Category Archives: Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency is the talk of the town now, its everywhere, from thousands of digital coin ATMs installed over the world to the hospital in Pakistan offering to accept the digital currency. Among all the debate about its legality and profitability, an unfamiliar mind finds itself confused over the word cryptocurrency. Now we are going to discuss all the whats and the hows of cryptocurrency.

Cryptocurrency is a digital currency which is created and accessed electronically and can be used to buy things electronically. Just like dollar, rupees or yen, various conventional currencies circulating today, there are more than 900 cryptocurrencies available. Most famous of them is Bitcoin, the first cryptocurrency invented in 2009. Ethereum, Litecoin, Factom and dozen others are also used in a fair amount.

Cryptocurrency serves the same purpose as conventional currency except for the one main difference: it is decentralized i.e. there is no central bank regulating it. There is no intermediary present between two dealing parties. In the case of conventional currencies, banks have all the record and they charge fees for their services. However, in the case of cryptocurrency, there are no banks present to cut fees. It is the anonymity ensured by the absence of intermediary which has made it famous; just like in emails and phone calls, where our message travels from A to B without relying on a third-party, thus ensuring our privacy.

But the question arises who regulates the transactions? What if someone just duplicates their cryptocurrency or uses it for more than one transaction? To solve this problem, an online public ledger, Blockchain, keeps and updates all the record of transactions. It is the technology at the heart of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. It uses cryptography to make transactions secure and makes them publicly available while ensuring the users anonymity, thus also helping to reduce fraud. Since it is publicly available, the whole community can verify the authenticity of a transaction.

State Bank of Pakistan hasnt announced any regulations for the cryptocurrency, which means that digital currency neither holds the status of money nor it is illegal to use. However, earlier this year, FBR launched action against those involved in money laundering and tax evasion through digital currency, and SECP warned the public to beware of scams in cryptocurrency. Apart from this, there arent any comments by the Government of Pakistan.

The majority of countries have no legislation regarding any digital currency. Japan has given it the status of legal tender. However, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, and few other countries have declared it illegal, citing their concern over its possible use in money laundering.

The reason for the absence of any clear legislation is that the cryptocurrency is still in developing phase and a very small fraction of public uses it. Unless major investors enter this market, we cannot expect a word about its legality from the government.

Because of the absence of any third party, it offers a number of benefits.

No one knows how much digital currency you have and what transaction you have made unless you make your online wallet public. Compared to conventional currency, where banks carry all the information regarding your balance and transactions, it is up to you how much information you want to share with others.

Whenever you make a transaction, data is updated on Blockchain, an online ledger, but your identity is kept private. If someone wants to verify a transaction they would look it up in Blockchain, but they wont know your name. However, this privacy must not be confused with complete anonymity; you are still required to prove your identity while signing up.

Of what use a currency is if you cannot buy things with it. Many websites accept cryptocurrency as payment. For instance, Overstock.com accepts Bitcoins as payment and the good thing is they also ship to Pakistan. You can also top up your prepaid mobile phone using Bitrefill. Freelancers also prefer to use cryptocurrency, as it reduces their transaction fees and increases their earning by 2% to 5%.

Yes, there are many risks and disadvantages of using cryptocurrency.

There are a limited number of coins at the moment and demand varies from day to day. The rate of digital currency adoption may hamper or increase depending on the press coverage and other factors. But point needing emphasis is that overall trend is upwards. Earlier this year Bitcoin surpassed the value of one ounce of gold. Around the same time, it also dropped by 30%. Its a high-risk medium and you better not keep your savings in it.

You wont find any ATM for cryptocurrency in Pakistan. There arent any local retailers offering to accept any digital currency. So, you cant simply go out in the market and use cryptocurrency; it still has a lot of growing to do. The price that vendor cuts for processing your transaction keep changing, servers often dont work and it takes a whole day to do just one transaction. Cryptocurrency is new to this world and is still under development, but still, it is improving with every passing day.

World of cryptocurrency is an uncharted territory. It is so new that there isnt any legislation regarding its taxation. The government hasnt classified it either as a commodity or a currency. There are no statements regarding taxation of cryptocurrency. There is still a lot of confusion about its taxability. So, in order to avoid trouble, it is advisable to establish a record keeping system and keep a track of when is cryptocurrency acquired and when it is disposed of.

In the next story, I will tell you about the most popular cryptocurrency Bitcoin. I will also give you a detailed explanation on what you can do to buy Bitcoin or other coins in Pakistan.

Feel free to drop your questions below for further discussion.

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Cryptocurrency 101 - TechJuice - TechJuice (press release) (blog)

Crypto Insider (press release) (blog)

Is Kazakhstan the next cryptocurrency hotspot? Crypto Insider (press release) (blog) Back in 2014, Kairat Kelimbetov, then-head of Kazakhstan's National Bank suggested that Bitcoin could be a form of financial pyramid scheme. The common belief among Kazakhstani officials was that cryptocurrencies could undermine the country's already ...

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Is Kazakhstan the next cryptocurrency hotspot? - Crypto Insider (press release) (blog)

Because of the growing attention towards Zcash (ZEC) cryptocurrency, EXMO exchange reports about the launching of trades in four currency pairs at a time: ZEC/BTC, ZEC/USD,ZEC/EUR, ZEC/RUB.

28th July, EXMO cryptocurrency exchange expanded the list of financial instruments, having integrated Zcash (ZEC) cryptocurrency, which total market capitalization is estimated at $302 700 000. The cryptocurrency has gained users attention and trust because of the high degree of anonymity of transactions in the system and the simplicity of its mining.

Why its cryptocurrency Zcash (ZEC) that weve chozen? The decision to launch this cryptocurrency was based on the results of the survey, conducted earlier among active exchange users, according to which, Zcash (ZE) cryptocurrency took the first place.

New financial instruments of Zcash It should be noted that due to Zcash integration platform users are able now to perform trading operations for the most demanded currency pairs: ZEC/BTC, ZEC/USD, ZEC/EUR, ZEC/RUB. The deposit and the withdrawal are already accessible on the page Wallet.

Let us remind you, that EXMO cryptocurrency exchange has already added three new currency pairs: ETH/EUR, ETH/LTC, DASH/RUB and also promising WAVES token. In the near future the company is also planning to extend the list of financial trading instruments.

Follow our updates, that are published on EXMO trading platform in the News section and follow us on Telegram, Facebook, Twitter pages. Thank you for staying with us! Best regards, EXMO team

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EXMO integrates Zcash cryptocurrency - newsBTC

Units of cryptocurrency are created through a process called mining, which involves using computer power to solve complicated maths problems that generate coins. Users can also buy the currencies from brokers, then store and spend themusing cryptographic wallets.

Cryptocurrencies and applications of blockchain technology are still nascent in financial terms and more uses should be expected. Transactions including bonds,stocks and other financial assetscould eventually be traded using the technology.

Cryptocurrencies are known for being secure and providing a level of anonymity. Transactions in them cannot be faked or reversed and there tend to be low fees, making it more reliable than conventional currency. Their decentralised nature means they are available to everyone, where banks can be exclusive in who they will let open accounts.

As a new form of cash, the cryptocurrency markets have been known to take off meaning a small investment can become a large sum over night.

But the same works the other way. People look to invest in cryptocurrencies should be aware of the volatility of the market and the risks they take when buying.

Because of the level of anonymity they offer, cryptocurrencies are often associated with illegal actvity, particularly on the dark web. Users should be careful about the connotations when choosing to buy the currencies.

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What is cryptocurrency? - Telegraph.co.uk

Fortune has published an examination of a secretive cryptocurrency hedge fund that is backed by some of Silicon Valleys top venture capital firms. The fund was co-founded by Naval Ravikant, Joshua Seims, and Lucas in 2014, and has produced returns of over 500%.

Also Read:Hedge Funds Are Quietly Investing in Bitcoin

Metastable Capital is a cryptocurrency hedge fund that has attracted investment from many top venture capital firms despite largely shunning publicity since its inception in 2014. Metastable was co-founded by Angellist CEO, Naval Ravikant, cryptography expert, Lucas Ryan, and former angel investor, Joshua Seims.

Fortune has reported that Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Union Square Venture, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Founders Fund are among Metastables major investors all of whom participated in Polychain Capitals fundraiser earlier this year.

Metastable takes a long term perspective when assessing the markets, aiming to invest in projects that it expects will be profitable over the course of at least a decade. Theres a handful of, say between five and 10 of these major use cases that could be trillion-dollar blockchains, Seims told Fortune. Its all very long-term focused, and we think were in super early days right now. It really comes down to which do we think is the strong enough technology, that we think can win.

Metastables website describes two funds offered by the firm, Metastable Balanced, and Metastable Edge. The Balanced fund seeks to take a value-investor approach to investing, guided by deep technical understanding of the protocols to select a portfolio that we believe will deliver the greatest returns, holding a large portion of bitcoin, in additional to several smaller sized positions in major altcoins. Edge is designed for investors that already have substantial Bitcoin holdings, and holds ETH and a variety of smaller coins from more recent ICOs, although the ETH portion fluctuates based on whether we believe that the value from new coins is going to accrue to the new coin or to ETH.

Metastables flagship cryptocurrency hedge fund has yielded impressive performance throughout 2017. At present, Fortune asserts that Metastables Balanced fund is invested in approximately a dozen different markets, including bitcoin, ethereum, and monero of which it is reported to own roughly 1% of total supply. During mid-March, Metastable reported returns of 539%, however, since March, bitcoin, monero, and ethereum have more than doubled prompting Fortune to estimate Metastables returns since inception are greater than 1,000%. On June 23 it is alleged that Metastable reported total assets of $69 million.

Metastable requires a minimum investment of $1 million, and charges a 2% management fee and a 20% performance fee.

Do you think that cryptocurrency funds will continue to out perform mainstream hedge funds in coming years? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!

Images courtesy of Shutterstock and Wikipedia

Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check ourtoolssection.

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Secretive Cryptocurrency Hedge Fund Metastable Examined - Bitcoin News (press release)

Chip maker AMD has seen its sales buoyed in recent months by big demand for graphics cards by cryptocurrency miners.

According to its latest financial report, AMD recorded $1.22 billion in revenue duringthe second quarter of 2017, up 19% compared to the same period last year. This increase, the company said, is being spurred "by higher revenue in the computing and graphics segment."

Yet cryptocurrency mining isn't part of its long-term strategy for growth, accordingto Lisa Su, the firm's president and CEO, who remarked on the phenomenon during a Q2earnings call this week.

However, that state of affairs could change depending on how the situation progresses in the months ahead.

Su said during the call:

"Relative to cryptocurrency, we have seen some elevated demand. But it's important to say we didn't have cryptocurrency in our forecast, and we're not looking at it as a long-term growth driver. But we'll certainly continue to watch the developments around the blockchain technologies as they go forward."

Mining is an energy intensive process by which new transactions are added to a blockchain. In return for adding a new blocks, miners are awarded with new tokens, with the profits being derived from the difference between the energy expended and the prevailing exchange rate of those tokens.

Much of the demand for graphics cards, or GPUs, is being driven by ethereum miners. Bitcoin mining, by comparison, is accomplished through special-purpose computers designed for that singular purpose.

Graphics cardsimage 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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AMD: Cryptocurrency Mining Isn't 'A Long-Term Growth Driver ... - CoinDesk

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An unidentified source reported that Moroccan authorities have arrested Renwick Haddow, a British man charged with securities fraud in the United States. The US SEC alleges that Haddow, a former New York resident, solicited investors for a non-existent bitcoin trading platform, duping them out of their money.

According to an unidentified source, on Wednesday, July 26, 2017, Moroccan police in Tangiers arrested Renwick Haddow, a man charged with securities fraud by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). After appearing before the public prosecutor in Tangiers, Haddow was taken to a prison in Sal, close to the Moroccan capital, Rabat. The Moroccan Court of Cassation will consider his extradition.

On June 30, 2017, the SEC filed charges against Haddow, accusing him of failing to register his firm as a broker-dealer and creating front companies for an investment scam. Haddow solicited investors for two fake companies, Bitcoin Store, a purported bitcoin trading platform, and Bar Works, a flexible workspace firm.

According to Andrew M. Calamari, director of the SECs New York Regional Office, Haddow created two trendy companies and misled investors into believing that highly-qualified executives were leading them to quick profitability.

The SEC alleges that these executives never existed. The SEC further asserts that Haddow siphoned approximately $5 million using the front companies Bar Works and Bitcoin Store, and diverted the funds to offshore accounts in Mauritius and Morocco.

It appears that Haddow exploited bitcoins name to solicit investors chasing terrific returns. The charges against him, however, are not related to the SECs recent report on token offerings and securities.

Over the next few years, for every successful token offering and subsequent powerhouse company, there may be a handful of companies that will falter. In the cryptocurrency community, its vital to distinguish between classic cases of financial fraud (like Haddows) and actual companies that fail to deliver on their promises.

Matthew is a writer with a passion for emerging technology. Prior to joining ETHNews, he interned for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as well as the OECD. He graduated cum laude from Georgetown University where he studied international economics. In his spare time, Matthew loves playing basketball and listening to podcasts. He currently lives in Los Angeles.

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Moroccan Police Arrest Alleged Cryptocurrency Investment Charlatan - ETHNews

New regulations for cryptocurrency exchanges have gone into effect in the U.S. state of Washington.

Following the passing of Senate Bill 5031 into law at the weekend, the state's money transmitter laws now apply to exchanges, meaning that they need to obtain a license fromthe Washington State Department of Financial Institutionsand must provide a third-party audit of their data systems.

Among other requirements, the law also mandatesa new transmitter bond requirement, with the figurebeingtied to the amount of currency exchanged during the previous year.

Lawmakers finalized the measure in April, sending it to the desk of Gov.Jay Inslee, who signed it days after work on the bill was completed. According to public records, the law went into effect on Sunday, July 23.

As CoinDesk haspreviously reported, lawmakers in the western U.S. state have been working since January to develop regulations for exchange startups.

The bill's passage wasn't without controversy, however. Cryptocurrency exchanges Poloniex and Bitfinex declared that they would would stop serving customers there, citing the new regulations.

At the same time, startupssuch as New York-based exchange Gemini moved in the opposite direction, obtaining approval to begin serving customers in the stateearlier this year.

Washington State Capitol imagevia 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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Washington's New Cryptocurrency Exchange Rules Are Now in Effect - CoinDesk

When initial coin offerings emerged as a new way for startups to raise money a few months ago, there was much speculationand some doubt about whether the cryptocurrency crowdfunding method could disrupt or even replace the traditional venture capital industry .

Now, the early numbers are in, and there is no question that ICOs , an unregulated form of fundraising by which companies can sell their own form of digital currency or tokens to investors, are winning this race, at least in the blockchain industry.

ICOs have now raised nearly four times as much money as bitcoin companies raised in venture capital dollars so far this year. Thats according to PitchBook, which tallied up the latest numbers: ICOs have raised almost $1.3 billion in 2017 so far, while only about $358 million in traditional VC money went to blockchain startups over the same period.

And that's at a time when venture capital is booming among blockchain companies. Last quarter was the best quarter for blockchain and bitcoin VC funding on record, more than doubling the amount raised in the first quarter and up 89% year over year, according to CBInsights.

But ICOs are growing much faster, having already raised almost six times as much this year as they raised in all of 2016.

Now, a fundraising method that you likely had never heard of until a few months ago is on track this year to exceed all prior VC investment in blockchain, which has totaled a cumulative $1.7 billion over the past eight years, PitchBook says.

To underscore just what a whirlwind trend this has become, even entrepreneurs doing their own ICOs are astonished by the craze.

At a panel discussion hosted by BlockchainDriven Thursday night, Morgan Hill, an investor at Attis Capital, announced that he was launching a new cryptocurrency hedge fund called AxionV in August. But unlike the crypto hedge fund startup MetaStable , which recently received funding from Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, Union Square Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners, AxionV has a different plan. It will do an ICO itself, targeting a $30 million fund, which it will then use to invest in other ICOs, Hill said.

He also told a story of another hedge fund manager in London who was planning to launch an ICO of a company that aims to put the entire Quran online, and use the new cryptocurrency to compensate people who contribute to the digitization of the religious text. Hills take: The first thing I thought was, this is categorically insane.

He later came around, he said, acknowledging religion is a very important piece of information and that the project actually does provide a huge value.

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Cryptocurrency ICOs Are Making Bitcoin Startups Richer than VCs Ever Did - Fortune

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