It will be a tough battle between banks and cryptocurrencies but I think the banks will eventually need to adopt for them to survive. In our country it is starting to happen banks having blockchain technology. Hopefully whatever happens in the end is good for everyone.

Well this is the third time in a week I've seen Bitcoin reach and breach 11k, it has yet to touch 12k but I believe if this level can hold all the way until Monday morning markets open in Asia, we'll definitely have a good chance of such. What we should really be hoping for though, is that it stays above 10k for the entire March. In fact, if it just keeps around 10-11 the whole month, that will be a serious preparation for a big big push. Bitcoin doesn't like to stay put though.

In Israel, there is a law prohibiting the conduct of gaming business. Leumi monitors web sites and block gaming transactions. The owners of these cards are forbidden to carry out operations associated with the gaming payments. Currently, the issue of the settlement of the new industry is being resolved. In casette with cryptocurrency.

I was reading the cryptography mailing list looking for early bitcoin posts and Hal Finney did some basic calculations and already realized that bitcoin had the potential to be worth $10,000,000 per coin back in 2009. Imagine being this woke that early in the game:



Very impressive insight. And not only that, but he actually never panic sold. Now his family will be very well off for all generations. Meanwhile a lot of people weren't able to see past USD price movement and didn't look at the project for what it is, this made most people sold during the $30, $300 and $1200 bubble. The people that know what bitcoin is haven't sold a single sat since the beginning.

If you were going to build a new cryptocurrency exchange, how would you do it?

Would you use existing open source software such as Peatio, would you create a custom made platform, or would you try to use one of the existing decentralized exchange platforms?

Consider from a business perspective as well as a developer's perspective... 

MoneroV Airdrop

Prices are likely to continue upwards as the hard fork approaches block 1529810 around March 14. From then on MoneroV will be born out of the blockchain and holders of XMR will get a ten times airdrop of XMV coins if they have them in a Monero wallet. Exchanges are unlikely to support the fork as was the case with Litecoin Cash. Also as with LCC there have been concerns about entering private keys into the new wallet that could potentially enable access to crypto stored in the original one.

According to the blurb on its website MoneroV ‘has limited supply of coins while Monero’s coin supply is infinite, and MoneroV will implement new protocols that will solve the scaling problems facing Monero and other cryptocurrencies.’

The City Court of Russia’s second-largest city, St. Petersburg, overturned the earlier decision of a court to ban 40 Bitcoin sites in the Russian Federation, reported local news agency RIA Novosti on Tuesday, February 27.

In July 2017, the Oktyabrsky District Court of St. Petersburg granted the prosecutor’s request to block 40 Bitcoin sites in St. Petersburg.

Earlier in March 2017, the Prosecutor’s Office of St. Petersburg submitted a lawsuit to ban websites such as Bestchange. ru and 24paybank. com because they “spread information on digital currency” which “is not backed by any real asset and does not provide information about its owners.”

On Tuesday, the City Court of St. Petersburg re-examined the appeal filed by the Moscow Digital Rights Center and revoked the decision. According to a representative of the press service, another body of the Court will meet to evaluate the case.

What next?  Bitcoin causes Cancer/Aids  :

... oh well, I guess it's just proof that they are resorting to desperate measures, they must really be worried

I guess you are right about newbies, for some people it is easier to go via banks. But still its less than good choice. Invested time into learning is not wasted time, and on longer terms it would pay out even more than going via banks. As you probably know, in crypto trading easier way is most of the time wrong way to go.
I don't like banks, maybe that is why I don't support banks entering crypto world. But I guess it was inevitably, and it could bring price of crypto up, which is good at the end.

Being able to invest in crypto that they support once a day sounds like bad idea. Also I am not sure why would people use banks and pay for their services for something they can do theirselves.

The US keeps imposing new sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear program but they’re not changing Kim Jong Un’s behavior — and for a surprising reason: Pyongyang’s skill at using cryptocurrencies.

Five days ago, America sanctioned dozens of ships, shipping companies, and other firms that allegedly help Pyongyang fund its nuclear and missiles programs. That move is part of a broader US strategy to starve the North Korean regime of money it would use to improve its weapons. The Trump administration wants to make these punishments so severe that Pyongyang would potentially be open to negotiations over the programs.

The problem is North Korea can partially skirt financial restrictions with cryptocurrencies, an online form of money, according to Priscilla Moriuchi, formerly a top National Security Agency official charged with overseeing cyber threats from East Asia.

Moriuchi, who is now at the digital intelligence firm Recorded Future, estimates that North Korea earns between $15 million and $200 million by creating and selling cryptocurrencies and then turning it into hard cash. (Their take fluctuates depending on the digital currency’s worth when North Korea cashes out.) That’s not enough money to fully fund North Korea’s weapons programs, to be sure, but it ensures they don’t completely shut down.

So even though sanctions hurt North Korea’s physical economy, there are currently few ways America can curb Pyongyang’s growing digital economy. That means North Korea has an even greater ability to keep its nuclear program running than we might think.

“I would bet that these coins are being turned into something — currency or physical goods — that are supporting North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile program,” Moriuchi told me

To understand why, it helps to know a bit more about the mechanics of buying drugs on the dark web. A purchaser buys bitcoin, reviews vendors’ offers on a marketplace, and then pays for his goods. His money generally goes into escrow before it is released to his vendor. This introduces a number of financial choke points and transaction delays: between when the purchaser procures bitcoin and makes a purchase, when the vendor receives the order and receives payment from escrow, and when the vendor cashes out from the marketplace. Those are all moments when bitcoin’s volatility becomes problematic. For vendors, price drops while payments are in escrow might wipe out all the profits from a sale, for instance.

Maybe it will affect crypto, becuase i think more investors in china are to busy for their work here in crypto,  so all of their assets will sell them, specially in botcoin,  bitcoin now loosses again her value. But more on voluem. 

From today Australians will be able to purchase Bitcoin and Ethereum in-store from more than 1,200 newsagents around the country.

With a minimum purchase of $50, all customers need to purchase the digital currency is cash, a phone number and an email address.

The service is being provided by cryptocurrency exchange bitcoin.com.au, which has been rolling out in-store Bitcoin buying infrastructure since the middle of 2016.

To purchase the cryptocurrency, buyers would first need to download a digital wallet, which can be on your phone, a slightly more secure wallet on your desktop, or the most secure "cold-storage" wallet set up at home.