Day: April 9, 2018

Argentina saw one of its largest-ever bitcoin events last week, one that showcased how it’s still a regional leader in promoting the technology.

Individual income tax returns are due on April the 17th this year. In this article, you will discover five applications you can use to manage your cryptocurrency tax reporting.

The Nano Foundation has established a legal fund to provide support to victims of the February BitGrail hack. #NEWS

Canadian online barter platform introduces its own cryptocurrency BTZ to draw more users. #NEWS

Following an incident on February 11th, eight rogue police officers and a lawyer in India’s western state of Gujarat have gone missing after allegedly kidnapping a local businessman and forcing him to transfer 200 Bitcoin — worth about $1.8 million at the time— to an as of yet unidentified account.

The criminal investigation department (CID) of the Gujarat police has filed a criminal complaint against all eight police officers, but was only able to arrest two of them on Sunday. The six others are reportedly on the run. According to the CID, charges have been brought against the team’s lawyer who was also involved.

“Two policemen — constables Babu Der and Vijay Vadher — were arrested on Sunday. All other accused have gone underground. Efforts are on to nab them,” Ashish Bhatia, director general of police, CID said.

The incident took place earlier this year in Surat, an industrial town in Gujarat, when eight policemen of Amreli district’s local crime branch unit and a lawyer allegedly abducted local businessman Shailesh Bhatt and took him to Gandhinagar. After forcing Bhatt to transfer the 200 Bitcoin, the crooks also demanded a ransom of $4.9 million to free him.

The abductees reportedly released the businessman the same day he paid them the ransom. After being freed, the businessman approached the police and filed a complaint later in the month.

India: Crime and Cryptocurrency

Following the massive surge in the value of cryptocurrencies last year, as well as the increased attention digital currency have received,  cases of abduction and fraud for the coins have increased in India (and across the world). Last June, a group of six people were arrested on charges of abducting and demanding a ransom in Bitcoin from a businessman in the northern city of Mohali. In September, police arrested six people for kidnapping, assaulting, and robbing a New Delhi businessman who had gone to meet them in order to pay for Bitcoin in cash. 

India’s Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Committee estimates that at least 4 to 5 million people in the country hold some kind of cryptocurrency, and that 60% of them entered the market between October and December 2017 when many digital currencies hit all time highs.

Indian authorities have issued repeated warnings to Indian citizens about digital currencies. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the country’s finance ministry believe Bitcoin and other digital currencies do not possess any intrinsic value. Authorities are also worried about fraud and robbery. Just last week, the RBI barred banks and regulated financial institutions from providing financial services to customers dealing in the coins.

Image Courtesy of Shutterstock

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Venezuela’s National Constituent Assembly has approved the decree on the use of cryptocurrencies and the country’s new “oil-backed” currency, after repeatedly declaring the Petro illegal. The new currency began its initial coin offering last month as the Venezuelan president continues to strongly push its use.

Also read: Japan’s DMM Bitcoin Exchange Opens for Business With 7 Cryptocurrencies

Decree on Cryptocurrencies Approved

The Venezuelan National Constituent Assembly (ANC) has approved the draft Constituent Decree on Cryptoassets and the Petro, the country’s government announced last week. The decree was presented to the ANC by Vice President Tareck El Aissami. The Superintendent of Cryptocurrency confirmed:

We are making history with the approval of the Decree on Cryptoassets and the Cryptocurrency El Petro. Nothing can stop the impulse of our country.

According to the vice president’s announcement, “this decree is intended to establish the basis for the management of these alternative mechanisms in financial and commercial activities.”

Sputnik News elaborated, “According to the document approved by the Constituent Assembly, President Nicolás Maduro will have the power to regulate the issuance, organization, and operation of the Petro,” adding that:

The purpose of the decree is to allow the use and exchange of cryptoassets by natural and legal persons, resident or not, in the territory in order to advance the economic development of the nation.

The decree would enter into force once it is published in the National Gazette, according to Cripto Noticias. It “consists of 12 articles in which the legal basis for the launch of [the] Petro and the use of cryptoassets in the Venezuelan national territory are defined, in the same way that the use [of these assets] is guaranteed,” the news outlet detailed.

The ANC has previously declared the Petro illegal and in violation of the country’s constitution. “The Adeco-bourgeois assembly took out a resolution to prevent Venezuela from having the Petro,” President Maduro expressed after the decree was passed, adding that “the Petro belongs to the Venezuelan people.”

Integrating the Petro into Venezuela’s Economy

The Petro supposedly began its initial coin offering (ICO) last month following a pre-sale, during which Maduro claims to have raised roughly $5 billion, but has yet to provide any evidence of doing so. He then announced last week, “In the next few days, I will take stock of the achievement of these 15 days of selling El Petro.”

The Venezuelan government under Maduro’s command has been actively promoting the use of the Petro. On Friday, the Superintendency of Cryptocurrency explained the guidelines for using the new currency to representatives of more than 100 shipping agencies in the country.

In addition, Maduro announced on Friday that ambulances have now been purchased using the Petro. During the reopening of the pediatric system of Rafael Medina Jiménez hospital in Vargas state, he said:

We have received 30 ambulances that we are delivering in La Guaira, Vargas state, and we have achieved [this] through agreements with companies that we have paid with Petro. Here is the key to the new ambulance that Pariata Hospital will have. It is the first ambulance obtained in Petro – I give it to you.

What do you think of Venezuela approving the decree on the use of cryptocurrencies? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock and the Venezuelan government.

Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section.

The post Venezuela Approves Decree on the Use of Cryptocurrencies appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Bitcoin Press Release: Leading crypto sportsbook and casino Cloudbet becomes first to honour bitcoin fork

April 8th, 2017, London, UK – Leading bitcoin sportsbook and casino Cloudbet if offering its users the chance to share a considerable cryptocurrency windfall. Players who held bitcoin in their Cloudbet accounts on August 1st, 2017, at the time of the bitcoin fork, will receive the equivalent in bitcoin cash.

Cloudbet has set a precedent within crypto gaming by releasing funds tied to what is now the world’s fourth-largest cryptocurrency. The company is the firstbitcoin sportsbook and casino in the world (and the Galaxy) to honour the fork, underlining the credibility the platform has built since its 2013 launch in what has become a rapidly growing segment of the gaming industry.

Should they choose to, Cloudbet players will be able to use their windfall to take advantage of some of the best crypto odds and highest limits online, as Cloudbet have simultaneously launched betting with bitcoin cash. The move signals the platforms intention to offer crypto bettors more choice of coins with which to bet.

Mirio Mella, Cloudbet’s Head of Acquisition had these words to say about the platform;

“The creation of derivative bitcoin products in what are termed ‘forks’ has both practical and political implications. Cloudbet is focused on the practical; players want fast, cheap and reliable transactions, and BCH offers a great alternative to BTC. We have no position on the politics but instead are having fun with the Star Wars fork theme and will leave it to others to decide who is the Empire and who are the Freedom Fighting Rebels.”

Cloudbet will use the timestamp of the last common BTC block (block 478558; 1 August 2017, 13:16:14 UTC) to determine customers’ BCH balances; full details on the BCH fork.

About Cloudbet

Established in 2013, Cloudbet is the world’s leading bitcoin sportsbook and bitcoin casino platform, fully licensed and regulated with satisfied customers in over 100 countries. Cloudbet offers exceptional value odds and unrivalled bitcoin betting limits, while new customers also receive a generous 100% deposit bonus up to 5BTC.

Learn more about the Cloudbet website: www.cloudbet.com
Follow Cloudbet on Twitter for latest news and promotions: @Cloudbet
Find Cloudbet on facebook here – https://www.facebook.com/cloudbet
Join the Cloud bet community on Bitcointalk – https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=333552.0;all
Check out Cloudbet on Reddit – https://www.reddit.com/r/cloudbet/

Media Contact

Contact Name: Christian Brown
Email: [email protected]
Location: Montenegro

Cloudbet is the source of this content. Virtual currency is not legal tender, is not backed by the government, and accounts and value balances are not subject to consumer protections. This press release is for informational purposes only. The information does not constitute investment advice or an offer to invest

About Bitcoin PR Buzz -Bitcoin PR Buzz has been proudly serving the PR and marketing needs of Bitcoin and digital currency tech start-ups for over five years. Get your own professional Bitcoin Press Release. Click here for more information about Bitcoin PR

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tZero, the blockchain subsidiary of Overstock.com, has announced the release of a demo version of the highly-anticipated prototype of its security token trading software. This demo video was released today, which demonstrates how security tokens may be traded on the platform.

Overstock’s CEO Patrick Byrne — a longtime advocate for cryptocurrencies and associated blockchain technology — is behind the move. According to Byrne, tZero’s trading platform has been developed to compete with traditional stock exchanges by integrating cryptographically-secured distributed ledgers with existing market processes to reduce settlement time and costs, and increase transparency and efficiency.

Byrne believes that eliminating brokerage fees and commissions to execute a trade, while replacing it with a robust and immutable system that is 80-90% cheaper, is the way forward. He added:

“Most importantly all kinds of mischief that goes on on Wall Street can’t go on here.”

tZero

tZero is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Overstock.com that focuses on the development and commercialization of financial technology, fintech, with blockchain technology. In doing so, tZero hopes to bring greater efficiency and transparency to capital markets.

According to tZero’s President Joe Cammarata, the firm is delaying the launch of the final version of the trading platform due to regulatory compliances. However, tZero’s team is very optimistic about the new platform and its prototype.

“Technologically speaking, we anticipate the security token trading software will be ready to trade security tokens in May, subject to developing further regulatory clarity,” said Cammarata. “We have been working hard on getting this prototype right and look forward to user feedback.”

Earlier this year, tZero was chosen to provide advisory services to WENN Digital to ease the token offering of KODAKCoin. In addition, its role includes encryption of accounts, price quoting, clearing and reconciliation services, anti-money laundering (AML) services, and know-your-customer (KYC) verification. KODAKCoin, whose offering began in late January, was the first third-party security token on the tZero platform.

Overstock.com

Though best known as an e-retailer, Overstock has been investing in blockchain and cryptocurrency startups for several years through Medici Ventures, its wholly-owned subsidiary. Medici has more than a dozen portfolio companies, including Factom, Ripio, and tZero — which is in the middle of an initial coin offering (ICO) that Overstock expects will raise $250 million.

Earlier this year, Overstock revealed that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was investigating tZero’s ICO as part of its broad inquiry into the nascent fundraising model. Byrne has stated that the firm was not issued a subpoena – as many ICO operators were – but has been submitting documents voluntarily. He has also maintained that tZero’s offering complies with federal securities laws.

Due to its involvement in the blockchain space, Overstock has been characterized by some analysts as a “proxy stock” for cryptocurrencies. Its share price, unsurprisingly, has behaved accordingly, rising and falling along with the cryptocurrency market at large.

Image Courtesy of Shutterstock

The post Overstock.com Subsidiary tZero Releases Demo Version of New Security Token Trading Software appeared first on NewsBTC.

This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

Analyst predicts that crypto market will “mature” in 2018, attracting “significant” institutional investment as clearer regulatory oversight kicks in. #NEWS