Tag: Bitcoin

Revolutionary BTC Sidechain, The Liquid Network, Goes Live

Reading Time: 2 minutes

For a while now there has been a lot of buzz regarding such developments as the Lightning Network, which scales up the bitcoin network so that it can keep up with digital currencies like Ripple and Tron. The Lightning Network, for instance, has shown a lot of promise and is expected to take off on a large scale pretty soon. In the meantime, Blockstream, a company that majors in blockchain development projects, is hell-bent on completely revolutionizing how the world’s oldest and most popular digital currency works.

On October 10, the company officially announced the launch of the Liquid Network, a project they are touting as an inter-exchange settlement network that connects digital currency exchanges, financial institutions, market makers and brokers from all around the globe. This comes in a little less than a year after Blockstream introduced the concept of the Lightning Network during the Blockchain Association of Canada’s Government Forum that was held in Ottawa.

What It Does and How It Does It

Well, unlike the famous Lightning Network which has also been all the buzz lately, the Liquid Network is a secondary layer that was built as a sidechain of bitcoin – the sidechain essentially qualifies to be referred to as an extension of the bitcoin blockchain. However, it is not exclusive to the bitcoin blockchain. This sidechain allows its users to swap coins from the main blockchain to its sidechain in a 1-to-1 parity, something that is usually aimed at tapping in certain features that the main network may be lacking.

In the case of the Liquid Network, the feature that is tapped in is incredibly fast transactions with the main focus being on enhancing the exchange of large sums between the crypto exchanges, market makers and the financers. As it turns out, the members of the Liquid Network will be the ones providing the liquidity because they will be the people responsible for keeping a balance of L-BTC which they would then allow their users to trade.

“The members of Liquid secure the network by running functionary servers that run the Liquid blockchain as well as maintaining the two-way peg to the Bitcoin blockchain,” Blockstream’s CSO Samson Mow said in a recent interview. “When someone wants to move BTC to the Liquid sidechain, they send it to a unique peg-in address. When someone is ready to move their money back to the Bitcoin blockchain, they can make a peg-out transaction that will tell the [Liquid members] to send Bitcoin to the desired address.”

What Next?

At launch, the Liquid Network project had a total of 23 partners who are now the so-called Liquid members. Blockstream hopes to expand Liquid’s membership moving forward and at the same time build out its services to include such things as Issued Assets (IA) which would include tokenized commodities, tokens, and even Ethereum.

In the meantime, the company will be focusing on extending the features of the Lightning Network to specifically ease its introduction and adoption in the global cryptocurrency community.

Japanese Regulators Ramp Up Scrutiny of Crypto Exchanges

Reading Time: 2 minutes

For quite some time now, Japan has been at the forefront of the cryptocurrency industry thanks to the innovators and forward-thinking stakeholders residing in the country who have quickly adopted the technology. Even though most Japanese citizens are all for the crypto revolution, the regulatory bodies in the country are taking a more cautious stance in a bid to protect the citizens from scams or hacks.

On that note, the country’s top financial regulator, the Financial Services Agency (FSA), has reportedly introduced new screening requirement for cryptocurrency exchanges that are seeking approval to operate within Japanese borders. As reported by the Japan Times, the agency has “tightened its registration screening for cryptocurrency exchanges to see whether they are properly conducting risk management.”

As such, FSA’s focus extends beyond the registrant’s financial health and system safety measures to more explicit criteria such as the crypto exchanges’ links to antisocial groups and their decision-making process. The Japan Times further revealed that the agency will now have about 400 screening questions which is about four times the number they would ask in the past.

“It [FSA] now obligates applicants to submit minutes of board meetings so it can check whether enough discussions have been held about measures to sustain the company’s financial health and ensure the security of its computer system,” the sources told the Japan Times. “The upgraded screening process also regularly reviews the composition of an applicant company’s shareholders, while examining if an internal system is in place to check for links to antisocial groups.”

The FSA’s decree that the exchanges submit board meeting minutes is not only meant to ensure security but also confirm that the executive members of the company are proactively and legitimately involved in the various exchanges’ decision-making processes. In addition to this, the screening process will involve a regular review of the primary shareholders so as to “examine if an internal system is in place to check for links to antisocial groups.”

A Drawback?

Even though this will go a long way in filtering out scams and shady business, analysts are worried that the new regulatory move might end up hampering the development of the cryptocurrency exchanges in the country. However, there are close to zero other ways of handling the situation at the moment.

One of the factors that incentivized the FSA’s move was an inspection of Coincheck, a crypto exchange that was hacked in January, and 23 others. A report that was recently revealed by the agency cited “sloppy internal controls” and “lack of board meetings.” These findings were not very reassuring especially considering the fact that about 160  cryptocurrency exchanges are now interested in entering the Japanese market.

South African Tax Authority Drafting Tax Laws for Crypto

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Africa’s blooming cryptocurrency industry has been operating in a legal gray area, a situation that has left the traders, developers, enthusiasts, and investors to their own devices. However, recent developments in South Africa are beginning to build optimism on a future where crypto is regulated – a number of stakeholders in the crypto industry have expressed their belief that regulation is the key to the industry’s prosperity.

Earlier this year, the South African Revenue Services (SARS) announced that they would begin taxing income from crypto and it has made good on this promise and is now drafting a crypto tax law which will outline the virtual assets law thus effectively creating a framework for crypto revenue systems. Taxpayers in the country were told they are expected to include gains and losses from trading cryptocurrencies in the taxable income reported in the tax returns.

“In South Africa, the word ‘currency; is not defined in the Income Tax Act (the Act). Cryptocurrencies are either official South African tender nor widely used and accepted in South Africa as a medium of payment or exchange. As such, cryptocurrencies are not regarded by SARS as a currency for income tax purposes or Capital Gains Tax (CGT). Instead, cryptocurrencies are regarded by SARS as assets of an intangible nature,” reads an April statement issued by SARS.

“The onus is on taxpayers to declare all cryptocurrency-related taxable income in the tax year in which it is received or accrued. Failure to do so could result in interest and penalties.”

The draft of the crypto regulations on tax has exempted crypto from value-added tax (VAT), a move that has shown an element of leniency towards the budding industry. As quoted above, SARS believe that crypto transactions are separate from financial service transfers and this is what influenced the exemption of crypto from VAT.

Tracking Crypto Traders

SARS is reportedly working on ways of improving the tracking of cryptocurrency traders and their transactions in a bid to verify whether or not they are paying taxes. According to the authority’s commissioner, Mark Kingon, identification of the cryptocurrency traders is the main issue and therefore the most critical aspect of taxation when it comes to the crypto industry.

“The key thing is identifying people who are trading because it’s easy to say cryptocurrency gains must be deductible, but there are also those who lose. That’s why it’s important to identify the trader,” he said.

He also noted that despite the fact that they have procedures in place to identify traders, the issue was not entirely straightforward especially because a significantly large number of the South African crypto traders use foreign bank accounts while some conduct these transactions in other jurisdictions.

Esports Betting Platform Luckbox Nabs Isle of Man Online Gaming Permit

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Luckbox has long been one of the top contenders in the Esports world as far as sports betting is concerned. More people have been attracted to the Esports scene thanks to the unique opportunities for participation that the platforms such as the Bitcoin-powered Luckbox have been offering.

Things are about to get even better for both the company and its customers following a recent announcement that the company has obtained its own Isle of Online Gambling Regulation Act licensing, making it the very first Esports betting operator to acquire a license of that kind.

The license that is now held by Real-Time Games Holdings Limited, the company behind the Luckbox brand, was issued by the Gaming Supervision Commission and falls under the umbrella of the Online Gambling Regulation Act (OGRA).

The Online Gambling Regulation Act ensures that online gaming operators carry out their activities in compliance with the strict regulation in the jurisdiction – this a measure put in place to ensure that the players are only presented with the highest level of safety and security when they place wagers online.

Luckbox chose to pursue the license from the Online Gaming Regulation Act simply because the license is considered to be one of the most reputable gambling licenses in the globe – it requires all player funds to be held in mechanisms that guarantee players of compensation in case an operator goes into liquidation.

In addition to this, the licenses will allow Luckbox to accept cryptocurrency, fiat as well as in-game items as currency for game transactions. It joins some other outstanding brands such as FullTilt, SBO, PokerStars, Quanta and 188Bet that are also holders of OGRA licenses.

“This is a significant milestone for our project. As well as building an industry-leading product, having a top-tier license is what sets us apart. It offers the best protection for players and opens up fantastic opportunities for us as a business, not least enabling access to compliant marketing channels, the ability to be listed on mobile app stores, as well as accessing traditional gambling infrastructure developed over the past two decades,” Luckbox chief executive officer, Lars Lien said.

“Having received the OGRA license, established a brilliant development team and now being confident with our infrastructure partners, I am confident we will deliver an amazing product early next year that will be very hard to copy. All in all, it is fantastic news for the team and all those who have supported us so far – we are so grateful for your help.”

Crypto Exchanges “Crying for Regulation”, New Study Reveals

Reading Time: 2 minutes

It is nearly impossible to find an industry where a majority of the participants are wishing for the government to intervene, especially if it thrives off not being subject to influence by said governments. Well, according to a summary delivered by Mistertango, a crypto payment app, 88 percent of cryptocurrency exchanges want some kind of industry regulation introduced before something “potentially disastrous” occurs.

Yes, that is right. Contrary to popular belief, many of the major stakeholders of the crypto industry including a number of renowned exchanges believe that more regulation is necessary to ensure that the industry is safeguarded from volatility and manipulation.

Mistertango’s study involved 24 digital currency exchanges across Asia, South America, Europe, and Oceania, with 88 percent of the respondents expressing their desire for the introduction of more regulatory safeguards. They believe that the existing regulatory standards are not sufficient enough to safeguard against the illegitimate use of digital assets.

Fear of Being Squeezed Out of Operation

As reported by Mistertango, about a third of the cryptocurrency exchanges think that a major market crash is the biggest potential threat to the industry. While they did not elaborate on this, their responses to other questions asked during the survey pointed to their growing fear of being hounded out of the industry by regulated financial institutions.

To put this into perspective, 40 percent of the exchanges believe that reducing the barriers to crypto funding by banks and other regulated financial institutions will help in increasing general acceptance and subsequently, widespread adoption of cryptocurrencies. Majority of the exchanges believe that crypto trades should be subjected to Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) guidelines just as traditional financial institutions are.

“The industry is crying out for regulation and the response from partners has shown this,” said Gabrielius Bilkštys, business manager at Mistertango. “Uncertainty is the biggest fear, and regulation is critical to provide the stability we need. Unfortunately, there is no regulatory consensus – worldwide or otherwise. For cryptocurrencies to move towards the scale and ubiquity possessed by fiat currency, it needs cohesive, considered, and comprehensive regulation. Thus, regulation will be a catalyst, not an inhibitor to the crypto market’s development.”

Calls for Regulatory Reform

Even though calls for regulation of cryptocurrency exchanges are quite common, it is just now that news of stakeholders within the industry supporting such initiatives is arriving. In fact, many of them are beginning to take action. For instance, a number of Japanese crypto exchanges formed a self-regulatory body earlier this year in a bid to rebuild trust in the wake of the $350 million heist that involved Tokyo-based trading platform, Coincheck. Similarly, in South Korea, crypto exchanges have welcomed proposals for regulation of crypto trading by regulated financial institutions.

“It has been widely supposed that crypto companies want to avoid a regulated environment, but this is far from the truth,” Oleksandr Lutskevych, CEO of CEX.IO pointed out. “The industry is all too aware that regulation will lead to the maturity of the market and ensure businesses remain free from suspicion of involvement with illegitimate uses of cryptocurrency.”

Nasdaq Holds Closed-Door Meeting with Crypto and Fiat Firms

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Despite their obvious growth in popularity and real-world applications, cryptocurrencies have been lingering in the regulatory grey zone mostly because international regulatory bodies hold mixed opinions on the development of the rapidly growing industry as well the asset class. It would seem that the reputation of the entire cryptocurrency industry has been hopelessly tainted by issues pertaining to fraud and shady transactions, but everything is about to change for the better.

With a number of emerging regulation and institutional solutions, Wall Street is beginning to slowly warm up to the idea of cryptocurrencies as a legitimate digital asset class. One of the organizations championing the legitimization of crypto is Nasdaq who on July 27, 2018, held a closed-door meeting in Chicago with the heads of various cryptocurrency-based companies and other financial institutions to discuss the future of the sector.

Bloomberg reports that the agenda of the meeting was the examination of ways of enhancing the overall outlook of the crypto-business and exhibiting its potential to the rest of the world. They also, reportedly, discussed some of the actions that crypto-based companies must do in order to improve the reputation of bitcoin and other digital currencies

Nasdaq Is Optimistic About a Digital Economy

Nasdaq has already adopted an industry-forward stance as far as crypto is concerned – its CEO, Adena Friedman is already at the helm of a number initiatives designed to help cryptocurrency exchanges advance their security systems. Security will naturally be a key determinant of whether crypto is finally ready to take the next step forward towards legitimization.

The company also partnered with Winklevoss twins-owned Gemini, a digital asset exchange to monitor Ether and bitcoin trading using Nasdaq’s SMARTS Market Surveillance systems. This was followed by an announcement that was made earlier this week disclosing that Nasdaq is going to be supplying five digital currency exchanges with market surveillance technologies.

Adena Friedman, who is at the helm of all these developments, has expressed a lot of optimism towards the development of a digital economy. In a May 7 CNN podcast, she noted that:

“How it evolves and which of the cryptocurrencies may or may not be the one that ultimately gets embraced, I think that really the jury is still out on that. But I do think the idea of a more globalized payment mechanism that is more efficient than what we have today allows for money to transfer across countries and certainly supports the Internet economy.”

She believes that cryptocurrencies are, without a doubt, the next logical step in the space of currency adding that the underlying blockchain technology will enable among other things more efficient value transfer. In addition to this, she has even said that Nasdaq would be willing to consider operating a cryptocurrency exchange once regulations settle and the crypto sector matures.

Bitcoin Crosses $8,000 Mark, Up 20 Percent in One Week

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Bitcoin’s price yesterday crossed the $8,000 mark for the very first time in over a month. This has already begun to spark speculations that this could be the return of the bull run that last year propelled bitcoin to its all-time high of almost $20,000. But, is it?

This recent rise in bitcoin’s price comes just after a week that saw it increase in value by about 20 percent following news that established financial institutions were eyeing the possibilities of venturing into bitcoin and cryptocurrency as a well as a ton of positive regulatory new from all around the world.

On the same note, bitcoins surge in value has been affecting many other aspects of the crypto industry including the so-called bitcoin dominance which rose to 47 percent this week, which is the highest it has ever been since December 2017 – bitcoin dominance is a measure of how much the total digital currency market is controlled by bitcoin.

What Is the Cause?

Many experts and crypto enthusiasts believe that bullishness around bitcoin can be attributed to the expected approval of a bitcoin exchange trade fund (ETF) that is currently being mulled over by the United States Securities Exchange Commission (SEC). The ETF was filed by New York-based VanEck and a blockchain platform known as SolidX through the Chicago Board of Exchange (CBOE).

If this bitcoin ETF is approved, people will be able to buy bitcoin without having to deal with existing clunky exchanges that usually struggle with cumbersome regulation and lack of trust from the public. According to a report filed but the ICO Journal a week ago, given the rise in bitcoin’s price, it appears that the bitcoin ETF is likely to get approved.

“I would call [the likelihood of approval] 90% at this point. The crypto markets have moderated and regulators have watched the lack of drama surrounding bitcoin futures across several global exchanges,” one of the ICO Journal’s unnamed sources reportedly commented. “The price moderation and adoption of a peer product is what the conversations have centered around. In January we were justifiably concerned about a bubble and the harm a quickly approved product could attract speculators and create losses that led to significant lawsuits. Now, those factors seem to be mitigated significantly.”

Global Regulatory Developments

Investors have also been quite keen on global regulatory news and this might also have something to do with the surge in bitcoin’s value. For instance, South Korea last week set up a government department that is tasked with creating policy initiatives around cryptocurrencies and financial technology.

“Regulation is moving in apace with positive murmurings from governments as they understand the opportunities and risks, and how to tailor their approaches — South Korea being the latest to give another tacit nod,” Charles Hayter, chief executive of digital coin comparison site CryptoCompare, said in an email on addressed to CNBC.

More Universities Providing Courses on Crypto

Reading Time: 2 minutes

It has been a little less than a year since crypto exploded into mainstream awareness but it is already becoming the focus of a growing number of university courses and educational programs. A few of these courses are based on the actual coding, computer science, and cryptography that lie behind cryptocurrencies. However, more and more courses are being tailored with the idea of providing a detailed introduction to crypto in mind – the intention is to allow the more business-focused audiences to have a basis for deciding whether or not to adopt crypto and to what extent they should do this.

While this may seem like a profit-oriented venture by universities that have found ways to capitalize on the cryptocurrency frenzy, the students themselves have reported considerable satisfaction with the teaching that they have received so. Even though the courses simply focus on teaching how to conceptualize blockchain instead of how the technology is coded and created, the knowledge that is imparted is still vital enough to be a major driving force for crypto if it is to be adopted on a global scale.

In the United States, crypto is mostly taught in the context of business-related programs, with very few universities offering specific degrees in crypto or blockchain technology. As it stands, a decent number of high – profile MBA programs in the country have already included or are including crypto-based courses that enable the students to have a grasp on crypto.

Russian Universities Join the Bandwagon

Just like the United States and a few other parts of the world, more academic institutions in Russia are beginning to offer educational courses as well as postgraduate programs focused on crypto and blockchain.

The most recent entrants are three Russian universities who have recently announced new courses and majors all related to cryptocurrencies and associated crypto technologies. These programs will be offered immediately the next academic year kicks off this fall and they will cover a wide array of subjects that include digital economy, cryptography, blockchain, distributed ledger technologies and alternative payment systems among others.

The Voronezh State University (VSU), one of the three universities, has already formulated a bachelor’s degree program that is all about studying digital economy and blockchain technology. Referred to as the “Models and methods for analyzing the digital economy”, the new major will be offered by the university’s Department of Information Technologies and Mathematical Methods in Economics.

The Don State Technical University (DTSU), on the other hand, will be offering two master’s programs in blockchain technologies – these will be “Intellectual systems based on blockchain technologies” and “Digital accounting and management.”

“We offer graduate students [the opportunity] to study in depth the distributed ledger technology. Blockchain is a promising technology that is rapidly introduced in many areas of life. Demand for specialists in this field is growing every day,” said DSTU’s Vice-Rector Alexey Belskopilniy.

Bitcoin to Replace Traditional Currencies Within a Decade

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have long been touted as the logical “next steps” for money as they grow closer to being adopted as mainstream forms of payment. According to a recent study by researchers from Imperial College London in conjunction with trading platform eToro that assessed the fundamental roles of traditional currencies, digital currencies have three criteria to fill if they are to go mainstream. Among these criteria is the ability to act as a store of value which most of the cryptocurrencies have already managed to successfully fulfill.

The remaining criteria to be fulfilled are the abilities to act as a medium of exchange and as units of account. To fulfill these two, cryptocurrencies will first have to deal with certain setbacks that include regulation and scalability.

Since it came to light in 2009, bitcoin has been the subject of heated debates regarding whether digital assets have what it takes to replace fiat. Bitcoin remains at the center of many of these discussions despite the fact that over 1,600 digital currencies have emerged within past decade – the Imperial College London believe that the attention that bitcoin is receiving is not in vain since it is well on its way towards mainstream adoption and use within the next decade.

“The world of cryptocurrency is evolving as rapidly as the considerable collection of confusing terminology that accompanies it. In this context, we wanted to get back to basics: clarifying the nature of cryptocurrencies as a new kind of asset class, contrasting them with traditional forms of wealth, and classifying the main challenges that need to be overcome in order to drive their success forward. There’s a lot of skepticism over cryptocurrencies and how they could ever become a day-to-day payment system used by the man on the street. In this research, we show that cryptocurrencies have already made significant headway towards fulfilling the criteria for becoming a widely accepted method of payment,” William Knottenbelt, a professor from the Imperial College said.

The research paper that is titled “Cryptocurrencies: Overcoming Barriers to Trust and Adoption” argues that the evolution of traditional money is what will pave the way for the mainstream adoptions of digital currencies. This sentiment is shared by the UK managing director of eToro, Iqbal Gandham, who said that:

“The history of money is a history of evolution, of new technology replacing old to improve the transfer of value from one person to another. Cryptocurrencies represent the next step on this journey.”

Case in point, there has been a significant increase in the distribution and use of contactless and mobile payments – this is, in essence, the backbone of the technology behind cryptocurrency.

“Given the speed of adoption, we believe that we could see Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on the high street within the decade,” Mr. Gandham added.

John McAfee Fires Shots at the RBI over Cryptocurrency Ban

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Renowned cybersecurity pioneer John McAfee has recently called for a boycott of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the financial institutions dealing with it over a recent decision by the central bank that forces banks to cease and desist from dealing with cryptocurrency traders.

The move by the RBI has created a lot of chaos and panic especially because of India’s technology ecosystem that has been riding the cryptocurrency wave for quite some time now. Most of the reactions have cited concerns pertaining to how the country’s rapid movement towards development will be hindered from here on out.

It is important to note that the ban is not an all-inclusive decree that Indian cryptocurrency investors will be in violation of the law for dealing in crypto. In fact, there are many other options that digital currency traders can users and they include crypto-to-crypto, peer-to-peer, offshore exchanges as well as international bank accounts. As such, while the decree that financial institutions should stop offering services to crypto investors is indeed a setback, it does not mean that it will be the end of all cryptocurrency trading in India.

The Indian media is culpable for the panic, fear, uncertainty, and doubt that is now rife in the country – as expected, they erroneously reported that the RBI had imposed a country-wide ban on cryptocurrency trading among investors.

McAfee Is Not Amused

On July 6, John McAfee posted an intriguing tweet that fired off at the Reserve Bank of India and urged all financial institutions to dissociate themselves with the central bank. He further warned that he would call for a boycott against the financial institutions that steal deal with the RBI.

“The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) initiated this atrocity out of fear and won through the existing centralized power structure. I’m calling for a boycott of any financial institution that does business with RBI. We must stand together and act,” read McAfee’s tweet.

In his tweet which comes in the wake of the recent verdict by the Indian Supreme Court to uphold the RBI crypto ban, McAfee spoke out against these developments. Knowing McAfee, he will remain at the forefront of these protests, at least until the ban is either lifted or a reasonable consensus is reached.

From the looks of things, there are many ways this could play out but it will all depend on how both sides of the divide will play their cards. Recent reports revealed that prior to the ban, the RBI did not carefully and explicitly review the pro and cons of cryptocurrencies in the country. Already, the central bank’s officials have begun reviewing a draft that focuses on cryptocurrencies and associated regulations that would be required to ensure its survival. The said draft was prepared by the Secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs, Subhash Chandra Garg. Maybe there is still hope for crypto in India after all.