Estonia to Tighten Rules for Licensed Crypto Companies

Estonia, one of Europe’s most crypto-friendly nations, plans to tighten its licensing regime for cryptocurrency companies. The financial authorities in Tallinn want to introduce stricter regulations for fintech businesses registered in the Baltic country.  

Also read: Binance Terminates Services for Users in Belarus

Regulators to Increase Oversight

The Financial Intelligence Unit, the Estonian regulator issuing the licenses, has made a number of proposals to strengthen the rules for entities dealing with digital assets. The Ministry of Finance is currently preparing draft amendments to the country’s Anti-Money Laundering and Counterterrorist Financing Law, the local news outlet Äripäev reported.

The revisions will be presented to the Council of Ministers for approval and then filed in the Estonian parliament for adoption. The ministry believes the anti-money laundering bureau should be tasked with inspecting all companies that provide services in the sector. The monitoring of their activities should ensure they are stable and maintain impeccable reputations.

Once the new regulations are adopted, crypto businesses registered as Estonian legal entities will be required to keep their headquarters in the country. Companies registered in foreign jurisdictions will be obliged to establish subsidiaries in Estonia.

The upcoming changes have been announced a year after the new Estonian Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Prevention Act came into force. The act transposed into national law the provisions of the 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive of the European Union, of which Estonia is a member.

Crypto-Friendly Estonia

Estonia is a trailblazer in Europe when it comes to adopting favorable regulations for the cryptocurrency industry. The small Baltic nation became the first country to introduce a licensing regime for companies in the sector. Many crypto businesses have been attracted by the opportunity to operate legally within a European jurisdiction.

Since the adoption of the regulatory framework last year, the Financial Intelligence Unit has licensed close to 1,000 entities. The regulator issues two types of licenses. According to data quoted by the Estonian news outlet Err.ee, 444 wallet providers and 526 cryptocurrency trading platforms are currently licensed to operate in the country.

Estonia is known for its developed e-government infrastructure and unique e-residency program, which provide private individuals and corporate entities with access to fast and efficient services. As news.Bitcoin.com reported recently, the application process for a crypto license takes only about two weeks. Meeting a number of know-your-customer and anti-money laundering requirements is an important precondition for approval.

Estonia is one of several jurisdictions spearheading the adoption of crypto-friendly laws and rules in Europe, along with Switzerland, Belarus, Malta, Gibraltar and the Isle of Man.

What are your expectations about the future of crypto regulations in Estonia and Europe? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.  

---

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

---

Make sure you do not miss any important Bitcoin-related news! Follow our news feed any which way you prefer; via Twitter, Facebook, Telegram, RSS or email (scroll down to the bottom of this page to subscribe). We’ve got daily, weekly and quarterly summaries in newsletter form. Bitcoin never sleeps. Neither do we.

The post Estonia to Tighten Rules for Licensed Crypto Companies appeared first on Bitcoin News.

via Lubomir Tassev

Read More

Thai SEC Explains Two Laws Could Apply to Crypto Securities

Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has reportedly clarified how existing laws can apply to crypto securities. In addition, Thai companies planning to issue securities tokens abroad would be guilty of wrongdoing under the Digital Asset Act for avoiding regulated fundraising channels.

Also read: Indian Supreme Court Moves Crypto Hearing, Community Calls for Positive Regulations

Applicable Current Laws

On Thursday, the Bangkok Post reported that Tipsuda Thavaramara, deputy secretary of the Thai SEC, revealed that “the regulator will have to consider how to deal with STOs [securities token offerings] for issues such as share ownership, voting rights, and dividends.”

Thailand enacted cryptocurrency regulation in May. The country’s Digital Asset Act regulates cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings (ICOs) and installs the Thai SEC as the main regulator of the crypto industry. However, STOs are not included within the scope of any current laws.

The publication detailed:

If STOs have conditions similar to other fund-raising securities, they could undergo processes similar to those for IPOs, thus coming under the SEC Act … STO trading could fall under the Digital Asset Act if fund-raising is carried out in the same manner as for ICOs.

Thavaramara clarified, “At the moment, we have not decided whether STOs fall under the SEC Act or the Digital Asset Act,” adding that “it depends on the STO’s conditions and the details in its white paper.” She emphasized, “The SEC will have to consider carefully how to respond to each STO.”

Thai Company Plans STO Launch in the US

Thai cryptocurrency exchange operator Satang Corp. has announced a plan to launch its own STO in the U.S., the Bangkok Post also reported.

Satang Corp. operates a crypto exchange in Thailand called Satang Pro, formerly Tdax. The exchange has been granted temporary approval to operate in Thailand while its full application is being reviewed by the Thai SEC.

The company “recently said it would issue an STO in the first quarter of next year but file for fund-raising with the US’s SEC and list on the T-zero exchange in the US,” the news outlet wrote on Thursday.

Overstock.com’s August filing with the U.S. SEC states that its Tzero platform aims to provide “current market participants the opportunity to access crypto-securities without having to incur switching costs.” The filing further describes, “Tzero represents a regulated bridge between the traditional securities markets and the fast-emerging world of crypto-securities.”

According to the Bangkok Post, Thavaramara explained:

An STO affiliated with Thai investors launching in an international market at this point would be guilty of wrongdoing under the Digital Asset Act. A company making such an STO launch would be trying to avoid regulated fund-raising channels, such as sales of ordinary shares or sales of digital assets via IPO portals.

What do you think of Thailand’s approach to regulating crypto securities? Let us know in the comments section below.

---

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Satang Corp., Overstock.com, and Thai SEC.

---

Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section.

The post Thai SEC Explains Two Laws Could Apply to Crypto Securities appeared first on Bitcoin News.

via Kevin Helms

Read More

Sirin Labs Launches Blockchain-Centric ‘Finney’ Smartphone

Read More

New Bitcoin Cash Opcode Shows an Onchain Game of Chess is Possible

Read More

Bitcoin Mining Startup Envion Ordered to Close by Swiss Court

A court in Switzerland has ordered the closure of bitcoin mining startup Envion AG over concerns of poor corporate governance. The company raised $100 million in an initial coin offering (ICO) in January, but a succession of boardroom wrangles have led to a breakdown in its corporate structure, bringing operations to a halt.

Also read: Canadian Bitcoin Miner Fortress Blockchain Reports $1.16M Loss in Q3

Founding Partners Sue Each Other

Founding partners Michael Luckow and Matthias Woestmann have repeatedly gone to court to sue each other over allegations of subterfuge, which supposedly took place at the time of the ICO or immediately after, according to a Handelsblatt Global report on Nov. 28.

Among other things, Woestmann, who has since resigned as board chairman, “accused Luckow of manufacturing more coins than agreed on, so he engineered a capital increase that diluted Luckow’s share,” the paper alleged.

In the capital increase, Woestmann allegedly issued actual shares, rather than tokens, effectively diluting the 81 percent stake of Luckow and his partners to 31 percent.

Now, the cantonal court in Zug — Switzerland’s cryptocurrency haven — has ordered Envion to shut down, citing its lack of a functional board of directors and “the complete lack of any auditing function.” The company is to be liquidated, the court ruled.

The article quoted a Zurich-based lawyer, Urs Schenker, as saying that Envion would likely go under. Schenker said liquidation was “unavoidable” because the financial regulator appeared to have reached a decision to investigate the cryptocurrency miner.

The Lure of Riches

Envion raised about $100 million in an ICO that attracted 30,000 investors between December 2017 and January 2018, when the cryptocurrency gold rush was at its peak. Investors paid $1 for each token in the offer, lured by the promise of over 160 percent growth and Envion’s low-cost approach to mining, using renewable energy. Today, the token is worth just $0.05, reports say.

However, relations between the founders went sour after the ICO, with accusations of cheating, causing operations at the company to come to a standstill. Handelsblatt Global reports that both Luckow and Woestmann are now under investigation by regulators in Switzerland and Germany.

It turned out that Envion’s finances and operations were being run from Berlin by Luckow’s company, Trado, even though the startup was registered in Switzerland. “Woestmann continues to blame Luckow, accusing him of not providing information about the ICOs. Luckow says Woestmann always planned to push the firm into liquidation, but he will fight it and believes the original concept can still work,” the article said.

The Zug court ruling is not final, as either party can still appeal the decision. In the meantime, all that investors can do is wait and hope for the best, as failed ICOs have already cost investors billions of dollars in losses throughout the world.

What do you think about the counter lawsuits at Envion? Let us know in the comments section below.

---

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

---

Express yourself freely at Bitcoin.com’s user forums. We don’t censor on political grounds. Check forum.Bitcoin.com.

The post Bitcoin Mining Startup Envion Ordered to Close by Swiss Court appeared first on Bitcoin News.

via Jeffrey Gogo

Read More

SEC Hits Floyd Mayweather and DJ Khaled With Fines for Unlawful ICO Promotion

Read More

Deutsche Bank Headquarters Raided by 170 Police Officers Over Money Laundering

Read More

The Daily: Kucoin Enables Credit Card Payments, Coinbase Pro Adds Zcash

Digital asset exchange Kucoin has partnered with an Israeli startup to introduce credit card payments for cryptocurrency purchases and we’ve covered it in The Daily. Also, Coinbase has added privacy coin zcash to its professional trading platform, while Okex has delisted dozens of trading pairs with low liquidity. And in Ghana, over 100,000 investors have lost millions of dollars in a coin scam.    

Also read: Coinbase Launches OTC Desk, Huobi Opens Derivatives Market

Kucoin Introduces Credit Card Payments

Kucoin has teamed up with Simplex to allow its users to buy cryptocurrencies with credit and debit cards. The Singapore-based exchange’s new service is now available in over 100 countries. Its customers can use U.S. dollars and euros to purchase bitcoin core (BTC), ether (ETH) and litecoin (LTC).

Simplex is a provider of payment processing solutions headquartered in Israel. The fintech startup operates globally and has subsidiaries in the U.S., U.K. and Lithuania. Merchants using its services receive their payments from Simplex, even in the case of fraudulent chargebacks. The company already cooperates with some of the leading platforms in the crypto space, including Shapeshift and Changelly.

Kucoin recently raised a total of $20 million in a series A funding round. The exchange, which started trading digital assets in September of last year, now has more than 5 million registered users in over 100 different jurisdictions.

Coinbase Pro Adds Privacy Coin Zcash

Leading U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has listed privacy-centric digital coin zcash (ZEC) on its professional digital asset trading platform, Coinbase Pro. According to an official announcement, Coinbase Pro started accepting ZEC deposits on Thursday, Nov. 29.

“We will accept deposits for at least 12 hours prior to enabling trading,” the company explained in a blog post, which also detailed: “Once sufficient liquidity is established, trading on the ZEC/USDC order book will start.”

The San Francisco-based exchange also revealed that initially ZEC trading will be available for residents of the Unites States, excluding New York, and Coinbase Pro users in the U.K., EU member states, Canada, Singapore and Australia. Support for other jurisdictions may be provided in the future, Coinbase noted. The company will also consider adding ZEC to its consumer platform and mobile apps if there are no technical issues with trading on Coinbase Pro.

Following the announcement, the price of zcash jumped by about 15 percent. At the time of writing, the coin was trading at around $88.

Okex Delists Trading Pairs With Low Liquidity

Okex, currently the second-largest cryptocurrency exchange by daily trading volume, announced that it’s delisting 38 trading pairs and tokens with weak liquidity and low trading volume. The decision pertains to firstblood, district0x, iconomi, santiment network and singulardtv, among other coins. The full list is available on the platform’s website.

The trading pairs will be delisted on Nov. 30. Okex advises users to cancel their orders with the affected coins or the exchange will cancel them automatically and credit the assets to the trading accounts. Okex customers holding a number of tokens — VEE, LEV, AVT, CBT, WRC, QVT, MTL, DNA, DNT, OAX, 1ST, CAG, UKG, BRD, SAN, ICN, ATL, SUB, REQ, NGC, AMM, LA, DENT, CIT, DAT and MAG — have been asked to withdraw them to other cryptocurrency platforms before Dec. 14.

Investors in Ghana Lose $27M in Coin Scam

More than 110,000 Ghanaians have been reportedly defrauded in a scheme involving cryptocurrency investments. According to local media, Kwaku Kumi and David Opatey — executives of an entity called Global Coin Community Help (GCCH) — have been arrested and interrogated by the country’s Economic and Organized Crime Office. Both have been released on bail, however.

The swindled investors lost an estimated 135 million Ghanaian cedi, or roughly $27 million, the Ghanaian news outlet Daily Graphic reported. According to investigators, GCCH accepted deposits without a license from the Bank of Ghana. The company promised to pay customers a monthly interest rate of 27 percent for a period of one year.

Unable to pay the high interest rate, the fraudsters later offered to compensate the investors with digital coins traded on an exchange called Mintcrtx. When their deposits were converted, the tokens were valued at 20 Ghanaian cedi per coin, but their price has since dropped to only 2 cedi. Police found that the trading platform is owned and operated by GCCH.

What are your thoughts on today’s news tidbits? Tell us in the comments section.

---

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

---

Make sure you do not miss any important Bitcoin-related news! Follow our news feed any which way you prefer; via Twitter, Facebook, Telegram, RSS or email (scroll down to the bottom of this page to subscribe). We’ve got daily, weekly and quarterly summaries in newsletter form. Bitcoin never sleeps. Neither do we.

The post The Daily: Kucoin Enables Credit Card Payments, Coinbase Pro Adds Zcash appeared first on Bitcoin News.

via Lubomir Tassev

Read More

LCX Now Licensed to Provide Crypto Trading Services in Liechtenstein

Liechtenstein cryptocurrency exchange LCX has been granted a license to provide crypto trading services for utility and payment tokens. The exchange will be offering four main crypto services including a custody service and a fiat-to-crypto exchange in partnership with Binance.

Also read: Indian Supreme Court Moves Crypto Hearing, Community Calls for Positive Regulations

A Regulated Exchange

LCX announced on Tuesday that it has been granted “a business license of the Liechtenstein Ministry of Economic Affairs to conduct its business in Liechtenstein (Gewerbebewilligung).”

An LCX representative told news.Bitcoin.com:

With this license, we got the permission from the regulator to provide crypto exchange trading services for utility and payment tokens. So, we can offer an exchange to investors, to safely trade utility and payment coins (stable coins for example), that is approved by the regulator.

The representative added that LCX can now offer “services that other crypto exchanges offer … in a regulatory compliant manner.” As a regulated exchange, LCX says that it will apply the “highest technology standards for KYC [know-your-customer] and AML [anti-money laundering] to safeguard fulfillment of all regulatory requirements for AML and KYC.”

He further noted that LCX has increased its nominal capital from 100,000 CHF (~$100,400) to 1,000,000 CHF in order to apply for additional licenses, such as the Financial Market Authority (Fma) license, to be able to trade security tokens and offer other regulated services. “We also want to offer security token trading to our clients,” he emphasized.

Upcoming Services

The company plans to offer four key products. One is a trading platform for security tokens and other cryptoassets. The second is a crypto custody service called LCX Vault.

The third is called LCX Terminal which integrates the APIs of major exchanges — such as Binance, Bittrex, Coinbase, Poloniex, and LCX’s own exchange — into a single trading desk. This product recently entered the closed-beta phase. The company described it as “a trading desk for crypto assets equipped with portfolio management, analytics platform, auto trading functionality and audit reporting — integration of major exchanges.”

The fourth is a fiat-to-crypto exchange unveiled in August in partnership with Binance. This exchange will offer the trading of Swiss francs and euros against major cryptocurrencies.

The LCX representative explained to news.Bitcoin.com:

The moment we decide we’re ready to integrate our exchange into the terminal we can go public with this product … All other products are in development and will be announced and made public in the near future.

Furthermore, he noted that LCX’s exchange services “can be offered in a global manner,” adding that “we will be setting new standards in terms of KYC and AML, which every client of LCX should pass.”

What do you think of LCX’s plans to provide crypto-related services? Let us know in the comments section below.

---

Images courtesy of Shutterstock and LCX.

---

Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section.

The post LCX Now Licensed to Provide Crypto Trading Services in Liechtenstein appeared first on Bitcoin News.

via Kevin Helms

Read More

Research Exposes Anti-Bitcoin Bias in Mainstream Media

Recent research on the tone and frequency of cryptocurrency coverage in the mainstream media over the past five years suggests that some news outlets appear to be much more biased against Bitcoin than the norm. The results also indicate that overall sentiment has become more negative with time.

Also Read: Coinbase Launches OTC Desk, Huobi Opens Derivatives Market

Price Declines Sparked a Press Frenzy

Blockchain-focused research company Clovr surveyed 7,527 cryptocurrency-related articles from 48 media outlets from January 1, 2013, to July 31, 2018. It used an algorithm to assess the broad sentiment expressed in each article.

The researchers found that the mainstream media didn’t really pay much attention to cryptocurrencies until they started climbing in value. But what these news outlets really liked was to report about price crashes. Even during the great bull run of 2017, coverage spiked during sudden declines in market value. And the downturn from the peak at the end of the year created a “press frenzy” as the number of articles shot up.

“In the wake of bitcoin’s market cap plunge in the final days of 2017, negative articles multiplied — with cryptocurrencies falling 34 percent in the first month of 2018, cautionary tales of vanished wealth were common,” the researchers note.

Old vs. Young, Left vs. Right

Long-established mainstream brands were particularly harsh with their cryptocurrency coverage, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Economist and The Financial Times. In contrast, the researchers found that business and financial news outlets that skew toward a younger audience, such as Forbes and Business Insider, had coverage that was consistently above the overall median for positive sentiment.

Comparing American publications by their political leanings, the researchers found that those that skew conservative were considerably more negative in their crypto coverage than those that skew liberal. This was exemplified by Breitbart News, which was found to have published only negative articles — a surprising finding, considering that its former executive chairman, Steve Bannon, has gone on to present himself as a crypto revolutionary.

The report indicates that some publishers became less hostile over time. However, the more common trajectory was for coverage to become increasingly negative, the researchers noted. The average sentiment of Reuters, USA Today and Gizmodo articles became substantially more negative over time, for example. And overall, financial news outlets seemed to be more positive than technology news sites.

What are the most interesting findings from this research? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

---

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

---

Verify and track bitcoin cash transactions on our BCH Block Explorer, the best of its kind anywhere in the world. Also, keep up with your holdings, BCH and other coins, on our market charts at Satoshi’s Pulse, another original and free service from Bitcoin.com.

The post Research Exposes Anti-Bitcoin Bias in Mainstream Media appeared first on Bitcoin News.

via Avi Mizrahi

Read More

Bloxroute Joins the Block Size Debate With New Block Propagation Service

Over the last few weeks, the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) community has been discussing how miners and nodes will handle bigger blocks in the future to encourage mass adoption. A company called Bloxroute has been coming up a lot lately, as it aims to resolve the block propagation bottleneck.

Also read: Growing Number of Crypto Companies Operating From Belarus

Bloxroute Claims It Offers Greater Efficiency

Bloxroute claims it can provide more efficient block propagation for blockchains. The organization has been discussed a lot in the weeks since researchers noted issues with block propagation after the BCH and BSV chains processed a few big blocks. Bloxroute says it supports any blockchain underneath the system by broadcasting block data in the exact same manner for every user in a neutral fashion.

“In particular, Bloxroute propagates blocks without knowledge of the transactions they contain, their number, and the ‘wallets’ or addresses involved. Miners are free to include arbitrary transactions in a block,” the Bloxroute whitepaper explains. “Furthermore, Bloxroute cannot infer the above characteristics even when colluding with other nodes, or by analyzing blocks’ timing and size — Bloxroute cannot favor specific nodes by providing them blocks ahead of others, and cannot prevent any node from joining the system and utilizing it.”

Noticing Block Propagation Difficulties

Big blocks have been a topic of intense discussion over the last few weeks, especially within the Bitcoin Cash community. The week before the Nov. 15 hard fork, a few sizable blocks were processed on the BCH chain, including numerous 32MB blocks. After the blockchain split, BSV miners processed a 64MB block, marking the largest onchain block ever mined on a blockchain. However, huge blocks that have been mined in the past and blocks above a certain threshold usually have issues propagating across the network. This was noticed by many observers when BMG pool mined a 23.15MB Bitcoin Cash block that took well over an hour to propagate correctly.      

“It took 85 minutes to find this block and the mempool was continuously growing at a rate that seems to be close to the limit nodes can accept transactions,” observed Jochen Hoenicke, the cryptocurrency developer otherwise known as “Johoe.”

Researchers noticed these issues when the concession of 32MB blocks was mined on the BCH chain. And the 64MB block found by BSV miners also had significant issues and took an extremely long time to propagate — some believe the BSV stress test pretty much DDoSed the nascent network. Another recent post on r/BTC explains how the BSV chain is showing issues with stuck Child-Pays-for-Parent (CPFP) transactions.

Hash War Winners or ‘Bloody Socialists’?

Since these issues started appearing, Bloxroute has come up more and more in the block size debate among people like Cornell University professor Emin Gün Sirer and Nchain’s chief scientist, Craig Wright. For instance, Gün Sirer told his Twitter followers on Nov. 23 that the hash war had shown that Bloxroute is an interesting protocol.   

“The big winner in the hash war was, oddly, Bloxroute Labs. Coingeek demonstrated the importance of block propagation by accidentally selfish mining themselves. Anyone building high-performance blockchains needs to pay attention to the kind of things Bloxroute focuses on,” he said.

However, Wright and supporters of BSV don’t seem to see many benefits with Bloxroute’s technology. “[Bloxroute] will never see the light of day with SV. In Bitcoin … miners vote and miners can choose to orphan blocks,” Wright recently detailed to his Twitter followers. “Basically, this is the complete opposite of everything Bitcoin is about. And it also does not work.”

In another tweet, Wright claimed that Bloxroute proponents are “bloody socialists” and if miners cannot vote they are “neutered.” He continued by stating:   

It is not scaling, it is removing miners from having a say.

Whether or not people agree with Bloxroute’s business model, its success or failure will be decided by the free market. If blockchain developers find use cases with this kind of system, it could theoretically thrive or simply introduce more problems. But no one can stop Bloxroute, as it’s free to provide these types of services in a permissionless fashion.

Uri Klarman, CEO of Bloxroute Labs, responded to Gün Sirer’s statements on Nov. 25, after the BSV chain had processed some larger blocks.   

“Here’s why Bloxroute Labs is the big winner of the hash war: *Any* blockchain doing large blocks needs them to quickly reach other miners. Otherwise, they will mine empty blocks based on header and forks (orphans) — BSV just showed 30MB block take 20 minutes since they lack layer 0,” Klarman said.   

What do you think about the Bloxroute protocol and business model? Let us know in the comments section below.

---

Images via Shutterstock, Bloxroute Labs, Twitter, and Pixabay. 

---

Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section.

The post Bloxroute Joins the Block Size Debate With New Block Propagation Service appeared first on Bitcoin News.

via Jamie Redman

Read More

Honoring Satoshi’s Vision: Toward a Better Crypto User Experience

This post about better crypto UX was written by venture capitalist David Gold. He is the CEO of Dapix, Inc, which launched the Foundation for Interwallet Operability (FIO) and FIO Protocol.

***

Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin whitepaper laid out an intoxicating vision for a “purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash” — free of involvement and interference from third-party intermediaries.

Also read: Outrage Over Union Bank of Nigeria’s Threat to Close Crypto-Related Accounts

Ten years later — despite much growth, shrinkage, excitement and hype — Bitcoin, and cryptocurrencies in general, have yet to be put to any significant use in commerce, which is a key reason why crypto markets continue to face such extreme volatility.

Crypto is currently too difficult and risky to use. This why it has not achieved mainstream adoption. Many other cryptocurrency and token-utility protocols have been launched to create variations that are faster, cheaper and more able to handle complex transactions. But very few have focused on how to make them easier, safer and more comfortable for people to actually use.

Bad Utility Equates to Bad UX

Imagine stopping people in the street to show them what it is like to use cryptocurrency with the incoherent crypto addresses, the lack of obvious route to learn the progress of payments, and the irreversible transactions — even in the event of payment errors.

It seems reasonable to assume few would be comfortable using cryptocurrency to conduct an exchange of value.

Praising third-party intermediaries is considered heretical in the blockchain world. But from the everyday users’ perspective, they at least can provide greater confidence that a transaction of value proceeds as intended. Checks can minimize errors, and errors often have the opportunity to be corrected.

For Satoshi’s vision of a “purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash” to become a broad reality, the user experience of sending/receiving crypto must be greatly improved.

In fact, the user experience needs to be better than that of sending/receiving value in the fiat world because transactions are irreversible. Users need near certainty on the accuracy of their transaction details — including where funds are being sent, the amount of funds, the type of funds, and the purpose for which they are being sent.

But all this needs to be achieved without a trusted third-party intermediary.

Poor Attempt

Efforts to address blockchain usability in a decentralized manner to date have almost exclusively focused on solving only one piece of the problem — the concept of human-readable “wallet names” to eliminate the need to deal with incoherent public addresses.

Those attempts have failed to make any meaningful impact on usability for a number of reasons. First, many of the attempts at wallet names are as complex as the usability problem they attempt to solve. Next, some attempts have been blockchain-specific, meaning that a user would be faced with a wallet name for one token but not for other tokens in their wallet.

Others have created “walled gardens” requiring all users to utilize specific browser plugins or wallets to obtain greater usability, but solving nothing for the multitude of users interacting with different wallets. Even if any of these efforts were successful, wallet names themselves are an insufficient piece of the usability solution, as they do nothing to provide confidence about the accuracy of transaction details, nor shared context for the purpose of the payment.

Here We Go

It’s time for wallets and exchanges to change the paradigm and enable dramatic improvements in usability across all blockchains. By uniting around a decentralized Paypal-like protocol, we can finally break through the barriers on blockchain usability.

This protocol should be open sourced and available to all. In other words, every wallet and exchange should be able to participate. We need a protocol that works with existing blockchains rather than competes with them. We need a protocol that doesn’t require them to change in any way, and won’t sit in the middle of transactions. Rather, it should augment blockchains by enabling all wallets and exchanges to provide a decentralized suite of information and workflow not previously possible.

A protocol like this would enable the first wallet names that work across every token and coin. Crypto users would be able to send a request for payment from within one wallet to another wallet — virtually eliminating the possibility of errors in sending tokens or coins. Cross-chain metadata could work identically for every token or coin so that transfers of value, regardless of token or coin utilized, could include secure details on the purpose.

And these capabilities would only be the beginning. A raft of other usability solutions could be built if everyone gets involved.

Calm After the Storm

The volatility experienced by cryptocurrencies over the past year would greatly diminish if crypto just became more consumer-friendly.  As long as blockchain tokens and coins are limited to being primarily an alternative investment asset class, market adoption will be constrained.

The vision of a decentralized, peer-to-peer system for exchange of value is not only about accuracy in the ledger of transactions, it’s about the comfort and confidence of the user in the process of moving the value represented.

I’m optimistic that the whole industry is about to come together to solve these usability issues. Soon the average person on the street will not only be comfortable using cryptocurrency, but will finally find it superior to fiat currency for a variety of transactions.

Do you think a single protocol for interoperability between blockchains is the way to go? Will the industry unite to solve these pressing issues? 

---

Images courtesy of Shutterstock

---

OP-ed disclaimer: This is an Op-ed article. The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own. Bitcoin.com does not endorse nor support views, opinions or conclusions drawn in this post. Bitcoin.com is not responsible for or liable for any content, accuracy or quality within the Op-ed article. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the content. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any information in this Op-ed article.

The post Honoring Satoshi’s Vision: Toward a Better Crypto User Experience appeared first on Bitcoin News.

via Sterlin Lujan

Read More

Binance Terminates Services for Users in Belarus

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has informed Belarusian customers that its services will no longer be available in their country. The announcement follows reports of similar restrictions for residents of other nations under economic sanctions, such as the Islamic Republic of Iran and Zimbabwe.

Also read: Russian Miners Sell Their Equipment Amid Market Plunge

Belarusians Lose Access to Global Exchange

The correspondence from Binance, currently the world’s largest digital asset trading platform by daily volume, does not specifically say when the restrictions will go into effect, Forklog reported. However, the exchange notes that they are related to the latest update in its Terms of Use (ToU) and urges Belarusians to acquaint themselves with the changes.

Under “Prohibition of Use” on the ToU page, the exchange explains that by accessing and using any of its services, customers acknowledge and declare they are not on any trade or economic sanctions lists, such as those prepared by the U.N. Security Council and the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Treasury Department (OFAC).

Binance says that it “maintains the right to select its markets and jurisdictions to operate and may restrict or deny its services to certain countries.” The exchange also insists on its stance that “prohibited users are not to use or access Binance and any of its services” and reserves the right to modify or change the terms and conditions of its user agreement at any time and at its sole discretion.

The announcement comes shortly after Binance imposed restrictions on other countries under Western sanctions. In November, several global exchanges, including Binance, cut ties with Iran, according to members of the local crypto community. Zimbabweans have also been informed that the exchange is unable to provide services in their country and have been told to withdraw their funds.

Gleb Kostarev, a representative of Binance in the Russian Federation, has confirmed the authenticity of the Belarus announcement. Speaking to Forklog, he also noted that the new restrictions would not affect Russian residents. But the different treatment of the two countries raises questions about the rationale behind the decision. They are both members of the Eurasian Economic Union, which forms a common market.

The two nations are also subject to U.S. sanctions. But while Washington is constantly expanding its measures regarding Russia, sanctions relief has been granted for nine major Belarusian companies in the past three years. In October, OFAC extended the waivers for another year. The move is part of a policy aimed at encouraging reforms in the country, which is a traditional ally of Moscow.

Belarusians Can Still Buy Cryptocurrencies

Belarus is one of only a few jurisdictions in Europe that have adopted crypto-friendly regulations. The number of fintech entities operating in the country has been growing since President Alexander Lukashenko’s Decree No. 8 entered into force in March. The order legalized the business activities of crypto and blockchain companies registered with the Belarus High Technologies Park (HTP) in Minsk.

The circulation and exchange of cryptocurrencies, however, remain largely unregulated. There are no cryptocurrency exchanges in the HTP and Binance’s decision to restrict services in the country will make it even harder for Belarusians to buy, sell and trade coins. Fortunately, other options are available.

A number of online platforms offer exchange services in the post-Soviet space. Best Change, for example, lists dozens of verified online exchanges where crypto-enthusiasts can acquire and trade digital currencies, regardless of sanctions imposed by foreign powers or bans introduced by their own governments.

Many platforms support popular payment methods such as Qiwi and Yandex Money, but credit/debit card purchases are also possible. Belarusians can order prepaid Mastercards from Belarusbank, a leading commercial bank in the country. Its Carte Blanche card supports deposits in four currencies — Belarusian rubles, Russian rubles, euros and U.S. dollars. The fiat funds can then be used to buy digital money on any of the Best Change-listed platforms supporting such transactions.

Peer-to-peer exchanges such as Localbitcoins are also available to Belarusians who want to trade their coins. And Crexby, a platform recently launched by Belarusians in the U.S. as the first Belarusian crypto exchange, recently told news.Bitcoin.com that it plans to introduce support for Belarusian ruble trades. The company is already in contact with government officials in Minsk to ensure compliance with local regulations.

What do you think about Binance’s move to stop services in Belarus? Tell us in the comments section below.

---

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Belarusbank.

---

Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section.

The post Binance Terminates Services for Users in Belarus appeared first on Bitcoin News.

via Lubomir Tassev

Read More

The Difference Between Custodial and Noncustodial Cryptocurrency Services

Read More

Canadian Bitcoin Miner Fortress Blockchain Reports $1.16M Loss in Q3

Fortress Blockchain’s net loss worsened to $1.16 million (1.55 million Canadian dollars) in the third quarter, from $202,000 in the preceding three-month period, as price pressure continues to mount in the global bitcoin mining industry. The Canadian company said depreciation of $291,600 and listing expenses of $293,700 wiped away mining earnings.

Also read: Outrage Over Union Bank of Nigeria’s Threat to Close Crypto-Related Accounts

Revenue Falls as Bitcoin Plummets

Fortress Blockchain, which listed shares on the TSX Venture Exchange in August, sold 179.8 BTC for $1.13 million in the three months to September, at an average price of $6,605 per coin. About 83 BCH was sold for $35,300. The Vancouver-based company extracted much less bitcoin and bitcoin cash during the third quarter, however, as global cryptocurrency prices plummeted. It mined 64.5 BTC and 52 BCH at significantly lower prices compared to the previous quarter.

Revenue from its mining operations declined 37 percent to $463,900, from $741,000 in the previous quarter, according to an earnings release published Nov. 28. Revenue from the sale of bitcoin mining equipment coupons reached $267,500 in the three months to the end of September.

It said it had faced challenging conditions due to the “volatility in bitcoin prices.” It has also seen a rise in costs related to depreciation, listing and share-based compensation. Gross mining margins came in stronger, however, at 62 percent.

“The industry has gone through a corrective phase where mining difficulties are at an all time high while bitcoin prices have declined,” said Aydin Kilic, chief executive officer and co-founder of Fortress. “At press time, we have noticed the mining difficulty for Bitcoin has significantly decreased. However, this has been outpaced by a significant decline in the price of bitcoin.”

Miners Continue to Struggle

The global price of bitcoin has plunged more than 70 percent since January, dragging the rest of the cryptocurrency market down with it. Companies involved in mining or selling mining hardware have been hit hard. Reports say some companies have gone bankrupt, with a number of miners in China resorting to selling their equipment as junk to cut losses.

Fortress, which has a market capitalization of $6.40 million, touts itself as a low-cost green energy miner. The company operates about 1,400 S9 application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) miners at its 2 MW flagship facility in the U.S. state of Washington, with an average operating hash rate of over 18.9 petahash/second.

Fortress has cut staff to achieve cost savings of $26,300 per month, said Kilic, who took a pay cut as part of a broader corporate reorganization exercise. The company also bolstered efficiency by installing Bitmain’s Overt ASIC Boost firmware on all of its mining hardware, resulting in a 14 percent average decline in power consumption, he said.

By the end of September, Fortress had cash on hand of $7.98 million and $19,200 of digital currency holdings, compared to $6.90 million in cash and $769,900 in cryptocurrency at the end of June. Its shares closed up 4.4 percent at $0.09 on Nov. 28.

What do you think about Fortress Blockchain’s quarterly performance? Let us know in the comments section below.

---

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

---

Express yourself freely at Bitcoin.com’s user forums. We don’t censor on political grounds. Check forum.Bitcoin.com.

The post Canadian Bitcoin Miner Fortress Blockchain Reports $1.16M Loss in Q3 appeared first on Bitcoin News.

via Jeffrey Gogo

Read More

The US Government Is Powerless to Block Bitcoin Addresses

Read More

Chatter Report: Buy Walls, Miner Anonymity and Bitcoin vs. the State

In today’s edition of Chatter Report, crypto influencers debate the importance of buy walls to support crypto prices, reason for and against miner anonymity and ponder the outcome of governments attacking bitcoin.

Also read: Markets Update: Bull Trap or Reversal? Traders Question the Recent Crypto Spike

Hodlers of Last Resort and Buy Walls

Early bitcoin adopter and investor in Kraken, Trace Mayer, argues that crypto market capitalizations are important, but not as important as the hodlers of last resort and “buy support.” Mayer reasons that the combination of investors who don’t panic sell their coins and buy orders that are reflected in order books are what keep crypto prices from sliding further down.

However, Eric Wall argues that this is incorrect, because buy and sell orders are just an illusion. The cryptocurrency lead at Cinnober reasons that buy walls can be pulled quickly when market sentiment turns bearish, so data on order books can’t really be trusted. Wall’s distrust of order books is also shared by others in the thread, as they point out that over-the-counter market orders are unseen and obscure buy and sell data even further.

Should Miners be Anonymous?

After Nchain proposed the Optimal Miner Pseudo ID, crypto Twitter erupted in a fiery debate over whether miners should be anonymous or have their identities publicly known.

Developer Chris Pacia argues that all miners should be anonymous because anonymity makes it more difficult for governments to shut down bitcoin. On the other hand, prominent bitcoiner Alex Pickard believes that miners should be known by the public, as that would “increase trust in the system,” which is better for the bitcoin ecosystem.

The argument then shifted focus to the purpose of Proof of Work (POW), with crypto-Twitter regular Karate McAwesome arguing that POW is set up for miner anonymity.

Pickard quickly disagreed, explaining that the point of POW is to prevent double spending and to maintain the fixed supply of bitcoin. He then elaborated, claiming that transparent miner identities could prevent the government from shutting bitcoin down.

Bitcoin vs. the State

Picking up on the idea of governments trying to destroy bitcoin, cryptocurrency proponent Chris G and Bitcoin Uncensored’s Chris DeRose began their own separate discussion. The former argued that bitcoin would benefit from the government trying to destroy it.

G reasons that after the Chinese government tried to shut down bitcoin from 2013 to 2015, the subsequent years were fantastic for bitcoin prices. G goes on to draw parallels between bitcoin and Christianity, explaining that governments initially killed all Christians until Constantine figured out how he could benefit from the religion.

Throughout the thread, DeRose appears convinced of G’s arguments. By the end, both parties conclude that divisions in the bitcoin community are more dangerous than governments trying to destroy bitcoin.

What do you think of the significance of buy walls and hodlers to support crypto prices? Should miners be anonymous or known entities? Would governments attacking bitcoin actually be good for it? Let us know in the comments below.

---

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

---

Need to know the price of bitcoin? Check this chart.

The post Chatter Report: Buy Walls, Miner Anonymity and Bitcoin vs. the State appeared first on Bitcoin News.

via Marcel Chuo

Read More