Monday, April 30, 2018

UNICEF Wants to Use Your CPU to Mine Monero to Raise Funds for Children

UNICEF Australia, an organization that is dedicated to humanitarian aid for disadvantaged children, is shining the spotlight on a good cause while simultaneously seizing an opportunity for an added revenue stream through cryptocurrency mining. The agency has launched The HopePage, which is designed to use the CPUs of local website visitors to perform cryptocurrency mining,

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Bitcoin Cash Is Bitcoin? Lawsuits Won't Stop the Fight Over Bitcoin's Name

Roger Ver's decision to call bitcoin cash "bitcoin" has dredged up a byzantine debate on how exactly the software should be defined and by whom.

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US Central Bank Explains How Bitcoin is Like ‘Regular Currency’

Christine Smith, a content strategist with the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, suggests bitcoin is less “exotic” and more boring than people may think. Bitcoin’s two use cases are as a store of value and a currency, the latter of which Smith uses to argue a trio of reasons why the leading digital currency

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US Federal Trade Commission To Offer Free Workshop On Crypto Scams

The US Federal Trade Commission will hold a summer workshop on consumer protection against crypto scams.

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will be holding a free workshop this summer titled “Decrypting Cryptocurrency Scams” according to a press release published today, April 30. The workshop’s main aim is to educate the public about risks in the crypto sphere.

The event will include consumer groups, law enforcement, research organizations, and the private sector to examine how scammers are taking advantage of public interest in digital currencies. The FTC’s press release notes that while interest in crypto has increased this year, so have scams. The regulatory agency cites a rise in “deceptive investment and business opportunities, bait-and-switch schemes, and deceptively marketed mining machines.”

The free June 25 workshop will be held at DePaul University in Chicago, and the event will also be available over a webcast. The crypto workshop falls under the FTC’s current work on protecting consumers using new financial technologies, according to the press release.

In March, the FTC created a Blockchain Working Group that will target fraud that occurs in the blockchain and crypto sphere. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also launched a cryptocurrency probe the same month as part of their overall inquiry into how Initial Coin Offerings (ICO) could fall under securities regulations.



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US Central Bank Explains how Bitcoin is Like ‘Regular Currency’

Christine Smith, a content strategist with the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, suggests bitcoin is less “exotic” and more boring than people may think. Bitcoin’s two use cases are as a store of value and a currency, the latter of which Smith uses to argue a trio of reasons why the leading digital currency

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Japan Finance Giant SBI Holdings To Launch Crypto Exchange In Summer 2018

The launch of SBI Virtual Currencies is expected this summer, SBI Holdings president Yoshitaka Kitao says it will use Bitcoin Cash as a settlement currency.

Japan`s financial services giant SBI Holdings plans to launch its crypto exchange this summer, local media outlet Business Insider Japan reported April 27.

According to a recent announcement by company president Yoshitaka Kitao, the exchange SBI Virtual Currencies will support coins such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH).

Yoshitaka suggested that BCH would be regarded as the settlement currency, as the scarcity of BTC makes it expensive and “tiring as a settlement currency”. He added that XRP would be a remittance currency.

While the launch date of the exchange remains unannounced, the SBI president stated that the exchange “will be number one in the blink of an eye.”

"When we do it, it will be number one in the blink of an eye so quickly, so even if a tremendous number of customers come, we can build a system that can bear. [sic] We have to pursue safety thoroughly.”

SBI Group first revealed its plans for SBI Virtual Currencies in October, 2016. In December, 2017, SBI announced it would partner with Bitcoin trading platform Huobi, and would launch the exchange in early 2018.

In March, SBI postponed the launch of the exchange for security improvement purposes. The delay was ostensibly motivated by the Coincheck hack and the Financial Services Agency’s (FSA) subsequently heightened scrutiny of exchanges.

In March, SBI Holdings acquired 40 percent of Taiwanese cryptocurrency hardware wallet company CoolBitX. CoolBitX’s primary offering is its CoolWallet, which can communicate with other devices via Bluetooth.



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CFTC Chairman J. Christopher ‘Cryptodad’ Giancarlo to Retire After Term Ends in 2019

The top markets regulator in the United States has confirmed that he will retire following the expiration of his term in 2019, depriving the cryptocurrency industry of one of the Washington establishment’s friendliest voices. Speaking with financial publication IFLR at last week’s International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) annual general meeting, Commodity Futures Trading Commission

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Circle Adds Zcash to Crypto Investment App

Circle added zcash to its cryptocurrency storage and investment app, the company announced Monday.

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Dubai Police Arrest Suspects Behind $1.9 Million Bitcoin Heist

Dubai police have apprehended a gang of ten individuals alleged to have stolen Dh7 million (approx. $1.9 million) from two victims in an armed theft involving the purchase of bitcoin. The victims, incidentally two brothers, sought to buy bitcoin worth AED 7 million in a peer-to-peer exchange that saw ten individuals purporting to be sellers … Continued

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US: ICO Market Is Example Of Unregulated Securities Market, Says SEC Commissioner

The US SEC commissioner said the agency’s priority in crypto markets is consumer protection.

US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Commissioner Robert Jackson highlighted consumer protection regarding Initial Coin Offerings (ICO) in an interview on CNBC today, April 30.

When asked about cryptocurrencies and ICOs, Jackson said that he hasn’t yet seen an ICO that wasn’t a security, echoing SEC chairman Jay Clayton’s comments earlier this year. Jackson added that the crypto space “has been full of troubling developments that we’ve seen at the SEC, and especially the ICO space,” adding:

“Investors are having a hard time telling the difference between investments and fraud.”

The ICO market right now, according to Jackson, is a prime example of an unregulated securities market:

“If you want to know what our markets would look like with no securities regulation, what it would look like if the SEC didn’t do its job? The answer is the ICO market.”

However, Jackson doesn’t think this means either more bans or regulation, but rather a focus “on protecting investors who are getting hurt in this market” for right now. He suggested in the future looking into “ways to make those investments work consistent with our securities law.”

At the SEC and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) cryptocurrency hearing in February of this year, the conclusion was reached that digital ledger technologies (DLT) like blockchain need the least regulation, ICOs need the most, and virtual currencies fall somewhere in between.

More recently, during a hearing at the US House of Representatives on April 28, the director of the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance said that the SEC was striving for a “balanced approach” in regards to ICO regulation.



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India To Get 30% Discount On Venezuelan Crude Oil If Paid For In Petro, Says Local Source

Local sources report that Venezuela has offered to give India a 30% discount on the sale of crude oil if they pay with Venezuela’s Petro coin.

Venezuela will give India a 30 percent discount on crude oil, but only if India uses the state-issued Petro coin, according to an article published yesterday, April 29, from local Indian news outlet Business Standard.

News about the discount comes from crypto exchange Coinsecure CEO Mohit Kalra, who told Business Standard that the offer had been put forward by a team from Venezuela’s blockchain department in India last month:

“They are going to different countries and making offers. The offer that they have given to the Indian government is: you buy Petro and we will give you a 30 per cent discount on oil purchases.”

Business Standard reports that Coinsecure will sell Petro in India after negotiations with the Venezuelan blockchain team. According to Kalra, Coinsecure will also supply white label exchange solutions for Venezuela, meaning that all crypto traders will need to trade on their exchange:

“That would be run by their brand name, but the back-end will be us. We plan to provide them with 10-15 cryptocurrency players.”

A Venezuelan official “indicated they have received response from the private sector in India,” Business Standard notes.

The Petro, which was launched on Feb. 20 in a pre-sale that ended on March 19, has brought up questions internationally over its use in the global economy, especially in regards to the economic sanctions imposed on the country.

Business Standard notes that the Petro has reportedly raised more than $3.8 bln, with more than 127 countries participating in the pre-sale.



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Leverage Your Blockchain Assets to Secure Cash Loans with Kambo!

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Former Chief Compliance Officer from Blackrock, Inc. Joins Genesis Mining as Chief Compliance Officer

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The New Social Network Kuende Adopts Blockchain to Create Real-Life Experiences

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Bring Home the Bacoin? Oscar Mayer Debuts Crypto Campaign

Meat manufacturer Oscar Mayer has launched a bacon-backed cryptocurrency, which fans can cash out for real bacon.

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SEC Official: ICO Market Shows Need for Securities Regulation

An SEC commissioner warned that initial coin offerings could be fraudulent, but consumers cannot necessarily identify fraud.

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Tron Price Posts 15% Rally, But Is a Rumor to Blame?

The Tron price rallied by 15 percent on Monday, defying the sluggish performance of the overall cryptocurrency market. Tron Price Makes 15% Advance in Defiance of Sluggish Market The cryptocurrency market cap shed $4 billion on Monday, continuing a reversal that began on Sunday. Eight of the 10 largest cryptocurrencies fell against the US dollar,

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Mastercard International Seeks Patent For Fast Tracking Blockchain Navigation

Mastercard International Inc. has applied for a patent for a system for fast tracking navigation of blockchains by means of data manipulation, according to a filing with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The system is designed to facilitate quicker navigation and verification of blocks in a blockchain. David J. King of Guildford, United

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Iran: Model Of State-Issued Digital Currency Now Ready, Says Gov’t Minister

An Iranian government minister has confirmed that an experimental model of a domestic digital currency is now ready.

An Iranian government minister has confirmed that an experimental model of a domestic digital currency is now ready, Reuters reported Saturday, April 28. The move closely follows the country’s recent banking blockade on cryptocurrency trading.

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Minister Mohammad Javad Azari-Jahromi was quoted by state news agency IRNA as saying;

“The central bank’s [ban] does not mean the prohibition or restriction of the use of the digital currency in domestic development […] Last week, at a joint meeting to review the progress of the [domestic cryptocurrency] project, it was announced that the experimental model was ready.”

Minister Azari-Jahromi first tweeted of the Post Bank’s plans to develop a “cloud-based digital currency” for Iran’s banking system on February 21:

"A meeting on Blockchain-based digital currencies with the board of directors of the Post Bank set out the necessary measures for an experimental implementation of the country's first digital currency [...] A pilot model for review and approval will be presented to the banking system of the country."

Azari-Jahromi has not clarified whether the locally developed digital currency will eventually be made available to the public, nor whether it will be issued by Post Bank (51 percent of which is owned by the government), or by another government or financial entity.

Iran’s central bank banned domestic banks and other financial entities from dealing in cryptocurrencies in early April, citing money-laundering concerns.

April has also seen coordinated measures across Iranian financial institutions to halt a national currency crisis, with the Iranian rial plummeting to unprecedented lows amid fears of a possible renewal of sanctions if the U.S. chooses to exit a multilateral nuclear accord on May 12.

Iran’s pursuit of a state-backed digital currency has caused some to draw the comparison with Venezuela’s centrally-issued Petro, which many have viewed as an attempt to bypass the country’s own crippling international sanctions.



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Comcast Ventures Executive: ‘There’s Real Value’ in Bitcoin, Blockchain

The bitcoin price is hovering near its best levels of the year, and Comcast Ventures’ Managing Director Gil Beyda says it’s because people are realizing there’s “real value” in bitcoin and blockchain. While 2017 was a year where investors were focused on getting rich quick and doubling/tripling/quadrupling their money, the froth is now out of

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FTC to Host Consumer Protection Workshop on Cryptocurrency Scams

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is planning to host a workshop on cryptocurrency scams and fraud in June.

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Buffett: Bitcoin Is More Gamble Than Investment

The world's third-richest person, Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffet, has again made comments critical of bitcoin as an investment.

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UNICEF Australia Offers Users Option To Mine Crypto As Donation

UNICEF Australia has released a website that will let users opt-in to mine crypto with their devices as a form of donation

UNICEF Australia announced yesterday, April 29, an initiative that allows users to give over their computer’s processing power to mine cryptocurrency as a donation to the charity.

Tony Andres Tang, the digital brand and content manager of UNICEF Australia, told news outlet ITnews that they “are transparent in the fact [they] are borrowing a computers' processing power, and provide the ability to choose how much power is donated”:

“The HopePage [sic] is entirely user initiated, and they have the ultimate power to decide whether to participate or not."

While Tang said that the mining software used to power the Hopepage was not disclosed to users upfront "in the same way we wouldn’t disclose server setups or configurations,” ITnews reports that their examination shows that AuthedMine is the mining software used on the site, a variant of Coinhive, that gives users an option to mine the altcoin Monero.

The “How To” section of the website explains that you can “turn down the amount of processing power you’re donating,” noting that “mining is perfectly safe for your computer.” A recently published study on cryptocurrency mining by Concordia University noted that even users that willingly opt-in to crypto mining may not be aware of the possibility for higher electricity bills, slower Internet and computer performance, and a shorter lifespan for their device.

Earlier this year, UNICEF launched a two-month long charity campaign that asked PC games to donate their unused computer power to mine for Ethereum, the proceeds of which would go to Syrian child refugees. When the campaign ended on March 31, a little over 1,000 euros had been raised with more than 11,000 contributors.

In addition to being used for malicious cryptojacking incidents, the Monero-mining software Coinhive has been used by companies that are looking to earn revenue from their online visitors as an alternative to showing online ads. Last fall, illegal piracy site The Pirate Bay was found to be secretly mining for Monero on visitors’ computers, and major American cable television network Showtime also was revealed to be using Coinhive to mine Monero as an alternative revenue source.

More recently, news site Salon directly offered users the chance for an ad-free experience if they let their computer’s unused power be used to mine cryptocurrency, although the site notably does not mention mining directly.



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Crypto Exchange Coinbase Thinks It’s Worth $8 Billion: Report

Cryptocurrency exchange and brokerage giant Coinbase internally values itself at $8 billion, sources familiar with the company’s offer to purchase Bitcoin startup Earn.com say. Tech news outlet Recode reports that when Coinbase acquired Earn.com last month, its offer included an equity package that tacitly valued the exchange operator at $8 billion. That’s a significant step

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PayPie Launches Live Beta With QuickBooks Integration

This is a sponsored story. CCN urges readers to conduct their own research with due diligence into the company, product or service mentioned in the content below. PayPie, a platform that brings transparency to the financial markets using a risk score algorithm based on business accounting, recently launched the beta version of its fintech blockchain platform … Continued

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Blockchain 3.0 Conference In Korea Highlights Technology’s Wider Social Context

This is a sponsored story. CCN urges readers to conduct their own research with due diligence into the company, product or service mentioned in the content below. Hundreds of leaders from around the world gathered for The Blockchain 3.0 Conference in Seoul, South Korea to explore a wide range of blockchain issues and examine the areas … Continued

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30% Off! Venezuela Offers India Cheap Crude Oil on a Discount, if Paid in Petro

Venezuela has recently offered India a 30 percent discount on crude oil purchases if the country purchases it using its oil-backed cryptocurrency, the Petro. According to a report published by the Business Standard, a team of experts from Venezuela’s blockchain department went to India last month to conduct the deal. While in India, Venezuela’s experts struck … Continued

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Arrington-Backed Startup Launches Crypto-for-Cash Credit Platform

A crypto lending startup backed by TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington launched a U.S. dollar credit platform on Monday.

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CFO Boost? EY Predicts Blockchain Could Change C-Suite Role

"Big four" professional services firm EY says that blockchain could transform its finance operations and redefine the role of chief financial officer.

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Japan Wants Cryptocurrency Exchanges to De-List Anonymous Altcoins: Report

Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) is pressuring local cryptocurrency exchanges to de-list privacy-centric altcoins such as Monero, Zcash, and Dash. Writing in Forbes, Tokyo-based journalist Jake Adelstein reports that sources close to the FSA say the regulatory agency — which has sole authority to grant licenses to cryptocurrency exchanges — is “taking all available steps”

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Bitsane Exchange: Meet Enhanced Security and Reworked Support

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Japanese Regulators Discussed Restricting Trade Of Privacy-Focused Altcoins, Report Says

Japanese regulators are considering whether registered cryptocurrency exchanges should be “allowed” to trade privacy-focussed altcoins, reports say

Japanese regulators suggested preventing cryptocurrency exchanges from trading anonymity-oriented altcoins Dash (DASH) and Monero (XMR) this month, Forbes reports today, April 30.

Relating the outcome of a working group meeting of industry “experts” and the country’s regulator the Financial Services Authority (FSA), the publication quotes one member of the group raising the idea of preventative measures regarding the altcoins, which are known for their focus on privacy and user anonymity.

“It should be seriously discussed as to whether any registered cryptocurrency exchange should be allowed to use such currencies,” the unnamed member said, according to Forbes.

In light of Japanese exchange Coincheck’s $530 mln hack in January of this year, the FSA has scrambled to ensure a repeat performance does not befall Japan’s crypto sector.

In mid-March of this year, Coincheck dropped Monero, Dash and ZCash trading in March, while the FSA issued penalties to other exchanges which have failed to comply with requirements as part of the country’s exchange licensing scheme.

While official plans for the coins have not surfaced from the FSA, exchanges looking to stay on the right side of the regulators should soon receive sanctioned assistance from Japan’s new self-regulatory body which came into being last week.

The Nihon Kasotsuka Kokangyo Kyokai (Japan Cryptocurrency Exchange Association) will aim to bring about best practices in the sector, Cointelegraph reported April 26, while chairman Taizen Okuyama previously expressed a wish to “create a situation where he can give advice to” unlicensed platforms.



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Author William Mougayar to Launch Blockchain Investment Fund

Blockchain author William Mougayar is teaming up with Jabre Capital Partners to launch a blockchain investment fund for startups.

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UNICEF Is Mining Crypto to Raise Funds for Children

UNICEF Australia has launched a website that harness supporters' computers to raise donations via cryptocurrency mining.

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ANZ and IBM Build Blockchain Solution for Insurance

ANZ bank has partnered with IBM to build a blockchain solution for transparent, secure transfer of data and premiums in the insurance sector.

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Japanese Regulator Sees Boost In Cryptocurrency Queries

Last year, Japanese consumers were asking more questions than ever about cryptocurrency trading and ICOs, new data reveals.

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There’s Only Four Million Bitcoin Left to Be Mined – Here’s Why

In today’s climate of ICOs with 100 billion token supplies, it can be easy to forget that the total supply of Bitcoin is incredibly low – 21 million. The 17 millionth Bitcoin has been mined, and there are only 4 million left. The built-in artificial scarcity is one of the most important characteristics of the … Continued

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Indian Law Protects Cryptocurrency Investors Despite Lack of Regulation

In this opinion piece, Mohammed Danish, a lawyer practising at High Court of Delhi, explains how the interest of the crypto investor in protected under Indian law despite the absence of any crypto regulatory regime. The investor can still approach the court of law against any deficiency in service by the cryptocurrency exchange. You can

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ANZ and IBM Building Blockchain Solution for Insurance Industry

ANZ bank has partnered with IBM to build a blockchain solution for transparent, secure transfer of data and premiums in the insurance sector.

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MasterCard Publishes Patent To Speed Up Blockchain Node Activation

MasterCard has published a patent for a ‘fast track’ blockchain system, which would enable new nodes to verify blocks at greater speed.

MasterCard has filed a patent for a system to speed up the activation of new nodes in a blockchain, in an application published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) April 26.

The application, which was first filed on October 24, 2016, outlines that the current difficulty facing new nodes –  a computer connected to the blockchain network that stores a copy of the blockchain – is that they are required to individually verify a massive amount of data in order to activate. The patent states that new nodes must verify “thousands, millions, or even billions of transaction records […] in a vast number of different blocks” that may have accumulated over time in a given blockchain, generating a significant delay before each new node can begin to participate in the network.

The patent proposes a technical solution for faster navigation, in which “fast track flags” would be included in block headers, so that new nodes could scan and verify the blockchain at greater speed:

“A node in the blockchain network […] may quickly navigate the blockchain by identifying blocks that have activated fast track flags. For verification, the node may identify the earlier fast track block (e.g., based on timestamp) and hash that block […] and then verify that the fast track reference in the more recent fast track block is the same as the hash of the earlier fast track block.”

The patent also outlines the use of software specifically configured to perform querying, hashing, and signatory operations, that would further enhance system efficiency.

MasterCard Labs has reportedly filed for over 30 “patents related to blockchain tech and cryptocurrency” to date. On April 12, USPTO published a MasterCard patent application for tamper-proof distributed storage of identity data on a blockchain system that would prevent abuses, such as identity fraud. In Oct. 2017, the company launched a blockchain system offering business-to-business payments, and submitted a blockchain tech patent for instant payments a month later, in Nov. 2017.

Overall, the company appears to be vigorously pro-blockchain, yet anti-Bitcoin: in Oct. 2017, the company’s CEO scorned non-government issued cryptocurrencies as “junk.” This March, a senior MasterCard executive reiterated that the company is receptive to central bank-issued digital currencies only.



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Enquiries About Cryptocurrencies Tripled in 2017, Japan Regulator Says

Last year, Japanese consumers were asking more questions than ever about cryptocurrency trading and ICOs, new data reveals.

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How Blockchain Trade Finance Is Breaking Proof-of-Concept Gridlock

After years of tests and concepts, enterprise blockchain may be having a breakthrough moment, with several notable trials in trade finance advancing.

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Crypto Institutional Investors Were Missing the Right Vehicle until Now

This is a submitted sponsored story. CCN urges readers to conduct their own research with due diligence into the company, product or service mentioned in the content below. Institutional investors form the backbone of the markets. Whether it is pension funds, mutual funds or hedge funds, they allow investors to participate in the market by trading

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Coinsecure Delays Compensation Claims after $3 Million Bitcoin Theft

Indian cryptocurrency exchange Coinsecure is delaying the compensation process for customers impacted by the theft of 438 bitcoins earlier this month. In an announcement on its website on Sunday, Delhi-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinsecure has offered its reason for the lack of progress in reimbursing its users following the $3 million theft of customers’ bitcoins from

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Bitcoin Price Corrects to $9,200 while EOS Drops 15%, Market Moves Toward $430 Billion

The bitcoin price has slightly corrected to $9,200 after rising above $9,500. The valuation of the cryptocurrency market has increased to $425 billion, moving towards $450 billion, where it was in the beginning of March. EOS Down 15% EOS, the fifth most valuable blockchain protocol in the cryptocurrency market, has declined by more than 15

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ANZ, IBM Develop a Blockchain Insurance Solution in New Zealand

New Zealand’s largest bank ANZ, with tech partner IBM, has successfully developed a blockchain solution that will serve as a ‘single source of truth’ for insurance companies and brokers. The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) has concluded a successful proof of concept using blockchain technology to make data transfers more efficient with faster,

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Blockchain Trade Finance Is Breaking Proof-of-Concept Gridlock

After years of tests and concepts, enterprise blockchain may be having a breakthrough moment, with several notable trials in trade finance advancing.

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ICBC's First Blockchain Patent Is Now Public

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, a major state-owned bank, is exploring how to verify and share users' certificates on a blockchain.

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Bitcoin Price Corrects to $9,200 while EOS Drops 15%, Market Moves Toward $430 Billion

The bitcoin price has slightly corrected to $9,200 after rising above $9,500. The valuation of the cryptocurrency market has increased to $425 billion, moving towards $450 billion, where it was in the beginning of March. EOS Down 15% EOS, the fifth most valuable blockchain protocol in the cryptocurrency market, has declined by more than 15

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ANZ, IBM Develop a Blockchain Insurance Solution in New Zealand

New Zealand’s largest bank ANZ, with tech partner IBM, has successfully developed a blockchain solution that will serve as a ‘single source of truth’ for insurance companies and brokers. The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) has concluded a successful proof of concept using blockchain technology to make data transfers more efficient with faster,

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Mastercard Seeks 'Fast Track' Way to Sync Blockchain Data

A Mastercard patent application outlines how nodes could be quickly added to a blockchain.

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Sunday, April 29, 2018

Morgan Stanley Research: Defined Regulations Main Factor For Crypto Exchanges When Choosing Country

Well-defined, not necessarily lenient regulations are the main factor for crypto exchanges in deciding which country to settle in, say Morgan Stanley researchers.

Thanks to its well-defined regulatory framework, Malta now accounts for the largest share of cryptocurrency trading volume in the world, Business Insider reports Sunday, Apr 29, citing a recent research done by the Morgan Stanley bank.

A team of Morgan Stanley researchers, led by analyst Sheena Shah, has conducted a study on the distribution of cryptocurrency exchanges and crypto trading volume across all countries, based on volume data from Coinmarketcap and company registration info listed on the websites of the respective exchanges.

The top five countries by crypto trade volume are, in order, Malta, Belize, Seychelles, the US and South Korea, whereas the countries that are home to the largest number of exchanges are the UK, Hong Kong, USA, Singapore and Turkey.

One of the study’s primary discoveries was a discrepancy evident in the data from Malta and Belize - the two countries are the first and second in the world by trade volume but only 22nd and 24th by the number of registered companies respectively.

According to the researchers, this seeming contradiction is explained by the fact that these relatively small countries actually host the two largest exchanges by trading volume. Binance moved from Hong Kong to Malta after promising to do so in March of this year and OKEx, currently the second biggest exchange as per Coinmarketcap data, is officially registered in Belize. Shah commented:

"The largest exchange called Binance announced intentions to set up headquarters there, so if we take that company out, Malta would be much further down the list."

Among other notable finds made by Morgan Stanley’s team is the fact that the United Kingdom, despite being the country that currently hosts the largest number of exchanges, only accounts for one percent of the global trading volume.

Overall, Shah concluded that the favorableness of local crypto business regulations is one of the main factors taken into account by crypto exchanges when deciding what country to register in. She added that in order to be attractive, a particular regulatory framework doesn’t necessarily have to be lenient but rather well-defined, because that means that the exchanges “know what to expect” and can “plan for the future.”

"Defined but also attractive regulation makes an exchange decide to choose one country over another - a set of laws for companies to follow when handling digital tokens, customer assets, AML policies, taxes, etc. Regulatory certainty is part of the attractiveness for the companies so they can plan for the future as they know what to expect. Low taxes are a benefit."

This assumption is in line with the experience of Malta, whose government has recently announced that it is adopting a favorable stance towards cryptocurrency businesses. Morgan Stanley’s research has provided apparent evidence that Malta’s active development of a thought-out legal framework is now bearing expected fruit.



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Cryptocurrency and Equity Markets: Weekly Wrap-Up

Good week for US markets amid positive news, while cryptocurrencies showed mixed performance this week.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

The market data is provided by the HitBTC exchange.

Global Equity Markets: Mixed outlook keeps investors confused

Strong earnings reports were supportive of U.S. equities as Amazon saw revenue rise at its highest growth rate in more than six years, while net income doubled. Its stock jumped to a new record high on the news. Other tech leaders such as Microsoft and Intel reported strong earnings, but their stocks backed off following initial breakouts to new record highs. The S&P 500 however ended flat, down by only 0.01% for the week.

Rising interest rates remain a concern globally as U.S. Treasury 10-year yields briefly nudged above 3.0% on Wednesday, a key level watched by many market participants, before ending the week at 2.96%. Meanwhile, inflation pressure remains with the U.S. Labor Department reporting that wages and salaries rose at their fastest pace in 11 years.

Stock Market Performance

U.K’s FTSE was the top performer, up 1.82%, for its fifth consecutive week of gains and highest weekly close since late-January.

The historic summit between North and South Korean leaders eased geopolitical tensions, but there is further progress to be made, and markets will be watching new developments closely. Japan’s Nikkei Index advanced by 1.38% to end at its highest weekly close in 12 weeks.

Chinese stocks are expected to underperform due to the threat of expanding U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods. Trade talks between the two countries continue next week in Beijing. China’s Shanghai Composite was up 0.35% for the week while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped by 0.45%.

India’s BSE 30 Sensex: Equities could soon run out of steam

Since hitting a low of 32,483.03 six weeks ago, the Sensex has been able to rally as much as 7.95% as of last week’s high of 35,065.37. Momentum picked up a month ago as the index broke out of a bullish falling wedge pattern as it is coming off support of the 200-day moving average (brown line).

NVYO

Last week’s 1.61% gain included the completion of a 61.8% Fibonacci retracement at 34,931.21, and the index remains strong. This would seem to support the idea that the index can keep rising at least to the next potential resistance zone. That price zone, which is identified with a red oval on the enclosed chart, is seen as the bottom of the lower rising trend line and the completion of the 78.5% Fibonacci level, which is at 35,596.51.

U.K.’s FTSE 100: strong but heading into resistance

The FTSE also broke out of a bullish falling wedge a month ago and has been rapidly rising ever since, in addition to closing strong each week. It’s come up 9.32% as of last week’s 7,507.10 high. Last week the FTSE topped its competitors with a 1.82% gain as it reached and exceeded the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement level (7,439.0) and ended the week back above its long-term uptrend line for the first time in 12 weeks. In addition, the FTSE is back above its 200-day moving average (brown line).

UKX

At the same time, the index now faces a resistance zone going up to the 78.6% Fibonacci retracement level at 7,594.5. That potential resistance zone is around prior multi-month resistance from 2017 and where two rising trend lines converge.

Cryptocurrencies: Performance mixed as retracements set in

The performance in the eight cryptocurrencies shown in the accompanying table was mixed last week, with Bitcoin Cash leading the way, up 18.2%, and Ripple taking up the backside, with a 12.9% decline. Overall though, digital currencies continue to recover and are in the early stages of potential uptrends since rallying off bottoms from four weeks ago. Further signs of strength are needed over the coming weeks as the trend structure organizes and pullbacks get completed.

Cryptocurrency Performance

Breakouts above falling trend lines have occurred in most of the eight cryptos we look at, and some have also risen above their 200-day simple moving average lines. Each is a sign of strength. When the next wave of buying comes those that are above their 200-day lines may move faster and further to the upside as they are showing relative strength in regards to the 200-day. The following digital currencies are above their 200-day lines: Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, IOTA, Monero, and Ripple.

Keep in mind that once breaking through a clear resistance zone (trend line, for example) markets will eventually retrace the prior advance to some degree before the trend is ready to proceed. So far, the retracements of the recent strong advance have been mild. This means there could easily be further and deeper retracements before the uptrends are ready to resume. It would be healthy and normal for this to occur. If, however, the rallies occur sooner with breakouts above prior trend highs, this is a sign of strength, but it also increases the odds that price will get ahead of itself and a more chaotic retracement/correction could eventually follow.

Looking to the following week, there is some concern that downward pressure could prevail if the so-called ‘Tokyo Whale’ dumps Bitcoin into the market from the shuttered Mt Gox exchange. There is an estimated $170 million or more of Bitcoin that’s been moved out of the wallet and ready for sale. No one knows what’s actually going on in this regard but the perception of a big seller lurking could hamper investor sentiment and therefore dampen buyer enthusiasm.

Ripple

Last week the XRP/USD pair advanced off its $0.45 bottom from a month ago stalled right at the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement zone of the internal downtrend. The high for the week and the uptrend was $0.964, for a 105.9% gain in less than five weeks. So far the pullback has been mild with support found where the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement level and 200-day moving average come together. Up until two weeks ago, Ripple had been below its 200-day line.

Ripple

If it can make a decisive move above last week’s high the February swing high resistance zone, first around the 78.5% Fibonacci line of $1.06, and then the swing high around $1.23, are the next targets. A rally above that swing high will provide a more definitive bullish signal for the long-term recovery of the recent correction.

A drop below last week’s 0.758 support leads to a deeper correction where Fibonacci levels, as seen on the accompanying chart, can be used to gauge potential support zones.

Bitcoin Cash

Bitcoin Cash shows similar relative strength in that it moved above its 200-day line (brown) last week and has recognized it as support since. Leading the way, the BCH/USD pair had one of the strongest moves off the bottom, rising 162.3% as of last week’s high of $1,573 in four weeks.

Bitcoin Cash

If the recent low of $1,228.90 is broken to the downside, then it should target the 50% retracement at 1,086.3 next, followed by the 61.8% retracement at $971.40. A move above last week’s high and then the $1,636.8 swing high from February is the next key sign of strength pointing a likely continuation of the upside move over the intermediate-term. Keep in mind that nothing goes straight up, and pullbacks and consolidation periods are normal and healthy for the evolution of a trend.

The market data is provided by the HitBTC exchange; the charts for the analysis are provided by TradingView.



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Crypto Auctions: Where Do Arrested Bitcoins End Up?

Seizure of Crypto, what governments and police do with arrested Bitcoins.

From their early days, cryptocurrencies have been associated by many with black markets and illicit activities. Bitcoin’s feature of allowing direct payments to be made from one party to another without the involvement of financial institutions, has been also utilized as a way to avoid institutional controls and settle illegal transactions.

A recent study of University of Technology Sydney (UTS) found that “approximately one-quarter of Bitcoin users and one-half of Bitcoin transactions are associated with illegal activity”

On the other hand, given that there are almost 28.5 mln Bitcoin wallets that hold more than 0.001 BTC and many users own several wallets - with some inactive - the magnitude of this phenomenon is considerably reduced.

Regardless, it is a fact that some illegal activities are done with cryptocurrencies. While it seems quite simple to seize a fiat account or appropriate cash, the nature of cryptocurrencies makes this process much more complicated. Let’s analyze some cases where the government authorities seized cryptocurrency assets due to illegal activities and find out where they end up.

International authorities did not try to underestimate the issue. Europol recently recognized that “three to four bln pounds of criminal money in Europe is being laundered through cryptocurrencies”.

Europol’s Executive Director Rob Wainwright underlined that:

“Proceeds from criminal activity are being converted into Bitcoins, split into smaller amounts and given to people who are seemingly not associated with the criminals but who are acting as ‘money mules’. These money mules then convert the Bitcoins back into hard cash before returning it to the criminals”.

Silk road

In this complicated scenario, international prosecutors reacted by performing some important police operations. One of the most widely known operations was carried out in Oct. 2013 with the closure of Silk Road.

Silk Road was a website that operated as an online black market for selling illegal drugs, and used Bitcoin for settling the deals between site users. After two years of investigation, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested the founder and seized over 170,000 Bitcoins, which, at that time, accounted for about 1.5 percent of all the Bitcoins in circulation.

The closure of Silk Road was not the only activity carried out by international authorities to fight against illicit markets around cryptocurrencies. In Nov. 2014, the police of Hesse, Germany, together with Europol and the FBI, operated against illegal online shops Hydra and Silk Road 2.0, which were also engaged in the sale of drugs.

According to law enforcers, these shops were used by approximately 150,000 people, who each month used to buy drugs worth millions of euros using Bitcoins. This operation resulted in the seizure of of 126 Bitcoin from the owners of the websites.

Bulgarian case

But maybe the most impressive operation rolled out by international authorities has been done on May 19, 2017 by the Bulgarian police with the support of the Southeast European Law Enforcement Center (SELEC). The joint forces stopped an organized criminal group that was recruiting corrupt customs officers in many European countries, with the purpose to infiltrate a virus in the customs’ computerized systems and avoid the payment of taxes.

The offenders choose the Bitcoin as a way of investing the money resulted by their activities, considering them rather difficult to be tracked. As a result of the police investigation, an impressive number of 213,519 Bitcoin has been seized.

Cryptocurrency auctions

The seizing of cryptocurrencies has been increasingly the result of international investigations, with examples of this measure taken in many countries including the US, Germany, Bulgaria and UK. National authorities have started thinking about what to do with the seized coins. The US was one the first countries to approach the issue and started organizing auctions selling the appropriated cryptocurrencies.

The United States Marshals Service (USMS), a federal law enforcement agency within the U.S. Department of Justice, auctioned different lots of Bitcoins catched by different state authorities. One of the most recent sale has been held on Jan. 11, 2018 where the USMS auctioned a total of 3,813 Bitcoin in three different lots respectively of A) 2,500; B) 500; C) 813.

Given the value of the Bitcoin at approximately 11,500 USD the closing day of the auction (Jan. 19), the result granted an amount of around $44 mln in revenue to the state. Similarly, in Germany, the authority of the state of Hesse hope to gain millions from the sale of the 126 seized Bitcoins.

What about Bulgaria? According to calculations, the value of the 213,000 seized Bitcoins would be enough to pay off one-fifth of Bulgaria's national debt. At present, the proportion would be a little different as the debt of the country is around $16 bln whereas the value of that pot of bitcoins would be around $2 bln.

However today it’s not clear whether or not the authorities really possess these coins. The head of Bulgarian Special Prosecutor’s Office, Ivan Geshev, recently said that the Prosecutor’s Office and the Interior Ministry had not seized Bitcoins.

More auctions to come

The fight against the misuse of funds for financing black markets and illicit activities has to tie up more its activities towards the use of crypto currencies. Given the extreme rapidity through which cryptocurrencies can be moved between wallets, states, and continents, a stronger collaboration between international authorities would also be necessary to conduct special operations.

Seizing and then auctioning cryptocurrencies, in case of a confirmed illicit use, could be both a strong deterrent for criminal users and, in some instances, a good source of income for state revenues.                

Uniformity between the various international authorities on the approach regarding the auctioning procedures could be a desirable development, in order to guarantee a fair and transparent process around the redistribution of the cryptocurrency assets. A rigorous process of identification could also guarantee that the participants are not connected to any illicit activities, and to avoid the process to start over again.



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Analyst Predicts Ethereum Price to Hit a Record $2,500 in 2018

Ethereum could rise fourfold to $2,500 and have a record-setting year this year, a financial consulting firm has predicted. “The price of Ethereum is predicted to increase significantly this year, and could hit $2,500 by the end of 2018 with a further increase by 2019 and 2020,” Nigel Green, founder and CEO of deVere Group,

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Warren Buffet Says Buying Bitcoin is Gambling, Not Investing

Investment guru Warren Buffet remains unsold on bitcoin and crptocurrencies. He doesn’t even consider buying bitcoin as investing and compares it to gambling. Interviewed during Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting, Buffet explained his ongoing skepticism about bitcoin in an interview with Yahoo Finance. “There’s two kinds of items that people buy and think they’re investing,”

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Warren Buffet Says Buying Bitcoin to Gambling, Not Investing

Investment guru Warren Buffet remains unsold on bitcoin and crptocurrencies. He doesn’t even consider buying bitcoin as investing and compares it to gambling. Interviewed during Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting, Buffet explained his ongoing skepticism about bitcoin in an interview with Yahoo Finance. “There’s two kinds of items that people buy and think they’re investing,” … Continued

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Why Canada has Emerged as a Leading Blockchain and Crypto Nation: Expert Take

There are four pillars: innovation, low energy costs, high internet speed and favorable regulatory regime

In our Expert Takes, opinion leaders from inside and outside the crypto industry express their views, share their experience and give professional advice. Expert Takes cover everything from Blockchain technology and ICO funding to taxation, regulation, and cryptocurrency adoption by different sectors of the economy.

If you would like to contribute an Expert Take, please email your ideas and CV to george@cointelegraph.com.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Canada has emerged as a leading crypto nation based on its innovation, low energy costs, high internet speed and favorable regulatory regime.  While it ranks third in the world behind the U.S. and the UK when it comes to embracing Blockchain technology, Ethereum Blockchain technology adoption around the world with a wide variety of applications in finance, government, legal, health, education, space, national and multinational cryptocurrencies, energy, initial coin offerings and others is unparalleled.   

A study conducted by Cornell University shows that “The Ethereum nodes are both in the latency space, and also geographically, more distributed around the world, as opposed to Bitcoin nodes, which tend to be located in data centers” explained Emin Gün Sirer, Cornell professor and computer scientist.

Center for Blockchain innovation

Canada’s dominance in Blockchain innovation stems in part from Toronto being home to Vitalik Buterin who is the inventor of the Ethereum Blockchain, a second-generation open source software platform, with a general scripting language, which created a protocol for building reliable decentralized trusted networks. It extends the functionality of Satoshi Nakamoto’s Blockchain design which powered decentralized peer-to-peer Bitcoin payment, by adding the concept of smart contracts, also called scripting.

This feature allows the platform to store and run computer programs and enables developers to build and deploy decentralized applications and create whatever operations they want with permanent, trusted record of assets and transactions. The first public Ethereum backed network went live in 2015 and supports ether (ETH), currently the second highest valued cryptocurrency at $63 Billion.  ETH finances the Ethereum Swiss Foundation  and is used by application developers to pay for transaction fees and services on the Ethereum network.  

The platform has worldwide adoption. As Nick Johnson, the chief software architect of Ethereum Foundation, puts it:

“We are building a bridge between the human readability of cryptographic addresses and machine readability.  While some others are working similar platforms that they feel may have their own advantages, the size of the development teams around Ethereum ballooned with initial spikes in interest to something larger than anything else in the space. With that, application development, innovation in scaling and other areas followed the trend, thereby creating a snowball effect.”

Ron Resnick, Executive Director of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance which launched last year adds:

“EEA serves as the connective tissue between Ethereum Blockchain and the evolving enterprise industry with over 450 members from all around the world -- 135 in the Banking Work Group -- which are driving production deployments through a community of over 30,000 developers.”

Take for example ConsenSys, an EEA member firm, which various Ethereum projects including Quorum, and the EU Blockchain Observatory and Forum and trains Ethereum developers at its Academy.

The EEA is also a member of Blockchain Research Institute (BRI), based in Toronto, which is dedicated to over 70 research projects that proposes ways in which Blockchain technology can be utilized to impact various industries.  BRI has partnered with the Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) of Canada to build a nationwide Blockchain ecosystem; alongside the Bank of Canada which has explored and experimented with a National cryptocurrency.  

Cryptocurrency mining

But it’s not only Blockchain innovation where Canada excels in. According to Hydro Quebec, the province has an energy surplus equivalent to 100 Terawatt hours over 10 years and offers some of the lowest electricity rates in North America.  This has drawn cryptominers to the region, including from China, in droves. A cryptominers easy, breezy life style starkly contrasts that with a gold miner who works 5,400 to 5,600 feet below surface, at suffocating temperatures, dripping with sweat, while punching holes into burning rock walls, to find hidden gold, in the dark.

Here is an example.  China's Bitmain Technologies began mining in Canada in 2016, when ETH traded at $1.  When ETH’s price rose 63,600% to $636 with no implemented hard cap on the total ETH supply, Bitmain first announced a new specialized mining system for ETH; then set its eyes on cryptocurrency mining sites in Quebec, as it takes on average 29.05 TWh annually to operate a cryptocurrency mining operation. That's about 0.13 percent of total global electricity consumption.  

While this may be potential bad news for the smaller cryptominers in the region, a local ETH miner shrugged it off:

“Quebec is one of the best places in the world for mining, thanks to low cost electricity, cool temperatures, and high-speed internet. There's a lot of data centers in Montreal and they'll rent you a space for your own server or ZTE smartphone--Sugar S11. Since you'd be paying about half to 1/3rd the electricity price of Ontario, then the added expense of rent is well worth it”  

However, recently Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard warned that “Cryptominers planning to move to the region will not get cheap electricity from the government-owned utility Hydro-Quebec, as the utility may not have enough power to meet the demand.” The utility has received an order to await instructions from the government.

Light cryptocurrency regulation

Excessive regulation could stifle innovation; accordingly, Canada lightly regulates cryptocurrency/ICO/tokens.  And offers a wide selection of government -- federal and provincial -- incentives and aid to startup tech companies.

Last year, with the boom in Ethereum Blockchain based ICOs that raised $4 Billion worldwide, the Canadian Securities Administrators suggested that Canadian Securities Law may be potentially applicable to cryptocurrencies. The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) on the other hand granted regulatory relief to allow Ontario’s first regulated ICO under existing exemptions in securities laws.

And the British Columbia Securities Commission approved Canada’s first registered cryptocurrency investment fund, acknowledging that it views cryptocurrency investments as a new and novel way to invest.  This ruling allowed pension, investment and venture capital funds including the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System’s Ethereum Capital to invest in cryptocurrencies and tokens.

This year, amid extreme market volatility, Canada’s first Blockchain exchange-traded fund began trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.  And OSC started examining the business activities of several exchanges on the concern that they were allowing trading in tokens that would otherwise qualify as securities.

Cryptocurrency taxation with incentives

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) began taxing cryptocurrencies in 2013, but to bolster technological and scientific innovation the --Federal and provincial—governments provide various Research and Development (R&D) tax incentives.  

Laura Gheorghiu a tax partner at Gowling WLG explained that the CRA has characterized cryptocurrency as a commodity, therefore the exchange of it becomes a taxable event as a barter transaction giving rise to either business income (fully taxable) or capital gains (50% taxable)— depending on the facts and circumstances-- measured according to the value of the assets exchanged in Canadian Dollars.  

If a cryptocurrency is held as a capital asset (like an investment), then the gain is classified as a capital gain and taxed as such.  If the cryptocurrency is situated, deposited or held outside of Canada directly or through funds, taxpayer must adhere to foreign reporting rules.

If an employee receives cryptocurrency as payment for salary or wages, or otherwise in connection with employment, the amount, computed in Canadian dollars, is included in the employee's income. Mining of cryptocurrencies is taxed as either a business or a personal hobby (non-taxable).

Business income, wages or capital gains are taxed at the applicable tax rate for the taxpayer in question.  The general combined Federal/provincial income tax rates in Canada vary between 26.5% to 30% for corporations and 44.5% to 58.75% for individuals depending on the province.

A non-resident that carries on a business in Canada, is subject to taxation under the same rules as a Canadian resident. Cross-border payments of rents or royalties in cryptocurrency to a non-resident are subject to a withholding tax of 25%, that may be reduced under an applicable tax treaty.

Personal tax returns are due at the end of April and corporate tax returns are due six months after the fiscal year-end of the corporation.

Selva Ozelli, Esq., CPA is an international tax attorney and CPA who frequently writes about tax, legal and accounting issues for Tax Notes, Bloomberg BNA, other publications and the OECD.



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Dubai: Police Use AI Tech To Locate And Arrest Gang Suspected Of $1.9 Mln Armed Bitcoin Heist

Dubai police have arrested ten gang members suspected of a Bitcoin heist, in which they allegedly assaulted two men at gunpoint, escaping with $1.9 mln in cash.

Police in Dubai have arrested ten members of a gang who reportedly stole 7 mln AED ($1.9 mln) in an armed Bitcoin heist in the Al Muraqqabat area of Dubai on Wednesday, Gulf News reports Sunday, April 29. Lieutenant Colonel Adel Al Joker, Director of Criminal Investigation Department (CID), told Gulf News:

"The brothers searched randomly in the market to buy Bitcoin. The gang lured them claiming they can sell them Bitcoin.”

The victims, reported to be two brothers, arranged to meet members of the gang to settle the transaction in an empty office, where they were then assaulted and robbed at gunpoint. Six gang members are said to have been waiting for the brothers inside the office, with three others keeping guard outside. According to Lt. Col. Al Joker:

“[The gang] assaulted the two brothers and threatened them, before ty[ing] their hands and lock[ing] them inside the office, escap[ing] with the money.”

The gang allegedly procured the keys to the office premises by deceiving a local commercial shop owner into thinking they were interested in purchasing his licensed property, Gulf News further reports.

Police were alerted to the armed robbery on the same night, April 25, and identified the gang’s leader, a Gulf National, within four hours. He was arrested in a neighbouring emirate and confessed the crime. Within 48 hours, police had located the locations of his accomplices across four different emirates, arresting all ten and recovering the stolen funds.

Major General Khalil Ebrahim Al Mansouri, Assistant Commander-in-Chief for Criminal Investigation Affairs, said that Dubai Police’s data analysis center had implemented smart programmes and artificial intelligence technology to swiftly trace the gang.

All ten suspects have now been referred to the public prosecution for further investigation.

Earlier this month, Cointelegraph reported on a heist involving an in-person Bitcoin transaction in Singapore, in which a Malaysian man was assaulted and robbed of $365,000 in cash by two bogus Bitcoin brokers in his hotel.

In January, a St. Petersburg crypto blogger was robbed of 24 mln rubles (roughly $380 mln) in cash from a safe in his home, after he had “boasted” of his crypto-derived wealth online.



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Interview: Global Blockchain COO Talks Hyperledger, Stellar Lumens and Kodak Coin

CCN correspondent Eric Eissler spoke with Shidan Gouran, president and COO of Global Blockchain about what the company does, Hyperledger’s role in the blockchain industry, Steller Lumens role as a link between enterprise and public blockchains, and the impact that Kodak’s ICO security token will have on the ICO securities market. Hyperledger: The Enterprise Solution

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The Public-Private Blockchain Singularity May Be Close At Hand

A year ago, enterprise blockchain and cryptocurrency were essentially separate industries. Now come signs that these camps might be slowly converging.

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Exclusive: An Interview with Sirin Labs CMO on the Blockchain Smartphone ‘Finney’

CCN, in association with Brazilian industry outlet Criptomoedas Fácil, interviewed Nimrod May, CMO of Sirin Labs, to discuss the startup’s development of the world’s first smartphone to integrate blockchain technology. Codenamed ‘Finney’, the $1,000 smartphone will be manufactured by global giant Foxconn and will use Android as the operating system. CCN: Following your partnership with Foxconn, … Continued

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Crowd Genie Opens India Office, Will Build Asia-Pacific Asset Exchange

This is a sponsored story. CCN urges readers to conduct their own research with due diligence into the company, product or service mentioned in the content below. Crowd Genie, looking to establish a blockchain based Asia-Pacific asset exchange, recently opened an office in Bangalore, India and named Kunwar Singh as its CTO. The company, having completed

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