Category: Crypto News

Categories
Bitcoin Crypto News Cryptocurrency Tax

Libertarian Ron Paul Says “Bitcoin Should Be Legalised As Money”

Ron Paul, former US Congressman and Libertarian Party candidate for the 1988 US presidency, has put forward a strong case that Bitcoin should not be regulated.

In an interview last week with Michelle Makori of Kitco News, Paul told how supporters of one of his three presidential nominations designed a coin bearing his image called “the Ron Paul Dollar”.

They got into big trouble. They could not use the word ‘dollar’ as it encroached on the [US] government’s monopoly control of money.

Ron Paul

Referring to popular wisdom that Bitcoin will inevitably replace the US dollar, Paul expects the greenback to survive. “It’ll still be around, though it won’t be worth much,” he said.

Legal tender laws force you to use legal tender, so [the US government] won’t allow you to replace the dollar with cryptocurrency. There will be laws against that, but I want to legalise it.

Ron Paul

Ron Paul Interview

With Bitcoin facing regulatory pressures in countries such as China, investors worry that similar limitations will be placed on cryptocurrency in the US.

“Right now, if you buy and sell gold, it’s subject to tax,” Paul said. “If you make a profit in Bitcoin, you read stories about people getting taxed on it. You can’t tax money … If you bought a dollar a year ago and it went down 10 percent, you can’t take a loss because your dollar lost value.”

Governments will always try to suppress alternative currencies, Paul noted, but he said the free market ultimately should be allowed to decide. “I will argue more the case for legalisation of freedom of choice,” he said. “The people should make the decision, not the government.”

Categories
Bitcoin Crypto News

Miami Bitcoin Conference Hosts 20K Attendees Plus Billionaires and Celebrities

It’s a Bitcoin party in Miami Florida, baby! This year’s Bitcoin 2021 Conference continues this weekend at the Mana Wynwood Convention Center in Miami. 

General admission tickets went for a lazy US$1,500 and are completely sold out. Those with extra cash could fork out $20,000 for a “whale pass” and get themselves an extra day to mingle among the rich and famous and some geeky crypto nerds. That also entitled attendees to VIP tickets for Floyd Mayweather’s fight against YouTuber Logan Paul on June 6. 

Guests Include Entrepreneurs, Athletes, Actors and Politicians

Among the high-profile guests at the conference are Bitcoin billionaire Brock Pierce, the Winklevoss twins (Cameron and Tyler, themselves worth a cool US$6 billion), MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor and skateboard entrepreneur Tony Hawk.

In preparing for the event, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez advocated for the city to pay its workers in Bitcoin.

“The Mayor has certainly said he is bold and supports innovation. Innovators are looking for a combination of quality of life and also feeling supported by the government … Miami caught the wave. They capitalised on the situation and, as a result, the future of Miami is probably forever changed.”

Brock Pierce

Unlike those ducks that fly south just for the winter, it seems venture capital and tech/crypto-loving New Yorkers have migrated to Miami on a more permanent basis, not merely for a summer vacation. Florida in general is proving to be a forward-thinking and welcoming state for cryptocurrency.

Watch The LiveStream Replay

Below is the video replay of Day 1 of the Event. We will update this article with the Day 2 video once it’s available.

Categories
Bitcoin Bitstamp Crypto News Sports

Gamers Can Now Wager Bitcoin When Playing Counter-Strike

Now you can wager on your Counter-Strike games using ZEBEDEE Bitcoin gaming wallet and Infuse technology that lets you scan a QR code, join a lobby, and play Bitcoin-infused games.

Earlier this year, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CSGO) got an unofficial Bitcoin integration through Bitcoin start-up ZEBEDEE, where players pay a few Satoshis (1 Satoshi = 1/100,000,000 BTC) as an entry fee and if they perform well, they can walk away with a few extra.

Improved User Experience With Bitstamp

Using ZEBEDEE’s Infuse, servers players will be able to scan a QR code to pay a small amount of BTC – as little as 100 Satoshis – as an entrance fee. Different servers have different rules, fees and rewards. Your potential winnings will fluctuate based on your percentage of the total game score. And after the game you can withdraw your winnings.

ZEBEDEE admitted that previously it was a bit tedious to transfer funds or swap cryptos with their native wallet. However, now with Bitstamp integration “users can log into the ZEBEDEE wallet using their Bitstamp account info, making it easier for players to move and convert the Bitcoin they win while playing games”. By bridging the gap between the world of Bitcoin gaming and the global economy, gamers will be able to move Bitcoin between games and the real world with ease.

Bitcoin gaming wallet [ZEBEDEE]

ZEBEDEE’s integration uses Bitcoin’s Lightning Network to handle the transactions. In the late game, ZEBEDEE plans to launch servers that won’t require an entry fee, thanks to sponsors and advertising.

Allowing Normal Players To Monetise Their Fun-time

“The biggest revolution will be for ordinary players,” says ZEBEDEE CEO Simon Cowell, adding that “at the moment, esports tournaments are only open to a small elite of pros who win all the money”. ZEBEDEE’s service will allow no-pro gamers and crypto enthusiasts alike to leverage their skills and earn/lose some crypto playing games they enjoy. Simon also says that more infused games will be added later.

Bitcoin really does change the game, in more ways than one. Suddenly your score inside the game has real-world economic value. This massively increases the level of engagement you have with the game, but it also points to previously impossible economic models. I thoroughly believe that gaming is how we bring the next billion users into crypto and that, in the future, young people will earn their first paycheque simply by playing games.

Simon Cowell, CEO of ZEBEDEE
Categories
Crypto News Ethereum

Founder Vitalik Buterin Reveals How Ethereum Got Its Name

Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, came across the term “Ether” (also written as aether) on Wikipedia while searching for science fiction-themed words as he wrote his whitepaper. 

Ether From Medieval Science

Ether is a common term from ancient and medieval science and was used in various theories to explain several natural phenomena, such as gravity and the travelling of light. However, there was no hard evidence to back ether being a medium through which light can travel. Scientists in the late 19th century postulated that ether was transparent, frictionless and weightless, and that it permeated all matter and space. 

South American-born crypto journalist and founder of DeFi newsletter The Defiant, Camila Russo, detailed in her 2020 book The Infinite Machine that the name of the second-largest blockchain network, Ethereum, was coined from a medieval scientific theory. As Ethereum was developed to be an imperceptible medium for every decentralised application, it’s worth mentioning that the blockchain is fairly living up to that. 

Ether is Still Relevant in Crypto

Although the concept of ether posed by medieval scientists has been dismissed, Buterin still chose the term for the blockchain network as he appreciates the assumed properties of ether. 

Vitalik wanted his platform to be the underlying and imperceptible medium for every application, just what medieval scientists thought ether was. […] Plus, it sounded nice.

Camila Russo

Buterin came up with “Ethereum” for the blockchain network, while “Ether” refers to the native cryptocurrency (ie, ETH). Since its inception in 2015, Ethereum has grown to become one of the core pillars of cryptocurrency. Several projects have been built on the network, and still counting. 

Despite the fact that Ethereum has scalability issues, many experts believe the network still has more to offer, especially with Ethereum 2.0 under way.

Vitalik owns over US$1 billion dollars worth of ETH and has also recently been in battle with Elon Musk over scaling transactions on Dogecoin and how he thinks it’s a flawed idea.

Categories
Crypto News Crypto Wallets Ethereum Mining

Norton Antivirus Reveals Norton Crypto, a Crypto Mining Add-on

NortonLifeLock is launching a new feature for their users that will allow them to mine Ethereum (ETH) from their own computers. The software is there to allow users who opt in to skip all the steps and mine crypto with only a few clicks.

From June 3, Norton 360 customers in the early adopter program were invited to mine Ethereum. At launch, the tool would only allow users to mine Ether, the cryptocurrency of the Ethereum network, the world’s second-largest crypto. However, Norton told CNN it may allow users to mine other “reputable cryptocurrencies” in the future.

We are proud to be the first consumer Cyber Safety company to offer coinminers the ability to safely and easily turn the idle time on their PCs into an opportunity to earn digital currency.

Gagan Singh, chief product officer at NortonLifeLock

The Norton press release claims its service is well suited to people who don’t want to deal with the nitty-gritty of setting up mining software and are afraid of using “unvetted code” that could be skimming or planting ransomware on their machines.

The Norton Mining Pool

Mining from a normal computer is very difficult since one requires significant power to crack the Proof-of-Work puzzle. Mining in a pool allows many computers to contribute joint resources over a network and split the reward based on how much work their machines did together.

Pools almost universally take a percentage cut of all earnings, this being a widely used standard. If it is indeed the case that users will be contributing to a mining pool, Norton will be leveraging its millions of customers’ computers to generate a new income stream.

Norton Crypto Wallet

Any earnings will be funnelled into a cloud-based wallet called the Norton Crypto Wallet. From there, users will be able to trigger transactions and receive payments. It’s funny to consider the possible additions to hashrate from 13 million Norton 360 users.

There Could Be Some Issues

Norton 360 users might need to consider tax implications before getting a surprise in the tax season. In the US, mined cryptocurrency is considered by the IRS as a taxable event and must be reported on tax returns as income.

The other side is environmental; does this mean that more people will leave their personal computers in idle to mine crypto? This might cause a higher electricity bill for some unsuspecting customers. Also, most mining farms have carbon offset technologies or make use of sustainable energy, where most individuals don’t.

Categories
Banking Crypto News India Regulation

Major Indian Bank HDFC Renounces Recent Warning About Dealing With Crypto

HDFC Bank, India’s largest private-sector banking institution, has told its customers to ignore its recent warning against transacting with digital currency. This comes after the Reserve Bank of India clarified its regulatory stance on cryptocurrency, setting aside the circular which prevented Indian banks from dealing with cryptocurrencies.

Indian Banks are Opening to Cryptocurrency

As recently as May 28, HDFC reiterated its warning about customers dealing with cryptocurrencies. In an email sent to Rinku Saini, an Indian cryptocurrency investor, the bank cited the RBI 2018 circular, which authorises them to closely monitor transactions and exercise due diligence on any account dealing with “virtual currencies”.

However, the HDFC Bank has informed its customers to ignore the warning against dealing with cryptocurrency, following the RBI’s recent statement regarding the invalidity of the 2018 circular, which most banks, including HDFC, have been acting upon.  

RBI Confirms Indian Banks Can Serve Crypto Users

On the heels of the escalating warning against crypto by HDFC and other banks, including the State Bank of India (SBI), the central bank of India clarified its stance on cryptocurrency, stating the 2018 circular had already been rendered invalid by last year’s Supreme Court ruling.

In view of the order of the Hon’ble Supreme Court, the circular is no longer valid from the date of the Supreme Court judgment, and therefore cannot be cited or quoted from.

RBI statement

Despite the Supreme Court judgment, many Indian banks were still acting in accordance with the circular.

However, the clarification on RBI’s stance is a step in the right direction, and will gradually change how the Indian population of 1.4 billion view cryptocurrencies. Expect to see an upsurge in crypto-related activities from the country in coming months or years. 

Categories
Crypto News Stablecoins Tether

Stablecoin USDC Supply Has Been Growing Faster Than Tether in 2021

At the moment, Tether (USDT) is the largest stablecoin by supply. However, it has been losing out in supply growth to USD Coin (USDC), according to the “State of the Network” report by CoinMetrics. 

Tether vs USDC Supply Growth

Following the data on CoinMetrics, the total supply of USDC has risen over $22 billion, or about 57 percent since May and over 450 percent since the beginning of the year. In less than two weeks, USDC grew from a $15 billion USD asset on May 12 to over $20 billion USD. It’s worth mentioning that USDC is one of the fastest-growing stablecoins in the crypto market.

Two plausible factors driving more demand for USDC are market trust and the decentralized finance (DeFi) space. There is a possibility that USDC may soon catch up with USDT, provided the supply trend continues to increase.

USDT has only increased by over 190 percent in supply to a +$61 billion USD asset since the beginning of the year. Tron Network is currently the dominant blockchain for USDT, accounting for more than 50 percent of the entire USDT supply. There is now a lower supply of $30.9 billion USD (49 percent) on Ethereum, probably due to the expensive transaction fee on the blockchain, which led to the increase in demand on Tron. 

Notwithstanding the USDT supply and transaction count, the ERC-20 version of USDT sees more transfer value compared to the TRC-20 tokens, which indicates that both versions of USDT have different use cases, as per CoinMetrics.

BUSD Supply Increase Over 800% Since January

The Binance-backed BUSD is one other stablecoin in the spotlight. BUSD has risen by over 820 percent since the start of the year. There has been a strong demand for stablecoin amid the Binance DeFi space and the incredibly cheap transaction fee on the network. 

Categories
Crypto Exchange Crypto News Crypto Wallets Google

Google Revokes Its 2018 Ban on Crypto-Related Advertising

Google is lifting its advertising ban regarding cryptocurrency exchanges and digital wallets. The new policy outlines the hurdles that need to be cleared to allow advertising for cryptocurrency-related business and services.

New Crypto Ad Rules

An official policy update by Google stated that “(from) August 3, advertisers offering Cryptocurrency Exchanges and Wallets targeting the United States may advertise those products and services”. However, they will need to be certified by Google first, through meeting these specific requirements:

  • To be registered with either a Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) as a Money Services Business and with at least one state as a money transmitter; or a federal or state chartered bank entity. 
  • Must comply with relevant legal requirements, including any local legal requirements, whether at a state or federal level.
  • Must ensure their ads and landing pages comply with all Google Ads policies.

There are still some categories in the crypto space that will not be permitted to advertise. These include Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), Decentralised Finance (DeFi) trading protocols, and “Ad destinations that aggregate or compare issuers of cryptocurrencies or related products”. For an exhaustive list of restricted financial products, have a look here.

Since all previous certifications will be revoked after August 3, advertisers will need to create a new application using the application form that Google will publish on July 8. This policy will apply to all accounts globally, and will need to comply with local legislation and the laws of targeted territories.

Why Crypto Ads Were Banned

This policy change comes after a three-year ban on advertising cryptocurrencies where at one stage even “Ethereum” was added as a blacklisted word in the ads filter.

Google caused quite a stir back in 2018 when it banned crypto advertising, following a ban implemented by Facebook. Both companies cited the sudden spike of crypto offers coaxing investors into making speculative investments, and the ban was a precautionary measure to protect their customers.

By the end of June 2018, other social media conglomerates, Snapchat and Twitter, also issued crypto-ad bans. However, some critics have long accused Google of not properly addressing crypto ad scams which have claimed various institutional and retail victims.

Categories
Australia Bitcoin Crime Crypto News

IT Student Busted Buying Meth Parcel Off the Dark Web With Bitcoin

The Dark Web is a place where you can purchase drugs and have them delivered to your parents’ house, because it’s where you still live. And you can use Bitcoin to pay for them … unless, of course, you get caught.

Bag containing crystal meth, similar to that seized by Rockhampton Police

Joshua Ashton appeared in Rockhampton Magistrates Court this week after being charged with possession of methamphetamine. Ashton was alleged to have ordered the drug online in March 2021 and paid for it with A$300 worth of Bitcoin. He pleaded guilty to one charge of possessing a dangerous drug after Australia Post had intercepted a parcel bound for his parents’ address.

Parcel Intercepted After Police Tipoff by Australia Post

Ashton, a first-year IT student at Central Queensland University, claimed to have purchased the drug for his personal use. On March 25, his express post shipment containing 1.5 grams of methamphetamine was seized by police after the Australia Post tipoff.

Magistrate Jason Schubert recorded a conviction and fined Ashton $600, effectively tripling his investment.

Categories
Crypto Exchange Crypto News DeFi Markets

Decentralized Exchanges Record Over $161 Billion ATH Volume in May

Decentralized Exchanges Record Over $161 Billion ATH Volume in May

Cryptocurrency trading volume across decentralized exchanges (DEXes) reached an all-time high above US$161 billion in the past month, according to market data shared by CryptoRank. Overall, trading volume in the crypto market grew significantly in May as centralized exchanges also saw a record high in monthly volume. 

DEXes Gain 16% in Monthly Volume

The massive jump in trading volume represents a 16 percent increase on the previous month (US$138.1 billion). The May figure also translates to a 157 percent rise since January 2021. 

To break down the volume, Uniswap was ranked the largest decentralized exchange with nearly US$58 billion in volume, while the Uniswap V3 closed at US$24 billion, according to data from TheBlock. Uniswap is followed by SushiSwap, 0x Protocol, and 13 other exchanges.

At the time of writing, PancakeSwap leads in reported 24-hour volume with US$371 million, followed by Uniswap, SushiSwap, 0x Protocol, Balancer, BakerySwap, and 1inch.  

The total value of digital assets locked in decentralized exchanges was US$21 billion as at June 2. 

Centralized Exchanges Exceed $2 Trillion in May Volume

The crypto market gained more trading volume last month regardless of the drops in major coins. This is evident as centralized exchanges also reported a 37 percent increase in trading volume to more than US$2.2 trillion last month, consecutively closing a trillion-dollar volume for the fourth time. Binance accounts for about 66 percent of the entire volume in May (+US$1.5 trillion).