Day: November 30, 2019

Canadian Regulator Green-Lights Bitcoin Fund IPO

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The Bitcoin Fund’s initial public offering (IPO) filing has been accepted by Canada’s Ontario Securities Commission. Despite previously rejecting it, the Canadian regulator finally accepted the fund’s IPO prospectus after a public hearing and a favorable ruling. Also read: Bitcoin ATMs Installed at 5 Major Malls in the US The Bitcoin Fund IPO Crypto-focused Canadian investment fund manager 3IQ Corp. announced on Thursday that it has filed a preliminary prospectus for the IPO of The Bitcoin Fund. More importantly, the prospectus dated Nov. 27 has been receipted by the Ontario…

Blockchain, Power and Politics: How Decentralization Engenders Freedom

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The 21st century world is connected, but not centered. These are both good things. Connections link people, cultures and ideas. Indeed, all the great advances in human history have been the result of social and economic networks. Without the trade routes of the Indian Ocean, the Islamic world would never have acquired the numerals of India that now form the foundation of our mathematics of science. Without the coffeehouses of 17th- and 18th-century Britain, the Enlightenment probably wouldn’t have materialized. Genius dies in isolation; connection is the engine that drives…

Bitcoin Fails to Break $7.8K and Now Risks Reversing to New Lows

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Whereas Bitcoin (BTC) was hovering at $6,500 earlier this week, it has since rebounded to the resistance zone of $7,800 but failed to break it on the first attempt. Crypto market daily performance. Source: Coin360 As the short term trend is still upwards, should traders be cautious about the recent price action? Let’s take a look at the charts.  Bitcoin still inside the downwards channel The more notable timeframe — the daily in this case  — is still showing a downward trending channel since the top at the end of…

Five Chinese Crypto Exchanges Shut Down Following Government’s Warning

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Chinese authorities have warned local cryptocurrency firms about virtual currency trading, and this has now caused at least five crypto exchanges to block their operations and for the course of this month will not provide services for users in the country. President Xi Jinping, who had previously proclaimed his support for the development of blockchain technology in the country, causing confusion within the citizens as China, is now increasing the pressure on the digital currency industry. The People’s Bank of China, the Chinese central bank, is among other financial authorities…

The Fact, the Fiction and the Context

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It’s the clichéd rhetoric of choice for anyone seeking to discredit crypto. An ace in the hole for any argument against its proliferation. The go-to thesis for those who know very little about cryptocurrency but wish to appear otherwise.  The idea that cryptocurrencies are solely utilized within illicit activities has become both a tool for mass media to disparage the industry and, for many, a reason to steer well clear. But besides being a tired stereotype, it may also be true. That’s one of the prevailing problems with stereotypes: While…

Scalability Enhancements Kept Bitcoin Decentralized: BitMex Research

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Bitcoin (BTC) node synchronization would be impossible if it were not for the improvements that have been made to the software, according to the research arm of crypto exchange BitMex. BitMex Research measured the Initial Block Download (IBD) times of Bitcoin Core software releases from 2012 to 2019 needed to download the blockchain and verify it and shared their conclusions in a blog post published on Nov. 29. The research team claims that the older version of the Bitcoin Core software may be impossible to synchronize now and that the…

European AML Regulations Follow the US Path With a Six-Years’ Delay

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In January 2020, the regulatory landscape for crypto businesses will completely change in the European Union in comparison with the last decade — and these changes will touch all those who store clients’ crypto funds or provide fiat-to-crypto exchange services, at minimum. Not long ago, the Anti-Money Laundering regulations were extended to cover cryptocurrency custodian wallet service providers and crypto-to-fiat exchanges in the EU. The legislation known as the EU Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive entered into force on July 9, 2018, and shall be transposed into the national legislation of…

European AML Regulations Follow the US Path With a Six-Years’ Delay

boss

In January 2020, the regulatory landscape for crypto businesses will completely change in the European Union in comparison with the last decade — and these changes will touch all those who store clients’ crypto funds or provide fiat-to-crypto exchange services, at minimum. Not long ago, the Anti-Money Laundering regulations were extended to cover cryptocurrency custodian wallet service providers and crypto-to-fiat exchanges in the EU. The legislation known as the EU Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive entered into force on July 9, 2018, and shall be transposed into the national legislation of…

Bitcoin Moves 30% in December Since 2015 — Will 2019 Be Different?

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At just over 10 years old, crypto’s largest asset Bitcoin (BTC) has made a name for itself as a volatile asset, as shown by its past price action. December, in particular, has seen a notable chunk of this volatility with price moving more than 30% since 2015.  As 2019 nears its end, Bitcoin looks back on a standout year in terms — up over 100% from the yearly lows in February of around $3,350. By the end of June, BTC/USD found itself up near $13,800. Then after several months of…

Why Eurasian Debt, Economic Uncertainty Make a Bull Case for Bitcoin

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Bitcoin (BTC) bulls will no doubt keenly watch talk of the need for “a new, neutral global reserve asset” at the heart of the traditional financial sphere.  Financial Times business columnist and associate editor Rana Foroohar published an opinion piece on Nov. 25, pointing to the renewed, half-justified “paranoia” of the “gold bugs,” which has only been compounded by comments from investors and central bankers in recent weeks.   “You have to really believe the sky is falling in order to hoard physical bars in a digital age,” Foroohor writes. And…