• What is CryptoCurrency?

    Cryptocurrency is a revolutionary money system that can protect consumer anonymity and prevent government intrusion. It successfully addresses world-wide concerns with the current financial system’s inefficiencies, exorbitant fees, uncontrolled inflation and big-brother oversights. Cryptocurrency is owned by the people and no government or company can control it.

  • What is CryptoCurrency mining

    Mining programs tap into your computer's hardware resources and put them to work mining Bitcoin, Litecoin, or another type of cryptocurrency. And no, even if your hardware is used to generate money for them, you don't get any of it.

  • What is Bitcoin?

    Bitcoin is a form of digital currency (CryptoCurrency), created and held electronically. No one controls it. Bitcoins aren't printed, like dollars or euros – they're produced by people, and increasingly businesses, running computers all around the world, using software that solves mathematical problems.

Saturday, April 9, 2016

The Panama Papers-Bitcoin Connection

Süddeutsche Zeitung, in collaboration with The Consortium For Investigative Journalists, revealed 11.5 million leaked confidential documents from a Panama-based law firm, Mossack Fonseca. The documents reveal a shadowy network of politicians, celebrities and other powerful people concealing their wealth. 



While Bitcoin is not directly mentioned in the documents, there are connections between the Papers and the digital currency. Here are some of the individuals named in the documents, and their sometimes loose, sometimes major, connections to Bitcoin. I’ll start with the major connection. 

Mexican President  Enrique Peña Nieto’s “favorite contractor” was mentioned in the documents, which revealed “a complex offshore network” spread across the world.

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Thursday, April 7, 2016

Blockchain Tech Will Make Banks Disappear in 10 Years, Says VP of Russia’s Biggest Bank

The quotes are certain to raise eyebrows among bankers, everywhere. The Vice President of Sberbank, Russia’s biggest bank by assets and the third largest bank in Europe (2014 figures) has opined that the advent and spread of blockchain technology will see banks disappear by 2026.


Speaking at Metro Expo 2016, an industry conference, Sberbank’s vice president Andrey Sharov shared his thoughts about the future of the banking industry.

With quotes reported by Russian news agency , Sharov predicts that the rise of blockchain technology will lead to the demise of the current banking industry as the way we know it to be.

The Vice President of Russia’s largest bank stated:

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The Future of Bitcoin is Bright According to XML Gold CEO

Bitcoin Press Releases: Amid the Bitcoin block-size debate Bitcoin exchange platform XML Gold CEO believes new decentralized apps will be built on Bitcoin’s blockchain, the current debate will be resolved, and the Internet will get its first real payment protocol.



In a recent blog post, the CEO of Bitcoin and digital currency exchange platform XML Gold outlined why he believes the future of Bitcoin is bright. If the growth and adoption of Bitcoin as a technology is compared to that of another disruptive technology, the Internet, it can be seen that Bitcoin is still in its infancy, comparable perhaps with the world wide web in the early 1990’s:

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R3 Blockchain Consortium Partners With Microsoft

The blockchain consortium led by R3CEV, a group of 42 global banks working on blockchain applications that includes JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and more, is now working with tech giant Microsoft.
The full partnership, which was first tested back in January with a smaller group of R3’s members, gives the consortium access to more than just Microsoft's platform of Blockchain-as-a-Service tools.

Charley Cooper, managing director of R3, told CoinDesk that the formal partnership came after a series of tests with other potential partners, including Amazon and IBM. A dedicated team of five Microsoft employees is now working directly with consortium members.

Under the terms of the non-exclusive deal, Microsoft will provide access to 45 cloud-based tools on its Azure platform, including those created by ConsenSys, Ripple, Eris Industries, Factom, BitPay, and other startups working with the technology.


In addition to the software, Microsoft has set aside a team of “dedicated technical architects, project managers, lab assistants and support services” to work with consortium members around the world.
The partnership comes after 11 of R3’s consortium members, including Barclays, Credit Suisse, and Well Fargo, completed a test of private version of the Ethereum network using Microsoft’s Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS) platform in January.

“R3 and member banks will experiment and learn faster, accelerating distributed ledger technology deployment,” said Peggy Johnson, executive vice president of global business development at Microsoft, in a statement. “What’s more, our collaboration brings to light tremendous opportunities to rethink business processes and transform entire industries.”

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In a separate blog post written by Johnson as part of the Microsoft Envision conference in New Orleans, she wrote that the partnership will help streamline back-office operations, “potentially saving billions of dollars.”
Over the coming weeks and months Cooper says he expect the full scope of the partnership with Microsoft will expand, depending on how the software company and the banking consortium work together.

Does Canada's Weed Policy Show Way Forward On Blockchain Regulations?

Canada is showing the world the way forward on marijuana legalization. In Ontario, superior and appellate courts have ruled that Canada’s cannabis laws are null and void. Challenges to change federal law towards decriminalization, on the other hand, have failed. There’s a lesson to be learnt for blockchain regulators here.
 


Nevertheless, Health Canada does regulate cannabis for medicinal purposes in a system industrial nations are looking towards as an example. As well, hemp plant cultivation is legal in Canada for seed, grain and fiber production. Public opinion finds more-and-more Canadians believe each year since 1997, “Smoking marijuana should not be a criminal offence.”
Indeed, Canada has positioned itself as one of the most pro-marijuana governments in the world. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he wanted to “legalize, regulate, and restrict” marijuana for recreational use.
When I spoke with Alan Brochstein – the 420 Investor – he told me: “I spend my time focused on Canada. It has a federally legal medical marijuana program that is almost two years old, and while off to slow start initially, it has gained a lot of traction and there is a lot of excitement. Because of a government change there, very likely in next two years, we will have legal cannabis on a federal basis in Canada. That’s an exciting part of the cannabis investment space.” Brochstein believes Canada could be a global leader in marijuana.
“The US could be in that position, but already other countries are looking to the Canadian model, which is tightly regulated production at federal level,” he added. “We don’t have that in the US.”
Trudeau has vocalized his intention to take marijuana consumption and small possession out of  the Criminal Code. New laws will enact stricter punishment for those who supply cannabis to minors or while driving stoned, for example.
Canada could capitalize on its sensible regulations and reap the benefits. This same approach could be applied by the nation towards emerging blockchain technologies. Already, Canada has a sensible approach to technology regulation. For instance, there are no laws in Canada that mention MySQL.
“Most laws in Canada are technology-neutral and don’t call for a specific technology or system to be used,” Addison-Cameron-Huff told me. 
Many vocal proponents of innovation have expressed their desire to see Canada take a sensible, perhaps even laissez faire, approach to blockchain technology in order to allow the technology to evolve.
For instance, at a recent roundtable hosted by CIGI in Toronto, the topic “Regulating Blockchain & Distributed Ledger Technologies: Challenges and Opportunities for Canadian Innovation” was discussed.
Addison Cameron-Huff, a technology lawyer, believes Canada has the opportunity to be a world leader. In order to be such, the country has difficult questions to answer.
“Can regulatory ‘gaps’ be filled with common law and economic behavior rather than government-prescribed rules?” He asked. “Are there any gaps that cannot be filled by private actors or court-created law?”
Bitcoin is regulated in Canada under common anti-money laundering and know-your -customer laws. Like most countries, Canada had no specific law or regulation for bitcoins. An official of Canada’s Department of Finance told The Wall Street Journal in January 2014 that Canada did not consider bitcoins to be legal tender.
According to WSJ, the official stated “[o]nly Canadian bank notes and coins are recognized as legal tender in Canada.  Bitcoin digital ‘currency’ is not legal tender in Canada.” However, the official also stated that the government of Canada would continue to “monitor developments involving virtual currencies.”
A spokesman for the  Bank of Canada, Canada’s central bank, told WSJ: “[s]maller, stand-alone payment systems for which there are many substitutes – like bitcoin – should generally require much less intensive oversight and regulation because they pose much less risk to the Canadian financial system as a whole. . . . Nevertheless, these payment systems should be designed and operated to meet the needs of Canadians which would include convenience and ease of use, price, reliability, safety, and effective redress mechanisms.”
Canada’s Revenue Agency informed bitcoin users in April 2013 they would have to pay tax on transactions in the digital currency. The Canadian Finance Minister, in the Federal Budget for 2014, mentioned briefly Canadian government intentions to draft anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing regulations for virtual currencies. 
As in cannabis, Canada could become a world leader in blockchain technology. In order to do this, the nation will have to approach the technology sensibly, and work together with Canada’s leaders in finance and technology to ensure its approach harbors innovation while staying within the framework of global anti-money laundering and know your customer precedents. 
For now, businesspeople and government regulators are still trying to wrap their head around Bitcoin. Over the coming years, a discussion about blockchain regulations will develop. A measured weighing of risks and benefits can ensure that software developers are free to innovate.

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