Cryptocurrency – Page 3 – Bitcoin Slots.us

Renowned Bitcoin Conference CoinGeekWeek Heads to London

Posted on November 7, 2018November 6, 2018 by Abe Efe

Considered to be one of the most respected crypto-regulated organizations, CoinGeekWeek has earned a lot of praise for the immense effort that it has been putting into ensuring global adoption of Bitcoin BCH. The company has dedicated itself to campaigning for developments that will see to it that the digital currency follows the right path towards being recognized as a legitimate means of exchange as well as a legitimate cryptocurrency.

The cryptocurrency news portal has recently announced on its website plans to host their first ever Bitcoin Cash (BCH) conference and the venue for the conference will be London’s The Mermaid London. This conference will run from November 27 through to November 30 and will focus on all things bitcoin including designated slots for miners, developers as well as retailers.

“We are delighted to host this inaugural event at a time when the cryptocurrency topic is being discussed on a global platform. Over recent years, The Mermaid London’s position as a leading venue of choice for the FinTech industry has strengthened following a rise of new business wins, and we are excited to see how this event will continue to raise our profile within this growing sector,” Alicia Duncan, the general manager at the Mermaid London commented.

To put all this into perspective, the three-day conference will involve several seminars each highlighting different effort to enhance BCH mining activities – expert participation is also going to be feature majorly so as to enlighten miners on how they can get the most out of their mining efforts.

Moreover, the conference is also targeting various aspects of BCH and the roles that the digital currency has played in the global digital retail economy, which is one of its major foundations. BCH is the only digital currency that was created with global and mainstream usability in mind, that is, the goal was to make it usable by everyone and accessible from virtually everywhere in the world. With such strong motivators and clearly defined goal, the digital currency has continued to receive more support from both cryptocurrency traders and merchants who have seen the potential of its superfast network capabilities as well as its incredibly low transaction costs.

Extending Aspects of the Hong Kong Conference

CoinGeekWeek just recently held a conference in Hong Kong and according to Calvin Ayre, the company’s founder, the three-day London conference will be more of an extension of their previous conference.

“Over recent years, The Mermaid London’s position as a leading venue of choice for the FinTech industry has strengthened following a rise of new business wins, and we are excited to see how this event will continue to raise our profile within this growing sector,” Ayre said.

With just a few weeks left until the conference finally kicks offs, there has been an overwhelming number of attendance reservations especially from the enterprises who are looking to get into the crypto ecosystem.

Lightning Network’s New Use Cases Could Be Big Boost for BTC

Posted on October 3, 2018October 3, 2018 by Aaron Decker

Bitcoin has continued to trade on a rather narrow range, reflecting on the overall mood of the market following the weekend consolidation. Fortunately, things are about to get more interesting following a recent Lightning Network breakthrough that is definitely going to give bitcoin proponents some renewed optimism in regards to mainstream commercial adoption of bitcoin or cryptocurrencies in general.

The growth and widespread adoption of the Lightning Network has been going quite well and with more developments being unraveled, it is expected to be a major catalyst to spearhead the adoption of bitcoin.

Ricardo Reis, a cryptocurrency and tech enthusiast from Brazil has recently been all the buzz in the crypto circles after he created a new use case for the Lightning Network that allows users to buy Coca-Cola bottles (or any other items) from vending machines.

How It Works

In a 42-second video titled “Coke vending machine that accepts Bitcoin payments through Lightning Network,” the computer programmer demonstrates how easy it is to pay for certain items using the new infrastructure layer. Reis used a handful of off-the-shelf materials such as a water pump, a Raspberry Pi, some wood, a touch screen, and some programming skill to build a handmade automated vending machine that accepts bitcoin payments for Coca-Cola bottles. The modified machine uses the Lightning Network to process the bitcoin transactions.

As seen from the video, the bitcoin users would be required to scan a QR code which then requests a bitcoin payment that is then issued by the customer using their BTC wallet. Once the payment is received by the modified vending machine, it dispenses the Coca-Cola bottle while at also paying a negligible amount in transaction fees to the Lightning Network which supports the service.

Could This Be It?

As much as this new modified bitcoin-Lightning Network vending machine is without a doubt a novel demonstration of how both technologies can be easily integrated into thousands of different services, it also acts as a more practical and serious demonstration of the open source nature of the blockchain. Both of these factors are what will drive the cryptocurrency revolution that we are all waiting for.

Unfortunately, the vending machine is just a proof-of-concept and is still at its earliest stages – in fact, of course, it still has no affiliation to the actual Coca-Cola company. The Lighting Network and the payment solutions it supports are still in their in their early stages of development but such innovation as the one that we have discussed above will be a great move forward for the entire cryptocurrency market.

Google Lifts Its Ban on Cryptocurrency Advertisements

Posted on September 26, 2018September 25, 2018 by Abe Efe

Earlier this year (in March), Google announced a cryptocurrency ad ban that it went on to roll out in June – these were intended to protect its consumers and involved wallets, trading services, and Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). This is all about to change with the company on September 25 ending the ban on cryptocurrency advertisements.

In a new update to its advertising policies, the company emphasizes that at the ads that would be allowed would only be those of “regulated” trading sites.

“The Google Ads policy on Financial products and services will be updated in October 2018 to allow regulated cryptocurrency exchanges to advertise in the United States and Japan,” Google explained. “Advertisers will need to be certified with Google for the specific country in which their ads will serve. Advertisers will be able to apply for certification once the policy launches in October. This policy will apply globally to all accounts that advertise these financial products. For more details, see About restricted financial products certification. The Financial products and services page will be updated once the policy goes into effect.”

Google was one of the tech companies that moved to prohibit cryptocurrency advertisements alongside Twitter and Facebook, though the latter later relaxed some of the restrictions it had placed on cryptocurrency-related advertisements. Google’s ban was so wide-ranging that it affected offerings from both legitimate wallet services and trading professionals.

This crackdown on crypto went on to rapidly spread across the internet leading to various bans from other companies, including LinkedIn, MailChimp and Snapchat. Even though this was meant to stop or at least slow down scammers on the internet it also whipped out legitimate blockchain projects which in turn slowed down adoption of digital currencies, stifled promotion and stoked more fears about mainstream acceptance of crypto.

The Reason Is Yet to Be Known

As is it stands, there has not been a clear explanation as to why the tech giant has chosen to lift the ban barely four months after it imposed it. It is speculated that the company believes that the hype that surrounded crypto, as well as the negative side effects associated with the skyrocketing values, have finally died down are at least reduced significantly. Still, it is possible that Google is simply keeping its eye on the prize i.e., the valuable ad money that crypto will bring in.

“We don’t have a crystal ball to know where the future is going to go with cryptocurrencies, but we’ve seen enough consumer harm or potential for consumer harm that it’s an area that we want to approach with extreme caution,” Google’s Scott Spencer said in June when the original ban was rolled out.

Treasury Committee Report Calls for Crypto Regulation

Posted on September 19, 2018September 19, 2018 by Aaron Decker

MPs on the Treasury select committee have recently issued a report that states that bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are “wild west” assets that expose investors to a litany of risks and therefore, there is an urgent need for their regulation. The report further pointed out concerns that consumers were left unprotected from the unregulated crypto market which also happens to be a conduit for criminal activities such as money laundering and illegal trade.

Apparently, the government and regulators have not been proactive in handling the arising issues that are associated with the crypto market – according to the Treasury Committee.

“Crypto-asset investors are currently afforded very little protection from the litany of risks. Namely, there are no formal mechanisms for consumer redress, nor compensation,” said the committee. “As the government and regulators decide whether the current Wild West situation is allowed to continue, or whether they are going to introduce regulation, consumers remain unprotected.”

Cryptocurrencies are currently covered by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the City regulator, and there are still no formal mechanisms for investor compensation or consumer redress, something that Nicky Morgan, a conservative MP and the chair of the committee, says is unsustainable.

“Bitcoin and other crypto-assets exist in the wild west industry of crypto-assets. This unregulated industry leaves investors facing numerous risks,” Nicky Morgan said. “Given the high price volatility, the hacking vulnerability of exchanges and the potential role in money laundering, the Treasury committee strongly believes that regulation should be introduced… It’s unsustainable for the government and regulators to bumble along issuing feeble warnings to potential investors, yet refrain from acting. At a minimum, regulation should address consumer protection and anti-money-laundering.”

The Treasury Committee believes that there should at least be some regulation to add customer protection and fight money laundering. All of these issues stem from concerns regarding the volatility of digital assets – the prices of cryptocurrencies were so volatile that while the potential gains are quite large, so are the potential losses.

“The FCA agrees with the committee’s conclusion that bitcoin and similar crypto-assets are ill-suited to retail investors, and as we have warned in the past, investors in this type of crypto-asset should be prepared to lose all their money.”

The Treasury Committee’s recommendations have been noted and echoed by a number of stakeholders in the cryptocurrency industry including CryptoUK, a self-regulatory trade association for the United Kingdom’s digital currency industry.

“As an industry, we have been calling for the introduction of proportionate regulation to improve standards and encourage growth,” said Iqbal Gandham, the chairman of CryptoUK. “Self-regulation by the industry was always intended to be a starting point – this must now be matched by government action.”

200 ICOs and Cryptocurrencies Under Active Investigation

Posted on August 29, 2018August 29, 2018 by Abe Efe

The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA), an international task force that is tasked with tackling securities violations in the cryptocurrency industry, on August 28 announced that it has opened active investigations into over 200 initial coin offerings (ICOs) and crypto-related investment products.

First launched in May, the operation – referred to as “Operation Cryptosweep” – has been targeting a number of suspicious crypto investment products. It is composed of regulators from the United States and Canada which makes it the largest coordinated investigation by state and provincial officials. It has also already seen through 47 enforcement actions against ICOs and cryptocurrency investment funds in the U.S. and Canada, something that has earned its praise from Jay Clayton, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The violations the operation has uncovered range from securities fraud to failure to properly register products before offering access to investors.

According to NASAA president and Alabama Securities Commission director Joseph Borg, the regulatory operation continues to commit significant resources to ensure that retail investors are protected. This is especially because many cryptocurrency advocates and financial watchdogs are split on how the ICOs and crypto firms should be regulated. NASAA’s contribution is, therefore, one of the best developments in the sector since other than protecting the retail investors, it will also serve to raise awareness among industry participants in regards to their regulatory obligations and responsibilities.

“While not every ICO or cryptocurrency-related investment is a fraud, it is important for individuals and firms selling these products to be mindful that they are not doing so in a vacuum; state and provincial laws or regulations may apply, especially securities laws. Sponsors of these products should seek the advice of knowledgeable legal counsel to ensure they do not run afoul of the law. Furthermore, a strong culture of compliance should be in place before, not after, these products are marketed to investors,” Joseph Borg added.

Do Your Homework, Investors Told

As it stands, NASAA is the oldest international organization whose main focus is investor protection – it is based on voluntary association and boasts of 67 member states, provinces and territories across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. However, despite its far-reaching capabilities in handling irregularities in the crypto within the mentioned areas, there still needs to be some element of support from other stakeholders.

The operations president has highlighted the need for ICOs to register with the appropriate agencies or, if possible, contact regulators to check whether they qualify for exemptions or not. He further warned investors against dealing with ICO promoters claiming their products is exempt from securities registration unless of course, the claim is verifiable.

“Do your homework and contact your state or provincial securities regulator with any concerns before parting with your hard-earned money — afterward may be too late,” he pointed out.

India Considering Crypto Tokens for Financial Transactions

Posted on August 14, 2018August 28, 2018 by Abe Efe

Indian authorities have recently revealed that the country has been exploring tokenized datasets and other cryptographic forms of blockchain technology albeit while still maintaining their rather unfavorable stance towards cryptocurrencies citing their potential role in unlawful activities such as money laundering. As such, the prevailing ban on cryptocurrencies is likely to continue regardless of the government’s interest in issuing digital tokens for financial transactions.

“There are lots of issues that need understanding and lots of studying needs to be done,” a government official who requested to remain anonymous said. “Blockchain is an interesting thing. We definitely want to milk it effectively for financial transactions. So all officials are really trying hard to understand how to separately use blockchain, without cryptocurrency. And understanding a new software takes time.”

According to local Indian news outlet, DNA India, the country’s government have been considering the applications of crypto tokens in several different areas. However, as clarified by the new outlet, the government has excluded any use of cryptography and blockchain technology for the purposes of cryptocurrencies or any other sophisticated means of money transfer and international transactions. In fact, the officials believe that the crypto-tokens, including the ones they are exploring, do not themselves hold any inherent value. Instead, they represent an underlying asset that is only accessible to the private key holders. This implies that the crypto tokens will certainly not be serving as a substitute for fiat currency but will be representing an underlying value so as to enable faster and more transparent payments.

“One will need to pay physical money to buy a token which could be stored as a code in any basic mobile feature phone. It can even be used for remittances. So, it is easy to implement from technology as well as a regulatory point of view. But in the case of cryptocurrency, one needs to allow it as a legal tender first,” the DNA India report explained.

Spearheaded by a Committee

India’s finance ministry has since set up a committee headed by the secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) for this initiative. The committee has been tasked with working on a set of regulations and a roadmap to guide the use of the proposed assets in India. A drafty of these regulations, once drafted, will be forwarded to the country’s parliament for further approval.

“The committee is studying the possibility of using cryptocurrencies or crypto technology (distributed ledger technology) for financial transactions and also what kind of regulations are needed for that [while] the currency is totally banned, the committee is discussing its other uses and how it can be mainstreamed in India,” Subhash Chandra Garg the DEA secretary, who is heading the committee, said.

First Fully Regulated Cryptocurrency Exchange Goes Live

Posted on July 31, 2018August 15, 2018 by Abe Efe

Crypto has been on a roll with a ton of new developments popping up every single day. While the nascent industry is certainly headed towards the right direction, achieving full regulatory approval is a very big deal, especially for cryptocurrency exchanges – it is even harder for them to get regulatory approval before they launch. Well, not anymore.

Liechtenstein-based Blocktrade.com has just been approved by the Finance Markets Authority and is set to be the first digital currency exchange to be open for testing – the Financial Markets Authority is a member of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). In a press release, the company confirmed that is in the process of obtaining a multilateral trading facility (MTF) license courtesy of the European Union’s MiFID II framework.

Blockrade.com’s launched the beta version for testing last week – this trial period is set to end on August 25 and will be followed by the full launch though the actual date of the launch is yet to be revealed.

“I hope early adopters will provide us with valuable feedback so that we can improve the platform even further. I believe its capability, as well as its user experience, are impressive, so I am convinced the word about our beta release will be spread widely. We are already setting up interviews with major financial, fintech and business media, so I will get a chance to talk about our development and vision for the future of finance,” Blocktrade’s CEO Luka Gubo said in a recent interview.

During the aforementioned initial testing phase, Bolcktrade.com will be offering Ethereum, bitcoin, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Ripple’s XRP trading pairs. Once the platform is fully launched later this year (around September), it will offer Security Tokens, Crypto Traded Indices and Tokenized Assets.

“We believe that if you operate an exchange and if you have an orderbook with a matching engine, you should also be regulated as an exchange. This removes the hurdles for traders (retail and institutional alike) to access the new asset class as the full MiFID II compliance makes us more transparent, reliable, trustworthy and enables equal access for all,” Gubo added.

The State of Crypto

Unfortunately, many institutional investors still regard the unregulated exchanges that dominate the crypto market as risks due to the lack of transparency. In fact, as it stands the European Union is yet to come up with a unified position and regulatory requirements for the cryptocurrency exchanges operating in the territory.

As for the MiFID II which came into effect at the beginning of 2018, the licensing process is quite explicit and will certainly do for now. To put this into perspective, it requires that the companies seeking its license prove that they have operated fairly, honestly and professionally in the best interests of the users of their platforms. The institutions also have to comply with a number of reporting, transparency and capital requirements.

Nasdaq, Fiat and Crypto Firms Discuss Crypto Regulation

Posted on July 28, 2018 by Aaron Decker

The crypto industry is well on its way to mainstream adoption albeit with a few though significant setbacks such as the shakeup of the industry’s history of shady transactions and fraud. Fortunately, Nasdaq Inc. believes it has just what it takes to get clear the obstacles that have impeded progress in as far as the legitimization of cryptocurrencies is concerned.

Bloomberg reports that earlier this week Nasdaq Inc. hosted a closed-door meeting that was attended by half a dozen cryptocurrency companies and mainstream institution. These included Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss’ crypto exchange platform, Gemini. The main agenda of the meeting was a discussion pertaining to ‘how to encourage the cryptocurrency industry to do things that will improve its image and validate its potential role in global markets’. A source familiar with meeting also confirmed that the parties that attended the meeting also discussed the potential implications of future regulation of digital currencies, the necessary tools for such an initiative as well as what surveillance would be needed for such a future.

Certainly Not the Last

Nasdaq has recently announced a partnership cum collaboration with Gemini, who as mentioned earlier also attended the closed-door meeting. While both companies declined to give any comments on the meeting and what was discussed, Nasdaq did confirm that the meeting did indeed take place. Their collaboration will see Nasdaq tap Gemini’s SMARTS market Surveillance, an industry benchmark technology that is extensively used by Wall Street firms.

It has further been confirmed that the meeting was not the last of its kind and this is a clear indication that cryptocurrency startups are working harder towards achieving mainstream adoption and mollifying the anxieties of regulators. Considering how often regulatory clampdowns occur, stakeholders in the cryptocurrency industry are starting to employ more forward-thinking and proactive approaches to ensure its survival.

By ensuring that both crypto and fiat firms work together, Nasdaq believes that the legitimization of digital currencies will have lesser setbacks. To this effect, the company has already partnered with a number of cryptocurrency exchanges in a bid to foster or facilitate collaboration on some of the most significant impediments to crypto regulation.

“I think the technology is fascinating and it’s a very sound technology. It’s just a matter of making sure that the community is all-embracing it together,” Adena Friedman, the Nasdaq Chief Executive Officer said.

One of the most recent issues that will hopefully be addressed by this initiative is the move by United States regulators to classify digital assets as securities instead of utility tokens. The US crypto community is concerned that this move will result in some adverse effects on the emerging cryptocurrency sector.

Reviewing Soccer Legend Ronaldinho’s Cryptocurrency Project

Posted on July 21, 2018July 21, 2018 by Aaron Decker

The FIFA World Cup 2018 finale came and went with France working away with the highly-contested championship title for the second time. The event remains to be one of the most popular sporting tournaments in the world and while this would be certainly worth discussing, we are going to focus on how it has influenced other areas, particularly with regards to emerging technologies.

If you guessed Esports and crypto then you are in the right place. Both of these areas are getting more and more connected with the crypto market. This year’s FIFA World Cup contributed quite a lot to the crypto industry through decentralized betting offerings. Huobi, one of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world also announced their Huobi Tokens (HT) and Tron (TRX) that were used to predict the winner of the FIFA World Cup 2018. If you bet on France it must have been your lucky day.

Gambling aside, bitcoin and other digital currencies were used extensively as payment methods for a number of services including travel, accommodation, food, and booze. The 2018 FIFA World Cup may be over but the connection between crypto and football is getting stronger by the minute.

Ronaldinho Soccer Coin

Ronaldinho who is arguably one of the best footballers in the world has become of the newest sports figures to venture into the cryptocurrency space. The Brazilian icon and former Barcelona player recently launched his own self-titled digital currency, Ronaldinho Soccer Coin (RSC). The cryptocurrency project is aimed at creating a football academy, hosting both amateur and global league matches, as well as the creation and operation of a soccer-first online betting platform. Moreover, the project will also attempt to develop virtual reality stadiums that will help in the analysis of the football player skills.

Ronaldinho Soccer Coin (RSC) is based on the NEO blockchain platform and was developed concurrently with the World Soccer Coin, a Malta-based company after a partnership deal. It is now in the initial coin offering (ICO) phase – the coin currently has a limited supply of 350 million, 150 million of which will be sold in privately run sales over the next few days after which the remaining 2000 million will be released to public sales at a yet-to-be-announced time.

Once it fully goes live, the RSC token will power an entire ecosystem referred to as Planet RSC that will consist of the Ronaldinho Soccer Academy, Smile Project, Ronaldinho digital stadiums and a betting marketplace among many others.

“I want to bring a smile to as many people as possible through this project. I wish as many people as possible will have a dream and hope and become happy,” Ronaldinho said about the project.

New Paper Affirms Belief That Bitcoin Will Replace Fiat

Posted on July 10, 2018July 9, 2018 by Abe Efe

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have always had a massive backing which about to grow even bigger thanks to a recent study is carried out by researchers at Imperial College London. According to a paper by the researchers titled “Cryptocurrencies: Overcoming Barriers to Trust and Adoption”, bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies will be subject to massive adoption as means of paying for goods and services in the coming decade.

The study which was sponsored by eToro focused on various barriers to trust and mainstream adoption of crypto within the current setting. It further listed three main criteria that would propel bitcoin and other digital currencies towards mainstream adoption, that is, ability to act as a store of value, a medium of exchange and a unit of account. While cryptocurrencies have already fulfilled one of the criteria as they are used by millions of people around the world as a store of value, the researchers said they will have to overcome setbacks such as regulation and scalability if they are to fulfill the other two criteria.

“The world of cryptocurrency is evolving as rapidly as the considerable collection of confusing terminology that accompanies it. These decentralized technologies have the potential to upend everything we thought we knew about the nature of financial systems and financial assets,” said Professor William Knottenbelt from Imperial College London. “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.”

eToro, the brokerage firm that facilitated the research believes that bitcoin already exhibits all the important characteristics of money and all that is left is advocacy for mainstream use.

“The first ever bitcoin transaction took place a little over eight years ago, and today we are already seeing it begin to meet the requirements of everyday money. Given the speed of adoption, we believe that we could see Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on the high street within the decade. There are of course barriers to mainstream adoption, but they are far from insurmountable,” Iqbal Gandham, the managing director of EToro UK commented on the research.

Regulation Is the Final Step

Many experts agree that even though bitcoin has already evolved well enough to be considered as a standard means of performing transactions, regulation is the only thing holding it back. If bitcoin and other digital currencies are to become the medium of exchange we are all hoping they will become, then favorable regulations are more than necessary. This is particularly of grave importance since some governments have taken negative stances towards cryptocurrencies especially because they have been used to facilitate criminal activities in the past. With regulation, though, this should not be much of a problem.

Category: Cryptocurrency