cryptofastor: September 2018

Monday, September 24, 2018

Mainstream Media Narrative Sensationalizes Chinese Crypto Crackdown

American Scholar Criticizes Dominant Media Narratives Surrounding China and Crypto

An article written by Nicholas Krapels – an American academic who has lived in China since 2011 whilst working towards his PhD in Chinese politics at East China Normal University, has criticized mainstream media narratives pertaining to Chinese regulatory actions regarding cryptocurrencies.

Mr. Krapels states that “Last week, many minor statements fomented a mountain of fear, uncertainty, and doubt regarding cryptocurrency’s future in China. On Tuesday evening, Wechat blocked a few crypto-oriented news official accounts. Late in the evening the next day, Beijing’s Chaoyang District banned public venues from holding crypto-related events.”

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Mr. Krapels asserts that “the way Western media portrays events in China” heightened and exaggerated concerns pertaining to the events, adding: “That situation is only made worse when crypto influencers like Danhua Capital Managing Director Dovey Wan tweets out pictures of the primary source of the Beijing district ban in Chinese along with misleading English comments, ‘The new China crypto BAN is now official’.” Mr. Krapels likens such to “post[ing] […] an official English notice […] on Weibo […] from the NYC police banning handguns in Manhattan and then claim in Chinese, ‘America’s BAN on handguns is now official’.”

Chinese Government Had “No Direct Involvement” With Wechat and Chaoyang District’s Respective Actions

Mr. Krapels asserts that “the national government has had no direct involvement with any of these actions,” emphasizing that “So far, a single district in Beijing and a development zone in Guangzhou have explicitly called for venue bans.”

“Wechat and Alipay, corporations not the government, voluntarily self-regulated the blurry edges of their ecosystem that facilitated illegal behavior such as coordinating pyramid schemes and averting capital controls,” he added.

The article states that “Most casual observers of Chinese politics do not understand that rarely, if ever, does the Chinese Communist Party issue bold black-and-white proclamations,” adding that “By design, Chinese law maintains a grey area, a Hegelian nuance that provides for innovative creativity while at the same time attempts to ward off destructive tulipomania and outright scammers.”

As such, Mr. Krapels states that one must “read between the lines” in order to “find true regulatory intent.”

The Daily: Wirex Adds Ethereum, Deutsche Börse Embraces Blockchain

Wirex Adds Ethereum

Cryptocurrency wallet and debit card Wirex has been keeping busy. Fresh off the back of receiving its UK e-money license, the London-based company has addedethereum support. Wirex users, who could previously convert BTC, LTC, and XRP into their national currency and spend it at will on their plastic or virtual card, can do the same with ETH as of today.

“As the second highest value cryptocurrency after Bitcoin [by market cap], the ETH wallet’s place on the Wirex app is indisputably deserved,” said Wirex co-founder Dmitry Lazarichev. “We are pleased that we can now offer this popular crypto, but our product growth does not stop here. We have some interesting new services in the pipeline and our recently earned FCA e-money licence has opened the doors for even more products and locations in the near future.”

Greece Prepares to Welcome More Bitcoin ATMs

Bitcoin ATMs Now In The Thousands Around the World

As the saying goes, “The virus is spreading”, the virus being cryptocurrency – specifically a strain that attacks devalued fiat currency, whilst strengthening deflationary, independent digital currencies that cannot be freezed or seized by malevolent powers. Earlier today, we reported on Netcoins equipping 21,000 of its ATMs with bitcoin cash compatibility, enabling BCH to be purchased across Canada, Europe, and Australia. That story can now be augmented by the news that Greece is set to increase its quota of cryptocurrency ATMs.

A handful of ATMs are reportedly to be added to major cities on the Greek mainland, each of which will facilitate the buying and selling of bitcoin core, ethereum, litecoin, and dash. These will complement existing crypto ATMs located in Athens and Thessaloniki. While Greek’s economy has begun a slow recovery from the slump that beset the island nation in the mid aughts, there’s still a long way to go before growth approaches that of its more prosperous EU member states. The increased availability of cryptocurrencies for citizens who have lost faith in the fiscal policies of their elected officials can only be a good thing.

Deutsche Börse Greenlights Blockchain Research Team

The Daily: Wirex Adds Ethereum, Deutsche Börse Embraces Blockchain

Deutsche Börse, the Frankfurt-headquartered shares and securities trading firm, has set up a dedicated DLT, crypto assets and new market structures team. The unit consists of 24 members and will be responsible for all initiatives in the field. “The digital economy in general is heading for decentralisation. In future, there will be more peer-to-peer governed marketplaces and less intermediaries,” commented the team’s head, Jens Hachmeister. Investing in the space is one of the three pillars of the growth program the capital market’s operator will be pursuing until 2020.

With over 5,000 employes and 2015 revenue of $2.75 billion, Deutsche Börse is a major player. Like other traditional finance giants, it doesn’t want to be left behind should blockchain technology live up to the hype and become an integral part of the global economy in years to come. “Looking at the pace of technological progress and the transformational potential that lies in blockchain, we probably stand at the beginning of a new era that could be disruptive for the whole industry,” observed Jens Hachmeister. “The challenge is that we don’t exactly know where this will lead to.”

Bitcoin Cash Lights Up British Homes

With every passing week, new stories reach us of retailers accepting bitcoin cash as payment. The latest merchant to embrace BCH is Dynamo Led Displays. The company’s director, Daniel Reynolds explains: “We have digital music, digital movies, digital shopping and so its seems inevitable there will emerge a strong market leader in cryptocurrency and from our point of view low transaction fees are an obvious attraction. We are a forward-thinking, creative business and anything that is looking to break the status-quo appeals to us so BCH and Dynamo seemed like a natural fit.” The company specializes in LED scrolling tickers as well as indoor and outdoor lighting for domestic and commercial use.

Brave Hits 4 Million Users

Finally, Brave browser has hit another impressive milestone. The tokenized web browser has reached 4 million monthly average users. CEO Brendan Eich promisesthis is only the beginning, having set his sights on 5 million users by the end of the year and 12 million next year, while increasing the utility of the browser’s native BAT token.

Abra Launches Services for SEPA Bank Account Holders

SEPA Bank Account Holders Now Able to Purchase Crypto Through Abra

Abra, a virtual currency wallet and exchange, has announced support for SEPA bank account holders – increasing the number of countries serviced by the company by 35.

Bill Barhydt, the founder and chief executive of Abra, stated: “With users from over 70 countries globally, and a greater demand for the ability to invest in cryptocurrencies from any bank account, it is really important to give investors the opportunity to fund their Abra wallet directly from any bank account. This new feature is helping to change the way people invest, adding to a brighter future for the cryptocurrency market around the world.”

“As we continue to expand our capabilities, we are constantly looking for efficient and secure on-ramps that will enable our users to easily invest in cryptocurrencies. Ease, efficiency, and effectiveness are paramount for us in helping our clients invest,” he added.

Abra Customers Soon Able to Fund Accounts Using BCH

Abra Launches Services for SEPA Bank Account Holders

Abra’s customers will soon be able to fund their wallets using Bitcoin Cash, with a press release stating that “beginning over the next several days, users will also have the ability to fund their Abra wallet using Bitcoin Cash (BCH). This would come in addition to the newly launched SEPA bank transfers and cryptocurrency deposit options already available in the app today.”

Alongside the expansion into the SEPA zone, Abra also launched support for Cardano (ADA), Basic Attention Token (BAT), and Tron (TRX). Abra now provides support for 50 fiat currencies and 28 cryptocurrencies.

21,000 New Locations Across Canada, Europe, Australia to Purchase Bitcoin Cash

21,000 New Locations to Buy Bitcoin Cash

“Adding BCH brings us to having 6 of the top 7 coins available via Netcoins. With just EOS left among the top 7 coins, we are giving investors a compelling reason to use the Netcoins network for all their crypto needs, whether via OTC or via our strong retail network,” announced Netcoins CEO Mark Binns.

21,000 New Locations Across Canada, Europe, Australia to Purchase Bitcoin Cash

Netcoins has been around for three years, and is from Vancouver, Canada, where it initiated its virtual ATM business in 2015. “Merchants from all over the world can sign up for the Netcoins service and be provided with a platform that allows them to have a Bitcoin ATM without having to buy a machine. The application can work on a smartphone or tablet allowing merchants to offer the sale of Bitcoin without the substantial costs involved with the purchase of a device or the physical space needed within the store,” we profiled previously.

For BCH, it’s another adoption score, one in a string this year. Netcoins services 21,000 retail locations throughout Canada, Europe, and Australia. In its announcement the company promised immediate access to purchase BCH through its OTC Private Brokerage Services.

Adoption Milestones Keep Coming for BCH

Just days ago, these pages reported how “the Atlanta-based firm Bitpay announced that its merchants can now receive settlement in bitcoin cash (BCH). Not only can Bitpay merchants accept the decentralized digital currency and keep all the bitcoin cash, but they can also split their funds into a fraction of fiat and BCH as well,” a significant step for merchants tired of changing out from bitcoin core (BTC) back into BCH after settling.

And a week prior to the above, “a new bitcoin cash SPV client available called Pixel Wallet that provides users with the ability to attach BCH transactions to pictures” was released. “Basically, bitcoin cash users can send BCH transactions in a steganographic manner with the wallet hiding funds in plain sight. Pixel Wallet was initially announced and launched on the BCH testnet during the first week of August, and the project’s developers explained the application would be the first of its kind.”

Netcoins appears to be doing well during an extended bear market. They announced this summer pushing through more than $2 million worth of transactions in a 24-hour period, capping a vibrant month for the outfit of over $5 million in transactions total.

Russians Design а ‘Beautiful’ Mining Rig

Form Meets Function in the “Freer” Miner

You have to admit, mining rigs are not the best-looking pieces of engineering. That’s okay when talking about industrial-grade hardware; racks upon racks of ASICs in some former factory in Russia, China, or America. But domestic devices, homemade or purchased, are not aesthetically pleasing. They are often just a skeleton frame, with half a dozen video cards, cables and fans, and, if you are lucky, you’ll get all that in an ugly square box with the fans visible on the outside. Whatever the case, it’s not something you would want to see in your living room.

A Russian design studio has decided to remedy that. They’ve recently launched their first “beautiful” miner, an aesthetically pleasing home mining device that is modular and customizable. It offers a number of ports on the back, a choice of displays on the front showing the mined coins, and it comes in different color schemes. The designers have described their creation in a poem published on their website lauding its curved shapes, extraordinary beauty and discreetly hidden cooling system: “More fashionable than an iPhone, the new geek’s dream.”

The prototype, called “Freer”, comes as a shell and manufacturers are free to place their own mining hardware inside the box. Art Lebedev, the studio run by famous Russian designer, entrepreneur, and blogger Artemy Lebedev, has not wasted time on the engineering side but has focused primarily on the design aspect of the project. The company did not reveal details about the client who ordered its first artistic mining rigs but published some of the sketches drawn during the development of the final concept.

Lower Taxes for Miners Proposed in Russia

The fashionable mining rig has been announced at a moment when the Russian crypto community, not least miners, is eagerly awaiting the final decision of authorities in Moscow regarding the legalization and regulation of crypto-related activities such as cryptocurrency mining. Three bills dealing with the matter were voted on first reading this spring with their final adoption expected during the fall session of the State Duma, the lower house of Russia’s parliament.

The new legislation should regulate various aspects of the crypto industry including the circulation and exchange of cryptocurrencies with rubles and foreign fiat. The taxation of crypto incomes and profits is one of the outstanding issues. Currently, revenues from crypto mining are subject to the Russian flat income tax rate of 13%. Different ideas have been discussed with the latest one coming from the Russian Association of Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain (RACIB) and one of its members.

A company called Crypto Universe as well as RACIB has proposed to Finance Minister Anton Siluanov to allow private individuals dealing with mining to register as self-employed persons. This would lower their taxes to only 3-5%. According to Crypto Universe, there are more than 350,000 individual miners in the Russian Federation. Due to the lack of an adequate regulatory framework, many of them operate unofficially and cash out their minted coins illegally. As a result, the state treasury loses an estimated 2 billion rubles (almost $30 million) in uncollected tax annually.

Japanese Company Trials BTC and Smart Contracts in Real Estate Transactions

BTC and Smart Contracts in Real Estate

Japanese real estate company Ruden Holdings (TYO:1400) recently announced the results of an experiment using its newly-created “virtual currency real estate settlement platform.”

The company explained that the trial, which involved BTC and smart contracts, was conducted in collaboration with Blockchain Global Limited (BGL). The two companies partnered in April to develop the settlement system and a “virtual registration data inquiry system,” Ruden detailed, adding:

For the settlement of bitcoins (BTC) used in the property sale, Bitflyer’s web service and API functions were used.

Some parts of the system, such as time stamping of the contract, used the NEM test network, the company added. Bitflyer is Japan’s largest crypto exchange by volume. However, the exchange halted registering new users after receiving a business improvement order from the country’s financial regulator in June.

The Experiment

The experiment began with a seller listing a property to sell and a buyer looking for one to buy. The buyer then filled out an offer to purchase the property, which the seller confirmed.

“The buyer then sent the virtual currency (bitcoin) to the Ruden company’s virtual currency account,” the company described, elaborating:

As soon as Ruden (system) confirms the remittance of the virtual currency, we will execute the contract and [convert the] virtual currency to Japanese yen. In addition, a notarized sale [and] purchase agreement is promptly shared with [the] buyer and seller.

Other forms including the property registration application and requests to acquire other necessary documents are also automatically sent in order to execute the sale of the property.

Many Advantages Over Traditional Systems

Ruden then outlined many advantages it observed from the experiment.

For buyers and sellers, the company explained that using smart contracts and crypto payments makes it “possible to drastically shorten the time required” to perform each step of the process, including depositing money.

“Smart contracts eliminate the need for manual work and conditions,” the company detailed, adding that “the time to negotiate and conclude can be shortened compared to the current work.” Furthermore, the system also reduces “trouble such as refusal” to hand over the property after payment has been made.

Overall, Ruden emphasized:

It is not only to improve the efficiency of operations, but also to prevent unforeseen circumstances.

In addition to building the two systems above, the company announced last week the establishment of an overseas subsidiary in Singapore for the issuance of its own token.