Category: News

Chilean banks shut down crypto exchange accounts

Three Chilean-based cryptocurrency exchanges – CryptoMarket, Buda and Orionx –are seeking new banking partners after having their accounts shut down.

With little to no explanation, Banco del Estado de Chile, Itau Corpbanca and Bank of Nova Scotia have ceased providing their banking services for the exchanges, with some pointing the finger at the government secretly forcing the banks to do so. But as yet this is unclear.

South Americans are concerned that the ban is mimicking the cryptocurrency bans of other countries, such as China and the UK, whose banks have notoriously formed a cartel to block any cryptocurrency businesses gaining access to a bank account.

Speaking to Bloomberg, Guillermo Torrealba, Buda’s co-founder and chief executive officer, said: “They’re killing an entire industry. It won’t be possible to buy and sell crypto in a safe business in Chile. We’ll have to go back five years and trade in person. It seems very arbitrary.”

Chile’s cryptocurrency market is small but burgeoning. Entrepreneurs created digital coins Chaucha and Luka, whose names play off local slang used for money, while locally-based exchanges like Buda and CryptoMarket operate across Latin America. Buda traded about $1 million per day before losing its bank account, compared with about $2 billion for the world’s biggest exchanges.

Chile’s cryptocurrency industry is still small but rapidly growing with the Buda exchange trading around $1 million per day in digital assets.

The shutdown exchanges have said they follow stringent know-your-customer and anti-money-laundering practices by running checks with authorities and agencies.

Thousands of Chileans and crypto supporters around the world have taken to social media to support the exchanges with the tag #ChileQuiereCryptos.

The exchanges have formed a joint case at the appeals court, which has already agreed to hear their case; but the bank accounts remain shut until further notice.

OKEX is expanding to Malta

In a statement issued today, cryptocurrency exchange OKEX has confirmed that it has started expanding operations to blockchain friendly Malta.

After meeting with the Maltese regulatory and government leaders to discuss their legislative plans, OKEX confirmed that they will “make Malta a foundation for further OKEX growth”.

This comes as no surprise given Malta’s position not only on blockchain technologies but also other sectors that are otherwise heavily scrutinised and regulated in much of the rest of the world. For example Malta has long been supportive of gambling and finance firms seeking better tax incentives and more flexible legislation.

The news follows in the footsteps of Binance who also recently migrated to the country for the same reasons.

OKEX carries a daily trade volume of over $1 billion dollars with millions of customers globally.

“This is just the start. Other companies will soon establish their operations in Malta”, said Silvio Schembri.

This is just the beginning. OKEX and Binance are currently among a growing number of crypto companies that are being forced to expand operations in Malta due to harsh regulatory conditions that are being set in their home countries – a trend, which if unaddressed will stifle innovation and growth in much of the developed and western world.

Monero (XMR) Ledger Support Coming Soon!

Monero 0.12.1 will support Ledger hardware wallets

Monero (XMR) code lead Riccardo Spagni has confirmed that the privacy-focused coin will soon receive official Ledger support.

Currently, various options exist for secure storage of XMR cryptocurrency, from mobile wallets to the official desktop wallet, but so far no hardware wallet is available for public use.

The Ledger integration news broke when Riccardo confirmed during an interview on an episode of the Doug Polk podcast that integration had ‘already’ occurred for users who have the ‘dev kit’, but the public release will probably be available alongside the Monero 0.12.1 release.

Hardware support for cryptocurrencies is no longer deemed overprotective. It has become the de facto way of ensuring your assets are secured most effectively.

You can find the Github here for the Monero wallet application.

Monero was trading at roughly $172 before the Ledger news broke, increasing to $178 before dipping back to $164. This has now stabilised at $170 at the time of writing.

Cryptocurrencies try to draw Islamic investors

When people think of gold, they think of a reliable and valuable commodity. In the future, that might be the way people think about certain cryptocurrencies.

A company called OneGram are trying to combine both crypto and gold, by creating a currency which is backed by the chemical element.

There is method to their ambitious project; it is thought that by involving such a traditionally valuable commodity, that more investors from Islamic investors will be drawn to get involved.

Traditionally, this sort of investment didn’t sit well with Islam. That is in part due to Sharia principles, which don’t allow interest payments and don’t encourage monetary speculation. It is a hot debate amongst scholars, whether or not cryptocurrencies are allowed by the religion.

Hence, companies like OneGram, who are trying to launch currencies that have their base in physical assets. Each one of OneGram’s currency is backed by at least a gram of the valuable element, thus speculation decreases automatically.

Ibrahim Mohammed, the co-founder of OneGram, told Reuters: “Gold was among the first forms of money in Islamic societies so this is appropriate. We are trying to prove rules and regulations from sharia are fully compatible with digital blockchain technology.”

There have already been millions of dollars’ worth of this currency distributed and there are further plans to distributed what is the remaining 60 percent. In what was an important coup, OneGram obtained a ruling that this currency conforms with Islamic principles from a Dubai-based consulting firm OneGram isn’t the only cryptocurrency to receive this sort of approval. HelloGold, which originated in Malaysia, and is also based on Gold, received a separate approval stating their cryptocurrency is also conforming with Islamic principles.

Considering that 20 to 30 percent of banking in the Gulf and Southeast Asia follow these principles, it is important for any currency that wants to break into this market to also apply them.

National sharia authorities have warned their populations about the pitfalls of trading in cryptocurrencies, but they have not imposed outright bans.

Thus, it is down to the people themselves to use their values when deciding whether or not to invest in blockchain technology.

Three Korean banks will face inspection over cryptocurrency exchange compliance

According to a statement released on Monday by South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), three local banks will face a compliance inspection this month to check whether they are following new regulations put in place for dealing with cryptocurrency exchanges.

The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) in conjunction with the FSS will carry out on-site inspections of Nonghyup Bank, Kookmin Bank and Hana Bank between 19 and 25 April.

Investigators will check whether the banks are following recently introduced anti-money-laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) rules, which were recently introduced to prevent anonymous accounts being set up virtually.

Some banks have taken the initiative to introduce internal compliance checks, notably Nonghyup Bank, which has been providing automatic verification checks for two of the largest Korean exchanges, Coinone and Bithumb. Other financial providers have been urged to carry out their own checks to comply with the new rules.

South Korea’s banking institutions have welcomed cryptocurrency exchanges and related businesses with open arms, unlike most of the banks located in the UK, which have formed what has been likened to a cartel to block any crypto-related business accessing traditional banking services. Only this year, Barclays was the first to provide its banking services to CoinBase, allowing customers to deposit and withdraw fiat under the Faster Payments Service (FPS), which is more or less real-time.

Many cryptocurrency exchanges are working with Polish-based banks, which have so far been more open to working with such firms.

Tech giants face class action lawsuit over targeted crypto ad ban

More Blockchain and cryptocurrency organisations have joined the anti-crypto advertising ban enforced by tech giants such as Google, Facebook and Twitter.

According to Russia’s RNS, three more countries that now include Kazakhstan, Armenia and Switzerland have joined Russia, South Korea and China in a joint class action lawsuit that will be filed in New York this May. Legal costs will be crowd-sourced from donations made to a fund registered in Luxembourg.

Facebook, Google and Twitter as said to be displaying cartel-like behaviour when enforcing a restrictive ban on cryptocurrency ads, which appears to be aimed at curbing enthusiasm and hindering the adoption of new and possibly game-changing technologies. This blanket ban is penalising legitimate companies who wish to utilize advertising platforms to gain investors and users and spread the word about their projects, which subsequently affects the amount of funds raised.

The Chinese Association of Cryptocurrency Investors (LBTC), Russian Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Association (RACIB) and the Korea Venture Business Association (KOVA) came to an agreement to take the matter to court, and have been joined by many more organisations since.

Facebook banned crypto ads on the social network back in January citing complaints about advertisements from its user base.

Google restricted cryptocurrency ads and related content last month – this included ICO promotions, wallets and crypto exchanges, although a quick Google search for “ICO” returns multiple advertisements.

Russian search engines Yandex and Runet have also joined in and have started banning crypto ads.

The joint lawsuit is set to be filed in May 2018.

Wall Street heavy weights are going into Bitcoin

Have Wall Street legends turned the market?

Ethereum, Bitcoin and many of the major cryptocurrencies are back in the green with the finger being pointed at Wall Street legends George Soros and John D. Rockefeller who are allegedly investing.

Although it’s still early days, 2018 has not been a great start for crypto with the price of Bitcoin plummeting from record highs.

What caused the crash? It would appear that several elements played a part but the massive tax bills American traders have racked up, estimated to be in the region of $25bn, are undoubtedly a factor, combined with regulatory uncertainty in several Asian countries and tech giants such as Facebook and Google banning adverts related to crypto.

Billionaire investment fund Soros Fund Management has been given the green light to trade in digital currencies, although the firm’s $26bn fund has not yet made a wager according to Bloomberg.

Venture capital firm Venrock, which was founded by descendants of John D. Rockefeller, recently announced it was partnering with a cryptocurrency firm from Brooklyn.

According to Hedge Fund Research, funds that invested in cryptocurrencies at the beginning of 2017 made colossal profits of around 3,000%.

It seems that April will be an interesting month for cryptocurrencies, as, at the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading at $7,147.92 with Ethereum at $415.72.

The Spanish taxman wants your crypto trading data

Spain’s tax regulator, commonly known as Agencia Tributaria or the Agency for Tax Administration (AEAT), has issued 60 formal requests to cryptocurrency entities seeking private customer data, such as identification documents, account ownership, trades and other information.

Cryptocurrency cash machine operators, exchanges and payment gateways were some of the companies that received the request earlier this week.

The information is apparently being used as part of an investigation across the crypto industry to decide whether new control procedures are required.

Furthermore, AEAT obtained data from the National Fraud Investigation Office (ONIF) on the whereabouts of offshore bank accounts held by 16 cryptocurrency exchanges registered in Spain.

It is not yet known if AEAT is seeking this information to clamp down on people not declaring capital gains from the buying and selling of cryptocurrencies. According to Tom Lee, the head of research at Fundstrat Global Advisor, US taxpayers accrued $92 billion in taxable gains from cryptocurrencies in 2017.

Financial Conduct Authority Issues Crypto Derivatives warning

FCA LOGOThe UK’s financial regulatory body issued a statement on Friday aimed at businesses providing “derivatives” and similar services to the public.

The FCA said that it does not consider cryptocurrencies to be a commodity or traditional currency from a regulatory standpoint as currently no legal framework exists, but they believe some derivatives may be considered to be financial instruments under the current legislation more specifically the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MIFID II) and therefore businesses must seek authorisation or clarification from them as soon as possible.

Any operation, dealing, arranging or advising of derivatives that reference either cryptocurrencies or tokens issued through an initial coin offering (ICO) will require authorisation by the FCA, this also includes options and CFDs.

“It is firms’ responsibility to ensure that they have the appropriate authorisation and permission to carry on regulated activity. If your firm is not authorised by the FCA and is offering products or services requiring authorisation it is a criminal offence. Authorised firms offering these products without the appropriate permission may be subject to enforcement action.” said the FCA

The FCA is carefully monitoring the crypto industry as it grows, they released a statement last December warning that CFDs were extremely high risk and speculative products and that consumers should be fully aware of the price volatility, leverage ratios, higher charges in comparison, funding costs and transparency.

Survey reveals that one-in-four millennials would rather invest in Bitcoin than stocks

If you weren’t already aware of Bitcoin’s cultural impact amongst millennials, then this latest survey from Blockchain Capital should wake you up to how this generation view the cryptocurrency.

According to the survey, one-in-four millennials would rather invest in Bitcoin than stocks and shares. The study is a clear indicator that the younger generation view cryptocurrencies as genuine investment opportunities.

To explain these figures, we have to look at the details of the survey Blockchain Capital undertook. The venture capital firm’s research found that a good percentage of those aged between the ages of 18-34 reckon Bitcoin has a bright future.

To be exact, the survey found that 27 percent of respondents would rather take $1,000 worth of Bitcoin, rather than $1,000 of traditional stocks. Meanwhile, 22 percent would take the same amount of the cryptocurrency over real estate and 30 percent would take Bitcoin over government bonds.

Other results from the survey showed that 30 percent of Americans are at least somewhat familiar with the currency. An understandably higher percentage of younger people knew about Bitcoin, than their older counterparts (42 percent of millennials opposed to 15 percent of those over 65).

Considering that only two percent of Americans have owned or own Bitcoin, it appears that there is a genuine opportunity for expansion, as there is already a huge level of recognition for the currency in society.
This was shown in the fact that 19 percent of Americans indicated that they’d buy Bitcoin in the next five years.

Millennials have certainly abandoned any skepticism associated with it, with over half (52 percent) citing Bitcoin as a positive financial innovation.

This survey was taken last year and had over 2,000 American adults taking part.