[Russian Regulator: Bitcoin Should Be Limited to 'Qualified Investors']

Russian Regulator: Bitcoin Should Be Limited to 'Qualified Investors'

Russia's deputy finance minister, Alexei Moiseev, has spoken out on how he believes cryptocurrencies should be regulated in the country.

According to reports issued by RT yesterday, Moiseev suggested in a televised interview that bitcoin should not be classified as a currency, but rather as a property or asset.

Moiseev further stated that bitcoin was a high risk "financial pyramid" and that, in order to protect consumers, bitcoin exchange should be performed only by "qualified investors" on the Moscow Stock Exchange. As such, "ordinary people" would be prohibited from buying and selling the cryptocurrency.

https://www.coindesk.com/russian-regulator-bitcoin-limited-qualified-investors/

[Bitcoin Network Fees Remain a Topic of Debate]

Bitcoin Network Fees Remain a Topic of Debate

Bitcoin transaction fees have always been a topic of substantial debate. A lot of people feel the average Bitcoin fee is far too high for the regular user. There is a certain truth to this statement, although it also depends on which service is being used. A new screenshot shows how a BitPay transaction charged a fee of 16% of the transaction amount. This goes to show something will need to change sooner or later. With the SegWit scaling solution, such fees should be less of an issue moving forward.

http://www.newsbtc.com/2017/08/27/bitcoin-network-fees-remain-topic-debate/

Ich traf mich kürzlich mit einem Bekannten der derzeit als externer IT-Entwickler bei einer großen deutschen Bank arbeitet. Bei dem Treffen hat er mir mehr oder weniger gesteckt, dass er bei der Bank mit ein Blockchainprojekt für den produktiven Einsatz umsetzt. Zum genauen Use Case wollte er sich nicht äußern. Dabei wurden mehrere Blockchains (er nannte Ripple, die vom R3 Corda und weitere) in Betracht gezogen. Schließlich hat man sich für die private Open Source Blockchain von Multichain entschieden. Ich hatte davor noch niemals von dem Projekt gehört. Weiß jemand mehr davon?

Interessant finde ich folgendes auf der Webseite:

Bitcoin compatible
Extends bitcoin protocol, formats and APIs, including full multisignature support.

[Finanzbranche und Bitcoin „Die Banken werden umgekrempelt wie die Autoindustrie“]

Finanzbranche und Bitcoin „Die Banken werden umgekrempelt wie die Autoindustrie“

Der Bitcoin ist da. Und er geht, aller Unkenrufe zum Trotz, so schnell nicht wieder weg. Die Finanzindustrie hat den Aufstieg des Bitcoin und der anderen Digitalwährungen so lange ignoriert, bis es nicht mehr ging. Mit Goldman Sachs hat nun die erste große Privatbank die Kryptowährungen als Thema entdeckt – und gleich eine Preisprognose veröffentlicht. Einer, der sich schon seit Jahren mit der Thematik beschäftigt, ist Philipp Sandner. Der Professor für Digitalwirtschaft und Betriebswirtschaftslehre leitet das im Februar 2017 gegründete Blockchain Center der Frankfurt School of Finance and Management. Im Handelsblatt-Interview erklärt Sandner, warum Preisprognosen beim Bitcoin unseriös sind. Er stellt klar: Die digitalen Münzen werden die Finanzbranche umkrempeln – und Banker sollten besser heute als morgen Programmieren lernen.

http://www.handelsblatt.com/finanzen/maerkte/devisen-rohstoffe/finanzbranche-und-bitcoin-die-banken-werden-umgekrempelt-wie-die-autoindustrie/20239368.html

I am looking for hardware wallets like Ledger Nano S, Trezor or KeepKey which let me store one or more of the following alternative coins.

• IOTA
• Waves
• Ethereum
• Komodo
• NEM
• Ark
• ERC20 tokens in general

Are there hardware wallets that support these coins or at least where it is planned to support one or more of these coins?

Just read an article about 15 hedge funds planning to invest in crypto currencies on Forbes.

With 43 projects raising $1.2 billion in initial coin offerings since May 1, according to Nick Tomaino's The Control, and with stratospheric returns for so many ICOs -- 82,000% for Ethereum, 56,000% for IOTA, 44,000% for Stratis, 21,000% for Spectrecoin -- it's no surprise that this summer through the end of 2017 marks the launches of at least 15 new crypto hedge funds.

If that is really true, then that will have tremendous positive effects on prices.

New rules being developed by the Chinese government against illegal financing may be used to crack down on initial coin offerings (ICOs).
A draft of the regulations has been released by the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council, the executive Branch of the Chinese government.

The text states:

If the department overseeing illegal fundraising activities found a fundraising without proper permission, or a fundraising that violates the relevant provisions of the State, and if one of the following circumstances is found, the department shall launch an administrative investigation. Other relevant departments shall cooperate with the investigation.
….
to raise funds in the name of issuing or transferring equity, raising funds, selling insurance, or engaging in asset management activities, virtual currency, leasing, credit cooperation and mutual funds...

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has released nine more blockchain-related patent applications filed by Bank of America.

Data collected shows that the applications – which relate to conducting and settling transactions within a payment network – were all filed February 22. To date, Bank of America has filed more than 30 known patent applications related to the technology, including as many as 18 during 2016 alone.

Combined, the breadth of the applications suggests that work is being done on blockchain-based payment systems within Bank of America. At the same time, the bank has issued no definitive statements on the subject to date, and it's not clear whether any of the proposed inventions will see the light of day.

[Travel Giant TUI Airs Plan to Move All Data to the Blockchain]

Travel Giant TUI Airs Plan to Move All Data to the Blockchain

The world's largest tourism company is using blockchain to track internal contracts – and is striking a bullish note on the tech's long-term prospects in the travel industry.

TUI Group, based in Germany, owns more than 1,600 travel agencies worldwide, as well as airlines, cruise lines and other leisure business ventures. The firm – which boasts 20 million customers worldwide and reported more than $17 billion in revenue last year – is eyeing additional applications across its business lines as well.

https://www.coindesk.com/travel-giant-tui-airs-plan-to-move-all-data-to-the-blockchain/

[Bitcoin's Lightning Network Moves Closer to Compatibility]

Bitcoin's Lightning Network Moves Closer to Compatibility

Nearly a year after bitcoin's scattered group of Lightning Network developers first gathered to unite their different implementations, the rules they could one day use to connect their technologies are almost complete.

In interviews, those involved with the open-source project (viewed as one of the best ways to bring additional capacity to the nearly $70 billion network), spoke to the new sense of direction provided by bitcoin's recent SegWit upgrade. Still, they also cautioned that, while SegWit lays the foundation for Lightning, standards are needed to connect work that's already been done.

https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoins-lightning-network-moves-closer-compatibility-standard/

[Australia Aims to Regulate Bitcoin Exchanges]

Australia Aims to Regulate Bitcoin Exchanges

While the bitcoin rate is climbing new heights nearly every week, it becomes more and more obvious that a regulatory environment around the bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has to evolve as well. Until now there has been two Asian countries, China and Japan, that have announced its desire to regulate their local bitcoin exchanges. This week these countries were joined by Australia, another major market. Let’s quickly analyse the pros and cons of such practices.

https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/australia-aims-to-regulate-bitcoin-exchanges/

Ich war eben auf der Suche nach einem Diskussionsthread zu Bitcoin Cash und habe keinen im deutschsprachigen Bereich auf BTCT gefunden. Darum eröffne ich kurzerhand einen. (Sollte es doch einen geben, dann bitte kurzer Hinweis darauf, dann werde ich diesen löschen)

Gestern gings ja bis zu 80% hoch mit dem Preis. Lag das alles nur an dem ersten geminten 8 MB Block oder gibt es weitere Gründe? Was ist eure Meinung zu BCH, kann es Bitcoin langfristig das Wasser reichen?

Kenneth Rogoff, a professor at Harvard University and one of the world's most prominent economists, said central banks across the globe must start preparing themselves to introduce negative interest rates during the next global recession.

Negative rates are already in place in several major economies around the world, with the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan, but other banks around the world would be wise to make preparations as well, Rogoff wrote in a new paper for the Journal of Economic Perspectives.

He said:
"The growth of electronic payment systems and the increasing marginalisation of cash in legal transactions creates a much smoother path to negative rate policy today than even two decades ago."

Bancor $153 Millionen und Tezos $232 Millionen, sind nur zwei ICOs der letzten Zeit und deren eingesammeltes Kapital. Irgendwie grenzen solche Summen schon an Wahnsinn. Vervielfachungen wie früher sind da kaum mehr möglich und die Frage ist auch wie lange der ICO-Irrsinn noch anhält. Irgendwann platzt jede Blase. An Bancor ist das schon zu sehen, der Wert ist aktuell nur noch 2/3 des ICOs und liegt bei rund $100 Millionen. Immernoch zu viel meiner Meinung für eine bessere Colored-Coin Blockchain.

Schnäppchen wie einst Nxt, Ethereum, NEM oder IOTA sind kaum mehr zu finden. Investiert ihr noch in ICOs und glaubt ihr das sich das weiterhin lohnen kann bei der Nachfrage?

[Billionaire Mark Cuban is Finally Considering Bitcoin]

Billionaire Mark Cuban is Finally Considering Bitcoin

It seems just about every time the Bitcoin markets perform well, legacy investors and traders feel the need to make themselves heard. Yesterday we heard from billionaire and reality television star Mark Cuban (again):

I might have to rewrite all these replacing stocks with $btc. Might have to finally buy some https://t.co/ADiPQWUNF6

— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) August 14, 2017

https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/mark-cuban-finally-considering-bitcoin/

[Corporate Analyst Fisco Tests Issuance of Bitcoin Bond in Japan]

Corporate Analyst Fisco Tests Issuance of Bitcoin Bond in Japan

A financial data provider and bitcoin exchange operator in Japan is testing a digital bond denominated in the cryptocurrency.

As reported earlier this week by Bloomberg, Fisco – which launched a bitcoin exchange in September of last year and has invested in other exchanges like TechBureau – issued a test bond worth 200 bitcoins. A bond is a kind of debt issued over a certain period of time, usually paying out some form of interest in addition to the principal amount.

The three-year bond was exchanged from one company within the Fisco umbrella to another, according to the publication, and is said to provide a 3 percent return over the three-year period.

https://www.coindesk.com/corporate-analyst-fisco-tests-issuance-bitcoin-bond-japan/

[Africa to benefit as satellites beam Bitcoin from space]

Africa to benefit as satellites beam Bitcoin from space

Blockstream, a provider blockchain and financial cryptography, has unveiled Blockstream Satellite, a new service that broadcasts real-time Bitcoin blockchain data from a group of communication satellites in space to almost everyone on the planet.

Blockstream Satellite enables further participation in Bitcoin, including the billions of people in the world without Internet access and people in places where bandwidth prices make participating cost-prohibitive.

This is a boost for regions like Africa which grapple with lack of Internet connectivity as well as expensive broadband. The African continent consists of remote locations, making it hard to receive clear Internet coverage.

http://www.itweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=164078

[Experten erwarten davon einen Technologieschub wie Anfang der 90er durch das Internet.]

Ob Tourismus, Energiewirtschaft oder Industrie 4.0 - Blockchain wird nicht nur das Finanzgewerbe radikal verändern.

Derart euphorisch äußern sich normalerweise nur Nerds, die mit der Idee verteilter Digitalregister die Welt noch einmal erfinden wollen. Sie sind fasziniert von dem neuartigen Prinzip, das nicht einfach Informationen weitergibt, sondern auch das Übertragen von Werten ermöglicht.

Im Blockchain-System wird jeder Datensatz - also auch eine Überweisung oder ein Vertrag - mathematisch von Tausenden Rechnern bestätigt und ist mit vorherigen Transaktionen zwischen den beteiligten Geschäftspartnern untrennbar verbunden. Gespeichert werden die miteinander verketteten Blöcke nicht in einem großen zentralen Rechenzentrum, das leicht von Hackern attackiert werden kann. Die Datenbank wird stattdessen verteilt auf den Tausenden an der Blockchain beteiligten Servern repliziert, was eine Manipulation durch Dritte praktisch ausschließt.

Auch wenn das Konzept zunächst komplex wirkt - Experten erwarten davon einen Technologieschub wie Anfang der 90er durch das Internet. Und anders als in den Vorzeiten des Web tun deutsche Unternehmenslenker derlei Ideen heute nicht mehr als Spinnerei ab. Traumatisiert von der Zerstörung ihrer Geschäftsmodelle wollen sie vermeiden, vom nächsten Trend überrollt zu werden.

http://www.manager-magazin.de/magazin/artikel/next-internet-blockchain-macht-sich-in-der-industrie-breit-a-1154807.html

[$45 Million: Ukrainian Lawmakers Reveal Big Bitcoin Holdings]

$45 Million: Ukrainian Lawmakers Reveal Big Bitcoin Holdings

Recent disclosures by members of Ukraine's national legislature revealed that three lawmakers have a combined wealth in bitcoin worth more than $45 million.

According to a report from RIA Novosti, Russia's international news service, the three lawmakers are all members of the "Petro Poroshenko Block", which constitutes the largest grouping of legislators within the Parliament.

Of the three named by the report, Dmitry Golubov possesses the most bitcoin: 8,752 BTC, an amount worth roughly $36 million at current prices. Alexander Urbansky possesses 2,494 BTC while Dmitry Belotserkovets owns 398 BTC, worth approximately $10 million and $1.6 million, respectively.

https://www.coindesk.com/45-million-ukrainian-lawmakers-reveal-big-bitcoin-holdings/

[Legendary Investor Howard Marks Admits ‘I Don’t Understand What’s Behind Bitcoin’]

Legendary Investor Howard Marks Admits ‘I Don’t Understand What’s Behind Bitcoin’

After calling Bitcoin a ‘fad’ and a ‘pyramid scheme’ the man who called the dot com bubble has admitted that he does not understand what is driving the value of Bitcoin, which keeps rising seemingly unhindered.

While many, including traditional investors, come around to Bitcoin and get on board with the digital currency that keeps breaking records in terms of its value, some are still stubbornly skeptical, and a little confused.

http://bitcoinist.com/legendary-investor-howard-marks-admits-i-dont-understand-whats-behind-bitcoin/