did release a notice which explicitly described bitcoin mining as an illicit operation. But, an executive of the company stated that the circular was released in a hurry and that the company is not in a position to ban or restrict bitcoin mining.

“However, head of the company clarified to Caixin today that the notice was made in a hurry; it is not their role to determine whether bitcoin mining is against the law. Actually the company is not yet connected to national grid, and relies on local stations to get electricity,” added CnLedger.

More importantly, state-owned business and finance news publication Caixin, revealed that the government has no intent of banning bitcoin mining or any activity surrounding cryptocurrency mining in the region as of yet.

Caixin’s report was particularly important and notable to the controversy surrounding a potential bitcoin mining ban in China as it has operated as the official press of the Chinese government. CnLedger explained that Caixin has communicated with the government, which announced that bitcoin is not illegal as of current. CnLedger revealed:

“Caixin also mentioned that technically these 6 stations are not qualified grid power supplier. So they are not allowed to the grid anyway. The electricity they produced is considered “wasted” power. Previously Caixin has also contacted those who are close to the regulators, and was told that currently there is no plan to forbid bitcoin mining.”

Conclusively, a premature and unverified circular of a country grid operator led to a series of false reports around the legality of bitcoin mining. So far, the government and state-owned press have evidently demonstrated that the country has no intentions to ban bitcoin mining.

In the upcoming months, several analysts predict the Chinese government to provide necessary regulatory frameworks around cryptocurrency trading and bitcoin mining. Businesses have not ruled out the possibility of cryptocurrency trading resumption, given that the Chinese government has emphasized the need for strict Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) policies for cryptocurrency exchanges.

Source: https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/bitcoin-mining-in-china-is-not-banned-yet-false-reports/

Contrary to belief, China has not banned bitcoin mining, according to a local power provider that came forward this week.

Clearing the Air

One of China’s state-run power grids has rebuffed rumors that cryptocurrency mining is illegal in the country. The rebuke came after Sichuan Electric Power Company ran a story indicating that China’s State Grid was about to ban bitcoin mining entirely in Sichuan province. The claims were based on a circulated document stating that “bitcoin mining is an illegal activity”

Although local executives admitted the report to be at least partially true, they clarified that it was an internal document that had little bearing on statewide regulation.

As CCN reports, it was trusted Chinese news source CnLedger that cleared up the rumors by issuing the following statement regarding Sichuan Electric Power Company:
In a separate statement, state-owned business publication Caixin indicated that the government has no intention to ban crypto mining in the region. This is a crucial admission, given the evolving nature of bitcoin regulation in the world’s second-largest economy.

The Return of Regulatory Sanity?

China shocked the cryptocurrency market a few months ago by instating a blanket ban on all bitcoin trading within the country. Policymakers also moved to ban initial coin offerings (ICOs), the controversial crowdfunding model that has raised billions of dollars this year alone.

However, there is some evidence to suggest that the Chinese are pursuing a more comprehensive overhaul of bitcoin regulation. Last month, the director of the central bank’s Digital Currency Research Institute pitched the idea of a state-run cryptocurrency as a means to stabilize the yuan.

In a meeting hosted by the International Telecommunication Union in October, Yao Qian issued the following statement:
Speculation that China may soon re-enter the cryptocurrency market helped bitcoin prices stabilize during the month of October. The market hasn’t needed any help since, with prices soaring to new record highs.

Several countries have taken China’s lead in banning certain activities related to cryptocurrency. Vietnam banned bitcoin trading last month without giving much of a reason. Even South Korea, which is home to one of the more liberal crypto environments, recently issued a ban on ICOs.

Although Chinese regulations are expected to evolve now that the Communist Party gathering has come and gone, traders have already found ways to circumnavigate the ban by moving their business to Hong Kong and other regional markets with more favorable crypto regulations.

Source: https://hacked.com/33035-2/

Bitcoin retains its crown as crypto king — but issues still hang over the cryptocurrency

After a shaky weekend, bitcoin is king again but issues still hang over the digital currency.

Bitcoin crashed more than 25% from Wednesday's all-time high of $7,721 a coin to a low of $5,617 Sunday. During its fall, bitcoin's market cap as a percentage of the entire crypto-market dipped below 50% for the first time since early October, according to CoinMarketCap.com.

Bitcoin cash, on the other hand, witnessed an impressive rally that propelled the coin to a record-high of $2,500 early Sunday morning.

By Monday morning, however, the situation was flipped.

At 9:40 a.m. ET, bitcoin was trading up 10.9% at $6,544 and had regained its more than 50% command of the cryptocurrency market. Bitcoin cash was trading down 20% at $1,262 per coin.

Bitcoin cash spun out of the original bitcoin network in August. Backers of the upstart coin thought its design would better help bitcoin's scaling problem. As more folks have poured into bitcoin, transactions have gotten more expensive and slower on bitcoin's network. That's made it difficult for bitcoin to mature and truly rival the scale of larger incumbent payment systems such as Visa and MasterCard.

AllianceBernstein noted some of the issues facing bitcoin in a note out to clients November 10.

The financial services firm test drove bitcoin to compare it to similar networks, like PayPal. The firm didn't think the coin was able to hold a candle to its reputation as a quick and cheap way to send money internationally.

"The bitcoin transaction required more steps, took more time, and was less intuitive than traditional services," the note said.

"The process of using bitcoin was significantly more complex and less intuitive than using traditional cross-border remittance service," the firm added.

Despite these difficulties, bitcoin's command of the market gives it a huge leg up over its rival cryptocurrencies.

Matthew Goetz, the founder of cryptocurrency hedge fund BlockTower Capital, told Business Insider that bitcoin's massive scale would require a competitor coin to have substantially better capabilities.

"It's something like Facebook," Goetz said. "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."

Out of the more than 1,000 cryptocurrencies in existence, bitcoin appears to be getting the most attention from traditional Wall Street firms.

Two of the largest exchange groups in the world, for instance, are preparing to launch bitcoin futures in the short term and big trading firms have indicated they would provide liquidity to such a market place. 

source: http://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-price-up-but-issues-still-hang-over-the-cryptocurrency-2017-11

Bitcoin is a phenomenon that provokes conflicting emotions in people. Fear. Excitement. Elation. Doubt. For governments tasked with regulating every new thing that comes along, be it the motor car or the internet, bitcoin presents a conundrum. How to regulate such a seemingly unregulatable creation? While many western governments have reached for the button marked “Fear”, Japan has taken the reverse approach.

Bitcoin has been an officially legal payment method in Japan since April, when 4,500 stores began accepting the cryptocurrency, and leading financial newspaper, the Nikkei, tips that figure to increase five-Japan Teaches Western Governments a Lesson in Cryptocurrency Regulationfold by the end of the year. Japanese shoppers can spend bitcoin in a range of stores including electronics giant Bic Cam and bitcoin signs are displayed prominently, helping to raise awareness. BTMs – ATMs that exchange fiat for bitcoin – are scattered throughout the country, and there’s even the ability to pay utility bills complete with a special bitcoin discount via Remixpoint.

Following the Mt Gox collapse, in which the country’s (and indeed the world’s) largest bitcoin exchange liquidated, losing 850,000 bitcoins, Japanese regulators stepped in. Rather than try to stem the use of cryptocurrency, they enacted regulations which mandated exchanges to maintain capital reserves, keep customer funds separate, and implement KYC procedures. Meanwhile, many western governments have dithered over cryptocurrency regulation.

This week, Donald Trump’s treasury secretary issued his first public comments about bitcoin – and they weren’t exactly glowing. His primary concern was with ensuring that bitcoin couldn’t be used “for illicit activities”. He also invoked the usual canards that
Japan Teaches Western Governments a Lesson in Cryptocurrency Regulation
Encryption is bad, m’kay?

government officials are prone to uttering in the same breath, citing money laundering, terrorists, and the dark web. The only box the treasury secretary forgot to tick off was the one marked “child pornography”.

These accusations aren’t just limited to bitcoin of course. Cryptography as a whole is the bugbear of many western governments, with British and US leaders in particular expressing frustration that backdoors can’t be built into encrypted messaging platforms such as Whatsapp. Bitcoin is mercifully free from centralized attempts at meddling with code, but that hasn’t prevented governments from restricting entry and exit points from the fiat world. Officials haven’t lain the banhammer on bitcoin, but they’ve done little to support it.

Japan is a tech-savvy nation whose elected officials have a better appreciation of the Japan Teaches Western Governments a Lesson in Cryptocurrency Regulationtransformative power of emerging technologies than most. It follows that the more digitally-inclined countries should be among the first to embrace cryptocurrency. In Europe, Estonia, with its e-Residency digital passports, is another country that’s been positive towards cryptocurrency.

“Bitcoin regulation” can mean very different things in different countries. In Japan it means taking measures to safeguard citizens whilst encouraging the responsible use of bitcoin and enabling crypto companies to get on with business. In other developed nations, however, “bitcoin regulation” is a euphemism for “anti-money laundering”.

“Australia follows Japan in move to regulate bitcoin” ran the headline in the Financial Times. It all sounds so promising, but delve into the story and it becomes evident that Australia is not about to start rolling out BTMs and putting up bitcoin signs in its retail stores.

“Stopping the movement of money to criminals and terrorists is a vital part of our national security defences and we expect regulated businesses in Australia to comply with our comprehensive regime,” states the country’s justice minister in Orwellian terms.

Japan hasn’t been shy when it comes to weighing in on bitcoin, as its stringent KYC regulations and new ICO guidelines show. But it’s tempered this with an open invitation to exchange owners, entrepreneurs, crypto pioneers, and bitcoin enthusiasts that says “We’re open for business”. Western governments could learn a lot.

Source: https://news.bitcoin.com/japan-teaches-western-governments-lesson-cryptocurrency-regulation/

Cryptocurrency enthusiasts are all too familiar with the concept of the roller coaster. The Bitcoin price has seen wild fluctuations, but eventually settles down without too much of a problem. The Bitcoin Cash price, on the other hand, has seen massive growth and is starting to pay the price. These past few hours have seen a drop of US$700 in the artificially inflated price of this altcoin.

A lot has been said about the Bitcoin Cash price over the past week. That is not entirely surprising, as this slightly modified version of Bitcoin has seen a pretty stellar price trend over the past few days. After rising from US$350 all the way to a new all-time high of over US$2,400, the major correction everyone knew was coming has finally begun. It may get very bloody in the coming hours, although the prior uptrend may resume as well, for all we know.

The Bitcoin Cash price is US$1,462.13 at the time of writing. While this is still a 53% increase compared to 24 hours ago, it is evident the major Bitcoin Cash price party is over as of right now. About an hour ago, this currency was worth US$1,000 more than it is now. It is evident that BCH’s inflated market capitalization and price would eventually result in people cashing out. It’s mainly the people advocating for this fork to succeed who are taking profits, packing their ball, and going home.

This sharp drop in price was bound to happen sooner or later. With the Bitcoin Cash price having been pumped as hard as it has, something had to give sooner or later. Despite high trading volume all week, it is evident the sellers are starting to outweigh the buyers. A top has been reached at just over 0.5 BTC, even though everyone knows that never represented the true Bitcoin Cash price. No one knows what this altcoin should be worth right now, but it’s certainly not US$2,400.

The US$10.15 billion in 24-hour trading volume has certainly helped the Bitcoin Cash price retain its high value these past few days. Even right now, it is still up by almost 400% compared to a week or so ago. That in itself is pretty amazing, especially for a cryptocurrency which still has everything to prove right now. There will be some interesting developments in this regard over the next 48 hours, to say the very least.

Perhaps the most disconcerting aspect of all this is how Bithumb has generated around 40% of all trading volume for Bitcoin Cash during this entire pump. CoinMarketCap has decided not to use the Bithumb price for its weighted average anymore, although it is unclear why that is the case. Considering that the platform is still trading BCH at US$2,534 right now, it is evident something is amiss there. While everyone likes Bithumb, it is possible the exchange has run into some issues. We will keep an eye on this development over the coming hours and days to figure out what is going on exactly.

In the end, it seems the Bitcoin Cash price has had a good run, but all good things must come to an end. It is possible the Bitcoin Cash price will recover before the day is over, though, but without Bithumb leading the charge, that may not be as easy as one would assume. It will be very interesting to see what the future holds for BCH, as there are a lot of people paying attention to this particular market right now.

Source: https://themerkle.com/bitcoin-cash-price-drops-by-900-as-coinmarketcap-excludes-bithumbs-price/

"There was a joke on social media, some guy lost his sex drive because he sold bitcoin after the China ban."

And with that, Bobby Lee, the CEO of China's oldest cryptocurrency exchange BTCC, launched into a scheduled speech extolling the virtues of bitcoin. Coming at the end of day one of the two-day technical conference Scaling Bitcoin last weekend, the talk amounted to a pep rally largely aimed at classical bitcoin bogeymen – the state, ICO scammers and those who don't get it.

But while he was speaking to just a few hundred of the foremost technical experts on the subject, it's ironically those in the wider world who Lee might have been better off addressing in his full remarks.

"Bitcoin's value does not come from the endorsement, acceptance or regulation from governments. Bitcoin's value comes from the inherent failures, limitations and inconveniences of the fiat money system,” Lee said in a tone befitting a grade school science teacher.

From there, he proceeded to defend the price of bitcoin – up more than 600 percent on the year – not as a bubble, but as evidence the protocol is proving its utility as the best way to hold value in the digital age.

Far from being tepid about the market, Lee argued those who have been on the fence should invest in bitcoin today, telling the crowd:
Lee went on to describe bitcoin as "very cheap," arguing that prospective buyers shouldn't look at the current price, but rather conceive of the potential the protocol could have when more of the world's assets migrate to the blockchain.

"Bitcoin is like buying gold at a 98 percent discount. If you think it's too late, if I had thought that back in 2012, I would not own bitcoin," Lee continued.

Jam-packed with no shortage of attempts to entertain, the speech went on to outline common "mistakes" made by more novice bitcoin traders, including four that Lee cited as the most detrimental. These included: "indecisiveness," "not buying enough," "selling after a small gain" and "selling during a panic crash."

"When you first learn about bitcoin you hesitate, the answer is to not be hesitant," he said.

On China

Still, the talk was not without its more serious moments.

For example, Lee opened up at length about the difficult situation for his startup, which has pivoted internationally after finding itself on the receiving end of the negative actions that can occur when bitcoin "challenges governments."

This September, the Chinese government moved abruptly to shut down ICOs (the sale of custom cryptocurrencies for fundraising), at the time, allegedly acting behind the scenes to take exchanges offline.

In response to the news, the market reacted strongly – dropping below $3,000 after hitting a new all-time high of $4,000 in the weeks before. Lee went on to note that "no one dares talk about" what happened next: the effective doubling of the price.

And while no formal ban was made, Lee affirmed his belief that China still "doesn't want to see bitcoin anymore," and that to his knowledge, no trading or price information can be displayed to consumers.

"No ICOs, no bitcoin, ethereum, litecoin, no more. That's the rule right now. I don't know where you buy bitcoin in China. It's like buying guns and pornography in China," he said.

That's not to say he doesn't see the market ever coming back, but he's not optimistic about the timeline.

State cryptos are coming

While there was focus on China, the remarks are perhaps best seen as part of a broader point: state actors will and are trying to infringe on bitcoin.

Lee made clear he believes the actions in China are simply the first sign of what the bitcoin community has long suspected will occur, that central banks will try to issue "digital crypto versions of their money system."

"Those will be state-controlled, state-supplied. Today bitcoin accounts are freely generated, those will be assigned to you and assigned identity. I don't think we'll be close to a decentralized cryptocurrency," he said.

Lee, however, was adamant in his belief that bitcoin – and by extension, its developers or businesses – shouldn't bend the knee in response.

He concluded:
Source: https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-isnt-expensive-says-btcc-boss-bobby-lee/

Malware targeted against cryptocurrency users is becoming increasingly prevalent, a new report shows. Attacks are also getting more sophisticated, with enterprising hackers less focused on cryptocurrency holders and more intent on directing their firepower at bitcoin exchanges. The blame for such intrusions is being directed firmly at North Korea, where many of the attacks are believed to originate.

New statistics released by the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) have identified over 5,000 instances of ransomware damage between January and September of this year. This was a 3.7x increase on the same period last year, and was accompanied by a spate of malicious code injections. While much of this malware was ransomware-based, 44 attacks were specifically designed to steal personal information from the targets.

North Korean Hackers Ramp Up Malware Attacks Against Bitcoin Exchange StaffCryptocurrency holders must constantly remain vigilant against malware attacks, but for exchange staffers, overseeing millions of dollars of digital assets, this requirement exponentially heightens. In July, it emerged that hackers had been trying to infiltrate South Korean exchanges and with some success. Malware injections were directed against exchange employees who didn’t have to look far to find the source of the attacks.

North Korea is a nation which doesn’t excel on many fronts, but its hacking prowess is a matter of national pride and international hand-wringing. It’s become fashionable to blame the North Koreans for all manner of internet mischief, from the Sony pictures hack to distributing ransomware across the web. It was inevitable that North Korea would be accused of trying to infiltrate its southern neighbor’s bitcoin exchanges, and the evidence is compelling.

The Yonhap News Agency reported a KISA official as saying:
Cybersecurity firm Fire Eye previously revealed further details of the summertime assault on South Korean exchanges, asserting that the attempted theft of bitcoin was to fill “the personal North Korean Hackers Ramp Up Malware Attacks Against Bitcoin Exchange Staffcoffers of Pyongyang’s elite” and intended “as a means of evading sanctions and obtaining hard [safe haven] currencies to fund the regime”.

Thankfully for South Korea’s exchanges, the country seems to have no shortage of entities tasked with safeguarding key cyber infrastructure. In recent weeks, both the National Police Agency (NPA) and Cyber Warfare Intelligence Center of South Korea have warned of further incursions by North Korean hackers. Email phishing attempts are a favored attack vector, and it’s one that’s borne fruit on a number of occasions.

The NPA reported that 25 employees from four South Korean exchanges have been targeted from a North Korean IP address, with the Yapizon exchange surrendering $5 million of funds, including bitcoin, following a successful breach. For political and financial reasons, South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges are an alluring target for North Korean hackers. As the value of the cryptocurrency markets continues to rise, officials have warned exchange staffers to remain on high alert.

Source: https://news.bitcoin.com/north-korean-hackers-ramp-malware-attacks-bitcoin-exchange-staff/

LONDON – Tim Draper was walking through a pavilion at a tech conference in Lisbon on Tuesday when he was cornered by an entrepreneur touting a new digital currency. No sooner had the venture capitalist heard the pitch than he was approached by another guy hawking his own initial coin offering. Another followed, then another.

It’s no mystery why cryptocurrency peddlers flocked to Draper. As founder of the Silicon Valley VC firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson, he’s backed the likes of Hotmail, Skype and Tesla Inc., and said he fell in love with bitcoin not long after it was introduced in 2009. In February 2014, 40,000 of his bitcoins were stolen when Mt. Gox, a big cryptocurrency exchange in Japan, was hacked and went belly up. At the time, Draper was certain the scandal spelled the end of the bitcoin era.

“The price fell 10 to 20 percent on the news but I thought, ‘That’s nothing, it should have gone to zero,’ ” Draper said in an interview at WebSummit 2017 in Lisbon.

On Friday, bitcoin dropped below $7,000, trading more than 5 percent down on the day, having fallen by well over $1,000 since hitting an all-time high on Wednesday.

A few months after the 2014 theft, he bought 30,000 bitcoins at an auction conducted by the U.S. Marshals Service. Prosecutors had seized the tokens as part of their case against Silk Road, a dark-web bazaar for narcotics and other contraband. At the time, bitcoin was trading about $600, which means Draper paid about $18 million for the block. Today the value of those bitcoin is $213 million, a 1,083 percent jump. Draper has been an unabashed promoter of the cryptocurrency ever since.

“This is the greatest technology since the internet,” said Draper, a lanky man wearing a red necktie festooned with bitcoin symbols. “This is a sociological transformation, it’s a movement.”

It’s also an epic bubble, say skeptics including Jamie Dimon, chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co. Many investors still can’t define bitcoin. Is it a currency? A commodity? A store of value, like gold? Entrepreneurs worldwide are flooding the internet with copycats — more than 1,270 digital coins or tokens are now on the market, with a total value of $205 billion, according to CoinMarketCap, a website that tracks the industry.

At WebSummit, an annual confab of more than 60,000 techies, announcements of new ICOs came fast and furious — there was Uniti, the world’s first “certified green” cryptocurrency, and another called Valhalla that claimed it could help people recover from natural disasters. Asked whether the market was going to implode like the dotcom boom in the late ’90s, Draper shook his head.

“People are always going to say there’s a problem, and that usually means there’s a lot more upside,” said the investor, who now heads the VC firm Draper Associates.

But what about fraud? Regulators are increasingly worried that in the frenzy to make fast money, many investors, especially millennials new to the capital markets, are plowing their cash into rackets, not companies. China and South Korea have outlawed ICOs, and Switzerland has imposed rules on how they go to market. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission now requires ICOs to register like IPOs.

Draper shrugs. Investors should do their homework by scrutinizing who’s running the ICOs and whether their business plans seem legitimate, he said.

“I take huge risks,” he said with a laugh. “I lose my money 60 percent of the time.”

Whatever the risks, Wall Street is inching closer to embracing bitcoin and its ilk as a bona fide asset class. Last week, CME Group Inc., the world’s largest exchange owner, announced it was planning to launch bitcoin futures by the end of the year, which could pave the way for approval of exchange-traded funds based on the cryptocurrency. On Nov. 2, Lloyd Blankfein, the CEO of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., said bitcoin could go mainstream.

Hedge funds are raising hundreds of millions dollars to pour into digital currencies. But Draper said he thinks bitcoin will divide the financial services industry, at least initially.

“There will be a few who embrace it and jump out front and say, ‘This is important’ and then there are going to be those who jump back and say, ‘I’m going to cling to the past and I’m going to hold onto everything I’ve got.’ And you know who wins then,” he said. “It’s always progress, it’s always technology.”

With 30,000 bitcoins in his digital wallet, Draper, for now at least, wins too.
Source: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/11/10/business/financial-markets/bitcoin-no-bubble-says-investor-213-million-stake/#.WgbxjDIo_IU

South Korea’s internet security authority has pointed to an ‘alarming’ rise of malware attacks from North Korean hackers seeking bitcoin to fund Kim Jong Un’s regime.

A new report by the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA), the authority responsible for maintaining and safeguarding the country’s internet space, has highlighted an increasing number of malware attacks led by hackers suspected to be from North Korea.

As reported by Korean news agency Yonhap, the reported instances of malicious code between July-September of this year went up to 452 cases against 436 in the second quarter. Cases of ransomware – a cybersecurity attack where victims are extorted into paying cryptocurrencies like bitcoin to regain access to their crippled computers – were up 3.7x in the January-September period at 5,366 cases against last year’s 1,438.

A KISA official stated:

North Korean hackers have been accused of stealing ₩100 million in bitcoin (approx. $90,000) every month between 2013-2015. In September, cybersecurity firm FireEye revealed details of a state-sponsored North Korean hacker campaign to steal bitcoin from cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea.

An excerpt from the report revealed the theft was to fill “the personal coffers of Pyongyang’s elite”, stating:

One of the many attacks included a notable hack of South Korean bitcoin exchange Yapizon where hackers made away with $5 million in user funds and bitcoin.

More recently, an official from South Korea’s Cyber Warfare Intelligence Center (CWIC) pointed to a number of phishing attempts by North Korean hackers targeting South Korean exchanges with malware-laden emails.

All of which led to a comprehensive investigation by South Korea’s National Police Investigation (NPA). In its official report, the authority confirmed that North Korean hackers have and are continuing to target bitcoin exchanges in the country. Details of the investigation revealed a total of 25 employees at 4 domestic bitcoin exchanges subjected to at least 10 separate phishing attempts originating from a North Korean IP address that was previously linked to other hacking attempts targeting Seoul.

Source: https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/bitcoin-price-gains-see-north-korean-hackers-ramp-attacks/

Exponential Mainstream Adoption of Bitcoin in Japan

Over the past five months, some of Japan’s largest conglomerates including major budget airline operator Peach, leading electronics retailer Bic Camera, and the nation’s largest budget hotel chain Capsule have been accepting bitcoin payments by partnering with bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchanges.

The integration of bitcoin by Bic Camera has played a vital factor in triggering the increase in demand for bitcoin as a payment method within Japan, as unlike most countries, electronic retailers process the vast majority of electronics sales in the country, not e-commerce and online platforms.

More to that, several multi-billion dollar conglomerates have launched their own bitcoin exchanges with differing visions. Remixpoint for instance, a major electric grid operator in Japan, created Bitpoint, a bitcoin exchange, to process electricity and other utility bill payments from general consumers with bitcoin.

Currently, Nikkei, a Japanese business and finance news publication, estimates that 4,500 stores accept bitcoin as a major payment method. By the end of 2017, Nikkei revealed that the number could increase by five-fold, to 22,500.

In an interview with CNBC, bitcoin researcher Mai Fujimoto, who is better known as Miss Bitcoin, stated that smart and practical regulations by the Japanese government allowed general consumers in Japan to build trust in bitcoin and the cryptocurrency market.

Importance of Practical Regulatory Frameworks in Facilitating Rising Demand for Bitcoin
The approach of the Japanese government to regulate the bitcoin sector rather than to dismiss it has ultimately benefited both the government and general consumers, as it has created a more robust market which the government has, to a certain extent, control over, and users feel secure about their investments.

Previously, Yuzo Kano, the CEO of BitFlyer, the largest bitcoin exchange in Japan by trading volume with more than 800,000 active users, told Nathaniel Poppers of the New York Times that the Japanese financial market and the vast majority of its investors are extremely conservative when it comes to investments. But, he stated that once it is accepted by the public and the norm, conservative investors tend to go all-in.

Such trend has been evidently portrayed in the rapid adoption rate of bitcoin in Japan as a robust store of value, safe haven asset, and a widely acknowledged currency.

“Japanese people tend to be very conservative with their investments, but once they get triggered they go all in,” said Kano.
Source: http://www.newsbtc.com/2017/11/10/japan-legalization-of-bitcoin-led-to-surge-in-mainstream-adoption/

As gold continues to wallow below the $1,300 per ounce mark, bitcoin made a fresh record high this week. Considering bitcoin and gold share some similar attributes, why is gold’s performance so lacklustre as bitcoin continues to march higher?

The question now is, is Bitcoin a better store of value than gold? To answer this we need to know what is driving the lacklustre performance in gold and if the factors weighing on the yellow metal will last.

   . Interest rates: expectations that the Fed will hike rates in December and continue with its rate-hiking cycle in 2018. Since gold yields nothing, and US assets are starting to yield more, this erodes gold’s attractiveness.

   . The Fed’s balance sheet: the Fed’s decision to shrink its balance sheet is also contributing to gold’s under-performance.

   . Stocks: this earnings season has seen a surge in firms who have said that they will increase their dividend. This also makes stocks more attractive than gold from a yield potential.

   . Demand: the World Gold Council reported that demand for gold slid to an 8-year low. Demand for gold fell to 9 tonnes in Q3, down 9% from Q3 2016.

   . Demand cont.: Sluggish demand is coming from significantly lower inflows into gold ETFs and a softer jewellery market in India, according to the World Gold Council.

But this doesn’t explain why Bitcoin, which shares some attributes with gold, continues to embark on its ferocious march higher. Here are some of the attributes shared by gold and bitcoin:

   . Both are decentralised, and are not under the control of a central bank or other authority.

   . Both are mined: one physically, one digitally.

   . Both yield nothing.

   . They are considered a store of value.

But, the crucial differences between gold and bitcoin include:

   . While demand for gold has slumped, demand for bitcoin is soaring, which is why its price has increased by a whopping 900% so far this year. This compared with a more moderate 14% gain for gold in the last 12 months.

   . Demand for gold ETFs has also slowed, one reason may be the prospect of more bitcoin-linked products that are about to come onto the market including bitcoin futures listed by the CME and bitcoin options listed on the CBOE. Some investors may be taking money out of gold-backed funds in anticipation of investing in bitcoin when these new products go live.

   . Gold has been around for millennia, bitcoin is the new kid on the block, which is inevitably adding to its lustre.

Overall, you could argue that the story behind bitcoin is stronger than it is for gold right now and that is the chief reason why gold is lagging behind Bitcoin. The potential for Bitcoin and crypto in general to overtake the fiat currency system in the coming years is also a powerful driver of demand, and is something that gold cannot compete with.

The case for gold:

We would caution against writing gold off completely for a few reasons:

   . Gold positioning, as measured by the CFTC, is still relatively strong even if it has backed off the highs of the year. There are currently 1.9mn long gold futures positions, which is above the 5-year average of 1.2mn contracts.

   . The technical picture also suggests that any further decline in gold could be capped by some key support levels including the 38.2% retracement of the Dec 2016 low to the September high. This level comes in at $1,268 and acted as solid support in early October and early November.

   . Gold is a tried and tested safe haven. During the financial crisis the price of gold surged 181%. Bitcoin is yet to be tested during a period of intense financial stress. Can the crypto currency only rally in a low volatility environment? If that is the case, then old-fashioned gold could see its fortunes rise once again, but we may have to wait for the elusive market sell-off before we can get excited about a potential resurgence for gold.

To conclude, although gold and bitcoin share many attributes, the bitcoin story has grabbed the trading and investing world’s attention like nothing else, hence the huge rise in its price this year. Gold cannot keep up with this and it is natural that we see some drift away from gold and into bitcoin in the coming months. In the short-term this may continue to weigh on the gold price, however, if we get a period of market stress then it could be time for the gold bugs to step up a gear as no one knows how bitcoin will react to a market panic.



Source; https://www.fxstreet.com/analysis/will-bitcoin-be-the-demise-of-gold-201711091334

China officially banned cryptocurrency exchanges after announcing it was considering the move back in September. (See more: How Might China’s Ban Affect Bitcoin?)

The last digital currency exchange in China was shut down as of November 1. With that final closure, the exchange of digital currencies in China officially became illegal. However, that's not to say that Chinese investors are not involved in the cryptocurrency space, only that they have been forced to look to other areas for their trading.

Servers Were Moved Abroad
One way that cryptocurrency exchanges in China have saved themselves is by shuttering their operations in the country and moving elsewhere. Huobi, one of the top three platforms for bitcoin trading, moved its base to Singapore, Hong Kong, and South Korea, according to a report by Forbes.

BTCC, another top exchange that was previously headquartered in Shanghai, planned to charge users a service fee in order to withdraw existing funds in the days preceding the ban.

Exchanges and ICOs Banned
China did not just close down cryptocurrency exchanges. Government regulators also shut down the ICO market. (See more: China's Ban on Bitcoin Exchanges Was Not Fake News After All.)

This was a major blow to tech companies bolstered by blockchain and the cryptocurrency space. Still, Chinese investors looking to move into the initial coin offering space could buy up tokens using offshore accounts.

Digital assets exchange C2CX suggested that the Chinese ban may not impede the cryptocurrency market much at all. (See more: China's Cryptocurrencies Have Gone Underground.)

"None of the exchanges previously based in China ceased business. They simply moved their servers abroad," said Scott Freeman, CEO of C2CX. "The only change is that for the moment, the funds will move in and out of local currency via P2P transactions instead of via direct deposit. From a regulatory perspective, this is an inferior solution because it's much harder to prevent money laundering."

Ironically, Chinese regulators cited concerns about money laundering and illicit activity as reasons for why they shuttered digital currency exchanges in the first place. Nonetheless, the fact that the cryptocurrency world is largely decentralized means that many investors are predicting it will just find a way around the Chinese ban.

Investors who are determined enough to continue to place their assets in the highly volatile and fast-moving cryptocurrency market will find a way to do so, even if it is through semi-legal and non-official pathways. In spite of the ban on exchanges and ICOs, the Chinese government indicated it will continue to explore blockchain technology developments.

Source: https://www.investopedia.com/news/cryptocurrency-exchanges-china-are-officially-dead/

Beware of bitcoin bubble, warn investment & financial advisors, as it smashes $7,600
 
Bitcoin's sevenfold rally is one of the telltale signs of a bubble, according to investment strategists. It started the year at $973 and rocketed to $7,600 on Sunday, up over 750 percent in 10 months.

Financial advisors warn bitcoin is another bubble similar to the tech boom of the late 1990s, the housing crash of 2006-2007 and the commodities bust of 2008-2009.

“A month before the 1987 crash, my cab driver said he started day trading,” Scott Kelly, CEO of Black Dog Venture Partners in Phoenix, Arizona told Forbes. “A month before the real estate crash in 2007 in Arizona, my cab driver said he was getting into flipping real estate. Last week, my Uber driver said he just started trading Bitcoin.”

Since making its debut in 2008, bitcoin has gone from no value to a fraction of a penny by March 2010. Now, one coin is worth over $7,500, and its market capitalization is greater than McDonald's. For an early investor, $1 in bitcoin seven years ago is worth millions today.

Since going mainstream, the crowd is piling in. New companies are popping up everywhere selling you on buying bitcoin for your retirement, writes Forbes, as newsletters tout their bitcoin trading strategy could make $1.64 million in 72 hours. Stories of overnight cryptocurrency millionaires abound.

While opinions have been split on the world's most popular cryptocurrency, business leaders like Warren Buffet, Jamie Dimon and Robert Shiller have warned bitcoin is a bubble.

“But it is anybody’s guess what inning. It looks to me like we’re well ahead of the 7th-inning stretch,” said Jason R. Escamilla, CEO of ImpactAdvisor, an investment advisory firm in San Francisco, as quoted by Fobes. “The price level and energy usage are unsustainable. There is far better technology emerging to meet the same needs.”

Ethereum, bitcoin cash and ripple could be those technologies. Bitcoin accounts for about 61 percent of the cryptocurrencies market that is worth nearly $200 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.com. If bitcoin crashes, there is nothing to prevent any of the alternative coins from taking over.
Source: https://www.rt.com/business/408835-bitcoin-bubble-beware-warn-analysts/