Bitcoin paper

2019-09-23 22:01:21 Swiss Bitcoin Bank: UBS, Credit Suisse Interest ‘Clearly Picked Up’

Peter Wuffli — the former CEO of major Swiss multinational investment bank UBS — says the advent of new, regulated actors in crypto is drawing the attention of big-name banks.

Wuffli made his remarks during an interview with Finews, published on Sept 23. In 2008, he had left his role as CEO of UBS as the bank’s financial crisis losses spiraled, relinquishing over $10 million of his pay one month after the institution was bailed out by the Swiss government.

More than a decade later, the former banker and recently-appointed board member of licensed Swiss cryptocurrency bank Sygnum observed of the crypto sector:

“I don’t see a bubble right now. I see more serious business planning and solutions addressing client needs, having learned from the last initial coin offering and Bitcoin bubble.”

Legacy banks looking on and assessing the new crypto sector
As reported, Sygnum was recently issued a conditional Swiss banking and securities dealer license and now aims to become a fully regulated bank so as to provide a full suite of financial services, including crypto custody and fiat-crypto conversions.

During the interview, Muffli claimed that the company was the only licensed bank specialized in digital assets worldwide that had fulfilled the conditions required for a banking license “in just five days.” Most critical, he noted, were Anti-Money Laundering and Know Your Customer measures.

When it comes to the traditional financial sector’s response to the emergent crypto asset space and industry developments, he said of large banks such as UBS and Credit Suisse:

“From what we hear, interest has clearly picked up since the licenses were granted. Bank executives are asking their middle management to figure out whether this is just another fintech fad that comes and goes, or whether it is really transformational.”

He added: “They are wondering strategically whether they need to commit to this, and what it would mean in terms of changes to systems but also mindset.”

Recent Swiss developments
As reported, the license granted to Syngum was also given in parallel to Seba Crypto AG, which plans to create a digital asset platform for professional traders and institutional clients, as well as to offer custodial and asset management services.

Just last week, Arab Bank Switzerland partnered with blockchain technology firm Taurus to offer Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) custody and brokerage services to its clients.

In August, Switzerland’s Financial Market Supervisory Authority released new guidance on regulatory requirements for blockchain-based payments, targeted at cryptocurrency exchanges, wallet providers and trading platforms.

That same month, Swiss private bank Maerki Baumann revealed that it had experienced a deluge of 400 new clients wanting to tap its future blockchain offerings since revealing its interest in the sector. Open / Comment

2019-09-18 21:51:07 Big Four Auditing Firm Deloitte Allows Staff to Pay Lunch in Bitcoin

"Big Four" auditing firm Deloitte is now allowing its staff to pay for food in the canteen using a mobile Bitcoin (BTC) wallet.

The English-language Luxembourg Times reported on Sept. 17 that Deloitte is testing Bitcoin among its employees to “see how the audit giant could use the cryptocurrency.”

Laurent Collet, a partner at Deloitte's advisory arm, said:

“We think it's good to have our employees assess this new technology.”

Only an internal test
Collet stressed there are no plans to allow clients to pay in Bitcoin in the near future. PwC Luxembourg, another Big Four firm, will start accepting Bitcoin payments from Oct. 1.

Blockchain not Bitcoin
Collet explained that Deloitte’s priority is to use blockchain in its fund management activities to process transactions, rather than make payments in Bitcoin. This is because it would speed up the process of moving funds, make audits easier, and remove middlemen. He concluded:

“This is where we focus our attention right now in linking this new technology with the needs of the Luxembourg industry.”

As Cointelegraph reported on Sept. 16, an economist from the Bank for International Settlements has also proposed new ways of supervising financial risks through distributed ledger technology. Open / Comment

2019-09-11 21:27:29 Domino's Pizza Launches $100K Bitcoin Prize Competition in France

The French unit of Domino's Pizza launched an ordering competition with a prize of $110,000 in Bitcoin (BTC) or cash.

Game is active from Sept. 4 till Oct. 6
According to a company’s tweet on Sept. 6, Domino's Pizza France initiated the 100,000 euro give away on the occasion of its 30th anniversary.

Started on Sept. 4, the contest will allow buyers to participate in games while ordering pizzas from Domino's until Oct. 2, while purchase registration will be available till Oct. 6, according to the campaign’s website.

As noted in the competition rules, the amount awarded in Bitcoin will have a value of 100,000 euro calculated according to the exchange rate on the day of purchase of Bitcoin by the organizer of the game if the winner picks BTC.

Eventually, Domino's Pizza plans to transfer the Bitcoin prize to the winner’s wallet on Dec. 16, 2019, according to the rules.

Earlier blockchain-related initiatives
Domino's Pizza is not new to blockchain and cryptocurrency space though. In May 2019, the Singapore and Malaysia division of Domino's Pizza teamed up with Dutch blockchain firm SingularityNET to deploy its blockchain-enabled artificial intelligence technology.

Specifically, the implementation of SingularityNET’s technology intends to improve Domino’s supply chain processes and logistics in Malaysia and Singapore.

Domino's Pizza is also one of the pizza companies allowing customers to buy pizza with Bitcoin as part of Bitcoin Pizza Day that is celebrated each year on May 22 since 2010. Open / Comment

2019-09-09 21:12:20 Bitcoin Deposited in Bakkt Warehouse Protected by $125M Insurance

All Bitcoin deposited at the Bakkt Warehouse is protected by a $125 million insurance policy, the company announced Sept. 9. Bakkt started accepting deposits and withdrawals Sept. 6, ahead of the proposed launch of its futures products on Sept. 23.

Everything running smoothly, and now with added protection
It took Bakkt a lot of time and effort to gain regulatory certification for its upcoming daily and monthly physically-delivered bitcoin futures products. However, since approval was given things has been full-speed ahead.

Bakkt revealed a product launch date of Sept. 23, and announced that deposits in its freshly-certified custodial warehousing solution would begin on Sept. 6. Sure enough, this happened as planned.

News of the insurance policy covering client deposits, removes yet another concern for the institutional investors that Bakkt hopes to attract.

All systems prepared for launch
If the launch is successful on Sept. 23, it will be the first bitcoin futures platform offering a physically-delivered product, which means institutional investors will be trading with actual Bitcoin.

Existing futures products from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange are cash-settled, whereas Bakkt clients will receive payment in Bitcoin once the futures contract expires. Open / Comment

2019-09-04 21:35:06 ​​Bitcoin Network Computing Power Nears 90 Quintillion Hashes per Second

Bitcoin (BTC) has seen yet another sharp increase in its computing power after its network hash rate grew 25% in a week.

Hash rate climbs to all-time high
Data from monitoring resource Blockchain puts Bitcoin’s hash rate at 87 quintillion hashes per second (h/s) as of Sept. 3.

The figure passed 80 quintillion h/s for the first time in early August, and has set new highs on an almost daily basis in recent months.

Hash rate refers to the overall computing power involved in processing Bitcoin transactions. The greater the metric, the more power available, and hence the more secure the Bitcoin network is.

Additionally, a rising hash rate means that forward-looking miners are investing vast amounts of resources to expand their operations, i.e. betting on Bitcoin’s value to increase in the future.

Keiser: “Price follows hash”
Miners have piled into Bitcoin again in 2019 after last year’s hash rate slump, something accompanied by a price bull run beginning April 1.

Now, commentators believe further gains for hash rate and price are on the horizon.

“The race to mine the last 3 million Bitcoin will keep hashrate growing rapidly for the next few years,” Blockstream CSO, Samson Mow, wrote on Twitter on Monday.

RT host Max Keiser meanwhile pointed to ongoing political upheaval in the United Kingdom as fuelling the Bitcoin price.

“Bitcoin hash rate continues strong upturn. Price follows hash. Chaos as UK melts down bringing in panic buying from Brits, reportedly,” he theorized just before press time on Wednesday.

BTC/USD made sudden gains at the start of the week, rising almost 10% since the weekend. Open / Comment

2019-09-03 20:57:02 VanEck, SolidX to Offer Limited Bitcoin ETF for Institutions Via Exemption

Following another delay on Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), asset managers VanEck and SolidX plan to offer a limited version of their Bitcoin ETF to institutional investors.

VanEck Securities and SolidX Management want to start selling shares in a limited version of a Bitcoin ETF, using a rule that exempts the shares from securities registration, under which shares can be sold only to certain institutional investors, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sept. 3.

VanEck, SolidX Bitcoin ETF launching Sept. 5
According to the report, the investment management firms are planning to start selling on Sept. 5 under the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Rule 144A, which allows the sale of privately placed securities to “qualified institutional buyers.”

By using the SEC’s exemption, VanEck and Solid will be able to offer shares of their VanEck SolidX Bitcoin Trust to institutions such as banks and hedge funds, but not retail investors, the report notes.

Since VanEck and SolidX Partners requested the SEC to list a Bitcoin ETF in 2018, the regulator has delayed the decision on the matter multiple times, having approved zero Bitcoin ETFs to date.

On Aug. 12, the SEC again delayed its decision on three Bitcoin ETFs, including VanEck SolidX, Bitwise Asset Management and Wilshire Phoenix. Open / Comment

2019-08-30 21:05:56 ​​Bitcoin Miners Made $14 Billion to Date Securing the Network

All-time revenue for Bitcoin (BTC) miners has topped $14 billion, according to fresh data from Coin Metrics.

As Yahoo! Finance reported on Aug. 30, despite the massive increase in the network’s hash rate — a factor that depresses the profitability of mining — there’s still more money in the game for miners than ever before.

Bitcoin miner revenue growing exponentially
The report notes that as of the Bitcoin network’s inception, it took eight years for miners’ total revenue to break past the $5 billion mark; the next $5 billion were exponentially faster, taking only a further eight months for revenue to break $10 billion.

If current mining profitability remains on track, the $20 billion revenue mark will be broken sometime in early 2020.

Solid revenue despite soaring hashrate
The $14 billion figure is all the more impressive given that the network’s hash rate has been on a tear for several months now: continuing to break previous records throughout summer — with a new all-time-high posted just today, at 83.5 TH/s by press time.

A higher hash rate indicates that miners are expending record levels of computational processing power to solve and validate blocks — and pocket their rewards.

Higher compute intensivity translates into higher operational costs for miners — yet the robust revenue increase indicates this factor has not critically dented profitability.

Looking ahead, Bitcoin is under a year away from its next halving — a pre-coded 50% reduction of block rewards for miners — which is slated for May 2020.

While the halving can have bullish implications for a cryptocurrency’s price (by increasing scarcity), its impact on miners is keenly watched, with some concerned that lower block rewards will deter network participants and thus adversely impact the network's hashing power. Open / Comment

2019-08-21 21:14:07 India: Supreme Court Gives Central Bank 2 Weeks to Justify Crypto Ban

India’s Supreme Court has slammed the country’s central bank over its handling of a cryptocurrency business ban and ordered it to address complaints.

Judge: RBI has not properly responded to representation
In the latest session of an ongoing hearing into the actions of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Aug. 21, the court ruled that officials had not appropriately responded to concerns from the cryptocurrency industry over its actions.

The RBI forbade banks from servicing crypto operators such as exchanges in July 2018 — effectively stopping such platforms from continuing to operate in India.

On Wednesday, the move came in for severe criticism from Supreme Court Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman.

As summarized by advisory resource Crypto Kanoon, which was present at the hearing, Nariman gave the RBI just two weeks to justify its actions.

“Now justice Nariman questions RBI why you have not properly responded to the representation. You just said that we are forwarding to Govt. Angrily says this is not an answer,” one update on Twitter read.

RBI agrees to two-week deadline
Discussing the final outcome of the hearing, which is now over, Crypto Kanoon summarized:

“Case takes the most unlredictable turn. Justice Nariman directs that RBI must respond to the representation in the manner appropriate. Offers to defer the case for 2 weeks as part heard, let the answer come on reconsideration of banking ban by RBI. RBI has agreed.”

The case comes at the same time as the Indian government considers making cryptocurrency illegal for all Indians. In July, a government committee recommended Delhi moves to ban all tokens except an official digital version of the rupee.

Subsequently, as Cointelegraph reported, an expert estimated the country would lose a market worth around $13 billion if it signed the ban into law. Open / Comment

2019-08-19 21:40:47 Binance Reveals ‘Venus’ — Its Own Project to Rival Facebook’s Libra

Top cryptocurrency exchange Binance is launching an open blockchain project “Venus” focused on developing localized stablecoins worldwide.

In an announcement published today, Aug. 19, the exchange argues it is well-positioned to launch such a currency ecosystem in light of its existing public chain technology, Binance Chain, wide user base and already established global compliance measures.

Leveraging existing know-how
The exchange says it is seeking partnerships with governments, corporations, technology firms, and other cryptocurrency and blockchain projects in order to develop a new currency ecosystem that will empower both developed and developing countries

The exchange’s vision for the project, per the announcement, is to “build a new open alliance and sustainable community” that enlists partners who wield influence on a global scale.

Binance Chain, as the announcement notes, has already been running several native asset-pegged stablecoins, including a Bitcoin (BTC)-pegged stablecoin (BTCB) and the Binance BGBP Stable Coin (BGBP) pegged to the British Pound.

Binance says it will leverage its existing infrastructure and experience with various regulatory regimes to consolidate a compliance risk control system and build a multi-dimensional cooperation network for the Venus project.

Vying with Libra
Binance’s ambitious new venture appears to compete directly with plans from social media titan Facebook to launch a fiat-pegged stablecoin, Libra, that would power a global crypto payments network embedded into the company’s three wholly-owned apps: WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram.

With its choice of name, “Venus,” Binance is also stepping into the astrological waters of both Facebook’s Libra project and the Winklevoss Twins’ Gemini exchange and Gemini dollar. Open / Comment

2019-08-15 20:57:39 ​​$3B Ponzi Scheme Is Now Allegedly Dumping Bitcoin by the Hundreds

Amid a downturn in the cryptocurrency markets, the apparent swathe of Bitcoin sell-offs from a $3 billion Chinese Ponzi scheme could be to blame.

On Aug. 14, Dovey Wan — founding partner of blockchain-based investment company Primitive Ventures — called attention to the ongoing mass sell-offs from the fraudulent Chinese investment scheme, dubbed PlusToken.

10 million investors scammed of $3 billion
As Wan outlines, PlusToken was created in mid-2018 and promised high yield investment returns at different rebate percentages to its four tiers of member — a classic Ponzi scheme structure. By early 2019, the project claimed to have over 10 million members.

Wan has attached data on all the wallet addresses — including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and EOS — known to be associated with PlusToken and urgently called on exchanges and over-the-counter platforms to blacklist them.

She notes that Chinese police hunted down a core team member of the scheme two months ago and have revealed that investors were scammed of a whopping $3 billion.

Alongside the addresses, Wan has attached investigative data from security audit firm Peckshield that reveals the money flow from PlusToken’s wallet as of early July, the date the sell-offs are thought to have begun

Incessant sell-offs
Despite the arrest, the cryptocurrency cannot reportedly be rolled back, as Wan explains:

“Many of their BTC addresses are started with P2SH which commonly used for mutil-sig, most likely some ppl who hold the keys are not being caught hence police can’t unlock the wallet. For EOS/ETH wallet can be diff case but so far police was not able to touch any of those.”

In an attempt to curb the impact of the sell-offs, she has recommended that Peckshield and blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis analyze the flows more closely, noting that PlusToken appears to be moving their funds in small batches of 50-100 BTC into exchanges.

Chinese traders have reportedly claimed that an unknown address has in recent days been dumping 100 BTC incessantly on crypto exchange Binance, which Wan suspects to be connected to the scheme.

As just reported, the PlusToken scheme was identified as being the largest single incident of loss in a recent summary of 2019 crypto-related theft from blockchain security firm CipherTrace, having purportedly defrauded investors of $2.9 billion. Open / Comment