Day: April 9, 2018

The South Korean Financial Services Commission (FSC) will inspect three of its banks to see if they are conforming to new anti-anonymity regulations.

In January, the financial watchdog announced that cryptocurrency investors in South Korea would have to use their real-name bank accounts in order to be able to deposit funds. The new regulation intended to remove multiple trading accounts on domestic cryptocurrency exchanges and to strengthen positive views of cryptocurrency trading by tackling money laundering.

Proactive efforts

In a statement, it announced: “We have already executed sufficient procedures for confirming the identity of a member when receiving a new member via a corporate account and it is against equity to allow only a few exchanges to issue new virtual accounts.”

FSC and the Financial Intelligence Unit will begin on-site inspections on three banks – NongHyup, KB Kookmin and KEB Hana Bank – from 19 to 25 April.

The inspection will focus on whether or not the three banks have managed to implement the new rules successfully. If so, it is hoped that this will contribute toward South Korea’s progressive approach to cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies.

Financial regulators and banks aren’t the only entities with blockchain developments in South Korea; they are part of an industry-wide paradigm shift that is experiencing frequent highs and lows. South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges are now to be taxed under existing policies, while Seoul is pushing to have its own cryptocurrency.

Furthermore, the Fuji News Network (FNN) also announced that the Korean government is setting up full-scale cryptocurrency regulations after local elections on 13 June, just ahead of a planned virtual currency international conference for G20 members on 14 June.

The scramble to regulate

More recently, the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) also announced that it would be working with the Bank of England and the UK Treasury to begin discussions on how to regulate cryptocurrencies.

“People are becoming increasingly aware of cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin,” said Nicky Morgan, a Member of Parliament and chair of the Treasury Committee, “but they may not be aware that they are currently unregulated in the UK, and that there is no protection for individual investors.”

In China, similar efforts are also gaining momentum. In March, the Institute of International Finance, part of The Peoples Bank of China (PBOC), gave refreshing insights into the evolving attitudes in the country. In a contrasting report to China’s present stance on cryptocurrencies, exchanges and ICOs, it stated that cryptocurrencies could bear risks against the Chinese Yuan (CNY), but the Institute of International Finance is in favor of establishing a regulatory framework for cryptocurrency on a global scale.

South Korea is a huge proponent in the tide of major financial entities and governments pushing to recognize cryptocurrencies. Despite the current shaky market and past controversies, global approaches to the technology are undergoing profound political changes and 2018 is already proving to be an extraordinary year for positive blockchain advancements.

The post South Korean Financial Watchdog to Investigate Banks Under New Crypto Rules appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

The UK are expected to reveal their own cryptocurrency regulations later in 2018. Earlier today, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced that they’d be collaborating with the UK Treasury Committee, as well as the Bank of England in drafting a discussion paper on various aspects, risks, and opportunities presented by cryptocurrencies.

Can Positive Future Legislation Attract Startups Away From Europe?

Although they do not currently have scope to regulate cryptocurrencies, the FCA stated in their announcement today that the topic of digital currencies was becoming increasingly hard to ignore globally. They also claimed that they were planning to respond to an earlier Treasury Committee inquiry. The report the three bodies draw up could have an impact on any regulations going forward.

At present, cryptocurrencies are entirely unregulated in the UK. However, in recent months, greater strides towards some form of legislation governing the space have been made.

Back in February, the UK Treasury Committee began to explore digital currencies and blockchain technology. According to the government body, the goal of the inquiry was to investigate how protection could be provided to investors, consumers, and businesses, whilst simultaneously encouraging innovation.

This latter point is particularly important given the political context in which Britain currently resides thanks to their decision to leave the European Union by the end of next March. Cryptocurrencies therefore present an opportunity to attract new businesses and industry to the UK in the wake of “Brexit”. Financial regulation expert from UK law firm Kemp Little, Jacob Ghanty, told the Independent:

“At a high level, there is pressure on the UK authorities to develop a comprehensive strategy towards crypto, as sooner or later the EU will develop its own approach meaning there will need to be compelling reasons for crypto firms to locate in the UK.”

Ghanty was careful to highlight the risks that investors faced in an entirely unregulated space and that these too would form a crucial part of any rules that emerge from the discussion paper.

When it comes to regulation, there is great division within the cryptocurrency space. Some believe that regulations are needed to bring “legitimacy” to digital currencies. Others are of the mindset that digital currencies cannot be effectively regulated and that state “legitimacy” is meaningless for a system that exists without needing permissions from regulators. Meanwhile, some believe that government intervention can only serve to stifle innovation. For them, foolish investors who get burned in ICO scams like that promoted by heavyweight boxer Floyd Mayweather deserve to lose out. This approach naturally allows for the greatest innovation within cryptocurrency but is often criticised for hurting those who behave unwisely with their funds and encouraging scam artists. From the FCA announcement, it appears that the UK will attempt to nurture innovation whilst protecting users. How this approach fares remains to be seen.

Image Courtesy of Shutterstock

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Basecoin developer Intangible Labs raised $125 million in a SAFT sale, SEC filings show.

Humanity is facing its biggest challenge since the Ice Age. No jokes. Economical progress, technological expansion, and exponential growth made the Earth a comfortable however highly insecure, unstable and exposed place to dwell. Insecurity, instability, and exposure derive from the fact that the world is full of strangers melted into one united global society. Glocalization, thus, brings forward dangerous clashes between competing identities on a high speed within a huge scale. To put it simply, human diversity, multiplied by quantity and speed came to be the real threat to global safety. Humanity has to deal with real plurality drama.

Paradoxically, the only solution to the global plurality drama is Singularity. That is the universal state to which global life gravitates. Singularity is the principle of unity applied to the whole human population. The singular system that has already managed to build a technical solution for global plurality crisis is called Nimses. Its technical core is called the Global Treasury. The Global Treasury solves the global insecurity problem by means of the biggest Blockchain of all times. It implies three classical unities: the unity of time, the unity of place, and the unity of action protected by the decentralized control of unprecedented scale.

The Global Treasury works due to the unity of action. The first thing that is common for every representative of the human population is the body. Regardless of age, race, gender, any imaginable physical characteristics, a human being is a form of life acting through the body. Nimses created the technology for creating a single cross-platform ID for a single human being. Every human gets a unified certification and status valid both for physical and virtual reality.

The Global Treasury works due to the unity of time. The second thing that is common for every representative of the human population is time. Regardless of belief, nationality, ethnicity, and any imaginable identity, a human being has no more than 24 hours within one day. Nimses created the technology for turning human lifetime into a real digital asset — NIM. Nimses made it possible to mine nims out of a human lifetime. One minute of one human life is one nim. One nim is one digitalized minute of human life that will last forever. Every day brings 1440 nims to every human.

The Global Treasury works due to the unity of place. The third thing that is common for every representative of the human population is the place. Regardless of geographical positioning and timezone, a human being has no other place to live but planet Earth. Nimses created the technology for dividing human living space into real digital areas — TEMPLES. Nimses made it possible to store all the human memories within definite geographical spots. One temple is a constant piece of the planet Earth surface. There are all in all only 1,044,345 temples on the planet.

Thus, every human being contributes to the Global Treasury, which is the foundation of human life ecosystem. Through daily contributions, the Global Treasury maintains its volume and regulating capacity. It never inflates due to automatically generated a secure fund of INFINIMS. One infinim equals 120 years of human life, which in turn, equals 63,115,200 nims.

The Global Treasury automatically generates infinims from daily nim contributions of all Humans. Everybody can get an infinim as soon it is produced by the Global Treasury. Nimses maintains stable infinite Global Treasury of Earth and shares its ownership and control with each Human who holds infinims. The Global Treasury is the most secure, sophisticated, and pure system for maintaining global safety that has ever been seen.

To get the full access to the Nimses infrastructure, please, download the app, go through the verification procedure, and enjoy further benefits of Singularity. Welcome to the future. This time, it is real. This time, it’s only your lifetime that matters. Just live.

Contact:

Yegor Okhotnikov
[email protected]
https://nimses.com/

The post Meet Nimses — Global Treasury of Human Lifetime. A Singular Technology to Deal with Plural Planetary Challenges appeared first on NewsBTC.

French supermarket chain Carrefour recently introduced blockchain technology into a data system allowing shoppers in Auvergne, Southern France, to get a full detailed history of their purchase: a chicken.

Carrefour’s system provides customers with a blockchain-based traceability program, currently limited to some poultry in the chain’s Auvergne stores. The system offers a record of the chickens’ life from egg to supermarket. Shoppers can use a smartphone to scan in a code on the packaging to obtain details on each stage of production, including origins, earlier location, feed and where the meat was finally processed.

Carrefour originally chose the new technology in order to trace production of chickens, but now plans to extend the data sharing program to include products such as eggs, cheese, milk, oranges, tomatoes, salmon and hamburgers by the end of the year.

The supermarket chain, which was once the world’s second-biggest retailer after US group Walmart, has said that it believes that blockchain tech applications for the food chain are effective as they allow for secure sharing between producer and consumer.

Walmart itself currently shares a blockchain platform with Nestle, Dole Food, Tyson Foods, Kroger and JD.com. Company vice-president for food safety and health, Frank Yiannas, shares Carrefour’s enthusiasm, saying that “there’s no question about it, blockchain will do for traceability what the internet did for communication”.

Yiannas claims that the new technology will considerably cut down on foodborne diseases, benefiting the economy about USD 700 million through increased productivity, thanks to fewer work days lost to sickness.

Many consumers are unaware of where their food comes from and how it’s produced. New innovators argue that blockchain provides that visibility.

Lance Koonce, partner for Davis Wright Tremaine LLP and head of the firm’s cross-practice blockchain initiative, argues that currently, the window remains open for fraud and food safety breaches, issues which would be addressed under blockchain labeling. He suggests that companies want the ability to “tell stories to their customers about honest products and provide accurate labeling”.

Carrefour announced in January a major overhaul of its business given increased competition from traditional rivals as well as online retailers.

The post C’est Magnifique, French Chickens on Blockchain appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

Toronto-based online-bartering market Bunz is launching its cryptocurrency Bunz Trading Zone (BTZ) to its own established community of 200,000 users on April 9.

Canada Bartering Community of 200,000 Users to Trade With BTZ Coin

As it gets into the cryptocurrency game, Bunz will provide 1,000 BTZ to each member so they can exchange with one another for goods and services at over 100 merchant partners. The company believes BTZ will be helpful in building stronger communities and making city living easier, its core values.

Image Courtesy of Shutterstock

The post Canada Bartering Platform Launches BTZ for 200,000 Users appeared first on NewsBTC.

At the beginning of 2018, I wrote an article outlining a New Year’s resolution that I thought could help boost cryptocurrency adoption and awareness in 2018, as long as enough people were doing it. Last week was the twelfth installment of my challenge. Since then, I’ve filed my taxes – which required an at-length conversation with a tax professional about cryptocurrencies – and I realized just how insane the current tax code in the US is for cryptocurrency.

TRY TO SPEAK TO AS MANY PEOPLE ABOUT CRYPTOCURRENCY AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN

As we all know, every time you use a cryptocurrency in the US, it is considered a taxable event, so every transaction needs to be reported. Not only is this annoying, but the IRS has provided little clarity on the matter, and many tax professionals are left baffled when people like me come into their offices.

1. This year, I chose to have someone else review my taxes prior to sending them in, just to be sure. However, it became apparent once I started presenting my Form 8949 worksheet that they didn’t really know how to handle it. “Are you a day trader?” was something multiple people in the office asked me. They didn’t understand why a brokerage had not provided me with a consolidated 1099 for these “trades”, and I had to repeatedly explain the P2P nature of cryptocurrency. In the end, we worked it out, but I left realizing just how much more work cryptocurrency communities need to do in both educating people and pressuring governments for more sensible cryptocurrency tax policies.
2. I work out of a WeWork every now and then. I ran into some of the community managers there (they take care of the building and plan events for members) who asked what exactly cryptocurrency was. They had heard so much about it recently, but were mostly focused on the price – and its recent correction. Again, much of my conversation was focused on shifting the crux of the discussion to the technology and away from the price. They ended up being really impressed by the idea of responsibility being placed back on the individual. I ended up sending them a link to Andreas Antonopoulos’s YouTube channel so they could watch someone more eloquent than myself explain it further.

LEARN SOMETHING NEW ABOUT CRYPTO

This week, I learned about a delightful program to make reporting taxes on crypto really easy. I used bitcoin.tax and it actually gave me a lot of really interesting insights into my cryptocurrency activity this past year, in one consolidated place. Not to seem like I’m shilling it (I promise this isn’t paid promotion, I’m just a data geek), it was really interesting to get this kind of breakdown, and know that I can access these reports next year too. Again, hopefully the IRS will adopt more reasonable tax laws such that we won’t need things like bitcoin.tax to report Dogecoin dust transactions.

BE GENEROUS – GIVE AND USE YOUR COINS

This week I gave away the paper wallet of Doge that I’d received from the Shibe Mint (from which I bought some physical, precious metal Dogecoin). It wasn’t much, but I think I’m just exhausted from the idea of having to report many transactions next year on my taxes. I think this fatigue will pass soon, though.

Did filing crypto transactions on your taxes also take a bit out of you? Otherwise, how goes your challenge? Tell us on Twitter or in the comments below!

IBM’s blockchain testing future

A patent released this week describes how a test configuration using blockchain will provide a more secure testing infrastructure. In this method, miners allocated tasks will be paid in cryptocurrency on completion. A blockchain solution would reduce hardware requirements and maintenance while saving money for service providers and clients.

Cloud testing is where cloud computing is used to simulate an environment for testing web-based applications. The simulation can be used to test a variety of functional elements as well as performance in relation to user traffic.

Existing issues with current cloud testing

With an increase of applications in development, the demand for these services is growing. Applications continue to become more complex, leading to large hardware requirements and fluctuations in service use.

Suitable bandwidth must also be available to improve testing quality. Similar timings in development cycles can cause cloud resources to be diluted across many companies as their testing coincides with others. Additional costs are incurred as code is retested, due to no record of redundant tests. Finally, testing involves sharing data and information with outside parties, posing a security risk.

Possible benefits of blockchain

Using a blockchain-based environment would allow details of test packages to be publicly viewed via a public ledger. Testing requests and payments could then be processed using smart contracts. Smart contracts would submit requirements and payment details to the network, releasing rewards once all conditions are met.

Results would then be recorded on the blockchain for the client to view. All results and company data can also be encrypted and made exclusively available to the client using private keys.

A record of prior testing would also stop recurring fees for redundant tests. The ability to outsource work to miners would result in lower outlays on hardware to provide the testing services and better resource management at peak times.

World’s Smallest IBM Crypto Computer to Fight Fraud

IBM to Expand Business Cryptocurrency Applications

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Skychain, an infrastructure project for healthcare artificial intelligence, and WELL, a global marketplace for telemedicine, are joining forces to build the future of digital healthcare!

WELL is globalizing healthcare and overcoming national borders to directly connect physicians, psychologists, and other health professionals to patients worldwide.

Skychain provides an open infrastructure based on blockchain to make it as easy as possible to develop, train, and use healthcare AI systems.

The telemedicine market is estimated to reach $113 billion in 2025, and the healthcare AI market is going to reach $200 billion in a few years. Here’s how WELL and Skychain can work together: When a patient requests telemedicine services, WELL, which is both a video communication platform and a payment gateway, will connect the patient to a medical professional. The doctor can ask the patient to provide some medical examination results (X-ray, CT, MRI, blood tests, etc.) and use them to make a diagnosis and prescribe treatment.

The patient can also request the medical examination results to be analyzed by artificial intelligence. In that case, they will be sent to Skychain, whose AI systems will provide their suggestions to help the doctor make a more accurate final diagnosis. In a recent public test, a few artificial neural networks running on a Skychain prototype system have easily beaten some highly experienced doctors (see “Skychain vs Doctors Competition”). On average, the doctors made twice as many diagnostic errors as the neural networks did. For example, when diagnostic radiologists analyze X-ray lung images, they miss early lung cancer in 70 percent of cases. Unlike flesh-and-blood doctors, deep neural networks miss that medical condition only in 20 percent of cases. There are thousands of examples like that in healthcare.

Medical errors are the third leading cause of patient death in the United States. They also result in huge economic costs for patients and insurance companies – hundreds of billions of dollars a year! Skychain and WELL are building two infrastructures for artificial intelligence and telemedicine, which will complement each other to dramatically improve the accuracy of early medical diagnostics.

Skychain provides an open infrastructure based on Blockchain 4.0. Its key features are ultra-fast transactions thanks to the proof-of-stake principle (master nodes will be used instead of miners), smart contracts that lock up diagnostic AI systems, and two core AI infrastructure marketplaces: a data marketplace as a service for AI deep learning and an AI marketplace. That kind of infrastructure enables market participants to create blockchain joint ventures. As for the healthcare AI market, Skychain will reduce diagnostic neural network training costs by a factor of 10, dramatically improve the accuracy of medical diagnostics, and make diagnostic services both easily available and very affordable. Skychain potentially can be used for many different purposes. But in the first few years, it is going to focus exclusively on healthcare, which is one of the most promising AI application areas: The healthcare AI market is going to reach hundreds of billions of dollars in several years, and possibly $1 trillion in 15 years!

To learn more about Skychain, follow the link: https://skychain.global

WELL is a decentralized global healthcare network based on the Ethereum blockchain and smart contracts. WELL intends to disrupt the conventional healthcare models by allowing patients located anywhere in the world to easily get remote diagnoses or second opinions from a select group of the best medical professionals, and, if necessary, get ready for in-person treatment. WELL allows patients to take control of their care delivery: at home with concierge (personal assistant) services or anywhere in the world with telehealth services. Giving patients control helps everyone since patient engagement translates into better outcomes and reduces overall care costs.

To learn more about WELL, follow the link: https://joinwell.io

Skychain ICO

Skychain started selling its tokens on February 26, 2018. Until the soft cap is reached, they can be bought at a 25% discount. Eventually, the tokens will be converted into Skychain’s internal currency, Skychain Global Coin (SGC).

The post Skychain and WELL Are Joining Forces to Build the Future of Digital Healthcare appeared first on NewsBTC.

Ten Indian police officials have been charged with kidnapping and attempted extortion after allegedly forcing a victim to transfer 200 bitcoins.

Regulation in the cryptocurrency industry is always a hot topic. It seems most of these developments are forcing companies to relocate to more crypto-friendly countries. A lot of companies are currently contemplating the move to Malta, which is quickly becoming a very popular place for cryptocurrency firms.

Malta is Quite Appealing

There are a few different reasons why Malta is so appealing to Bitcoin companies. The region is rather open-minded when it comes to regulating this industry. Its focus on blockchain and cryptocurrency is positive overall and allows for innovation. Several firms are actively looking to move to Malta due to regulatory pressure in their home country.

The government of Malta is also quite keen on improving upon this trend. According to a Tweet, the country sees this interest by cryptocurrency firms as a major economic achievement. Binance has already relocated to this European country, which has gained a lot of media attention. Other economic achievements include a low unemployment rate and highest economic growth in the EU.

.@MaltaGov's #Economic achievements in #March'18 | #Crypto #cryptocurrency leader @binance moving to #Malta, historic #surplus sustained, @SPGlobalRatings confirms A Rating, as MT hits highest economic growth in #EU while ranking 2nd lowest for #unemployment … and more pic.twitter.com/GGej8Yc9OM

— Government of Malta (@MaltaGov) April 2, 2018

All of these aspects make the island nation all the more appealing to all kinds of firms. It now seems dozens of cryptocurrency companies are looking to set up shop in Malta. Doing so is rather simple, compared to dealing with requirements in other countries. Making it more accessible for companies to set up an office in Malta is an example other countries should pay attention to a swell.

The Mass Migration to Europe

Albeit Europe is relatively quiet on the cryptocurrency regulation front, that seems to work in its favor. If this trend keeps up, things will undoubtedly get very interesting for both Malta and the EU as a whole. With other countries cracking down on blockchain and cryptocurrency, someone has to take the lead.

In the last 2 weeks, I am aware of 20+ large cap crypto projects confirm establishing/moving/investing in Malta. There are probably more that I am not aware of. Let's build a healthy and vibrant blockchain economy in Malta. https://t.co/1zXGcceutP

— CZ (@cz_binance) April 5, 2018

Harsh action is taken in China, India, and other select regions. All of these countries would rather curb cryptocurrency use altogether. Even though this new form of money allows for innovation, governments also see it as a threat. Regulating this industry has proven to be very difficult. In fact, all it does is force companies to relocate. This is why Bitfinex is moving to Switzerland, and Kakao may host its ICO outside fo Korea.

How all of this will play out in the long run, remains to be seen. It seems evident the appeal of Malta will not diminish anytime soon. Other countries may show a positive approach in this regard as well. For now, any negative regulatory development is often met with positive news at the same time. A harsh approach to cryptocurrency does no one any favors right now. Whether or not things will improve in countries like China and India, remains uncertain.

Image Courtesy of Shutterstock

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This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

The new energy minister has announced a project to commit a number of data sets to the public ledger, where they will be much harder to hack.