This week seven individuals were arrested for running illegal bitcoin exchange operations in Nepal. According to Nepal’s Central Investigation Bureau (CIB), the suspects were trading bitcoins without authorization and the agency’s Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Jeevan Kumar Shrestha says this is one of the first cryptocurrency arrests of this magnitude.

National Bank of Nepal Deems Bitcoin Exchange Operations “Illegal,” While the CIB Police Force Arrest Seven Exchange Operators

The communist government of Nepal is not very friendly towards cryptocurrencies just yet, because Nepalese officials are in the midst of discussing regulatory guidelines. On October 6, 2017, a task-force from the CIB arrested seven suspects allegedly involved with running “bitcoin exchange” operations. The CIB explains that the operators violated the order of the National Bank of Nepal that stated until regulations are conceived bitcoin, and other cryptocurrency exchange businesses are “illegal.”

The CIB’s statement details that the suspects lived in the Kathmandu and Chitwan region. DSP Jeevan Kumar Shrestha has told the local press that this is the first incident the bureau has dealt with concerning illegal bitcoin transmissions. “[The suspects] have been kept in police custody,” details Shrestha. “The traded amount will be discovered after further investigation.” However, the DSP did detail the charged suspects are facing fines and a jail-term of roughly three years.

Continue reading> https://news.bitcoin.com/bitcoin-illegal-in-nepal-police-arrest-seven-individuals-for-trading-operations/

Bitcoin.org has threatened to publicly denounce companies that support SegWit2x and have not committed to treating the competing blockchains as separate cryptocurrencies in the event of a chain split.

On Thursday, Bitcoin.org published a blog post revealing that it will publicly denounce supporters of the controversial SegWit2x hard fork on October 11. The website, which was originally founded by Satoshi Nakamoto, serves as an open-source repository for bitcoin resources and information. As the top Google search result for “Bitcoin”, the website serves as the gateway for many people into the cryptocurrency community.

The current domain owners of Bitcoin.org have been vocally opposed to the SegWit2x proposal and the corresponding New York Agreement (NYA), even going so far as to remove links to SegWit2x supporters from the resources section. Now, just a month out from the scheduled date for the hard fork, Bitcoin.org is threatening to place banners on every page of the website denouncing companies that support SegWit2x.

From the announcement:

    “On 2017-10-11 at noon (UTC), Bitcoin.org is planning to publish a banner on every page of the site warning users about the risks of using services that will default to the so-called Segwit2x (S2X) contentious hard fork. S2X companies will be called out by name. To ensure that we only warn users against companies that will actually put user deposits at risk, we urge all companies to publicly clarify their stance before the above date, either by a highly-visible public statement or by commenting on Bitcoin.org issue #1835 (or by doing both).”

Specifically, the announcement demands that companies that support the hard fork agree to not list the SegWit2x chain as “BTC” or “Bitcoin”. Additionally, they must state that they will not do anything to “deprive users of their bitcoins,” which may include crediting BTC deposits as “S2X”, automatically selling user coins derived from the original chain, or using SegWit2x software without the addition of opt-out replay protection. Finally, the bitcoin services must commit to continuing to provide normal service to the original blockchain following the fork.

The announcement goes on to list 50 companies it will denounce by name unless they comply with these demands, including prominent names such as Coinbase, BitPay, bitFlyer, Xapo, and ShapeShift.

SegWit2x Supporters Respond

Unsurprisingly, SegWit2x supporters were not pleased by the decision. BTC1 developer Jeff Garzik called the move the latest instance of Bitcoin Core’s “culture of reprisals” which included his expulsion from the Bitcoin Core repository earlier this year. ShapeShift CEO Erik Voorhees was also critical of the decision:

“Using bitcoin.org for political positions… not a good precedent,” he posted on reddit. “Don’t people here often condemn Roger [Ver] for using bitcoin.com in the same way?”

https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/bitcoin-org-threatens-to-publicly-denounce-segwit2x-supporting-companies/

ETX Capital, A London-based FCA regulated brokerage, just embraced bitcoin. They now offer a full suite of bitcoin services and contracts for their clients. They decided to move into the bitcoin ecosystem as a result of high demand. Their clients were itching to experience exposure to the digital currency, and attempt to capitalize on its upward price trajectory.

A Financial Magnates article summarized ETX Capital’s foray into the crypto ecosystem. They said, “London headquartered, FCA regulated brokerage ETX Capital has become the latest retail trading venue to launch access to Bitcoin trading. The move comes amidst an uptick of demand for cryptocurrencies and investor appetite for the instruments with volatility still permeating the market.”

ETX Capital Services for Bitcoin

ETX offers several premium services for bitcoin trading. Clients can trade bitcoin as a “spread bet” or “contract-for-difference” (CFD) via its multi-asset proprietary trading platform,” explained the article. The trading is facilitated by the Tradepro app on desktop or mobile applications.

CFD’s have been popular via brokerages, because clients do not want direct exposure to bitcoin “volatility.” Clients prefer to hedge their bets against bitcoin’s price fluctuations by using a derivative-driven kind of trading. This means traders can speculate on the rising and falling prices of the currency rather than holding the digital currency on a personal wallet. The CEO of ETX, Andrew Edwards commented on the future of their bitcoin trading system:

        "Adding Bitcoin to our large base of over 5,000 markets is one of the next steps in our continuing commitment to rollout new products and technology improvements that create more trading opportunities for our clients. There’s a lot more to come in the following months."

This ongoing rollout of bitcoin services follows on the heels of ETX Capitals recent release of their web trading platform. They seem to be gearing up for more mobile and on-the-go trading as the world sees greater bitcoin adoption.

Continue reading> https://news.bitcoin.com/etx-capital-allows-bitcoin-trading/

"It's sort of like the quiet tension before a battle."

That's how Jean-Pierre Rupp, a developer at bitcoin wallet provider Blockchain, described the current state of Segwit2x development. With the code labeled "production ready," and the work of contributors like Rupp nearly complete, the main step left is the activation of the code, scheduled for late November.

That's when the next stage of bitcoin's scaling debate, as they say, will come to a head.

First proposed at a private meeting of industry players in May, Segwit2x was intended to forge a compromise in bitcoin's long-raging scaling debate. Still, it has attracted opposition, primarily for its approach to upgrading the bitcoin software. Chief among concerns is its use of a hard fork to increase the block size, a contentious mechanism due to the fact it could result in the creation of two competing bitcoin assets, or perhaps a single one that no longer interests a certain portion of users.

While Segwit2x's proponents and detractors permeate social media channels, there's been comparatively few statements from the group working on the software.

To that point, CoinDesk has observed little activity on the Segwit2x mailing list and GitHub (the level of code changes pales in comparison to other active cryptocurrency projects, even smaller ones such as MimbleWimble or btcd).

But this is by design, according to project developers, who say if no problems are detected, the only thing left to do is wait for the big day.

Rupp told CoinDesk:

    "Nothing is really being done at the moment until the fork date. As the most recent document that we published states, we are in a quiet period. We aren't discussing much about the direction of development afterwards, nor being too active on the technical front until the fork happens in November."

Small stirrings

While it's primarily a waiting game now, that's not to say some testing isn't being done to make sure everything will go smoothly.

While there's no additional feature development going on, according to Segwit2x project lead and BitGo co-founder and CEO, Mike Belshe, tests are ongoing to verify the software's compatibility with existing bitcoin libraries and applications.

Rupp provided evidence of this, saying he's reviewed the portion of the code set to activate the hard fork. In addition, he said he's been running a "faucet" – one that spills out test coins so users can see what making transactions will be like on a network upgraded to Segwit2x's rule set.

Rupp has given away more than 3,500 coins which have been used to make about 5,000 transactions on the testnet. Still, it's unclear how many and which developers are using the faucet for testing, especially since some Segwit2x developer proponents have since stepped back from the project.

OpenBazaar lead developer Chris Pacia said he's been "a little out of the loop" recently. And RSK Labs developer Sergio Demian Lerner, despite being the author of the proposal that inspired Segwit2x, simply stated in an email: "I'm not involved in Segwit2x now."

Other known participants declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment.

Partisan lines

Still, there may be good reasons for the lack of Segwit2x developer and company dialogue. In bitcoin, the proposal has become a black-or-white issue, and there may be little that can be done to change the minds of those on either side.

As the bitcoin blockchain has grown, there are some who want to keep transaction fees low to attract consumers (or businesses seeking to offer services to those consumers), and those who want to keep them high (so the costs of storing a full record of all transactions doesn't become prohibitive).

When speaking to developers, there remains staunch support along partisan lines.

John Heathco, a developer who recently contributed to Segwit2x, said he believes there's still "a lot of community support" for increasing the block size parameter as a way to improve network capacity.

"The majority of individuals just want to be able to use bitcoin without paying ridiculously high fees," he argued.

Historical data from Satoshi.info shows that fees have indeed grown over time, but only gradually over the last couple of years. (In October 2015, the average transaction fee was 55 satoshis per byte, though it has been as high as 410 satoshis per byte earlier this year, before dropping again to 120 satoshis per byte).

Others believe Segregated Witness (SegWit), a code change that went live on the network in August, will eventually reduce fees (and provide other suitable options of allowing low-cost transactions).

Already, companies such as BitGo and GreenAddress, among the earliest wallet providers to adopt SegWit transactions, report fees are now about half the cost of normal transactions.

Measuring sentiment

Still, users and companies, it seems, are being slow migrate.

Though 144 companies claim they will eventually update to support SegWit, at press time, the percentage of transactions using SegWit is growing slowly, and still in the single digits. Whether because they are uninterested in adoption or unwilling to, it seems, Segwit2x proponents are keen to use the statistic to argue that SegWit doesn't go far enough.

Yet another fault line is just whose opinion matters in the debate, with developers often echoing the idea that "users" and the "community" have already rejected the proposal.

"Most people, as far as I know, don’t intend to follow it," said developer James Hilliard, a notable critic of the Segwit2x agreement.

However, the comments mostly point to the lack of resources that can measure the issue, with informal Twitter polls often serving as "evidence" of broader sentiment.

As for the actual parties to the agreement, while a few signatories have backed out, most major miners and 56 companies claim to support the proposal. Still, there is disagreement over whether the opinion of miners and startups should dictate course.

Though less public now about their plans, it seems the companies and developers behind the effort aren't inclined to weigh in either. Most, it seems, are content to use the silence to their advantage as a way to avoid further backlash, or at least enjoy a moment of calm ahead of what could be a fierce debate ahead.

https://www.coindesk.com/calm-fork-segwit2x-goes-silent-bitcoin-spilt-looms/

After China and Korea banned ICOs experts believe that Japan will become the leader of Bitcoin markets.

Tough Month For Bitcoin

September has been a very tough month for the decentralized cryptocurrency. Firstly, Chinese regulators imposed a strict ban on all Initial Coin Offerings and ordered several cryptocurrency exchanges to shut down their operations. The regulations by the Chinese authorities caused a lot of turmoil in the cryptocurrency markets worldwide.

Shortly after Chinese authorities imposed regulations, the South Korean Financial Services Commission (FSC) issued a ban on all Initial Coin Offerings in South Korea. Following the ban of the FSC, South Koreas top exchange, Bithumb, dropped from the first place to the 3rd of top cryptocurrency exchanges worldwide. The news from China and South Korea caused a sharp price drop of 5% for Bitcoin. Currently, the Bitcoin price has stabilized in the $4,300 area.

Japan To Take Over Bitcoin Trading

In the last couple of years, Japan has received a lot of attention thanks to the famous Mt. Gox hack that took place in 2014. In April 2017, the Japanese government officially recognized Bitcoin as a legal tender, effectively opening the doors for a lot of Bitcoin businesses. Now experts believe that Japanese exchanges will be able to fill the void that was caused by the uncertainty in the Chinese and South Korean market.

A very recent article by The Wall Street Journal reported that the Japanese Financial Services Agency (FSA) has granted licenses to 11 companies in order to legally operate as cryptocurrency exchanges. The article also mentioned following:

    "The rules require exchanges to maintain minimum capital reserve requirements, segregate customer accounts, and employ anti-money-laundering and know-your-customer practices,"

Until now, the Japanese government allowed cryptocurrency exchanges to operate without licenses. But with the new regulation framework exchanges will be required to have a license. Experts believe that licenses will allow more companies to operate their cryptocurrency exchanges in Japan, and thus drive more volume in the Japanese cryptocurrency market.

http://bitcoinist.com/japan-track-become-bitcoin-market-leader/

Last week, South Korean regulators said they would ban all initial coin offerings. They are imposing a “prohibition on all forms of ICOs.” However, they have not implemented this ban yet. Now, startups in the area are pushing back against the impending ban.

Leaders in the regional blockchain industry have said an ICO ban has no legal grounding. A Forbes article clarified, “Local crypto industry leaders argue that the ban is legally groundless. They fear overregulation will push local talent and currency to more welcoming jurisdictions like Switzerland, Singapore and Japan.”

News.Bitcoin.com covered the issue when South Korea made the decision. Author Kevin Helms talked about why they issued the possible banning. He said, “The news outlet elaborated that ‘the decision to ban ICOs as a fundraising tool was made as the government sees such issues as increasing the risk of financial scams.’”

The Crypto Community is Surprised by the Announcement of a Ban

Members of the Korean community were still surprised by the governments’ hasty decision to ban ICOs. They knew a negative announcement on ICOs were coming, but they did not foresee the implementation of a total ban. The CEO of Bitcoin Center Korea,  John Ra, provided some commentary on the announcement:

        "We were expecting this kind of announcement, but we were surprised they used the words ‘total ban.’"

He mentioned that the timing was interesting on the part of regulatory bodies. They brought up the desire to ban ICOs prior to Chuseok, or the Thanksgiving holiday. This caught many crypto companies by surprise, as they did not have ample time to respond.

Startups to Take a Stand Against Government

The Forbes article mentioned Kim Tae-won, the former chairman of the Korea Blockchain Industry Promotion Association and CTO of startup Glosfer, is gathering the crypto community to fight back. He is preparing a petition that would prevent the government from banning ICOs. The petition calls for regulatory entities to provide a deeper assessment and gather more information before making a decision to ban ICOs.

“Glosfer hired a law firm that has determined that ICOs cannot be penalized under existing laws. The blockchain association will then ‘face it head on’ with the National Assembly by the end of October, Kim says.”

The Rushed ICO Ban and its Effects on Bitcoin

According to Forbes sources, Kim said the decision to ban ICOs was “rushed.” Kim also theorized that this hasty decision was caused by pressure from influential regulators and government agents. The fact that vaporous and scammy ICOs exist, probably expedited their decision to call for a ban.

Regardless of outcome, every time these countries rush to ban ICOs, Bitcoin suffers temporarily. The cryptocurrency market ecosystem functions in unison. Still, bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have always manage to recover even when governments try to attack them.

It will be interesting to see if the South Korean Bitcoin and cryptocurrency community can come together to stop government regulators from interceding in the market. They seem to believe the ICO ban can be reversed.

https://news.bitcoin.com/south-korean-businesses-to-battle-government-over-ico-bans/

Remix Point, a Japanese company engaged in a number of energy-related businesses, has recently launched a new electricity service with bitcoin payments integrated to serve customers all over Japan. The company is now offering customers who pay with bitcoin a discount on their electricity bills. Bitcoin payments are processed by the company’s cryptocurrency exchange subsidiary, Bitpoint.

Integrating Power Business with Bitcoin Payments

Established in March 2004, Remix Point is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and has a market capitalization of approximately 57 billion yen at press time. The company engages in a number of energy-related businesses such as developing and selling energy management systems; energy conservation consulting; selling energy-saving equipment; and electricity retailing.

In February 2016, Remix Point developed a retail electricity business centered on high-voltage clients in the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) service area. This service was expanded across Japan in August this year. The company subsequently expanded its retail electricity business to service low-voltage consumers beginning on October 1. Low-voltage customers include households, corporations, and retailers.

Along with the new service, Remix Point also announced the integration of bitcoin payments into its new offering. Bitcoin is not only accepted for electricity payments, but the company offers discounts for customers paying with the digital currency. The company wrote:

        "Payment of utility bills in virtual currency has already been introduced."

Bitcoin payments are made through the company’s subsidiary, Bitpoint, a cryptocurrency exchange and payment service provider.

Continue reading >https://news.bitcoin.com/japanese-energy-supplier-bitcoin-payments/

The CEO of the world's largest asset manager sees "huge opportunities" for cryptocurrencies – but argues that work needs to be done before they become more widely accepted.

In a new interview with Bloomberg TV, BlackRock chief Larry Fink said that he's a "big believer", but that the current market today is primarily focused on speculation. His comments come months after the firm's chief strategist said that, to him, the cryptocurrency market charts at the time looked "pretty scary."

Fink said in the interview:

    "Related to cryptocurrencies, I'm a big believer in the potential of what a cryptocurrency can do. You see huge opportunities, but what we're talking about today, it's much more of a speculative platform, people are speculating on it."

Fink added that, thus far, his firm hasn't seen much interest from clients beyond "some speculative stuff" – a notable comment given that firms like Goldman Sachs are reportedly eyeing new trading services around cryptocurrencies.

"We're being asked that question but it's more of a venture capital type of interchange, but we're not hearing clients say 'we want to use this as an asset class'," he said.

And while cryptocurrencies' speculative nature is an issue for him, Fink argued their most important problem is that they are being utilized to launder money.

"As I said, it's much more of a speculative platform for Asia, and it's heavily used for money laundering," Fink told Bloomberg.

https://www.coindesk.com/blackrock-ceo-larry-fink-big-believer-cryptocurrency/

A day after it was reported that Wall Street investment giant Goldman Sachs is weighing whether to launch a bitcoin trading operation, its influential CEO took to Twitter to voice an open – yet decidedly neutral – position on the cryptocurrency.

"Still thinking about bitcoin," CEO Lloyd Blankfein wrote on the social media platform, going on to say that he wasn't giving his approval or disapproval.

Citing sources with knowledge of the effort, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that Goldman is in the early stages of creating a trading operation specifically geared toward cryptocurrencies. At the same time, it's not clear at this time if the investment bank will go ahead with the plan. Blankfein made no mention of that report in his tweet.

His comments stand in contrast with those from fellow Wall Street banking CEO Jamin Dimon of JPMorgan Chase, who has made headlines in recent weeks for his declaration that, in his view, bitcoin is a fraud.

Other big-bank executives like Morgan Stanley's James Gorman have taken a more measured approach, with Gorman stating late last month that he thinks bitcoin is "more than a fad."

https://www.coindesk.com/goldman-sachs-ceo-no-conclusion-bitcoin-yet/

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced the creation of a new cyber task force designed to target cyber-related misconduct and protect retail investors from cyber threats. Among other things, the unit will target initial coin offerings (ICOs) and other blockchain-based projects that run afoul of SEC regulations.

SEC Cyber Task Force to Investigate ICO Violations

The SEC announced the new cyber unit in a press release, stating that the task force will “focus on the Enforcement Division’s substantial cyber-related expertise on targeting cyber-related misconduct.” Specifically, this unit will target threats to the securities market such as market manipulation, hacking, dark web misconduct, intrusions into retail brokerage accounts, and threats to exchanges and other market infrastructure. Notably, the task force will also investigate “violations involving distributed ledger technology and initial coin offerings.”

That the SEC will scrutinize ICOs more closely should not be surprising. Earlier this month, SEC executives revealed that they perceive threats to retail investors within the ICO marketplace, noting that “with any kind of newsworthy event, roaches kind of crawl out of the woodwork and try to scam money off of investors.”

“Protecting the welfare of the Main Street investor has long been a priority for the Commission,” added Steven Peikin, Co-Director of the SEC’s Enforcement Division.  “By dedicating additional resources and expertise to developing strategies to address misconduct that victimizes retail investors, the division will better protect our most vulnerable market participants.”

Indeed, the commission has apparently begun to put pressure on U.S.-based ICOs it considers securities. Protostarr, a startup that promised the ability to use crypto tokens to invest in internet celebrities and receive dividends from advertising revenue raised on the stars’ YouTube and Twitch channels, canceled its ICO after the agency informed the company’s CEO that it was investigating Protostarr for violations of securities regulations. It is not clear whether the SEC has begun to investigate any other specific ICOs.

Overstock Pioneers Compliant ICO Exchange

Recognizing that regulators are taking a more active look into the booming ICO markets, Overstock subsidiary tZero has formed a joint venture with RenGen LLC and the Argon Group to launch the first FINRA- and SEC-compliant ICO marketplace. The company states that this exchange will allow startups to embrace the “security” classification, opening the door for increased institutional investments within the cryptocurrency industry.

https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/new-sec-cyber-task-force-will-oversee-icos-blockchain-tech/

Industry analysts predict the bitcoin price could surpass $6,000 by the end of the year, depending on whether the SegWit2x hard fork is implemented and, if so, how contentious and disruptive the fork is.

Bitcoin Price May Reach $6,000 by December

The bitcoin price rose nearly 75% during Q3 and has mostly recovered from the early-September contraction that was initiated by China’s blanket ban on initial coin offerings (ICOs) and bitcoin exchanges. On Monday, the bitcoin price rose as high as $4,470, although it has since dipped to a present value of $4,259.

Now that bitcoin has demonstrated consistent support for the $4,000 level, many analysts believe the bitcoin price will begin extending toward its record near $5,000, eventually reaching past it to a new all-time high.

    “Throughout the year we’ve been predicting the bitcoin price will surpass $5,000 and creep closer to $6,000 by year’s end. That prediction is looking more in line with market sentiment these days,” Thomas Glucksmann, head of APAC business development at bitcoin exchange Gatecoin, told CNBC in an interview.

CryptoCompare CEO Charles Hayter is not certain bitcoin will be able to rise quite that far by the end of the year, but he agrees with many other analysts who believe $5,000 is within sight. He believes that this uptrend has been and will continue to be spurred on by increased regulatory clarity in major sectors of the crypto economy.

    “Bitcoin’s biggest price catalyst is regulation. Japan has breathed life into the price and as the fog of uncertainty clears in other jurisdictions, clarity on regulation will release a break on the price,” he added.

…Depending on What Happens With SegWit2x

Of course, any number of hurdles could trip up bitcoin’s bull run before the end of the year, and there is one clear obstacle bitcoin faces during its march to $6,000: the contentious SegWit2x hard fork that is scheduled for November. SegWit2x was designed as an “upgrade” to the Bitcoin protocol, and though it has support from many mining operations and bitcoin firms, a large segment of the community — including all of the Bitcoin Core developers — opposes it.

Despite months of fierce debate, SegWit2x supporters and opponents remain entrenched in their positions. Unless one side concedes to the other or a compromise is reached, the network will split into two competing blockchains, each vying for the bitcoin moniker. As it currently stands, it is likely that the free market will decide which chain survives. But though this process may be fair, it will not be painless, and it is not known what short- and long-term ramifications it will have on bitcoin.

https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/6000-bitcoin-price-within-reach-by-end-of-year/

Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, FINMA, is invited by the Crypto Valley Association to regulate the country’s booming cryptocurrency industry.

Crypto Valley

Of twenty-six Swiss cantons, or member states making up Switzerland’s confederation, Zug earned worldwide notoriety for its embracing of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin.  

Indeed, with a population the size of a poorly attended American baseball game, Zug punches far above its relative weight in terms of technological enthusiasm. By summer of last year, the city itself even accepted bitcoin for some payments.

Cryptocurrencies are so part of the culture of Zug, it has come to be known colloquially as Crypto Valley, a play on tech movers and shakers in Silicon Valley, for example.

And Crypto Valley’s status has been seemingly sealed with Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) booming in value tenfold in about as many months this year, closing-in on 200 billion USD by year’s end.

    The growing regulatory chestnuts, excuses or pretexts to intervene, revolve around two themes popping up from world governments: money laundering and terrorism.

Switzerland alone brought to market over sixty percent of the largest ICOs, including Tezos’ breathtaking gathering of ether and bitcoin valued at nearly 250 million USD.

The country just finished hosting its very first ICO Summit, billed as “dedicated to crowdfunding in the blockchain industry.”

Success Breeds Attention and Dissonance

With success and enthusiasm comes attention, and with attention state regulators are usually not far behind.

Enter Swiss decade-old regulator, Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA).

In a statement released on September 29th, FINMA announced its newly crafted FINMA Guidance 04/2017.

After acknowledging “the innovative potential of such technology” and how FINMA “has been supporting efforts in developing and implementing blockchain solutions in the Swiss finance industry for several years,” the online missive concludes perhaps new regulation might not be necessary.

FINMA seems to understand how “ICOs are structured from technical, functional and business standpoints varies markedly from offering to offering,” which is no small statement.

Dissonance creeps in because, up to this point, “ICOs are currently not governed by specific regulations, either globally or in Switzerland,” the release notes, leading readers to possibly question just why, now, regulators are needed or wanted, considering the massive amounts of wealth creation thus far.

Pretexts to Intervention?

The growing regulatory chestnuts, excuses or pretexts to intervene, revolve around two themes popping up from world governments: money laundering and terrorism.

The two subjects are virtual conversation ending, and can be used as magic escape hatches to avoid justifying state intervention in any meaningful or substantial way. China is a great example of this brute-force mentality.

FINMA stops short of new guidelines just yet, warning how “Swiss legislation on financial markets is principle-based; one such principle is technology neutrality. Collecting funds for one’s own account without a platform or issuing house is unregulated from a supervisory perspective in cases where repayment is not obliged, payment instruments have not been issued and no secondary market exists.”

Depending upon “how an ICO is structured, however, some parts of the procedure may already be covered by existing regulations.”

Nevertheless, the Crypto Valley Association (CVA) in its own press release on September 7th, urged and welcomed “clear, comprehensive yet flexible [state] regulation that clarifies the legal status of token launches, tokens and the investments made therein. We also believe the industry would benefit from a clear code of conduct surrounding token launches, to help companies fulfil their legal and moral obligations and give investors a clear understanding of the risks involved.”

Crypto Valley Association is a government-supported organization and includes members such as Ethereum and Thomson Reuters (TR) among its advisers.

Reuters, the news division of TR, quoted CVA President Oliver Bussmann approvingly:

“Bottom line, we welcome that the Swiss regulator is taking action and recognizes the need for clear guidance and oversight, especially with regards to KYC (know-your-client) compliance, while also fostering innovation.”

https://news.bitcoin.com/switzerlands-finma-eyes-crypto-valley/

This week a few popular Chinese bitcoin exchanges, BTCC, Bitkan, and Viabtc, shut down shop and stopped cryptocurrency trading operations. The closures were announced last month and follow the recent government decision to legislate virtual currencies on October 1.

Viabtc and BTCC Say Goodbye to the Crypto-Community

Last month many Chinese cryptocurrency trading platforms announced they would be closing their doors for an unknown amount of time. On September 30, BTCC and Viabtc said goodbye for now to the bitcoin ‘community’ and closed exchange operations.

“Dear friends, Viabtc has closed our Exchange service from 00:00 Sept 30th, 2017,” explains the Chinese exchange. “Viabtc has also completed CNY and crypto withdrawal of all users. We appreciate all your support and trust in us from all over the world — See you my friends.”

The exchange BTCC also bid farewell to the community as well and detailed the startup has been running nonstop since its inception stating;  

        "BTCC’s CNY exchange has stopped trading after operating for a world record of 2,305 days — Long live BTCC!"

Continue reading > https://news.bitcoin.com/chinese-exchanges-bid-farewell-to-crypto-community/

$150 Billion: Bitcoin Price Rally Leads Markets Closer to All-Time High

The bitcoin price continued to rally on Monday, and it carried the total cryptocurrency market cap past another significant threshold. Bitcoin now appears poised to challenge the $4,500 level, while ethereum maintains its position above $300 as it awaits the upcoming Metropolis protocol upgrade.



The crypto markets experienced higher-than-average weekend trading volume, with their 24-hour total piercing $3 billion at the time of writing. Against this backdrop, the cryptocurrency market cap padded its total by another $3 billion on Monday. It now sits above $150 billion for the first time in almost three weeks, placing it just $30 billion below its record high.




Continue reading > https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/150-billion-bitcoin-price-rally-leads-markets-closer-to-all-time-high/

The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) believes that cryptocurrencies may give traditional government-issued ones a "run for their money."

Speaking at a conference in London, IMF chief Christine Lagarde told attendees that she thinks "it may not be wise to dismiss virtual currencies."

Notably, she outlined possible scenarios in which a country – particularly those with "weak institutions and unstable national currencies" might actually embrace one more directly.

"Instead of adopting the currency of another country – such as the U.S. dollar – some of these economies might see a growing use of virtual currencies. Call it dollarization 2.0," she said.

One of the driving factors behind that potential evolution would be a shift in consumer preference for new currencies that are "easier and safer" than existing ones. That scenario could be further hastened if cryptocurrencies "actually become more stable," she said.

Lagarde went on to say:

    "So in many ways, virtual currencies might just give existing currencies and monetary policy a run for their money. The best response by central bankers is to continue running effective monetary policy, while being open to fresh ideas and new demands, as economies evolve."

That said, Lagarde noted earlier in her speech that such an outcome is, in her view, a distant prospect, saying that cryptocurrencies are "too volatile, too risky, too energy intensive, and because the underlying technologies are not yet scalable."

To date, the IMF has advocated a balanced approach on cryptocurrency regulation, voicing that position in a January 2016 staff paper. Lagarde has also voiced support for financial applications of blockchain, a subject that the IMF has explored on an organizational level as well.

https://www.coindesk.com/imf-head-christine-lagarde-it-may-not-be-wise-to-dismiss-virtual-currencies/

Macau’s financial regulator has explicitly barred banks and financial institutions from providing services to initial coin offerings or ICOs and virtual currencies.

The Monetary Authority of Macao, which also serves as Macau’s defacto central bank, has told all financial institutions in the region not to partake or provide services for any tokens related to ICOs or virtual currencies, like bitcoin. The regulator underlined recent events in Mainland China, where authorities announced a sweeping ban on all ICOs after deeming them an “illegal” method of fundraising.

In stating that “financial institutions and non-bank payment institutions are prohibited explicitly by Mainland authorities from providing services for these tokens and virtual currencies”, the Macau authority moved to “remind all the banking and payment institutions in Macao not to participate in or provide, directly or indirectly, any financial services for the related activities.”

Macau, formerly a Portuguese territory until 1999, is now an autonomous administrative region under China, similar to Hong Kong.

The notice also cited a previous release by the authority in 2014, warning the public against using digital currencies, specifically bitcoin.

The authority wrote at the time:

    "…Bitcoin is a type of virtual commodity which is neither a legal tender nor a financial instrument subject to supervision. Any trading of these commodities involves considerable risks, including but not limited to those relating to money laundering and terrorism financing, against which all participants should remain vigilant."

https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/macau-regulator-forbids-banks-serving-icos-cryptocurrencies/

Last year, legacy exchange CME group provided a bitcoin price index with the intent of adding bitcoin futures. However, they decided not to follow through with those plans.  

Bryan Durkin, who heads Chicago-based CME, told Bloomberg they were not going to list bitcoin futures. He mentioned the technology is nascent, and that digitization technology is on their radar. He further stated, “I really don’t see us going forward with a futures contract in the very near future.” However, some investors want exposure to bitcoin. There is a market for indirect exposure via futures contracts.

Bitcoin Futures Contracts

Though CME will not provide futures pairings to its clients, some of their competitors are entering the futures markets. Chicago, CBOE Holdings Inc., is slated to add futures contracting for bitcoin to their platform. They plan on implementing futures contracts in the fourth quarter of next year, according to the Bloomberg article. CBOE formed an alliance with the Winklevoss venture Gemini Trust Co in order to bring clients these bitcoin future options.

Outside of the United States, other companies have tried their hands at offering bitcoin futures. Straits, a Singapore based company, introduced futures trading last year. Straits partnered with Bitpay to make the transition seamless. Jamie Redman, writing for news.Bitcoin.com, covered this story:

        "Singapore-based Straits Financial offers a multitude of trading vehicles, such as commodity futures, OTC markets, and derivatives…Straits Financial says that Singapore has firmly established itself as Asia’s international financial hub. The company says it aspires to keep the country’s role in finance flourishing. By collaborating with BitPay, the brokerage house will give its clientele access to certain markets using Bitcoin."

The growing introduction of futures markets signifies that investors and traders want more exposure to bitcoin on legacy financial exchanges.

Continue reading > https://news.bitcoin.com/large-legacy-exchange-cme-group-bypasses-bitcoin-futures/

Hi, can you clarify, if all bounty stakes earned during last ICO will be paid in the future. I understand that situation with China regulation and postponement of Rakugo, but it would be fair if all participants get their reward.

Does anyone know how to transfer ETT from Mew to Waves exchange in a safe way? Yesterday`s price was very attractive, but it`s obvious, if trade volume will be still very low, nobody will pay such high price for a long time. Maybe it`s time to get more tokens, it`s one of the few projects where dev`s doing smth and reported to their investors.

Looking forward for that October announcement. Please hire some more coders, do something substantial: working demo, sign more contracts with partners, etc.