Day: August 26, 2017

The withdrawal of funds from stocks and precious metals has coincided with the massive price increase of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. It seems that investors have realized that Bitcoin is a more stable ‘store of value’ investment than gold.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has issued its report on developments within the financial technology (Fintech) industry, particularly on the rapidly growing cross-border payments industry.

Three Blockchain startups are leading the Blockchain-based online publishing and advertising market: report

Legalizing cryptocurrency remains a topic of substantial debate on a global scale. Although Japan successfully legalized cryptocurrencies a while back, no other country has suddenly felt the need to do the same. Vietnam is one country which plans to fully legalize all cryptocurrencies in the not-so-distant future. The government will also legalize digital assets, which bodes well for ERC20 tokens, among others. The appropriate regulation will take effect by August 2018.

Vietnam Wants to Legalize Cryptocurrency by Next Year

It is good to see the Vietnamese government pay attention to cryptocurrency and digital assets in a positive manner. Far too often do we see national regulators take a harsh stance against Bitcoin and similar currencies because they cannot be controlled. That particular aspect has many people concerned, although their efforts to regulate cryptocurrency will always be in vain. For its part, Vietnam plans to legalize cryptocurrencies accompanied by “appropriate regulations” by August 2018. While a positive development, these plans are also rather vague.

On August 21st, the Vietnamese prime minister officially signed the plan to fully legalize digital assets and cryptocurrencies. This plan requires many different aspects to come together. Both the Ministry of Justice and the State Bank of Vietnam will review the legal status of digital assets and cryptocurrencies as they are today. With no official legal framework to work with, it remains to be seen how they will evaluate the possibilities and risks associated with this new form of money. Both entities will take regulatory stances by other countries – including Japan – into consideration before creating their own framework.

It is expected that there will be some form of taxation guidelines for cryptocurrencies and digital assets in the future. Said guidelines could go into effect as early as June 2019, although that is still a tentative date for now. The Ministry of Public Security will draw a plan to prevent the illegal use of cryptocurrencies and digital assets. It will also develop legal grounds to successfully prosecute any violation of these new laws. That is a positive aspect, as cryptocurrencies are too often associated with criminal activity. Punishing criminals through the justice system may prevent such activities from taking place in the future.

As one would expect, cryptocurrency enthusiasts in Vietnam are quite elated about the news. A lot of people are convinced the government will do the right thing and ensure cryptocurrencies and digital assets can thrive in the country for many decades to come. This news is also considered an acknowledgment by the country’s government of the legality of cryptocurrencies. With the regulatory uncertainty in Vietnam today, many businesses and consumers had steered away from Bitcoin and other assets. That situation will hopefully change once the new regulations are in place.

Bitcoin Vietnam’s Phil Trinh commented:

“We are excited to hear the news. We have been looking forward to the legalization of cryptocurrencies in Vietnam for so long. It’s always better to do business in a field that is fully regulated and protected by government. We are also aware of the difficulties that the Government is facing in this completely new area. How the law can encourage the Vietnamese Fintech startups and at the same time can ensure the public security as well as the country’s financial stability is what the lawmaker has to work out. Bitcoin Vietnam is willing to share our expertise and experience with the Government to help the plan become realized faster.”

All things considered, it is still strange to see cryptocurrency regulation originating from Asian countries first and foremost. Here in the U.S., we have the horrible Bitlicense requirement which clearly needs to be revised. Europe remains suspiciously quiet on the regulatory front as far as cryptocurrencies are concerned. We will likely see more of these regulatory efforts in the coming years. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies can no longer be ignored by governments.

Is it possible to stop crypto scams?

Cryptocurrency exchange platform Bitfinex asks their users for understanding regarding the customer support issues that they are currently encountering.

As bitcoin cash’s budding market continues to develop, CoinDesk looks at why some major exchanges haven’t yet opted to list the coin.

Now that the Kraken exchange has officially removed the BTC/GBP market, a lot of cryptocurrency traders are looking for alternative solutions. Thankfully, there are still quite a few trading platforms out there, all of which support GBP transactions. Though their user experiences may be slightly different from Kraken’s, every single one of these platforms is certainly worth checking out if you want to buy or sell BTC with GBP.

6. CEX.io

Although many people have seemingly forgotten about CEX.io, the company’s exchange business is still active. In fact, it supports Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Bitcoin Cash purchases with GBP, EUR, and U.S. Dollars. CEX.io is a solid trading platform for users wishing to buy and sell any of these currencies in exchange for British pounds. Its trading volume is not necessarily the highest, but it is a solid alternative.  The company is based in London, which makes its support for GBP second nature.

5. Safello

This Swedish Bitcoin exchange has built up a solid reputation over the past few years. It is one of the more convenient exchanges for people living in Europe, thanks to a wide range of supported deposit and withdrawal methods. Its verification process can usually be completed in less than a day, and it offers generous deposit and withdrawal limits to customers. It is also one of the few platforms still supporting GBP transactions to this very day. It also offers support for credit card purchases, which adds some more convenience to the platform. It is still one of the most undervalued cryptocurrency exchanges to date.

4. Coinfloor

For those users who are looking for a zero-fee Bitcoin trading exchange in the UK, Coinfloor is certainly worth giving a try. The company processes a decent amount of trading volume every single day and supports the GBP currency through various payment methods. Coinfloor has built up a very solid reputation in the UK market as well over the years. It also supports EUR, PLN, and USD transactions, for both withdrawals and deposits alike. All things considered, it is a solid platform for GBP users these days.

3. Bittylicious

For those people who desire a very convenient interface for buying Bitcoin with GBP, Bittylicious has you covered. However, you will be dealing with very low limits until you effectively verify your account. It is a marketplace where sellers offer their currency for sale and is not a traditional exchange by any means. Bittylicious will check your IP address to determine how much Bitcoin you can purchase without verifying first. The platform is mainly designed for UK users, but it does serve other locations as well. It is a solid platform once you get verified and become an active user.

2. CoinCorner

This particular exchange has been on many people’s radars since 2014. CoinCorner makes it easy to purchase Bitcoin with GBP through traditional payment methods, such as debit cards, credit cards, as well as SEPA and bank transfers. It also has its own native mobile wallet, which makes the process of buying and selling Bitcoin even more convenient. CoinCorner is one of the most reputable exchanges across the United Kingdom in this regard and it continues to improve its service on a regular basis. It’s definitely worth checking out for anyone looking to buy or sell Bitcoin in exchange for GBP.

1. LocalBitcoins

The most obvious choice to buy or sell Bitcoin with pounds sterling is LocalBitcoins. It is a very convenient platform facilitating peer-to-peer exchanges. Sellers often charge a small premium for their services, which can make your BTC purchase slightly more expensive than it would be otherwise. Then again, LocalBitcoins is available on a nationwide scale and allows you to complete transactions the same day, depending on the payment method used. It is also one of the most trusted platforms across the entire world.

POWER FANS is a blockchain-based prediction market platform designed for sports industry, it is backed by gedoumi.com – a leading Chinese boxing website with over 3 million online users. With senior blockchain developers inside the team that has more than 4 years experience on graphene toolkit and Bitshares, POWER FANS estimates will be able to … Continue reading POWER FANS – the sport prediction blockchain platform is launching an ICO

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Having many options for cryptocurrency wallets is a good thing for the network and for consumers. Variety, as they say, is the spice of life. Although there are already a lot of solid projects to choose from, the Exodus team is taking things one step further. Their new Eden wallet is designed to make cryptocurrency wallets a lot more exciting and professional. It will have a built-in exchange by the looks of things, which is a nice addition. The first screenshots look pretty slick and a pre-release version of the wallet is available for download.

An Overview of the Exodus Eden Wallet

Most people who have used the Exodus cryptocurrency wallet before will acknowledge that it is an elegant and complete wallet solution. With multi-currency support and a lot of useful features, the Exodus wallet both looks good and is easy to use. However, it lacks certain advanced trading features, leaving advanced traders looking elsewhere. The upcoming Exodus Eden wallet has the potential to change all that in the coming months, though. The developers have stepped up their game significantly for this new project.

First of all, the Eden design looks a lot more professional than the regular Exodus layout. There wasn’t anything wrong with how Exodus looks, but any wallet with a few darker colors for the background and fancier colors for one’s cryptocurrency portfolio is a clear winner. It is also a lot easier on the eyes when checking your phone or tablet at night to see how your portfolio is doing. A white background causes eye strain and can make it difficult to fall asleep.

The main objective of Eden is to let advanced users maintain more control over their cryptocurrency portfolios. Eden has a lot more features and supports more assets compared to Exodus. It is important to keep in mind that both of these projects are independent of one another and will continue to be maintained as such. Eden will provide support for ERC20 tokens, Ethereum Classic, Factom, and even Bitcoin Cash, whereas Exodus will not. It is good to see more competition in the ERC20 wallet department.

The team wants to make it abundantly clear that the new Eden wallet is not designed for regular Exodus users who may not be looking for advanced features. Eden is a big step up from what most everyday cryptocurrency users need and are accustomed to. Anyone who is more than happy with what Exodus has to offer should stick to that solution. Eden is still in the alpha stage and is unsupported in an official capacity. If things go wrong or funds become missing, it will be at the expense of the end user, unfortunately.

Users can enable support for assets through the settings menu, which is a nice touch. It is also possible to run Eden alongside the regular Exodus wallet, as the two are not mutually exclusive. Do keep in mind an Eden wallet is a brand new storage solution and will not automatically contain any of the funds you may have stored in Exodus right now. There is no direct correlation between the balances of both wallets unless the user transfers funds or assets from one to the other. This makes perfect sense to advanced cryptocurrency users, but newcomers may be confused by this development.

The new unsupported Eden wallet can be downloaded from the Exodus website. It is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux right now. It will be interesting to see if people give this new wallet a try before it is “officially” supported by the team. It is unclear how much work has yet to be done on the software, but considering it is a pre-release version, it’s safe to say at least three more months of work are on the horizon. This is an intriguing project to keep an eye on; that much is certain.

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