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Topics - Goodcat49

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Legality & Taxation of Cryptos / French Regulators Notice Uptick In Crypto-Related Complaints

« on: July 03, 2019, 11:16:22 PM »

French financial regulators have observed an increase in complaints regarding cryptocurrencies this year.

Investors in the country are increasingly filing complaints about digital currencies with France’s Financial Markets Authority (AMF) since January 2019, according to the AMF’s 2019 Risk Map report published on July 2.

The Risk Map analyzes the major factors that have an impact on the country's financial markets along with associated risks.

At the same time, 2019 has reportedly seen a drop in the number of enquiries received by the AMF’s consumer contact center in regard to digital currency. The document further notes that investors continue to express interest in speculative products like binary options, foreign exchange, contracts for difference and crypto, despite the AMF’s efforts to limit the marketing of such products.

From 2016 to 2018, the AMF issued 118 warnings against crypto-related bad actors out of 154 warnings overall.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/french-regulators-notice-uptick-in-crypto-related-complaints

News related to Crypto / G20 Leaders Reaffirm Position on Cryptocurrencies in Statement

« on: July 01, 2019, 08:23:27 PM »

G20 leaders reaffirmed their previous stance towards cryptocurrencies in a declaration following the G20 Summit in Osaka on June 29

In the declaration, the G20 leaders state that cryptocurrencies do not currently constitute a threat to monetary stability, and that technological innovation can deliver significant benefit to the economy.

The participants also welcome the ongoing work on those assets by the Financial Stability Board and other standard setting bodies, and encourages multilateral responses when needed.

The authors of the declaration also reaffirm their determination to comply with the updated Financial Action Task Force anti-money laundering and countering terrorism financing standards for cryptocurrencies. The document notes that the co-signers are also continuing to step up their commitments to enhance cybersecurity.

The contents of the declaration mostly reaffirm those in a joint communiqué published on the website of Japan’s Ministry of Finance on June 9, following the G20 meeting held in Fukuoka, Japan.

Additionally, the declaration contained statements on various other critical global topics, such as tackling corruption, addressing inequality and providing more equitable labor conditions.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/g20-leaders-reaffirm-position-on-cryptocurrencies-in-statement

Articles about Cryptocurrency / Former Visa Exec-Led Startup Ships Nearly 4,000 Crypto Cards in a Week

« on: June 27, 2019, 07:25:44 PM »

Crypterium, crypto payment firm led by former Visa exec, has shipped about 4,000 crypto debit cards in a week since the launch of the card, according to a press release on June 27.

Crypterium, an Estonia-headquartered fintech company, launched its Crypterium Card on June 12, offering global community a prepaid card loaded with major cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), litecoin (LTC), USD Coin (USDC), as well as Crypterium’s own CRPT token.

As the company wrote in the announcement, the new bitcoin card operates “in the same way as a traditional prepaid card,” enabling online and in-store crypto purchases on a number of services including Amazon, Netflix, as well as tuition fees, or medical bills, among others. With that, users can also cash out from “any of the 2 million” automatic teller machines (ATMs), with funds converted automatically to local currencies.

Crypterium has managed to deliver 3,736 Crypterium Cards to around 70 countries in the first week after the launch of the solution, citing “booming demand” amid the current BTC price surge and nascent bull market.

While the majority of card orders have come from the United States, the firm also noted a significant demand from the Asia-Pacific region, with Australia ranking third by orders. Exceptional demand, in particular, came from countries with weak local currencies and unstable economies.

Steven Parker, former General Manager of global payment giant Visa, said that these impressive numbers reflect the actual global demand for a “stable debit card” that provides equal status to crypto and traditional currencies in terms of payments.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/former-visa-exec-led-startup-ships-nearly-4-000-crypto-cards-in-a-week

News related to Crypto / Survey: 27% of UK Residents Want to See Crypto in More Real-World Applications

« on: June 27, 2019, 07:23:18 PM »

27% of surveyed United Kingdom citizens hope to see cryptocurrencies in “real-world applications," according to recent research by U.K.-based crypto exchange CEX.io, technology news outlet BTCManager reported on June 27.

CEX.io provided BTCManager the results of its recent survey focused on the level of adoption, application, and expectations of digital currencies in the U.K. The report — which was prepared in collaboration with London-based research firm qriously — highlights answers from 1,013 respondents.

Per the survey, 32% of respondents said that they would like the technology to be better integrated with "everyday technology" like payments apps and mobile storage, while 27% revealed they want to see crypto in “real-world applications such as credit card payments or sending money abroad.

When asked why they own crypto, 21% of respondents said that purchased some driven by curiosity, 18% reportedly liked trading, and 21% were waiting for prices to surge. 43% of those surveyed owned Bitcoin (BTC), which made the coin dominant among the 13% who said that they owned any cryptocurrency.

28% of those who did not hold any digital currency said they would purchase crypto if they had better understanding of it, 12% would if they knew how to store it securely, 11% would own crypto if they could buy real-world goods with it, and 7% would if it were easier to buy.

A survey by Moscow-based cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab introduced on June 17th revealed that 19% of people globally purchased cryptocurrency.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/survey-27-of-uk-residents-want-to-see-crypto-in-more-real-world-applications

Other Popular Cryptos / Coins / Walmart China Will Track Food in Supply Chain with Vechain's Thor Blockchain

« on: June 26, 2019, 12:17:54 AM »

Walmart China plans to track food through its supply chain with VeChain’s Thor blockchain, reveals a VeChain press release published on June 25.

Per the release, the Walmart China Blockchain Traceability Platform (WCBTP) will be a joint venture by Walmart China, VeChain, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), cattle company Inner Mongolia Kerchin, and the China Chain-Store & Franchise Association. WCBTP has been reportedly announced at the 2019 China Products Safety Publicity Week Traceability System Construction Seminar jointly organized by Walmart China and the CCFA in Beijing.

Walmart China already revealed 23 product lines that the system will track and plans to release another 100 products for further inclusion, covering more than 10 product categories. The press release claims that the company expects that tracked sales will be significant in volume:

“It is expected that the Walmart China's traceability system will see traceable fresh meat account for 50% of the total sales of packaged fresh meat, traceable vegetables will account for 40% of the total sales of packaged vegetables, traceable seafood will account for 12.5% of the total sales of seafood by the end of 2020.”

VeChain is among the companies on the list of the first 197 companies that China’s cyberspace administration authorized as registered blockchain service providers, released in April.

As Cointelegraph recently reported, Walmart is no stranger to distributed ledger technology (DLT). Back in October 2016, the company began collaborating with IBM on a blockchain-based system that could identify and flag recalled foods.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/walmart-china-will-track-food-in-supply-chain-with-vechains-thor-blockchain

Bitcoin News & Updates / Europol Arrests Six People Allegedly Behind $27 Million Bitcoin Theft

« on: June 26, 2019, 12:15:05 AM »

Europol, in conjunction with the United Kingdom’s South West Regional Cyber Crime Unit, the Dutch police, Eurojust, and the U.K.’s National Crime Agency (NCA), has coordinated the arrests of six people suspected of stealing over $27 million in cryptocurrency, according to a press release on June 25.

The attackers reportedly were involved in typosquatting, a fraudulent means to steal credentials by setting up a scam website with a similar name to an established one—hence the “typo” in “typosquatting”—and then recording login data.

The attackers reportedly were involved in typosquatting, a fraudulent means to steal credentials by setting up a scam website with a similar name to an established one—hence the “typo” in “typosquatting”—and then recording login data.

In this case, the report notes that Europol believes the hackers were able to use typosquatting to steal login details, letting them gain access to client wallets and the funds inside. Europol reports that the hackers used this scheme to steal from at least 4,000 bitcoin (BTC) users in 12 different countries.

The six individuals were reportedly based in the U.K. and the Netherlands. As per the report, Europol provided coordination for the British and Dutch agencies, who shared information and evidence at their headquarters preceding the arrests.

As previously reported by Cointelegraph, malware watchdogs found a Cryptohopper clone website stealing crypto login credentials. The website uses the same logo as the genuine crypto trading tools website Cryptohopper to trick users into installing its executable, which downloads and runs mining and clipping trojans designed to steal cryptocurrency.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/europol-arrests-six-people-allegedly-behind-27-million-bitcoin-theft

Bitcoin News & Updates / Key Bitcoin Price Indicator Suggests $21,000 ‘Fair Value’ By End Of 2019

« on: June 24, 2019, 06:15:12 PM »

The bitcoin (BTC) price is unlikely to break $40,000 in 2019, Bitcoin Knowledge podcast host Trace Mayer declared as part of new analysis on June 24.

Uploading fresh readings from his price forecasting tool, the ‘Mayer Multiple,’ the serial commentator and bitcoin proponent said that current trajectory should favor an end-of-year bitcoin price of $21,000.

This, while below the estimates of other industry figures such as Fundstrat’s Tom Lee, still places the largest cryptocurrency ahead of its record high set in December 2017.

The Mayer Multiple is a calculation achieved by dividing the current bitcoin price by its 200-day moving average. Currently at 2.09, the metric has only seen higher readings 14.79% of the time, meaning that a giant leap to $40,000, in particular, is unwarranted.

“...Very low probability of $40k in a few months,” Mayer summarized.

The performance buoyed analysts, many of whom considered $10,000 to be a watershed moment. Investors waiting on the sidelines, they argued, would jump on board once five figures were reached, triggering a snowball upward price effect.

At press time Monday, markets were nonetheless taking a break from bullish movement, BTC/USD settling at around $10,850.

For the rest of the year and beyond, however, the Mayer Multiple considers moves through $15,000, $21,000 and then $30,500 to be probable. The first of these would nonetheless be “overvalued” should it hit in September, but thereafter, bitcoin would find its price niche.

June 2020 should trigger the $30,000+ bitcoin, roughly a month after the next block reward size halving event.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/key-bitcoin-price-indicator-suggests-21-000-fair-value-by-end-of-2019

News related to Crypto / Google Searches for ‘Bitcoin’ Starting to Catch Up With $10K Euphoria

« on: June 24, 2019, 06:13:37 PM »

Data from Google Trends’ search analytics resource indicates that internet googling of ‘bitcoin’ (BTC) is approaching a monthly high as of today, June 24.

According to the data, searches for bitcoin are continuing their ascent in the week after the unveiling of Facebook’s new cryptocurrency and blockchain-powered financial infrastructure project, Libra, even as searches for Libra itself have tapered off since June 18 — the date the white paper for the forthcoming token was published.

The resurgent public interest is seemingly correlated with the renewed bull market, with bitcoin is currently trading at $10,881, up almost 35% on the month, according to coin360 data.

By country, the top five nations currently googling bitcoin are Nigeria, South Africa, Austria, Switzerland and Ghana — as compared with Uruguay, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Albania and Panama for Libra.

While high-profile industry figures such as Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin have critiqued Libra over its lack of decentralization, researchers at top crypto exchange Binance, have proposed that the social media giant’s token could spark additional volume in the cryptocurrency space.

At press time, BTC/USD is consolidating under the $11,000 mark — up over 3% over the past 24 hours, according to Cointelegraph’s bitcoin price index.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/google-searches-for-bitcoin-starting-to-catch-up-with-10k-euphoria

News related to Crypto / Report: Two Israeli Brothers Arrested for Hack of Bitfinex Crypto Exchange

« on: June 23, 2019, 08:56:37 PM »

Two Israeli brothers have been arrested in connection with the hack of cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex and other crypto-related phishing attacks, finance news outlet Finance Magnates reports on June 23.

An Israeli police spokesperson reportedly told Finance Magnates that Eli Gigi and his younger brother Assaf Gigi netted tens of millions of dollars. The two are suspected of being responsible for long-term systematic theft of cryptocurrencies by maliciously obtaining access to other users’ accounts.

The two allegedly created credential-stealing clones of major online cryptocurrency exchanges and wallets and sent links to those phishing sites on Telegram groups and other cryptocurrency-related communities. The two are also accused of being responsible for the 2016 Bitfinex hack, which saw multiple accounts being compromised.

The police noted that the alleged victims were mostly based out of the European Union and the United States, which resulted in the matter being investigated by multiple law enforcement agencies in several countries.

During the raid, the police reportedly found a cryptocurrency wallet containing significantly less funds than the amount that the two are believed to have stolen. Finance Magnates also notes that Eli Gigi is a graduate of an elite technological unit of the Israel Defence Forces that selects youth with outstanding academic capabilities.

As Cointelegraph reported earlier this week, a recent Firefox zero-day security flaw was used in attacks against major crypto exchange and wallet service Coinbase. The flaw was purportedly merged with another zero-day flaw targeting Coinbase employees, meaning that there were two separate attacks.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/report-two-israeli-brothers-arrested-for-hack-of-bitfinex-crypto-exchange

News related to Crypto / CabbageTech Crypto Scheme Operator Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud

« on: June 23, 2019, 08:50:51 PM »

46-year-old New York resident Patrick McDonnell admitted to stealing funds obtained from his clients instead of investing them in cryptocurrency, Bloomberg reports on June 21.

Per the report, McDonnell — who calls himself the “coyote of Wall Street” — pleaded guilty to wire fraud on Friday in federal court in Brooklyn. He allegedly declared:

“I claimed to invest it in virtual currency and spent it on personal expenses.”

McDonnell attracted investors to his firm CabbageTech by claiming on social media to have traded over $50 million worth of bitcoin (BTC) for thousands of clients. Bloomberg reports that, instead of investing in the interest of his clients, McDonnell appropriated the funds for his own use and spent at least $194,000.

U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Richard P. Donoghue unsealed a nine-count indictment against McDonnell on March 26, the same day as his arrest. Donoghue stated in a press release:

“As alleged, the defendant defrauded investors by making false promises and sending them fraudulent balance statements, hiding the fact that he was stealing their money for his personal use.”

Per the terms of a plea agreement, McDonnell will reportedly serve between two and 2 1/2 years in prison. CabbageTech has been permanently barred for fraud after the United States Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) won a court order in August of last year.

Earlier this month, the CTFC launched an enforcement action against a reportedly fraudulent $147 million bitcoin investment scheme. The commission claims that United Kingdom-based Control-Finance Ltd defrauded more than 1,000 investors to launder at least 22,858 bitcoins.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/cabbagetech-crypto-scheme-operator-pleads-guilty-to-wire-fraud

Legality & Taxation of Cryptos / FATF to Strengthen Control Over Crypto Exchanges to Prevent Money Laundering

« on: June 23, 2019, 12:25:28 AM »

Today’s Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) announcement focused on digital currency’s role in money laundering and heightened regulation, as Secretary Steven Mnuchin noted in his closing remarks.

The FATF — an intergovernmental organization that focuses its efforts on fighting money laundering — is planning to strengthen control over cryptocurrency exchanges to preclude digital currencies from being used in money laundering and related crimes.

U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin said that the new measure will require that crypto assets service providers comply with anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) procedures in the same way traditional institutions do. The organization’s final guidance pamphlet went into greater detail on this subject.

Specifically, the organization wants cryptocurrency operators to establish the identity behind crypto funds senders and recipients, conduct proper due diligence to ensure they are not engaging in illicit activity, and develop risk-based programs, among others. Mnuchin said:

“By adopting the standards and guidelines agreed to this week, the FATF will make sure that virtual asset service providers do not operate in the dark shadows. This will enable the emerging FinTech sector to stay one-step ahead of rogue regimes and sympathizers of illicit causes searching for avenues to raise and transfer funds without detection.”

Simon Riondet, head of financial intelligence at Europol, a European Union law enforcement agency, said earlier in an interview with Reuters that money laundering with cryptocurrencies has been increasing. "We also have some investigation on the dark web in which the payments are made in cryptocurrencies, sometimes in bitcoin [BTC], and they are switching it to more anonymised cryptocurrencies," Riondet said.

As previously reported, other industry participants voiced concerns that blockchain technology would have to be fundamentally restructured — or otherwise a complex parallel system constructed between exchanges — in order to satisfy new reporting requirements, while others are concerned about the toll that increased compliance costs will exact on industry businesses.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/fatf-to-strengthen-control-over-crypto-exchanges-to-prevent-money-laundering

Legality & Taxation of Cryptos / Russian Ministry of Finance Considers Allowing Cryptocurrency Trading

« on: June 23, 2019, 12:22:57 AM »

A representative of the Russian Ministry of Finance (MinFin) says the ministry is considering allowing cryptocurrency trading, Russian news service Interfax reported on June 21.

Per the report, the Deputy Minister of Finance Alexei Moiseyev told journalists on Friday that, while MinFin had reached no final decision, cryptocurrency trading may be allowed in the coming bill on the circulation of cryptocurrencies in the Russian Federation.

A bill prohibiting the use of crypto assets as a means of payment in the Russian Federation passed in May of last year.

Anatoly Aksakov, head of the Duma Financial Market Committee, called the pending decision a compromise and pointed out that the Financial Action Task Force recommended that Russia adopt a bill regulating the circulation of cryptocurrencies by the end of this year.

As Cointelegraph reported earlier this week, the State Duma, Russia's parliament, expects to adopt the country’s major crypto bill “On Digital Financial Assets” (DFA) in the next two weeks.

At the time, Moiseev declared that MinFin has also approved separate legislation for initial coin offerings, which will be a part of Russia’s law on crowdfunding.

Also this week, news broke that the head of the Bank of Russia said that while they are exploring the possibility of launching a central bank digital currency (CBDC), it is not planned for the near future.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/russian-ministry-of-finance-considers-allowing-cryptocurrency-trading

Bitcoin News & Updates / Bitcoin Hash Rate Climbs to New Record High Boosting Network Security

« on: June 21, 2019, 11:21:17 AM »

The Bitcoin (BTC) hash rate — the total computing power of the bitcoin network — reached new all-time highs this week, data from monitoring resource Blockchain.com confirmed on June 19.

As the Bitcoin price set a new annual record above $9,000, hash rate, which can be taken as a measure of how much interest there is in mining bitcoin, shot higher than ever before.

For Wednesday this week, the most recent day for which data is available, bitcoin’s hash rate had reached 65.19 trillion hashes per second (Th/s).

The activity did not go unnoticed, with hash rate constantly gaining every day throughout this week.

“Hashrate (more often than not) leads price,” Keiser Report host and major Bitcoin bull, Max Keiser, wrote on Twitter in related comments Thursday.

“This is something not even (bitcoin’s) most ardent supporters understand. It’s the heart of the incentive scheme. It’s Satoshi’s ability to hack humans to create Gold 2.0.”

The number comfortably beats the previous record of 60 Th/s set in late September 2018, and continues the metric’s upward trend.

As Cointelegraph reported, the period after last September proved to be a retrograde step for the bitcoin network, with hash rate falling for the first time ever until the new year.

Various other metrics - and, of course, price - also saw suppression, before network activity picked up in Q1 2019. Thereafter, beginning April 1, the bitcoin price followed, sparking an almost unbroken three-month bull market, which continues.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-hash-rate-climbs-to-new-record-high-boosting-network-security

Articles about Cryptocurrency / Time to Chain Up: Is Blockchain About to Change the Gaming Industry?

« on: June 20, 2019, 11:47:52 AM »

The gaming industry has grown dramatically in recent years, partially because the world of video games is keeping up with the latest technological advances and even tries to get ahead of them. As such, it couldn’t bypass the blockchain. It’s not surprising that, from time to time, gaming companies announce the development of games based on this technology. So, the French gaming giant Ubisoft, known for the Assassin's Creed and Far Cry franchises, has announced that a blockchain will be integrated into its games. So, what can a blockchain give to the world of games and does it even need to be included at all?

Game monetization
The video game industry is currently alluring for any entrepreneur. So, it is no wonder that initial coin offerings (ICOs) are very popular among video games developers. But why exactly is the blockchain so useful that it is now becoming so attractive to the gaming industry?

Gaming apps that use blockchain began to emerge back in 2014, when players started to earn money with HunterCoin or CryptoKitties, the latter of which managed to become extremely popular in its first year. Their popularity was due to the main component of blockchain: the immutable ledger, in which players are unable to change the data. This means there is an established trust between all industry participants, from developers to players.

In addition, this trust has also been monetized. Using a blockchain in a video game implies issuing and supporting cryptocurrencies. A game token is a single currency used to express the value of all items traded within the game and smoothes out the problems of transaction systems with multiple currencies. The purchase and sale of in-game items in cryptocurrencies is secured by a smart contract, which significantly increases its transaction reliability and security.

On the back of the success of such minigames, developers and companies that develop bigger games began to pay attention to the new technology. In early 2017, online store Gameflip launched a platform on which anyone could buy and sell digital goods. This platform gives players true ownership and flexibility to trade their goods in the ecosystem without any fraud.

At the end of October 2017, OPSkins, which developed the world's largest centralized marketplace of virtual goods for computer games, announced the creation of a decentralized platform called WAX for exchanging in-game items. The platform is a repository of virtual values containing a catalog of all items available for sale that is updated in real time. It is based on a blockchain protocol that allows the use of an unlimited number of scalable trading platforms.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/time-to-chain-up-is-blockchain-about-to-change-the-gaming-industry

News related to Crypto / QuadrigaCX Co-Founder Used User Deposits for His Own Trading, Created Fake Accou

« on: June 20, 2019, 11:45:37 AM »

The deceased owner of the now-defunct Canadian crypto exchange QuadrigaCX was allegedly transferring user funds off the exchange and using them as a security for his own margin trading on other platforms.

The news was revealed in the fifth report from court monitor Ernst & Young (EY), filed on June 19 with the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia.

EY has outlined its principal concerns in relation to the exchange, noting that its operations were “significantly flawed from a financial reporting and operational control perspective.”

In addition to most of the activities being directed by a single individual — the now-deceased co-founder Gerald Cotton — EY notes that there was neither segregation between duties and basic internal controls, nor any segregation of assets between Quadriga’s and user funds.

In this context, EY adds, Quadriga did not have any visibility into its profitability. Users’ crypto, the report states, was not exclusively maintained in the exchange’s wallets. Moreover:

“Significant volumes of Cryptocurrency were transferred off Platform outside Quadriga to competitor exchanges into personal accounts controlled by Mr. Cotten. It appears that User Cryptocurrency was traded on these exchanges and in some circumstances used as security for a margin trading account established by Mr. Cotten.”

In addition, Cotten reportedly created fake “identified” accounts on Quadriga under multiple aliases “into which unsupported Deposits were deposited and used to trade within the platform.” This, EY, states, resulted in “inflated revenue figures, artificial trades with Users and ultimately the withdrawal of Cryptocurrency deposited by Users.”

In his trading on competitor exchanges, EY notes that Cotten incurred trading losses and incremental fees that subsequently adversely affected Quadriga’s cryptocurrency reserves.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/quadrigacx-co-founder-used-user-deposits-for-his-own-trading-created-fake-accounts