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South Korea Ends Anonymous Cryptocurrency Trading Today : The new South Korean cryptocurrency account system has entered into force nationwide today, ending the current practice that allowed for anonymous trading of cryptocurrencies. Traders must open real-name accounts at the same banks as their exchanges in order to deposit money to trade cryptocurrencies. Real-Name System Enforced South Korea begins converting existing virtual cryptocurrency accounts to real-name accounts today as mandated by the government. The implementation of this new account system effectively ends “the use of anonymous bank accounts in transactions to prevent virtual coins from being used for money laundering and other illegal activities,” Yonhap reported. Six major banks in the country are participating in this new system so far: Shinhan Bank, Nonghyup Bank, Industrial Bank of Korea, Kookmin Bank, Hana Bank, and Gwangju Bank. The news outlet elaborated: Opening cryptocurrency accounts has been banned f...

Cryptocurrency Millionaire 'forced at gunpoint to make bitcoin transfer : Armed men broke into the family home of a cryptocurrency trader and are believed to have forced him at gunpoint to transfer holdings of the virtual currency bitcoin. Thames Valley police said they were seeking witnesses who may have seen the four raiders who broke into the house in the picturesque Oxfordshire village of Moulsford, and threatened the trader and his partner. But they would not confirm local reports that the target of the raiders was not physical property but the man’s stock of the cryptocurrency. The soaring value of the online currency was the subject of much discussion at Davos in the past week, with politicians warning of clampdowns on trading because of its association with criminality. Police said nobody had been seriously hurt in what they described as “a targeted incident”. They were called to the house off Reading Road at about 9.40am on 22 January and officers later visited a nearb...

Starbucks Chairman Interested in Cryptocurrency Market : Howard Schultz, who recently revealed an ambitious 30,000 square-foot Starbucks Roastery in Shanghai in partnership with Alibaba, expressed his enthusiasm towards the cryptocurrency market. Cryptocurrency For Retailers In the next few years, Schultz stated that he believes several legitimate cryptocurrencies will emerge, endorsed and adopted by retailers. He said: “I personally believe that there is going to be a one or a few legitimate trusted digital currencies off of the blockchain technology. And that legitimacy and trust in terms of its consumer application will have to be legitimized by a brand and a brick and mortar environment, where the consumer has trust and confidence in the company that is providing the transaction.” Schultz emphasized that Starbucks is not interested in creating a cryptocurrency of its own, unlike several conglomerates in the technology and finance sector. Since the value of cryptocurrencies co...

Japan Re-Investigates Coincheck after $530 million cryptocurrency theft : TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan’s financial regulator said on Monday it would inspect all cryptocurrency exchanges and ordered Coincheck to get its act together after hackers stole $530 million worth of digital money from its exchange in one of the biggest cyber heists on record. The theft highlights the vulnerabilities in trading an asset that global policymakers are struggling to regulate and the broader risks for Japan as it aims to leverage the fintech industry to stimulate economic growth. The Financial Services Agency (FSA) on Monday ordered improvements to operations at Tokyo-based Coincheck, which on Friday suspended trading in all cryptocurrencies except bitcoin after hackers stole 58 billion yen ($534 million) of NEM coins, among the most popular digital currencies in the world. Coincheck said on Sunday it would return about 90 percent with internal funds, though it has yet to figure out how or when. The N...

Singapore Central Bank FinTech Chief : Bitcoin Can't cause a Lehman Collapse : The financial technology chief of Singapore’s central bank does not foresee a scenario where bitcoin would trigger a global financial meltdown akin to the 2008 collapse of investment bank Lehman Brothers. In an interview with Channel News Asia, Sopnendu Mohanty – chief of financial technology at the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the country’s central bank, opined bitcoin will not cause a global financial crisis in the event of a price collapse. The central bank official insisted global regulators are “getting serious about this whole cryptocurrency market”, suggesting authorities would step in with regulations when bitcoin markets continue to grow globally. He stated: We know exactly when to intervene, based on the market size and the demand and transaction volume, and we will come in at the right time. So, I’m not overly worried about getting to some large financial system crisis. Specifically, ...

Robinhood Trading App Is Adding Bitcoin and Ether :  Popular smartphone app Robinhood announced it will begin to allow users to trade bitcoin next month, and without transaction fees. Until now, online retail brokerage platforms have been careful about dabbling in bitcoin by way of futures contracts, preferring not to deal directly in cryptocurrency. The young app is ready to try a loss-leader model in what some consider the future of money. <h2 style=

Stripe will end bitcoin support because customers aren’t interested : Stripe will no longer supporting bitcoin payments by April this year, <a href=

Now is the best time to invest in bitcoin, says digital currency hedge-fund manager : Now is the best time to invest in bitcoin, says digital currency hedge-fund manager. Market watchers should invest in bitcoin now that prices are down, says BK Capital Management founder Brian Kelly.

Coinbase Is Making $2.7 Million a Day : Running a major cryptocurrency exchange can be a logistical nightmare, but the rewards make it all worthwhile. In information released to shareholders this week, Coinbase revealed that it recorded turnover of $1 billion last year, which works out at an astonishing $2.74 million a day or $2,000 a minute. Coinbase Coins It In As America’s largest bitcoin broker, Coinbase claims the lion’s share of the money that’s pouring into the crypto space at a dizzying rate. 2017 was a bumper year for all crypto exchanges, which reported record numbers across the board: new signups, new staff hired, new trading pairs, and new revenue. Those revenue streams have turned into a torrent that has caused Coinbase’ coffers to swell. Recode <a href=

Korean Crypto Exchanges to Share Data with Banks in New Account System This Month : The South Korean government has announced that six major banks will be ready to provide services to cryptocurrency exchanges this month. Under the new system, the government requires exchanges to share user data with banks. Exchanges to Share Data with Banks The Korean Financial Services Commission (FSC) announced some additional details of the new real-name system for cryptocurrency accounts on Sunday. “The government plans to require cryptocurrency exchanges to share users’ transaction data with banks,” an FSC official said, as quoted by the Investor. The official emphasized: Banks are expected to introduce the system, which will require cryptocurrency exchanges to share users‘ transaction data with banks, late this month or early next month. The new system will end the current practice of virtual account usage which allows anonymous trading of cryptocurrencies. These accounts are issued by banks for ...

Onecoin Offices Raided in Sofia, Servers Shut Down : Bulgarian law enforcement agencies have raided the offices of Onecoin in Sofia as part of a multinational effort to neutralize what authorities call a “centralized cryptocurrency pyramid scheme”. Three million people may have been defrauded by the company which offers services on four continents, according to media reports. Bulgarian officials were diligent enough to note that Onecoin has nothing in common with the decentralized Bitcoin. 50 People Questioned, No Arrests Servers, documents and other evidence have been confiscated from Onecoin and about 50 people have been questioned by investigators, according to the official statement. No arrests have been reported so far. Bulgarian prosecutors, national security agents and members of the organized crime combating unit were involved in the joint operation. They acted on request from Germany, where Bulgarian-born “founder and visionary” of Onecoin, Ruja Ignatova, had been taken to...

India sends tax notices to cryptocurrency investors as trading hits $3.5 billion : India has sent tax notices to tens of thousands of people dealing in cryptocurrency after a nationwide survey showed more than $3.5 billion worth of transactions have been conducted over a 17-month period, the income tax department said. Tech-savvy young investors, real estate players and jewelers are among those invested in bitcoin and other virtual currencies, tax officials told Reuters after gathering data from nine exchanges in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Pune. Governments around the world are grappling with how to regulate cryptocurrency trading, and policymakers are expected to discuss the matter at a G20 summit in Argentina in March. The Indian government has issued repeated warnings against digital currency investments, saying these were like “Ponzi schemes” that offer unusually high returns to early investors. But it has not so far imposed curbs on an industry estimated to be adding 200,000 use...

[Monitor] Korean cryptocurrency exchange tops world in trade volume : [Monitor] Korean cryptocurrency exchange tops world in trade volume. Among cryptocurrency exchanges around the world, the one with the largest volume of transactions is based in South Korea, showed data from tallying website CoinMarketCap. As of 10:40 a.m. Thursday, the transaction volume for 24 hours at Upbit based in South Korea reached $7.577 billion, far ahead of Hong Kong’s Binance, which ranked second. Except for the No. 1 and No. 3 spots, most exchanges with large transactions were located in Hong Kong and China. Although Upbit topped the world market in terms of trade volume, its size of bitcoin transactions fell to third place at $827.8 million, trailing Bitfinance at $1.482 billion and Okex at $935.1 million. This means that traders in Korea, as there are fewer coins in circulation, tend to invest more on altcoins or alternative coins (cryptocurrencies other than bitcoin) that have higher potential of sudd...

Bitcoin Will Be Back Up, Market Sell-Off an Overreaction: BitPay Executive : Bitcoin Will Be Back Up, Market Sell-Off an Overreaction: BitPay Execngh, According to BitPay chief commercial officer, Sonny Singh, whenever Bitcoin’s price surges high or drops low, the situation is blown out of proportion. “You know every time there’s good news or bad news, the market tends to overreact. And now we are seeing an overreaction of the downward side”, Singh said in an interview with Bloomberg on wednesday. He spoke about the recent changes in the prices of cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin went as high as $17,000 in the first week of this year, and then dropped below $10,000. Similarly, Ripple dropped by 28% within 24 hours on Wednesday. When asked what Singh thought of these sudden crashes, he said it was ‘exciting’, “What’s another 25% drop amongst friends I always say right? So, it’s exciting.” While analysts have been calling Bitcoin a bubble, a topic as old as the cryptocurrency itself, o...

A Suicide Prevention Hotline Was the Top Post on the Cryptocurrency Subreddit on Tuesday : So, Tuesday was a bad day for Bitcoin. Within hours, the original cryptocurrency plunged in price from roughly $13,000 USD per 1.0 BTC to just over $10,000—and that’s down from an all-time high of $19,000 in mid-December. It was a shock to the system that, perhaps because of the investment mania that’s surrounded Bitcoin in recent months, has upset many. For example, on Tuesday night the top-voted post on the half-a-million strong /r/Cryptocurrency subreddit was the phone number for the US National Suicide Prevention Lifeline:

215,000+ Sign Petition Against South Korean Cryptocurrency Regulation – Government to Respond : A national petition against extreme cryptocurrency regulations in South Korea has exceeded 200,000 signatures, the requirement for the government to respond. The petition entitled “Has the government ever dreamed a happy dream for the people?” was filed on December 28. Meanwhile, another related petition calls for the removal of the governor of the country’s Financial Supervisory Service. Government Will Respond The South Korean government announced a series of regulatory measures for cryptocurrencies in December. Immediately following the announcement on December 28, a national petition entitled “Has the government ever dreamed a happy dream for the people?” was filed and will run through January 27. According to the rules set by the Blue House, if more than 200,000 people sign a petition within a month, the government will respond within 30 days. On Tuesday, January 16, the number...

Bitconnect Shuts Down Its Exchange : In a move that will surprise few observers, Bitconnect has announced that it is closing its lending and exchange platform. The company has widely been accused of operating a Ponzi scheme and was recently rocked by cease and desist notices in two US states. Immediately after the firm declared its intention to wind things up, its BCC coin plummeted from $290 to under $10 before recovering slightly. With the exchange offline, many holders have been left locked out and powerless to sell their heavily deprecated assets. Bitconnect Bids Bye Bye Pressure has been mounting on Bitconnect for months, with leading figures within the crypto community, from Vitalik Buterin to Jameson Lopp, speculating that the exchange was not all it was cracked up to be. News.Bitcoin.com reported on these rumors back in November before revealing, less than a fortnight ago, that the company had been slapped with an emergency cease and desist order in Texas. Among many red flags ...

Bitcoin drops as China renews crackdown on cryptocurrency : Bitcoin drops as China renews crackdown on cryptocurrency. Bitcoin fell to the lowest level in more than a month after a report that Chinese regulators are cracking down again on the cryptocurrency, targeting mobile apps and online platforms used for trading. South Korea’s government is also debating how to contain the mania in digital assets after raiding two exchanges last week. Losses were spreading to dozens of other cryptoassets, with ethereum declining 19% and ripple plummeting 29%, according to Coinmarketcap.com. Bitcoin dropped below $12,012.50 today, the lowest since Dec. 5, according to Coindesk prices.   The Chinese government plans to block domestic access to local and offshore platforms that provide centralized trading, according to Bloomberg, citing unidentified sources. Officials are also targeting people who provide trading services like market making (providing bids and offers) and other market infras...

European regulator warns: Investors could lose everything on cryptocurrency ICOs : European regulator warns: Investors could lose everything on cryptocurrency ICOs. Buying into initial coin offerings can lead to the loss of investments, the chair of the European Securities and Markets Authority says

XRP Price Dips to $1.3 as Cryptocurrency Markets Take a Beating : XRP Price Dips to $1.3 as Cryptocurrency Markets Take a Beating Most cryptocurrency enthusiasts may have noticed how all markets are in the red right now. We are not talking about small losses here either, as all currencies have lost double-digit percentages in value over the past 24 hours. One of the bigger “losers” in this regard is XRP, as the price has lost a whopping 28.76% in the past 24 hours. Moreover, the price has been on a steady decline for more than a week now, and things will not improve in the near future. XRP PRICE IS HEADING BACK TO $1 AT THIS RATE It is always unfortunate to see all cryptocurrency markets lose a ton of value in quick succession. Although it is difficult to pinpoint the exact reason for this massive sell-off right now, it seems China’s regulatory measures have caused a lot of backlash once again. That is always somewhat surprising, considering how China plays no role of importance in the...

Bittrex Has Two Popular Hashtags on Twitter for the Wrong Reasons : Running a cryptocurrency exchange has never been easy. In the first few years of Bitcoin’s existence, there wasn’t even enough demand to warrant such trading platforms. Things have significantly changed since, but that doesn’t mean the job has become any less difficult. The Bittrex exchange, for example, seems to be suffering from some oddities. Hundreds of users have taken to social media to complain about locked accounts or problems completing trades on the platform. As a result, the #BittrexSucks hashtag is trending on Twitter right now. BITTREX HAS SOME ISSUES TO SORT OUT As is always the case when reports like these arise, there is a good chance most people can’t relate to them. For instance, the Bittrex account belonging to the author of this article works just fine despite being on the Basic level. Trades are completing just fine, and logging into the platform is not causing any major problems. Even withdrawal r...

China’s Alibaba Quietly Launches Cryptocurrency Mining Platform: Unconfirmed Local Report : Chinese e-commerce and tech conglomerate Alibaba has quietly launched a cryptocurrency mining platform, according to an unconfirmed local media report. According to Tencent News, Alibaba registered the platform, which is called “P2P Nodes,” on Oct. 10, 2017 with the relevant local authorities in Nanjing. “Alibaba has recently launched a virtual currency mining platform “P2P node”, from the terms of the service agreement terms platform, the main operating platform is Alibaba East China Ltd.. It is reported that the company on October 10, 2017 has been completed registration, registered in Nanjing,” the report reads, according to a very rough translation. It is not clear from the report whether the platform has officially begun registering users. The news was first brought to the attention of Western audiences by cnLedger, who said that, according to its translation of the report, sources...

80 Percent of the Total Bitcoin Supply Have Now Been Mined : This weekend marks a milestone for bitcoin as 80 percent of the currency has now been mined into circulation, this means there’s only 20 percent left to mine. Satoshi Nakamoto’s protocol was one of the first to introduce digital scarcity and soon enough the digital asset will become even harder to obtain. There Are Only 4.2 Million Bitcoins Left to Mine 80 Percent of the Total Bitcoin Supply Have Been MinedSo far on January 13, 2018, 16,800,000 BTC have been mined and there’s only 20 percent left for miners to acquire. When Satoshi Nakamoto introduced the bitcoin protocol to the public by launching the codebase in 2009, the cryptocurrency came with a capped supply. The supply will never be increased and Nakamoto set the number to 21 million bitcoins ever to be found. So far the creator’s plan and miners securing the network have successfully secured this rule from changing with hashpower. Theoretically, however, skeptics beli...

GDAX Will Resume Bitcoin Cash Trading on January 17 : Bitcoin Cash enthusiasts were quite pleased when Coinbase and GDAX announced support for BCH a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, the good feelings didn’t last all that long, mainly because the trading of BCH was halted pretty quickly afterward. It seems there is also an investigation ongoing into how some people managed to manipulate orders across GDAX. Thankfully, the trading of Bitcoin Cash will be resumed on this platform on January 17 at 9 a.m. PST. GDAX WILL FINALLY RESUME BCH TRADING It is always interesting to see how things unfold when major exchanges enable support for additional cryptocurrencies. There are quite a few top cryptocurrencies which are not supported by any major exchange right now. Especially when it comes to fiat currency gateways, there is still a lot of work to be done for most coins. Coinbase is the go-to exchange for most people looking to buy cryptocurrency with their euros and US dollars. A few weeks ago, G...

Capital One Refuses to Let Customers Buy Cryptocurrency From Any Exchange : Capital One Refuses to Let Customers Buy Cryptocurrency From Any Exchange. Various banks all over the world prevent their customers from buying or selling cryptocurrency. That is not a positive development, as people should be free to spend their money as they please. Unfortunately, that is not how the world works right now. Capital One is the latest bank on a growing list of banks blocking cryptocurrency-related transactions. Various complaints can be found across all of social media as we speak. CAPITAL ONE REFUSES TO PROCESS BITCOIN TRANSACTIONS It is not the first time a major bank has decided to not process customer requests related to Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. These incidents usually involve people looking to buy Bitcoin, but they can also pertain to those individuals selling cryptocurrency. In the case of Capital One, one of the biggest US banks, it is no longer allowing users to buy crypto. As...

Cryptocurrency Market Continues to Struggle in Wake of South Korea Fiasco : The cryptocurrency markets continued to struggle this weekend against the setback caused by a false regulatory announcement from South Korea this past week, as the top 10 currencies posted losses in the mid-single digits to the mid-teens in the last 24 hours. Among the top 15 currencies, 11th ranked NEO managed to squeak out a 0.56% gain, while 15th ranked ICON Project managed a 15.56% rise. While the market recovered shortly after the cryptocurrency trading ban rumors were refuted by the South Korean government and the Blue House, the executive office of President Moon Jae-in, on Jan. 12, the market suffered another major correction this weekend. Among the top 100 cryptocurrencies, only 20 managed not to lose valuation in the last 24 hours, according to CCN.com. Biggest Loss Among Top 10: Cardano Among the top 10 currencies, fifth-ranked Cardano with $418.976 billion in market valuation took the steepest tumb...

I tried to buy $1 of bitcoin from a Las Vegas ATM — and it just proves how far bitcoin is from replacing regular money : I tried to buy $1 of bitcoin from a Las Vegas ATM — and it just proves how far bitcoin is from replacing regular money. Some Las Vegas restaurants accept payment in bitcoin, so I decided to try to buy bitcoin from a casino's bitcoin ATM. I lost all my money. Considering the exorbitant bitcoin ATM fee, I have real doubts as to whether or not bitcoin has a real future as a currency. LAS VEGAS - I've been in Las Vegas for a whole week, but I've only gambled twice: when I played $1 on The Simpsons slot machine in my hotel, and when I tried to buy $1 (and then, another $10) of bitcoin from a casino ATM. Both times, I lost it all. I had heard that the D, a casino and hotel in downtown Las Vegas, had a bitcoin ATM that made it easy to buy and sell the red-hot digital currency. I was intrigued by my colleague's account of a bitcoin ATM in New York City, which...

Kentucky Fried Chicken Canada Launches Bitcoin Bucket. : Kentucky Fried Chicken Canada Launches Bitcoin Bucket Bitcoiners in the past few days have witnessed mainstream media spreading rumors about South Korea’s ban on cryptocurrency. This, as always, caused some panic selling. But hey, don’t be upset. Colonel Sanders is here to spread some fried chicken joy amid the crypto bloodbath. KFC Canada tweeted today they are accepting Bitcoin for the finger lickin’ chicken. Bitcoin Backed by Fired Chicken Kentucky Fried Chicken Canada tweeted this Friday that customers now can pay for a bucket of the Colonel’s Original Recipe in bitcoin. Renamed the “Bitcoin Bucket”, the Canadian outlet has priced the chicken at 20 Canadian Dollars ($16), and that includes 10 original recipe tenders, waffle fries, a medium side, gravy and two dips. The Canadian outlet posted on its website “Welcome to 2018, Canada.” KFC Canada presents The Bitcoin Bucket. Sure, we don’t know exactly what Bitcoins are, or how ...

Here’s Why Calling Bitcoin Cash “BCash” Is a Terrible Idea : Over the past few months, we have seen various discussions regarding Bitcoin Cash. One of the main “problems” involves how people tend to refer to this altcoin these days. In the Bitcoin community, it is often known as BCash, which creates a lot of bad blood with BCH supporters. However, it turns out BCash is an entirely different project. Whether or not the team wants to bank on Bitcoin Cash’s “success” with this name remains to be seen. THE BCASH HYIP GAMBLING PROJECT Although it is unlikely the Bitcoin community will ever stop referring to Bitcoin Cash as “BCash”, there is a good reason to do so. By using this term too loosely, they inadvertently refer to a completely different project. In fact, there are multiple projects with the BCash name as we speak, none of which have anything to do with the alternative version of Bitcoin. BCash.games, for example, is a project which combines masternodes with gambling. Moreover, BCas...

Ukraine Wants A National Digital Currency, Not Its Own Cryptocurrency : The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has said it is “considering” introducing a digital version of its national currency, the hryvnia, that is not based on Blockchain, at least for now. The central bank reported in a Facebook post Thursday Jan. 11 that it is studying “new and innovative technologies” as part of the country’s so-called Cashless Economy project, of which the potential e-hryvnia is a part. The NBU drew a distinction between the digital currency it has in mind and a state-issued cryptocurrency, which would by definition be based on Blockchain technology: “However, the National Bank would like to specify that what is meant here is the possible introduction of an electronic hryvnia, not our own cryptocurrency.” The NBU also noted that the possibility of basing their proposed e-hryvnia on Blockchain is still up for discussion. The plans for a digital hryvnia versus a national cryptocurrency contrast with ac...