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Showing posts from March, 2018

Report Details Surge in Crypto Mining on College Campuses

A report published by cybersecurity company Vectra has detailed what it describes as an “alarming surge in cryptocurrency mining on college campuses.” Also Read:  Markets Update: Cryptocurrencies Lose Over 20 Percent This Week   Colleges Become Hotbed for Mining Activities Vectra’s report asserts that opportunistic students, malicious hackers, and even cryptocurrency mining scripts hosted by websites, are sapping power from universities to freely mine virtual currencies. The analysis concludes that higher education is by far the largest industry that “exhibit[ed] cryptocurrency-mining attack behaviors from August 2017 through January 2018.” Vectra’s research claims that 85 percent of said attack behaviors identified across all industries originated from higher education institutions, followed by “Entertainment & Leisure” with 6 percent, Technology (3 percent), and Financial Services (3 percent). The report notes that “The number of computers processing cryptocu...
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Cambodia’s Crypto Industry Marches Forward Despite Legal Grey Area

Cambodia’s cryptocurrency sector appears to be marching forward, despite the absence of clear regulatory guidelines pertaining to virtual currencies.  Also Read:   PBOC to Strengthen Cryptocurrency Regulations in 2018 Regulatory Ambiguity Fails to Deter Cambodia’s Cryptocurrency Sector A report published by The Phnom Penh Post suggests that Cambodia’s virtual currency industry is pressing forward in spite of the regulatory ambiguity surrounding cryptocurrencies in the country. The founder of the Khmer Crypto Foundation, In Mean, told local media that individuals operating in Cambodia’s cryptocurrency sector do so with great care due to the legal uncertainty. “It’s not clear yet whose job it is to regulate cryptocurrencies,” Mr. Mean said. “It could fall to the [National Bank of Cambodia (NBC)] or the [Securities and Exchange Commission of Cambodia (SECC)], but it’s not clear yet which one it will be.” Although Cambodia has not explicitly outlawed the possession cryptocu...
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New ESMA Measures Impose 2:1 Restriction on Leverage for Crypto CFDs

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has announced that it will impose restrictions on the leverage offered for contracts-for-difference (CFDs) and binary options offered to European retail investors. Under the new measures, the leverage offered on cryptocurrency CFDs will be limited to no more than 2:1. Also Read:  PBOC to Strengthen Cryptocurrency Regulations in 2018   European Securities Regulator Imposes Restrictions on Leverage Offered by CFD Providers ESMA has agreed on what it describes as “temporary product intervention measures on the provision of [CFDs] and binary options to retail investors in the European Union (EU).” The new measures will see restrictions on the leverage offered on cryptocurrency CFDs to no more than 2:1. The agreements will also mandate that traders provide an initial margin of “50% of the notional value of the CFD when the underlying [asset] is a cryptocurrency” – more than twice the initial margin required of any other CFD...
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Russians Owe 13% Tax on Their Crypto Incomes

Russian citizens are expected to pay 13 percent tax on their crypto-related incomes. Amendments to the tax code are currently being prepared. The exact rates should be confirmed by the end of the year. However, lawyers have warned that even now citizens risk criminal prosecution if they fail to report gains from dealings with cryptocurrencies. Also read: 0 to 50 percent – Time to Pay Crypto Taxes in the European “Union” Tax Obligations Apply to All Residents, Including Foreigners Lawmakers are finalizing the legislation that should regulate crypto-related matters in the Russian Federation. Two bills have been filed in the State Duma in the last couple of weeks. The draft law “On Digital Financial Assets” legalizes blockchain technologies, mining operations and initial coin offerings. Another bill amends Russia’s Civil Code to introduce terms like “digital money” and protect the rights of crypto investors. The bills should be adopted by early summer but changes to the tax laws are...
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Crypto Still Tax Free in Korea but Regulators Have Set Timeframe for Taxation

Cryptocurrency transactions are still tax-free in South Korea due to a lack of tax regulations. As the law stands, citizens are able to profit millions of won from cryptocurrencies without being required to pay taxes on them. However, the regulators have set a tentative timeframe for the introduction of the crypto tax law. Also read:   Japan’s DMM Bitcoin Exchange Opens for Business With 7 Cryptocurrencies Still No Tax on Crypto Transactions A lawyer in his early 40s recently revealed that he “made a profit of nearly 30 million won last year on investments in bitcoin and ether, but he did not pay any tax on virtual currency investments,” Money Today reported. The news outlet reiterated: There is no obligation to pay tax even if you earn hundreds of thousands of won or even hundreds of millions of won in virtual currency investments. Meanwhile, when selling stocks, there is a sales tax of 0.3% for listed securities and 0.5% for unlisted ones, the news outlet detailed....
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Wendy McElroy: How Centralized Exchanges Intend to Devastate You

The Satoshi Revolution: A Revolution of Rising Expectations Section 2: The Moral Imperative of Privacy Chapter 6: Privacy is a Prerequisite for Human Rights How Centralized Exchanges Intend to Devastate You. Chapter 6, Part 6. The root problem with conventional currency is all the trust that’s required to make it work…We have to trust them [third parties] with our privacy, trust them not to let identity thieves [including government] drain our accounts. – Satoshi Nakamoto Satoshi never envisioned centralized exchanges. The spectacle would have appalled him. Bitcoin was forged to avoid centralized third parties, such as banks and centralized exchanges, that require users to trust them with wealth and privacy. Peer-to-peer transfers based on cryptographic proof were supposed to replace the need for a middleman who demanded trust. They were designed to give financial power back to the individual. The problem: there is a market demand to speculate, to trade in currencies, and to pe...
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PBOC to Strengthen Cryptocurrency Regulations in 2018

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC)’s Institute of International Finance has released a report identifying cryptocurrencies as a top priority for 2018. The document claims that widespread retail investment into cryptocurrencies has the potential to pose systemic risk to the Yuan, and also emphasizes the PBOC’s intention to expand its research and development into cryptocurrencies. Also Read:  FBI Warns of Crypto Scammers Posing as Exchange Support Staff   Strengthening of Virtual Currency Regulations Top Chinese Monetary Policy for 2018 The report emphasizes the risks perceived to be associated with virtual currencies by the Chinese government – specifically the potential for price volatility to manifest systemic risk to the yuan in the event of widespread retail investment, the potential for criminal misuse, and the lack of a robust regulatory framework providing consumer protections to investors. The document advocates the strengthening of China’s regulatory framework r...
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Japanese Crypto Exchange GMO Vows to Improve After Regulator Orders Upgrades

The cryptocurrency exchange subsidiary of the Japanese internet giant GMO has detailed its plans to improve its operations. GMO Coin has submitted a business improvement report to the country’s financial regulator. GMO Internet has also set up an information security audit office for the entire group. Also read:   Japan’s DMM Bitcoin Exchange Opens for Business With 7 Cryptocurrencies GMO Strengthens Operations and Security GMO announced on Friday the establishment of its Group Information Security Audit Office “to strengthen information security management and audit function in the whole group.” The company wrote: We will protect important customer information from increasingly sophisticated cyber-attacks by our highly secured countermeasures and pursue to improve group information security literacy and foster security personnel. The Japanese Financial Services Agency (FSA) issued a business improvement order to GMO Coin, GMO Internet’s cryptocurrency exchange subsidiary...
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PR: VR Casino OKO Is a New Project Based on OKOIN Tokens

This is a paid press release, which contains forward looking statements, and should be treated as advertising or promotional material. Bitcoin.com does not endorse nor support this product/service. Bitcoin.com is not responsible for or liable for any content, accuracy or quality within the press release. VR Technology, the founder of the OKOIN, is launching a new project based on the same name token – VR Casino OKO. This is the third blockchain project, which tokenomics is based on the OKOIN tokens. Two predecessors are VR Platform OKO (the platform for distributing interactive VR adult movies) and OKO Pay (the payment system for VR Technology partners through which they can accept OKOIN tokens for goods and services). It is noteworthy that all three projects are not interchangeable. Each of them is independent, and they work in parallel, thereby expanding the reach of the audience and increasing the value, stability and liquidity of the OKOIN token. VR Casino OKO project VR Casino...
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FBI Warns of Crypto Scammers Posing as Exchange Support Staff

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has published a document seeking to warn citizens of the increasing prevalence of scams executed through fraudulently posing as technical support staff for a company. The FBI’s notes that virtual currencies are becoming “increasingly targeted by tech support criminals.” Also Read:  Mailchimp Latest Company to Ban Cryptocurrency Advertising Cryptocurrency Tech Support Theft on the RIse The FBI has issued a warning emphasizing the “widespread” nature of “ Tech Support Fraud ” – which “involves a criminal claiming to provide customer, security, or technical support in an effort to defraud unwitting individuals.” The FBI’s IC3 division reports an increase in tech support fraud of 86% during 2017 when compared with 2016 – with last year’s claimed losses “amount[ing] to nearly $15 million.” The report states that “Some recent complaints [have] involve[d] criminals posing as technical support representatives for […] virtual currency exchanger...
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Huobi Officially Launches in South Korea with 100 Cryptocurrencies

Huobi has officially launched in South Korea. The platform facilitates the trading of 100 cryptocurrencies and 208 markets. The exchange is also creating an investor protection fund and program to immediately compensate for any losses that are not investor error. Also read:   Japan’s DMM Bitcoin Exchange Opens for Business With 7 Cryptocurrencies Huobi Korea Launched Huobi Korea, a subsidiary of the Beijing-based crypto trading service provider Huobi, announced that it has officially launched on March 30. “Huobi Korea will list 100 coins and 208 markets (33 USDT markets, 98 BTC markets, 77 ETH markets),” Zdnet detailed. The exchange stated that it stores 98% of its customer assets in cold wallets. Furthermore, the exchange’s internal access procedure has been strengthened, according to the publication. “In order to open the repository, we have added security to complex procedures that require multiple people to authenticate together,” the news outlet conveyed, and quoted...
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Gazprombank to Try Crypto Deals in Switzerland

Gazprombank, one of Russia’s largest financial institutions, is planning to perform some cryptocurrency deals by the end of the year. According to one of its top managers, the bank is responding to demand from “substantial clients”. The pilot transactions will be conducted through its subsidiary in Switzerland. Also read: New Bill Aims to Allow Crypto Payments in Russia Working on Procedures, Looking into Options The state-owned Gazprombank may try to conduct some cryptocurrency transactions on behalf of its customers as early as this year, Russian media reported. They will be channeled through its Swiss-based subsidiary, Deputy CEO Alexander Sobol told Interfax news agency. “These will be pilot deals, not on a large scale. Some substantial private clients have asked for this kind of services,” Sobol explained. The bank is currently looking into different options to meet that demand. Gazprom’s subsidiary in Switzerland is studying the opportunities there. The alpine country has ...
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