Category: Altcoin

India Can’t Regulate Bitcoin, Says Former Indian Bureaucrat

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India has been struggling with regulating cryptocurrencies for quite some time now mostly because of the strong aversion the governments has towards digital currencies but they are yet to ban any. Now, a former Indian top finance ministry official insists that bitcoin, as well as other cryptocurrencies, should be completely banned in the country.

Shaktikanta Das, who is a former secretary of economic affairs, believes that regulating bitcoin is going to be quite tough and thus the only feasible alternative would be to outlaw their use. Das headed the Indian government’s first panel that was set up in April 2017 in a bid to understand and recommend necessary regulations pertaining to cryptocurrencies. Currently, Das is a member of the 15th finance commission which has been tasked with reviewing the financial situation of the present government.

“Let us accept that it would not be possible to regulate it effectively. Because they will do transactions from their houses. You cannot enter every home to check what transactions are going on. So, I think this is a serious challenge, and this should not be allowed at all,” Das said.

The Indian government’s aversion to cryptocurrencies can be traced back to 2013 when the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) warned its customers against the potential security threats that were associated with digital currencies. Despite this, and multiple other warnings from the country’s ministry of finance and the RBI that followed since then, cryptocurrencies have grown in popularity even among people who were considered to be “conservative” Indian investors.

Why Das’ Opinion Matters

Shaktikanta Das has held a number of key positions in India’s ministry of finance including being the head of the departments of economic affairs and revenue. He has also served as a board member of the Indian market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India and the Reserve Bank of India – both institutions play a monumental role in the drafting of cryptocurrency regulations in India.

Das argues that since the Reserve Bank of India is the only institution allowed to issue currency in India, cryptocurrencies are essentially illegal. He further pointed out that cryptocurrencies are paralleling present financial frameworks without any backing from legal provisions.

“There is the danger of cryptocurrencies leading to money laundering, terror financing, and unaccounted transactions. It will pose a serious threat to the financial stability not only of India, and in fact more, in the case of the developed world,” he added. “It’s a serious challenge and threat to global financial stability.”

MARVEL’s Heather Antos Leaves for Editor-in-Chief Role

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Marvel Comics’ assistant editor Heather Antos is leaving the comic book publisher to become the Editor-in-Chief of Esports betting platform Unikrn – the position was previously held by Ryan Jurado, who has now been reassigned to be the betting platform’s Head of Global Content.

Antos, who previously worked as a comic’s editor on Unlawful Good: An Anthology of Crime, produce on a number web series such as Lagged Out and a journalist for sites like Geek Legacy, has been an Assistant Editor at Marvel Comics since 2015. Her work as an editor at Marvel Comics, principally for the Stars Wars and Deadpool franchises saw to the tremendous growth of both lines of comic books which has earned them very strong critical and commercial success over the past couple of years. Also, this made the star editor herself a public face for Marvel Comics both on social platforms as well as every popular comic convention we can think of.

In 2017, Heather Antos also became the focus of online harassment that led to the #MarvelMilkShakes solidarity hashtag from across the comic book industry. Apparently, Antos will be leaving Marvel Comics simply because she has been presented the opportunity of a lifetime at Unikrn, and not because of any issues that may have come up between her and her former employer.

“Plot twist! In today’s chapter of the Heather Antos Chronicles, I’m making a leap from Marvel comics to video games & Esports as editor-in-chief of Unikrn,” Antos tweeted. “It’s been a long-time goal of mine to branch out into the video game & competitive Esports world. To do so under the guidance & leadership of Rahul Sood and Ryan Jurado is something I never would’ve thought possible. I absolutely cannot wait to dig my heels in & get running!”

Antos will be tasked with managing and overseeing all the editorial content, tournament coverage, podcasts as well as video content.

A Little Insight into Unikrn

The Las Vegas, Nevada-based Unikrn is considered to be the world’s best Esports betting platform – its success can be attested by the many offices they have across some of the world’s most popular cities such as Berlin, Germany and Sydney, Australia.

The Esports betting platform primarily offers real money wagering as well as token-based betting on nearly all the available competitive video gaming tournaments from across the world. Unikrn essentially creates betting markets on Esports in a manner that can be likened to the way traditional sports betting is operated. The platform’s users are allowed to bet legally free from any part of the world using Unikrn’s own cryptocurrency that is referred to as Unikoin. Players from the United Kingdom and a few other areas are even allowed to place bets using real money but this number is likely to grow in the near future.

Crypto Prices Drop Amidst Trader Suspicion of Binance Hack

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The major cryptocurrencies on Wednesday experienced sharp price drops as reports of system errors at Binance, a renowned crypto exchange, got many investors into a bit of a panic. At the same time, digital currency traders also had to digest reports that major United States regulators are demanding for the registration of all cryptocurrency exchanges.

Binance is considered to be one of the biggest exchanges in the world – CoinMarketCap reports that it is one of the top 4 biggest exchanges for the most popular cryptocurrencies in terms of the traded volumes. Prior to the Wednesday crash, a number of users noticed something highly unusual with Viacoin – that is, a huge increase in buy orders for the cryptocurrency after which its market capitalization jumped from $64 million to $159 million in just a few moments. A probe into the matter revealed that there were lots of unauthorized sell orders going around.

“We are investigating reports of some users having issues with their funds. Our team is aware and investigating the issue as we speak,” the Binance team wrote on Reddit. “As of this moment, the only confirmed victims have registered API keys (to use with trading bots or otherwise). There is no evidence of the Binance platform being compromised.”

Binance later announced that it had halted withdrawals so as to look into what the company referred to as “unauthorized market sells.” The company further stated that there was no evidence that the platform had been compromised at the time.

The impact the alleged Binance hack has had on the market is quite significant. 360 Blockchain USA president, Jeff Koyen pointed out the concerns surrounding Binance resulted in the plunge of the prices of bitcoin and several other digital currencies as well.

“All of crypto is getting battered right now, based on fears that Binance was hacked,” Koyen stated.

SEC Crackdown Played a Role

A number of market analysts have also pointed the price drops to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) recent decision to subpoena a number of firms that either deal in cryptocurrencies, or are associated with them. A large number of the subpoenas were specifically sent to companies that are selling digital token through Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs).

Zero Edge Is Set to Solve the ‘House Always Wins’ Problem

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With hundreds of online casinos springing up on the web each and every day, online gambling is as popular as ever and it is surging forwards rapidly as well. While their seemingly inexhaustible popularity cannot be disputed, online gambling has one major flaw that is tied directly to how many of the online casinos are operated.

If you are familiar with gambling, then the saying “The house always wins” must have flown by you a few times since it even dates back to the very first land-based casinos in Asia and Europe. This is a popular statement essentially because it is very true.

Zerocoin to the Rescue

“All casino games, whether they are found in traditional brick and mortar establishments or online, have one thing in common – the odds are always stacked against the player. Players might be winning for a short period of time and think that they cracked the code, but in reality, they are just “running hot” and sooner or later the variance will do its job to favour the house” explained ZeroEdge.Bet CEO, Adrian Casey. “Most of the players are unaware of the mathematical principles that make beating the casino virtually impossible. Therefore, our goal at ZeroEdge.Bet will be to educate players about gambling and prevent them from falling victims to its traps.”

Zero Edge Casino uses its own Zerocoin, its own in-house cryptocurrency in a bid to solve the age-old problem of the house always winning. This is going to be achieved by completely getting rid of the “house edge” altogether which essentially means that for the very first time in history, players will have a true and fair shot at winning the online games they play at Zero Edge Casino.

Zero Edge’s concept has already penetrated the European and the Middle East gambling markets and is now on the verge of completely taking the Asian online gambling market by storm. The online casino operator is essentially turning the casino industry on its head through the introduction of this revolutionary new and different way for online casinos to make profits without having to exploit their customers. The model instead focuses on profiting by increasing the value of the operator’s digital assets through wider adoption and utility.

To play at Zero Edge Casino, players must first buy Zerocoins but this is a fairly small price to pay considering the goodness of playing with the zero percent house edge that the online casino offers. As more players learn about this incredible offer, they will certainly buy into it which will increase the demand for Zerocoins and, in turn, exponentially increase the cryptocurrency’s value. Things are indeed looking up for the company, and for the rest of the online gambling community as well.

Bitcoin Nears Regulatory Crackdown, Says Bank of England

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The Bank of England has issued a warning stating that bitcoin is headed towards a regulatory crackdown – it also pointed out that “inherently risky” cryptocurrencies are failing to fulfil their most basic function as a store of value. The banks’ governor, Governor Mark Carney, in a speech and interview that were held on Friday, tore into bitcoin. In his words, the world’s most popular decentralized digital currency is on the verge of a “pretty brutal reckoning.”

His remarks extended beyond bitcoin as an individual asset and included cryptocurrencies as a whole, which he also thinks have “all the hallmarks of a bubble. And normally they end with a pretty brutal reckoning.” Carney’s most significant concern was however portrayed by his call to have the “anarchy” of cryptocurrencies being utilized as a medium of exchange for criminal activities brought to an end. He said that it was about time that relevant authorities worked towards a framework to “regulate elements of the crypto-asset ecosystem to combat illicit activities”.

There are already a number of efforts around the world that are geared towards bringing bitcoin under the control of governments and central banks especially due to the prevailing fears that bitcoin users are likely to lose their money due to market manipulation. On the same note, there have been even more efforts directed towards curbing the use of cryptocurrencies for criminal activities such as drug dealing, money laundering and even financing terrorism.

In the run to Christmas in 2017, bitcoin soared very close to the $20,000 mark before plunging back by more than half at the beginning of the year. It has however recovered to $11,000 but there is still a ton of uncertainty plaguing the digital currency.

“Authorities are rightly concerned that given their inefficiency and anonymity, one of the main reasons for their use is to shield illicit activities. This cannot be condoned. Anarchy may reign on the dark web, but in the UK it’s just a song that your parents used to listen to,” Carney said in the speech.

Will Everything Be Put Under Scrutiny?

Staunch believers in the bitcoin dream have maintained that the underlying technology of most, if not all, cryptocurrencies will certainly revolutionize the existing financial systems and in the process make everyday payments not only cheaper but also easier than they seem to be at the moment.

Carney clarified on this particular issue saying that the bank would still study, explicitly, the use of the distributed ledger technology that powers cryptocurrencies. He concluded that, as much as cryptocurrencies “do not appear to pose material risks to financial stability,” the situation is bound to shift as more people become aware of them.

Zeroedge Is Offering Esports Betting With Zero Commission

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The past few years have seen online sports betting grow tremendously which has eventually led it to its current state of being the leading form of online gambling in many parts of the world. Esports, a rather new and interesting niche in the world online sports betting, has also been increasing in popularity over the past decade and sooner than later it might be just as mainstream as the other sports leagues – it is already a close competitor to the leagues.

The Rise of Crypto Casinos

Cryptocurrencies have undoubtedly grown on nearly everyone in the online gambling space. However, Esports betting at emerging or established online crypto-powered casinos may not be already as polished as gamblers may desire but in most cases, the pickings are just slim – this is because not many of them are dedicated Esports betting operations.

Zeroedge online casino offers the solution to this problem with its cryptocurrency-based operation that also includes the casino’s own in-house unique cryptocurrency known as ZeroCoin. Zeroedge is one of the few online casinos that are exclusively offering Esports betting opportunities to bettors. To sweeten the deal, the casino further offers an unheard of and an unprecedented zero commission for all the games offered on the site.

Why Is Zeroedge Such a Big Deal?

Well, it is essentially the world’s first online casino that offers two unique advantages to the general online gambling community – the first being the fact that it runs exclusively on a cryptocurrency (ZeroCoin) and the second being that it will be offering a true zero percent house edge to its players. Most casinos usually stack the odds in their favor which makes it very difficult for players to win. Zeroedge, on the other and, does not profit from the losses that its customers incur and instead it benefits from the increased value of ZeroCoin, which is apparently Zero Edge Casino networks’ main economy driver.

Being that the casino offers zero percent edge on casino games, there has been an increase in demand for ZeroCoin which in turn has resulted in an increase in its value. Players are still able to play zero percent games as the price of ZeroCoin rises and they are also not required to pay any fixed amount of money in order to place bets. To achieve this sort of “free” gaming, players are subjected to a closed loop economy where the only requirement is that they buy the casino’s token with fiat currencies or other cryptocurrencies and since the supply of ZeroCoin is limited, its value is directly proportional t demand.

This is further facilitated by Blockchain & Smart contract technology which allow for the creation of a fully transparent and truly fair gambling ecosystem where players not only have more opportunities to participate but they are also offered true chances of winning while at the same time being part of a much larger community where social inclusion and mutual values are fostered.

UK MPs Launch Inquiry into Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain

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The United Kingdom Treasury yesterday announced that it would be launching an inquiry into bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as well as the underlying blockchain technology. The investigation will involve MPs who will be investigating whether bitcoin and altcoin technologies pose a risk to central banking – the investigation is largely considered to be a forewarning for an inevitable attempt to crackdown on cryptocurrencies. Whichever way this will play out is another story altogether.

The probe expects to draw out a distinct conclusion that outlines both the benefits and the risks that come with cryptocurrencies – this will be prerequisite to talks on how it should be regulated in the long run.

To put everything into perspective, the chair of the Treasury Committee, Nicky Morgan pointed out that “People are becoming increasingly aware of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, but they may not be aware that they are currently unregulated in the UK, and there is no protection for individual investors.”

The Treasury Committee’s probe follows the great deal of attention that cryptocurrencies, especially bitcoin, have been attracting in the past year. The situation seems to have gotten out of hand with the increased volatility of some of the cryptocurrencies’ prices fluctuating wildly in very short periods of time and experts failing to agree on the causes or even on predictions for the future prices or value for said cryptocurrencies. The Treasury Committee, therefore, intends to study how overseas governments have gone about the issue and pick out a few points from them.

South Korea, for instance, recently introduced new regulations that restricted people from anonymous cryptocurrency trading in a bid to protect investors in the country from scams. This particular move seems to be the focal point of the Treasury Committee’s yet to be unveiled regulation-based effort with Ms. Morgan clarifying that ‘the inquiry will explore how to achieve a balance between regulating digital currencies to provide adequate protection for consumers and businesses whilst not stifling innovation.’

“We will also examine the potential benefits of cryptocurrencies and the technology underpinning them, how they can create innovative opportunities, and to what extent they could disrupt the economy and replace traditional means of payment,” Ms. Morgan continued.

Telegram Raises an Initial $850 Million for Its ICO

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According to a document filed with the U.S. Securities Exchange and Exchange Commission (SEC) after being signed by Telegram CEO and co-creator Pavel Durov, Telegram’s billion-dollar initial coin offering (ICO) has already amassed a whopping $850 million in the pre-sale stage. The figure was initially expected to get to about $600 million and was to be raised entirely from venture capital firms. As a result, not only has the company reached and surpassed its first milestone by a significantly huge margin but it has also gained a lot more confidence from the venture capitalists it intended to appeal to.

The document that was filed, a “Notice of Exempt Offering of Securities”, that was filed by Pavel and Nikolai Durov with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on February the 13th reported that the $850 million that had been raised under the SEC exemption Rule 506(c) from 81 venture capitalist investors would be for “the development of the TON Blockchain, the development, and maintenance of Telegram Messenger.”

The SEC filing offers a type of securities that is referred to as the “Purchase Agreements for Cryptocurrency” and are filed under the Rule 506(c) exemption. This means that citizens of the United States who invest must be accredited investors, that is, they have to either be worth over a million dollars or have an annual income of about not less than $200,000 in order for the tokens they are investing in not to be registered as securities with the SEC. The investors, in this case, reportedly bought rights to Telegram’s TON internal cryptocurrency known as “Grams” – these will be distributed once the platform is launched next year.

What This Means for the Company

The $850 million raised by the messaging company is the highest amount ever accumulated from a pre-sale – the closest comparisons are from previously completed ICOs by Filecoin and Tezos, which raised $257 million and $232 million respectively. In many ways, this affirms Telegram’s popularity within the crypto community and things are about to get even better as the company plans to use the funds to extend its services to include such offering as VPN solutions, cloud file storage as well as peer-to-peer micropayment transactions.

Considering the huge overshoot of the initial funding, there are a couple of questions that have arisen with regards to how it might affect the proposed public sale that is set to begin in March. However, everything seems to point to the public sale proceeding as planned although it is quite apparent that it might end up being heavily oversubscribed.

Could Bitcoin’s Bounce Back to $10,000 Bring New Buyers?

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Yesterday (Thursday, February 15th), bitcoin rose above the $10,000 mark, surpassing a critical level thanks to stronger trader sentiment. On the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index (BPI), the digital currency soared to as high as $10,218. This consequentially made the bitcoin market, which is the largest digital currency market by capitalization, go up by more than 70 percent after a recent low of less than $6,000.

“Hitting $10k demonstrates the renewed energy in the crypto market, as it shakes off some of the volatility from the start of the year,” stated Iqbal Gandham, the UK Managing Director of eToro, a social trading platform.

In general, the cryptocurrency market has experienced wide-spread fluctuations in the last couple of months following speculations and rumors of a number of regulatory developments pertaining to how these digital assets are going to be handled. However, in sentiment driven markets, such as the bitcoin’s, key price levels changes like the bitcoin’s rise to $10,000 appears to attract new buyers who in turn help the price. Bitcoin’s recovery can also be attributed to statements from certain regulators which have gone a long way to alleviate fears of possible severe crackdowns which is a huge motivational factor for new buyers.

For the UK-based eToro social trading platform, user growth decelerated towards the end of January. This was at about the same time that bitcoin’s price started taking some rather significant hits. The rate of withdrawals, on the other hand, has not increased which implies that users were not selling out their bitcoin and that the demand for new customers could have contributed to the previous gains.

Investors Still Down $60 Billion in 2018

While bitcoin’s recovery should be a slice of hope for everyone in the community, investors who bought into the cryptocurrency at the beginning of the year will still have to brave a stormy period. The digital currency kicked off the year at $14,000, down from the $20,000 all-time high of December 2017. As such, since the year began, its market cap is still down by approximately $60 billion.

 

Cryptocurrency Mining Creates Huge Energy Demand in Iceland

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This year Iceland is likely to use more energy in mining digital currencies than what it will use to power homes in the country. Considering the large amounts of electric energy required by computers to mine the precious bitcoins, many prominent cryptocurrency mining companies have found Iceland to be the perfect spot for their operations thanks to the countries abundant geothermal and hydroelectric power plants. With this development, the current energy consumption by virtual currency mining companies is expected to double to 100 megawatts this year which is significantly higher than what all the island nation’s households will use collectively.

There are other factors that have attracted miners to the country. The first is that the companies do not need to pay taxes but given the buzz that their power consumption has been attracting, this will definitely not last long. Other important attractions for cryptocurrency mining companies is the natural cooling available for computer servers as well as the quite competitive prices for the available renewable energy. Obviously, this soaring demand for energy is a culmination of the equally soaring cost of digital currencies and Iceland seems to be the go-to place for companies that are seeking to optimize costs or get away from oppressive laws such as the ones in China following the crackdown on mining companies and ICOs.

As mentioned earlier, mining companies being exempted from taxes does not sit well with everyone in the country. Smari McCarthy, a lawmaker for Iceland’s Pirate Party has made the first step by proposing that the profits amassed by bitcoin miners should be taxed.

“Under normal circumstances, companies that are creating value in Iceland pay a certain amount of tax to the government,” McCarthy said. “These companies are not doing that and we might want to ask ourselves whether they should. We are spending tens or maybe hundreds of megawatts on producing something that has no tangible existence and no real use for humans outside the realm of financial speculation. That can’t be good.”