With the exponential growth of the cryptocurrency market, it has become a popular investment option for people around the globe. Using the blockchain technology, cryptocurrency has the potential of changing the lives of people for the better. This is why Uzidatahas designed a platform for the blockchain community where they can stay updated with all the information & analytics of cryptocurrency. But investing in crypto is not such an easy task. Apart from the huge growth potential, there are other important factors that you need to consider before investing in cryptocurrency. Some of the important things to consider include:

Crypto-currencies are highly volatile as the values fluctuate between extreme ups and downs. While there can be an unimaginable rise in the value of cryptocurrency, there can also be extreme price drops just the other moment. The volatility of the market makes it more exciting and even offers opportunities to the traders to make good profits. Though the risks are high, having an effective risk management strategy can help in dealing with the situation better.

When you are planning to explore the cryptocurrency market and make investments, it is essential to spend some time in doing thorough research. Before investing your hard-earned money, it is wise to understand the meaning of cryptocurrency, blockchain, security measures, and more. Getting updated about technology, regulations, investment strategies, and other important aspects can help you understand the market better and make smart investments.

Knowing the amount to invest in cryptocurrency is another important factor to consider. Being a volatile market, the chances of gains, as well as losses, are very high. It is always advisable to invest money that you can afford to lose. Investing such amounts ensures that in case of a loss, your life will not be affected much. Making smart decisions not only avoids unwanted consequences but also helps in remaining in a profitable situation.

Before investing in the cryptocurrency market, it is also important to determine the total market cap of the particular cryptocurrency that you wish to invest in. Solely relying on the unit value for determining the growth potential is not the right way. Instead, analyze the total capitalization as well as the increase in capitalization of the cryptocurrency for better insights.

Investing in the cryptocurrency market can enable you to make money or lose money, or at times your investment remains constant. In such a situation, tracking your funds becomes important. While tracking seems to be complex and difficult, the tracking tools can help in making the task easier. With a wealth of information and reports, the tools help in easily tracking your investments in the cryptocurrency market.

While planning to invest in cryptocurrency, it is also important to choose a reliable and secure platform. Investing in any random platform without detailed research can increase the risk of your investment. In order to avoid potential scams or frauds, considering doing some good research and investing through a trustworthy cryptocurrency platform only.

Considering the above aspects can help in making good investments in the cryptocurrency market and making easy profits. With smart decisions, making the best investments in cryptocurrency becomes possible. But for taking the right decision and framing strategies, you need the correct and the most updated info. This is where platforms like Uzidatacome in, with their brilliant database. The aim is to deliver a safe ecosystem to the community where they can access all the updated info and even get engaged in the conversations regarding the various bitcoins.

Right from the first, they have been aiming to revolutionize the way people search for information when it comes to anything related to blockchain. What makes Uzidataso unique is the fact that it serves the community irrespective of the role you play in the industry. Here are some of the features that you can expect from Uzidata once you log in.

So if you want to be an expert on cryptocurrency before you start investing make sure to try out Uzidata first!

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Want to invest in the Cryptocurrency Market? Here's what you need to know! - TheCryptoUpdates

The last few years have proven to be a crucial moment for cryptocurrency security. The more cryptocurrency has risen in popularity, the more high profile security breaches have occurred, and the more key institutions have been targeted.

The young cryptocurrency industry has always been brimming with opportunity, but with this comes risk, especially when there are lapses in security. Crypto security is especially important to crypto owners because one of the main points of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin in the first place has been to prevent criminals from accessing your database to access your currency as easily as actual money.

There are two key hacks that shed light on such lapses:

In early 2018, bad agents targeted Coincheck Japan and succeeded in stealing over $500 million in NEM tokens. To this day, it is one of the largest and most notable crypto heists, standing shoulder to shoulder with hacks such as the notorious Mt. Gox attack a heist of roughly 800,000 BTC.

Even earlier, in 2016, Bangladesh Bank found itself in the crosshairs of ambitious and skilled hackers. Using fully authenticated transitions, thieves attempted to steal over $800 million across the SWIFT network. Although the thieves received a "meager" $101 million for their efforts, $81 million did eventually make its hands into beneficiaries in South Asia.

What is it that ties these examples together? The victims were sloppy. Both central banks and notable cryptocurrency exchanges had poorly managed security (such as login details) when it came to the transfer of cryptocurrency or fiat money.

Although the SWIFT network was at the center of the Bangladesh Bank heist and similar cybercrimes, the network itself was not hacked; the network's users were. Likewise, in both the Coincheck and Mt. Gox hack, the blockchains central to the hack were never compromised. Rather, the exchanges themselves, and the users were. The login usernames, passwords, and even the systems themselves had such poor security that hackers were essentially left an open door. A door they had no compunction about using.

Thankfully, greater cybersecurity controls were put in place by the SWIFT community. The weak links were quickly identified, and the hackers' go-to methods of attack were disseminated amongst the community.

Can the cryptocurrency industry claim at the enterprise level that it has done the same? Can it claim that it has learned from its own mistakes in an age where negative media coverage is one of the first things customers will often see online? It is difficult to say, but what is clear is that 2020 must see it come together and rise to face the growing risk of crypto threats.

Crypto has matured, but a lot of growth is still needed

The crypto industry's security has grown more robust over the last few years. The solutions presented by custodial and noncustodial wallet providers are increasingly resilient.

Powered by new multiparty protocols or hardware security, these enable secure asset transfers on a consistent basis. Given how popular crypto trading has become with multiple codes in both the EU and USA, these new tools are essential.

Both hardware and software-based multi-signature wallet access are being widely used by organizations. Operating environments are increasingly being encrypted, addresses are being whitelisted, and many other areas of security are being monitored and tightened. Additional improvements have been seen in wallet management systems.

The security community now discusses hacks as they happen, taking steps to patch holes in their security and blacklist any addresses that were party to the theft. However, as these attacks have repeatedly occurred in 2019, there is still much more work to be done.

Upgrading security technology is important, yes, but even more important are the steps taken to improve the risk management operations at the enterprise level. While technology is important, having efficient operations will make all security efforts far more productive and effective. Likewise, more rigorous checks on access to customer assets are key.

Customer investments must be secured, and the industry must adopt standard business practices when it comes to security, access, and any conflicts of interest. In other words, the industry has to start taking itself more seriously.

While no typical asset manager in the world has custody over their customer's assets, this is not the case in the crypto industry. This is a huge mistake. Without having the right principles in place, the industry will continue to deny itself the investment it needs investment it often needs to keep it from remaining vulnerable.

Security has become a huge concern not just for companies and exchanges but also for individuals who possess cryptocurrency. More and more people are looking to security measures such as using hardware wallets, two-factor authentication, and VPN services to keep their cryptocurrency wallets and transactions safe.

But if they see an industry that isn't doing the same, will they trust it? How long will it take the industry to realize that it needs to adopt the financial practices that have proven to work in traditional finance?

In the last year alone, countless foundations, exchanges, and funds have recognized that the crypto industry will never reach its full potential without mature business practices and complete transparency. These are the two things that incidentally protect the customers and their assets and are the elements that matter most. In an age where cybercrime seems to be hitting its stride, this is essential.

As the industry has started to shift towards transparency and best practices, it has increasingly seen enterprise-level solutions emerge to counter hacking risks. Machine learning, and AI, for instance, are cutting edge technologies that hackers struggle to counter. This has brought more willingness from insurance companies to cover third-party custodians who are using the right security technologies.

How will 2020 change the cryptocurrency industry?

For the cryptocurrency to evolve in the ways it needs to, there needs to be more awareness of security risks and a lot more education. Funds, foundations, exchanges, projects, and more must ensure that their processes are secure, transparent and follow best practices the practices that keep their customer's assets safe. Most players will correctly decide to outsource this important task to third party companies who specialize in these exact practices.

This will lead to a state of affairs that sees 2020 close with funds being more difficult to hack than ever. With more organization and collaboration between players and more adoption of enterprise-level security practices and principles, thieves will be far more discouraged from undertaking an attack on a crypto organization.

If the industry can manage to galvanize and make this happen, then the future of the cryptocurrency industry will be looking bright.

See the rest here:

Predicting the Cost of Cryptocurrency Hacks in 2020 - CircleID

Cryptocurrency exchange Altsbit is shutting down this May. The exchange made the announcement after reporting an alleged security breach earlier this month.

In a statement, Altsbit says a hack late last week led to the theft of nearly all of the exchanges Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin (BTC), VersusCoin (VRSC), Komodo (KMD) and Pirate Chain (ARRR) holdings.

Unfortunately, we have to notify you with the fact that our exchange was hacked during the night, and almost all funds from BTC, ETH, ARRR, and VRSC were stolen. A small part of the funds are safe on cold wallets.

Altsbit says the hackers took roughly 6.929 BTC, 2.321 ETH, 3,924,082 ARRR, 414,154 VRSC and 1,066 KMD. The total amount of ETH and BTC lost was less than $70,000 and reportedly dealt a lethal blow to the nascent exchange.

The cryptocurrency exchange says affected users should apply for partial refunds and that remaining funds will be used to refund users until May 8th.

The company further advises users to be wary of anyone pretending to be Altsbit employees who are allegedly distributing refunds.

Just last year, hackers bagged approximately $282,617,000 in leading cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash, from a wide variety of crypto exchanges.

Featured Image: Shutterstock/yGorodenkoff

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New Cryptocurrency Exchange Shutting Down After Hack Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Three Additional Altcoins Stolen - The Daily Hodl

For crypto owners looking to estimate how much they owe in taxes, there are some platforms with a free crypto tax calculator. They integrate with major crypto exchanges and wallets, allowing you to import your crypto transaction data and start calculating your taxes for free. Some of them also integrate with leading tax filing software such as Turbotax.

Also read: Bitcoin, Tesla Stock, Tron: How Warren Buffett Got His First Bitcoin

As cryptocurrencies become more popular and their adoption rises, governments worldwide are ramping up their efforts to tax them. In the U.S., the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has named cryptocurrency a top priority this year. Not only has the agency sent out over 10,000 letters to remind crypto owners they must pay taxes, but its main tax form used by over 150 million U.S. filers now includes a cryptocurrency question.

For crypto owners who want to calculate how much they owe in taxes, there are many tax preparation platforms with a crypto tax calculator to help them minimize their tax liabilities and claim all the deductions possible. Most online crypto tax calculators require you to import your transaction data from exchanges or wallets in order to calculate your tax obligations. They will also generate various reports to help you with tax reporting and filing. Some have even partnered with leading tax filing services such as Turbotax. Below are some popular platforms with a cryptocurrency tax calculator. For more options, see our post on 10 useful tax tools for crypto owners.

Crypto Trader Tax by Coin Ledger is a tax reporting platform with a built-in crypto tax calculator. It integrates with all major crypto exchanges, including Coinbase, Coinbase Pro, Bittrex, Bitstamp, Gemini, Poloniex, Binance, Kucoin, Kraken, Bitfinex, Huobi, Hitbtc, and Cash App. You can also import data from unsupported exchanges manually. Once you have imported your data, Crypto Trader Tax will calculate your tax obligations and generate tax reports.

The platforms crypto tax calculator is free to use. You only have to pay when you want to view and download your full report, its website details. The reports generated include an audit trail report, the IRS Form 8949, a short and long term gains report, and a crypto income report. The platform also offers international support. Your capital gains and losses can be calculated in every fiat currency and your tax reports used in any country that supports FIFO, LIFO, or specific identification methods.

Four pricing levels are available on Crypto Tax Trader: $49, $99, $199, and $299. The cheapest plan allows you to import up to 100 trades. All levels have Turbotax and Taxact integration to help you file your tax returns.

Koinly is also a popular platform with a crypto tax calculator, available in over 20 countries. Similar Crypto Trader Tax, to use Koinlys tax calculator, you need to import your data from crypto exchanges, wallets or public addresses. You can then review your transactions and generate your tax reports, which include capital gains, income and gifts, margin trades, options and futures trades, and audit logs. You can then export your transactions to tax filing platforms such as Turbotax, Taxact, and Xero.

It is also free to start using Koinlys crypto tax calculator. Start for free, pay only when you are ready to generate your reports, its website states. To generate tax reports for filing, Koinly offers three plans costing $79, $179, and $399. The cheapest level allows 300 transactions.

Cointracker has been advertising its free crypto tax calculator since January. Cryptocurrency users with up to 200 transactions in a given tax year can use Cointracker to calculate cryptocurrency taxes free of charge, the company wrote. This enables the majority of cryptocurrency users to seamlessly become and stay tax compliant as they transact and use cryptocurrency, all at zero cost.

The free level comes with portfolio tracking, capital gains tax calculation, and error reconciliation. The platform also offers a more heavy-duty plan which costs $179, allows up to 3,000 transactions, and comes with several more options. There is also an unlimited level for which you need to contact the company for a quote.

Zenledger describes itself as much more than just a free crypto tax calculator. It claims to be The most comprehensive cryptocurrency tax software on the market. The service aggregates your many ledgers, marks the transactions to market, and allows you to categorize each transaction by use. It also integrates with major crypto exchanges and has partnered with Turbotax. Reports it generates include completed tax forms and audit reports.

Besides a free tax estimate, Zenledger offers a variety of pricing options, starting at $69, $149, and $399. The lowest level allows up to 1000 transactions and $15,000 in total asset value. Product consulting and customization service is available as an add-on at $100 per hour.

Tokentax is another cryptocurrency tax software and accounting platform with a built-in crypto tax calculator. Similar to other platforms featured above, Tokentax integrates with major crypto exchanges and allows you to manually import your trade history from other exchanges. Once your transaction data has been imported, the platform will calculate your tax obligation and generate your tax reports, including the IRS Form 8949, an audit trail report, a crypto mining and income tax report, and an international gain and loss report. Tokentax has also partnered with Turbotax.

In order to use Tokentaxs crypto tax calculator, however, you will need to pay for one of the three plans which cost $65, $199, and $799. The basic plan only allows up to 500 transactions from Coinbase, Coinbase Pro and Binance. Level 2 supports every exchange and allows you to import up to 5,000 transactions. All three levels have Turbotax integration.

The list above is not exhaustive as there are many more companies with a crypto tax calculator. News.bitcoin.com has previously provided a list of 10 useful tax tools to help crypto owners with tax filing. Regardless of which tax software you use, the IRS has recently provided some tips which cryptocurrency owners should know before filing their tax returns.

Do you have a favorite crypto tax calculator? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not an offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation, endorsement, or sponsorship of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is 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 content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

Did you know you can buy and sell BCH privately using our noncustodial, peer-to-peer Local Bitcoin Cash trading platform? The local.Bitcoin.com marketplace has thousands of participants from all around the world trading BCH right now. And if you need a bitcoin wallet to securely store your coins, you can download one from us here.

A student of Austrian Economics, Kevin found Bitcoin in 2011 and has been an evangelist ever since. His interests lie in Bitcoin security, open-source systems, network effects and the intersection between economics and cryptography.

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Bitcoin Taxation Support Growing Industry Here are 5 Useful Cryptocurrency Tax Calculators - Bitcoin News

February 12, 2020 London

The Benchmark ranks over 160 active spot exchanges globally to bring transparency and accountability to the cryptoasset exchange landscape by providing a framework for assessing risk. A grade is assigned to each exchange to help identify the lowest risk exchanges in the industry.

The analysis reveals a shift in the top five exchanges with itBit, the US and Japanese regulated exchange, taking the number 1 spot for the first time. It is followed by Gemini (2), Coinbase (3), Kraken (4), Bitstamp (5), Liquid (6), Bitfinex (7), OKEx (8), bitFlyer (9), and OKCoin (10).

CryptoCompares Exchange Benchmark plays an important role in providing institutional and retail investors with a secure, trusted marketplace. We encourage all initiatives that help to foster best practices among trading venues in this fast-growing industry, said Gabor Gurbacs, director, digital asset strategy at VanEck.

Charles Hayter, co-founder and CEO of CryptoCompare, commented,

The industry needs reliable metrics to evaluate the vast number of cryptocurrency exchanges globally and we have been extremely pleased with the response to our analysis since launch last year. Our cryptocurrency Exchange Benchmark aims to provide this transparency by assessing exchanges using a clear methodology to assess risk. The result is clear data on which exchanges are managing multiple risks in the most effective manner, improving decision-making for market participants.

CryptoCompare launched the Exchange Benchmark in June 2019 to evaluate cryptocurrency exchanges globally. Initially ranking over 100 exchanges, it now includes analysis of more than 165 crypto exchanges globally. It employs a qualitative (due diligence) and quantitative (market quality based on order book and trade data) approach and uses correlation-of-volume-to-volatility and standard-deviation-of-volume as inputs to the analysis.The Exchange Benchmark does not rely on aggregate volume data in its analysis due to concerns over volume manipulation, wash trading and trading incentives.

The ranking components include: geography; legal/regulatory; investment; team/company; data provision; trade surveillance; market quality and a penalty factor for negative events. Analysis is based on public information and detailed methodology is made freely available, underscoring CryptoCompares commitment to bringing greater transparency and improved decision-making to the cryptocurrency marketplace.

The full report can be found here.

Originally posted here:

CryptoCompare Ranks Top 10 Bitcoin (BTC) and Cryptocurrency Exchanges - The Daily Hodl

Welcome to Moonday Mornings, fellow Hard Forkers.

You know the drill, lets take a look at this weekends top cryptocurrency and blockchain headlines.

If you didnt get enough of the $4 billion OneCoin cryptocurrency scam then youre in luck. According to entertainment news website Deadline, the real-life drama is going to be made into a TV show.

In an allegedly intense bidding war, New Regency Television International beat the likes of 20th Century TV to win the screen rights to the popular BBC Sounds podcast, The Missing Crypto Queen. Its definitely worth a listen. Full details on the shows production are yet to be announced.

[Read: 2019s juiciest crypto drama: The saga of OneCoins $4B cryptocurrency scam]

A company offering a digital savings scheme, with fixed interest of 5%, has had to remove its adverts from London Underground train stations after coming under pressure from the UKs Financial Conduct Authority, The Telegraph reports.

According to the report, the billboards said interest rates were fixed and investors could remove their money whenever they pleased. What wasnt disclosed on the adverts though, was that investor money was used to buy cryptocurrency before being transferred to a financial services firm based in China.

The Australian government has finally released its blockchain roadmap that it says will help foster adoption in the country, The Block reports.

The 52-page document outlines a 12-step plan for the next five years, that will supposedly lead Australia to a blockchain empowered future, whatever that means. The Australian government announced its plans for blockchain last year, despite the latest document, were still waiting for anything tangible to develop.

The London-based cryptocurrency exchange LBX is facing compulsory liquidation, news.bitcoin.com reports. Despite the recent rise in cryptocurrency prices, the exchange hasnt been able to stay afloat.The company was issued a winding up order at the end of January for failing to pay creditors.

Court appointed liquidators are now working to reportedly resolve client concerns as soon as possible, including any money owed to them. It hasnt been mentioned how much money clients are owed.

And finally

A man from the US state of Michigan has been ordered to pay over $208,000 in restitution for his role in a cryptocurrency-based scam, according to a US Department of Justice release.

The individual, James Matthew Thomas, has also been sentenced to one year and one day in prison for defrauding two people from Missoula, Montana. The perpetrator pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering last October.

According to the release, the Thomas solicited investments from his LinkedIn network, promising them large returns for investing in cryptocurrency. Only, he never paid his investors back. Where have we heard that before?

Well, there you have it. Now go get on with your week of watching Bitcoins price go up and down.

Published February 10, 2020 09:42 UTC

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Moonday Mornings: $4B OneCoin cryptocurrency scam to be made into TV drama - The Next Web

The developers of the Suterusu protocol are presently working on a scalable, privacy-preserving second layer solution for secure digital asset management.

Any crypto-asset, including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), may soon be used to conduct fully anonymous transactions using the Suterusu protocol.

Suterusus technology, ZK-ConSNARK, allows users to perform very small and constant-size digital currency transactions and highly efcient verication. This solution is being developed by company chief technical officer Dr. Lin-Suterusu, who holds a Ph.D. in applied cryptography and privacy-preserving distributed systems.

Zhengpeng Hou, CEO at Suterusu, stated:

Today, everybody calls bitcoin and other altcoins crypto coins, but the majority dont have the attribute of privacy at all.

We recently caught up with Dr. Huang Lin who talked to us about the importance of financial privacy when conducting transactions using cryptocurrencies.

Dr. Lin: Most people think that cryptocurrencies are anonymous and maintain the users financial privacy by default. The reality is the opposite. When Bitcoin (BTC) initially launched, the intention was to have a decentralized ledger that is, practically, about transparency.

Every account or transaction can be found or accessed by anyone. And that information can be linked to the users identity. I believe nobody wants this in the conventional finance world.

Our account information is protected by the bank, transplantation is also the same. Unfortunately, cryptocurrencies today lack this privacy or at least the majority is missing this. Therefore, we believe privacy, and in particular financial privacy, are critical in the digital age.

Dr. Lin: Suterusu is registered in Singapore, so any business activities, including our day-to-day operations and ongoing development efforts abide by the laws of Singapore. Our goal is to advance the technology and make it more user-friendly. We hope that more people can access privacy-preserving solutions through our endeavor.

Dr. Lin: ZK-conSNARK is a setup-free, zero-knowledge proof scheme with almost constant proof size and efficient proof generation and verification. Our yellow paper has provided a scheme based on class groups of unknown order.

Here is the link: https://github.com/suterusu-team/Suter_yellowpaper.

In the case of a fully decentralized cryptocurrency, all the nodes in the blockchain network are supposed to verify the transaction and the zero-knowledge proof is included in the transaction. The smaller the size of zero-knowledge proof, the larger the transactions-per-second (TPS) or throughput is.

We also intend to keep both the proof generation and verification efficient in order to reduce the computation overhead for both the user and miners in the system. Currently, there are two types of zero-knowledge proofs in terms of its setup model, trusted setup and trustless setup, or setup-free.

The zero-knowledge proof scheme used in Zcash requires a trusted setup, which implies you could print an infinite amount of zcash without the possibility of being detected. Our ZK-conSnark is setup free and hence does not have this kind of security risk. In short, zk-conSNARK attains the perfect balance between security and efficiency.

Dr. Lin: They have done incredible work to bring privacy into finance, particularly in the crypto world, their work extends the crypto algorithms use case scenario. Because of their work, we have a certain level of privacy when performing cryptocurrency-based transactons, like stealth addresses and confidential payments. And now, people have more choices when trying to maintain financial privacy.

Dr. Lin:

In the short term, there are areas we are working on:

As far as research and development is concerned, we not only need to implement our existing solution but also need to keep working on our research for zk-ConSNARK to make it more optimal, have greater efficiency and low cost.

As a project, we also need to find out a good product-market fit. We are developing the algorithms and software development kids (SDK). We are also focused on creating financial products that meets the demands of the market.

In terms of ecosystem development and partnerships, we are a small team, and may expand our operations. We will keep on growing our business partners network and support the adoption of privacy-focused technologies.

We are also focusing on community growth. There are two types of communities, the user community, which will help in increasing the stability of our network, and the developers who will continue to work on our protocol.

Read the rest here:

Dr. Huang Lin Explains Why Hes Developing the ZK-ConSNARK Privacy Protocol for Conducting Secure Cryptocurrency Transactions - Crowdfund Insider

German soccer league Bundesliga has partnered with online esports tournament platform Battlefy to launch the Virtual Bundesliga International series, a new esports competition for the FIFA video game. The Bundesliga originally launched the VBL in 2012, which is directly integrated into the EA Sports FIFA series.

The series will kickoff in March, with regional online qualifier tournaments in 19 countries (Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Mexico, Canada, the U.S., Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, India, Brunei, the Philippines, Cambodia, Singapore, East Timor and Vietnam.)

STATE OF THE INDUSTRY:Make Sure Youre atthe Worlds Premier Sports Tech Event (March 2627 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn)

Winners from the regional tournaments will then compete in an in-person continental qualifier. Those locations have yet to be announced but the tournaments will be broadcasted by local broadcast partners and all competing gamers will receive a kit from the Bundesliga that represents the team theyre playing as. The final stage will be the VBL International Finals held in May in Germany. Qualified FIFA players will be flown to meet professional Bundesliga and professional VBL players and visit select Bundesliga clubs.

Combining the online and offline world of football, the VBL International Series merges the passions of a new generation of gamers and Bundesliga fans around the world, Andreas Heyden, EVP, Digital Innovations at DFL Group, said in a press release.

Heyden was recently interviewed as part of SportTechies Tech Talks series.

More here:

Bara Fans Will Be Able to Buy a Say in Decisions via Cryptocurrency - SportTechie

Last week, I took out a loan without meeting anyone, signing anything, or even interacting with a human being.

I also invested in a variety of assets that earn interest of up to 5.9 percent a year. I did it all on my own, from my computer. All I needed was some cryptocurrency and a knowledge of how these systems work.

The amounts were tiny: The loan was $30, and I had $95 worth of crypto earning interest. But I could've easily done the same with much larger amounts, at those exact same terms.

To do all this, I was using freely available DeFi, or decentralized finance, services based on the Ethereum blockchain. DeFi is one of the key usages of Ethereum, which, besides being a cryptocurrency, is also a decentralized app platform where most of the currently available DeFi apps reside.

DeFi, in general, encompasses financial services which are transparent, decentralized, and trustless. Instead of having to go to a bank to get a loan, provide your ID and credit score, then have a human assess your situation and decide whether you can get the money, with DeFi it's all algorithmic. A smart contract, with an open-source code available to everyone to check, handles everything. All you need is to provide some ether or ETH the currency of Ethereum or another crypto asset as collateral and choose what you want to do. The smart contract takes care of the rest.

Like I said, all of these services are trustless and decentralized up to a degree. Some require you to create an account; with others, you don't even have to enter your email anywhere. Of course, rules apply: You cannot just lend thousands of dollars worth of crypto without any collateral.

It's been possible to do this for quite a while, thanks to startups such as Maker, Compound, Nexo, and others. But the process wasn't always simple for someone who doesn't know much about Ethereum and cryptocurrencies in general.

However, a new Ethereum mobile wallet called Argent removes nearly all the friction from DeFi literally anyone can use it with very little or no prior knowledge. Argent is currently in an invite-only beta, but it's fully functional, and everything I've done with it was real actual cryptocurrency was moved around and locked in smart contracts that provided the functionality described above.

Making a savings account in Argent is dead simple.

Image: stan schroeder/Argent/mashable

Let's say you're a complete newbie when it comes to cryptocurrencies. After installing Argent, which is a regular mobile app (I used the iOS version, but it's also available for Android), you have the option of adding funds via Apple Pay or Card, or a bank transfer, or you can send cryptocurrencies directly from a wallet or exchange. Going through an exchange may be cheaper, but adding funds with Apple Pay is the simpler option.

So you've bought some ETH (you can buy other coins, too, but let's stick to ETH, as it's the basis for the DeFi services covered in this text). Switch to the Finances tab, and you'll be presented with two options: One is Savings, which uses another service called Compound to invest your funds. There really isn't much more to it: You select one of the assets you own, in this case ETH, and Compound will lock it into a smart contract, which will immediately start giving you a return, calculated in real time.

My small portfolio is growing.

Image: stan schroeder/argent/Mashable

Not all assets carry an equal risk and reward, and not all are equally volatile. For ETH, you'll get a tiny, 0.02% yearly interest rate, and since the price of ETH can be very volatile, you should lock your ETH into this contract only if you plan on holding onto it regardless of price changes. On the other hand, DAI is a stablecoin whose value closely tracks with that of the dollar, making it far less volatile. It also currently yields a better return 5.88% annually at the time of writing so if your goal is to protect your principal in dollar terms and earn some money, it's a better option.

Taking out a loan uses a service called Maker, which isn't very easy on its own, but Argent simplifies that process, too. It lets you borrow a loan against collateral in ETH, to a certain point. Your collateral is locked in a smart contract, and will be returned to you when you pay off your loan plus interest (which, for me, was 9% annually).

Getting a loan in DAI requires you to lock some ETH as collateral into a smart contract.

Image: stan schroeder/argent/Mashable

To do this, all you need to do is play with a couple of sliders, which let you adjust your collateral and the amount of money you want to loan. However, you need to know that Maker contracts also include a liquidation price if the price of ETH falls below that price, your collateral will be liquidated to pay off the loan, together with a certain penalty. You don't want that to happen, so you should choose a safe loan-to-collateral ratio which is also clearly laid out in Argent's interface.

Note that this is different from getting a bank loan, which in some cases requires no collateral besides proof of good standing with your employer. But the advantage of decentralized finance is obvious: You can put your money to work, or take out a loan, without asking anyone for permission. Everything is taken care of algorithmically.

In theory, yes. In practice, I wouldn't trust any of these services with large amounts of money just yet. There are several reasons for this: There could be a bug in the smart contract's code that someone could exploit to steal your money. These contracts are often verified by experts, but bugs sometimes do go unnoticed. The volatility of cryptocurrencies ETH, for example, often loses or gains 5% in value in a single day is an issue, as well. Yes, you can use a stablecoin like DAI or USDC to avoid volatility, but in the case of an (unlikely) catastrophic ETH crash, even DAI could become unstable.

Also, note that my "portfolio," as described above, isn't the greatest. I'm paying a pretty high interest rate on my loan while at the same time receiving a paltry interest for my savings. But it was all done just to illustrate the potential of DeFi; I'd do it differently if I wanted to make the most of it.

All of the services I've used are on the Ethereum blockchain. There are a few on competing blockchains, like EOS and Tron, but the vast majority of DeFi services run on Ethereum.

Argent, which was used for this example, is just one of many cryptocurrency wallets you can use and definitely not the only option for DeFi. I've chosen it because it has a nice, clean interface, and it greatly simplifies the process of taking out a loan on Maker. For more options, check out this website.

DeFi is in a nascent stage. Some of these services, like Maker, have been around for years, but were (some still are) too complex even for techies, let alone people who aren't very tech-savvy.

But this is changing. Services like Compound and apps like Argent are making DeFi accessible to everyone. And while I'd always advise learning about how these services work in the background before investing even a cent of your money, the fact that DeFi is getting simpler means more people will get on board.

DeFi is also quickly spreading to cover far more complex financial products. Every week, I hear about new products or services, or even entire new classes of services. A few examples: A service called Rocket allows you to get a loan using collectibles as collateral; PoolTogether is a lottery in which you cannot lose, only win; and Synthetix offers digital assets tokens on the Ethereum blockchain that provide exposure to other assets, such as Tesla stock, or gold.

The examples I've given are just a small taste of what may come in the future.

Disclosure: The author of this text owns, or has recently owned, a number of cryptocurrencies, including BTC and ETH.

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I took out a loan with cryptocurrency and didn't sign a thing - Mashable

Tax season is here in the U.K. and its time crypto investors buckled down to file their cryptocurrency tax returns correctly. There have been a lot of indications that the U.K.s Her Majestys Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is starting to take a stern view of crypto tax evaders.

The first cryptocurrency guidance was released back in 2018 after a special report was submitted by the Cryptoassets Taskforce an initiative launched by the HMRC in collaboration with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Bank of England. These guidelines clarified some important details about how HMRC views cryptocurrencies, which many see as a prelude to a stricter approach toward crypto taxation.

HMRC also sent requests to some major crypto exchanges (including Coinbase) for information about their U.K.-based investors in August of 2019. This is exactly what the United States IRS did before they sent out warning letters to suspected crypto tax evaders.

All this is to say that HMRC looks to be fairly serious about crypto tax evasion which means that tax filings will become especially important this year. Here are some of the most important things you should know about crypto taxes in the U.K.

For all practical purposes, cryptocurrency is a digital currency. However, when it comes to taxation, HMRC looks at cryptocurrency as an asset. This means that disposal of crypto is subject to Capital Gains Tax. This categorization is being widely adopted by tax agencies; even the U.S.s IRS views cryptocurrency as property for tax purposes instead of a currency.

HMRC says that you need to pay capital gains tax on every disposal of cryptocurrency. Disposal here refers to the following:

Its important to keep in mind that charitable donations of crypto are not subject to capital gains tax. Of course, if the donation is tainted or if it the crypto is sold to the charity at a price greater than the acquisition cost, then capital gains tax will apply.

The actual capital gains tax to be paid will depend on your income tax bracket and the marginal tax rate. Keep in mind that there is an exemption limit of 11,700: If your gains are lower than this amount, you dont need to pay any capital gains tax. If you end up selling crypto which is more than four times the exemption limit (or over 46,800), you will still have to report the capital gains in your tax returns even if the actual gains are below the limit.

In the U.K., cryptocurrency gains are calculated using share pooling. Most people are familiar with accounting methods such as FIFO and LIFO when it comes to taxes. However, share pooling is quite different and involves using the average cost of all current assets to determine the cost of the assets being sold.

There are also additional rules like the same-day rule and the 30-day bed and breakfasting rule that are used to prevent tax loss harvesting or the practice of selling assets at a low price and rebuying it afterward to sustain taxable losses.

Crypto transactions also happen in other forms, for instance:

In each of the above cases, you will have to pay income tax and national insurance contributions. When you dispose of the assets, you will also have to pay capital gains tax in a similar manner as discussed before. It is important to separate the source of your crypto assets when preparing crypto taxes in the U.K. as HMRC has specifically classified hard-fork proceeds and airdrops as income.

If you trade cryptocurrencies as part of your business, then trading profits will be subject to income tax. This kind of trade is similar to trading in securities, shares and other financial instruments the HMRC Business Income Manual (BIM56800) deals with these transactions in detail.

HMRC recommends keeping detailed records of all your crypto transactions. Since even crypto-to-crypto trades are taxable, you will need to figure out the value of the crypto at the time of sale which could prove very time consuming if you are running bots.

Another thing to consider is that crypto exchanges dont always provide complete records, so its best to be proactive and keep a log of your trades. Nowadays, there are also tools such as Koinly, Cointracking, Lukka (formerly Libra), BitcoinTaxes and others that can help you with your record keeping for tax purposes.

Given that HMRC has made it a point to clarify regulations around crypto taxes and has also started asking for information about U.K.-based traders from crypto exchanges, its high time to get your affairs in order. If your crypto tax returns arent completely up-to-date, you should use this year to get things sorted even filing amended returns if you need to. The tax returns for the 20182019 tax year are due at the end of January!

This is a guest post by Robin Singh, founder of Koinly, a cryptocurrency tax startup. Views expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Bitcoin Magazine or BTC Inc. This article is for information purposes only and should not be construed as financial or tax advice. Consult with a tax professional to properly assess your particular tax situation.

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Cryptocurrency Taxes in the UK: What You Need to Know - Bitcoin... - Bitcoin Magazine

A series of large XRP transfers have crypto traders on alert.

The single biggest transfer sent 49,999,995 XRP worth about $11.6 million to the Luxembourg-based cryptocurrency exchange Bitstamp. The transfer triggered quite a stir, with many traders wondering if the XRP holder is planning to sell.

According to the crypto tracker Whale Alert, the XRP in question was sent from an unknown wallet. However, data from the XRP explorer Bithomp indicates the wallet was activated by the crypto custody giant BitGo.

Bitstamp and BitGo partnered back in October in a move designed to give Bitstamp a safe way to store its customers assets. The fact that the wallet was activated by BitGo suggests the transfer may be a routine shuffle of assets at Bitstamp.

The security of our customers funds is always our highest priority at Bitstamp. With BitGo Custody, Bitstamps assets will be secured on 100% cold storage technology in bank-grade class III vaults and protected by BitGos $100 million (USD) insurance policy.

Meanwhile, the XRP Ledger Monitor is tracking a series of additional million-dollar XRP transfers in the last 24 hours. At time of publishing, the most recent is a movement of 15,000,000 XRP worth $3.5 millionfrom the crypto exchange Binance to another wallet activated by BitGo.

In addition, the South Korean crypto exchange Coinone sent 20,519,000 XRP worth $4.8 million between two internal wallets, and Bitstamp sent 21,990,778 XRP worth $5.2 million between two of its internal wallets.

The payments company Ripple, which holds more than half of the total supply of XRP, recently moved 356,207,423 XRP worth $78.4 million in two separate transactions. Ripple sold significantly less XRP in the fourth quarter of last year, with the purpose of the two transfers in question unknown.

Featured Image: Shutterstock/d1sk

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49,999,995 XRP Sent to Bitstamp Is This Cryptocurrency Giant Behind the Curtain? - The Daily Hodl

Image: Chainalysis

In 2019, hackers have successfully breached 11 major cryptocurrency exchanges and have stolen more than $283 million worth of cryptocurrency, according to blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis.

The 11 hacks represent the highest number of security breaches at cryptocurrency exchange portals recorded in a single year in the last decade, up from six incidents recorded in the previous year, in 2018.

However, despite a rise in the number of reported hacks, attackers didn't make the profits they expected, netting only $283 million. The number is far below the $875.5 million hackers made in 2018 from just six hacks, and the $483 million they made in 2014, from only three breaches.

According to Chainalysis, the sharp rise in the number of successful hacks can be attributed to attackers evolving to use more sophisticated methods for infiltrating cryptocurrency exchanges, which allowed them to carry out more hacks than before.

On the other hand, cryptocurrency exchanges didn't sit idly either. Chainalysis reports that many invested in improved security features and transaction verification systems, which, in turn, reduced the amount of funds hackers managed to steal before being detected and transactions reversed and funds recovered.

But when hacks are successful, Chainalysis reports that "the majority of funds stolen in exchange attacks end up being sent to other exchanges, where they're likely converted into cash."

However, Chainalysis also reports that "a substantial portion of funds sit unspent, sometimes for years."

"In those cases, there may still be an opportunity for law enforcement to seize the stolen funds," researchers say.

Chainalysis experts report that over the course of 2019, they traced more than $2.8 billion in Bitcoin that moved from known criminal entities to a few exchange portals, where they were quickly cashed out into fiat currency.

The $2.8 billion figure, besides funds hacked from cryptocurrency exchanges, also includes other types of illegal transactions, such as ransomware payments, funds from phishing operations, online scams, and funds associated with known criminal and terrorist groups.

Of these $2.8 billion, Chainalysis says that more than 50% of the funds were transferred to accounts on the Binance and Huobi exchange platforms -- two of the internet's largest cryptocurrency exchanges -- where crooks laundered the stolen coins into cash.

"Overall, just over 300,000 individual accounts at Binance and Huobi received Bitcoin from criminal sources in 2019," Chainalysis reported.

"That may come as a surprise given that Binance and Huobi are two of the largest exchanges operating, and are subject to KYC [Know Your Customer] regulations," experts added.

KYC regulations, which are in effect in almost all countries over the world, mandate that companies require customers to authenticate and verify their identities before doing business on their platforms.

However, Chainalysis reports that many criminal groups are skirting this requirement by using entities called OTC (Over The Counter) brokers.

OTC (Over The Counter) brokers are entitites that operate on classic exchange portals and act as intermediaries that can facilitate trades between buyers and sellers who don't want their identity or accunts associated with transactions on open blockchains.

"The problem, however, is that while most OTC brokers run a legitimate business, some of them specialize in providing money laundering services to criminals," the Chainalysis team says.

"OTC brokers typically have much lower KYC requirements than the exchanges they operate on," researchers added. "Many of them take advantage of this laxity and help criminals launder and cash out funds, usually first by exchanging Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies into Tether as a stable intermediary currency before they presumably cash out into fiat."

But tracking illegal transactions on public blockchains isn't an accurate science. Researchers need to discover and then track the blockchain addresses used today's secretive criminal and terrorist operations.

Of all illegal activities and transactions happening on public blockchains, ransomware payments are the easiest to track, as the ransom payment address is usually included in ransom notes that cyber-security firms can obtain from analyzing malware samples.

The Chainalysis team says that based on their data, in 2019, ransomware gangs received just over $6.6 million in ransom payments, "largely driven by an October surge in attacks carried out using the Bitpaymer, Ryuk, and Defray777 ransomware strains."

However, Chainalysis is the first one to admit that this number is "almost certainly an underestimate" and that ransomware gangs most likely earned a figure larger than the $6.6 million they managed to confirm and track.

More details on the blockchain ecosystem and the criminal underground will be available later this month when Chainalysis publishes its 2020 Crypto Crime Report.

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2019 saw more cryptocurrency hacks than any other year - ZDNet

The World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, ended yesterday with a significant mark on the cryptocurrency market. On the last day, WEF announced the first global consortium focused on designing a framework for the governance of digital currencies, including stablecoins.

The World Economic Forum for 2020 took place at Davos the past week, and cryptocurrencies received a lot of attention.Yesterday, during its last day, the Forum announced the creation of the first Global Consortium for Digital Currency Governance. It will consist of financial institutions, government representatives, academics, international organizations, leading companies, technical experts, NGOs, and members of the Forums communities on a global level.

The report indicates that if digital currencies are to receive proper financial inclusion, they need to be paired with good governance. Therefore, the Consortiums purpose will be to establish a framework of regulations by implementing innovative approaches. To achieve their goal, the participants will use efficiency, speed, inter-operability, inclusivity, and transparency.

The Consortium will work with both the public and the private sectors to explore the presented opportunities.

According to Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the WEF, digital currency, a cross-cutting topic that requires input across sectors, functions, and geographies, is a key area of interest for the Forum.

Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England, also spoke on the matter:

Governance is the core pillar of any form of digital currency. It is critical that any framework on digital currencies ensures security, efficiency, and legitimacy of payments while ensuring fair and open competition. We welcome the WEFs platform to help develop a robust governance framework for inclusion through digital currencies.

As CryptoPotato recently reported, the efforts of establishing regulations on the cryptocurrency market are getting more and more serious. As of January 10th, the European Union introduced an updated version of its 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directive (5AMLD) with increased regulatory focus.

All cryptocurrency-related businesses operating from Europe have to follow the rules. They include a more in-depth Know-Your-Customer process, transaction monitoring, and filing suspicious activity reports (SARs) with law enforcement.

One of the aftermaths came shortly, as the popular exchange Deribit announced its upcoming relocation from the Netherlands to Panama.

With the creation of the Global Consortium, world watchdogs will try to establish a framework of regulations on cryptocurrencies. Its particularly interesting to see whether this will be beneficial for the space as a lot of the market participants remain unregulated.

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Regulating Bitcoin: WEF2020 Announced A Global Consortium For Cryptocurrency Governance - CryptoPotato

XLM is the native cryptocurrency of the Stellar network, a blockchain-powered solution pitched to make cross-border payments more efficient.

Stellars consensus architecture is relatively centralized when compared to Bitcoin. While this does allow it to process transactions with low fees and fast confirmation times, it does require users to place more trust in the validators on the network.

Regardless of this sacrifice, Stellar XLM is almost always listed in the top cryptocurrencies. XLMs market cap is currently $1.19 billion, and ranked 14th just behind Monero.

As with the rest of the cryptocurrency market, Stellar had a pretty tough third quarter. A floundering Bitcoin led altcoins to suffer alongside it, and XLM was no different.

XLM opened the quarter at just over $0.10, and aside from two short periods between mid-July and mid-September, price action was pretty much entirely in the red.

In fact, Septembers 40-percent run from $0.058 to $0.083 marked the biggest opportunity for speculators throughout the whole quarter.

XLM opened fourth-quarter trade at just above $0.061, where it hovered for the first two weeks of October.

Volatility increased in XLM markets leading up to the second half of the month, when Bitcoin jumped from $7,500 to clear $9,600.

It took around a fortnight for XLM to follow, but eventually its price broke out to increase 31 percent between October 31 and November 5 from $0.064 to $0.084.

That week would represent the last time traders would find opportunities to make relatively simple gains.

XLM bulls would retest those highs just once on November 11, before the markets began a slow decline that would last for the rest of the year. Stellar closed the fourth quarter of 2019 at $0.045.

The plight of the Stellar Foundation to airdrop two billion XLM tokens to Keybase users ruled related headlines for the quarter, no doubt.

Indeed, the planwas abandoned after only three out of the originally planned twenty months worth of giveaways.What resulted was an airdrop of 300 million XLM shared in $10 batches, estimated to be worth around $16 million.

The Stellar Foundation eventually blamed the canceled airdrops on spammers who had flooded Keybase to collect as much free cryptocurrency as possible.

November also saw Stellar Foundation devs announce it would burn 55 billion XLM, representing over half of its supply.

This permanently decreased the total amount of XLM on the market by 50 percent immediately, and its positive effect on the markets was felt with a 14-percent push in the first week of November.

Were almost one month into 2020, and things have been relatively strong for XLM likely the result of resilient Bitcoin trade.

So far, the price of XLM increased 33 percent from the start of the year, from $0.045 to just over $0.06.

It might however prove difficult to keep this up, as the effects of the coronavirus outbreak (supposedly) threaten market sentiment moving forward.

Published January 29, 2020 16:21 UTC

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Q4 2019: Stellar gives away $16M, burns 50% of XLM price still drops - The Next Web

The bull rally that has been praised immensely this January appears have died and passed on the mantle to the bears who want nothing but to wreak havoc in the cryptocurrency market. The market generally painted and interestingly, the biggest gainers last week are recording the biggest losses of the day. For instance, Bitcoin Gold is correcting lower 4.85%, Dash is down 4.18% and Ethereum Classic is teetering 3.58% lower on the day.

Read more:Ethereum Classic Price Analysis: ETH/USD bears flip the bulls, target shifts to $5

Bitcoin is undergoing a pullback from the recent $9,200 high. The reversal is taking place after an incredible performance since the beginning of January. Bitcoin extended the gains from last Decembers recovery from $6,500. The bulls nurtured the gains above several resistance zones including $7,700, $8,000, $8,400, $8,800 and $9,000.

However, it is apparent that a reversal mission is underway and Bitcoin could soon touch $8,000 if the support at $8,300 fails to hold. The largest cryptocurrency has a market value of $8,300, although an intraday high of $8,399 has been traded on Friday.

Looking at the hourly chart, Bitcoin price is holding onto thelower trend line of a falling wedge pattern. If the shallow recovery above the trendline continues, a breakout seems imminent above the patterns resistance. For now, $8,400 is the stubborn zone ahead of the resistances at $8,500, $8,800 and $9,200.

Ethereum has finally forced its way through the support at $160. The failed attempt to break above $165 yesterday, paved the way for a bearish action that is becoming too strong to stop. At the time of writing, ETH is trading at $158, which is 2.30% lower compared to the opening value of $162.50. Thehigh volatility and increasing growing bearish trend signal that a dive to $150 is possible in the near term.

Also read:Ethereum Price Analysis: ETH/USD balances at the edge of the $160 cliff

The third-largest cryptocurrency on the market has not escaped the bearish wave. Its price is dancing at $0.2216 after shedding 1.6% of the tokens value on the day. On the brighter side, the bulls managed to retake the support at $0.2200 after dropping to an intraday low of $0.2174. To avert possible declines to $0.20, XRP must scale the levels above $0.23 and focus on the resistance at $0.24.

Also read:Ripple Price Analysis: XRP/USD struggles to save triangle support at its peak

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Cryptocurrency Market Update: Bitcoin, Ripple and Ethereum dive into the rabbit holes - FXStreet

The crypto community is divided on whether or not the Bitcoin halving is already priced in. However, one thing is for sure: the topic is getting a lot of attention.

Norwegian cryptocurrency intelligence company Arcane Research says Google searches for the term Bitcoin halving have spiked in the last 12 months. While the exact number of queries is not documented, the firm says its research has revealed the level of interest over time for the phrase, using data from Google Trends.

In January of 2019, searches for the term flashed readings of below 20. A year later, the term registered an interest level of 100, indicating peak popularity. The conclusion from Arcane Research is that Bitcoins upcoming halving is gaining more traction among the crypto curious.

The last time the term spiked in popularity was back in 2016, when the king of cryptocurrency halved for the second time. In that year, Bitcoins price grew by nearly 125%.

In May 2020, Bitcoin rewards will be halved from 12.5 BTC to 6.25 BTC per block. Past halving events have foreshadowed a bull market. Today, not all crypto enthusiasts are convinced that the next bull market will emerge after the third halving. Arcane Research notes,

Independent of the conclusion, there is now a clear indication that awareness of the concept has spread to new people.

Featured Image: Shutterstock/Alberto Andrei Rosu

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Hype Over Bitcoin (BTC) Halving Accelerating, Reports Cryptocurrency Analysis Firm Arcane Research - The Daily Hodl

Cryptocurrency businesses operating in Singapore will need to register and be licensed to continue serving customers in the country.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said on Tuesday that the Payment Services Act will now be enforced.

First passed in January last year, the act gives the regulator supervisory authority over all paymentbusinesses in the country.

[Read:Singapores financial regulator wants its banks and blockchains to be friends]

Companies now have a month to register with MAS. Once they do so, businesseswill have six months to apply for a payment institution license.

Services that MAS will now be regulating are domestic money transfers, merchant acquisition, and digital payment token services,said Mr Ong Ye Kung, minister for education, in a speech last year.

We will be among the first few financial services regulators in the world to introduce a regulatory framework for digital payment token services, or what is commonly understood as cryptocurrency dealing or exchange services, they added.

Back in October 2018, the regulator revealed that it would help local cryptocurrency companies get traditional bank accounts.

Singapore is known for its expanding fintech ecosystem with blockchain technology playing a significant part in that.

Earlier this year, a report found that blockchain development was the fastest-growing skill in Singapore.

In November 2018, the Singapore government said it would provide seed funding for companies todevelop a blockchain platform to connect all industry stakeholders.

Published January 28, 2020 09:30 UTC

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Singapore tightens AML restrictions on cryptocurrency companies - The Next Web

Source: iStock/coffeekai

It seems that another big, non-crypto company just stepped onto Japans crypto scene.

Daiko Holdings has become the latest Japanese firm to operate a cryptocurrency platform. SNC, operator of the Bitgate cryptocurrency exchange has transferred a controlling stake of 58.1% of its 100% stake in the company to Daiko Holdings.

Per an official Bitgate announcement, SNC will retain a minority 41.9% stake in the exchange.

Bitgate has also become an official subsidiary of the Daiko Holdings Group, which operates a wide range of financial and brokerage services, as well as marketing, hardware and rental car businesses.

The move is more significant when viewed against the backdrop of the past few years. Some of the countrys biggest conventional finance and brokerage services providers are now building cryptocurrency arms. In some cases, such as the SBI Group, they are creating their own platforms from scratch.

But, as is the case with the likes of the Monex Group now the owner of the Coincheck exchange some are preferring to acquire smaller, license-holding exchanges, due largely to the fact that the process for obtaining an operating license from the regulatory Financial Services Agency (FSA) has proven so difficult.

Others have pursued a hybrid approach. Fisco, a company that monitors Japanese stocks and provides investment advisory, launched its own crypto trading platform several years ago, but recently acquired rival platform Zaif and is set to complete a merger in the coming weeks.

Bitgate was established in 2017, and was one of the first platforms to obtain a permit from the FSA. It exclusively handles bitcoin.

Watch the latest reports by Block TV.

The exchange, one of Japans smaller platforms, had a decidedly mixed year in 2019, with many services suspended following what appears to have been a failed attempt to revamp.

Two of Daikos senior executives have been added to the Bitgate board of directors, along with the CEO of SNC.

Per a Daiko Holdings announcement, the business group has recently set up a crowdfunding subsidiary, with an initial USD 92,000 in capital.

Daiko Holdings also operates the Platmall e-commerce platform, which last year announced it would begin accepting cryptocurrency pay.

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Another Japanese Finance Industry Player Joins the Cryptocurrency Fray - Cryptonews

Tehran officials have recently issued more than a thousand licences as Iranian financial leaders look to tackle an ever-diminishing economy by grabbing digital assets like bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP and Bitcoin Cash.

It is understood the Iranian government has given a direct order to invest heavily in crypto as it looks to skirt around Washingtons financial penalties.

Curiously, cryptocurrency trading in Iran is illegal. However, the government is keen to employ the services of companies and individuals capable of mining and storing vast amounts of digital funds.

According to Amir-Hossein Saeedi Naeeni - a member of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Guild Organisations blockchain commission the strict laws over trading had forced many miners to leave Iran.

The laws announced by government institutions for crypto mining are very strict in comparison to other industries in the country, causing many miners to stop operating or migrate to the regional countries for investment, he told PressTV.

The digital mining industry, beside bringing currency into the country, can facilitate trade where traders can use cryptocurrencies to import goods and bypass payment problems resulting from the banking sanctions.

Recently, it was reported that dozens of Chinese crypto miners based in Iran had fled the country following the escalation of tensions between Iran and the US. A swathe of Chinese mining farms relocated to Iran early last year to take advantage of cheap electricity prices.

Energy costs soared in the days following a drone strike which killed military leader Qassem Suleimani, and have not receded since. The price spike means many of the Chinese firms have sold their huge mining rigs to locals.

Iranian leaders have now seized upon the opportunity to put the mining rigs to work for the countrys own economic gain in addition to issuing hundreds of new mining licences.

Coin Rivetis a website bringingnews, information, analysis, opinion and insight from the fast-moving blockchain world.

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Iran ramps up cryptocurrency mining operations - Express

Theres a new language developing around the world of cryptocurrency, and many people are already confused. If youre not well-versed in this brave new world, you are not alone. Hopefully, this article will answer your questions and help you build your cryptocurrency vocabulary.

What is cryptocurrency?

Cryptocurrency consists of web-based digital assets that use cryptographic functions to conduct financial transactions. Digital assets typically utilize blockchain technology to gain transparency and decentralization to varying degrees. Digital assets include Bitcoin, other cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, which are backed by fiat for lower fluctuation, and tokens, which can sometimes be representative of units used within an organization to move currency around the globe or for gaming purposes.

What are the different types of cryptocurrency?

Bitcoin is the most widely used cryptocurrency. Other cryptocurrencies, also known as altcoins (which refers to any currency that is not Bitcoin or Ethereum), include Stellar, Tron, Salt and OmiseGo.

Facebook, in conjunction with a set of partners, is introducing the Libra coin, which is different from other cryptocurrencies because it is governed by said partners and is tied to the fiat currency of government bonds and fiat currencies (including the U.S. dollar, euro and yen).

What is an ICO?

An initial coin offering (ICO) is similar to an initial public offering (IPO) of stocks, but tokens are being offered rather than stocks in the ICO. The public exchanges money for tokens, which are an acknowledgment that the contract between buyer and issuer has been fulfilled. The buyer then owns coins, or tokens, representative of a value tied to the entity with price fluctuations to varying degrees, usually depending on the state of the organization.

Are cryptocurrencies securities?

That depends. Digital assets may or may not be securities. Securities are negotiable financial instruments issued by a company or government that give ownership rights, debt rights or rights to buy, sell or trade an option. Bitcoin, for example, is typically not defended as a security since it has no centralized governance and the price fluctuations are mostly from supply and demand, not tied to the success of a company or centralized organization. However, some digital assets can be seen as securities under various frameworks and therefore are subject to various SEC regulations.

What is the difference between bitcoin and blockchain?

Bitcoin is a decentralized digital asset arguably, the most popular and typically takes up half of all digital asset trading volume on most given days. Bitcoin utilizes blockchain technology. Blockchain is not a cryptocurrency. It is the ledger that records all the cryptocurrency transactions that are verified by cryptography and is open, secure and accessible by all.

Anyone can make a transaction and sign it with a private key. It will be broadcasted to the unconfirmed transactions pool and be verified by miners who will get the fee from it as a reward. Each new block with transactions is approved by a consensus mechanism and cannot be reverted after a certain amount of time (six blocks for Bitcoin). The main difference is that Bitcoin has proof of work (POW) consensus and also uses a specific model of transactions. Blockchain technology does not have any strict restrictions on consensus, transaction model and data that will be transferred in it. For example, enterprise blockchain systems are used to build the supply chain without any financial data in it.

Once Libra is created, will Bitcoin disappear?

Not at all. While Facebook is touting Libra as cryptocurrency, it is more of a stablecoin. Its expected to have low volatility since its value is tied to currency such as the U.S. dollar or to gold. As the saying goes, A rising tide elevates all boats, and Libra will be the rising tide that brings crypto into the mainstream so even your grandmother will be talking about it.

Facebook, along with its partners, has greater visibility than Bitcoin and this brings attention. Will your grandma become a Bitcoin miner? No; shell just buy Libra because its from institutions she understands. Unlike the 1849 Gold Rush, Bitcoin mining is done by high-powered computers solving complex mathematical equations that result in the creation of new coins. Bitcoin will remain the asset of choice for those who want cryptocurrency thats first-to-market, decentralized and determined by the people. The lack of governance, though scary to some, is exactly what appeals to others. Bitcoin and Libra will continue to have different purposes.

Space is not the final frontier, as cryptocurrency has created a new frontier. It is a combination of banking, currency trading and international commerce. In the increasingly global world of business, the ability to transfer funds securely and quickly around the world makes the need to explore this frontier all the more important.

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The Most Common Crypto Questions And Why You Should Care - Forbes