Month: September 2017

The US federal agency that oversees the country’s credit union industry included a remark on the possible risks and benefits of cryptocurrencies in a newly-released strategy plan. Published yesterday, the 2018-2022 Draft Strategy Plan largely focuses on the economic trends that will shape US credit unions, as well as the policy implications that may come about as a result. The growing use of fintech means that “credit unions are likely to face a range of challenges” from companies that are Read more …

The investment banker Jamie Dimon caused a stir when he declared recently that Bitcoin will collapse because it is “worth nothing.” Bitcoin’s current market value, he claimed, is driven almost entirely by speculation, rather than by any real and present intrinsic value that Bitcoin actually provides. Casting aside the debate over whether Bitcoin has intrinsic value or not, it seems fair to say that Dimon doesn’t know the cryptocurrency market well. If he did, he might have noted that Bitcoin Read more …

Regulation Ukrainian lawmakers previously said that the legal status of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies could be determined by last week. However, a unified position has not been reached among regulators. Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), Oleg Churiy, explained why lawmakers cannot reach consensus on cryptocurrency. Also read: Russian Regulators Disagree on Crypto Regulation, Postpone to Next Year No Common Position The Central Bank of Ukraine. Early this month, Ukrainian lawmakers agreed to settle on the Read more …

Back in the spring, Roy Sebag’s precious metals investment firm Goldmoney Inc. dumped millions of dollars in bitcoins, calling the digital money a bubble. Now he wants to sell you cryptocurrency trading and storage services. Sebag, who had originally named his Toronto-based company BitGold Inc. when it was founded in 2014, claims he’s not back-tracking. He’s bearish because he expects regulation to weigh on prices as the market matures. Cryptocurrencies fell in overnight trading after South Korea banned initial coin offerings. Read more …

A blockchain working group within the US State Department is hosting an event in Washington, DC, next month. The [email protected] initiative has organized a one-day workshop, bringing together representatives from the various offices within the State Department (plus other parts of the US government) as well as those from the private sector. The goal of the event, according to the group, is to “explore both the policy implications and potential applications” of the tech within the context of US diplomatic Read more …

Initial Coin Offering (ICO) is an unregulated means of crowdfunding via the use of cryptocurrency, which can be a source of capital for startup companies. In an ICO a percentage of the newly issued cryptocurrency is sold to investors in exchange for legal tender or other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Ethereum. Consequences of a fast-growing market The ICO concept is arguably the aspect of the Blockchain industry that has experienced the highest growth in 2017. This year alone, over Read more …

Edward Snowden took to Twitter to voice his opinion on two of the world’s top cryptocurrencies. Both Zcash and Monero claim to be different than other cryptocurrencies by providing users with more secure and completely anonymous transactions. It might be the reason Snowden, a world-famous advocate for user data security and anonymity, would choose these two digital currencies specifically to venture an opinion on. On Twitter, a user @masonic_tweets remarked, “Zcash is the only altcoin (that I know of) designed Read more …

Chinese investors are defying the ICO and exchange ban to such an extent that their rebellion has even made mainstream news. Citing traders and commentators in mainland China and over the border, Reuters notes that despite “sensitivities” on the topic, cryptocurrency holders are seeking any reasonable method to continue trading. “They can’t set rules to stop me from investing in what I want to invest in,” an anonymous Chinese user told the publication Friday. “They say you are protecting me, Read more …

Switzerland’s top financial markets regulator is investigating the practices behind an undisclosed number of initial coin offerings (ICOs). Though it didn’t name any specific token sales, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority said today that it is examining “a number of ICO cases to determine whether regulatory provisions have been breached.” Specifically, the regulator wants to see whether organizers of ICOs, who sell cryptographic tokens in a bid to bootstrap blockchain networks, have violated any laws around anti-money laundering, securities or collective Read more …

Smart Valor have just recently concluded a successful ICO summit in Zurich, organized on Sep. 15, 2017. Switzerland has of late emerged as an incubator for crypto projects, with big names like Ethereum having been developed in the Zug Valley. Switzerland and Europe as a whole is now emerging as a center of start-up action and Smart Valor are keen to leverage the possibilities that are emerging as a consequence. The Swiss offers a stable and a neutral political environment Read more …