Cai Wensheng, an angel investor from China and chairman of photo retouching app provider Meitu, says he has achieved his goal of accruing 10,000 bitcoins.

In an open group Q&A session with tech entrepreneur Wang Feng on WeChat on Thursday, Cai disclosed that although he was holding a single bitcoin in January of this year, he moved to increase his portfolio over the first quarter of 2018 amid the bearish market's lower prices.

Soon after December's record high round $20,000, the price of bitcoin started dropping in January. It reached a low for the year so far below $6,000 in February, before climbing again to over $9,700 at press time. According to CoinDesk's Bitcoin Price Index, Cai's holdings are now worth around $96 million.

Cai explained his reasoning for the investment during the Q&A, saying:

"I only had single digit unit of bitcoin, just for fun in January. But when I got certain that bitcoin and blockchain is the future, I set the goal of holding 10,000 bitcoin. So I started around end of January to build my [holdings] following the price decline. The more it dropped, the more I bought in and now the mission is basically complete."

Born in the 1970s, Cai made his name and first fortune by investing in domain names during the internet bubble and expanded his investment portfolio over the next decade as an angel investor.

His current venture, Meitu, a popular photo retouching tool in China that claims to have over 90 million monthly active users, went public in Hong Kong in December 2016 with a valuation of $5 billion at the time.

Cai's disclosure makes him one of the few big-name investors in China to have openly disclosed their bitcoin holdings. It also comes at a time when Meitu is aiming to utilize blockchain technology to decentralize storage of users' data, according to a white paper published in January.

Source: https://www.coindesk.com/chinese-angel-investor-amassed-10000-bitcoins-amid-q1-price-slump/

Portugal’s parliament is set to discuss cryptocurrency payment regulations this week, with the goal of adopting a new legal framework for cryptocurrency payment services, while guaranteeing users’ safety using these services.

According to local news outlet Jornal de Negócios, applicable sanctions and the issuance of digital currencies – presumably initial coin offerings (ICOs) – will also be discussed. The government will reportedly discuss cryptocurrencies so new payment services can emerge in the market, while ensuring users can choose between safe, cost-effective options.

Per the Portuguese government, regulations will allow cryptocurrency-related services to expand within the country, which will benefit consumers by promoting competition, while ensuring safety and transparency in “the issuance of cryptocurrencies.”

The government argued (roughly translated):

“The regulation of certain aspects, not yet regulated, will allow for the expansion of new types of payment services, contributing to a legal framework to accommodate the innovation, to the benefit of consumers, and to even promote competition.”

The regulatory framework is set to apply “new rules to access payment accounts,” so as to prevent unjustified setbacks and ensure payments are safe. It’ll also introduce rules on managing operational risks, while offering service providers and ICO operators “complaint mechanisms.”

Per the somewhat vague information available, when it comes to dispute resolutions “payment service providers are obliged” to work with dispute resolution organizations over potential disputes. The government also plans on introducing “complaint mechanisms for payment service providers and for electronic money issuers, as well as for the respective supervisory authority. “.

As CCN recently covered, the European Parliament saw a majority agree to enforce closer regulation of cryptocurrencies, as an agreement with the European Council that proposed closer cryptocurrency regulations to prevent their abuse in money laundering and terrorism financing found the Parliament’s support

Portugal’s Securities Market Commission (CMVM) has in the past revealed it was supervising banks and brokerages toclose eye on the “bitcoin euphoria” that was sweeping the nation back in December 2017.

Hélder Rosalino, a director at Portugal´s central bank, Banco de Portugal, has back in November claimed he doesn’t see bitcoin as a currency, and that’s important that people know “a cryptocurrency isn’t a currency” to the financial institution. Last year, CCN reported Portuguese authorities were looking to tax cryptocurrency users, despite the lack of regulations.

Source: https://www.ccn.com/portuguese-parliament-to-discuss-cryptocurrency-payment-regulations/

Cryptocurrency hardware wallet manufacturer Tangem has begun the first rollout of its ‘Bitcoin banknotes’ to its pioneer market of Singapore.

‘CHEAP ENOUGH TO HAND OVER’

Tangem, which seeks to make cash-like transactions using cryptocurrency more familiar to entry-level consumers, plans to mass produce the notes in their “millions” by the end of 2018.

In Singapore, a jurisdiction famous for its encouraging regulatory stance on both cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, the notes will be on sale at the Suntec City branch of design store chain Megafash.

Coming in denominations of 0.01 and 0.05 BTC ($92 and $463 respectively), the ‘notes’ are in fact banknote-like hardware wallets using technology from Samsung, Tangem claiming their cost makes them cheap enough to use like actual cash.

“Tangem Notes radically improve the simplicity and security of acquiring, owning, and circulating cryptocurrencies for both sophisticated and incoming users,” an accompanying press release reads.

“Based on a recently developed S3D350A chip from Samsung Semiconductor, Tangem Note is the first… on the market with its entire electronics and cryptography certified to the Common Criteria EAL6+ and EMVCo security standards.”

See more: http://bitcoinist.com/singapore-bitcoin-banknotes-tangem/

Cryptocurrencies are set to make a comeback on Reddit.

It is the largest community where cryptocurrency enthusiasts meet and discuss the technology. The Bitcoin subreddit has 816K subscribers, and Cryptocurrency subreddit has over 663K subscribers. But back in March, the platform disabled Bitcoin as a payment method for Reddit Gold after enabling it in February 2013.

Reddit had disabled Bitcoin as a payment method without prior notice, leaving customers with the option to pay using PayPal and Credit Card. But after the discovery made it to the first page of Bitcoin Subreddit, a Reddit admin responded to the removal. He claimed they had problems with Coinbase’s payment platform which led them to completely disabling the platform.

“Yup that’s right. The upcoming Coinbase change, combined with some bugs around the Bitcoin payment option that were affecting purchases for certain users, led us to remove Bitcoin as a payment option,” the admin said.

Coinbase had made changes to Coinbase Commerce which allowed merchants to accept Bitcoin Payment and the change required merchants to make a significant upgrade. Reddit chose not to make the upgrade, disabling Bitcoin as a payment method.

Christopher Slowe, the CTO of Reddit revealed that they are working towards bringing back Bitcoin payments on their platform in an interview with Cheddar. He confirmed that they did not have the time to work towards making the Coinbase upgrade because they were focused on the new Reddit Design.

When asked if they intend to accept Cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin, Slowe said:

“We have been looking at other Cryptocurrencies. We are looking at Ethereum and Litecoin that are provided by Coinbase as well”.

Bitcoin is set to come back on the platform, and this time around users will have more options like Ethereum and Litecoin to buy Reddit Gold. Slowe has not given a timeline on when Bitcoin will be back on the platform, but it is happening.

Source: https://www.ccn.com/reddit-to-re-enable-bitcoin-payments-along-with-ethereum-and-litecoin/

The Japanese financial regulator has confirmed that so far eight companies have expressed the intention to withdraw their applications to operate cryptocurrency exchanges. Meanwhile, about 100 more companies are seeking to enter the market.

FSA Confirms Eight Want Out

The Japanese Financial Services Agency (FSA) held a study group to discuss the state of cryptocurrencies in Japan last week.

Among observers of the meeting were representatives from the Bank of Japan, the Ministry of Justice, the Consumer Affairs Agency, and the Ministry of Finance. In addition, Taizen Okuyama, President of the newly formed self-regulatory organization and of foreign exchange platform provider Money Partners Group, was also present.

The agency confirmed that eight “deemed dealers” intend to withdraw their applications to operate cryptocurrency exchanges. Under the Revised Fund Settlement law, deemed dealers are allowed to operate crypto exchanges while their applications are being reviewed by the agency. The FSA wrote:

"Eight deemed virtual currency exchange companies announce the intention to withdraw registration applications…One company confirms that it does not fall under the virtual currency exchange industry as a result of grasping the actual situation in detail."

Seven of them will completely withdraw their applications – Tokyo Gateway, Mr. Exchange, Raimu, Bitexpress, Bit Station, Campfire, and Payward Japan which operates Kraken exchange. In addition, Debit will also withdraw its application as a deemed dealer as it does not fall under this classification, the FSA revealed.

Furthermore, the agency confirmed that approximately 100 companies have declared their intention to enter the crypto space, stating that “Various companies intend to newly enter [the crypto space] (About 100 companies).”

See more: https://news.bitcoin.com/japanese-regulator-confirms-crypto-exchanges/

[Meet Blocky.]

Welcome to 2018 and a children's book that teaches us how to find our place in the world... using the blockchain.

At around 7 p.m. every night you can catch me reading bedtime stories for my two children. On current rotation: Dave's Cave, a weird Avengers book and a million bedtime stories about dinosaurs.

But those books can go straight in the trash because finally -- finally -- someone has written a children's story about the blockchain.

Meet Blocky.



Blocky is the main character in A Place in the Blockchain, a children's story designed to explain blockchain and bitcoin technology to kids. It's the creation of Brett Biery, a software developer and blockchain enthusiast.

You can download it for free on Amazon.



From the book's Amazon page:

"A Place in the Blockchain is a picture book for children about a character named "Blocky" struggling to find it's place in the blockchain. Blocky's adventure to discover his place in the blockchain covers many of the same emotions childrens will experience as they deal with their own adventures of fitting in at school and with friends. In the end Blocky is able to find his place. "

According to Biery's Reddit post A Place in the Blockchain is meant to be "a fun tribute to the technology" that helps explain blockchain technology using words children will understand.

https://www.cnet.com/news/someone-wrote-a-kids-book-to-explain-bitcoin-and-blockchain/

Bitcoin futures volume reached an all-time high on Wednesday, peaking near a combined $670 million between regulated US exchanges CME and CBOE.

On Chicago exchange CME, traders exchange more than 11,000 contracts, worth an equivalent 56,010 BTC. According to CME’s Bitcoin Reference Rate (BRR) for April 25, those contracts equate to more than $497 million in single-day volume. Of course, the actual dollar value of those contracts most likely diverged from that figure slightly, as prices fluctuated throughout the trading session.

This means that on Wednesday, CME ranked as one of the world’s 10 largest cryptocurrency exchanges — larger than many spot trading platforms that offer a significant number of altcoin trading pairs.

It’s particularly remarkable considering that, unlike spot exchanges that operate around the clock, CME only offers trading during specific business hours.

The exchange also noted that average daily volume has increased by 250 percent since it listed its Bitcoin futures product in December, indicating that the spike is more than just a single-day fluke. April’s average daily volume is 3,716 contracts, equivalent to 18,580 BTC. That’s a 44 percent increase since March.

This rapid increase in trading volume has not been isolated to CME.

Fellow Chicago-based exchange CBOE — the first regulated US platform to list Bitcoin futures — saw 19,000 contracts (each worth 1 BTC) traded on its platform on Wednesday, which works out to roughly $168 million according to the BRR. This was not only a record for CBOE but was also triple the exchange’s average daily volume for this product.

Significantly, CBOE noted that this record volume correlated with neither a contract expiration date nor exceptional price volatility, as previous volume spikes have been.

Futures are primarily (though not exclusively) traded by institutional investors, so rising volumes for these products could be an indication that institutions are beginning to take a more active role in the cryptoasset space.

Abra CEO Bill Barhydt recently said that “all hell will break loose” once institutional investors begin to allocate meaningful capital to investments in the industry, and numerous insiders believe their presence will drive the Bitcoin price to record levels.

Source: https://www.ccn.com/670-million-bitcoin-futures-post-record-daily-volume-as-market-recovers/

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba is trialling a blockchain platform for supply chain tracking in bid to prevent food fraud.

The new pilot program will use the blockchain-based Food Trust Framework to track international shipments to China from Australian healthcare supply firm Blackmores and New Zealand dairy product maker Fonterra via Alibaba's T-Mall e-commerce arm, according to a ZDNet report Friday.

The pilot's launch follows the platform's year-long technological development since Alibaba Australia first announced a partnership with PwC and Blackmores in March 2017 to tackle the spread of counterfeit products.

Touting supply chain transparency as a primary benefit of the framework, Alibaba said the pilot - if successful - could lead to wider adoption across the supply chains for its global markets.

The exploration marks Alibaba's latest move to harness blockchain's potential in the fight against food fraud - criminal activity that the company estimates costs the global food industry $40 billion each year, the report said.

Alibaba's T-Mall platform has already started to adopt blockchain technology in partnership with logistics firm Cainiao in its cross-border supply chains.

As previously reported by CoinDesk, the partnership records a variety of data about goods in transport on a tamper-proof blockchain network including country of origin, shipping port and method, arrival port and customs report details.

Source: https://www.coindesk.com/alibaba-launches-blockchain-trial-in-fight-against-food-fraud/

Nasdaq CEO Says Company ‘Open’ To Becoming Crypto Trading Platform When Market Matures

The CEO of Nasdaq said that the stock market could become a platform for trading cryptocurrencies in the future, if the market becomes more regulated, CNBC’s Squawk Box  reports Wednesday, April 25.

Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman said during an interview that “certainly Nasdaq would considering become a crypto exchange over time.” Friedman believes that cryptocurrencies “will continue to persist,” the only caveat being the amount of time it will take for the crypto sphere to mature. Once that kind of institutional regulations set in, according to Friedman, Nasdaq can say:

“‘It's time, people are ready for a more regulated market, for something that provides a fair experience for investors."

Nasdaq has already entered the crypto sphere, as earlier today the stock exchange and the Gemini crypto exchange owned by tech investors the Winklevoss twins announced a partnership. Gemini will be able to use the Nasdaq’s SMARTS Market Surveillance Technology to alert the exchange to suspicious trade behavior, potentially preventing market manipulation.

Friedman also told NBC that she considers Initial Coin Offerings (ICO) to be securities, a point much debated in the crypto world:

"ICOs need to be regulated. The SEC is right that those are securities and need to be regulated as such.”

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) launched a cryptocurrency probe earlier this year. The SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) had also held a cryptocurrency hearing that concluded that while ICOs needed stricter regulations, cryptocurrencies needed smart policies to promote innovation.

Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/nasdaq-ceo-says-company-open-to-becoming-crypto-trading-platform-when-market-matures

Francois Villeroy de Galhau, governor of the Bank of France and policymaker at the European Central Bank (ECB), has said new laws are needed to target cryptocurrency exchanges.

De Galhau: We ‘Should work on’ Exhanges

Speaking at the City Week banking conference in London April 24, de Galhau, who has gone on record to make some curious claims about cryptocurrency in the past, appeared to choose the industry as a specific point of interest.

“In particular, we should work on exchanges and platforms which provide services at the interface between crypto-assets and the real economy,” media sources quote him as saying.

While he remained conversely tight-lipped on ECB financial policy going forward, the institution has made significant noises about the need to regulate crypto markets this year.

Specifically, the international community should work together to develop appropriate measures, ECB board member Benoît Cœuré said at the World Economic Forum 2018 preempting the topic appearing during March’s G20 Summit in Buenos Aires.

See more: http://bitcoinist.com/bank-governor-ecb-crypto-exchanges/

Twenty percent of financial firms want to “start buying and selling digital tokens” in 2018, Quartz reports Monday, April 23.

According to a range of over 400 undisclosed businesses surveyed by Thomson Reuters, one in every five “have plans” to begin direct contact with cryptocurrency assets in the next 12 months.

Reuters, which began including Bitcoin sentiment in its data feeds last month, did not mention the stature of the firms involved.

Nonetheless, 70% of those who said ‘yes’ to crypto in 2018 also said they were planning to begin within the next three to six months, translating into at least 56 new players offering cryptocurrency in some form by October.

The positive outlook reflects the overall wave of enthusiasm which has characterized crypto markets in April.

As Bitcoin and altcoin prices hold gains which topped $9280 Tuesday, pundits have been weighing in on the stronger performance due to set in for assets before 2019.

Current price estimates range from $25,000 to $100,000 by year end for Bitcoin, with traditional finance money jumping in after waiting ‘on the sidelines’ remaining a common narrative.

On Monday, Pfeffer Capital partner John Pfeffer announced he thought Bitcoin could eventually rise to $700,000.

Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/reuters-survey-at-least-56-finance-firms-will-enter-crypto-in-next-6-months

In a little more than three weeks time the Bitcoin (BCH) network will hard fork by upgrading its block size to 32MB and incorporate additional functionalities to the protocol. Currently, the entire community is steadily preparing for the consensus change as development teams release new code, while users and infrastructure providers upgrade their full node implementations.

The BCH Network Will Perform the Biggest Block Size Increase in History  

The decentralized cryptocurrency bitcoin cash and its network will be upgrading this May 15 at approximately 12:00:00 UTC, 2018. The Median Time Past (MTP) method will activate the consensus change. BCH proponents are pretty excited for the upgrade, to say the least, as the 32MB block size increase will be the largest block size expansion of its kind within the cryptocurrency landscape. The increase will allow developers to maintain consistent transaction throughputs for the billions of people living in the world, alongside on-chain fees anyone from any developing nation can afford. Using today’s statistics BTC is more than 10.73X more expensive to transact with than BCH. Next month’s bitcoin cash 32MB block size increase will allow enough room for transactions for years to come.

Tokenization and Smart Contracts Are Coming

In addition to the large block size increase, the BCH chain will incorporate other features that have created excitement throughout the bitcoin cash community. For instance, the BCH development teams have added certain OP_Codes and a larger OP_Return data size. This upgrade will enrich BCH with a variety of robust features such as tokenization and the ability to program simple smart contracts via the BCH chain. Instead of using a separate platform like Ethereum or Counterparty, BCH developers will be able to create representative or color coins that can be backed by anything. After the hard fork and some community development, things like bonds, stocks, precious metals, commodities, and any physical or virtual object can be represented by a BCH backed color coin. With a smart contract functionality, the BCH chain can be used to program autonomous actions like dispersing BCH to your children or spouse at a later date in time.

See more: https://news.bitcoin.com/bitcoin-cash-proponents-prepare-for-the-largest-block-size-increase-ever/

The European Parliament has voted in favor of stricter regulations in the crypto sector. Crypto exchanges and wallet providers will be required to introduce customer due diligence procedures, including identity verification. The platforms will have to apply for registration in order to offer their services. The new measures come with the latest update of the EU Anti-Money Laundering Directive.

Under “Closer Regulation”

Members of the European Parliament supported on Thursday an agreement reached with the European Council in December to bring cryptocurrencies under “closer regulation”. The decision was passed with 574 votes, 13 nays and 60 abstentions, the parliament’s press service announced. The agreement represents the fifth and latest update of the EU Anti-Money Laundering Directive.

The amendments are intended to address “risks linked to virtual currencies”. To end the anonymity associated with them, cryptocurrency trading platforms and custodian wallet providers will be obliged to introduce customer due diligence controls, including identity verification procedures. In the future, these businesses will apply for registration in order to offer regulated exchange and payment services.

The changes also target anonymity provided by payment card issuers. MEPs have approved the reduction of the threshold for identifying holders of prepaid and virtual cards – from the current €250 to €150. This will affect companies offering crypto to fiat conversion as part of non-custodial payment services.

European officials claim they are introducing the measures partly in response to the terrorist attacks of 2015 and 2016 in Paris and Brussels, as well as the Panama Papers leaks. “Criminals use anonymity to launder their illicit proceeds or finance terrorism,” said Krišjānis Kariņš, co-rapporteur on the amendments. In his words, the new legislation will “address the threats to our citizens… by tightening rules regulating virtual currencies and anonymous prepaid cards.”

“We lose billions of euros to money laundering, terrorism financing, and tax evasion – money that should go to fund our hospitals, schools and infrastructure,” his colleague Judith Sargentini added. “We introduce tougher measures, widening the duty of financial entities to undertake customer due diligence. This will shine a light on those who hide behind companies and trusts and should keep our financial systems clean,” she insisted.

See more: https://news.bitcoin.com/europe-introduces-customer-verification-on-cryptocurrency-exchanges/

Major Danish bank Saxo Bank continued its optimism regarding cryptocurrency growth in 2018 in its latest Quarterly Outlook, published April 18.

Eyeing what he describes as “springboards for a cryptocurrency bull market in Q2” this year, analyst Jacob Pouncey from the bank’s SaxoStrats in-house team of strategists queried whether crypto-assets were “entering a new cycle.”

“Historically, many of the blue chip cryptocurrencies have seen price increases in the face of global uncertainty and risk-off events such as Brexit, the election of President Trump, and the North Korean missile tests,” he wrote, continuing:  

“The inflow of institutional capital to the cryptocurrency market due to the increase in regulation and investor protection could lead cryptocurrencies to a positive quarter.”

Saxo Bank is well-known for its price predictions for Bitcoin in particular. In 2016, when Bitcoin was trading between $450 and $950, analysts forecast prices hitting $2,100 the following year, something at the time it included in a list of  “outrageous predictions.”

Last December meanwhile, it warned BTC/USD could fall to $1,000 in 2018, while fellow analyst Kay Van-Petersen nevertheless went on record to predict $100,000 per bitcoin by the start of 2019.

Discussing whether motivating factors could end the downward trend seen throughout Q1 meanwhile, Pouncey suggested it would soon be right to call time on the cryptocurrency bear market. He concluded:

“In my opinion, we will eventually see the end of the current, negative cryptocurrency cycle, as many of the weak hands have been shaken out by the bear market and the remaining investors are on the ready to latch onto any good news after the bad start this year.”

Recently a wave of Wall Street talent and money have been moving into the crypto space. Yesterday, April 18, Coinbase announced that hedge fund Och-Ziff Capital Management exec Alesia Haas was joining them as CFO. Also this week, former Goldman Sachs executive Breanne Madigan joined major crypto wallet Blockchain.com as the head of institutional sales and strategy. Yesterday, US-based stablecoin project Basis revealed that it had raised $133 million in funding from major VC names, including Bain Capital Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz.

Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/saxo-bank-cryptocurrencies-could-see-springboard-bull-market-in-q2-2018

The Korean Blockchain Industry Association, formed with 33 South Korean exchanges, has revealed a set of rules for 14 of its exchanges. The organization was formed in December of last year, where it was announced that famous cryptocurrency exchanges Bithumb, Coinone, Upbit and Korbit were also members of the self-regulatory group.

The first rule follows South Korean government’s anti-money laundering rules, according to Yonhap News. It will combat the use of cryptocurrencies in money laundering by identifying and verifying the users’ identity and keeping their transaction history for five years. Secondly, exchanges will have to employ methods to pinpoint and detect fraudulent or suspicious transaction activities. In such cases, exchanges will also need to decide the course of action required to tackle the situation.

The third rule requires crypto companies to create “listing procedure committees” to observe every ICO token they plan to trade on the exchange. Additionally, members must have an equity capital of at least 2 billion Won. Financial documents such as statements, audit reports, and shareholder lists should also be submitted to the organization. The fourth rule covers code of ethics by creating an ethics charter which includes (Non-Disclosure Agreements) NDAs for employees while disallowing illegal transactions.

In order to improve security for customers, the association introduced a security council which will evaluate all 14 exchanges. Jeon Jae-jin, the chairman of the association, said, “We will establish the order of the domestically cryptographic money market through self-regulatory review. By providing a safeguard for the protection of users, we will contribute to ensuring the asset safety.”

However, companies still have some time since the rules will be finalized by May 31. Afterward, every exchange will submit the aforementioned documents before Jun. 8 – their results will be disclosed within two or three weeks after the submission.

Earlier this year, the South Korean government announced that it would support cryptocurrency transactions if they were conducted ‘normally’. Customers would have to use their real names and verify their personal information on both cryptocurrency exchanges and banks to reduce risk. Therefore, by following Korean Blockchain Industry Association’s guidelines, exchanges will have a better chance to create a healthy environment for crypto users.

Source: https://www.ccn.com/korean-self-regulatory-group-outlines-new-rules-for-14-crypto-exchanges/

A suspect being held in connection with a massive Bitcoin miner theft in Iceland earlier this year has escaped prison, local news the Iceland Monitor reports April 17.

Sindri Þór Stefánsson escaped from from Sogni prison last night and police have confirmed that he fled Iceland to Stockholm, Sweden. The fugitive was reportedly using another man’s passport when he boarded a flight at Keflavik International Airport.

By the time police ascertained that Stefánsson had boarded a plane to Sweden, he had already landed. Icelandic police are currently coordinating with Swedish authorities to apprehend Stefánsson. An international arrest warrant has been issued. The suspect is not considered to be dangerous.

Stefánsson had been in custody since Feb. 2 on suspicion of his involvement in a series of burglaries, wherein 600 PCs, 600 graphics cards, 100 power supplies, 100 motherboards, 100 memory discs, and 100 CPU processors had been taken from data centers involved in cryptocurrency mining in the South West and North West of Iceland. The burglaries took place from Dec. 5 2017 to Jan. 16, 2018.

The aggregate value of the stolen items was estimated at 200 million krónur, or $1,990,000. Iceland Magazine called the incident “one of the largest criminal cases in Icelandic history.” While the suspects have been uncooperative and authorities have not yet located the stolen hardware, local news Fréttablaðið reports that local authorities are going to move forward with an indictment at the beginning of next week.

Earlier this month, the Criminal Investigation Department in Gujarat, India began investigating 10 police officers for extorting 200 Bitcoins from a businessman. Sailesh Bhatt alleges that he was beaten, kidnapped and taken to a farm where he was forced to send the Bitcoins to his former business partner.

Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/suspect-from-iceland-bitcoin-miner-theft-escapes-prison

Taobao, often known as eBay of China has updated their policy banning Cryptocurrencies, ICOs, and other virtual currency-related services. Taobao is a subsidiary of Chinese eCommerce Giant Alibaba set up in 2003 where individuals and small business can list items for sale within China.

Taobao previously had a ban on the sale of Cryptocurrency Miners and offering Mining Tutorials. In addition to that, they have now banned any product or service that makes use of the Blockchain. The new rule prohibits Cryptocurrency related services which include ICO Consultancy, White Paper Writing Services, smart contract deployment services and other crypto related technical services. This also prohibits the sale of blockchain based virtual assets like CryptoKitties and their numerous clones. These new rules will be valid from April 17th.

Taobao has cited recent bans from People’s Bank of China behind the crackdown. In September last year, PBoC banned all ICOs and early this year, they banned Cryptocurrencies itself. Though there is no ban on mining yet, most miners are looking to move their services outside the country.

Taobao considers breaking these new rules as serious violations and has a penalty system in place to penalize those who fail to follow. After PBoC banned ICOs last year, most of the advertisers have been able to circumvent this ban by changing the spellings. For example, they write ICO as IC0 where they change the ‘O’ to ‘0’(zero).

Though China has been extremely hostile towards Cryptocurrencies, most of the traders are optimistic about a change in stance in the coming months. In fact, PBoC’s new head Yi Gang said “Bitcoin is a currency that provides freedom to anyone that uses it,” and emphasized that the cryptocurrency is transparent.

Though Taobao has banned all Blockchain related services, there is no ban on Blockchain in China. In fact, the Chinese government has been extremely optimistic of Blockchain technology. A $1 Billion Blockchain fund was just launched which is backed by the government to invest in Blockchain startups. Also, PBoC filed the most number of Blockchain patents in 2017.

https://www.ccn.com/alibaba-subsidiary-taobao-bans-listing-of-cryptocurrency-and-ico-services/

Bank of England’s governor, Mark Carney, held a speech at the Public Policy Forum’s Canada Growth Summit in Toronto, outlining that despite the ‘huge amount’ of illicit activity run through cryptocurrency, at the current state, they do not pose a threat.

Singing the same old song

In line with his previous sentiment expressed at the G20 Summit in Argentina earlier this year, rock-star banker Carney holds that, at current times, “cryptocurrencies aren’t a risk to the financial state.” The merits of his statement lie within the fact that cryptocurrencies “are still small and not connected to the financial system.”

In a true Carney fashion, he goes on to bash the crypto field, holding that a “huge amount” of illicit activity is run through them, directly contradicting the findings of his own Treasury’s reports.

As it’s outlined in the National Risk Assessment of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing 2017 report:

"The NCA [National Crime Agency] has assessed the risk of digital currency use for money laundering to be relatively low."

Exchanges = Currency?

Carney also keeps on insisting that cryptocurrency systems will have to go through heavier and more serious regulations. Shocking.

During his speech, Carney stated:

"There are these exchanges where you transfer your Canadian dollars for a cryptocurrency and those, in general, are unregulated and in some cases, there’s plenty of serious abuse or at a minimum, they are very porous to a cyber attack and theft and they just do not meet the standards. […] There is no reason why that should be tolerated."

Putting cryptocurrencies and the exchanges they are being traded on, as well as the institutional regulations needed to put either of these in certain legislative frames, is questionable at best. It’s like calling for new regulations on the US dollar because a random Wall Street exchange got hacked.

Despite all of the above, Carney does make an important, even action-movie-like conclusion, outlining that “being part of the financial system brings enormous privileges but with them great responsibilities.” While it sounds awfully lot like Uncle Ben’s dying words to Peter Parker, it’s true.

Regulations have to happen and they have to happen now. Whether Mr. Carney likes to admit it or not, crypto is receiving a serious widespread adoption throughout the entire world and this requires timely and responsible regulatory reaction. Terms have to be defined, frameworks have to be put in place so that people can have clarity on what is legal and what is not. At the same time, this is the only way to prevent the substantial amount of malicious abuse that’s currently riddling the space in the face of scam projects and others alike.

http://bitcoinist.com/bank-of-england-nocoiner-admits-cryptocurrency-not-a-risk/

While US tax selling is said to have fueled much of the pressure in the bitcoin price till the most recent turnaround, Uncle Sam may find he has come up short when tax day rolls around on April 17. That’s because only a fraction of filers are actually reporting their crypto-fueled profits from 2017, when the cryptocurrency market ballooned in value by $590 billion. According to research done by Credit Karma Tax and obtained by CCN, “reporting of bitcoin gains still at negligible levels as deadline approaches.”

Credit Karma Tax analyzed the most recent one-quarter of a million filers on the company’s platform and discovered only “a tiny fraction” of the group had reported bitcoin gains. In fact, results were little changed from a similar study they did in February, with findings from the studies revealing fewer than 200 of a combined 500,000 filers reported bitcoin gains. Nonetheless, the most recent group’s results reflect “more than a 100% increase” versus the February findings.

The data is alarming because Americans are expected to owe $25 billion in cryptocurrency-fueled capital gains for the 2017 tax year, according to Fundstrat’s Thomas Lee, who presciently called the end of the US tax season as the catalyst for the market turnaround. If Credit Karma’s findings are any indication, many people could find themselves in trouble with the IRS. Meanwhile, Fundstrat predicts that nearly one-third of cryptocurrency market participants are US-based.

Form 8949

The US government decided that for federal income taxes, bitcoin and altcoins should be taxed as property, requiring filers to report their profits or losses from last year’s run-up in the cryptocurrency market as a capital gain or loss. US residents who generated gains from their cryptocurrency holdings last year should file Form 8949, which is the document Credit Karma Tax is tracking to analyze results.

Jagjit Chawla, general manager of Credit Karma Tax, gave filers the benefit of the doubt, telling CNBC: “There’s a good chance that the perceived complexities of reporting cryptocurrency gains are pushing filers to wait until the very last minute.” Despite the risks crypto traders are willing to take in their investment portfolios, they may want to be a bit more circumspect in their dealings with the IRS.

Cryptocurrency investors are already on the radar of the IRS, as evidenced by US bitcoin exchange Coinbase’s recent disclosure that it turned over thousands of records to the tax agency, as CCN previously reported. In that case, the tax agency was probing the accounts of people who traded more than $20,000 in the 2013-2015 tax years.

https://www.ccn.com/americans-are-ducking-their-bitcoin-tax-bill-research-shows/

This week the Japanese cryptocurrency exchange and payment processor, Bitflyer, announced its partnership with SBC Medical Group the parent company of the popular Shonan Beauty Clinic. The union between both firms means that 74 clinics nationwide will allow patients to settle their bills in cryptocurrency.

Pay for Cosmetic Treatments in Japan with BTC

The SBC operated Shonan Beauty Clinic chain in Japan now accepts BTC for services by utilizing Bitflyer’s bitcoin payment platform. Shonan clinics offer a wide variety of services like eyelid surgery, liposuction, dermatology, acupuncture, cosmetic dental, rhinoplasty, and breast augmentation. There are 74 Shonan facilities across Japan and some of their surgeons and doctors are very well known. All Shonan clinics will now accept bitcoin for services but there is a cap on how much you can spend.

Currently, the maximum amount per transaction for bitcoin purchases is 2 million yen ($18,700 USD). Bitflyer states during the partnership that it has introduced BTC to thousands of merchants from various industries and “the number of introduction cases is increasing.”

“With our partnership with SBC Medical Group and more domestic and overseas businesses — we will contribute to improving convenience for our customers,” Bitflyer’s press statement explains.

A Wide Range of Online and Brick and Mortar Businesses Now Accept BTC Through Bitflyer

Bitflyer has been partnering with a lot of merchants and Japan now has a wide range of stores that accept BTC for payments. The company has signed firm’s like Marui Group’s department stores, the retail chain BIC Camera, the points website Hapitas, and Samantha Thavasa Japan Co. Ltd. The firm also provides insurance for customers that cover failed transactions involving the BTC network.

Shonan Beauty Clinic in Japan is not the only cosmetic surgery company that accepts BTC as there are a few others worldwide. Other practices that accept bitcoin include Vanity Cosmetic Surgery in Miami, Elite Body Sculpture in Beverly Hills, Artisan Cosmetic Surgery in Ohio, Houston Cosmetic Surgery, and Artful Awakenings Cosmetic Surgery in Melbourne Florida.

https://news.bitcoin.com/74-beauty-clinics-in-japan-now-accept-payments-in-btc/