Tim Enneking ismanaging director at Crypto Asset Management, which overseesCrypto Asset Fund, a regulated US cryptocurrency trading fund.

In this opinion piece,Enneking argues thatthe term "cryptocurrencies" is now outdated, and that new terminology is needed to describe the innovationsbeing imagined and built in the blockchain industry.

No, that headline is not a mistake.

Its not the cryptocurrencies themselves that should be killed off, but rather the term (hence the quotation marks). Labeling everything going on in the crypto world (space, ecosystem, universe: pick one) "currencies" is dead, pass, OBE You get the idea.

Two questions logically arise: First, why is the term dead and, second, if it's dead, what should replace it?

As to the first, that's easy. There are two problems with applying the phrase "cryptocurrency" to what's going on in the space traditionally known by that name. First, the "coins" are acting less and less like coins and more and more like something else, perhaps equities.

In fact, for my fund, we divide the cryptocurrency space into "blue chips,""large caps,""mid caps,""small caps,""pennies," ("penny coins" seemed redundant) and "NLT" ("no longer traded").

(Now, before you think I am trying to tout my fund, please realize that we decided to name it "Crypto Asset Fund" for the same reasons as those I'm citing here.For the record, my prior fund was indeed called the "Crypto Currency Fund" so we are following the same evolution as the crypto ecosystem itself.)

Related to this shift is the fact that, when bitcoin was effectively the only game in town, aficionados touted it as a "dollar replacement", or at least a supplement but the target was clearly displacing, to one degree or another, fiat currencies. Now, however, with the emphasis on blockchain, ethereum contracts, Ripple bank transfers, etc, etc, cryptocurrenciesare becoming more a transaction enabler than the transaction itself. Their use as currencies, per se, is clearly decreasing.

So, cryptocurrencies are rapidly migrating away from being a medium of exchange (one of probably the most critical of the purposes of a "currency") into enablers of exchanges.

ICOs, tokens, tethers, exchange lending, the (slowly) growing crypto-derivatives market: all reinforce the strong secular shift of cryptocurrencies to crypto "assets."

Which leads us directly to the second question: What should we call all this stuff?

We have voted with our pens and opted for "assets" a nice, all-encompassing fiat word that is sufficiently vague to cover just about everything that might happen in the crypto space.

Why does this matter? Because perception is reality. If we want to attract more investors and users to the crypto universe, then we need those investors to quickly and easily understand what the space offers. Mislabeling (or, at least, too narrowly labeling) the space doesn't help. The name also inevitably affects how those of us already in the space view it, and ourselves, as well.

Labels matter.

A real-life example: CNBC asked me to appear live on Capital Connection out of Singapore(the interview took place and was broadcast July 5) and to recommend "three cryptocurrencies". I declined to do so, countering with three much more varied investments in the crypto space: one lower risk (whatever that might mean), one moderate risk and one higher risk.

The first is lending (fixed income), the second is a coin (equities) and the third is an ICO (IPO or alts). The italicized terms are the fiat equivalent of these three investments, which, by no coincidence, cover the three "legs" of the typical fiat investment "stool."

So, lets move to a much more accurate characterization of the space, ecosystem, universe, whatever (do I sense another opinion piecein the offing?) and call the sector (!) were working in "crypto assets" or even just "crypto", shall we?

I'd argue it makes much more sense.

Disclosure:CoinDesk is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, whichhas an ownership stake in Ripple.

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The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk strives to offer an open platform for dialogue and discussion on all things blockchain by encouraging contributed articles. As such, the opinions expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the view of CoinDesk.

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Killing 'Cryptocurrency': Why It's Time to Retire the Term - CoinDesk

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Serial entrepreneur, Rafe Furst, is no stranger to pressure. He played poker at the professional level and stared down other pros to win first place at a World Series of Poker event, netting $350,000 in prize money and a World Series of Poker Championship bracelet. He has co-founded several companies, and personally invested in dozens of others at the early stage. He has also backed a unicorn startup and gotten stuck with dead horse investments, too.

The key to any poker game, and the game of life, Furst believes, is to keep making smart decisionseven if you experience setbacks. Play enough hands where you have an edge and youll come out ahead.

He doesnt merely preach it. Furst faced one of the highest-pressure situations almost any entrepreneur can. In 2011, the online poker company he helped found, Full Tilt Poker, folded after the CEO committed fraud. Furst lost most of his fortune trying to make things right. The episode put stress on his marriage, his friendships and his mental health. But he pushed forward and came out on the other side stronger, wiser and ready to change the world.

Theres no question that Furst bounced back in a big way.

He resumed investing in early-stage startups. And he has used his impressive quantitative thinking to raise millions for cancer research, as well as design the personal investment contract, an innovative way to impact the lives of young people by investing in their future early on.

Now, hes taking what he believes to be the biggest and best calculated risk of his career. Furst believes he has cracked the greatest investment opportunity of a lifetime: cryptocurrencies.

I think its the most important technology since the internet itself, Furst says.

Startup investing is potentially one of the most lucrative bets you can make. Thats if you invest in the right companies. Gary Vaynerchuk recently revealed that had he invested $25,000 into Uber in 2010, his investment would have been worth $300 million today. He passed on the opportunity and wishes he had a time machine.

Furst is a student of investment cycles and he believes that nearly everyone is doing it wrong.

Investors work hard to source the right deals and work with the right people. The result is: they invest in a handful of deals per year. But that isnt enough. Investors try to pick winners, but thats impossible, says Furst.

Furst should know. He did research in cognitive science and artificial intelligence at Stanford University, founded several startups, invested in dozens more, and cofounded Crowdfunder, a leading online equity crowdfunding platform. That platform connects thousands of entrepreneurs, including famous musician Neil Young and NBA star Yao Ming, to millions in crowdfunded capital. Crowdfunder currently has more than 130,000 members who fund millions of dollars worth of deals each month.

Through millions of poker hands, startup investing and his work with Crowdfunder, Furst developed second-to-none quantitative chops. Those chops helped him uncover a powerful investment insight.

Most VC funds do a dozen deals per year and most of them lose money because theyre not diversified enough, says Furst. Modeling data from Right Side Capital, a quantitative VC firm he helped form and invested in, suggests you need over 300 companies in your portfolio if you want to achieve the market average with 85 percent certainty.

Now, Furst is applying that logic to another opportunity, which he believes is bigger than investing in winning startups in the seed stage: cryptocurrencies.

Cryptocurrencies are decentralized digital assets, traded using technology called blockchain ledgers. Bitcoin is one such currency, but there are over 800 in existence. Cryptocurrencies provide a much-needed update to how money and other assets are valued, transferred, and used by both people and governments. And Furst believes this need will cause the market capitalization for cryptocurrencies to skyrocket.

So far, hes right. In the last two years, the overall cryptocurrencies market capitalization has grown almost 30x, minting millionaires many times over. Now, Furst wants to get everyone in on the game.

Fursts love of poker led him to the group that started Full Tilt Poker, one of the biggest online poker forums in history. Despite massive financial success, Full Tilt didnt end well.

Furst was one of 23 investors and one of four board members of the software company that launched Full Tilt Poker. They empowered the CEO with full operational responsibility and were distributed a percentage of profits. This was a gamble that paid off handsomely for four years, until the CEO noticed a gaping hole in the companys balance sheet. Unfortunately for all involved, the CEO hid the shortfall and paid investors with operating capital, not profits, for several months. The CEO ultimately pled guilty to fraud, but not before destroying Full Tilt.

Furst spent untold energy fighting to keep the company afloat, and was rewarded by the U.S. Department of Justice with a civil lawsuit to recover all of his profits. Ultimately, Furst settled and was cleared of any wrongdoing though he lost most of his money in the process.

I have no problem telling the story and being transparent about what happened, says Furst. Every entrepreneur has things that are difficult to tell potential investors. Mine happens to be really public, and whats out there is very one-sided and politically motivated.

This dangerous cocktail of professional pressure, anxiety and public scrutiny had heated Fursts mind to a boiling point far beyond that which most entrepreneurs experience. It led to a mental and emotional breakdown. But, thanks to the support of his family and friends, he bounced back and changed his lifes trajectory.

The experience gave Furst much-needed clarity. He knew he wanted to do something big.

Image credit: Melly Lee

Back in 2011, Bitcoin was the only cryptocurrency in existence. And while Furst took a gamble and invested in it, it was clear to him that it would take the rest of the world a while to catch up in understanding the significance of Bitcoin. So he launched full bore into Crowdfunder for four and a half years. By late 2016, there were hundreds of currencies and he became convinced that the blockchain and cryptocurrencies were getting much closer to the point of changing the world.

Its the decentralization of money and power, Furst says.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are backed by the power of distributed networks, just like many startups and open-source software projects. As such, cryptos (as they are known colloquially) are not burdened by operational inefficiencies of centralized bureaucracies, and can appreciate in value quite rapidly, especially if they prove useful to the marketplace.

But, Furst learned a crucial lesson from his VC and poker days: the more bets you spread out over time, the better chance you have of hitting the jackpot. Thats exactly what hes doing with his new venture, The Crypto Company.

With The Crypto Company, you dont have to worry about the technicalities and risks of buying and selling individual cryptos. We are a holding company for a basket of cryptos and providing a basket of consulting services to other holders of similar assets, Furst says.

Right now, investing in and cashing out of cryptos is a laborious process that often requires bank transfers between multiple online exchanges and parties, and several layers of verifications. Instead of the hassle, The Crypto Company will offer direct and indirect exposure to dozens of different cryptos.

As a result, The Crypto Company has wide exposure to the cryptocurrency market, one which Furst and others believe can be a trillion-dollar market within the next five years, as he expects banks, governments and institutions will jump on-board. For some perspective, the market capitalization for cryptocurrencies has grown approximately 6x in the first half of 2017 to over $100 billion. Furst calls this huge number merely a rounding error compared to the trillions of dollars traded and transferred by financial institutions in commodities, derivatives and gold daily.

Furst was forced to fold a money-making hand in Full Tilt Poker. But he came out on the other side even stronger.

Poker is a great source of entertainment, but in the end its a zero sum game: for someone to win, someone else must lose, explains Furst. Entrepreneurs, on the other hand, are creating whats known in economics as shared value; in other words the startup game is win-win.

He sees cryptocurrencies as elevating the game of startups to a whole new level. In fact, Furst believes that cryptocurrencies are the new startups, but with even bigger advantages: crypto networks are decentralized and the tokens are liquid right away.

This is like when I was in Silicon Valley in the 1990s and saw the first web browser before almost anyone, Furst says. "Blockchain and cryptocurrencies are the future.

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From $100 Million to Broke to Betting It All on Cryptocurrencies - Entrepreneur

In the first nine minutes of its Initial Coin Offering (ICO) New York-based Starta Accelerator raised more than $1.6 million. This is just one of many successful projects that recently secured investment in the cryptocurrency world. What is the Russian ICO craze all about and why is it proliferating?

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This blockchain investment mechanism is rapidly becoming very popular among Russian entrepreneurs. Source: Jens Kalaene/Global Look Press

Facing a shortage of venture capital at home and coming up against wary international investors intimidated by U.S. and EU sanctions, more Russian tech projects are tapping into cryptocurrency markets. In the first half of 2017, a growing number of Russian startups successfully completed an ICO, raising millions of dollars in Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies from backers across the globe.

This blockchain investment mechanism is rapidly becoming very popular among Russian entrepreneurs seeking to raise capital. By the time Starta Accelerator had closed its ICO on July 4, the company had raised a total of about $5 million for 21 startups from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus; each of which is already incorporated and working in the U.S.

One of the most successful recent ICOs in the Russian startup sector was Supercomputer Organized by Network Mining (SONM), which raised $42 million from 8,744 backers in just four days.

The project is described as Airbnb for computers, and SONMs secure and cost-effective fog supercomputer is designed for general-purpose computing, from mobile app hosting to DNA analysis. The project will revolutionize the computing market, claimed Sergey Ponomarev, the companys CEO.

SONM is a blockchain-powered project, but more startups are coming from the real economy. In mid June, ZrCoin, an innovative factory that recycles metallurgical waste, raised more than $7 million from almost 4,000 backers on Waves, a blockchain-based cryptocurrency platform. We raised twice as much funding as planned, commented ZrCoins co-founder, Andrey Nokonorov.

The new factory will consist of two production lines in Siberia transforming industrial waste into synthetic zirconium with a total capacity of 800 tons. Each ZrCoin token is backed with one kilogram (2.2 pounds) of zirconium dioxide.

ICO as a means for Russian tech to raise capital has attracted the attention of the countrys politicians. Boris Titov, the business ombudsman and billionaire, is creating a new incubator for entrepreneurs hosted on the blockchain platform, Waves. The project was founded in 2016 by Russian entrepreneur Sasha Ivanov and is now one of the most popular ICO platforms.

Sasha Ivanov. / WAVES

In June, Titov signed an agreement with Sasha Ivanov to create an ICO Incubator called People of Growth, whose purpose is to help companies in different sectors of the real economy obtain ICO funding.

Russia is one of the most advanced countries in blockchain technology, and thats why Russian founders are behind many ICOs in the world, said Ivanov. The interest in ICO and cryptocurrency is growing rapidly both in Russia and around the world.

According to Ivanov, Bitcoin was legalized in Japan this spring, and the cryptocurrency community is hoping to see a similar process in other countries. Entrepreneurs are also inspired by the success of previous ICOs and the amounts raised, although the lack of venture capital is one of the main reasons this is happening.

About six months ago Titov launched his own cryptocurrency, Upcoin, to promote his political movement, the Party of Growth. The coins were integrated into the party loyalty program to reward supporters with a number of benefits, such as discounts for education.

Titov is authorized by President Vladimir Putin to protect the rights of entrepreneurs in Russia. In 2017, he attended Donald Trumps inauguration in Washington D.C.

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Russia's tech world embraces cryptocurrency markets - Russia Beyond the Headlines

Most people are well aware of how cryptocurrency volatility is a big problem. Although there are periods during which volatility seemingly quiets down, this week has been filled with wild price fluctuations. As of right now, all currencies and assets in the top 10 are bleeding value once again. IOTA, NEM, and Ethereum are the biggest losers of the lot, by the look of things.

People who speculate on the value of individual cryptocurrencies have hopefully opened a few short positions. All major currencies are going down in value as we speak, which is rather surprising. In fact, Bitcoin is the only currency holding its own, with just a 1.3% dip. Other currencies are not faring all that well, with IOTA recording the largest losses at -11.42%. NEM at negative 6.18% and Ethereum at negative 5.51% are not doing all that great either.

One could argue market volatility has returned in full swing ever since the total cryptocurrency market cap surpassed the US$100bn mark. Since that time, we have seen multiple sharp dips, followed by recovery, followed by another dip. It is evident this US$100bn mark is a psychological threshold for a lot of traders and speculators, albeit it is anybodys guess what the real story is.

When Bitcoin drops in value, all major altcoins will do the same. However, they are not doing so in an equal manner, as Bitcoin is the one currency with the smallest losses over the past 24 hours. It is well worth noting how Dash is the only other currency keeping pace with Bitcoin, despite its 1.46% dip. No other currencies keep losses minimized to 2% or less as of right now, which is rather surprising. It is possible a lot of altcoins are being exchanged back to Bitcoin, yet the timing doesnt make much sense.

One thing people should pay more attention to is how Ethereum Classic is declining far less in value compared to Ethereum. Granted, Ether is far more valuable in US Dollars compared to ETC right now, but one would expect both of them to go down in equal fashion. That is not the case, as ETC lost 2.04% in value, compared to Ethers 5.51% loss. An interesting trend, although it doesnt have to mean all that much right now.

What is rather disconcerting to see is how IOTA seems to be taking a lot of hits in the value department lately. The token started trading on major exchanges not too long ago and was instantly catapulted in the top ten. Maintaining that position is a big challenge, as its market cap has dipped well below US$1bn in quick succession. Depending on how the markets evolve, that market cap may very well drop out of the 10 in the weeks to come.

Last but not least, the overall cryptocurrency trading volume has also taken a nosedive. Right now, this volume sits at well below US$2.5bn in the past 24 hours. Such numbers are to be expected during a weekend, but not necessarily during the week. It is possible we see a small pullback before the next major bull run. However, it is also possible future corrections are coming thanks to some currencies being way overbought in recent weeks. Only two currencies have a market cap of over US$10bn right now, which is very peculiar.

If you liked this article, follow us on Twitter @themerklenews and make sure to subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest bitcoin, cryptocurrency, and technology news.

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Cryptocurrency Markets Turn Sour yet Again, Top 10 Currencies all Lose Value - The Merkle

A Princeton University researcher has receivedmore than $400,000 in federal funding to study mechanism incentivesand their applications to cryptocurrencies like bitcoin.

The study project, "Duality-based tools for simple vs. optimal mechanism design and applications to cryptocurrency", is being led by Seth Weinberg, an assistant professor of computer science at Princeton. The grant, worth $450,000, was awarded on 28th June by the National Science Foundation. The project is set to begin in September and will last until August 31, 2020, according to the NSF.

As theorganization's website explains:

"A secondary focus of this project is to apply these theoretical foundations to resolve cryptocurrency incentive issues arising within Bitcoin, an emerging cryptocurrency. While bitcoin has remained largely immune to traditional security breaches, numerous incentive issues have been discovered which could undermine its future security if not properly addressed."

Though cryptocurrencies constitute only part of the research study its primary focus is the design of algorithmic mechanisms and the theoretical incentives at play its the latest instance of a projectthat involves the tech receiving federal backing.

In mid-2015, the NSF awarded $3m to theInitiative for Cryptocurrency and Contracts (IC3), a research effort involving academics from Cornell, the University of Maryland and the University of California Berkeley. The NSF has also moved to back cybersecurity-related research that involves blockchain.

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National Science Foundation Awards $450k for Cryptocurrency Incentive Study - CoinDesk

Its been almost three years since Zack Brown raised $55,000 on Kickstarter for a potato salad. His goal was $10. He wanted to raise the money in order to pay for making the midwestern cookout staple for the first time.

I made that Kickstarter project to get a laugh out of seven people, so the money and attention were a shock, Brown wrote the Observer in an email. The original intent of the joke was more like, This is funny because its not what Kickstarter is for.' But it didnt take long for him to see that hed created a satire of the site on the site itself.

My first two thoughts were This is ridiculous and How can I get in on this?

But when Brown raised far more money than he ever thought he would, the Columbus, Ohio, resident opted to actually do something with the cash and make a cookbook devoted to the staple of Midwestern picnics,The Peace, Love and Potato Salad Cookbook.It came out two years after the campaign ended, which isnt bad considering the fact that he didnt launch the campaign to make a book and hed never made a potato salad before.

The Useless Ethereum Token logo. Thats a cityscape (no its not). Twitter

Today, theres a new, even more ephemeral way to raise money: by creating a new cryptocurrency. Called an initial coin offering or ICO, entrepreneurs have been creating new digital currencies (like Bitcoin) in order to support various projects. Fortunately, just as it starts to crack mainstream attention, ICOs have gotten their own answer to the potato salad campaign. Its called the Useless Ethereum Token(UET), and its creator will absolutely sell you cryptocurrency good for absolutely nothing.

It went on sale yesterday and runs through July 11.

The UET ICOtransparentlyoffers investors no value, so there will be no expectation of gains, its creator, who only goes by UET CEO, writes on its website. Rememberthis is acompletely honestICO, which means I dont want anyone to mistakenlyexpectthe value of the tokens to go up, either. Theyre called Useless Ethereum Tokens for a reason.

We can think of one other cryptocurrency that came out and promised buyers nothing but the digital asset itself: bitcoin. In the end, every new currency of any kind is a satire on the very strange idea of money.

We wrote about a decentralized company, The DAO, which was working well until a security flaw made it collapse horribly. We wrote about the first Bitcoin felons ICO-poweredsecond act after prison, which fizzled (according to a profile in Fortune, hes glad). Recently, we covered the Basic Attention Token designed by a major web pioneer to change the economy for eyeballs online. It sold out almost instantly. Soon, messaging unicornKik is going to have a crowdsale to foster a new venture capital-independent ecosystem of developers.

Its such a buzzy world thatThe New York Times ran a deep dive recently begging the question: how many millions will get raised in this space for the Securities and Exchange Commission starts putting up red flags? UET CEO sees it much the same way.

I saw that people were investing in ICO after ICO, with each having its own slew of problems (both technical and in principle) and still making absurd amounts of money, UET CEO wrote the Observer in an email. My first two thoughts were This is ridiculous and How can I get in on this? I didnt have a product but I realized that people didnt really care about the product. They cared about spending a little bit of money, watching a chart and then withdrawing a little bit more money. So why not have an ICO without a product, and do so completely transparently just to see what happened?

The satire is actually built into the smart contract as well. Buyers get 1 UET for every 0.1 Ether (ETH) invested, plus a bonus. Every UET bought comes with free UET equal to the number of ETH invested. So, as of this writing, someone who paid 0.1 ETH right now would get 1 UET from the base formula plus 52 bonus UET, because people have put in 52 ETH so far.

Plus, the system will also randomly give away some bonus tokens along the way.

This, along with the bonus blocks were completely intentional, both to mirror some of the goofy crap other ICOs have tried to do in the name of fairness or whatever, and to further highlight that these tokens arent meant to be attached to any real value, UET CEO wrote. What good is an ICO if it just gives away tokens right?

Tokens get released right away. Prices dont swing with ETHs value.

Most crypto watchers online like the gag. We liked this exchange on an Ethereum investor subreddit.

This guy gets it. Reddit

The only way to buy in is with Ethereum, which also provides most of the underlying code. So far, UET has acquired 52 ETH, worth an equivalent of nearly $14,000. Over $1,000 worth has gone in since we have been working on this post. The site continuously updates with investments, but it can all also be verified on Etherscan, a third party site that makes the blockchain records a bit more comprehensible.

So whats UET CEO trying to say with this project? Well leave that for readers to decide, but remember that the best jokes tend to be made by folks who care about a subject enough to understand it well.Will the anonymous entrepreneur imitate Brown and do something substantive at the end of the crowdsale? Or would it be more in the spirit of the project if he just took all the money and blew it on an epic night at Applebees?

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Cryptocurrency Has Its Potato Salad Moment With the Useless Ethereum Token - Observer

Its getting easier all the time to be paid in cryptocurrency. As of Monday, July 3, Bitwage, the Bitcoin payroll and international wage payment service, announced that it is launching services in the U.K. While there might be irony given that earlier this year Bitwage also announced it would offer European Union (EU) IBAN numbers to workers anywhere in the world receiving wages from EU companies, the latest news suggests that the United Kingdom is ready for cryptocurrency. But Bitwage has been saying that for two years.

For domestic workers, we are providing the easiest way for users to obtain digital currencies, Jonathan Chester, founder and president of Bitwage, told Bitcoin Magazine in a recent interview. It is just set it and forget it, as your savings of bitcoin, ether or litecoin increase over time. This is great timing to allow all the new U.K. users that have come into the ecosystem due to the recent price rise.

For international workers, this comes at a good time during the uncertainty of Brexit, said Chester. Once the U.K. leaves the EU, it will be much harder to receive payments from U.K. companies throughout Europe. Our solution will help reduce the cost and delays for workers receiving wages from the U.K., despite the impending consequences of the U.K. leaving the EU.

If Brexit leads to a significant change in the exchange rate, businesses will need to account for the most efficient payment process possible to reduce the likelihood of errors, delays or any other costs within their control.

While entire companies can easily switch their entire workforce payroll onto Bitwage, this scenario is not entirely necessary. Individual employees can create accounts for themselves. If someone is interested in getting their wages or a portion [of them] in cryptocurrency, all they have to do is sign up to Bitwage and provide the bank account provided to their employer, explained Chester. [Employers] dont even need to know the difference.

However, a great way to spread cryptocurrency adoption in the workplace would be to discuss the advantages of Bitcoin with fellow employees and management. As Chester put it, Bitcoin is a much better store of value than gold [because its] easier to use and store, and its much more scarce. For employees, taking a portion of wages in cryptocurrency would be an investment. Because users have the option of allocating the portion of their wages that are paid out in crypto versus fiat, it is an easy way to automatically start holding small amounts of cryptocurrencies.

If you are paying a lot of workers, it is about saving money on wire fees and not being limited on the amount you can send, said Chester. Systems that save you money on wire fees, but do not leverage blockchain [technology], have to use a method called float. This essentially means they are holding money in the other country to pay out when they receive the funds and then send a bulk wire to replenish the accounts in the payout country later. These systems have to limit the amount you can send so that they do not run out of funds to pay out. This is not the case with blockchain [technology].

Chester said that, before announcing its U.K. launch, several U.K. companies had approached Bitwage, hoping to use their service to pay workers in the Philippines. They wanted a way to save money on wire fees, save their workers money on exchange rates and remove limits on the amount of money that can be sent.

For many people, particularly millennials, having options can be a legitimate benefit. Offering employees more options for how they want their wages paid out is empowering. Furthermore, it signifies trust between employee and employer.

Bitwage can also receive and pay out in a wide range of other currencies such as gold, silver, USD, Euros, GBP, BRL, PHP, INR, MXN, ARS, VND, NGN and UAH. Choice of currency could be a formidable recruiting tool to attract a much wider pool of talent. For instance, international employees, the unbanked, gold bugs, silverites and of course the crypto community might appreciate the option of getting paid in the currency of their choice.

Chester pointed out that once more than 50 percent of employees at a business are getting paid in cryptocurrency, an employer might even decide to provide an incentive package like a bitcoin 401k.

It is important to note, however, that once businesses receive bitcoins from a Bitcoin transaction, it becomes that entitys responsibility to report capital gains. If a business receives all of their transactions in another designated currency, no additional reporting is required. Before making these choices on the type of payment, payment processor and preferred currency for Bitcoin transactions, and before making any changes to their settlement, its a good idea for business owners to discuss their intentions and their options with their accountants.

Furthermore, employees should pay careful attention to Bitwages fee structures, since there are some costs associated with the service.

Continued here:

Get Your Wages in Cryptocurrencies: Bitwage Expands to the UK - Bitcoin Magazine

Hugh Harsono is a former financial analyst currently serving as a U.S. Army Officer.

Digital currency prices have soared recently, with reports from the past few months showing enormous valuation increases for currencies across the board.

Bitcoin, Ripple, and Ethereum have all experienced exponential growth, with Bitcoin prices rising to $2,588, Ripple reaching a market cap of nearly $10 billion, and Ethereum growing to a total market cap of over $20 billion.

With supply and demand for digital currencies extremely high in both Japan and China, it is no surprise as to why these two countries are helping to fuel the rise in cryptocurrency prices.

Ability to Withdraw in China?

With access to cheap hardware and electricity, China is the prime breeding ground for mining cryptocurencies, with huge mining pools run by exchanges such as BTCC accounting for more than 60% of the bitcoin networks collective hashrate.

However, the beginning of 2017 saw a governmental crackdown of Chinese-based digital currency exchanges, causing a suspension in all withdrawals, causing the market to suffer heavily with China being one of the top bitcoin markets in terms of trading volume.

Recently, Caixin reported potential changes in the governmental regulatory framework to allow withdrawals last month, specifically mentioning top exchanges OKcoin, Huobi, and BTCC. This potential good news has increased consumer confidence in cryptocurrencies, contributing to their associated rise in value.

Japan: Stepping in to Fill the Chinese Void

With cryptocurrency liquidity in China experienced stagnation earlier this year, the Japanese bitcoin market exploded, with demand reaching new heights.

Previously, Japan represented barely 1% of total bitcoin trading volume, but in recent months estimates put this number as high as 6%, with Japan accounting for nearly 55% of total trade volume on some trading days. This increase in JPY bitcoin trading due to the Chinese inability to liquidate has fueled growth in the digital currency market globally.

Solid Alternative Compared to Government Policy

In China, the tightly-controlled yuan is another reason why cryptocurrency prices have experienced their unprecedented rise in value. The Chinese government has total control over the yuans valuation, traditionally devaluing the yuan to give itself an international trade advantage when the government saw fit.

With the growing amount of private independent wealth in China, cryptocurrency has become viable as an alternative asset class. And cryptocurrencies are being seen as more accessible, less volatile, and increasingly stable, contributing to their recent growth in value.

Meanwhile, the Bank of Japans policy of quantitative easing has resulted in very low, and sometimes even negative interest rates, also caused digital currency values to rise.

The Japanese governments QE policy, intended to spur economic growth, has resulted in significant deflation for the yen, causing a similar decrease in investor confidence in this currency. With no end in sight for this form of Japanese monetary policy, digital currencies have and are currently being used as an alternative asset class, driving their rise in value.

Virtual currencies are quickly being seen as a better asset class by local investors, who fear the volatility of government interference in their specific economies.

Institutional Acceptance of Digital Currency

The rise in digital currency values can also be attributed to institutional acceptance of cryptocurrencies. The recent conclusion of the Global Blockchain Financial Summit in Hangzhou saw intense interest from reputable institutions like Peking University, which is creating an Ethereum center to work on direct application use and protocol improvements in China.

The Royal Chinese Mint, a downtrace unit of the Peoples Bank of China (PBoC) dedicated to its electronic banking mission, has even actively promoted the application of blockchain technology, going as far as to allocate resources and developers in experimentation to digitize the yuan.

In Japan, multiple large institutions are now beginning to accept digital currency as a transactional entity, validating its use to the Japanese population as a whole. On the market front,bitFlyer, Japans largest exchange, is currently backed by all three of Japans megabanks: MUFJ, Mizuho, and SMBC.

On the consumer/retail side, influential electronics retailer Bic Camera has partnered with bitFlyer to begin acceptance of bitcoin at its retail locations. Additionally, Recruit Lifestyle, part of HR conglomerate Recruit Holdings, reported a new partnership with exchange Coincheck to use as part of a point-of-sale implementation program. The acceptance of digital currencies by these reputable groups have helped fuel confidence in digital currencies for daily transactions by the Japanese.

This institutional acceptance of digital currencies by powerful organizations in both China and Japan have allowed cryptocurrencies values to rise as a whole.

Governmental Acceptance of Cryptocurrency

It is no secret that the Chinese government has taken steps to regulate digital currency transactions, with their scrutiny and initiatives causing a drop in bitcoin prices to around $1,000 just several months ago.

However, the very fact that the PBoC is seeking to regulate this industry simply proves how viable it is as a legitimate transaction entity, with the Chinese government even taking steps to build their own digital currency.

With the announcement of potential withdrawals of bitcoin on the horizon, the PBoC have just completed a trial run of their own digital currency based on blockchain technology, with participation from major institutions such as the Bank of China and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, as well as Chinas first online bank WeBank.

The Japanese government has also taken huge steps in the acceptance of digital currencies as legal forms of tender, with Japan legally classifying bitcoin as a form of payment just on April 1st.

Ahead of China, Japan has already begun licensure procedures for digital currency exchanges, to be operated under the watchful eye of the governments Financial Services Agency, with market leaders such as bitFlyer already announcing plans to apply for said license, further driving investor confidence in the Japanese market and beyond.

Additionally, the Japanese government announced that the sale of virtual currency under the new Fund Settlement Law would be exempt from the Japanese Consumption Tax (8%), further driving bitcoin growth as an investment vehicle.

The acceptance of virtual currencies by both the Chinese and Japanese governments are driving cryptocurrency growth, with China on the cusp of establishing its own currency, and Japan regulating bitcoin as true legal payment.

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How two countries helped drive the recent rise in cryptocurrency prices - TechCrunch

The Hive Project announced last week the launch of its cryptocurrency-based invoice financing platform. This news comes just days before the company launched its ICO. The company boasts itself as the first cryptocurrency invoice financing platform. It notably provides new financial liquidity to small businesses by leveraging blockchain technology and giving them a range of cryptocurrency-based financing options.

Hive (HVE) uses blockchain (distributed ledger) technology to give every issued invoice a unique fingerprint. This enables businesses to automate the invoicing process and make it available to the general public. We create a central data room for all invoices, with a record kept of the issuer, owner and payer. Invoices can therefore be offered to the market for trading. This will rapidly increase the liquidity available to small businesses and create a central database of invoices available for scoring and auditing. In addition to bridging the liquidity gap for small businesses, the technology provided by Hive will help credit checks to be made on companies and facilitate rapid and real-time auditing.

Speaking about The Hive Projects goals,Jure Soklic, CEO and co-founder, reportedly stated:

We want to help small businesses solve their liquidity issues by leveraging blockchain technology to provide financing options previously only available to large companies. Our platform will dramatically streamline invoice issuance and settlement processes, optimizing small and medium-enterprises ability to access liquidity for day-to-day operations and to finance expansion.

Richard Titus, Advisor to Hive Project, added:

The Hive Project helps small businesses automate invoicing and payments, delivering the benefits of blockchain innovation to commercial entities previously deprived of ready access to finances, Hive Projects end state, a marketplace with advanced trading analytics for peer-to-peer lending, will rapidly increase the liquidity available to small businesses and expand todays often mercenary ecosystem of factoring and lending.

The Hive Project is currently seeking to secure initial capital of BTC 2,000 through its crowd sale, which is scheduled to run for the next six weeks.

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The Hive Project Debuts New Cryptocurrency-Based Invoice Financing Platform - Crowdfund Insider

Gavin Smith is the CEO of First Global Credit, a London-based cryptocurrency capital markets company, who is behind an upcoming ICO for AICoin. He sat down today to talk with Finance Magnates about the idea behind the offering, the value it will deliver to investors, algo trading and how blockchain technology allows for new forms of cooperative organization.

Learn how to buy Bitcoin and Ethereum safely with our simple guide!

The interview was broadcast live and a video recording is available here:

In contrast to the recent wave of ICOs, Gavin explains that AICOIN is a fully functioning investment service (not an idea in development) that leverages blockchain technology to deliver revenue from two different but complementary profit streams.

The coin uses the power of artificial intelligence to generate ongoing profit. These profits are then used to finance investment in early stage companies focused on public blockchain or AI technology. The quarterly selection of start-up companies will use the collective knowledge and experience of all token holders who vote on which companies will receive investment.

Since AICOIN is built on the Ethereum blockchain, the function of the smart contract is to provide transparency to and supervisory control of the voting process.

Gavin has worked in the European financial service industry for over twenty years. His most recent role prior to founding First Global was designing the global risk strategy for one of the worlds largest physical commodity traders. He has the rare set of skills needed to navigate First Global Credit through the volatility of the Bitcoin market..

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Beat the Flash Boys of Cryptocurrency Trading with AICoin - Finance Magnates

With cryptocurrency ICOs taking center stage lately, there will be more attempts to scam people as well. It can be difficult to protect oneself against thesescams, butsome basic precautions will keep most people safe. This new digital craze will need to be regulatedsomehow, as the amount of scamscan get out of hand pretty quickly. Below are some basic tips to avoid getting scammed by a cryptocurrency ICO.

The first step investors always need to take is conducting due diligence on a project. Randomly investing in cryptocurrency ICOs can pay off in the long run, but it also greatly increases ones chances of investing in a bogus project. Any ICO that does not have a detailed whitepaper should be avoided, as that is a basic requirement for any serious project. If the company or project cannot convince you of its use cases, you should not give them your money.

Any project that does not want to make the names of its team members public should also raise red flags. If the names and identities are made public, do some research on the people involved in the project. Do not be fooled by big names working as an adviser for a project either. These roles often lack real influence over the direction and execution of projects. Fancy names mean nothing these days, as a lot of information found on the internet is either doctored or utterly fake.

On multiple occasions, we see people spreading fake Ethereum wallet addresses to participate in a specific cryptocurrency ICO. This mostly occurs on Telegram, butSlack can suffer from the same problem. Never trust an Ethereum wallet address given to you by strangers on the internet. Do not ask for these addresses either, as you are only asking to be scammed by doing so. Only use the information provided by the team itself and the address shown on the legitimate ICO website.

Perhaps the biggest threat to cryptocurrency ICOs and potential investors comes in the form of phishing sites. More often than not, we see clone websites for upcoming ICOs appear on the internet. This can affect both CIO and pre-ICO campaigns, which makes it very difficult for novice users to determine which site is legitimate and which one is not. The best course of action is to links spread on Telegram or Slack, other than the ones provided by the moderators and team members.

Since phishing sites look exactly like the real ICO site, investors would almost need to know the official site before it launches. That is very hard to achieve, as most ICO projects want to keep pre-ICO and ICO links undisclosed until the campaign starts. Keeping tabs on projects through platforms such as Tokenmarket will guarantee users will always find the correct URL for a cryptocurrency ICO. It is by far one of the most trusted ICO websites out there.

Even though TokenMarket does a good job to keep track of cryptocurrency ICOs, we will ultimately need a decentralized registry for these types of projects. Adecentralized registry can provide whitelist services to cull the phishing sites from the real platforms. Ensuring people provide the correct information in the first place can be a challenge, though. For some reason, virtually all cryptocurrency ICOs rely on centralized technology, which is problematic to any such efforts.

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How to Avoid Being Scammed by a Cryptocurrency ICO - The Merkle

The cryptocurrency industry continues to attract a lot of investors and speculators. So far, we have seen two waves of major price momentum for Bitcoin and other currencies. The bigger question is whether or not we will seethe third wave, and if so, what we can expect from it. While it is impossible to predict the future,there is a lot of optimism forBitcoin right now.

The past nine years have been spectacular for both Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin first started getting a lot of mainstream attention near the end of 2013. At that time, BTCs price was skyrocketing, and even hit a peak of $1,200 in early 2014. Unfortunately, that peak was created by the nefarious Willy Bot artificially pushing up the price. Eventually, that manipulation caused a major Bitcoin price decline throughout most of 2014 and early 2015.

Earlier in the year 2017, we witnessed the second wave of cryptocurrency. With Bitcoin hitting an all time high of just over US$3,000 and Ethereum surpassing the $400 mark in quick succession, there wasa lot of positive momentum. However, bullish markets never last forever.Both Bitcoin and Ethereum are going through a bearish period right now. Despite this, Bitcoin price still hovers around $2,450 and Ethereum is trading above $250.

Without the historical market context of these previous two waves, things look very different. All major cryptocurrencies are in the red, and it looks like the market will continue this bearish trend for quite some time to come. In fact, there is only one currency in the top 50 which has not lost value over the past 24 hours. Looking at the top 100 currencies, only 7 have not lost value.

It is important to keep in mind cryptocurrency investing is not ashort-term gains these days. Instead, one always has to look at the bigger picture. Bitcoin has been one of the worlds best-performing assets since 2012. It has seen many setbacks but always comes back much stronger. As traders like to say, we are setting higher lows all the time, which indicates a future uptrend is around the corner. When that corner will come within our grasp is anybodys guess.

In fact, these temporary setbacks are not reducing the optimism among Bitcoin price speculators by any means. Bobby Lee, the CEO of BTCC, stated how Bitcoin can be worth between $5,000 and $11,000 by 2020. Granted, that is quite a wide price gap, but it would indicate the Bitcoin price will at least double in the next three years. There will be another Bitcoin block reward halving in 2020, which means less new coins will enter the ecosystem every day. It also gives Bitcoin three more years to mature and gain more mainstream traction.

Fred Wilson, the managing partner and co-founder of Union Square Ventures, feels Ethereums market cap will ultimately grow larger than Bitcoins. That is a boldstatement, especially when considering Bitcoins market cap may very well double, triple, or even quadruple by 2020 if Bobby Lee is correct. However, it is unclear how many Ether was in circulation at that time, as Ethereum has no fixed supply cap, unlike Bitcoin. Assuming there is 100 billion ETH in circulation at that time, it would put the value of one Ether at the US$850 mark. This is a very optimistic outlook, andone speculators would certainly appreciate.

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Will Cryptocurrency See a Third Wave? - The Merkle

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Japans end on consumption tax furthers the countrys overall agenda.

As of July 1, 2017, Japanese cryptocurrency holders are now exempt from the eight percent Japanese Consumption Tax (JCT). The exemption is the result of 2017 tax reform revisions which were proposed by the Japanese Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito Party in December. As per the KPMG Japan Tax Newsletter from December 14, 2016:

It is proposed that transfers of virtual currencies will be treated as non-taxable transactions, since virtual currencies were officially defined as a means of payment by virtue of the amendment to the Payment Services Act which was passed in May this year. The document continues, This amendment will be applied to transactions carried out on or after 1 July 2017.

The proposed amendment was passed by the Japanese National Diet on March 27, 2017. Days later, Japans Financial Services Agency authorized cryptocurrencies to be used as a form of payment. As a result, the country has experienced increased cryptocurrency related activity. Further, the country has also taken steps to capitalize upon this action by securing likeminded partnerships with progressive countries like Australia.

The government of Australia also revealed in its 2018 Budget that cryptocurrencies will be exempt from double Goods and Services taxation after July 1, 2017.

On June 23, both countries announced the co-operative framework that would create opportunities and facilitate innovation within the financial service industries of both jurisdictions. The partnership encourages both parties to share with each other vital information on Innovation Functions like cryptocurrencies. As per The Financial Services Agency of Japan:

The Authorities share a mutual desire to promote innovation in financial services in their respective markets. Both Authorities have established Innovation Functions in order to do so. The Authorities believe that through co-operation with each other, they will be able to further the promotion of innovation in their respective markets.

Dan is a US Army veteran and Los Angeles-based writer passionate about science and technology, current events, human rights, economic impacts, and strategic calculus. Dan is a full time staff writer for ETHNews and holds value in Ether.

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Japan Ends Consumption Tax On Cryptocurrencies - ETHNews

Tel Aviv-basedPanda Trading Systems, known for its binary options, FX and CFDbrokerage solutions, hasannounced that it has now started offering trading on cryptocurrencies on all of its platforms, as well as a complete cryptocurrency brokerage solution.

The London Summit 2017 is coming, get involved!

Panda has added support for trading CFDs on sevencryptocurrencies on its existing brokerage packages and platforms Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Peercoin, Dash, Namecoin and Novacoin. Brokers can now add these cryptocurrencies to their existing offerings.

Panda has also added a new Brokerage in a Box solution, allowing its customers to set up their own cryptocurrency brokerage entirely from scratch, complete with trading platforms, CRM, client area, PAMM facility and more. End users are currently able to make deposits, withdrawals and have accounts with a base currency in Bitcoin, with Panda promising that additionalcryptocurrency support is currently in the works.

Ori Hazan, Panda TS VP Business Development, commented: Were very pleased to be a part of this exciting new direction the online trading industry is taking. Cryptocurrencies have been on our radar for quite a few years now, but they finally seem to be moving into mainstream adoption and were ready for this change with a complete suite of solutions that have been in development for some time.

At Panda weve always been instrument agnostic, our commitment is to make trading easier and more accessible for all, regardless of what products the market favors. We regard this as an exciting time for traders and are delighted to be at the forefront of this new movement.

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Panda Trading Systems Launches Cryptocurrency 'Brokerage in a ... - Finance Magnates

In the world of digital currencies, Bitcoin (BTC) paved the way. The original cryptocurrency has continued to dominate the field, with prices reaching up to $3000 or so per coin at its peak. And yet, Bitcoin is no longer as dominant over the rest of the field as it once was: while Bitcoin used to enjoy a share of the total industry market capitalization around 80-90%, it now represents less than half of the total market cap. Other currencies are racing to catch up with Bitcoin, with Ethereum's Ether token appearing to be the most likely to overtake Bitcoin in terms of market cap. And yet, regardless of whether Bitcoin remains on top or if another digital currency surpasses it, Bitcoin's influence on the industry, and on the world at large, cannot be overstated. The cryptocurrency world is continuing to grow: where will it end up?

Bitcoin's success has spawned over 800 other cryptocurrencies in the past decade. Now, the market for Bitcoins is worth about $40 billion, but the total value of the rest of those currencies is worth even more than that, whent hey are taken together. The next biggest players are Ethereum, occupying about $25.7 billion worth of the total market value share, and Ripple, with about $10.5 billion. Litecoin, Dash, NEM, and many others follow after that. The total value of the industry is hovering just under $100 billion at this point, which is roughly equivalent to the combined values of Weyerhaeuser (WY), Ford (F), and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), three of the largest corporations in the United States, according to Business Insider.

One of the reasons that analysts see the cryptocurrency world continuing to grow into the future is Bitcoin's shifting role. For the first time since its founding more than a decade ago, Bitcoin now makes up a minority of the entire cryptocurrency market. For many years the original cryptocurrency completely dominated its competition, but in the past six months or so, Bitcoin has dropped to just 41.6% of the total market. Litecoin, which aims to process blocks at four times the speed of Bitcoin, has been in existence since 2011. Ethereum, launched only in 2015, has ascended through the ranks of digital currencies at lightning speed. And Ripple has made impressive gains thanks to its unique software, which has already been adopted by some of the largest banks in the world in order to increase global liquidity.

At this point, it seems likely that the cryptocurrency world will continue to expand, with more currencies, more customers, more miners, and new technology. Of course, there are also those who speculate that the rapid growth is a result of a bubble, but only time will tell if the digital currency world will come crashing down.

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How Much Will the Cryptocurrency World Keep Growing? (BTC) - Investopedia

Summary

Nicehash is an excellent platform for people looking for multipool mining or a way to buy and sell hashpower. The platform is very transparent about its business and has built up a solid reputation over the past three years.

It is not all that easy to find a legitimate cryptocurrency cloud mining service. Nicehash is one of the few companies people can trust these days. The platform specializes in cloud mining, hash rental services, and multipool mining. It is refreshing to see legitimate companies pop up now and the in the landscape filled with Ponzi Schemes. Now is a good time to look at what Nicehash offers to its customers and why they are so successful.

Most cryptocurrency cloud mining scams ask users to make a Bitcoin investment, so they can earn a passive income. Unfortunately, a lot of those are Ponzi schemes. However, Nicehash is doing things in a professional manner and without putting users at risk of losing any funds. In fact, they are one of a handful of legitimate companies in the world of cryptocurrency cloud mining.

Nicehash first came to the market in April of 2014 and has quickly grown to be one of the most reliable online mining hashrate marketplaces in the world. The company specializes in added-value services for miners, traders, and investors alike. Providing customer support services helped Nicehash achieve success. So far, the team is doing an outstanding job in this regard, as they have no negative reviews.

What makes NiceHash so unique is how they let users buy and sell hashing power on demand. Contracts can run for as little as one hour, and the maximum duration can be agreed upon by the buyer and seller. The platforms marketplace is filled with available orders, which can be filtered based on mining algorithm, and geographical locations. Reducing latency between the miner and the mining pool is of the utmost importance to maximize potential earnings.

It is worth mentioning Nicehash is not the only company providing a cryptocurrency mining hashrate marketplace. Mining Rig Rentals is one of their main competitors in this space, as they provide a powerful service as well. It is good to see competing peer-to-peer mining hashpower rental marketplaces. Competitionallows for far more flexibility than one would get through traditional cloud mining.

Nicehash also provides users with their own mining software clients, which is a nice addition. Plus, their own multipool servers allow miners to point their eligible hardware to the pool and earn mining revenue in the process. Nicehash supports a few dozen mining algorithms, including X11, Scrypt, Keccak, Decred, Cryptonight, and Pascal. Pointing aminer at this pool allows users to earn revenue without having to worry about anything, as earnings are calculated and paid out automatically.

The main question is whether or not miners should sell their hashpower or point it to the multipool. It heavily depends on how much risk one is willing to take. Using the multipool means investing in the mined coins, which can be a financial risk.One could always rent out the hashpower and keep mining the multipool as long as the contract is not picked up by a buyer. That way, users can get the best of both worlds.

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Cryptocurrency Hash Rental Service Review Nicehash - The Merkle

News world

The South Korean government is expected to consider legislation that is intended to increase consumer trust in cryptocurrencies.

South Korean lawmakers will be presenting several bills that will affect the legal status of cryptocurrencies. According to the Korea Herald, Rep. Park Yong-jin of the Democratic Party stated on July 3, 2017 that he will introduce three revisions in July that will build a set of regulatory frameworks for digital currencies. According to Park, the legislation is intended to fill the void of a state-led protection that guarantees digital currencys value, and eradicate the possibility of wreaking havoc on national economy from digital currency bubble burst.

One bill aims to revise the Electronic Financial Transactions Act. If approved, the bill will require traders, brokers, and other businesses involved in cryptocurrency transactions to get regulatory approval from the Financial Services Commission, maintain data processing facilities, and have at least 500 million won ($436,300) in capital.

Tax laws will also be revised to allow Korean financial authorities to pursue tax evaders who do not pay income or corporate tax from digital currency transactions. According to Park and the Financial Supervisory Service, although virtual currency exchanges hold a large amount of market power in the countrys cryptocurrency space, there is no legal ground for their business.

The move for more robust regulation comes after a mishap with South Korean exchange Yapizon, when it fell victim to a massive bitcoin heist in April. In the incident, a hacker swiped four hot wallets and made off with 3831 bitcoin, which at the time totaled to about $5 million. To resolve the problem, Yapizon implemented a clever accounting scheme in which it essentially provided users with IOUs. At the time of the occurrence, the South Korean government authorities lacked regulation to handle such calamities. Parks proposals lookto fill this void and increase trust in one of South Koreas emerging markets.

Cryptocurrency investments have also been on the rise in East Asian markets. To promote growth and innovation in FinTech companies operating in foreign exchange markets, the South Korean Ministry of Strategy and Finance in May decided to revamp capital requirements, which will go into effect July 18.

Dan is a US Army veteran and Los Angeles-based writer passionate about science and technology, current events, human rights, economic impacts, and strategic calculus. Dan is a full time staff writer for ETHNews and holds value in Ether.

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South Korea Will Introduce Legislation To Legalize Cryptocurrencies - ETHNews

On June 22, the FBI presented their annualInternet Crime Report, this one for 2016. By using the reports from the Internet Crime Complaint Center, they are able topublish the yearly document outlining trends and instances of Internet crimes. Still, these reports maynot be enough if they want to view the wholesituation since it is suspected that only 15% of victims actually report their situation.

Multiple hot topics fromthe last year were highlighted, including the massive BEC loss. BEC (Business Email Compromise) was an incident that ended with the loss of over $360 million. Currently, this is the largest known attackfrom last yearwith countlessvictims. BEC turned out to be a very sophisticated scam, and it only targeted foreign and international companies.

Another major point in the report is ransomware, which is growing more and more popular as an attack form. Ransomware works by locking the infected devices and holding documents for ransom. The criminals are able to use it to send messages to their victims, and those mostly include a ransom demand. More often than not, they would put a bitcoin price and a link to the bitcoin wallet. Over $2.4 million was lost to ransomware last year, and 2,673 reports were identified.

Othermajor attacksoutlined in the reportare tech support frauds. Tech fraudscammers managed to steal $7.8 million. The scam pretty much follows the same process every time. The scammer gets on the phone with their victims by various means. They then try to convince the victim that something is wrong with their device. The criminalstry to get control of the computer and then offer their services in dealing with the problem in return for money or gift cards.

Over 17,146 individual cases of extortion were recorded as well, and the total loss here is over $15 million, all of which happened online. FBIs report mostly points out physical threats that were made via the internet. Basically, criminals demand money or something valuable, or they will cause the victim physical injuries. There were also reports of threats like releasing sensitive data, and even sextortion.

Other forms of online crimes include DDoS attacks, schemes revolving around government impersonations, hitman schemes, as well as loan schemes, and even breaches of high-profile data. Criminals mostly demand payment in Bitcoin or some other cryptocurrency. It is easier to move around, and also has more security layers which make it harder to trace.

Reportedonline crimes rose 3.7% in 2016. Apart from the US, the most infected foreign countries are Canada, India, UK, Australia, and France. When it comes to the individual states within the US, California suffered the most. It is followed by Texas and Florida which both had over 21,000 reports.

Another part of the report also included the affected age groups. According to the FBI, those above 60 had suffered the most and lost over $339 million last year. Next are those between the ages of 30 and 39, who lost around $190 million. Lastly, the younger users, mostly those around and under 20 years of age were much fewer in number. They also suffered less damage, which was only estimated to be around $6.7 million.

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FBI Says Hackers Managed to Extort $28 Million in Cryptocurrencies - The Merkle

It was announced recently from ElliottWaveTrader.net (EWT), a live Trading Room of market analysis, based on Elliott Wave principle, that due to high demand and many requests, they will start a cryptocurrency service based onElliott Wave analysis. To lead this new service, the firm has brought on Ryan Wilday.

Ryan has over 17 years experience trading equities, futures, and options. He was introduced to cryptocurrency in 2013 by a programmer friend and began mining and trading shortly thereafter.

The EWT team stated:

Though he read Prechters Elliott Wave Principle in the early 2000s, he didnt make practical use of the theory until joining EWT in 2015. Today he melds his deep knowledge of the cryptocurrency market with Elliott Wave theory and Fibonacci Pinball.

Ryans service will be opening in August of 2017, more information will be forthcoming on the launch.

ElliottWaveTrader benefits traders looking to anticipate the direction of U.S. & world equity indices, stocks, bonds, precious metals, energy & forex over a time horizon of several days to several months.

The site also features insights and interaction by its community of traders, many of them professionals, as members are encouraged to post questions and contribute their own analysis in the interactive room.

How the cryptocurrency market and certain assets within react to Elliot Wave analysis will be quite interesting to observe.

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ElliottWaveTrader launching cryptocurrency service - CryptoNinjas

Ibrahim Mohammed is the founder and chief executive and OneGram, a new digital currency, at the company's offices in Emirates Financial Towers in the DIFC area of Dubai. OneGram is partnering with GoldGuard, a Dubai-based online gold trading platform to build one of worlds largest gold vaults inside the Dubai Airport Free Zone. Christopher Pike / The National

As the founder and chief executive of OneGram the Dubai-based technology company behind the first digital currency completely backed by gold - Ibrahim Mohammed is confident his cryptocurrency will be a success, even as competition in the digital currency sphere hots up.

He says with 100s of new coins releasing every day, it is OneGrams unique selling point - the fact that the currency is fully Sharia-compliant - that will set it apart.

The company has already launched an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) offering, which aims to raise more than US$500 million in capital; the tokens were launched on May 21 and will be available to buy until September 22.

OneGram has partnered with GoldGuard, a Dubai-based online gold trading platform, for the offering, with each token backed by one gram of gold, held in a vault at Dubai Airport Free Zone. Only 12.5 million tokens are available to buy in total.

The OneGram currency was created using blockchain technology, a digital method of recording data that underpins the digital currency bitcoin.

While one bitcoin today is currently worth about US$2,500 (or $2,438 at the time of writing), to buy a OneGramCoin would set you back $45 at current market prices.

Almost six weeks after the OneGram coin first went on sale, Mr Mohammed, a British Dubai resident with 10 years of experience running companies whose specialisms have included debt collection and business formation, explains how the new digital currency works and how investors can get on board:

Why did you set up OneGram?

Because of the ruling that happened in November 2016 from the Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) with regards to the gold standard. It was the first time gold was deemed to be a sharia-compliant product and it got us thinking. It evolved into digitisation ofgold but then having bigger returns rather than just waiting for the market to go up - so we combined it with a digital currency.

How does OneGram work?

Its like bitcoin; its a digital currency but the major difference to any other crypto is that its backed with physical gold. Putting it very simply, if you have one bitcoin today thats worth about US$2,500 and if it crashes and went to zero youd lose all your money. With OneGram, if you buy today you pay about $45; $41 of that is in physical gold but $4 is in the coin, so if OneGram crashed you would potentially lose $4 and still have $41. Essentially its a digital token - a digital form of payment.

So how can you use this form of payment?

Globally, these kinds of tokens are mainly used in the crypto community by people that believe in [the concept] and are willing to hold it. What we are trying to develop over the next 12 months or so is a payment solution that retailers can adopt to accept payment. At this stage (until the OneGram coin is listed in September), its like holding stocks or shares. The demand is there and the prices are increasing; if you follow the crypto market at all it was worth $20 billion in 2016 and this year its worth $100bn as we speak. Most of that jump has happened in the last five months.

What is driving that?

People see the potential in it. Most governments now are talking about how to regulate the market and control it and bring it into mainstream. The growth is phenomenal. I dont think investors are risk takers because the model of crypto currencies has been proven. Japan has legalised bitcoin; its inevitable that others will follow suit.

How does OneGram work?

Register at GoldGuard.com and where you go to buy you will see the live spot price of gold and it will be a live spot buy. Underneath it you will see the coin value of $4 - thats 10 per cent of the actual transaction and thats the coin fee. You will see a total price of $45; its approximate on the site as its linked to the Allocated BullionExchange's live gold fee. You can transfer funds or buy through bitcoin but we wont accept bitcoin directly as we dont know the source of funds, so we use a company called BitPay in the United States. They do all the verifications, as they are regulated by the US government and they will accept the bitcoin and wire us US dollars.

Is the $4 a fee then?

Its a kind of administration fee because typically in crypto currencies you are paying the whole amount - so if we didnt have gold youd be paying $45 and wed have all money. But we only take 10 per cent which covers operations, staffing, support, marketing, development, blockchain etc. With typical cryptos, if they are selling at $45 they may pay 30 to 40 per cent commission on transactions and theyll sell out in a day or two. Weve adopted a real business model as opposed to a "lets loot type of crypto." So there is a 10 per cent mark up on the price to give our investors the best possible chance of higher returns and that 10 per cent will cover our costs to operate.

What happens when you list?

Then you will have your own wallet and you will hold it on your own iPad, phone or desktop. The coin will be listed on a few digital currency platforms, so any buying or selling happens through those platforms and it goes into the secondary market. In terms of where the price can be at launch and where it can be in 24 months is completely beyond our control. Some analysts have said OneGram is the closest coin that has ever come to knocking bitcoin off its pedestal.

Who are your investors?

As well as crypto tech investors, were getting people that have never invested in cryptoor digital currencies before but because of the gold aspect and the sharia regulatory aspect they are very comfortable. We get customers buying for $100 and in the same day someone will buy $200,000. There is massive interest from Africa and Pakistan, countries we never expected. We now have 4,000 to 5,000 registered users and the majority are non-Muslims;another surprise.

What happens if you dont sell all the 12.5 million coins?

Anything that is left will be burnt wiped away. If we dont sell all of them then it's likely the price will go up as there will be less in circulation. We left the first month open for anyone to buy. Now we have our affiliates, partners that will also sell the coin. The first affiliate is $100m, there are a couple more after that. We are not in any doubt that the coin will sell out.

How many have you sold so far?

Twenty-two per cent of the ICO has already been assigned thats about 2 million coins.

Once the coin is listed what happens to OneGram?

Our ongoing role is to maintain the blockchain and security of it so that the coins can trade. And we make 1 per cent of every trade, the typical fee within blockchain.

Who are you licensed by?

Cyptos are not licensed but the part that needs licensing is GoldGuard, which is a gold trading platform. That is licensed by Dubai Airport Free Zone so we are licensed to trade gold.

Can investors see the gold?

Our vaulting partner may have security issues with that but once we have our own vaulting systems we will be open to anyone that wants to inspect. For verification that the gold exists, our auditors PwC have to physically go and count the gold along with our sharia advisers so I think the investors can rest assured that the gold exists. We buy through ABX and within three days they physically store it for us.

How could it all go wrong?

Its very difficult to go wrong because the exposure is very limited its 90 per cent in gold, 10 per cent in the coin. The demand is there and the market is there so unless someone turns the internet off

Whats next?

Were in discussions about ATM machines. You could have an ATM machine in Dubai, Hong Kong or London where OneGram can be bought and sold across the globe.

ahaine@thenational.ae

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A golden crypto currency you can invest in for as little as $45 - Sun ... - The National