Category Archives: Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency exchange service is reviewing its listings in light of recent statements on initial coin offerings (ICOs) from the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

In a new blog post, the exchange said that it was launching the review, which could see it delist some of the trading pairs it offers, in a bid to avoid being "mischaracterized as a securities exchange."

As CoinDesk previously reported, the SEC revealed last month that it had been investigating The DAO, the ethereum-based funding vehicle that raised more than $150 million through a token sale. The agency ultimately ruled that those tokens which were sold and later freely traded on cryptocurrency exchanges qualify as securities, and that other token sales may fall under this definition as well.

It's in light of this statement that ShapeShift has asked its lawyers to examine whether the Howey Test a long-standing test used to determine whether certain assets qualify as securities applies to the tokens it lists. It's a notable development whichsignals that the SEC statement is having at least some impact on the startups that facilitate the exchangeof blockchain-based tokens.

ShapeShift explained in the blog post:

"This means that we may need to delist some types of tokens from the platform, which is unfortunate for our users who have enjoyed the ability to participate in these experimental and innovative technologies. We have thus instructed our counsel to examine the tokens available on ShapeShift, especially through the lens of the Howey Test, which is the test the SEC applies to determine the presence of a security."

As the statement goes on to suggest, US-based customers of ShapeShift may be the ones that feel the biggestimpact as the review moves ahead.

"As that analysis is done, certain tokens may be removed from the service for individuals within the United States, who will then no longer be able to interact with these technologies safely or transparently through the ShapeShift platform," the startup said, going on to add that it may "consider the application of the Howey test to all new tokens we list."

Disclosure: CoinDesk is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which has an ownership stake in ShapeShift.

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The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is an independent media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. Have breaking news or a story tip to send to our journalists? Contact us at [emailprotected].

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SEC Statements Spur ShapeShift to Review Cryptocurrency Listings ... - CoinDesk

New details have emerged about Australia's proposed cryptocurrency exchange law.

As reported yesterday by CoinDesk, Australia is moving ahead with plans to formalize the government's oversight of the domestic exchange space. Specifically, the government wants to update existing anti-money laundering statutes to account for the tech.

A draft text of the bill has since beenposted to the website of the Australian Parliament, offering key details on how the country plans to regulate the industry.

Of particular note are the penalties for operating an unlicensed cryptocurrency exchange offenders could face as many as seven years in prison, depending on the severity of the violation and whether they've received prior warnings from regulators.

First-time offenders could be hit with prison sentences as long as two years and as much as $100,000 in fines. Repeat offenders may also receive fines as high as $400,000.

"A person...must not provide a registrable digital currency exchange service to another person if the first person is not a registered digital currency exchange provider," the bill states.

The measure also outlines the creation of a so-called "Digital Currency Exchange Register", which would be overseen by the Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC), the Australia's foremost financial intelligence agency.

The registration process could take as many as 180 days, according to the bill's text, depending on the outcome of AUSTRAC's approval process and if subsequent filings are required by the applicant.

In statements yesterday, the Australian government positioned the measure as one that would close a "gap" in the regulatory structure for cryptocurrency businesses.

"The bill will ... close a regulatory gap by bringing digital currency exchange providers under the remit of AUSTRAC," officials said.

Prison bars image via Shutterstock

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is an independent media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. Have breaking news or a story tip to send to our journalists? Contact us at [emailprotected].

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Australia Weighs Jail Time for Cryptocurrency Exchange Offenders - CoinDesk

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Unikrn, a U.S. sports betting digital platform backed by some of the biggest names in media, entertainment and sports, will launch the sale of $100 million in cryptocurrency next month, the company's co-founder and chief executive officer, Rahul Sood, told Reuters in an interview earlier this week.

The sale is part of a trend in which creators of digital currencies in the blockchain space sell tokens to the public to fund their projects. Some start-ups call this mode of financing an initial coin offering (ICO); others refer to it as a "token sale."

Cryptocurrency is a digital currency in which encryption techniques help keep transactions secure. Blockchain is a digital ledger of transactions underpinning the original online currency bitcoin.

Sood explained that Unikrn embraced cryptocurrency as a way to bypass banking institutions.

"The problem when you're dealing with banks is that none of these guys are easy to work with," Sood said. "You're dealing with 20 different currencies, you're dealing across borders. There's no other reason to go this route other than to circumvent banking."

The new coin will be called UnikoinGold, which will be a cryptocurrency version of the company's existing coin UniKoin. The current UniKoin, which allows users to bet on e-sports in regulated markets and win prizes in markets where Unikrn is not licensed to operate, will be phased out once UniKoingold is launched.

Unikrn is capping its token sale at $100 million because "if we don't, it's going to go crazy," Sood said.

Sood said there will be a pre-sale of the token in the next few weeks and a crowdsale in September. There will be no discount for early investors or company founders and employees.

Sood founded Voodoo, which manufactures high-end computers for video games, when he was in high school. He eventually sold his company to Hewlett Packard after 16 years and eventually joined Microsoft and ran the company's venture fund for start-ups.

Seattle-based Unikrn, which was launched nearly three years ago, is backed by well-known investors including Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks professional basketball team; U.S. actor Ashton Kutcher's venture firm Sound Ventures; Elisabeth Murdoch's venture fund Freeland Ventures, as well as Shari Redstone's Advancit Capital. TabCorp, the largest betting company in Australia is also an investor.

The company raised $10 million from early investors, Sood said.

Elisabeth Murdoch is the daughter of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, while Shari Redstone is the daughter of Sumner Redstone whose family is a majority owner of several media groups including CBS Corp., Viacom, and MTV Networks.

Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Bernadette Baum

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US e-sports platform to launch $100 million cryptocurrency sale in September - Reuters

Australia has decided digital currencies need the same level of regulation enjoyed by other currencies.

Justice minister Michael Keenan yesterday announced an intention to strengthen the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act and give more digi-dollar regulatory powers to the Australian Transactions and Reporting Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC).

Describing the current state of affairs as a regulatory gap, the minister said the decision to bring digital currencies under the same laws as other currencies has been taken after consultation with industry and our national security agencies.

The threat of serious financial crime is constantly evolving, as new technologies emerge and criminals seek to nefariously exploit them, Keenan gravely intoned. These measures ensure there is nowhere for criminals to hide.

There's a draft of the upgraded Act for your consideration. It defines a digital currency as "a digital representation of value that:

(i) functions as a medium of exchange, a store of economic value, or a unit of account; and (ii) is not issued by or under the authority of a government body; and (iii) is interchangeable with money (including through the crediting of an account) and may be used as consideration for the supply of goods or services; and (iv) is generally available to members of the public without any restriction on its use as consideration."

The draft also calls for the creation of a Digital Currency Exchange Register so that AUSTRAC knows who to regulate.

Australia's decision aligns it with other nations. The UK's National Cyber Security Centre last week included Cyber criminal use of cryptocurrency in its weekly Threat List. China and Japan have also moved to regulate digital currency exchanges.

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Australian money cops gain powers to regulate cryptocurrency - The Register

Investopedia

Could Cryptocurrencies Replace Cash? Investopedia At the beginning of the cryptocurrency boom, Bitcoin seemed to be the unquestioned leader. Up until early this year, Bitcoin accounted for the vast majority of the industry's market capitalization; then, in a span of just weeks, Ethereum, Ripple, and ... Zen Protocol is the next step for cryptocurrency smart-contractsTNW Will the Bitcoin Fork Continue to Boost the Cryptocurrency's Value?TheStreet.com US Law Labels Cryptocurrency Illicit Finance TrendThe Merkle The Market Mogul -Business Insider -Bitcoin News (press release) all 109 news articles »

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Could Cryptocurrencies Replace Cash? - Investopedia

Aug 18, 2017 Substratum is proud to announce development of the decentralized web fueled by a new cryptocurrency currently in ICO, Substrate.

The Substratum Network is built around the concepts of simplicity and freedom, offering open-source tools anyone can use to participate in the decentralized web. Users run one-click software to set up nodes that serve content. Anyone running a node is paid in Substrate microtransactions each time a request is fulfilled, letting them earn passive income while contributing to an open web experience.

Powering this decentralized web is Substrate (SUB), a new cryptocurrency designed to be user friendly from the ground up. Substrate is divided into Atoms extending only to the second decimal place, creating a fiat-like notation familiar to the general public. This aids in adoption and makes Substrate a friendlier alternative to other cryptocurrencies.

The Substratum Network leverages blockchain technology, advanced cryptography, artificial intelligence, and custom compression algorithms to ensure fast, safe, and efficient operation of the network. Best of all, end-users can view content hosted on Substratum directly in their default browser with no special software needed.

Substrate entered ICO in mid-August. The pre-ICO phase ran for one week prior and closed over $1 million in contributions, far exceeding the minimum funding goal. Substrate is expected to hit exchanges September 2017.

The Substratum Network comes at a time when people are increasingly concerned with online privacy, censorship, and net neutrality. Substratums decentralized nature allows it to break free from those constrictions and empower users to take back the web. With its user-focused design, Substratum makes it easy for anyone to earn cryptocurrency and change the world.

For more information about the Substratum Network or to participate in the Substratum ICO, visit https://substratum.net

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored press release and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of any The Merkle employees. This is not investment or trading advice, always do your own independent research.

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Substratum Launches Substrate Cryptocurrency to Power the New Decentralized Web - The Merkle

A new social network is paying users to post as long as their content is verified.

OnG.Social, the social media platform of parent company OneName Global, Inc., allows users to create posts using a centralized dashboard that can then distribute those posts on a users other social networks Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. These posts are then authenticated by professionals.

In return for posting verified information, users will earnonG-Coins, an original cryptocurrency that rewards truth and seeks to block the spread of fake news. That idea caught on with Adrian Rosenbusch, a former UFC cutman who signed a sponsorship deal withonG.Social after meeting Chris Kramer, the CEO of OneName Global. After seeing what Kramer put into the company, Rosenbusch joined full-time in 2014 as Chief Visionary Officer.

Its a real passion project, which is really what drew me to it in the first place, Rosenbusch told SportTechie. Were having people evangelize our messages because they really believe in it. One such evangelist is Kenny Florian, a former UFC fighter.

On Monday, onG.Social offered its first shares ofonG-Coin in an initial coin offering that was pre-valued at $25 million, according to the onG-Coin website. The ability of users to make money off their posts was intriguing to many in the professional fighting industry, Rosenbusch said, because it allows them to share content about their lives and monetize it. It also gives a platform to fighters who want to start businesses but dont necessarily know where to start.

OnG.Social is backed by IBM after participating in the tech giants Global Entrepreneur program, Rosenbusch said. He added that IBMs pursuit of blockchain technologies goes hand-in-hand with onG.Socials mission. OnG.Social was live as a social platform before it entered the blockchain, but now uses the Ethereum and Waves blockchain platforms, which promotes extra security and reliability, according to a press release.

IBM, theyre busy right now with their own projects in blockchain, so were all doing our thing together. We all see in the same direction, Rosenbusch said.

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In its move to the blockchain, onG.Social will also include the APIs to decentralized social networks such as Steemit, Akasha, Golem, and MaidSafe, among others.

The key to onG.Socials core mission is the Gravity algorithm, which takes into account the validity and social impact of posts and awards cryptocurrency, according to the press release. Posts are validated by community experts for example, apost on a medical procedure would be deemed true or not by a doctor, Rosenbusch said and assigned a Gravity score that would make the post more or less visible.

The users whose posts have low or negative Gravity scores would not be silenced or shut down, as a low-performing channel might be by its corporate parent, but rather ignored by a majority of users.

That alone takes away so many of the problems you have with status-quo networks, where if youre just arguing for the sake of arguing, or posting negative content youll get a low Gravity score, you wont get shut down, Rosenbusch explained. Its all up to the user. Nobodys silencing your voice, but also nobodys paying attention to you.

Instead, Rosenbusch said, the companys goal is to bring people together, allow for the largest multitude of voices, and to protect users content.

The initial coin offering is open until mid-September, and investors who buy onG-Coin can vote, in Reddit fashion, on posts made on onG.Social. The social network is entirely free to use.

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From UFC To Fighting Fake News With Cryptocurrency - SportTechie

Cryptocurrency exchange ShapeShift has acquired the bitcoin hardware wallet startup KeepKey, the two firms announced today.

ShapeShift will continue to use the KeepKey brand and its staff will stay on to continue working on the hardware product line, according to today's announcement. KeepKey had originally integrated with ShapeShift by way of its API last summer.

The deal the terms of which were not disclosed represents the first acquisition of a startup specifically focused on hardware products.

"This partnership will not only guarantee the future success of the KeepKey brand and product line, but joining the ShapeShift team will enable us to focus on continuing to work on developing better technology and security for crypto-holders,"Ken Hodler, KeepKey's chief technology officer, said in a statement.

The deal comes months after ShapeShift closeda $10.4 million funding round. At the time, the exchange drew on a list of backers that includedEarlybird Venture Capital, which led the round.

It also follows a move by KeepKey toend its supportlate last month for the long-running MultiBit bitcoin wallet. KeepKey first acquired MultiBitin May 2016.

Disclosure:CoinDesk is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which has an ownership stake in ShapeShift.

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The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is an independent media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. Have breaking news or a story tip to send to our journalists? Contact us at [emailprotected].

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Cryptocurrency Exchange ShapeShift Acquires Bitcoin Wallet Startup - CoinDesk

It is now just over two weeks the Bitcoin split happened creating a new currency - Bitcoin Cash. To make intelligent decisions on where Bitcoin may be headed, it's imperative to take a look at how this historic fork has impacted the cryptocurrency landscape.

Trace Schmeltz at Barnes & Thornburg LLP explains what is crystal clear: the Bitcoin market has become more valuable than ever.

"By all accounts, this new currency is now the third most valuable cryptocurrency in the world, despite a slow start out of the gate," Schmeltz says. "The Bitcoin market both BTC and BCC - is more valuable than ever before. It would appear that the market has reacted favorably to this early test of currency run by the masses -- what appears to be democracy in action."

Schmeltz explains the recent fork demonstrates that a currency without a central governing body can survive controversy. "Here, of course, a large number of BTC community-members firmly believed that the 'segregated witness' methodology some members wanted to adopt to expand Bitcoin violated core principles of the first cryptocurrency," Schmeltz says. "So, they 'split off,' or created a fork in the distributed ledger, to form BCC -- Bitcoin Cash."

Ryan Radloff, head of investor relations at XBT Provider, explains there have been multiple forks in Bitcoin's history. "In a funny way, it's a feedback mechanism or voting system by the community to choose which version of a protocol upgrade they believe is best for the coin," Radloff says. "The strongest and most fit will survive, just like anything in life."

But the reasons for the fork, of course, are complex. Radloff explains it happens when a suggested protocol upgrade (code-base update) is not supported by the entire network and thus, the entire network does not upgrade or implement the change.

"At this point, there are two versions of the codebase, with a shared history that diverges at a specific point in time --at which point all future transactions are unique to each codebase and recorded on a different blockchain," Radloff says. "With respect to the recent Bitcoin fork which resulted in Bitcoin Cash: a rule in the original protocol limited the number of transactions per second."

This has created drawbacks as the scale of the network has grown larger. As a result, a group of developers who maintain the network, alongside the core Bitcoin developers, created a rival token known as Bitcoin Cash, designed to allow more transactions per second.

"The core development team also implemented a solution which makes it easier to build protocol on top of the Bitcoin network which allows faster transactions," Radloff says. "This approach has seen widespread adoption and is allowing the network to scale up - likely a partial driver of the most recent rally."

All is not hunky-dory in the Bitcoin world and we must acknowledge prepare for further problems.

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Aaron Lasher, co-founder and CMO of Breadwallet, noted thatBitcoin has a scaling problem and can only clear about three transactions per second.

"Due to its popularity, it's operating at max capacity," Lasher says. "The fork was the culmination of almost three years of heated debate about how to scale bitcoin so that it can process transactions more quickly. Two sides had very different solutions, each with trade-offs that require deep knowledge in computer science, technology, and economics to fully comprehend."

Lasher explains that, ideally, the community of developers, miners and users would have come to a consensus and preserved the network as one Bitcoin, but that didn't happen and the network split in two. The landscape has changed, because now neither scaling solution is hypothetical; they are both in the wild, where they will compete for dominance in the marketplace.

This is what a top bitcoin player is doing right now.

Is another Bitcoin fork for possible?

"Regarding another split or fork for Bitcoin - generally speaking spin-off's are good for both entities - old one and newly created," says Krzysztof Kolaczynski, the founder of STABLE, a company which aims to reduce the inefficiencies existing in cryptocurrency markets and stabilize them. "But inthe nearest future, I don't think that another fork would be good for Bitcoin."

"The worst possibility for me at this moment is arranging in the near term another fork - that could put the trust under the danger and I am afraid that it would trigger a cascade reaction of new forks and we don't know what would be the consequences,"Kolaczynski adds.

Kolaczynski explains we should wait at least couple of months in order to see if Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash benefited both entities arranged into this deal.

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Will the Bitcoin Fork Continue to Boost the Cryptocurrency's Value? - TheStreet.com

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By Team CommerceMashable Shopping2017-08-14 18:44:31 UTC

Want to get rich enough to fill bathtubs with dollar bills just for kicks? Could Bitcoin make that happen? Let's dive in.

When Bitcoin debuted in 2009, its early adopters bought up large amounts of the digital currency for pennies. Since then, Bitcoins value has increased dramatically, turning several of those initial investors into millionaires. But the economics surrounding Bitcoin and other forms of digital currency like Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, and most recently, Bitcoin Cash, all dubbed cryptocurrency, can be unpredictable and complicated.

One huge benefit to using cryptocurrency is that it can't be stolen or counterfeit. When digital currencies are exchanged, they're converted into illegible code that not only makes them secure but also makes the sender and receiver appear anonymous. Unlike normal currency, digital currencies are not government regulated. No high bank fees, no fluctuations based on government regulations, and no corrupt bank antics. Sounds pretty nice, right?

Unfortunately, with decentralization comes instability, and cryptocurrencies are known for being highly volatile and unpredictable. Like most high-risk investments, this leaves opportunity for reaching ridiculous levels of wealth (meaning you can finally blow your nose in hundred dollar bills).

For the average person to achieve success in cryptocurrency marketplaces, he or she will need to get learning. Thats where the Beginners Guide to Cryptocurrency Investing comes in. It will give you all the knowledge youll need to make smart choices and turn your physical cash into a sizable digital stash.

Over the course of 27 lectures and 2.5 hours of content, this program will teach you methods for investing in altcoins, how to maximize your return, and how to convert those coins back into real money. Youll learn about the various cryptocurrencies available and which is right for you and you'll dive into the digital currency community, gathering valuable research and insights along the way. Finally, youll be able to estimate the true value of the entire market and decide where and when to make your move.

Now is the time to make your digital fortune. Pick up the Beginners Guide to Cryptocurrency Investing for $15, an incredible reduction from the regular $180 price.

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The wild world of cryptocurrencyand how it could make you rich - Mashable